The Southwark Council Planning Committee (Major Applications) B is scheduled to meet on 9 December 2025 to discuss two major planning applications. The more significant application concerns the redevelopment of the Former Blackfriars Crown Court site, while the other involves alterations to the already approved plans for the Southwark Underground Station site following its recent listing as a heritage asset.

Former Blackfriars Crown Court, 1 Pocock Street

The committee will consider a report regarding the redevelopment of the Former Blackfriars Crown Court, 1 Pocock Street site. The proposal involves demolishing the existing building and constructing two new buildings: one for Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) and one for residential use, along with flexible commercial space and a café.

The development is scheduled to include:

• 310sqm of flexible commercial space
• 176 sqm publicly accessible café
• 71 social rent residential units
• 600 student bedrooms

The report notes that the proposed PBSA is not affiliated with any specific university and does not include any affordable student rooms, instead prioritising the delivery of 71 on-site homes all for social rent. The report also notes that this equates to 42.8% affordable housing by Gross Development Value (GDV).

The report states that although the proposal would result in daylight and sunlight impacts, these are limited and not deemed to cause unacceptable harm to residential amenity.

The report also notes that the development would make efficient use of an under-utilised site to deliver a high quality and sustainable development, and that the key public benefit is the delivery of 71 socially rented homes and a new pedestrian route called Link Street.

The report also mentions that the development is estimated to contribute £2.6 million in CIL¹ and £1.3 million in MCIL².

Southwark Underground Station, The Cut, London Southwark SE1 8JZ

The committee will also consider a supplementary report concerning an application for the Southwark Underground Station, The Cut site. The application seeks to redevelop the site to provide a 15-storey purpose-built student accommodation building with retail and/or café uses, and a 9-storey residential building to accommodate 44 affordable residential homes, with community uses on the ground floor.

The supplementary report addresses the fact that Southwark Underground Station has recently been listed as a heritage asset. The report notes that the development was designed to respect the station and its key design features, and that the development was conceived to allow for a building above it. The report states that the design of the new PBSA development will require changes to the station interior, including the replacement of one ticket hall column and the rebuilding of the central lantern (oculus), but that these will be replicated accurately in the completed development. The report concludes that the development would not harmfully affect the setting of the listed building and would preserve its significance. The report also notes that Historic England have identified less than substantial harm from the need to replace the central lantern and column, but that this harm is outweighed by the public benefits of the proposal, including the delivery of 44 social rent homes.

The report recommends that a condition be imposed on any planning consent and future listed building consent to ensure the structural stability of the listed building through the construction phase, and that the report be undertaken by an accredited specialist.

Other items

The agenda also includes items on apologies for absence, confirmation of voting members, notification of urgent business, disclosure of interests and approval of the minutes from the meeting held on 5 November 2025.