Yellow peril

Residents thought they had successfully blocked the Big Yellow Self Storage Company's attempts to open a trademark yellow-bricked warehouse, in Baring Road, Lee.

But now Big Yellow has returned with its seventh application even though its previous attempts have all been rejected by the council, the Government and the high court.

Those who battled to keep the "huge eyesore" away from their area are now bracing themselves for another fight.

The latest application includes 32 residential units 26 one-bedroom properties and six with two bedrooms.

But it is the potential for a bright yellow warehouse in a mainly residential area which has caused the most concern.

Grove Park ward councillor Barrie Anderson said: "This is an in-your-face development which is appropriate for an industrial site, not a residential area. It will be a huge eyesore.

"I do not know which part of the word no these people don't understand. They have a bloody cheek.

"If they think they are going to be welcomed back by the community they have another thing coming."

Cllr Anderson and Lewisham East MP Bridget Prentice both backed residents' original fight against the application.

This looked to have succeeded in January this year, when a public inquiry threw out Big Yellow's application.

Mrs Prentice says she will join residents in looking closely at the latest proposal, before deciding what action to take.

She said: "I think a storage factory is totally inappropriate for this area.

"If we decide this needs to be challenged, we are prepared to go through the whole rigmarole all over again."

The St Mildreds Residents' Group , which has fought the development since February 2002, will meet this week to discuss their response to the latest application.

The Big Yellow company declined to comment.

• The Big Yellow Self Storage Company made its first application to build a warehouse in Baring Road, Lee, in 2002.

Since then six applications have been quashed, including one which was defeated in the High Court in February 2003.

The latest defeat for Big Yellow came in January this year when a public inquiry threw out its most recent application.

At the time the planning inspector, who conducted the inquiry on behalf of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), said the proposal did not fit in with the "prevailing character" of the area.

Lewisham Council which opposed the previous applications say no date has yet been decided for the latest proposal to be heard.