Lee Green Assembly last night heard more details about Lewisham Council’s partnership with Lime which is aimed at preventing the electric bikes being dumped randomly around the area, blocking pavements and creating trip hazards.
Under the scheme, which won’t be rolled out until next year, users will have to return the bikes to designated parking bays. If they don’t, they will effectively be fined, as they will continue to be charged. Lime has already signed similar agreements with other London boroughs, including Hackney.
“The new scheme and new service agreement will require that Lime use their technology to prevent people from ending their rides outside of designated parking zones, which will be spread out across the borough,” said Cllr James Rathbone.
The location of the bays will be decided after a consultation process. Lewisham Council has just issued a set of FAQs about the scheme which can be found here.
“Lime is not being required to stop operating in the borough. They have to agree to the terms of the new license but they’re not being required to withdraw their service until that happens,” added Cllr Rathbone. “They also have to keep meeting existing Terms and Conditions about sending people out to remove dumped bikes, particularly if they’re reported, and the council is working to try to get their response time improved and hold them to account.”
Lime is committed to removing bikes parked obstructively or discarded within 12 hours once reported. In cases where bikes are causing an immediate obstruction or danger, they will be removed within two hours once reported.
The Old Tiger’s Head will reopen under new management on 17th October from midday with a grand opening on Saturday 19th, accompanied by live music.
A spokesperson for Star Pubs says: “It will operate as a very different style of pub from before, returning to its roots with real ale hand-pulls back on the bar again, a focus on rugby and on serving traditional pub food, prepared fresh in house.
“The family and dog friendly pub will open seven days a week from midday to 11pm Monday to Thursday; midday to midnight Friday and Saturday, and midday to 10.30pm on a Sunday. Children will be welcome until seven in the evening.”
The redevelopment of Leegate by Galliard Homes is being held up by continuing wrangling with Lewisham Council over some final details.
A meeting of the Lee Green Assembly on October 7th was told by a Galliard representative, Jonathan Bloom, that although they have received Planning Committee approval for the scheme, they do not have full planning consent because they are still negotiating with Lewisham on the Section 106 aspect of the development.
“Section 106 is the legal contract between us and the local authority in terms of what we’re looking to deliver, in terms of agreement on local labour, affordable housing, commercial splits, how the road management will work, if there are contributions that need to be made,” said Mr. Bloom.
“So, it’s about us having to give back because we’re adding education and healthcare provision contributions. So, it is a very complex document, and they are getting more and more and more complex, particularly in London, so we are still looking to get that signed.”
Jonathan Bloom of Galliard, right, at the Lee Green Assembly meeting.
Mr. Bloom said the original plan was for the Section 106 agreement to be signed three months after the Planning Committee gave approval, but was delayed because of pressure of work at Lewisham Council. He added that although they hoped to stick to their original timelines, until the Section 106 agreement was signed demolition work could not start. In fact, he didn’t think Galliard had even tendered for the demolition work or the removal of asbestos from the site yet.
Mr. Bloom agreed that there were disputes with Lewisham Council about some aspects of the Section 106 agreement but refused to say what they are.
Cllr James Rathbone added “A Section 106 agreement is not something which is subject to consultation or community input or the community would like this particular clause. It’s simply not how a contract can be negotiated in any form.”
Mr. Bloom confirmed that Galliard would be making contributions towards extra costs of healthcare and education which result from the development.
“Once we have that signed, we then get full planning consent. We are working, though, on the timelines that we originally gave in the update to get vacant possession over October, so that when we have the section 106 signed and consent given, we can then look to progress with demolition and build up the site.”
Mr. Bloom told a questioner that the amount of parking in the development would be dictated by City Hall. “I can’t remember the exact number off-hand, but we have to work with the London plan and what’s set by the London mayor, and obviously they are pushing for zero car parking developments.”
Although many Leegate tenants have now left Mr. Bloom said a few remained. “We’ve still got a few that we’re working with due to the nature of leases, and we’ve got one or two private residents still.”
Mr. Bloom made clear that Galliard has still not agreed its traffic management plan for the development. It will be the subject of a four-way agreement with Lewisham and Greenwich Councils, Transport for London, and Galliard.
” We have a number of conditions that we will have to meet, and before we can even start on site, one of those conditions will be a traffic management plan that we will agree with the local authority to ensure that we can ease as much concern and congestion as possible. Obviously, it is a big site, but we’re not constantly bringing in equipment. It’s staged and phased over time.”
He added: “I’m not sure the exact rules. Every local authority has different rules. And obviously you’ve got residents you’ve got to think about so you can’t go too late at night. So, the aim is always to avoid the busiest times of day as part, as part of that. But what we do once we start construction, we send out quarterly newsletters where we’ll keep the local community updated on what phases have been completed and what phases are coming forward to give advance warning.”
Mr. Bloom went on to say “I understand the people want detail, and it’s been going on a long time but it is incredibly complex site, and the 106 is a huge, meaty lump of a document that has been negotiated with lawyers. The parking is what the committee have approved. Nothing has changed, the units, the development is as is, exactly nothing changes. In that sense, the 106 is more the technical stuff that helps you deliver what has been agreed by the planning committees, what the application that was submitted, that was signed up by the local authority, by the planning committee, that is what will be delivered. The 106 is about how we deliver it and the impact it’s going to have, so that you can ensure that the local community is getting back what they deserve.”
Charles Batchelor of the Lee Manor Society writes: We fought the original St Modwen Leegate plans for over ten years because it included a large supermarket with rooftop parking for 300 cars (likely to cause traffic chaos and vastly increased pollution locally) and a ‘square’ that consisted of a wide stretch of pavement alongside the Burnt Ash Road bus stop. Lewisham’s planners were quite happy with this monstrosity but the changing retail market and Asda’s withdrawal from the scheme killed it off. St Modwen’s second proposal gave us a much smaller ‘walk to’ food store, minimal parking and a proper square in the centre of the plot. For internal commercial reasons St Modwen then sold on to Galliard. They have kept the internal square (good) but added more apartments and increased the height and mass of the scheme (bad). The original St Modwen plan was not a good one and local community opposition (not just us) was only one element in the delays. I’m proud of the stance we took but our powers are limited in the face of a council with a single-minded pursuit of housing numbers and little understanding of the character of their own borough.
The latest applications and decisions, together with any views the Lee Manor Society has on them, are now available in the Planning Updates section of the website. https://leemanorsociety.org/planning-updates/
