Author: leemanorsoc

This will be the home of news about the Society’s activities. You can also find that on the Lee Green. London Facebook page.

We will also post notices of upcoming meetings and events, as well as the minutes of previous meetings and other important documents including the Annual Review.

We welcome interesting articles about the Lee Manor area, especially anything relating to its history.

The Society is very grateful to Tom Bilson who created the website and took many of the photos.

The Planning Inspectorate has turned down an appeal by the owners of the Lee Centre, Oakhurst Guardian Ltd, against the decision of Lewisham Council to refuse permission for change of use. The owners wanted it changed from “community use” to “nursery use! – and also wanted to make internal changes to the building.

The Inspector Hannah Guest said “The local community are already experiencing a lack of space for use by community groups and soon there will be a further significant reduction in the provision of this type of space. The appeal proposal would therefore have an appreciable detrimental effect on the range of community facilities available in the local area.

“While there is also a large demand for nursery places in the surrounding area, as nurseries are defined as a Class E use under the Use Class Order, finding an alternative building for this use is likely to be easier than finding an alternative building for an unfettered community use. I am therefore of the view that the benefit of providing a nursery in the appeal property would not outweigh the harm arising from the loss of the existing space available for use by community groups and, thus would not justify allowing the appeal.”

The full decision can be seen here: :https://acp.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/ViewDocument.aspx?fileid=58421263

The application Ref is DC/23/132564.