The Lee Manor Society has criticised Lewisham Council for several parts of its proposal to designate Lee Green crossroads an “Area of Special Local Character”. Although the Society welcomes the broad initiative, it has identified several failings in the document, which the Council published last year.
In its formal response to the Council,. the Society asks why the document doesn’t refer to the coming development at Leegate which it says will “dramatically affect the setting of the proposed ASLC.”
The Council’s proposal also says “sites in the immediate setting of the ASLC, including the Leegate Centre, Sainsbury’s and Stephen James car yard) should seek to enhance it by responding sensitively to the scale and grain of the historic context”’.
The Society told the Council “This is exactly what the currently approved Leegate Centre proposals have failed to do and it is a great shame that this document does not pick up on this fact and criticise Lewisham Council itself for its clear and obvious failing in this regard to the obvious detriment of this ASLC.” Sainsbury’s and the car yard could both be developed in the future, as is envisaged in the Lewisham Local Plan .
The Society’s detailed response also includes an improved map of the area (shown above) which sets it in the context of street names and landmarks. Many residents were baffled by the Council’s version.
Although the document talks about the impact of the railway on Lee, it makes no mention of the introduction of electric trams in the early 1900s. A new line was laid from Lewisham to Lee Green in 1907 which meant more people could afford to live in Lee and travel to work. Trams were eventually replaced by motor buses in 1952 and nothing remains of this history.
The photographs below show tram lines being installed at Lee Green in 1907 and one of the last journeys of the tram which passed through Lee, in 1952.
The Society also points out that the document’s reference to trees on Eltham Road and Burnt Ash Road, as being ‘of great importance’ to the setting of the proposed ASLC, neglects to mention that several mature trees will be lost to the Leegate development.
‘ PLANE STUPID ‘
I reluctantly had to accept that a Climate conscious Council and Mayor of London, decided that cutting down Leegate’s Three, 60/70-year-old, pollution busting , formerly TPO’d Plane trees; releasing all that confined Carbon dioxide into a heavily polluted Lee Green crossroads was a great idea.
What I did not expect, having been promised answers as to how these trees could be sustainably repurposed into things like benches sculptures and habitat, was to find on Wednesday that they had unceremoniously been cut down and all trace was gone. Presumably wood chip? Who knows as No-one is saying? Along with a few cut down in Leyland Road, which has rendered the formerly impressive Tree Avenue obsolete. I also asked if replacements in the so-called new Greenery through way on the far site could be planted now, so as not to waste years of potential growth.
No response, just silence from Planners and politicians, has been the only thing forthcoming. So many Lewisham housing Planning applications have been allowed through with I believe, no Mature trees saved. In this day and age of concerns about Climate change and insurance claims, necessitating the loss of mature trees which may have been for good reasons, it seems incredible that mature trees are sacrificed with loss of habitat and hibernating creatures for no more good reason than a housing layout, or the cramming in of more quarts into pint pot housing. I thought that the unceremonious loss of our Community was bad enough.
Maybe I’m wrong? The lack of protests from all the Political parties and abject apathy from the General Public for this tree loss leads me to believe that this is what people want. In other areas of London, we had protests, people tying themselves to trees. National outrage at the loss of the Sycamore Gap tree and the Toby trees. Here not a peep! Trees in the wrong place can be a pain, but this vandalism on the altar of maximizing profit comes at a price to the environment and community.
Have we got cleaner air at the Lee Green Crossroads than in 2016? Who knows? It is not monitored there. Certainly, with the loss of the Plane trees which was the only area at Lee Green above the Legal pollution limit in 2016, it must be worse?
I raise this as a discussion document.
As our beloved late Chair, Ralph White used to say. Be careful what you wish for!
Well done its a farce and waste of money the Council has not supported any positive proposal for any enhancement of the crossroad area, in spite of being elected by us to serve us.
I completely agree. It’s obvious that different groups in the Council don’t talk to each other, and don’t talk to the people who actually live here.