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Lewisham Council Plans All-Day Controlled Parking Zones

Lewisham Council is starting to draw up new plans for a range of further measures to reduce traffic across the Borough.  This includes proposals for a Controlled Parking Zone operating between 9 am and 5 pm in several roads east of Burnt Ash Road in Lee.  The council has sent leaflets with some details of their plans to people living in the affected streets.

Residents in this area have until January 26th to respond to the consultation. You can do this online by going to https://lewishamsustainablestreets.commonplace.is/

Here are the maps which the Council has posted on its website with proposals sketched out:

It’s suggested that the Council’s longer-term plan is to implement all-day CPZs in other areas which already have a two-hour parking restriction to prevent commuters parking on residential streets all day.

Residents in a CPZ would be able to buy a parking permit so they can park on the road.  The council has set out the costs as follows:

All non-housing estate residents receive a 15% discount in the first year, with the yearly for between £42 – £372 depending on your type of vehicle. Permits for residents of housing estates are between £10 – £87. It will also be possible to buy vouchers for visitors, though of course it would be expensive if someone was visiting all day.  

The Council says its Sustainable Streets programme aims to reduce the number of car journeys made in Lewisham and encourage more people to walk, cycle or use public transport, to reduce air pollution, traffic and congestion, improve road safety and lower carbon emissions.

Its proposals include a range of other ideas:

  • More street trees
  • Secure cycle storage
  • Electric vehicle charging points
  • Safer crossing points
  • Car club bays

Charles Batchelor of the Lee Manor Society has written to Lewisham Council objecting to the plan for all-day CPZs, which he said would impose an unnecessary inconvenience on local people moving around. He added “ On the other side of Burnt Ash Road, in the conservation area, the parking restriction runs from 10am to noon. This is perfectly adequate to deter commuter parking while allowing residents to go about their business unimpeded for much of the day. I can see no reason why these more limited hours would not work in the Leyland Road area.”

Frances Migniuolo of Lee Fair Share and the Lee Manor Society added “The proposals seem very crude and are likely to discriminate against certain groups. They will not affect residents in big houses with generous driveways as much, as they will have space for two cars plus on their driveways. They would impact more on those living in terraced housing with  little or no driveways.”

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Buckden Close Planning Application

44 objections have been submitted against a planning application for land adjoining Buckden Close in Lee.  Last night (Wednesday 15th January)  Lewisham Council held an online Q and A session between the developers and the objectors.

Amalaki Developments Ltd wants to put up a three storey building containing nine flats.

The plan also includes a proposal for four car parking spaces on a small area of green open land that sits within the Lee Manor Conservation Area, located behind numbers 113-133 Burnt Ash Road.

Initially the Council is only considering an outline application to establish if the site has suitable access.

At the Q and A session a Lewisham Planning Officer put the objectors’ questions to Amalaki, but the residents themselves weren’t allowed to speak. Lewisham has promised to publish the questions and answers in due course.

Lee Manor Society has objected to the use of green open land on the site that sits within the Lee Manor Conservation area for a proposed use as car parking. The Applicant has not yet shown how this loss of green open space can in anyway ‘conserve or enhance the Conservation area’.

The Application can be viewed by searching for ‘Buckden Close’ on Lewisham’s Planning website https://lewisham.gov.uk/myservices/planning/find-comment-planning-applications and finding the Application reference number DC/24/137866.   

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Lee Green Assembly Update

Lewisham Council has confirmed there WILL be an Assembly meeting on February 6th. It’s at Lochaber Hall, starting at 1900. However, as reported here last year, that may well be the last Assembly meeting in its current form.

Cllr Edison Huynh told Jim Mallory in an email last month that: “Whilst assembly council support is being removed, that doesn’t mean that ward assemblies and forms of resident engagement are being stopped. They will continue in some form depending on local contexts – current work is already underway on collating best practice in wards (both online and offline) as well as bringing together the different channels/forums that residents can already contribute to community development to ensure there is no duplication and ensure the best use of finite council resources.”

The Council is trying to make £30 million of savings to meet the increased costs of social care. He said that the data suggested the assemblies in their current state were useful but not representative of Lewisham’s diverse demographic.

” The challenge for us collectively is to find better, more representative ways of engaging residents and reaching a wider pool of residents and not just residents who already have a strong voice/presence on many forums and bodies. To be clear (as unfortunately there is no delicate way of making this point – especially as those most involved in assemblies are defacto also the most engaged residents), this is not any criticism of Lee Green specifically but as a general trend across the whole borough.”

Unfortunately, Cllr Huynh won’t be at the February 6th meeting so residents won’t be able to quiz him about the Council’s plans for replacing the Assembly system.

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The foodbins are emptied

Good news for lee residents who have been waiting more than three weeks for their food bins to be empties. They were finally done yesterday, at least in some roads in the area. Please let us know if you are still waiting.