Lewisham Council has announced that Blackheath Fireworks are coming back this year. The event will be held on Saturday 1 November 2025, from 4pm to 10.30pm.
It will be the first time the fireworks have been staged since 2017. Unlike in previous years it seems that visitors will have to buy tickets to get close to the display. The Council says more details will be announced in September.
The Council said “With support from a top events company, this year’s show will feature a show stopping fireworks display, entertainment, market stalls, and more. Event details will be announced in September. Watch this space!”
The Lewisham East MP Janet Daby is to take up worries about London Square’s plan to increase the height of the proposed Leegate Tower with Lewisham Council.
Ms Daby met representatives of local community groups, including the Lee Manor Society recently. She was told that there were concerns about both Lewisham Council’s and developer London Square’s commitment to transparency over the submission and consultation process of their recent Section 96A application and to ‘meaningful’ consultation with local residents.
Crucially Michael Haste, the Lee Manor Society planning expert and a retired architect flagged that by approving the recent removal of any reference to the heights of the proposed buildings at Leegate from the Planning Decision Notice (that Lewisham Council approved on 30th June 2025), the Council was now publicly stating that no developer in future would be required to provide any height information in any future Planning Application. Such information might now only be found in drawings and other documents making up a Planning Application.
The meeting was also attended by Sarah McMichael of the Lee Forum and former Councillor Jim Mallory, chair of the Lee Green Consortium, who raised other issues including the absence of general parking in the new development.
London Square says it doesn’t plan any residential parking except for Blue Badge spaces and two Car Clubs slots on Leyland Road. Ms Daby was told that London Square would be compelled by way of the agreed Section 106 Agreement (signed between Lewisham Council and Galliards) to enter into legally binding contracts with new Leegate residents to prevent them from even applying for CPZ parking permits in the area.
It is expected that Ms Daby will pass on the residents’ concerns to Lewisham Council by letter.
A new Zebra Crossing has recently been installed on Manor Lane close to the junction of Fernbrook Road and Southbrook Road. Two crossings are planned in total with the second to be constructed later this year.
The crossings replace the previous ‘School Crossing Patrol’ (or Lollipop Lady/Man as we used to call them). No mention is had in the Lee Green Councillors Report (July 2025) as to the fate of the said Lollipop Lady but we must assume that her role has been retired.
Lee Green Councillors have said that the new crossing will provide a safe location for crossing on a 24/7 basis instead of for just a few hours each day during school term time.
Combined with existing School Streets, the Lewisham and Lee Green Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and the Sustainable Streets programme these new crossings are a part of Lewisham Council’s commitment to making sure that our streets are pedestrian friendly and support active travel throughout the borough.
Whilst traffic in general has seriously reduced along Manor Lane since the LTN was introduced around 4 years ago, this particular junction on Manor Lane remains busy and Lewisham’s Councillors are to be congratulated for finding the funding to implement such works for the safety of all local residents.
Lewisham’s mayor and cabinet have approved plans to extend their Sustainable Streets initiative – involving permit-only parking, street trees and electric vehicle charging points – to streets to the east of Burnt Ash Road. Only three streets are mentioned in the plans given the green light on July 9 although the original proposal unveiled in February covered all the streets on the Dorville Road side of Burnt Ash Road.
Streets referred to in the council plans are Burnt Ash Hill, Cambridge Drive and Upwood Road with no mention of Leyland Road, Dorville Road or Carston Close. In addition, council traffic planners seem to think Burnt Ash Hill, which runs from the south circular to the Lee station bridge, continues all the way to the Lee Green crossroads.
No mention is made of the length of time for which parking restrictions would apply but the changes will be made by extending the existing Lee Green controlled parking zone, covering much of the Lee Manor conservation area, the mayor and cabinet said. Permit parking in this controlled parking zone (CPZ) run from 10 am to 12 noon Monday to Friday suggesting these timings will apply to the east of Burnt Ash Road.
The original plans for the sustainable streets initiative east of Burnt Ash road suggested imposing parking controls from 9 am to 5 pm which apply in some other CPZs. The Society had objected to any such move on the grounds it would make life difficult for carers and tradesmen and the residents themselves.
Consultation of residents in the half-dozen separate CPZ zones that cover Lee showed a general resistance to any extension of the time period covered by parking controls. There was strong support for tree planting and safer crossings and junctions with moderate support for cycle storage and electric vehicle charging points.
Once sustainable measures are installed they will be subject to review after six to 12 months by council officers, not by councillors or the mayor and cabinet. Council officers failed to turn up to a planned meeting with residents in February and refused a Society offer to arrange an alternative meeting.
If the council has confused Burnt Ash Hill with Burnt Ash Road then controls would apply between the Lee station bridge and the Lee Green crossroads. What is not clear is if this would include the narrow parallel road between Leegate and Dorville Road. The Society called for controls on parking alongside the avenue of mature trees along this road to prevent damage and compaction of the soil. No reference is made in council’s paperwork to this issue though tree planting and presumably care is a cornerstone of the sustainable streets policy.
Sustainable streets aims to improve air quality and road safety, reduce noise and traffic congestion and make neighbourhoods greener and healthier by reducing car use. The council wants 80 per cent of all journeys to be by cycle, walking or public transport by 2041. Fifty-five per cent of Lewisham’s streets are covered by CPZs, one of the lowest levels of any London borough.
