Tag: london square

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Lee Manor Society lodges comprehensive objection to Leegate proposals

Lee Manor Society has lodged a comprehensive objection to London Square’s proposals to amend the planning consent for Leegate.

In a 20 page document, Michael Haste, the Lee Manor Society Planning specialist and a retired architect, sets out a catalogue of reasons why the proposals should be rejected by Lewisham Planners.

You can read the full Lee Manor Society objection document here.

The key points are:

  • The proposal for the 17 storey Leegate Tower is in breach of the tall buildings height restrictions (12 storeys) as set out in the Lewisham Local Plan – and there is no over-riding material reason why it should be approved.
  • The numerous changes proposed by London Square cannot be characterised as “minor material amendments” as the developer claims. Lewisham Planners should treat them as material.
  • London Square’s proposal to increase the number the residential units on the site (an additional 59 taking the total to 620) is NOT a result of recent changes to fire and building regulations “but a direct result of the developer simply believing that Lewisham Council will not hold it to account and will agree with anything the developer wishes to construct irrespective of whether it constitutes over-development of the Leegate site or not.”
  • The proposed 2 and 3 bed flats above the fourth floor will not be suitable for families.
  • Some of the other proposed buildings are also in breach of the height limits in the Lewisham Local Plan and should also be rejected because of their unacceptable massing.
  • The absence of any parking for able-bodied residents will prevent normal deliveries and maintenance of the homes on the development. It will also put significant pressure on street parking in the immediate area.
  • The reduction in commercial floorspace will impact employment opportunities in the area.
  • The current proposals were not consulted on by London Square at its exhibition earlier in the summer.

The objection concludes that Lee Manor Society along with many of the residents of Lee Green and with amenity societies that represent the area, fully accepts the need for redevelopment of the Leegate site, but believes that such significant works must be carried out with full sensitivity to the local environment and the needs of Lee Green, not the needs of the developer to make profit over and above what a reasonable developer would seek to make.

Leegate will not become a place that people ‘want to visit and live in’ but will become an area where they may have little option but to live in if they simply want somewhere to live

Lee Manor Society Objection

If Lewisham Council approves the proposals it will not be helping ‘to provide a welcoming place where people will be able to live their best lives’ or ‘where generations will not only live but will thrive.’ Leegate will not become a place that people ‘want to visit and live in’ but will become an area where they may have little option but to live in if they simply want somewhere to live. It will not become a place where residents will ‘choose to stay’ and they will neither ‘enjoy a good quality of life or will love living in Lewisham.’

Michael Haste will be setting out details of the objection at the next meeting of the Society, on the evening of September 2nd. Full details of where and when can be found here: all are welcome.

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Deadline near for commenting on new Leegate proposals

The deadline for commenting on London Square’s application to vary the planning consent for Leegate is August 29th.

Full details of the proposals and how you can comment can be found in our recent story which you can read here.

The Lee Manor Society will be objecting on the basis that the proposals for a higher tower block exceed the provisions set out in the newly adopted Lewisham Local Plan as well as the clear guidance given with the Lewisham Tall Buildings Study Addendum. If approved, the proposals will also mean the removal of all able-bodied resident and commercial parking, which may put extra demand on parking around the site and in turn may then lead to new and unwanted CPZ’s.

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Leegate: London Square wins latest round in bid to raise the height of the tower block

Lewisham Planners have approved the application by London Square to remove the wording in the existing planning consent which refers to a tower block of 15 storeys.

This is despite objections by the Lee Manor Society, the Blackheath Society, and the Lee Forum.

London Square has made clear that the application (under Section 96a of the Town & Country Planning Act 1990) was its first move towards getting permission to increase the height of the tower. At its exhibition for residents in May it announced it now wanted to make the tower 18 storeys high.

London Square argued that this initial change was “non-material” but the Lee Manor Society and other objectors said it was material because it was clearly a precursor to a bid to increase the height of the tower under a Section 73 application.

However, Lewisham planners said the effects of the amendments would not alter the substance of the development from that already granted permission. “As such, Officers consider that the non-material amendment procedure is the correct route for the alterations. Considering the above, Officers are satisfied the description change is non-material.”

The planning report also says: “Neighbour consultation is not required for s96a applications, however it is noted that 88 objections have been received from neighbours and local groups, including Lee Forum, Lee Manor Society and Blackheath Society. The objections mostly relate to the plans that were presented at a public exhibition which showed Building A1 had been increased by 3-storeys from the consented 15, in addition to height increases elsewhere. At the time of this report, Leegate proposals remained at pre-app stage, and the exhibition proposals had since been revised.”

You can read the full planning document here.

Meanwhile London Square has lodged a new application to change another condition of the original planning consent.  This time they want permission to start demolition without an approved scheme of floodplain storage mitigation.

Floodplain storage mitigation in urban development involves using floodplains to store excess water during storms, reducing flood risk in downstream areas. This can be achieved through various methods, including creating or restoring natural floodplains, constructing reservoirs, and implementing sustainable drainage systems.

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Lee Manor Society files objection to Leegate Tower planning application

This article has been updated.

Lee Manor Society is lodging a formal objection to London Square’s planning application which would pave the way for a Leegate tower even higher than the 15 storeys already approved.

The Society has set out a series of reasons why Lewisham Council should reject the application. The full objection can be seen here.

Crucially, the Society argues the application to remove the 15-storey description of the tower, is not ‘non-material’. This is a technical, but vitally important aspect of the planning application.

The Society says that by removing the description it would lead to changes to the height of the proposed tower block, which would indeed be material because “it has the potential to adversely affect the amenity of neighbouring properties, including increased traffic due to an increase in residential units and of overshadowing.”

The objection points out that in their application, London Square’s agents say they have been ‘encouraged’ to test the height of the tower, known as Ai in the planning application.  

Their Public Consultation document states: ‘“Following meetings with Lewisham Council and the Design Review Panel, the team have been encouraged to test additional height at building A1. The current proposals would increase the height of A1 from 15 to 18 storeys‘”

That suggests Lewisham Council is at least partly complicit in the approach, despite the fact that its own ‘Local Plan’ (although not yet formally adopted) sets a normal upper limit for tall buildings of 12 storeys.

The Society also notes that London Square says it needs to raise the height of the tower above 15 storeys ‘to ensure the scheme remains deliverable.’

“So, the only objective reason provided by London Square appears to be that the current approved scheme is not viable,” says the objection.

It continues “It would be an incredibly incompetent developer who would spend serious amounts of money on purchasing a site with an extant Planning Approval that they knew full well to be unviable in meeting their own requirements.

“From this we can only surmise that London Square are simply ‘testing’ the limits of the current approved Application ref DC/22/126997 to garner more profit because they would not have purchased the rights to a development that was incapable of being achieved.”

The Society reminds Lewisham Council that when Galliard first proposed a 15- storey tower block there were numerous local objections. It argues that Lewisham Council should not denigrate the concern of a material change of height to being a non-material change by the removal of the words up to ‘15-storeys (including basement level) …’ from the Decision Notice because without those words there is no detailed description of the development proposals.

“What is clear to any reasonable person is that the height of the main tower Block A of the proposed Leegate development was a very material concern raised by numerous objections… the height of the Block A tower building was a matter of great concern to local residents throughout the previous (Galliard) planning application and is of no lesser concern now.

“To consider removing the text that relates in general to its overall height would simply be wrong and a dereliction of LBL’s responsibilities to its borough’s residents as this is clearly a material consideration of the proposed development.”