By Charles Batchelor
Look away and the Leegate development has added another storey or two to its overall height and a small town to its dwelling numbers. When the Lee Manor Society began scrutinising plans for the demolition and rebuilding of the tired 1960s shopping centre more than a decade ago we felt more housing would make sense. The original centre had only 36 apartments on its upper levels.
What we have seen as the project has moved through a series of developers – St Modwen, Galliard homes and now London Square – is an inexorable increase in the number of dwellings – to 640 – and a decline – responding to retail market trends – in the size and number of shops. This now threatens to destroy the largely low-level character of Lee Green crossroads and put an intolerable strain on local services.
It also threatens to impinge on the skyline of the Lee Manor conservation area and of Blackheath. These distant impacts were considered in the original plans and thought acceptable but at 18-storeys are unlikely to comply.
The Society has argued against the increasing height and bulk of development with a particular focus on the size of the corner block, now 15 storeys but threatening to rise to 18 storeys. This would tower over the surrounding three and four-storey Victorian and older buildings that make up the crossroads. The original Leegate rose to between eight and 10 storeys but these were to a degree set back from the pavement.
Developers have argued that nearby Leybridge Estate is a high rise development but it is set back in extensive landscaping so less noticeable from the road. One effect of the Leegate development will be to increase wind gusting around the base of the buildings making nearby pavements even less attractive to pedestrians.
London Square, the latest developer, is retaining the central partially grassed square which emerged in earlier plans, but this will also be increasingly overshadowed by the tall buildings that surround it. If the tiny Confluence Park in the recent Lewisham town centre development is anything to go by the square will be an enclosed and unwelcoming space.
Lewisham seems intent on spreading the high-rise model adopted for the Lewisham Gateway development recently completed next to the station. This scheme was shortlisted in 2018 for Design Magazine’s Carbuncle Cup, an award intended to highlight the bad architecture blighting Britain’s towns and cities. “It seems to me … they haven’t really regenerated anything at all,” commented Thomas Lane, the magazine’s editor.
Lewisham planners have shown little understanding of these issues and have ignored local opinion from the outset. The original St Modwen plan for a large supermarket – directly opposite Sainsbury’s large supermarket – with a 300-space parking area on the roof was waved through. This despite the inevitable impact on local traffic levels on Lee’s already crowded main roads. Changing retail trends made a large supermarket no longer viable and it was later dropped. Lewisham’s planners played no part in this.
So what can the Society and local residents do? The council’s local plan sets a recommended limit of 12 storeys on building at Leegate and at other local district centres but this had not gained full council sign-off before Galliard won planning consent in 2023. If London Square is required to make a new planning application this limit would presumably apply. Any substantial change to the approved application would require a new application though London Square is attempting to argue its changes are acceptable and should not trigger the need for a new application.
Can we expect the council to take a robust view and listen to the people who live locally? It has previously subordinated all other considerations to a single target: more housing – itself a result of central government failings in housing policy over the decades – and will be tempted to continue along this path.
To be clear, the Lee Manor Society acknowledges the need for more housing – especially affordable housing – in the Borough, so long as there is infrastructure to support it. Our objection is to such a high tower block.
The scheme is on its third developer and Lewisham will be reluctant to lose this one. Resident’s patience has been stretched by the long delays and the run-down state of the site with some arguing anything would be better than what we have now.
But giving in to planning fatigue would be wrong. We hope for little from the council’s planners but will continue to fight and hope the regulations in place will constrain them. One recent resident revolt over a low traffic neighbourhood in Southwark won the backing of the courts and the scheme was overturned. It seems citizens have to go to the law to assert their rights against rogue councils. But this would be an expensive option with an uncertain outcome. We urge residents who oppose attempts to enlarge the scheme to continue to object.
Objections can be made on to the planners on planning@lewisham.gov.uk with the application number DC/25/140113 and providing your name and address. You can also write to to Planning Department, Lewisham Council, Laurence House, Catford Road, London SE6 4RU. Or you can contact your local councillor or the Mayor – you can find their contact details here: https://councilmeetings.lewisham.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx?FN=ALPHA&VW=LIST&PIC=0
