Does Lewisham Council take it constituents support for granted?

[GLOBAL THINKER]

Are we as residents really listened to?

Is it a case that Lewisham as a long-standing Labour borough has taken it constituents generous support for granted?

I have just read that Lewisham Council have approved a large, overbearing development at Mais House despite strong objections from the local community. Having read recent articles about developers having to pay community infrastructure levies (or not Robert Jenrick!) and Councils accepting hundreds of thousands of pounds from property developers to fund planning guidelines designed to help govern their own schemes, I wondered if any this applied to Lewisham Council?

I just wondered how Lewisham consider environmental issues when approving these developments. Closing off high value roads under the guise of COVID whilst reports on poor air quality around our schools seems to be brushed under the carpet. I do not see any real regeneration in Sydenham, lots of talk (Bell Green masterplan) but plans for housing seem to be pushed through with very little problem.

I have lived here for 20 years and seen very little change. Catford has seen numerous resources poured into it considering it only has one train station! Sydenham has two train stations and the East London Line all within a 10-minute walk for most people and no effort from Lewisham Council to regenerate the area (improved high street, landscaping, parks, improved lighting at Lower Sydenham train station etc).

I am curious as to why Sydenham has been overlooked.

[simon]

Catford has two railway stations.
I have lived here for 25 years and have seen a lot of changes; some of it instigated by the Council. The High Street regeneration had a mixed reception but there was considerable investment and it is better than it was before.

[JGD]

I just wondered how Lewisham consider environmental issues when approving these developments. Closing off high value roads under the guise of COVID whilst reports on poor air quality around our schools seems to be brushed under the carpet. I do not see any real regeneration in Sydenham, lots of talk (Bell Green masterplan) but plans for housing seem to be pushed through with very little problem.
...
I am curious as to why Sydenham has been overlooked.

SydSoc would probably hold a different view on many of their successes for Sydenham. The Greyhound and the Pavement Works on and around Sydenham Road are two notable projects.

A lot of effort has been expended on the Bell Green Master Plan but it has not proceeded beyond initial publication last year.

At the last pre-pandemic lock-down Bellingham Ward Assembly meeting, council officers reported that the parties who had expended that effort had not in fact linked the output to the council's consultations for the area. This is in part because SydSoc has no significant representation in Bellingham Ward and failed to stimulate or secure any real measure of support from ward residents. As it stands today there is no civic amenity body that has formed and could be considered truly representative of the area and would meet the minimum requirements to engage in due process with the Council.

Efforts expended by Bellingham residents and ward councillors have identified that the council has received and still retains some £3.4m (and still counting) of S106 type monies deposited by developers of the several phases of work at Bell Green. The pandemic would appear to have added further delay to the completion of a report by council officers that was to finalise the status and total sum of these monies.

Bellingham residents have had to show the patience to wait since 1994 to see how this matter would play out and whether the monies would be applied to what it was intended to originally deliver - safety measures for pedestrians and the widening of the bridge next to Sainsbury's at Southend Lane.

Of course that bridge is not the council's to do with as it wishes. Network Rail owns it and TfL and Train Operators would have a lot of say in whether such a scheme could be approved by them. Network Rail would be required to approve a substantial investment from their regulated funding if the bridge widening was endorsed.

Such a sum of money as is held by the Council is not insubstantial and should a bridge widening scheme prove not to be possible or approval is not forthcoming - works to improve pedestrian safety in and around that area should prove to be a natural candidate for early delivery - albeit 26 years after it had been conceived as being required.

In these circumstances road redesigns that will improve traffic flows and reduce the frequency of emission generating stop-start activities would greatly improve the environment around Haseltine school. Perhaps further allocations of a portion of those monies to provide Living Green Screens around the school to further improve and enhance air quality could be considered.

Housing is mentioned. It would seem that Lewisham is in fact always a little behind the curve on delivery of its annual targets for increasing social housing provision. Some local schemes attract approval and opprobrium in equal measures - but the facts are - not enough homes are being built. It might be anticipated this year's efforts will have been badly affected by the pandemic and by its impact on Council finances.

[syd]

I totally agree but i dont thinks its overlooked i think its a deliberate act to use our council tax to smarten up the areas where new voters move into to ensure they keep voting labour.


We are the only place with a tube in zone 3 which has not changed for the better this century. Ive been here for a while and the objections to nandos, the monstrosity And the chainsaw (i presume) taken to the lime tree where i live makes me question the people in charge, something ain't right

‪

[Clovers]

I totally agree but i dont thinks its overlooked i think its a deliberate act to use our council tax to smarten up the areas where new voters move into to ensure they keep voting labour.
‪

This is an interesting comment; where are these areas in your view?

[syd]

I totally agree but i dont thinks its overlooked i think its a deliberate act to use our council tax to smarten up the areas where new voters move into to ensure they keep voting labour.
‪

This is an interesting comment; where are these areas in your view?

See for yourself

https://lewisham.gov.uk/inmyarea/regeneration

[Clovers]

I totally agree but i dont thinks its overlooked i think its a deliberate act to use our council tax to smarten up the areas where new voters move into to ensure they keep voting labour.
‪

This is an interesting comment; where are these areas in your view?

See for yourself

https://lewisham.gov.uk/inmyarea/regeneration

What’s a generic regeneration program got to do with voting labour? I don’t see the connection so never mind.

[MET]

Labour have 54 out of 54 seats on Lewisham council, and got 60% of the vote in 2018: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Lewi ... l_election

(i.e. it's unlikely they feel the need to bung money to certain areas to get more voters!)

[syd]

Labour have 54 out of 54 seats on Lewisham council, and got 60% of the vote in 2018: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Lewi ... l_election

(i.e. it's unlikely they feel the need to bung money to certain areas to get more voters!)

People who move into new builds or regenerated areas need to be kept sweet. Lib dems took over Southwark (with a tory coalition in 2006 ) and Lambeth in the early 00’s. The rest of us dont matter so much