New Interim Director of Planning at Lewisham Council

Lewisham Council has appointed an Interim Director of Planning as Emma Talbot, the council’s longstanding lead planner is to leave her position shortly. The news was revealed following a public question asked by the chair of the Bell Green Neighbourhood Forum, Julia Webb at the full council meeting on 12th July 2023. PUBLIC QUESTION NO. …

“In Place of Profit” celebrates the NHS at 75

The Socialist Health Association has published a report, “In Place of Profit” to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the NHS. The title is a play on words of the founder of the NHS, Aneurin Bevan seminal work, “In Place of Fear“. Bevan understood the challenges in obtaining access to high quality health care, finding …

New Parliamentary Constituencies for Lewisham

The three parliamentary constituencies for Lewisham are set to change. Their boundaries have been redrawn and final proposals by the Boundary Commission for England have been published on 27th June 2023. The Boundary Commissions’ role is now complete. Their final recommendations will be implemented automatically. This is done by the Government submitting a single draft …

Lewisham Council changes Constitution – Planning Matters

The way Lewisham Council deals with planning applications has been changed. The number of objections required to trigger a public committee meeting has been increased from three to ten and the number of planning committees and their membership reduced. Changes were made to Lewisham Council’s Constitution in relation to Planning Committees at the AGM of …

London City Airport Expansion Plans to be ‘refused’

Newham Council has written to commentators on the recent controversial London City Airport planning application and revealed that they intend to recommend refusal. The detailed proposal seeks to allow up to 9 million passengers per annum – currently limited to 6.5 million – arrivals and departures on Saturdays until 18.30 with up to 12 arrivals …

Media Law – How to report a draft judgement – or not?

An interesting point of media law and local authorities has been clarified in the High Court. The case concerns the issuing of Confidential Embargoed Draft Judgements – CEDJ – and their wider circulation. Mr Justice Fordham had sent a confidential embargoed draft judgment (CEDJ) of his decision in the planning case of Kinsey, R (On …

Assumptions for Catford Traffic published

Transport for London have released an important ‘Catford Town Centre Traffic Forecasting Report’ dated May 2021. The AECOM report gives highway assignment forecasts for 2026, 2031 and 2041, both without and with the scheme. It explains the forecasting assumptions and presents the results from the ‘Without Scheme’ and ‘With Scheme’ forecasts. AECOM make clear that …

Grove Park Library’s future uncertain

Following a successful ‘Save Our Libraries’ campaign in 2016, Lewisham Council adopted a community library model. This leased buildings to voluntary sector bodies or external partners whilst keeping a core library service directly owned and run by the council in central venues like Lewisham High Street and Deptford. Fears for the future of Grove Park …

Costs of Buying Back Council Homes in Lewisham revealed

Following an article in the specialist Inside Housing publication on 3rd May 2023, explaining that Lewisham Council has bid and received funding from the London mayor’s Right to Buy-back scheme but could not disclose their true cost for “commercial sensitivities” a Freedom of Information request was filed. The costs for buying back 117 properties in …

Residents ‘disappointed’ by Catford Town Centre roads’ consultation

The campaign group Catford Against Social Cleansing has exclusively released their response to Transport for London’s consultation on “Catford Town Centre, changes to South Circular Road” to this blog site. In their letter campaigners criticise the proposals by questioning the lack of specific details like traffic flow data and maps, the omission of a retail park …