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. …

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 …

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 …

Catford Roadworks to cost over £50 million

The proposals under consultation to re-route the South Circular A205 road in Catford are estimated to cost £55 to £60 million of public money. The figures were released following a public question to Lewisham Council’s Deputy Mayor responsible for planning. Lewisham Council believes that the majority of the funding will come from the Government via …

Consultation on Catford Road Traffic

Transport for London has started a consultation on changing the road layout in Catford, south east London. The stated aims of the scheme are to simplify the road network and make it safer and easier to walk, cycle and use public transport. A part of the Catford Road section of the main A205 South Circular …

Lewisham Council cuts and spending challenges

The current Chancellor of the Exchequer , Jeremy Hunt has warned “eye-watering” decisions lie ahead. The Treasury confirmed the chancellor will announce “further changes to fiscal policy” in the Medium-Term Fiscal Plan. The one certainty is that local government finance will be hit. The Institute of Government and the CIPFA have published their latest ‘Performance …