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 …

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 and Bell Green Boundaries

Since Lewisham Council’s Director of Planning, Emma Talbot refused the application for the Bell Green Neighbourhood Area on 24th August 2022, this has sparked a debate about the ward boundaries and their construction. Interestingly, Lewisham Council has been re-warded by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England as recently as November 2020 and these new …

London Wildlife Trust concerns about plans for Mais House revealed

A letter from the London Wildlife Trust’s Director of Conservation, Mathew Frith has revealed concerns about the controversial Mais House planning application on Sydenham Hill. The expert biodiversity and environment charity says that there was no evidence to support the statement of ‘no residual effects’ to the ancient woodland on Sydenham Hill ‘nor are the …

Higher Towers for Catford Island

Lowick Group, the public relations firm for the controversial Plassy Road development in Catford have released details of further plans for the site on the south circular road in London. They have dubbed the site ‘Catford Island’ in their leaflet. They say that the area has been identified by both Lewisham Council and the GLA …