One reason I follow the Tweeters I mentioned is to help me get local issues in persepective, which in another way, Stuart's comment here also does. As the former Chair of SydSoc and follower of this Forum, I am far more aware of cases where Lewisham have performed poorly than what will be the very much greater number of cases dealt with entirely competently and reasonably - this is how Stuart's comment helps.
I do not know if Lewisham is a council Eric Pickles might think is living in La La land, but I would like to know, because of its potential local implications. I can imagine two (related) ways he might come to this view - (1) because not enough new houses are getting built here, and (2) because he can point to specific cases where good applications have been unreasonably prevented. Michael's reference to Loampit Vale, Tigers Head, Green Man, Greyhound, Tyson Road, Catford Dog Track, or Bell Green is an argument to say that applications for more housing do get approved - although he would not call all - any? - of them good. However, it doesn't say anything about applications which have not got through. He will know more about such cases than me, and we'd probably be able to agree that they would not have been good.
Rather than looking at specific cases, it would help to have some aggregate numbers for how many new homes are getting build in Lewisham. I don't have these to hand, but I have looked in to it, and from memory the overall picture was that Lewisham was fairly typical in not getting enough new homes built, but far from the worst - so I suspect we're not a particular target. Even so, it would be useful to have these numbers, and I will try to find something in due course.
The main purpose of my OP was to identify the political realities in this area, a major one being that, for all the garbage about localism, power resides at the centre, and it demands more housing units. It also corresponds to the economic reality which shows up in house prices which would allow developers to make attractive profits if only they could - but clearly they are constrained by the politics.
Away from the policial centre there is plenty of opposition to such demands - e.g. from planning departments and local residents and community groups - so the pressure is resisted as far as the different groups involved are able to, and the result is a pattern of development which, while massively failing to deliver the new homes needed, is perceived as over development. If we look at what this pattern of development is in Lewisham, we see a Council which is able to push through large developments with significant levels of social housing, such as those cases Michael identifies, which come at the cost of green space, such as in Tyson Road, or old pubs such as the Green Man, Tiger's Head. In fact, when earlier this year I raised the issue of housing and the role of civic societies with my local councillors, one of them smiled indulgently and assured me that they were quite capable to rolling over any objections ...
Why should this be? Well, I suspect that part of it is that local amenity societies refuse to face up to the overall need for more housing, specifally higher densities on exiting residential sites, and so the community ends up loosing what they claim they most value, grandstanding with hysterical arguments about out children being seen by the neighbours; they should learn that
curtains are not only for twitching.
Michael's comments about redundancies in the department over the last few years, leaving fewer planning officers are also interesting, doubtless correct, and suggest economies of scale are likely to lead to consolidation of such services in larger units than Lewisham. I would hope, for the sake of the localism fellow citizens will really want, that this is done from
City Hall rather than Whitehall.