Hillcrest Estate development

[JRW]

The point is, the London Wildlife Trust saw that the losses were not all set out in the application, and would have been unacceptable. I don't suppose they were impressed at being represented as part of the plan either! The Woodland trust agreed Hillcrest was ancient woodland, and therefore legally protected. This is not about my opinion, or your opinion, but the opinion of experts, and the protection of the law. If you want to be convinced, then you will have to follow it up yourself; there is extensive information online.

[Sydenham]

With the pressure to get new homes built as a political and social imperative it must have taken something really significant to cause this withdrawal. It will be interesting to understand the 'inconclusive' ecological findings that triggered the turnaround.

My understanding (hearsay) is that the report is not being made public - not even to councillors.

This is one site. Hopefully Lewisham have other more appropriate sites earmarked.

[JRW]

The SydSoc are continuing to plug away at getting the Willow Way site developed for housing. This has the potential to house far more families than the Hillcrest plan, with much better transport links, and right next door to shops, schools and doctors. Goodness knows why the council didn't do anything with the fully worked up plan when it was proposed by the SydSoc and Portas Pilot team all those years ago. It has been added to their list in the last year, but now I hope we will see some action on it; given modular units, this site could move quite fast.

Besides which, we are all going to keep pressing for the Hillcrest Estate to have the long-delayed repairs and renovations that the tenants deserve, and reopen the clubhouse. Somewhere for parent and child groups, social groups and neighbourhood meetings, and build on the existing strong sense of community.

[Sydenham]

Sounds as though a lot of positives have come from this activity. Great to see how it has helped a number of groups come together and if the Hillcrest community centre gets a new lease of life all the better.

And if it spurs Willow Way to get resolved good.

[TredownMan]

Not so positive for those on a housing waiting list, though.

[JRW]

Um, see the point about Willow Way. Faster and more homes .

[Sydenham]

@Tredownman - what you say is true and that's why it is important to understand why the scheme has been withdrawn so that Lewisham and Lewisham Homes can learn for the future and not do the same thing again. Obviously there was something not correct - either procedurally or functional. Shame so much time and money has been spent on what the council have decided is not a viable and appropriate scheme.

Learn and move on - and lets reflect that Hillcrest isn't the only housing development under way in the Borough. Hillcrest not being developed in the way proposed does not mean an end to new council housing in the borough. So new homes will still come on to the register - being made available to those on the lists now, or who become priority at the time who might not already be on the lists.

And it was the council who decided to commission the additional report (albeit after some pressure from concerned groups) and I think all credit to the council for being able to make what is obviously a difficult decision once they had chance to review their own report's findings at such an advanced stage.

[TredownMan]

Um, see the point about Willow Way. Faster and more homes .

How can it be faster? There is no proposal on the table at Willow Way. There was a scoping exercise some years ago. It’s a displacement activity to claim it’s happening.

I’m sorry, but when the campaign groups behind this have also repeatedly campaigned to stop other homes in the area - the subject of numerous threads on this site - you might forgive the cynicism.

[JGD]

@Tredownman - what you say is true and that's why it is important to understand why the scheme has been withdrawn so that Lewisham and Lewisham Homes can learn for the future and not do the same thing again. Obviously there was something not correct - either procedurally or functional. Shame so much time and money has been spent on what the council have decided is not a viable and appropriate scheme.

Learn and move on - and lets reflect that Hillcrest isn't the only housing development under way in the Borough. Hillcrest not being developed in the way proposed does not mean an end to new council housing in the borough. So new homes will still come on to the register - being made available to those on the lists now, or who become priority at the time who might not already be on the lists.

And it was the council who decided to commission the additional report (albeit after some pressure from concerned groups) and I think all credit to the council for being able to make what is obviously a difficult decision once they had chance to review their own report's findings at such an advanced stage.

This is the second occasion this year that Lewisham has had to reverse course on a proposal and apparently declined to reveal the reasoning.- the other being the Bampton proposal.

Whilst it was publicly announced as being contained in the targets for improved numbers of housing provided in the next period - progress on it and its status are uncertain.

Has anyone seen a hard and fast report ?

[Growsydenham]

What's the latest on the Bampton estate? I hadn't seen that.