Lewisham Local Plan

[RJM]

The local plan is up for consultation on Commonplace: https://lewishamlocalplan.commonplace.is

Somewhat annoyingly to my mind, it splits things so that Sydenham is in with Forest Hill and Brockley as Lewisham West, but Perry Vale is split between West and South, while Bell Green, Bellingham and Southend are in Lewisham South. Also a lot of the sites identified for potential redevelopment seem to be supermarkets - I'm not quite sure where we're supposed to buy food if all those go ahead!

[GLOBAL THINKER]

Is there any evidence of people’s view being taken on board from previous consultations? I get the sense these consultations are a bit of a smokescreen and to give people the impression they are involved in decisions that affect their local area. Looking at the comments there are a lot of improve pavements/paving/tidy up parks/improve lighting etc contributions. Basically, things that residents have been saying to Lewisham Council for years and frankly things they should be doing. What will change this time?
I stopped using the Bridge Leisure Centre years ago, because even back then it was very poorly run, even booking a badminton court was drama. Maybe Lewisham Council could consult with the charity that run the Spa in Beckenham on how to provide reasonably priced classes/clean facilities. There are so many people locally who could sustain the Bridge, I am not sure why Lewisham chose year after year to run it a loss without taking a step back and asking themselves “what is going wrong here, and how can we fix it and save thousands of pounds?”. I would rather it was closed for a couple of years and re-built.
I fear the next fight for residents will be how to stop the land being sold off to developers. I know Councils are strapped for cash, more reason to be innovative, showing residents that change happens, is one way to keep people engaged and committed.

[JGD]

Is there any evidence of people’s view being taken on board from previous consultations? I get the sense these consultations are a bit of a smokescreen and to give people the impression they are involved in decisions that affect their local area. Looking at the comments there are a lot of improve pavements/paving/tidy up parks/improve lighting etc contributions. Basically, things that residents have been saying to Lewisham Council for years and frankly things they should be doing. What will change this time?

First scan of the consultation document.

First thoughts and observations are that the Bell Green and Lower Sydenham Area gets 74 mentions in the plan.

Through several major sections of the document it is evident that there are references that are historic and out of date and do not reflect the contemporary situation that exists on the ground. As an example, the gas-holders are referred to as still being present in some parts and extant in others. Street names that have been altered for several years now appear in proposals with their old names still marked on drawings and confusion therefore arising in the narratives where descriptions of proposals refer to these old street names - thus leaving the scope and location of proposals clouded by these inconsistences.

There is some real foresight in the drafts and with some very extended timescales attached to higher level plans - looking forward to thirty or forty year windows before the high level objectives are delivered for homes for example.

No mention is made of the Discourse and Sydenham Society version of a Master Plan proposal publicly launched by those parties. There is an oblique reference to A master plan being developed.

There is a summary version and an 800-900 page fuller version.

Well worth the read. The Local Plan is extremely important to our community and deserves close scrutiny. It warrants as full a response from all our communities and from representative parties who have real roots in the wards and consult with residents in them.

More reading to do and deeper study required.

[mosy]

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I fear the next fight for residents will be how to stop the land being sold off to developers. I know Councils are strapped for cash, more reason to be innovative, showing residents that change happens, is one way to keep people engaged and committed.

I fear that we the public are slowly but surely being weaned off all public services, spaces and amenities at all levels that once were taken as read to be the duty of officialdom to provide from taxes we paid to promote and achieve better health, welfare and mind development of the public as a whole.

Does any part of the plans (I can only find district boundary maps) include anything that's not either commercial or housing?

[Sydenham]

Lots more information here on the consultation including some online information sessions. Details available here:

https://lewisham.gov.uk/myservices/plan ... local-plan

"COVID-19 has made it difficult for us to hold public consultation events, but we are hosting a series of information sessions on Zoom.

The first round of sessions will focus on the main topic areas for the Local Plan.


Thursday 4th February, 5.30pm -7pm, Vision and Strategy
Tuesday 9th February, 5.30pm - 7pm, Design and Heritage
Thursday 11th February, 5.30pm - 7pm, Economy and Culture
Tuesday 16th February, 5.30pm - 7pm, Green Infrastructure and Environmental Sustainability
Wednesday 17th February, 5.30pm - 7pm, Housing
Tuesday 23rd February, 5.30pm - 7pm, Infrastructure (Community/Transport)

You can sign up to attend one of the online events by completing this registration form." This form URL is below

https://consultation.lewisham.gov.uk/pl ... ion/intro/

[JGD]

Timely post with good info - thanks Sydenham .