News Flash
Proposals maximise naturalisation opportunities! (24th November 2006)
QWAG asks the Mayor to clarify his stance on Lewisham Gateway's plans for the rivers.
The Mayor's stage 1 response to the Lewisham Gateway proposals stated that “the opportunity to naturalise the river course has been maximised.” Assembly member Darren Johnson of the Green Party asked the Mayor on behalf of QWAG for the evidence behind this conclusion.
Question: Your stage 1 response to the Lewisham Gateway proposals states that: “The development includes a combination of culverting, de-culverting, river re-alignment and re-grading. Whilst this is a mixture of positive and negative aspects, it is clear that the opportunity to naturalise the river course has been maximised.” What evidence have you got to conclude that the opportunities to naturalise the river course have been maximised? Given that your Stage 1 letter to London Borough of Lewisham makes clear that there are a number of other significant areas where the application falls short of the requirements of the London Plan, why do you appear to conclude that this aspect of the proposals requires no further scrutiny when there are clear community concerns about the proposed alignment of the road and the restrictions this will place on renaturalising the River Quaggy?
Reply: As I state in my initial comments to Lewisham Council this is a complex urban regeneration scheme that needs to balance, sometimes competing, social, environmental and economic objectives. I hope that you will agree with me that the existing urban environment is unacceptably poor for all users. River enhancements are clearly an important element of the proposals, but it is one issue that needs to be balanced with many others. The river enhancements referred to within the main application include the provision of a new urban park and an opportunity for people to access the rivers; rivers which most visitors to Lewisham are currently unaware exists.
As you know my officers recently met with a local community group to discuss the re-naturalisation of the River Quaggy to the east of the site, which lies outside the scope of the main planning application. My officers are continuing to work with all relevant stakeholders to achieve an appropriate balance between highways and river enhancements in this area and therefore careful scrutiny of this is indeed continuing. On the issue of the road alignment you will have seen from my comments to the Council that I am not yet in a position to reach a judgment on the transport impact and officers at Transport for London are currently assessing the modelling work undertaken for the revised ‘low-H’ road layout. All these issues are heavily intertwined. You will understand that I cannot fetter my discretion at this stage until this work has been completed and I can judge the overall planning merits of the scheme.