News Flash
Another objection to Lewisham Gateway (21st June 2007)
An objection raised by the Lewishamgateway.org Action Group has just been lodged.
The covering letter is posted below. To download the full objection visit the Lewishamgateway.org Action Group website.
We are writing to you as the core committee of the Lewishamgateway.org Action Group. This is a group of Lewisham residents established with the aim of opposing the Lewisham Gateway planning application. We do not oppose changes to the area per se but we oppose the form these are taking.
This letter, summarising our views, should be quoted verbatim in the report on consultation to the Strategic Planning Committee. Detail is provided in the attached documentation.
1. We are critical of the piecemeal and fragmented nature of the ‘planning’ of developments around the Lewisham Gateway area. We assert that planning permission for Lewisham Gateway should be refused pending a full consultation on the Area Action Plan and sequential and cumulative tests of the transport, retail and flood impacts of all the developments that are either proposed or have recently been granted planning permission.
2. The Lewisham Gateway application itself fails to meet critical aims of the Development Brief, with regards to vehicular circulation, creating a pleasant pedestrian experience and improving the rivers. It can be shown that the scheme will degrade and worsen all three.
3. The scheme fails to comply with guidance on: the need to submit a detailed planning application for tall buildings, removal of Metropolitan Open Land, increasing noise levels, breaching air quality standards, breaching standards for daylight, and breaching guidance on the level of affordable housing.
4. There are further grounds for strongly resisting this development, especially wind turbulence rendering certain areas unfit for their intended purpose, the degradation of the character and setting of no fewer than four conservation areas, overshadowing of a listed building, interference with local views, ploughing up of a major archaeological site, the destruction of community links surrounding the development.
5. The application seeks to justify this array of negative impacts with claimed “regenerative” benefits. These are entirely unproven and speculative: job creation cited is based on incorrect figures; assured provision to adequately meet the needs of Lewisham residents for affordable housing is non-existent; there is no business case for building office space; additional retail outlets will compete with the existing centre and there are no assured cultural amenities.
6. We therefore conclude that the area is particularly unsuited for this development, as the expense involved in creating the site and the consequent marginal viability of the scheme limits any social or cultural benefits for existing residents.
7. We have been disturbed by the misleading statements and pictures published by Lewisham Council and Lewisham Gateway Development Ltd. Consultation to date has left local residents unaware of the scale and impact of this development. We would hope that further consultation will rectify this situation.
In conclusion we would propose an alternative approach: Lewisham should resist the pressure to become yet another example of ‘Clone Town Britain’, but strive instead to be a beacon for imaginative, environmentally-and people-friendly revival, with waterway paths, increased green space, cycle paths and consideration of investment in DLR and tramlink extensions.