Lee Green: Leegate shopping centre plans approved, despite objections to 17-storey tower

Lewisham council's planning committee unanimously approved revised plans for development of the derelict “eyesore” shopping centre in Lee Green, despite objections over the 17-storey height of the tallest building and related concerns over whether the council’s Local Plan had been followed. 

Although there were no dissenting votes, there was once again an element of controversy over which councillors could even participate in the planning meeting.  

Speaking at the very beginning of the meeting on 18 November, committee member Councillor John Paschoud (Perry Vale ward) highlighted that due to “vagaries of council’s dysfunctional IT systems” he had been unable to access all the documents prior to the meeting, or to access an online briefing that had previously been held. 

Due to these developments, he had been given legal advice not to participate or vote in the meeting. The councillor, who is listed on the council’s register of interests as an “information management and computing consultant” and a member of both the British Computer Society and Computing for Labour, regretted his exclusion and stated his hope that the “council can do better in future.”

Controversially, the developer London Square Development Ltd has been allowed to increase the height of the tallest building from 15 storeys to 17 storeys, as part of revised proposals they submitted after they bought the site earlier this year.

Under the plans, the 1960s shopping centre will be demolished and redeveloped to provide a mixed-use development that will include new homes, a community centre, commercial floorspace and a pub.

The total number of homes proposed has also increased from 561 to 620 and several other buildings will also be taller by one or two storeys. 

However, the size of the proposed medical centre, supermarket and the community centre have been reduced. The number of residential and commercial car parking spaces has also been reduced, with the development now car free except for  disabled parking provision.

Planning permission had been granted to Galliard Homes in November 2024, however after London Square purchased the site, they submitted a revised application.

Plans for the site date back as far as 2016, when a further past owner, Modwen Developments Ltd, gained planning permission to redevelop the site.

The new plans will see changes to the residential unit mix, and an increase in affordable housing by habitable room from 36.2% cent to 46.3%.

Of the affordable homes, 149 will be social rent, 112 will be "intermediate" - in this case, shared ownership homes.

The model is intended to allow London households who would struggle to buy on the open market, to buy a share in a new home and pay a low rent on the remaining, unsold share.

The remainder of homes will be private and sold at market rates. 

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Vanessa Joyce, speaking on behalf of London Square, set out why their application would be viable even with increased affordable housing. 

In a statement, which seemed to run contrary to recent claims made by other developers when seeking to negotiate lower levels of affordable housing, Joyce stated: “There is a lot of change that has happened in the market, so selling new homes is not very easy at the moment.  

"Increasing affordable (homes) does actually help with that, in that we have less of a sales risk.” 

London Square’s proposals were opposed by residents and local organisations including the Lee Manor Society.

Objectors referred to council’s own Local Plan for Lee Green, which states that building heights should not normally exceed more than 12 storeys.

During the meeting, Joyce also stated that the Section 73 application to amend the earlier grant of planning permission was necessary to address new fire safety regulations, claiming “there is a lot of new regulation hitting the industry as the moment.”

Simon Bucks of Lee Manor Society said while the group welcomed the development of the “Leegate eyesore” and more housing, there were concerns over the size of the buildings and the impact they could have on the local area.

"London Square's contempt for Lee"

Bucks said: “London Square’s contempt for Lee and the Conservation Area is reflected in its initial re-branding of the development as "Blackheath Gate" – it didn’t even acknowledge Lee in its marketing blurb.

"It’s reviewing that now as you’ve heard but it apparently cares little for the impact this proposed development would have on the area.

“Lewisham’s Local Plan states that Lee as a district centre is not suitable for tall buildings above 12 storeys. If a 17-storey building is allowed it would surely be a precedent for more, so we are now calling on you to do the right thing and amend this grim proposal for a 17-storey block which would overwhelm a historic part of the borough.”

The committee meeting also heard from Emma Warren, a local resident whose statement addressed the Lewisham mayor's recent article in the Evening Standard attacking supposed nimbyism.

Warren told the committee: “Despite what Mayor Dacres says, it is not nimbyism to ask councillors to apply their own policies”.

A planning officer later said objectors were correct about Local Plan policy, and that the site allocation should not normally exceed 12 storeys in height. However he went on to state: “What the policy doesn’t say is that if a proposal exceeds the height then it must be refused – that’s not what it says.”

He informed councillors that the plans had been recommended for approval by planning officers, and that they needed to look at the planning benefits of the scheme itself.

When it came to making a recommendation to accept the application Councillor Jack Lavery (Sydenham ward) said: “We just need to bear in mind that we do have this recently consented scheme, this is a minor material amendment application here tonight which is offering 89 extra affordable homes – 35 of those will be social homes and the others an intermediate product [that] I think are shared ownership.

"So I recognise there are some trade-offs and I recognise that the increase in height of that tower hasn’t been well received by everybody but I would like to propose that we accept officers’ recommendations here.”

All councillors who were permitted to participate in the meeting ultimately voted to accept the officers’ recommendations.

Reporting by Local Democracy Reporter Ruby Gregory with additional reporting by Mark Morris.

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