Plans for a 15-storey tower and 562 homes on the site of the Leegate shopping centre in Lee Green have been recommended for approval by Lewisham Council planners.
Blocks of 8, 10 and 12 storeys are also planned for the site, as well as a public square, local supermarket, medical centre, community centre, gym, restaurant, and a replacement for the Edmund Halley pub, which closed in December. One in five of the homes would be available for people on housing waiting lists.
Neighbours have long protested about plans to replace the crumbling 1960s shopping centre. Neighbouring Greenwich Council was among the objectors, along with the Blackheath Society and Lee Forum. But only 60 objections were received while 88 messages of were support received by Lewisham.
An earlier proposal, which included a new Asda superstore, was approved by Lewisham in 2015 but did not proceed and the site was later bought by Galliard Homes, which is behind the new plans.
Galliard originally planned 630 homes on the site, but revised its plans to include a slimmed-down tower last year. If approved, the development would take four and a half years to build, with the northern part of the old shopping centre being demolished first.
The 15-storey tower, which would replace the eight-storey Leegate House, would have blocks of eight and 10 storeys alongside it, with a 12-storey block behind it. Alongside Burnt Ash Road there would be two more eight-storey blocks.
One of the Burnt Ash Road blocks would contain the supermarket. Galliard has said this would aim to complement rather than compete with the Sainsbury’s opposite.
Along Leyland Road, where the current low-rise Leegate car park is, there would be two blocks of eight and 10 storeys, with a seven-storey block facing Eltham Road. At the centre of the site there would be low-rise development, with two three-storey blocks facing a landscaped, car-free “residential street”.
Of the new 562 homes, 114 will be for London Affordable Rent, about half market rent and available to people on housing waiting lists, and 59 for shared ownership.
Lewisham will judge this as 36 per cent “affordable” housing, as it counts habitable rooms rather than individual homes, and there is a larger number of two and three-bedroom homes in this category. If counted by individual homes, as Greenwich does, it would be 30.7 per cent “affordable”.
Businesses currently operating in the centre would be able to return with a year’s free rent, according to the plans.
Greenwich Council’s objections focused on heritage grounds. It said that the development would overwhelm Lee Green fire station opposite, which is a Grade II listed building. But Lewisham’s officers said that the fire station was already harmed by the existing Leegate centre and the new blocks would be an improvement. Greenwich also raised concerns about views from the nearby Cator Estate, which is a conservation area.
Lewisham’s own design review panel – an independent group of experts which examines major schemes – supported the 15-storey block when shown a 12-storey alternative but said they were “surprised that the building is so evident when viewed from Blackheath”.
The council’s planners admitted that the tower “would represent a substantial change to the existing landscape, and the wider development would have impacts upon neighbour amenity and heritage”, but said “concerns relating to height must be balanced with the benefits that the development would deliver”.
Lewisham could gain £4.4 million in community infrastructure levy – a charge on developers made by most councils – if the scheme goes ahead, a quarter of which would be earmarked for Lee Green ward, a more generous proportion than would apply if the scheme was in Greenwich. Local employment schemes would also gain £403,000, while £183,000 would be allocated to play facilities which could be on both sides of the borough border. Providing a new pub would also be written into any planning permission.
The plans will go before Lewisham’s strategic development committee, its equivalent of Greenwich’s planning board, at a meeting next Wednesday.
Amended on Wednesday evening to reflect the measure that Lewisham uses to judge “affordable” housing.
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