A nature trail along the River Quaggy is one of the ambitions set out in a new neighbourhood plan that residents in Lee will vote on next month.
After more than eight years of preparation, a referendum will be held on the Lee Neighbourhood Plan on February 15. Locals will be asked whether they want Greenwich and Lewisham councils to take the plan into consideration when they make decisions about the area.
The plan, developed by the Lee Forum, comes too late for the area’s biggest redevelopment scheme – the demolition of the Leegate shopping centre and its replacement with towers of up to 15 storeys, approved by Lewisham Council in July last year.
But it contains guidelines for the future of the Lee Green town centre as a whole as well as Lee High Road, housing, green space and the area’s historic features. The area roughly runs from Hither Green station in the west to Kidbrooke Park Road in the east, and Weigall Road in the north to the Newstead Estate in the south.
Neighbourhood plans were introduced by the coalition government more than a decade ago but have had limited success in London, with only about 28 in place – often in areas that already had active residents’ groups that were already involved in planning issues.
Having a plan in place also means that groups can access funding from developers that would otherwise disappear into a council’s central kitty.
If residents back the cross-borough plan in a referendum, it would be the first in Greenwich and the third in Lewisham, after nearby Grove Park and Crofton Park and Honor Oak Park. In Greenwich, other local groups are preparing plans for Charlton and Thamesmead Moorings.
The group’s priorities include a River Quaggy nature trail, “ to celebrate and raise awareness of the natural river course, its wildlife and topography”, as well as increased access to the sports fields along the river that come under the forum’s area.
A Quaggy trail would “increase connectivity between Kidbrooke and Lee Green”, the forum says, and could feed into a possible longer route along the river. The forum also wants a pocket park at Osborn Terrace, next to the river, and better facilities in Weigall Road playing fields, which is owned by Greenwich Council.
Plans to build a school on a sports field inside the forum’s area – the Bowring ground – were thrown out in 2019.
But three grounds just outside the area face threats. The Huntsman field, next to Kidbrooke Village, is fenced off and has been zoned for development by Greenwich Council.
Locals also fear that two fields to the south of the Blackheath Cator Estate – the Manor Way and Willow Country Park grounds – are also being lined up for housing after being fenced off for decades.
The forum also wants to bring the old New Tiger’s Head pub back into use as a community centre, although it has become a shop since the plan was written, while it also wants to see a Hither Green nature trail, which could feed into a Railway Children-themed park being planned by the forum in Grove Park.
Residents in the area will be contacted by their local council with polling cards and postal votes, while the Lee Forum is holding a number of drop-in and online sessions to outline its case, starting with a drop-in session at Manor House Library on Saturday.
Details of the referendum – including the dense document containing the neighbourhood plan itself – can be found on the Lewisham and Greenwich websites.
For those living in Lewisham, it is likely to be the first of three votes this year after the resignation of Damien Egan as the borough’s elected mayor on Wednesday.
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