Lewisham planners against Deptford Bridge flats – but Greenwich could support

Lewisham Council officers have recommended that an 800-home development at Deptford Bridge be refused – but their counterparts in Greenwich believe it should go ahead.

Both councils’ main planning committees will meet on September 24 to decide on the complex proposal for the former Lewisham College building, which straddles the boundary between the two boroughs.

Across the whole development, just 3 per cent of the homes would be legally defined as “affordable” – but it is concerns including a 30-storey tower on Deptford Broadway that have led Lewisham planners to advise their councillors to throw the scheme out.

The site, next to Deptford Bridge station and opposite the 27-storey Distillery Tower, is currently off limits to the public. 

One building still houses some Goldsmiths University courses, which will move out next year. Lewisham College has moved its courses to its  main campus on Lewisham Way. 

RER London, the developer, plans to open the site, which includes the point where Deptford Creek becomes the River Ravensbourne, to the public with a square underneath the historic Mumford Mills building on the Greenwich side.

A bridge across the river already connects the two sides, while the Docklands Light Railway also runs through the site. There are boat moorings behind the Bird’s Nest pub, at the rear of the site.

Places to eat, drink and shop would be included, along with community space, workspace and educational space.

Each set of councillors will be judging the portion of the Deptford Reach scheme falling within their borough, but then considering those buildings’ wider impact in both jurisdictions.

The Lewisham side includes the 30-storey block facing the junction with Deptford Broadway, which its council officers say would be too prominent in “a number of important townscape and heritage views”.

But in Greenwich, the tallest block is 19 storeys, after having been reduced from 24, and its officers say this would be acceptable – despite conceding that some neighbours would lose light and local views damaged.

It is unlikely that Lewisham’s Green-dominated strategic development committee – most of whom were only elected in May – will go against their officers’ recommendations. But the decision on the Greenwich side will provide an early test for the new Labour-led planning board and its new chair, Jeremy Fraser.

Whatever happens next Thursday, the development will need to be referred to the mayor of London and then the secretary of state for communities – meaning that either Lord Khan of Tooting or Angela Rayner could force through an approval, whatever councillors on either side of the border think.

Plans for 903 homes were first submitted in March last year but the scheme has been altered since then following talks with the councils, with the tallest tower being slimmed down and other buildings also being altered. 

But the changes also include the amount of “affordable” housing being slashed – from 11 per cent to just 3 per cent, although this rises to 5.1 per cent when counted by room, which is Lewisham’s preferred measure. 

Greenwich has a target of 35 per cent “affordable” homes, Lewisham aims for developers to prove 50 per cent.

Some 802 homes are planned: 548 in Lewisham, 254 in Greenwich. But across the site, just 16 would be for social rent – seven in Greenwich, nine in Lewisham, and would be available to residents on each borough’s waiting list. There would be three shared ownership homes in Greenwich, five in Lewisham. 

However, the extremely low level of “affordable” housing gets a pass from planning officers in both boroughs, who have accepted the developer’s evidence that the scheme would not be viable without so many private homes. 

Instead, it is the size and design of the development that has raised concerns. Historic England has objected, largely because of the effects on the Lewisham side. 

Lewisham planners say that the development would damage conservation area views from New Cross Road, Tanners Hill, Deptford Bridge, Deptford Church Street and Creekside.

They also say that an 11-storey block would be “overly dominant” in views from Deptford Church Street.

While Lewisham planners highlight the effect of smaller blocks at the rear of the site appearing to coalesce into “ a wide and bulky feature”  when viewed from The Point, off Blackheath,  their counterparts in Greenwich say the elements in their borough would be “appropriately integrated into the wider urban panorama”.

Greenwich planners concede that the buildings on their side of the boundary would cause “less than substantial” harm to the setting of Mumford Mills and the Ashburnham Triangle conservation area, but say the benefits of new housing and workspace would outweigh this.

It is rare for two boroughs to have to jointly consider developments in this way. Three years ago Merton Council approved plans to expand the home of the Wimbledon tennis championships, only for Wandsworth to say no: the scheme ended up being backed by City Hall the following year.

With the possibility of Greenwich and Lewisham disagreeing on Deptford Reach, Sir Sadiq Khan may end up having the final say on this scheme, too.

Councillors in Greenwich will discuss the issue at the planning board on September 24, while Lewisham’s strategic development committee will follow the same evening.

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