Objections from more than 4,600 campaigners against the £1.5 billion redevelopment of Lewisham Shopping Centre have fallen on deaf ears because the plan has already been approved.
Mayor of Lewisham Liam Shrivastava asked for a petition with thousands of backers to be heard at September’s full council meeting despite permission having been granted for the 1,700-home scheme to be delivered by developer Landsec Lewisham Limited.
Mr Shrivastava, leader of the Green-run local authority, wanted the petition to be debated even though it did not comply with the council’s own rules.
Petition rules and objections
Under council regulations, e-petitions must use Lewisham Council’s own system rather than external platforms such as Change.org, which was used by Save Lewisham Shopping Centre campaigners.
Signatures and Lewisham addresses should be gathered directly via the council website, according to the local authority.
Faris Luke, from Lewisham People’s Assembly, was allowed to introduce the petition at Lewisham Council’s meeting on September 23, urging elected representatives to “reject Landsec’s plans”.
But he was told that there was little that councillors could do given that Landsec had received legal permission to go ahead with its £1.5 billion scheme.
Approved scheme details
Landsec was given planning permission in October, when the council was run by the Labour Party, for its plan to demolish the mall and the multi-storey car park, and replace it with tower blocks up to 35 storeys high.
The redevelopment is being delivered in six phases and has a timeline spanning 10 years. It will see a total of 1,744 new homes built, which would include 98 social rent homes and 231 homes rented out at discounted market rates or made available to key workers. All of the remaining homes will be private.
Additionally, Landsec intends to build accommodation for 661 students and a 23-storey co-living block containing 445 homes, where residents share communal spaces such as kitchens and lounges.
Affordable housing concerns
The petition against the scheme takes issue with the number of affordable homes incorporated in the Lewisham Shopping Centre plan.
It argues that the approved plans “fail to meet the scale of local need”, providing only 4% of the total homes built for social rent when more than 10,500 people are on the borough’s social housing waiting list.
“The proposed demolition of Lewisham Shopping Centre for luxury flats is a blueprint for gentrification,” the petition says. “It will displace our community, destroy a vital hub, and serve only the interests of corporate profit.”
Mr Shrivastava has been outspoken about his concerns that the Lewisham Shopping Centre blueprint does not accommodate enough affordable homes. He has suggested he could withhold using the council’s compulsory purchase powers (CPO) to support the development until the situation is addressed.
The day before full council, he posted on X: “When we’ve got over 11,000 people on the housing waiting list in Lewisham, 98 social homes is not going to cut it.
“I’ve consistently said we need to see more social housing in the Lewisham Shopping Centre scheme, and I won’t use CPO powers unless that changes.”
At full council, Cllr Daniel Dream, Lewisham’s cabinet member for inclusive regeneration, planning and housing delivery, said the council “don’t have the power to simply block or reject a scheme that’s already been through planning approval”.
He said: “Some people might want that to be true, but it isn’t, and we need to be talking facts for the sake of everybody watching.”
A motion put forward by the Lewisham Green Group noting the petition and recognising the importance of affordable housing in the borough was carried after a formal vote.
