News on Catford Town Centre

Lewisham Council is asking for your response to a vision for Catford town centre. In several locations the building heights are envisaged to potentially be 17-20 storeys.

Many people have reacted strongly to the suggestion of these building heights. Not all of the buildings are this tall and many of the indicative buildings step down to a scale that is sensitive to surrounding properties with townhouses, duplexes in mews-style neighbourhoods.

Yes, it shows tall buildings, higher than some would like to see today, but what about in the mid 2030s? We need to pause for a moment and consider how the needs of our community might change in 15 years? It is the councils job to think about how the already long waiting list for council homes might grow even further. Today, there are over 9,500 households on the housing register in Lewisham - just imagine how this will grow, we need to think about where these local people have to move to if we can’t build the new, affordable homes they need.

It is the council’s ambition to create 2,7000 much-needed homes in Catford.

The stretching housing targets reflect the pressing need for new, affordable homes. These are needed now and the pressure to find homes for the next generation who want to lay down roots in Catford is only going to increase. Some of you might have joined debates on how to accommodate the building heights this volume of homes requires in previous engagement events with Team Catford and the architect team. Delivering these new homes is important when we consider the viability of the whole regeneration scheme, if we don’t provide these new homes we may be unable to deliver other improvements to the town centre.

This is a bold and ambitious vision that explores how thousands of homes could be built over the coming decades. It’s long term in its outlook and responds to the needs of the next generation.

What you see isn’t what you’ll get.

It’s not a planning application. It isn’t prescriptive on the number of new homes or specific on building heights. Importantly it doesn’t signal immediate change, in fact it could be years or even decades before it is built out. The formal planning process commences only once a planning application has been submitted. It is at this point that local residents, businesses and stakeholders will be formally contacted with details of the planning application.

It is almost definitely in the local community’s interests to see this investment in the town centre to bring the often talked about improvements to the shopping area, to create new public space and job opportunities through flexible work space.

So if it’s not guaranteed to happen, why does it matter? It’s important because if approved, this will be the guidelines that developers will use to draw up planning applications for individual sites. It’s a plan of plans. A collective vision for how the Catford community wants the area to be transformed. It will be a powerful tool, embedded in policy alongside the Local Plan, to help control and steer future development in a way that reflects the needs of the community, both existing residents and the next generation. Without a Framework Plan, planning applications can still come forward but, without the shared vision that the Framework Plan provides the community will have even less of a say in the future of the town centre.

It has to be realistic to how Catford has already been earmarked for growth. Identified in the draft London Plan as an opportunity area, our town centre will be desirable for property developers. It’s rare for a town centre regeneration to be largely owned publicly and right now, the council is in a commanding position to shape the town’s future, rather than leaving it to be determined piecemeal through speculative planning applications for individual sites.

This is Catford’s chance to shape the future for the next generation and for those who might not have such a powerful voice in determining who gets a fair chance at a local home.

To view the full Framework Plan visit teamcatford.com .

You can also hear more about the Framework Plan by attending one of our online Zoom sessions;

Saturday 23rd January 10-11am

Wednesday 27th January 6:30-7:30pm

Saturday 30th January 10-11am

Thursday 4th February 6:30-7:30pm

Sign up to attend an event here .