Decision details

10.1 This item was considered alongside item 11 Creative Lewisham 2001 report.          

10.2  Simone van Elk (Scrutiny Manager) introduced the report. The following key points were noted:

·      The report was based on the part 1 (open) evidence that the Committee had gathered during its review into the Catford regeneration programme, and the recommendations to Mayor and Cabinet it had previously made.

·      The recommendations were for the Committee to agree the renewed terms of reference and timetable as they had decided to continue receiving evidence on the regeneration programme.

10.3 Janet Senior and Kplom Lotsu (SGM Capital Programme Delivery)  answered questions from the Committee about the regeneration programme. The following key points were noted:

·      Discussion with TfL about the possible relocation of A205 (South Circular) were progressing. The Council was making it clear that the road should be moved.

·      A full report on the regeneration programme was being prepared for Mayor and Cabinet in the autumn and would be presented to the Committee first. The report would include a plan for communicating with residents and Councillors. It would include clear communication strategy for developing a vision for the town centre. The vision presented as part of the development of the later withdrawn Catford town centre local plan would need to be reviewed to see what was still relevant in the current circumstances. 

·      The feasibility of the regeneration programme needed to be considered but the central element of the scheme was what Catford as a place would feel like. This sense of place should include thoughts about how the park, the stations and roads fit into the town centre, and access throughout should be a key consideration.

·      Autumn would likely to time to engage residents in the plans for Catford town centre and ask for their contributions in visualising what the town centre should look like.

·      As the demographics of the borough change, there may be more residents interested in a night time economy in Catford.

·       

10.4 The Committee made a number of comments. The following key points were noted:

·      The Broadway theatre would need to be a central focus in the town centre. There was currently very little to attract people to Catford in the evening and it would benefit the theatre if conditions for a healthy night time economy were taken into account in planning the town centre.

·      The Committee felt strongly that this regeneration programme should be made to come alive for residents. The vision for the town centre should be developed alongside residents, and not be presented to residents as a fixed plan.

·      Local residents had become galvanised about the future of the town centre when a planning application for a building on the former Catford Greyhound Stadium site was recently considered. Residents should be involved in developing a vision for the town centre.

·      There are lessons to be learnt from the way the Lewisham Gateway development had progressed. Once a vision for a regeneration scheme had been developed it was important to ensure that vision was a central focus throughout the regeneration process, which could years.

·      An important pinch point for traffic on the South Circular was the narrow road under the rail bridge.

·      The Creative Lewisham report from 2001 contained a constant call for sky high ambition and a clear vision for urban regeneration. The report had also painted a picture of the benefits a square in the middle of Catford.     

10.5 RESOLVED: that the Creative Lewisham 2001 report be noted, that the Sustainable Development Select Committee review of Catford regeneration programme interim report be noted, that the Committee agree the renewed terms of reference for the review in section 6 of this interim report and the updates timetable in section 7 of this interim report, that the Chair of the Committee write to the Mayor of London to express the Committee’s support for the relocation of the A205 (South Circular) through Catford town centre, that the Mayor of Lewisham be invited to attend the next meeting of the Committee on 14 September to discuss the Catford regeneration programme, and that the following of the Committee’s views be referred to Mayor and Cabinet:

The Committee commends the Creative Lewisham 2001 report to Mayor and Cabinet, and particularly its call for a vision for urban developments in the borough and its call for high ambitions.

The Committee endorses the comments from the Lewisham Culture & Urban Development Commission’s report about the benefits of a piazza in the centre of Catford: 

“The square’s main café will be a central meeting point and the library will put on events, often outside, which give a sense that libraries are innovative. The Council’s offices, as a consequence, will become for citizens ‘our place’ and the interactions between ordinary people and officials will happen often by chance encounter. St Modwen’s shopping centre will have had a dramatic overhaul having decided that, with these new developments, it can no longer hang back. The market will wend itself round into the square by putting on niche markets to appeal to varied tastes. The route down from the station will feel processional engender a sense of expectation of what is to come. The setting of the Catford stations will be vastly improved so making arrival a joyful experience and the open spaces will not feel cut off by fencing, and will at special moments become an entertainments venue relating well to what is going on in the square. At night the lighting of major civic buildings will create a feeling of drama.” (Creative Lewisham: the report of the Lewisham Culture & Urban Development Commission, page 39).