Agenda and minutes

1.1       Salena Mulhere opened the meeting and sought nominations for Chair of the meeting. Councillor Adefiranye nominated Councillor Curran and the committees agreed that Councillor Curran would chair the meeting.

2.1       The Chair declared a non-prejudicial personal interest in relation to item 3, in that he was a public supporter of the heritage projects linked to the Convoys Wharf development.

3.1       John Miller outlined the strategic aims of the Council in relation to the regeneration of Deptford and New Cross, reporting that four of the five strategic sites identified in the core strategy were in this area. In response to a question from the Chair, John reported that the biggest obstacle to regeneration was the economic downturn and the consequent reduction in public funding.

3.2       In response to questions from Members of both committees it was noted that:

·           The Core Strategy had been widely consulted on prior to its adoption in June 2011; went to Mayor and Cabinet and Full Council six times; and was a 15 year strategic plan with overall principles designed to be robust during periods of change in the economic and housing climate. Together with the Sustainable Communities Strategy, that had also been widely consulted on and developed alongside the Core Strategy, it set out the Council’s vision for the borough.

·           A charette had been held involving a variety of stakeholders which had focussed on the future of the Creekside area.This event did not result in a statutory plan for the area but was instrumental in the subsequent creation of the conservation area covering part of the area; and plans to introduce supplementary planning guidance for Creekside, including specific pedestrian and cycle routes.

·           The London Plan was currently being updated and was the strategic plan for London, taking precedence over local plans and, as such, the Council’s Core Strategy had to be in general conformity with it.

·           The Council was working with the New Cross Gate Trust on the future approach to the land previously intended to house the New Deal for Communities (NDC) Centre project. Officers would be working with the Trust on options for the land in the new year and the Council would use its influence to ensure progress in taking forward plans for the site within the next 18 months.

3.3      Justin Carr provided information on the London Plan and the change from specific affordable housing targets to seeking the maximum reasonable amount of affordable housing on each site, subject to viability assessments. He also outlined the process for producing and testing a developer’s viability assessment using an excel based model (the ‘Three Dragons Toolkit’) which estimated the impact on residual land values of varying the number of affordable housing units and fulfilling section 106 obligations / paying a Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), amongst other things. It was noted that planning authorities could challenge the inputs to the model but that in developments where an area was due to be transformed it was hard to benchmark the development and assess the growth factor. It was further noted that the GLA was in the early stages of planning an investigation of the toolkit/viability process.

3.4      In response to questions from Members of both Committees it was noted that:

·           The GLA had a good relationship with Lewisham’s Planning team and did not usually get a high number of referrals from developers requesting  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

4.1       RESOLVED: That a referral be made to Mayor and Cabinet as outlined above.