Agenda item

Resolved: that the Committee refers its views to Mayor and Cabinet, as follows - the Committee asks that Mayor and Cabinet:

·         Highly commend the work of Kplom Lotsu, Gavin Plaskitt, Jessie Lea, Deborah Efemini, Sarah Walsh and their colleagues. The Committee believes that, whilst there is still a great deal of work to be done in delivering the Catford programme, the level of dedication, consistency of purpose and clarity of thought which has been demonstrated by these officers should be recognised. The Committee warmly welcomes the thoughtful process that has been carried out to develop plans for engagement with residents. The Committee also recognises the quality and aptitude of officers' joint work with Transport for London in developing plans for improvements to the south circular.

·         Endorses the decision to proceed with option two for the relocation of the south circular. The Committee welcomes the potential benefits of this option for pedestrians and cyclists in Catford and Members are optimistic about the potential of the relocation to enhance the vitality and character of the whole town centre- including the iconic place-shaping opportunities offered by the 'piazza' area that would be created by Option Two (as referenced in recent referrals by the committee on Catford Town Centre)

·         Tasks officers with exploring the feasibility of deploying the Common Place platform across the whole of the borough. The Committee is impressed with the level of engagement that is enabled by the platform and it requests that an assessment be carried out on whether the use of the platform across the borough could be facilitated using the local assemblies budget.

5.1    Kplom Lotsu (SGM Capital Programmes) introduced the report. The following key points were noted:

·         The item was split into two parts. The first part was a general update and second part a confidential report about the relocation of the south circular.

·         The first part of the agenda included updates on: the development of the engagement strategy; meanwhile uses of vacant buildings in the town centre; the theatre; the housing zone bid and the programme for upcoming key decisions and milestones in the programme.

5.2    Deborah Efemini (Project Manager) introduced the update on the engagement strategy, the following key points were noted:

·         The engagement strategy was an overarching strategy for consultation and communication. It was designed to act as a two way dialogue between stakeholders and the Council.

·         Work had already been carried out with key stakeholders and partners.

·         The external part of the strategy (as opposed to discussions with stakeholders at the Council) would begin in July and there would be twice monthly engagement events in and around the town centre.

·         There would be extra staff working on the engagement, starting from July.

·         The online engagement approach had already been launched using the Commonplace platform.

·         The benefit of the platform was that it required people to log in to contribute to the consultation - which meant that useful data could be gathered about the reach of the consultation.

·         Contributors on the platform also had to take account of other comments and views.

·         There had been more than 3730 visitors to the Catford Commonplace site.

·         698 comments had been received from more than 300 contributors.

·         The online platform would not replace face to face consultation, it would support it and enable two way dialogue.

5.3    Deborah Efemini responded to questions from the Committee. The following key points were noted:

·         Key issues in the consultation so far had been: access and the approach to the Catford stations, litter/fly tipping and the future of the Catford cat.

·         People were positive about the potential for change. Part of the approach to the engagement was to manage expectations.

·         Officers were working with a range of community groups and attending events and across the area.

·         Officers were conscious about the timing of the consultation and would emphasise the fact that whilst it was starting in July it would carry on for a longer period.

·         Engagement had been carried out with Council officers.

·         Commonplace had been purchased for the Catford programme - but officers in the local assemblies team were aware of the functions and functionality of the platform.

·         The cost per interaction for the Commonplace platform was far less than the cost of getting officers to do the same work.

5.4    Jessie Lea (Programme Manager) introduced the update on meanwhile uses. The following key points were noted:

·         Work had been taking place to market opportunities for meanwhile uses for the Brookdale Club, Thomas Lane depot and 17-18 Broadway. There were good responses to the advert for opportunities and officers were now negotiating on agreements for future uses of the sites.

·         It was hoped that, subject to planning permissions and other agreements being in place, tenants would be able to occupy the buildings by the end of the summer/early autumn.

5.5    Jessie Lea responded to questions from the Committee. The following key points were noted:

·         Negotiations were being held with small businesses and creative arts organisations to develop meanwhile uses in the town centre.

·         It was hoped that these organisations would have a positive impact on the local community.

·         Some of the buildings required significant investment to make them workable spaces.

·         Most of the people who wanted the properties on the Broadway wanted a rentable commercial space.

·         The Catford Regeneration Partnership was going to take on 17-18 Broadway and renovate them to hire out as commercial premises.

·         All of the meanwhile uses in the Centre would be limited with short term leases.

·         Officers were mindful of the potential of meanwhile uses to become very popular. The ambition of a successful regeneration programme would be to help new organisations to develop and grow. A positive outcome for the regeneration would be for organisations taking space for meanwhile use to take on space in the new development.

5.6    Kplom Lotsu provided a short update on the work taking place at the Broadway theatre. The following key points were noted:

·         Little Nans bar was open in the Broadway theatre.

·         A programme of minor works (mostly related to health and safety) was required in the theatre.

·         A programme of major works was also required, for which officers would be applying for funding.

5.7    Gavin Plaskitt (Programme Manager) introduced an update on housing zone funding. The following key points were noted:

·         The Council had been awarded £30m from the GLA for the delivery of housing in the town centre.

·         In the process of working the towards the outline 'overarching borough agreement' it became clear that the GLA had awarded part of the funding for delivery of housing that was not on land owned by the Council - and which the Council did not intend to develop itself.

·         There had been a proportional reduction in funding of £7.6m.

·         This explained why the original award seemed unduly generous.

·         This did not reduce the level of funding required for the Council managed parts of the development.

·         Funding would still be made available for floor alleviation and improvements to the station approach.

5.8    Gavin Plaskitt and Kplom Lotsu responded to questions from the Committee, the following key points were noted:

·         In the analysis of the scheme to date, a number of assumptions including typical building heights of six to eight storeys had been used to develop the density and massing levels for the scheme with particular sensitivity to the Catford context. The actual height of blocks for the town centre would be proposed in the master planning exercise, guided by prevailing planning policy at the time of the exercise. It would ultimately be decided on by members, including through their decision making capacity at a planning committee.

·         It was possible to build high density low rise developments. The intention of the Catford redevelopment would be to be sympathetic to the town centre.

5.9    Gavin Plaskitt gave the presentation on the three options for the future redevelopment of the town centre and improvements to the south circular:

·         Working with TfL, officers had developed three options for the relocation of the road through the town centre. Detailed maps of the options were included in the Committee report and the presentation to the Committee.

·         The proposals focused on place making in Catford as well as the practicalities of realigning the South Circular.

·         The existing 'hybrid scheme' for the relocation of the road had been further developed. Three options had been identified from a short list of eight.

·         Two of the options removed the gyratory from the town centre, these had a greater impact on place making than the 'do-nothing' option of making improvements to the existing layout.

·         The preferred scheme moved the South Circular South of Laurence House - and freed up space around the theatre and Catford Broadway for

·         There was further work to do to develop the implications on the road and rail pinch points around the town centre.

·         The existing estimate of the cost of the preferred scheme was £42m, but it was envisaged that this would substantially reduce (by up to £20m) as the design progressed.

·         Officers would ask the Mayor to commit funding to further feasibility work.

·         Detailed consideration had been given to provision for pedestrians and cyclists, including segregated cycling space. Options would also be included for 'hybrid' on road cycling spaces.

·         The master planning exercise would weigh up the pros and cons of different spaces for leisure, housing and commercial space.

·         Officers had carried out an assessment of the various options for the development of the town centre, the second option, for the relocation of the road to the south scored highly on the potential for transformative change in the town centre. However, there would be limited improvements for traffic flow and journey times by car. There was a medium risk profile for this option.

·         The major benefits would be for cycling and pedestrian provision and well as public space and housing development in the town centre.

5.10  Kplom Lotsu, Gavin Plaskitt, Anne Crane and Jessie Lea responded to questions from the Committee. The following key points were noted:

·         The preferred option for the road would allow the new layout to be constructed and enable the existing road to remain in place. The future of the Council buildings had not yet been determined. It was possible that they might remain in place while the construction took place.

·         Options would be available to fund the redevelopment of the road. Depending on the anticipated benefits of the scheme, this might include contributions from CIL and s106.

·         The master plan would set out the options for the scale and massing of development in the town centre.

·         One of the issues with building taller buildings was that they were more costly to build and did not necessarily attract higher values. This was in part, because of the additional fire safety measures that were required.

5.11  Resolved: that the Committee refers its views to Mayor and Cabinet, as follows - The Committee asks that Mayor and Cabinet:

·         Highly commend the work of Kplom Lotsu, Gavin Plaskitt, Jessie Lea, Deborah Efemini, Sarah Walsh and their colleagues. The Committee believes that, whilst there is still a great deal of work to be done in delivering the Catford programme, the level of dedication, consistency of purpose and clarity of thought which has been demonstrated by these officers should be recognised. The Committee warmly welcomes the thoughtful process that has been carried out to develop plans for engagement with residents. The Committee also recognises the quality and aptitude of officers' joint work with Transport for London in developing plans for improvements to the south circular.

·         Endorses the decision to proceed with option two for the relocation of the south circular. The Committee welcomes the potential benefits of this option for pedestrians and cyclists in Catford and Members are optimistic about the potential of the relocation to enhance the vitality and character of the whole town centre- including the iconic place-shaping opportunities offered by the 'piazza' area that would be created by Option Two (as referenced in recent referrals by the committee on Catford Town Centre)

·         Tasks officers with exploring the feasibility of deploying the Commonplace platform across the whole of the borough. The Committee is impressed with the level of engagement that is enabled by the platform and it requests that an assessment be carried out on whether the use of the platform across the borough could be facilitated using the local assemblies budget.

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