Sydenham Hill residents seek second judicial review of Lewisham’s development plans

Residents of Sydenham Hill in south east London are seeking a second judicial review to the local council’s plans to redevelop the area for housing. Lewisham Council wants to build 110 homes in towers ranging from four to seven storeys adjacent to Lammas Green, a Grade II listed set of terrace houses with a community hall. The proposed development is opposite Sydenham Hill Woods, a conservation area managed by the London Wildlife Trust. The woods are part of what is left of the Great North Wood, an ancient landscape that once spread from the banks of the Thames to Croydon, south London. The council initially gave planning permission for the development, in the face of local opposition, in November 2020. Local residents took legal action and in May last year a High Court judge backed their challenge and quashed the decision, saying a conservation officer’s advice was inadequately reported to planning committee members. Lewisham reconsidered its decision and five weeks after the ruling it reapproved the project and granted planning permission again. Now residents are again taking legal action to oppose planning permission, arguing the decision was flawed. In a hearing today, their lawyer, Richard Harwood QC, said the council’s planning department didn’t take into account concerns raised by the the London Wildlife Trust about the project. He said the London Wildlife Trust sent an e-mail to an automated e-mail address connected with the planning process and copied in Lewisham’s planning department. He said the automated e-mail address rejected the e-mail, and the planning department didn’t read it because it was their policy only to read e-mails addressed to them, not ones they had been copied into. Harwood told the hearing that in the letter, the London Wildlife Trust official who manages Sydenham Hill Woods said the development would lead to an increased number of people visiting the woods, which would cause damage. He said it was significant that the planning committee that made the decision in 2021 “was not told that there was concern” raised by the London Wildlife Trust. In today’s hearing Harwood is seeking permission to amend his case. The full hearing will take place later this year.