Shopping centre in Lewisham to be bulldozed for a 15-storey tower development

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

A shopping centre could be bulldozed to make way for 563 homes and a 15-storey tower.

Plans have been submitted to flatten the Leegate Shopping Centre in Lewisham and replace it with four blocks between eight and 15 floors high.

A community centre, supermarket, restaurant and medical centre are also planned as part of proposals revealed by developer Galliard Homes – as well as a medical centre, gym and replacement pub.

The shopping centre site is home to a car wash and multi-storey car park, which would also go under the wrecking ball under the proposals.

Galliard Homes says the development will help boost investment in Lee town centre.

The plan will “deliver a truly mixed-use regeneration scheme that will reinforce Lee Green’s role within Lewisham’s town centre hierarchy, attracting wider investment and improvement,” according to the developer’s documents.

But Charlie Davis, ex-Conservative councillor for Eltham North in neighbouring Greenwich, hit out at the plans saying they would set a “dangerous precedent”.

In a post on Twitter, he said: “Typical. You wait ages for one ill-conceived tower to reach their respective planning committees, and then two come along at once. Again no one would argue this site doesn’t need [to be] redeveloped, but the sheer height and scale of this would set a dangerous precedent.”

Plans to redevelop the 1960s shopping centre have previously come before Lewisham council.

In 2015, developer St Modwen submitted plans to build 229 homes on the site. Lewisham council indicated it was in favour of the plans but the proposed development, which included a 10 storeys high block, never went ahead.

A 2018 application to replace the shopping centre with 393 flats, 64 of which would have been affordable, stalled after Lewisham and the mayor of London said they wanted to boost the number of affordable apartments on the site. The new plans include 114 flats at social rent prices.

Galliard says its plans will breathe new life into an underused area. It says the development aims to “deliver sustainable regeneration of an allocated, underutilised, brownfield site, which is beyond its design life cycle” and will “reinvigorate Lee Green District Centre by providing a vibrant, new, purpose designed flexible retail, commercial and community offer which responds to the site’s function and complements the existing services and facilities at Lee Green.”

Pictured: CGI of the development which could replace Leegate Shopping Centre in Lewisham. (Picture: Lewisham Council planning documents)