Green light for Council’s plans for the greenest town centre in London
The Framework Plan, shaped by over 3,000 comments from local residents, sets out the Council’s ambition over the next couple of decades and secures significant benefits for Catford’s community, including nearly 1,000 new social homes, more opportunities for local shops and businesses, and improvements to enable walking and cycling.
Catford will be a welcoming place for everyone with 2,700 homes will be built over the next couple of decades with half of these set to be affordable, including 1,000 new social homes.
The heart of the town centre will become largely car-free with generous areas of public space created as the South Circular is rerouted.
The Council’s ambition for a vibrant town centre signals a positive economic future for Catford with new jobs for local people and opportunities for small businesses. Investment in the town’s cultural offer will support Lewisham’s plans for Borough of Culture 2022.
Mayor of Lewisham, Damien Egan said:
“This is a really important moment for Catford, and I’m excited that we can now focus on translating our vision into positive change for the local community as we work to make Catford the greenest town centre in London.
“Several exciting projects are already underway and there’s more to come over the next 12 months. These projects will deliver new social homes, bring hundreds of jobs into the town centre and help improve Catford’s cultural offer ahead of our year as Borough of Culture in 2022.”
Six key projects will come forward by the end of 2022, helping to kick-start the Council’s ambition for Catford to be a vibrant town centre to reflect Catford’s character, bringing jobs and opportunities for local people; creating new areas of public space and improvements to enable walking and cycling.
1. The Old Town Hall is becoming a public services hub with Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust and SLAM among the first to take up workspace this summer bringing jobs into the town centre.
2. Public space improvements are planned for Holbeach Road, which will deliver the first of several ‘green stepping stones’ through the town centre with new planting and support Catford Mews, the independent cinema, with its plans for a new music venue.
3. A £7m refurbishment of Catford’s Broadway Theatre will be complete next year, helping the Grade II Listed building to play a starring role in the Council’s plans for Borough of Culture 2022.
4. Construction is set to start on the restoration of the former Catford Constitutional Club which will see this much-loved building reopened as a pub, thanks to Good Growth Funding from the Mayor of London.
5. A planning application will be submitted later this summer for improvements to the area around Catford and Catford Bridge stations, which could see works start next year. Safer walking and cycling routes with a double-width pavement along a stretch of Catford Road, a wider underpass under the South Circular Road and two river decks across the River Ravensbourne will create a pleasant riverside space. A new pedestrianised approach to Catford Bridge Station could be in place by December 2022.
6. Thomas Lane Yard is set to be the first project on the Framework Plan’s strategic sites delivering employment space and 100 new affordable homes including 40 social homes for those on the Council’s housing register, helping to address Lewisham’s housing crisis.