Lee: Lively (!) Neighbourhood Plan Meeting!

Thank you to those of you who came to the lively meeting on 27 April, to which representatives of groups in Lee were invited.

We learned a lot from Tony Burton (an expert in community engagement and local planning) about the aims and benefits of neighbourhood forums, the experience of those who had achieved a forum in their area and what’s required to establish a forum.

Feedback from the exercise to share what attendees liked, disliked and wanted to change about Lee is summarised in the chart below.

The point was made forcefully that a “Local Plan” had already been produced by the Lee Green Assembly working group and that this should be the starting point for a neighbourhood forum and plan. Its aims go beyond planning issues and its area is restricted to the Lee Green ward boundary.

The results of the potential neighbourhood area mapping exercise were that the large majority favoured an area which included all four quadrants of the Lee Green cross roads, taking in all three wards and Greenwich borough as well as Lewisham. A minority favoured restricting the neighbourhood area to the Lee Green ward boundary.

A meeting will be arranged with Lee Green Assembly working group members with a view to addressing the differences of opinion about the forum that were expressed at the meeting, referenced above.

In response to feedback received at the meeting we will maintain the momentum generated so far and arrange a second meeting involving the wider community; we will be in touch about this soon.

Thank you for your continued support.

Sarah, Julie, Jan & Marietta

Like	Dislike	Want to change
Green spaces, parks, gardens, trees	Traffic and pollution	Forgotten town centre, not a focal point for community
Local people, vibrant mixed community	Factions, community not working together, lack of co-ordination	Unimaginative plans for Leegate with nothing for young people, no affordable housing
Long history of local community based organisations	Can be isolating, lack of community	Scale of plans for Leegate,
That people care	No clear local identity	Run-down, empty buildings that could be used by community
Well-kept front gardens, low-rise residential area	Disjointed town centre	Get rid of scruffy garages next to carwash
Friendliness and good networks	No tube link, current disruption of buses and trains in SE London	Better communication and trust between local community groups, proper democracy available to inform and interest
Proximity to Greenwich and Blackheath	Leegate, empty scruffy buildings, dense high over-developed areas	Lack of information on what is available to us
Easy to walk to, access to useful mixture of shops	Lack of decent shops, poor lighting	Assembly to take responsibility for all things local
Quiet neighbourly roads	Graffiti, yobs, cyclists on pavements	Bigger community centre with better paid staff