Less than a week since presenting the petition with all your signatures to the Mayor at the full council meeting, we've received the news today that the TPO on the 5 trees on the land owned by the developer has been confirmed (i.e. made permanent)!!! This is a great achievement and was one of the key aims of the petition, so a huge well done and thank you to everyone who signed the petition and/or wrote in to the council!! 

In addition, the council has today also issued a new TPO on a sycamore tree that is just outside the developer's fence and stands on land owned by the council. This is a very positive development as the council doesn't usually issue TPOs on land it owns, so it's a strong indication that the council is intent on protecting the entirety of the green space at Duncombe Hill Green. As is standard practice, this TPO is provisional until it's confirmed - so, again, please write in to the council to ask them to confirm it by emailing Planning@lewisham.gov.uk by no later than 11 April 2019. (A link to the TPO notice is at the foot of this update for reference.)

However, even when confirmed, TPOs don't provide absolute protection - the council still has the discretion to allow development on the land if a planning application is made (and we know that the developer intends to submit an application for 7 flats imminently). In addition, as others have pointed out, the penalties for non-compliance with a TPO are pennies for a developer, so the developer may well be willing to take the risk.

There is a way we could achieve absolute protection for the land - if we can successfully apply for "Village Green Status". It's not straightforward and requires evidence of community use of the land (over and above dog walking and bench sitting) for a period of at least 20 years. The good news is that we have a barrister on board who specialises in public law and has made successful Village Green applications on behalf of clients in the past. He's prepared a very short survey with a view to gathering evidence that can be used in such an application for Duncombe Hill Green. We need as much evidence as possible, so please do complete the survey and share it widely, including with people you know who may have moved out of the area but could possibly provide evidence of historical community use - it doesn't matter how long ago it was, it all helps! Link to the survey is here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/72DB7TM

Thanks all - and once again, a huge well done for all we have achieved so far with this campaign! Great things can be achieved when we all work together :):) 

Link to TPO notice (as referred to above): https://lookaside.fbsbx.com/file/Site%20Notice%20TPO%20T1%20Sycamore%20Duncombe%20Hill%20Brockley%20Rise%202019.pdf?token=AWxcWASHuJLEQlz-LXD0yloXPze9Qh4-SGOJuDuy1vNLoRWQsYYvpVG3OMs9pGFdq5_6lZeBjRxWyZR5bz-5TR1nPMnZea2GcalktZMFpvZYnxOMSR48sR2Gg7uKyzOgMvEfCgvdE9sQ_I5DAhAfp8lS