To: The Mayor of Lewisham, Lewisham Strategic Planning Committee, and all Lewisham Councillors

We, the undersigned residents of Lewisham and supporters, call on Lewisham Council to REJECT Landsec’s current application for the Lewisham Shopping Centre and only support a plan that puts our community first.

The proposed demolition of Lewisham Shopping Centre for luxury flats is a blueprint for gentrification. It will displace our community, destroy a vital hub, and serve only the interests of corporate profit.

This scheme will:

• Fail to meet the scale of local need. There are 10,694 households on the social housing waiting list, and 2800+ households in Lewisham live in temporary accommodation, yet 98 or 4% of homes will be for social rent.

• Add to Lewisham’s historic shortfall of more than 5,000 affordable homes. Since 2011, only 39% of promised affordable housing has been delivered, and just 17% of new homes were genuinely affordable.

• Price out key workers and low-income residents. 10% of homes are categorised as intermediate "affordable", which can have starting rents of £1,200–£1,400 a month, meaning a salary of at least £48,000 a year is required, far beyond the reach of most people in Lewisham.

• Lock young people out of secure housing. Half of first-time buyers now rely on the “bank of mum and dad” for support, disproportionately leaving working-class and ethnic minority youth with no path onto the housing ladder and many forced to rent in perpetuity or leave the borough.

• Build mainly market-rate luxury housing, worsening gentrification, forcing longstanding communities out, and reshaping shops and services to make more money.

Instead of using its planning powers to demand secure council housing that would meet this need, Lewisham Council is preparing to sign off a scheme that prioritises profit over people. This is build-to-rent landlordism at its worst, thousands of luxury flats that will lie empty, drip-sold to keep prices high, while working-class families are denied a stable home. 

Lewisham is not for sale. Our community needs council homes, not luxury flats, and a protected, thriving market.

Stand with your community, SIGN AND SHARE to demand a Lewisham for people, not profit!

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