It is hard not to notice the high number of empty shops now in Catford. And sadly back in October the much-valued Catford Mews closed, after being repossessed by its landlord.
For fifteen years the Catford Regeneration Partnership Limited (CRPL), a company wholly owned by Lewisham Council, has bought up leasehold interests in and around Catford centre in anticipation of the town centre’s regeneration.
As of March 2024, Lewisham Council has loaned CRPL £16.9 million. Worryingly, CRPL hasn’t been able to meet loan repayment agreements to the council in previous years and the debt is expected to grow this month to £17.6million if no loan interest repayments are made this year.
Of course, high streets and shops are suffering across the country and many small businesses were hit hard by Covid. However, the CRPL has actually hindered local businesses by its poor maintenance of Catford Centre.
In its business plan CRPL admits that tenants’ premises have been flooded due to the failing service deck about the centre.
One of those that suffered from flooding was the Catford Mews. The company behind it have said that they had to pay £94,000 on roof repairs. CRPL’s lack of action also led to the loss of a sub- tenant in the first floor studio, costing, it is claimed, a further £84,000.
Since the publication of the CRPL business plan further flooding has hit another business in the Catford Centre.
Instead of working with tenants, the poor management and maintenance of Catford centre has too often created problems for local businesses.
Is it any surprise that there are empty shops and units in Catford Centre?
Milford Towers
A further aspect of Catford’s neglect is the failure to reach a realistic long-term solution for Milford Towers.
Lewisham Council began moving long-term tenants out of the estate above Catford Centre in 2012, in preparation for the estate’s demolition, which was expected to begin in 2016.
The Council originally agreed to a short-term lease for a number of homes in the estate to the housing association Notting Hill Genesis (NHG) to prevent the estate from becoming empty in advance of its demolition and to deter antisocial behaviour and squatting. This arrangement was initially set to run until 2015.
However, as with so many other proposed developments in Lewisham, nothing has gone to plan, and simply to ensure that the building is safe for the remaining tenants £16.21 million has been allocated for repairs to Milford Towers since 2018. And due to delays in the regeneration scheme, the Council has already twice extended the housing association’s lease on properties at Milford Towers.
In October 2024, at a meeting that literally lasted just four minutes, Lewisham councillors approved plans to continue leasing out 181 properties on the estate to NHG for another year due to delays in the regeneration scheme. The rushing-through of such an important decision, without any questions or debate sums up exactly the wider problems facing Lewisham Council, where scrutiny and robust challenge to decisions are routinely lacking.
The current residents of Milford Towers feel strongly they have been let down and their experiences widely reported in the media,yet at the same time serious amount of public money has been spent on an estate where its future remains far from certain.
Catford Centre and Milford Towers show a legacy of Labour-run Lewisham Council failing to deliver on its long-term plans.
The increased neglect of Catford coincides with Lewisham Council being run by the Labour party since 1971.
The two are not a coincidence.
Of course there is an alternative.
Liberal Democrats believe in open government, something that is often absent in how Lewisham council operates.
Liberal Democrats believe good governance means decisions being properly considered, not rushed through without any debate or scrutiny by councillors.
Lewisham Liberal Democrats believe the council should treat tenants with far greater respect than what tenants in Milford Towers have experienced, or businesses in Catford Centre.
There is a better vision for Catford and the borough of Lewisham. And it is what the Liberal Democrats offer.
Catford has many things going for it, with two train stations, a vibrant community, an active voluntary sector and more. However, it is also a place that has been let down many times by Labour run Lewisham Council, which has been in power since 1971.
Many of you may have asked yourselves why there has been such a rapid increase in the development of HMOs in Catford. It is as a result of Lewisham Council confirming a non-immediate Article 4 Direction for Lewisham's southern wards.
Labour run Lewisham Council has recently faced the embarrassment of an enforcement notice being placed on it by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for failing to respond to hundreds of overdue requests made under the Freedom of Information Act.
