Sydenham Hill Ridge Neighbourhood Planning Area and Forum Re-designation

Overview

A local community group in the Sydenham Hill Ridge area has made an application seeking the re-designation of a Neighbourhood Forum. Lewisham Council and Southwark Council are asking for your views on whether you support or object to the application for re-designation of the group as a Neighbourhood Forum. 

A designated Neighbourhood Forum is an organisation or group empowered by the local authority to lead the neighbourhood planning process in a designated Neighbourhood Area. If the re-designation is approved, the Neighbourhood Forum can prepare a Neighbourhood Plan that can address non-strategic planning policies for their Neighbourhood Area. 

If you would like to find out more about neighbourhood planning, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/neighbourhood-planning--2

If the application is approved, no other organisation or body may be designated for that area until this designation expires after 5 years or is withdrawn. 

The application form attached at the bottom of the page is intended to inform your decision on whether or not the emerging forum would work towards a shared vision for the designated Sydenham Hill Ridge Neighbourhood Area and also if you agree to the objectives the forum wish to achieve by drafting a neighbourhood development plan.  

To inform your decision, please view the application in full at the bottom of this page which includes:

• The written application
• Map of the designated neighbourhood area
• Statement regarding Sydenham Hill Ridge Neighbourhood Forum as a qualifying body
• The proposed forum's constitution
• Supporter details (redacted)

Due to General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) we are unable to publish online the list of the 21 group members needed to establish a Neighbourhood Forum. However, if requested, we can provide this to individuals with the permission of the Neighbourhood Group. 

The Designated Neighbourhood Area 

A neighbourhood area is an area defined by the forum that they wish to create a neighbourhood development plan for. The Sydenham Hill Ridge Neighbourhood Area was designated when the group first submitted a Neighbourhood Area application in 2019. 

The neighbourhood area (map above) covers part of the London Borough of Lewisham and the London Borough of Southwark, a map of which can also be viewed in the application form found at the bottom of the page. 

There are no proposed changes to the Neighbourhood Planning Area boundary (shown above) as part of its re-designation application. It therefore remains as the designated Neighbourhood Area and will not be subject to a further application. 
 

Responses London Borough of Lewisham receive to this consultation from residents of London Borough of Southwark will be shared across the Boroughs to account for double-counting. 

Why your views matter

Lewisham Council and Southwark Council are asking for feedback and comments on this application from residents and other interested stakeholders by completing this online survey from Tuesday 25 March until 11.59pm on Tuesday 6 May 2025. 

Alternatively, if you prefer, you can submit your response to us via e-mail to planning.policy@lewisham.gov.uk. 

If the re-designation is approved, the Neighbourhood Forum will be able to prepare a Neighbourhood Plan for their Neighbourhood Area.

Once a Neighbourhood Plan has passed through the statutory processes and is adopted, it will be used, alongside the boroughs' own planning policy documents, to make decisions on planning applications in the designated Neighbourhood Area.

This consultation is entirely ‘optional’ and you do not need to participate unless you choose to. Your personal information will only be viewed by members of the Strategic Planning team at Lewisham Council and Southwark Council and will not be shared with any third party. Your details are required so we can make sure we are seeking a wide range of views.

By submitting your contact details to this consultation, you are consenting to be added our Council’s Planning Policy data base and may be contacted regarding future Strategic Planning consultations. The Strategic Planning database is retained and managed by the Strategic Planning team only, and we will not transfer any data to another territory outside of the European Economic Area (EEA). We will hold this data for a maximum of five years, unless you request for it to be removed from our consultation database sooner. 

If at any point you wish to be removed from our database, then please contact planning.policy@lewisham.gov.uk.