The Sustainable Development Select Committee will be provided with an update on spending cuts across the council, an update on proposals to increase revenue from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), and an update on the ongoing work to improve active travel across the borough.

Budget Savings

The Sustainable Development Select Committee will be asked to review and provide comment on proposals for cost savings and budget reductions across the council. The report pack for the meeting includes a number of proposed cost savings to address the council's overspend and the projected budget shortfall of £20 million.

Two proposals are considered within the scope of the Sustainable Development Select Committee:

• Parking Services – Additional Yellow Box Junction Enforcement & Moving Traffic Contravention by CCTV: This proposal would see capital investment in an additional fifteen CCTV cameras to monitor ten yellow box junctions and five moving traffic contraventions across the borough. The report pack notes that: > Given the above, it is sensible to consider the financial by-product of adopting this approach would be annual net income in the region of £70k, subject to the further detailed business case, based on an increased level of compliance.
• EV Charging Points / Stations: This proposal suggests using land owned by the council to install electric vehicle charging points. The proposal comes from Believ, an organisation based in Southwark who have delivered similar projects in other London boroughs including Croydon and Newham. The report pack anticipates that a phased approach to the scheme will be taken, with a potential saving of £50,000 a year for the Housing Revenue Account by 2028.

The report pack additionally highlights eight proposed cost savings that will need to be approved by the Mayor and Cabinet. One of these relates directly to the Sustainable Development Select Committee:

• Ending the Funding for the Council run Assembly Programme: This proposal suggests ending the council's funding for its Assembly Programme¹ and deleting the eight staff posts associated with it. The report notes that assemblies are a commitment in the council's constitution. The constitution states: > “The Council has established a consultative network of [nineteen] local assemblies. Though they are not decision-making bodies, the local assemblies are an important consultative mechanism and provide a conduit to the Council and other public service providers through which the local community can prioritise local issues and advise the Council, including on the determination of the locality funding.” The report suggests that £203,025 could be saved each year by deleting the assembly programme, though it notes that there may be cost implications in the short-term from redundancy payments.

CIL Charging Schedule Review

The Sustainable Development Select Committee will be provided with an update on the process to review and update the Lewisham CIL Charging Schedule.

The report pack for the meeting describes CIL as a levy that local authorities can choose to charge on new development in their area. It explains that CIL is intended to be used to fund a wide range of infrastructure, including:

• Transport
• Flood Defences
• Schools
• Healthcare facilities
• Open Spaces
• Leisure facilities

The report sets out the process that will be followed to update the charging schedule. It states that the council has commissioned BNP Paribas Real Estate to produce a viability study on the impact of proposed rates, and that a public consultation on the new rates will take place in April and May 2025.

The report pack additionally explains how CIL funding is currently allocated at Lewisham. Twenty-five per cent of all money raised through CIL is allocated to the Neighbourhood CIL (NCIL) fund. The remaining seventy-five per cent is allocated to Strategic CIL (SCIL).

The report pack notes that:

The Council allocates CIL receipts into two portions, Strategic CIL (SCIL) and Neighbourhood CIL (NCIL) at a 75% - 25% ratio.

The report sets out that the following projects have been agreed ‘in principle’ to receive SCIL funding:

• Catford Constitutional Club
• Besson Street
• Riverdale Sculpture Park

Active Travel Update

The Sustainable Development Select Committee will be provided with an update on the active travel schemes currently being delivered or in development within the borough.

The report provides data on the use of the dockless bike scheme operated in the borough by Lime. The report shows that there has been an increase in the use of the scheme, with a total of 186,088 trips made in August 2024. The report notes that the scheme is supported by dockless bike bays which have been funded through a combination of the council's Highways and Bridges Capital Programme, Section 106 contributions, and a recent TfL grant. It states that the average cost of an individual dockless bike bay is £834.

The report additionally sets out the timelines for the Active Travel Strategy, which is currently scheduled to be approved by Mayor and Cabinet in January 2025.

The report pack includes two tables of schemes and projects to improve walking and cycling provision across the borough. This includes schemes funded through Transport for London’s Local Implementation Plan (LIP) and Lewisham Council’s Climate Action Investment fund.

Several of the schemes are at construction stage, including:

• Hither Green Lane and Courthill Road: A road danger reduction scheme along these roads between Torridon Road and Lewisham High Street.
• Lee Terrace: A road danger reduction scheme along Lee Terrace between the A20 and Lee Road.
• Deptford Church Street: A segregated cycle track along this road between Deptford Broadway and Creek Road.
• C18 – Waterlink Way Bridge: The replacement of the Waterlink Way Bridge, a timber footbridge in Catford.

The report pack notes that:

“TfL have informed boroughs that there are currently significant resource pressures, which result in very long lead times for design reviews and signal designs. Therefore, the estimated completion dates in the following table may be significantly impacted by those lead times.”

The report pack additionally lists the following schemes to be delivered by Spring 2025:

• Healthy Neighbourhood: This proposal describes a new Healthy Neighbourhood² at a location yet to be determined.