Lewisham announce projects to benefit from £2.5m Community Infrastructure Levy fund

Lewisham Council have announced which projects will see funding from Community Infrastructure Levy revenue from new developments.

A total of £2.5 million was made available as part of the Neighbourhood element of CIL.

Spending will go towards a wide range of projects including street trees across the borough, basketball courts in Hilly Fields, cycle hangers in Blackheath, youth club improvements and Ignition brewery in Sydenham which works with learning disabilities to name just a fraction.

Lewisham and Deptford top the list of wards as seen in a council report.

Between July to September 2024 residents voted on proposed projects with more than 1,900 people taking part casting nearly 12,000 votes.

Allocation

Lewisham Council have chosen to allocate 25 per cent of total revenue to the Neighbourhood element (NCIL) which is ten per cent higher than the legal minimum that many councils adopt such as Greenwich. In Greenwich the council brand NCIL as “Greenwich Neighbourhood Growth Fund“.

In Lewisham 75% goes towards Strategic CIL projects on a larger scale. This includes £4 million to top-up government funding as part of Lewisham town centre work now underway as well as £3.7m for changes on the South Circular in Catford.

Failings

Lewisham Council havn’t covered themselves in glory regarding the Community Infrastructure Levy and potential revenue from new development across the borough since 2015.

In 2018 they begun the process of revising rates (which would have almost certainly meant higher revenue from developers) but halted, only resuming recently with revised rates still yet to be adopted.

In 2023/24 they received a pretty woeful £1.25 million in Borough CIL (BCIL) receipts which lags most of London. For an inner London borough that’s a poor show.

So while £2.5m announced this week from funds obtained over recent years is good on paper, it’s less for community projects than would have been the case without that 2018 pause and subsequent seven year delay.