Plans to build accommodation for more than 600 students and dozens of new homes in South East London have unanimously been approved.
Student accommodation developer, Your Tribe, had submitted plans to build 605 student rooms and 50 ‘affordable’ homes at Sun Wharf beside Deptford Creek.
The development will see existing buildings demolished and replaced with buildings ranging between 3 and 20 storeys. The 50 residential flats will be split into 32 social rent homes while the remaining 18 will be shared ownership homes.
Lewisham Council’s Strategic Planning Committee granted planning permission during a meeting last month.
Previous plans to build 220 homes on site were approved in August 2023, however they have since been scrapped after the developer encountered problems with regulatory changes and viability pressures. Phoebe Juggins from Your Tribe said the development was “sustainable” and of a high quality, and would make “efficient use of a prominently located and underutilised Brownfield site”.
She added: “If students in the area are forced into private rented accommodation then this has knock-on issues, available rental properties in Lewisham have declined by 35 per cent in the last decade.”
She went on to say that construction of the student flats will free up around 242 homes in the area. During the public consultation stage, the plans received 61 objections and 253 letters of support.
Two residents who live close to the development site spoke out in objection during Tuesday’s meeting. One resident who lives in a nearby development said approving the scheme would set “a deeply troubling precedent” because of the lack of daylight and sunlight his home would receive.
Another resident said: “If this development goes ahead as it’s planned, I will essentially lose all natural daylight and the only way I would be able to see the sky is if I physically lean out of the window and look up – it’s like living in a shoebox.
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“I’m not opposed to development, I support responsible improvement for this area but what is being proposed is not responsible.”
Dawn Atkinson, a local ward councillor, said: “I am Vice-Chair of the Housing Select Committee so I am fully aware of the housing crisis, as we all are deeply aware and concerned, however I do not feel building specific student accommodation would address the local housing need.
“What is needed very much in Deptford is for family homes, student accommodation and student flats are not equal to family homes which is in dire need in Deptford.”
However in their conclusions, planning officers said the public benefits of the scheme outweigh the identified harm such as reductions in sunlight and daylight, and recommended the plans be approved.
When it came to the vote, councillors proceeded to unanimously grant planning permission.
