Lewisham council labelled “pathetic” for not taking legal action over £1.5m cash it is owed by Catford dog track developers

By Grainne Cuffe, Local Government Reporter

A multi-million pound developer still owes a town hall £1.5million but is haggling over the amount it has to pay.

Lewisham council was labelled “pathetic” over not taking legal action against Barratt Homes, which has failed to pay £1.5 million it owes the borough.

The builders won a contract to redevelop the Catford greyhound stadium in 2009, part of which included providing a foot bridge from the development across the railway to Doggett Road.

If the developer could not build the bridge, it agreed to pay a £2 million contribution to the council.

As part of the agreement, specific steps needed to be taken by certain dates to enable Barratt to build the foot bridge.

Barratt told the council last year that it could no longer deliver the foot bridge so would instead pay over the money – but it has yet to foot the bill.

At full council last month, resident Mark Morris asked the mayor of Lewisham for an update on the enforcement of the agreement and what steps the council had taken to inform the public of any progress.

The most recent move from the council was to send a letter asking for a £1,515,537 contribution after Barratt suggested paying less than a third of that last year.

Mayor Damien Egan said: “On October 16, Lewisham’s then interim chief executive Janet Senior wrote to the managing director of Barratt London Limited (BLL) regarding the outstanding contribution.

“The letter was clear that the sum proposed by BLL to address the non-delivery of the foot bridge between Catford Green and Doggett Road was insufficient and did not fully address the legal agreement attached to the planning permission.

“Lewisham’s letter proposed £1,515,537 as a reasonable amount.

“We have yet to receive a reply to this letter and I have instructed officers to continue to liaise with BLL so that an agreement can be reached as soon as possible.”

Barratt says it is still in talks over the owed figure.

Mr Morris, addressing full council last week, said: “Why isn’t Lewisham council taking legal action against Barratt instead of just writing letters and hoping one day we’ll enforce a planning agreement that was confirmed by this council nine years and 10 months ago?

“When are you going to get a grip on this?”

Mayor Damien Egan said the council was in “active discussions” with the developer and would update the public when it gets a response, adding: “We still believe we can negotiate and would like to exhaust that action first.”

Mr Morris was unsatisfied with the action taken, branding it “pathetic” and “embarrassing”.

Stephen Thompson, managing director of Barratt East London, said: “We are working with the council to agree the contribution for our development at Catford.

“With increased planning and design costs incurred we are in discussion with them on what the appropriate contribution should be and a letter about this will be sent to them.

“We look forward to working constructively with them on this.”

Catford dog track before its demolition Picture: Wikimedia Commons/geograph.org.uk