While we understand the developer is entitled to carry out community engagement, there is a fundamental difference between a public advocacy campaign and a formal data-gathering exercise. Planning decisions must be based on informed consent, and door-to-door engagement must, by law, be transparent, balanced, and honest.
We have received concerning reports of door-to-door canvassers acting for the developer (Acorn Property Group) using high-pressure tactics and providing misleading information about the development - specifically about things like social housing and the Farmers’ Market.
If you have been visited at home, we need you to record your experience via our Resident Evidence Form. Your input is vital to ensure that 'manufactured support' is challenged and that Lewisham Council receives a factually accurate account of community sentiment.
It only takes a couple of minutes to help protect the integrity of the planning process.
https://forms.gle/6vjsGTqfoxT4cv4X7
Please share this link with any local residents' groups (WhatsApp, Facebook etc) that you are a member of.
You can read more about this on the updates page
History - an Unwanted and Unsupported Planning Application
On 28th March 2025, Acorn Developments submitted a planning application to develop on the site of the Blackheath Station car park.
This development is neither wanted nor supported by the local community. Of the (unprecedented) 1,168 public comments submitted to the Lewisham Planning Portal for the initial application, 1,127 (over 96%) people came out against the development with just 30 (under 3%) in support.
A number of public figures and celebrities with a strong connection to the area have voiced their concerns about the planning application and have put their names to an open letter written by author and historian John Willis. Signatories range from Hollywood A-listers Jude Law and Dominic Cooper to music industry giants Mark Knopfler and Jools Holland to civic and political figures Sir Terry Waite and Dame Joan Ruddock.
More recently, 101 local businesses including the Blackheath Conservatoire and Blackheath Halls got together to submit to the council a letter of objection to the development proposal.
The campaign to stop the development has been featured on ITV London news as well as in numerous press outlets including The Independent, The Telegraph, The Architects Journal, The Sun, The Express, The Daily Mail, My London, Time Out and News Shopper.
To understand why this development is so bad for Blackheath see here.
