New Cross's Besson Street scheme would grow from 324 to 383 homes and its tallest tower from 12 to 18 storeys. The council has until 29 January 2027 to decide.

The application to enlarge New Cross’s biggest housing scheme now has a decision deadline of 29 January 2027, ten months after it was submitted. Lewisham Council’s register records the agreed date for application DC/26/143296, which would take the Besson Street development from 324 homes to 383.

The application was received on 10 March 2026 and validated a week later. The council’s original target date for a decision was 12 May. Four months past that target, the case is still marked “Registered”, with no committee date set.

What the application would change

The scheme already has detailed planning permission, granted in January 2022 under reference DC/19/114805 and amended twice since, in October 2024 and July 2025. The current application, made under Section 73 of the planning acts, asks to vary that permission. It proposes:

  • a net increase of 59 homes, from 324 to 383, with affordable housing held at 35%
  • Block C1 rising from 12 to 18 storeys, the scheme’s tallest building
  • Block B1 rising from 7 to 8 storeys, and Block A1 becoming a uniform 7 storeys
  • Blocks A2 and B2 dropping from 7 to 6 storeys
  • a revised mix of home sizes, and changes to the non-residential floorspace
  • a revised energy strategy incorporating Passivhaus principles, plus building safety enhancements
Bar chart comparing block heights at Besson Street under the approved permission and the current application. Block A1: part 6 to 7 storeys approved, a uniform 7 proposed. Block A2: 7 approved, 6 proposed. Block B1: 7 approved, 8 proposed. Block B2: 7 approved, 6 proposed. Block C1: 12 approved, 18 proposed. Total homes would rise from 324 to 383.
How each block's height would change under application DC/26/143296, from the proposal description on Lewisham's planning register. Graphic by Lewisham News.

The site is the land on the corner of Briant Street and Besson Street, SE14, about 600 metres west of New Cross Gate station. The register lists 148 documents on the case, 8 public comments, and Montagu Evans as the planning agent. The application was advertised in the press on 1 April, and the latest round of neighbour consultation letters went out in May.

A rental scheme with a GP surgery attached

Besson Street is not a standard private development. Lewisham Council’s project page says the brownfield site had lain derelict for around ten years, and that the council is developing it in partnership with Grainger plc, one of the country’s largest professional landlords.

All the homes are for rent, not sale:

  • 35% are to be “genuinely affordable”, based on the London Living Rent calculation
  • 65% are to be let at market rents

The council page also commits the scheme to a fully fitted out GP surgery, a pharmacy and office space, to be let at peppercorn rents to the Besson Street Trust, alongside community space, commercial units and an outdoor gym. The council does not give a construction start date, saying updates will follow as the project progresses.

What it means for you

Nothing is being built yet, and the decision on the larger scheme is now formally allowed to wait until 29 January 2027. Until it is decided, comments can still be submitted on the case through the council’s register; our planning applications guide explains how to find application DC/26/143296 and have your say.

For New Cross, the stakes in the application are a taller skyline, 59 more rental homes, and the timetable for the promised GP surgery. We will report the decision when the council makes it. For what the wider pipeline means for house prices in the borough, see our house prices page.