Lewisham wants to replace the southern footbridge over the Ravensbourne with an 8.5m-wide crossing. A decision is due by 3 September, delivery in 2027.
The first planning document for Lewisham’s £3.5m revamp of Riverdale Sculpture Park has landed, two years after the money was secured, and it puts delivery in 2027.
Lewisham Council has asked its own planning service to rule that a replacement footbridge over the River Ravensbourne does not need an environmental impact assessment. Application DC/26/145019 was received on 12 August and validated on 13 August 2026. The council has until 3 September 2026 to respond.
The request is a screening opinion under regulation 6(1) of the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017. The cover letter is dated 21 July 2026 and was written by consultants Haskoning UK Ltd. It states plainly that it was “prepared by Haskoning, on behalf of the Applicant for the Proposed Development, Lewisham Council”.
What is being replaced
The park has two pedestrian crossings over the Ravensbourne. This is about the southern one.
The letter says the existing bridge spans a reinforced concrete culvert carrying the river. Structural engineers Webb Yates concluded that keeping or widening it is not feasible, because the new design needs a significantly greater width.
The replacement would be:
- roughly 8.4m long, spanning the existing culvert
- roughly 8.5m wide
- built to a 50-year design life
The scheme also covers new foundations, decking, ramps, steps, architectural metalwork and lighting. The application site is 0.196 hectares, which includes a temporary contractors’ compound.
Construction is expected to take approximately two to three months. Sections would be pre-assembled next to the existing structure, then lifted into place with a small mobile crane, with the foundations installed outside the culvert walls.
Two years from funding to first document
Lewisham announced the money in August 2024. Its own news article of 8 August 2024 confirmed £2.486m from the Mayor of London’s Civic Partnership Programme, with around £1m of match funding from developer contributions, giving a total of roughly £3.5m.
Cllr James-J Walsh, Cabinet Member for Inclusive Regeneration and Planning, said at the time: “With the Council’s match funding, that £3.5 million will make an enormous difference to a part of the borough that is very much underused.”
That article said the design phase would run to April 2026, “when construction is estimated to begin”. The new letter instead says the project “is anticipated to be delivered in 2027”. The bridge is one part of a wider scheme the council has described as including river naturalisation, tree and shrub planting and sustainable drainage.
The river, the fish and the trees
The Ravensbourne here is not a natural channel. The letter records it as part of the Ravensbourne (Catford to Deptford) water body, reference GB106039023270, which the Environment Agency classifies as heavily modified and at moderate ecological status.
Even so, a preliminary ecological appraisal found the corridor matters. It lists fish recorded in the local river network including European eel, chub, gudgeon, stone loach and three-spined stickleback.
The appraisal found no significant ecological constraints. There was no evidence of bat roosts in trees on or next to the site, and the site was considered unlikely to support reptiles, badgers or great crested newts. Common bats may forage along the river, and trees and scrub may hold nesting birds.
The park sits in a chain of local wildlife designations. The Lewisham Railway Triangles Borough Site of Importance for Nature Conservation is nearby, with the Cornmill Gardens local site about 175m downstream and Ladywell Fields about 400m upstream. None are statutory designations, and the letter records no statutory wildlife designation within 1km.
Trees are the tighter constraint. Root protection areas reach into the working area, so low-impact screw pile foundations are being considered where they do.
A flood risk assessment with hydraulic modelling covered the 1 in 100-year flood event, including an allowance for climate change. It concludes the work would not increase flood risk off site and would not lose any floodplain storage. Some foundation work near the river may need a flood risk activity permit from the Environment Agency.
What it means for you
The southern crossing may close while the work is done. The letter says an alternative crossing further north in the park would stay open, with diversions signed.
If you live nearby, the noise window is the detail to note. The letter recommends work is confined to Monday to Friday 08:00 to 18:00 and Saturday 08:00 to 13:00, with no noisy work on Sundays or public holidays. The nearest home is Riverdale House, about 40m north of the bridge.
If that slips, the council has powers under section 60 of the Control of Pollution Act 1974 to set how the work is carried out. A construction environmental management plan is promised, and it is required to include site contact details, signage and a complaints procedure.
This particular application decides only whether a full environmental impact assessment is needed. The planning application for the bridge itself comes later, and that is the stage at which neighbours are formally consulted. Applications for the borough are listed on our Lewisham planning applications page.
The case officer is Thomas Simnett and the site is in Lewisham Central ward. Molesworth Street, which runs along the eastern edge of the park, is a dual carriageway red route, so any construction traffic management there would show up on our roadworks and travel page.
Sources
- Lewisham Council planning register, DC/26/145019
- Haskoning UK Ltd, EIA screening opinion request cover letter, 21 July 2026 (PDF)
- Lewisham Council, Lewisham Council to transform Riverdale Sculpture Park, 8 August 2024
- Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017, regulation 6
- Control of Pollution Act 1974, section 60
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