Revealed: Greenwich Council spent £124,054 on Woolwich Masterplan before scrapping it

A Freedom of Information request has revealed Greenwich Council spent £124, 054 creating a masterplan for parts of Woolwich town centre before it was scrapped.

That move then denied subsequent protection against controversial plans including the tower in front of Tesco’s superstore.

The Thomas Street Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) covered an area south of General Gordon Square and was drawn up by Allies and Morrison. The SPD was consulted upon two times until 2016 with revisions made at each round.

Despite the cost and time put into the scheme, it was then dropped resulting in developers having an easier ride with plans in the area including a tower in front of Woolwich Tesco.

The masterplan recommended heights capped at 15 floors on the site.

Without a masterplan, that guidance is now gone which lessens powers in any appeal made by the developer against a rejection of the proposed 30-storey tower.

Meyer Homes Application

A Planning Board meeting to decide on the tower was cancelled late in the day by developer Meyer Homes in March. If any subsequent Planning Board meeting rejects the scheme Greenwich Council will have a weaker hand to now play at an appeal.

The only reason given for scrapping the masterplan after £124k was spent and years of consultation was that another wider masterplan would be drawn up.

No other masterplan has been seen in the past two years and it’s unclear why Thomas Street SPD could not have slotted into another covering other parts of the town centre.

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