582 homes and new cinema before Greenwich Planning Board next week

Greenwich Council’s Planning Board will decide on three applications next week totalling 582 homes across the borough. Three developments are featured; one in Abbey Wood with 245 homes, one in Woolwich with 300 and one in Charlton totalling 37 homes.




The biggest proposal is in Woolwich, which was covered almost a year ago. This scheme is for the island site in the middle of Thomas Street, Wellington Street, Polytechnic Street and Calderwood Street. A cinema is part of the plan.

It retains all buildings of merit (there’s many there) and demolishes the dross. By doing so it open up internal space and creates walking links. This will be a fantastic boost for the town.

Next up is a tower in Abbey Wood. The initial plans were pretty bad and were recently revised. A less gloomy colour palette is now in evidence. 245 flats are planned.

Finally, there’s 37 homes near Charlton village with Greenwich Council behind this proposal, which was covered in more detail here. This is a very welcome scheme to provide more truly affordable housing.

A welcome step, but Greenwich Council could be far more pro-active in providing housing. Doing so outright is extremely difficult with central government caps but they can use their arms-length management company Meridian to avoid caps.

Sadly, they have been very slow to do so (Meridian was created in 2011) and are instead using millions in right-to-buy to buy homes off the market (at what appears to be peak prices) at three times the cost of partnering with Meridian or other developers, including Housing Associations, and which does nothing to add to overall housing numbers.



The whole thing was covered here. Some more details have come to light which I’ll cover soon.

The Planning Board meeting is being held on Tuesday 3rd October at 6:30pm at Woolwich Town Hall. Click here to view the agenda.

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J Smith

I've lived in south east London most of my life growing up in Greenwich borough and working in the area for many years. The site has contributors on occasion and we cover many different topics. Living and working in the area offers an insight into what is happening locally.

3 thoughts on “582 homes and new cinema before Greenwich Planning Board next week

  • I would like to touch upon the 37 new homes proposed near Charlton Village, and your presumption that the prospect “is a very welcome scheme”. It is certainly not welcomed by existing residents within the immediate vicinity.

    Unfortunately, for the existing residents (most of whom are in their sixties and seventies) within this area of Fletching Road, this now means that the secure resident-only-access gate to the side of the current development backing onto Charlton Church Lane will be removed, to provide for an open througfare for the general public. Additional ‘mews’ streets will also be introduced. What is currently a quiet, peaceful environment for those residents – most of whom are past retirement age – will now become a shortcut for those wishing to take a shortcut to football matches and to the train station, ruining what peace and quiet there is within this neighbourhood. A decrease in crime across the estate was also evident when the gate was introduced in the mid-eighties – something which has the potential to increase as a result, leaving elderly people, who once felt secure, feeling extremely vulnerable.

    Furthermore, proposed plans for this new development will see what limited parking spaces there are in close proximity to the four existing houses and almshouses eradicated, leaving those with disabilities and mobility issues without a car parking space within close proximity to their homes; that said, the only car parking spaces which will be allotted will be three designated spaces for three new disabled flats which will replace the garages which have been left to rot for a number of years. Slightly ironic.

    Additionally, one such disabled resident in their 70s with a blue badge was told by a Greenwich Council representative that a car parking space could be arranged in Charlton Lane – a ten minute walk for an able-bodied person on a route that lies on a rather steep hill.

    Aside from the four current houses standing opposite Fred Styles House, which currently accommodates pleasant property guardians, the almshouses surrounding the outer perimeter of the estate were originally intended to house those over 50 years of age – a majority of residents within them to this day meet this requirement.

    A petition was delivered to the Council disputing the development proposed, which was – according to the original petitioner – signed by over 90 per cent of the residents. I am sure this will be ignored, however, and the needs of people within their twilight years will be disregarded. The development is far from ‘welcome’ for the current residents for these above reasons.

    Reply
  • Is the cinema still happening? Couldn’t find mention of it in the planning report, just “flexible leisure”?

    Reply
  • Pingback: Why are so few housing developments in Woolwich, Greenwich and elsewhere being built? | Murky Depths

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