New council homes coming to two Woolwich sites: Consultation underway
Greenwich Council have launched a consultation into building new council homes at two spots on the Barnfield estate.
One location is Barnfield Hub (30 homes) and another is Barnfield Hall (19 homes).
The hall site would see quite a handsome building demolished which has served as a community facility:
New buildings would be at similar height to neighbours.
Landscaping looks good but Greenwich Housing are not good at all with maintaining estates – and that long predates financial pressures on councils. Having grown up on a Greenwich Council estate where ongoing neglect was highly visible from the mid-90s throughout the 2000s when councils saw raising budgets, I’ve seen first hand how unimportant they saw treating people on estates with respect worthy of attractive, safe and appealing public areas.
Considering they cannot do the basics at estates such as Abbey Wood, what hope at new builds?
Then again, Barnfield has tended to see more investment than areas such as Abbey Wood.
The only “landscaping” work in Abbey Wood estate appears to be felling many trees. Former landscaping such as rose beds and water features have all been removed over the years. No income from nearby towers now under construction is being spent to improve the estate.
Use of red brick at Barnfield brings to mind new homes just completing at Sunbury Street in Woolwich I covered yesterday:
Hub site
The hub site is currently mainly tarmac with two small single storey buildings at present.
With the plot in close proximity to mid-rose blocks, this site sees greater density.
However the consultation does not include detailed plans.
The project is part of Greenwich Builds which will see 750 new council homes built over three years. While this is the highest number of council homes built for many years, due to right to buy, council estate redevelopment and a lack of funding from central Government, it’s not enough to meet demand.
Numbers of homeless people in the borough – often housed in expensive overnight accommodation – and numbers on the council waiting list have risen sharply in recent years, with a consequent high cost to the authority and taxpayers,
Greenwich council is dripping out it’s pitifully low new housing allocation programme all over the borough and pretty ugly a lot of it is, too.
I lived in a low rise council owned block on Westcombe Park Road and trimming of the grassed front area and communal back garden was quite regular, although there was no subtlety. Everything was mown flat and hacked back.