Work begins on 117 new Kidbrooke council homes

Construction work has commenced on 117 new council homes in Kidbrooke.

The project is part of 750 council homes being built over a four year period, located near Kidbrooke station and Thomas Tallis school in a wider area seeing around 5,500 new homes in Kidbrooke across a number of developments.

Unless things have recently changed, pedestrians walking from the new housing site to Kidbrooke station lack a green light phase at the adjacent road junction. There is a somewhat gloomy underpass but many won’t want to use that, and would prefer at-grade crossings to access the station.

If that has changed, do let me know.

This junction is set to see an increase in traffic when Silvertown Tunnel opens according to TfL, and this area sees the prospect of more traffic and increased pedestrian footfall. Who will win in the battle for priority?

Demand for council homes

News of 117 council homes is much welcome given homeless households in temporary accommodation across the borough have increased sharply; more than doubling from 670 in 2018 to over over 1,500 in 2021.

Here’s those numbers for 2018-19 highlighting a relentless increase:

Over 20,000 more are on the waiting list.

A number of factors are at play behind this including a lack of new council housing, existing council housing being lost to right to buy and large-scale estate demolitions which see many hundreds of council homes lost such as at the One Woolwich project.

A neighbouring site also has plans for council housing. I’ve had a post 80 per cent finished covering that proposal and will finish it soon.

Wider area

The Greenwich Builds development sits opposite Aldi on Kidbrooke Park Road and close to TfL’s current development beside Kidbrooke Station going by the name Kidbrooke Square.

The railway line currently provides a poor service from Southeastern. At the time of writing (midday on Saturday) there are just two trains per hour from the station to London bridge and Charing Cross.

Transport for London’s site beside the station will bring 619 homes. If you’ve passed through on a train recently you can’t fail to spot the blocks rising beside the Kent-bound platform.

South of the railway is Berkeley Homes’ Kidbrooke Village which will bring more than 5,300 homes. Three blocks beside the station at Phase 3 have topped out but have yet to complete. It shouldn’t be too far off before residents move in.

I recently covered two further plots either underway or with detailed planning submitted. In addition, more plots to the south are commencing at Phase 4.

Phase 6 is still some years away, and it’s possible Berkeley Homes will increase housing totals at that site as they did at Phase 5.

So all in all, Kidbrooke is a hive of activity and there’s still long-empty plots yet to be decided upon, including a former sportsground off Moorhead Way.

In coming days I’ll finish that post about another Greenwich Builds site next door to the 117 homes.