Pocket Living homes on New Eltham Co-op car park: New consultation

A new round of consultation is underway to build new homes beside New Eltham station.

The developer plans a block partly upon what is currently the Co-op’s large car park.

Having passed this existing car park hundreds of times over the years, it’s rarely very busy and anywhere near full to capacity.

Given excellent site beside transport links, shops and amenities, it makes much sense to build homes upon part of the site.

In total 58 homes are planned.

Public realm improvements

There’s a rather secluded alley running between the existing car park and station which often sees rubbish dumped.

The proposal will open this up and hopefully reduce dumping in the area.

I used to walk along there regularly and there’s few downsides to opening it up.

Additional residents will bring custom to nearby shops aiding the vitality of the area, and sufficient car parking for visitors will be provided.

Being located beside the station also ensures there’s little need for a car, which helps reduce congestion and is far preferable to urban sprawl onto greenery when it comes to new homes.

New flats also reduce conversion of family homes into house shares.

Being Pocket Living, it does mean housing will be 80 per cent of market rent and at the very limit of what is legal in terms of flat size.

At least this isn’t public land though like Greenwich Council’s previous attempts to sell land to the company given there’s a hugely pressing need for truly social housing in the borough and beyond.

In fact since Greenwich previously pushed for that, the number of homeless households in the borough more than doubled from around 750 in 2018 to nearly 1,600 in 2021. In the end they dropped plans for two of the three public sites, and approved one in Charlton.

Co-op

The co-op own a number of other sites in the borough that could be utilised to assist with the housing crises.

Other plots include single-storey buildings and vacant land in Abbey Wood:

Much of the site has been vacant for decades.

Plans have been and gone but nothing substantive has come forward.

The co-op have a proud history of building homes of course. The very estate where the Abbey Wood shop resides was built by the co-op 100 years ago. They constructed over 1,000 homes.

In an ideal world the co-op could perhaps build again with the aim of reinvesting profits back into new and affordable homes.

For now though, selling land to Pocket Living is what’s happening in New Eltham, and the benefits far outweigh the negatives.

Hopefully some progress is made in Abbey Wood.

Click here to view the New Eltham consultation.