Catalyst for Crossrail Kent extension? Northfleet Harbourside plans in with 3,500 homes & new stadium
Early plans are progressing for a vast new development in Northfleet covering industrial land beside the river Thames.
As part of plans 3,500-homes are being considered alongside a new stadium for Ebbsfleet FC with a capacity of 8,000.
Developer Landmarque have held early consultation and this week submitted an Environmental Impact Assessment to Dartford Council.
Alongside could be “up to 32,000 sq.m (GEA) floorspace for retail, food, and beverages and up to 18,000 sqm (GEA) office floorspace” as well “as up to 20,000 sq.m (GEA) floorspace for a hotel (Use Class C1), up to 4,000 sq.m (GEA) floorspace for community uses (Use Class F), delivery of circa 3.8 hectares of open space and the realignment of the A226 Galley Hill Road / Stonebridge Road”.
This proposal is separate from the wider Ebbsfleet development covering various sites (including some outside of Ebbsfleet) that will see 15,000 new homes.
Crossrail
The nearest station to the latest vast proposal is Northfleet. A sleepy station that formerly saw just two Southeastern trains per hour, it now has four due to Thameslink calling.
Before the pandemic it saw just 161,000 passenger journeys a year. Far below many others on the line. Dartford for example was at 4.7 million.
Slightly further away is Ebbsfleet station which is also due to serve thousands of forthcoming homes as part of “Ebbsfleet Garden City”.
Ebbsfleet Central with be built over the vast car parks located next to Ebbsfleet station and between Northfleet and Ebbsfleet stations.
Work is currently being drawn up on that project.
Clearly some serious work would be needed to increase capacity at both.
That brings us to the other long mooted call to extend Elizabeth Line services beyond Abbey Wood to the area.
Earlier this year it was priced at a hefty £3.2 billion – and that’s if work begun soon and before current high levels of inflation were accounted for.
Transport for the South East released a report highlighting the cost increase.
While the number of homes planned between Abbey Wood and Ebbsfleet is vast, it would take serious support from central Government to enable an extension and part-fund.
Bexley Council alone plan tens of thousands in the north of their borough. Earlier this month I covered a plan for 563 homes near Belvedere station.
Last year a plan for 1,250-homes slightly east in Belvedere was also revealed. Bexley Council’s Growth Strategy shows that’s just the beginning, with aspirations for this many homes in various towns:
Thamesmead: 4,000+
Belvedere: 8,000+
Erith: 6,000+
Slade Green: 8,000+
Bexleyheath: 1,500
Welling: 400+
Sidcup: 400+
Crayford: 1000+
Clearly transport will need to see huge improvements to cater for so much demand – regardless of short term issues.
The issue is whether central Government and the Treasury are willing to do so?
The plans for the Northfleet Harbourside development and new homes, stadium, hotel, shops office space
along with open spaces will really regenerate the Northfleet area and create local jobs for local people in the retail and hospitality sectors.
If Crossrail was to be extended in the future to serve the area terminating at Ebbsfleet would open the area to work and other opportunities across London and the wider area.