Greenwich planners seek to block Woolwich housing due to nearby chimney
An application to build a residential housing development in Woolwich is recommended for refusal by Greenwich Council planners in part due to a nearby chimney.
The block on Albion Road is much along the lines of one already approved back in 2017.
This new plan could be stopped in part due to a listed chimney – though the council’s own development next door sees buildings at similar heights.
The developer is Lakeview with 48 flats included. The chimney is Grade II listed and a remnant of Woolwich Dockyard.
Other reasons for the recommendation to refuse are zero affordable homes and a lack of Section 106 agreement.
A report mentions the viability report, stating “the viability assessment is given limited weight in the context of the need for affordable housing, the scheme’s failure to support and contribute to the Borough’s and London’s affordable housing delivery by providing zero affordable housing and relevant policies.
“As demonstrated by both the London Plan and borough’s Annual Monitoring Report (AMR), the under-delivery of affordable housing is significant and cumulatively worsening and therefore the need to address this should be given great weight”.
If refused, an appeal could well succeed, at least in respect to the chimney of other issues are overcome.
For one, Greenwich set a precedent by already approving a block on site which was almost identical. Two, the buildings next door on their former estate site are similar in scale.
And third, Greenwich Council are not meeting housing targets so there’s a presumption to approve.
So while there is now a 2021 Thames Barrier and Bowater Road Conservation Area Character Appraisal, any appeal could well succeed.
Councillors will decide next week.
Labour controlled Greenwich Borough give out mixed signals when it comes to new homes. They say there is a housing crisis which indeed there is. However. They reject planning applications for new homes. A couple of years back they rejected plans for a developer to build homes for rent on the boarders of Woolwich and Charlton. But cannot remember the nane of the road thry wanted to build on at the moment. This development would have suitex people looking for homes to rent localky. This site remains undeveloped.to this day. A lot of other sites that could be used for new homes lay empty or in a stae of disrepair. We need to get developes building on these sites as soon as possible to provide the much needed new homes.