Construction starts at former Abbey Wood post office site near station

A crane is now up as work begins on building new homes and workspace at Abbey Wood’s former post office.

A total of 30 flats are to be built with a recent submission for minor changes.

The site is seconds away on foot to Abbey Wood station and with Elizabeth line, Thameslink and Southeastern Metro services a short hop to destinations across the capital and beyond.

Following closure of the former post office another smaller unit opened within a shop the other side of the station at Cross Quarter phase one.

Ease of access to excellent transport from the area hasn’t spurred on Peabody at one of their many vacant plots. No work appears imminent on the former Harrow Inn pub site which sits opposite.

Peabody took on the site over a decade ago but like so many other areas locally have failed to build.

A shop unit on site was closed and demolished leaving an even bigger vacant plot.

After five years in charge they finally submitted a planning application in 2019. Levels of “affordable” housing were no higher than many private developments at 36 per cent.

Excuses have been and gone throughout those eleven years for no building both here and other plots. There’s always an excuse.

A separate post on this site will be forthcoming as it typifies Peabody’s ongoing failings and there’s been a recent development as planning has now officially lapsed.

It joins a substantial list of Peabody plots left empty since taking over much of the area from Gallions back in 2014 including:

Cross Quarter stage two

This sits beside Sainsbury’s and an adjacent residential block which formed Cross Quarter stage one and featured further plans for housing until Peabody took over.

No building proposals have since been revealed.

Harrow Manorway

Harrow Manorway sits almost across from Cross Quarter and saw many residents evicted as homes were demolished some years ago. Nothing then happened.

It’s a vast site. Plans to demolish more homes (see boarded up properties on the left in the image below) are on hold and campaigns and protests against yet more demolitions have been underway recently.

See also site next door to the south where residents and shopkeepers were evicted.

Peabody have since put a sales centre in. Building new homes? Don’t be silly. They’re not even planning any here for perhaps 15 years.

And so while private developers have hardly busted a gut on various sites, they’ve achieved more in eleven years than Peabody.

It remains a mystery why so much land was given to the organisation to then do little, despite being awarded Housing Zone status in 2015 with grants and loans that were supposed to speed up building.

With the post office now underway it’ll just take another long-delayed project on a former car wash at Eynsham Drive to commence and Peabody’s stark failures across the area – despite a new £18bn railway line on the doorstep – will be even more evident.