Plans submitted for 205 homes at New Eltham sports ground
A planning application has been submitted to Greenwich Council to build 205 homes in New Eltham.
The site at STC Ivor Grove sports club is designated as Metropolitan Open Land and not too far from New Eltham station, shops and the co-op. Plans went in this summer though have only just been validated.
To mitigate against the loss it’s stated that payment would be made for other green areas across the borough, of which one is local to the area:
- Bostall Heath and Woods – works to reconstruct the area / establish for 12 months, works to form 3 new football pitches, provision of a new pavilion and associated maintenance for a 10 year period – c£2.3m
- Charlton Park – general maintenance to improve the quality of existing pitches (thereby increasing the amount of matches that they are able to support) together with associated maintenance for a 10 year period – c£1m
- Southwood Park – works to reconstruct the area to provide 2 football pitches and associated maintenance for a 10 year period – c£600k
Affordable housing
The “affordable” housing level is 50 per cent. That’s a far higher total than normally seen and a curious number. Unless developer Sigma have a Registered Provider such as a Housing Association signed up it’s difficult to see how would they achieve that.
Alongside housing the plot would see a new club house for the Kings Bowls Club. Three football pitches are currently located on site.
According to the Planning Statement it will be “made up of a 70/30 rented/intermediate tenure split. Of the 70% rented affordable housing, 75% will be social rent and 25% will be London affordable rent with the 30% intermediate tenure being made up of London Shared Ownership tenure”.
Housing consists of 2-3 storey perimeter housing and maisonettes with 4-5 storey blocks of flats at the centre of the site. Road access to homes will be via Green Lane to the west.
An existing car park sees an arrangement with Wyborne Primary School for staff to park. A total of 51 parking spaces are proposed for residents.
Arguments
Expect a right royal ding dong regarding this plan given it’s green land and Greenwich’s ruling Labour group will be worried about losing seats in the south of the borough.
However Greenwich aren’t meeting housing targets and given government are now constantly stating “build baby build” with Housing Minister Matt Pennycook (formerly a Greenwich borough councillor and MP for Woolwich and Greenwich) talking of supporting “the builders not the blockers” it could put the Labour council at odds with a Labour government.
Greenwich Council also need to provide a five year pipeline of housing yet can only demonstrate a 2.19 year supply.
Perhaps a Greenwich refusal (“look, we did our best”) then approval on appeal seems a plausible outcome.
Sigma Homes Group are behind the project.
There does seem to be any demand for football pitches in Charlton Park (despite spending 31.4m pounds upgrading the changing rooms).
The message did not save correctly.
There is virtually no demand for pitches in Charlton Park. £1.4 million spent on the changing rooms.
That area is awash with private sports grounds, as can be seen on Google Earth. Developing some of these sites, which have limited public access and provide minimal natural habitat, makes perfect sense. Better to do that than build on the green belt.
Another development that has far less parking spaces than homes.
Use the train then? Perhaps but havn’t southeastern cut services? I’m sure there used to be fast services from New Eltham to London Bridge which has now gone so its a case of using the slow trains and adding to numbers there.
Absolutely Rail man 45. South Eastern have cut services with many services cut back to two an hour for some services during the day or withdrawn. Which is the case on the Woolwich and Greenwich Line which saw the busy Charing Cross services axed.
We have some of the worst public transport setvicex in South East London when it comes to train and bus services.