PDSA vets in Abbey Wood moving close to station due to hotel development
A PDSA vets on Eynsham Drive in Abbey Wood looks set to move closer to the station station due to forthcoming redevelopment of their existing site.
A unit on Felixstowe Road is set to be the new home according to this application. It’s within the recently built “Cross Quarter” development. That follows plans submitted five years ago to move to an alternative site which never transpired.
The latest choice is a curious site as parking outside is extremely limited. The adjacent residential development was supposed to be car-free but some drivers regularly park all down the road here blocking visibility. It’s a wonder no one has been hit. I’ve seen a few near misses.
Where those driving to the vets will park is a mystery. Enforcement from Greenwich Council is nowhere to be seen on their stretch. Bexley control a part further along closer to the station and also seem to do very little. They also manage land technically in Greenwich borough as part of a management deal but neither do a decent job.
The “loading only” bays are also almost always parked in. It may well be commuters trying to avoid paying when using the nearby stations and given the lack of any apparent tickets, they get away with it.
Paving outside nearby shops and the Sainsbury’s entrance is also now in effect a car park. Whilst private land, council’s could prevent cars entering it it via bollards. They havn’t so paving is broken across a wide area and unstable when walking across.
Both authorities have generally done a terrible job of managing streets both along Felixstowe Road as well as outside Abbey Wood station.
Within that context parking for the vets seems non-existent. Perhaps more double parking, blocking the road and pedestrians placed at risk will result.
New development
The vets has long been due to move with plans to build on the existing Eynsham Drive site. It’s been extremely slow going.
The current plan is a 110-room hotel and nearly 487 c0-living rooms.
Back in 2021 PDSA were due to move to a unit on an industrial site nearby – where parking is possible – while construction was underway before returning to a new unit on site.
As part of the Section 106 agreement for the Eynsham Drive site Greenwich Council failed to allocate a penny to improving the nearby estate. They did allocate funds to move the library to Cross Quarter.
When pointed out it would deprive the estate of its library and be located close to a new Thamesmead library which at the time hadn’t been completed, they ditched it. Then there were plans to improve the existing Abbey Wood library revealed seven years ago. So far it’s yet to happen.
The town has seen quite a few developments built or proposed bringing revenue to local councils but in terms of new services, improved public spaces or doing the basics at maintaining local areas there’s little to show for it.
The PDSA need a large purpose built building to be able to provide update to services and procedures with a car park for visitors to drop off and collect their pets.
Sadly parking enforcement in Greenwich Borough is very poor as has been for many many years.
Everyone needs to be treated fairly if parked illegally, doubled parked etc. Plumstead just passed the Station and near Plumstead Bus Garage is a prime example of this. Making it harder for buses to pass or stop at the bus stops. But sees very little action seems to be taken by the Parking Enforcement Team in this area.
Public realm has always been poor in and around Abbey Wood and Thamesmead with Greenwich Council doing very little to improve public realm and tidy up areas for residents. Much more needs to be done by Gteenwich Council on these issues.