Greenwich towers featuring 431-homes on the peninsula near complete
A major development in Greenwich is now nearing completion as cranes are removed.
The site on Greenwich peninsula is beside the 1,600-pupil St Mary Magdalene school.
L&Q built the plot after an agreement with Knight Dragon who are in charge of much of the peninsula. A total of 431 homes are included. The overall Greenwich peninsula Knight Dragon masterplan is now around 17,500 homes.
Other plots across the area under control of other developers include Morden Wharf, Greenwich Millennium Village and Enderby Wharf taking the total to nearer 25,000.
Street level
Work continues at street level public realm as seen in this photo taken recently and very nice it is too. A cycle lane can be seen below beside the road. It’s a car-free development save for blue-badge parking.
However the cycle lane doesn’t really head anywhere safely if residents want to head east to visit shops in Charlton or south to reach East Greenwich. Other amenities there include the Greenwich Centre with a library and leisure centre.
Greenwich resolutely will not use any Section 106 or Community Infrastructure Levy income to improve the dismal stretch on foot or cycle between new homes are local services, shops and transport so it remains as grim as ever.
A prevailing attitude persists thinking the peninsula is a silo and making no effort to link it with surrounding areas. It’s a nonsense with a cursory look at a map given proximity to nearby services and shops, let alone on the ground.
East Greenwich also includes restaurants, pubs, GP surgeries and stations such as Maze Hill offering quick lines into central London. Not every destination is served by the Jubilee line.
Time and again new homes are built on the peninsula and at every stage be it during consultation, within submitted planning documents and when it comes to Greenwich Planning Department’s allocation of Section 106 revenue we see minimal understanding of the area, expecting everyone to simply head to the Jubilee line and presumably shop there and not want to reach many more shops located closer in Charlton or east Greenwich.
Transport for London
While most of the streets in this area are borough-controlled a small number are under the remit of Transport for London, but they too havn’t invested in improvements.
Given though what we see just over the Thames in Newham it’s likely a result of Greenwich failing to stump up cash, so TfL won’t either. On the northern side of the Thames, Newham have allocated millions from new developments for public realm changes across wide area and TfL have assisted.
TfL even put in more money from the Silvertown mitigation fund whilst in Greenwich not a penny of that fund has even been spent, and when it is finally utilised the total is so small that projects will achieve very little.
Streets are bad on the other side of the A102 and whilst taking photos of the new towers I also has a wander down Tunnel Avenue which was as bleak as ever. Another housing plot is completing that side of the road but again, no sign of using any revenue to improve links across the area.
The Tunnel Avenue route also isn’t direct for those moving into many new homes including the towers covered today.
The way they’d walk to reach east Greenwich would be under the flyover. Welcoming it isn’t.
TfL wanted to redirect the 188 bus so more people would need to walk beneath the flyover, including pupils attending St Mary Magdalene school.
It seems on pause after it went out to consultation. Perhaps the penny finally dropped that this whole area is far from suitable for a rapidly changing area and new homes, but as yet no one is willing to fund meaningful changes.
Welcome
But moving back towards the new towers and I’m quite a fan of their relatively restrained look and dark colour palette. No “random” cladding, no dreary greys and no tacked-on balconies.
A nice addition to the ever growing local skyline.
Now if only Greenwich and TfL will finally grasp the nettle and invest in improving streetscapes in the area it’d be a far better place to live.
Also it ensures no cohesive cycle network. A lack of funding to improve the roundabout beside both the school and towers as well as along Blackwall Lane beneath the A102 results in a route towards Cycleway 4 being a risk some won’t be willing to take. It always struck me as odd that wasn’t done 20 years ago but I’m astounded it’s still just left as it was then. Well, more like as it was 40 years ago when no one lived there and it was all industry and the gas works. There must be 10,000 people living nearby now. Are Greenwich and TFL planning anything at all?
They are! But believe it or not the timeline included in one planning application had changes to the roundabout planned for the late 2030s. I’m not joking. They don’t plan a thing until many more towers and people are living there. I’ll have to dig out the image.
As is often the case, much incoming revenue from developers is going to GLLaB at the expense of funding for safe and attractive streets and public spaces enabling residents to access schools, employment and local services. Greenwich then blame TfL. TfL say sod off why should we pay if you aren’t willing to contribute and nothing happens.
Greenwich love to divert attention and will also raise Cycleway 4 currently underway Charlton to Woolwich, but it’s the very last part to be built from Tower Bridge via Bermondsey, Rotherhithe, and Deptford years after other boroughs saw work. Other areas like Angerstein roundabout are still horrible to use. Greenwich town centre still hasn’t been done. They talk the talk but rarely want to fund what’s needed despite some of the highest levels of housebuilding in the entire country bringing revenue to council coffers.
You often highlight this issue in your articles and I could not agree more.
A genuine question- What can we locals do to trigger some action by the authorities?
Voting alone is unlikely to resolve it or change the actors. What else can be done? It looks like the borough is just ticking boxes with new housing numbers, filling all land without thinking through the infrastructure or community aspects, and just looking good to the central authorities with their stats (to the extent the MP becomes Housing Minister), yet the locals feel so neglected and voiceless… It would be so easy to fix some of this if anyone was actually just focusing on it. Can they not just consult whoever is doing up the Newham / Queen Elizabeth Park area about what worked?? Both are Labour party in the end.. I genuinely do not understand what makes Greenwich council so much less capable and genuinely want to do something about it, but dont know what to do.