Woolwich town centre upgrade sees decline continue

Woolwich town centre’s recent upgrade continues to decline with street furniture falling apart along Powis Street.

The £21 million project funded by the Future High Streets Fund was completed last year and has since seen a number of problems with poor maintenance.

Issues increasingly seen are damaged street furniture and areas of tarmac appearing on new paving.

To give some examples, new bins were installed along the street as part of the upgrade. They’re quite an unusual design with two major flaws; they lack capacity and aren’t built robustly. Not great for a busy High Street.

What that’s meant is they have to be emptied more regularly which is of course more labour-intensive.

The doors have broken on many, not helped due to this continual need to open and empty which staff told me has affected hinges and locks.

I’ve seen similar type in areas like King’s Cross but that’s on private land where’s there’s no shortage of funds to fix and replace. A tad different.

In places on Powis Street the old bins have been drafted back.

In terms of planters and landscaping along the street much of what was planted is now dead.

Not helped by the drought this summer no doubt, so let’s see how it shapes up next year.

Bright white paving is now dirty along the street, and again not helped by inadequate bins as rubbish spills out.

There’s various other things looking awry including damaged cycle stands and the sides of planters giving way in places.

All in all not great just a year after the £21 million completed.

Positives

It’s not all bad though as a lighting scheme along Powis Street installed as part of the project still seems to be fine – and looks excellent.

Particularly lighting installed underneath new seating along with uplighting near trees.

At heart it is a very good upgrade with a fair bit to like.

The issue as ever is Greenwich Council actually looking after it, and they have a terrible record in Woolwich seen after most major upgrades since the 1980s. Austerity or not, it’s long been the same.

And in a time of austerity and cuts that’s even more reason to keep things simple instead of choosing paving that requires very regular deep cleaning, or bespoke street furniture that isn’t up to task.

Sweeping and general cleaning of the street can be undertaken – and is much welcome – but if unsuitable street furniture is breaking and left in situ for months on end while other elements such as planting and paving aren’t looked after as needed, it counts for little.

When it comes to Woolwich some people love to blame those who shop and visit the town but none of the issues highlighted in this post are really down to people using the street. We’re not talking of dropped litter alone. It’s material and maintenance issues. Things that a broom isn’t fixing.