Schools for 2000+ pupils coming to Greenwich Peninsula
Following on from my last post which looked at a proposed 36 storey tower beside the o2, this post heads south a couple of hundred metres to cover proposed schools.
St Mary Magdalenes have applied to build a large school on land to the north of the junction between Millennium Way & John Harrison Way. This isn’t any old school though. It’s a bit of a monster, offering space for 1646 pupils, ranging from nursery age all the way through to a sixth form facility. More than 200 staff will be employed.
A smaller, temporary school currently exists on the site, having opened in February this year, and has space for 120 pupils. The full school is expected to be complete by September 2017.
The reason this post came together now is because of a number of tweets seen last week in quick succession. Firstly, yet another photo showing a huge scrum of people trying to board buses at the Peninsula bus station. Shortly after were tweets about planned schools nearby and also tweet about TfL cuts over the next 5 years.
The site is quite isolated. The school’s catchment area will cover a wider area than just the Peninsula, with many pupils from Charlton and Woolwich expected. Bus capacity is an obvious source of concern, as they’ll be a major source of transport for pupils and parents, and so many adding to existing flows doesn’t bode well.
The bus station is due to be rebuilt, but can TfL even maintain existing levels of service with a cut of £700 million a year to their operating budget, let alone increase? And then there’s cars – some parents will try and drop off. Those cars will meet additional traffic from new housing in the area and large scale expansion of retail parks nearby.
The site is also close to the Blackwall tunnel. Pollution is an obvious concern, as are plans to feed another tunnel’s worth traffic from Silvertown onto the existing southbound a102 road (which will remains at the same number of lanes southbound when the tunnels converge) which will further slow down traffic.
Add in extra traffic from the school and increased congestion across Greenwich and the wider area looks certain. Throw in Charlton Riverside plans over the next decade and issues mount. Oh, and the cruise liner terminal too.
Along with much else on the Peninsula the concern is around adequate provision of infrastructure. Buses are packed, the Jubilee Line is near capacity.
A small increase of around four trains an hour by 2019 will be provided for the many new homes and businesses on the eastern stretch of the line. Just today, 3500 new homes have been announced close to West Ham station. It matches large scale building plans at Stratford, Canning Town and Canada Water. Can the underground and bus service cope over the coming five to ten years?
Stationers’ Academy
Another school is also looking to open on the Peninsula. The Leigh Academies Trust are hoping to open a secondary school by September 2017. The plan was approved in March 2015 by the Department for Education. This will be far smaller with pupil admission numbers of 180 and a sixth form of 250. Plans are not as far advanced it appears with this school.
An update from Leigh Academies Trust on Twitter yesterday.
From @latceo
LAT’s new secondary free school in Greenwich is close to finding a site. They Trust is delighted to help meet the need for school places.
Interesting – any likely sites for the school? I havn’t read the masterplan in a while to recall likely sites. Greenwich’s website stated in September when the new masterplan was approved that two schools would be built on the peninsula – one all through and one primary. With this secondary school that plan already looks to have moved on. Could there be three new schools?
Well, with SAGP being a free school ( sponsored by Ravensbourne btw ) it wouldn’t surprise me if LAT’s ideas/plans ( at that time held behind closed doors ) were not known to the masterplan people. I have not heard anything about another new primary, but I suspect it will be needed in a few years time. I have no knowledge of the site they are after, but is The David Beckham Academy land now free, i wonder ?
The plans for a second primary school are a long way off as it is positioned for the Peninsula Quays area (nearest to the new hotel and Canary Wharf) which will be developed later (according to the developers who are very open about their plans). Flats have been approved for the plots previously occupied by the David Beckham Academy (as part of Knight Dragon’s development).
The proposed Mary Magdalene site isn’t isolated, it’s situated close to Millennium Primary and housing (GMV, City Peninsula and Knight Dragons’). Though its intake is mainly targeted at Woolwich/Thamesmead areas (Magdalene primary’s catchment). There is already a big problem of traffic in the morning and local residents aren’t best pleased given car ownership is not high here due to the Peninsula being a low emission zone, TFL limited on parking provision in the developments, and the excellent public transport. With 15,000+ homes planned on the Peninsula and environmental targets, this school proposal is devoid of any logic.
There is anyway the rather important issue of the gasholder which still hasn’t been resolved. That site needs the blast zone removed (affects northern end) and clearance before any school is built. A lot of work involved around decontamination and clearance. Doubtful whether building can start anytime soon and SMM may have to consider an alternative site (Old Dover Road as that is owned by the CofE?).
Aside from panning and the practicalities of development, there is also the issue of education policy. The Conservative Prime Minister stated at his party conference speech that council-run schools will become a thing of the past. His government has approved two secondary Free Schools for Greenwich borough that are waiting to open (the LAT and IAG languages school).
All very interesting, more so behind closed doors I’m sure. As a local resident, I would suggest there are really not many plots/sites left on the Peninsula to potentially hold two secondary schools, two primaries and 15,000 homes!