Block of flats and shops planned near Belvedere station
Plans are in for 38 new homes alongside shops in a development near Belvedere station.
The site on Picardy Manorway is currently low rise including a Kwik Save. Yep, the name lives on in some corners of the world.
Just 18 per cent would be “affordable” housing if approved. This is again a very low total as seen in many Bexley borough developments.
There’s the usual bit about it not being “viable”. If developers can’t even provide the 35 per cent level at a brownfield site in Belvedere that is easy to demolish, then where can they?
It’s not as though money has gone into exemplary design.
Bexley Council actually allocated money last year towards training in order to heighten scrutiny against “viability” arguments from developers, who have often got a way with offering low levels, if any at all.
It should be noted again that “affordable” often still requires an extremely high salary compared to local levels in able to afford. Fewer truly affordable homes also contributes to taxpayer cost as people are housed in expensive private rentals or overnight accommodation.
Orca Real Estate are behind the plans.
The appeal for developers is obvious given a location just two minutes walk from Belvedere station then another two minutes on a train to Abbey Wood for Crossrail services.
The site is currently car-dominated. It could do with an improvement in terms of additional trees and public realm improvements.
My neck of the woods. It can only be a good thing if more homes are built, and, let’s be honest, the loss of the Kwik Save supermarket will hardly be a tragedy. But if only 18% of the new homes are ‘affordable’ then it’s a greatly flawed plan. The word becomes meaningless anyway when you consider that only 2% of young people earn enough to be able to sustain a mortgage. It’s all too depressing.
The area around Belvedere station is in a desperate need of improvement and redevelopment.
It is a large site and greater density residential buildings with commercial units at street level, some much needed greenery and perhaps small public inner courtyard/square would make a great replacement for the mess it is currently. Hopefully it would even be a start to create a proper “village” feel as the high street in Upper Belvedere fails to provide this much needed sense of center and community for Belvedere.
For that very reason planners should also insist that a pub/cafe/restaurant is retained at the ground level in the proposal for the redevelopment if the nearby Belvedere Pub on Picardy Rd.
With many more flats and housing planned in Lower Belvedere it is inevitable that economic and social center of Belvedere is shifting that way, hence all new developments should be planned with this thought in mind. We should insist on high quality materials and finish and improvement to public realm each time a new block of flats is built.