Greenwich towers gain green light from City Hall
A tower approved in 2021 at a site on Greenwich peninsula has been given the green light by the Mayor.
The plan includes a 30-floor block and a 22-floor block and sits next to St Mary Magdalene school from L&Q. The two plots total 476 homes and is revised from an earlier 2017 proposal that was approved yet never progressed.
Affordable housing at “London Affordable Rent levels” is 30 per cent. Shared ownership is another 30 per cent and private sale is 40 per cent.
Shepherd Robinson are behind the design. When it went before Greenwich Council’s Planning board it was bundled in with outline plans at various other plots and so this detailed proposals skipped through much scrutiny.
The wider plan was to increase overall homes on Greenwich Peninsula by 1,757 above agreed 2015 masterplan levels, taking total homes planned above 17,000.
That 17,000 total is on land owned by developer Knight Dragon and does not include other plots on the peninsula such as 1,500 at Morden Wharf approved last year.
Walking and cycling links remain very poor between proposed blocks beside St Mary Magdalene school and both east Greenwich amenities and shops in Charlton at Bugsby’s Way.
As is commonly seen in the borough, new developments on the Peninsula appear to turn their back on integrating with existing communities and facilities. Not only is this poor for communities but is also a major negative for local business in areas such as east Greenwich, alongside active travel and use of bus routes and rail services located nearby.
Income from developers to council coffers is not being used to improve the situation.
I’ve been amazed by the lack of objections from the neighbouring schools. These blocks will completely overlook the very limited outdoor playground at Mary Magdalene School and the access route to Millennium Primary School. The LCC used to have a policy of protecting school grounds from public scrutiny recognising that there are always unsavoury people around. Seems rather retrograde to be subjecting our children to such extreme overlooking in a brand new school which took a significant slice of the CIL money. I suppose the GLA thinks we don’t have shooters like the USA so nothing to worry about.
That policy is pretty ridiculous though given housing need and seems based on paranoia. It’s common throughout Europe and other nations for high density housing around schools.
The public realm is dire in this area and in need of major improvements. The roundabout and roads could also do with improving to provide better and safer crossings and walkways for residents.
I hope the new homes set to be rented are rented at social housing rent levels as private tents still remain out of reach for most local people on modest salaries.
This report refers to ‘London affordable rent levels’ and you can see the GLA table here: https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/housing-and-land/homes-londoners-affordable-homes-programmes/homes-londoners-affordable-homes-programme-2016-2023 I don’t know how they compare with local authority or housing association rents since I am not in either sector.
🤔 The edits I made to the above were not applied.
I see my comment has been removed. Was it something I said?
I havn’t removed any it’s mostly all automated with comments. One did need manual verification (with the link) which the antispam requires so that should now appear.