Greenwich delivery warehouse plan submitted

Mere weeks after a consultation into plans for a 25,000 square foot distribution depot in Greenwich and we see the application has now been submitted.

This offers us a better glimpse into what the applicant seeks to build on a site opposite the recently opened Radisson Red hotel and close to the Blackwall Tunnel and forthcoming Silvertown Tunnel.

Bloom are behind the plan. This proposal gives a worse case scenario of 349 additional HGV and van journeys per day.

The application’s Transport statements mentions that a meeting in February 2022 with Greenwich Council to discuss the plan, no Highways Officer was in attendance.

The site is expected to see HGV deliveries to the site and then vans delivering parcels. This additional traffic will meet added congestion post-Silvertown Tunnel – particularly southbound. While the Silvertown Tunnel exits at a separate location to the Blackwall Tunnel north of the Thames north of the Thames, in the south it converges and uses exactly the same road network in Greenwich.

A green sheen is attempted by stating last-mile deliveries may be electric vehicles. That doesn’t apply to HGVs and does little about overall congestion.

The application also includes information which could become outdated quite soon, stating: “Tunnel Avenue forms the eastern boundary of the site. It is a two-way access road that leads from a junction with Blackwall Lane to the south to the northern end of the road where access is restricted to buses and taxis – the northern end of the road allows access for buses and taxis onto Blackwall Tunnel Southern Approach.”.

Yet Silvertown Tunnel changes in the area include opening to all vehicles.

The application states “Two-way daily traffic flows in 2020 were in order of 72,600 vehicles per day with an overall HGV proportion of 6% and car proportion of 70%.”.

The new tunnel has a dedicated HGV lane with movements expected to rise sharply.

Morden Wharf

The site sits near Morden Wharf where 1,500 homes were approved last year.

Greenwich Planners did little to secure funding to ensure safer walking and cycle links along Tunnel Avenue to reach Greenwich Peninsula and Charlton, and residents will have additional HGV vehicles passing if plans approved.

While Morden Wharf’s renders show a Routemaster, in reality people will see HGVs and an ugly, cluttered public realm.

The Design and access Statement lists some local developments but not all – including a block approved on a former MOT yard on Blackwall Lane.

Transport assessments are sometimes poor gauges of future transport changes. Many a time I’ve seen public transport predictions show laughably low predictions with trip estimates bearing little in the way of reality in terms of flow.

Many times they fail to include imminent future changes. The fact the transport assessment for the new depot barely mentions Silvertown Tunnel and the opening up of Tunnel Avenue alone gives pause for thought.

Anything that states good cycle access in the area must be wary when it’s like this:

I’d take their prediction of just four additional journeys in the PM peak with a pinch of salt. A distribution depot will almost certainly see more than that.

The site is also not operating in a vacuum, with 1,500 homes being built nearby and a cumulative impact is to be expected.

Much of this could be mitigated if there was a commitment to use sustainable transport and cargo bikes but no commitment appears to exist.

No Community Infrastructure Levy income will benefit the local area, as Greenwich set such a low rate in 2015 and failed to revise rates in 2018 leaving a multi-million shortfall to plug the Woolwich Crossrail station bill.

This may not be the only new depot, with a three-tier building planned in Silvertown itself and now another in Charlton.

You can view the application and relevant documents by clicking here.