Construction on 431 Greenwich homes to begin next month
Work to construct 431 homes in Greenwich is finally set to begin many years after plans were first proposed.
The site on Greenwich peninsula is owned by Knight Dragon and lay empty for many years while plans came and went with little action on the ground.
The site was supposed to see 281 homes in the most recent Greenwich masterplan, but is now up to 431.
A recent application gives a timeline of the planned timetable, with preliminary work already underway and construction beginning next month.
Plot 19.05 sits next to housing built in the 2010s before developer Knight Dragon pulled up the drawbridge and stopped building.
Housing shortage
As we often see with large areas of land in the hands of one developer, progress is glacial. Peabody at Thamesmead springs to mind.
Knight Dragon have been big on placemaking (as have Peabody) while forgetting to build those things people actually live in. I mean, who needed that while the population soars?
Now they’ve finally got off their arse we see movement at one plot. That leaves numerous others to get on with.
Transport
More new houses doesn’t mean any attempt to improve walking and cycling links to established shops, transport links and communities in east Greenwich and Charlton, mind.
Greenwich have a new transport strategy under consultation, though a number of previous strategies were simply ignored by council departments after being adopted thus this remains:
The Carbon Reduction plan? Some lovely words in that. Healthy living strategy? Oh yes it sound lovely.
Shame it has changed little when it came to how various departments acted and allocated funds. Streets across Greenwich still do nothing to encourage walking or cycling using incoming developer funding.
Clutter you want? Clutter you got, preventing easy crossing for those on foot.
Will the new transport strategy change anything?
Maybe. There’s new leaders and Cabinet members replacing those who failed before and were kicked out.
They need to push it onto officers though, or the residents of 431 new homes will have just as poor links as thousands of others who moved in before.
