Consultation on next 660 homes coming to Woolwich Royal Arsenal site
A consultation on the next major phase of development at the Royal Arsenal site in Woolwich is set to soon commence with 660 homes proposed.
This was always going to be a contentious stage given it builds on part of Maribor Park which was always due to be temporary as it now stands.
Still, some didn’t do cursory research when moving and now seem surprised though the existing approved masterplan always contained it. Images from years before also contained it. Models shown at previous consultations showed it.
It’s not a rabbit out of the hat moment.
A quick google just now again showed many sites showing the long-held plans. Here’s the second result for example. Here’s the first. It’s long, long been the plan that Beresford Street would see buildings alongside while the Premier Inn car park would in turn become green space.
Slow progress
While Berkeley Homes have been slow to build which has presumably seen some assume the park is staying, people should always look at the masterplan or proposed changes when moving. And if they had it always showed this was happening.
It’s easier to have sympathy when a masterplan is altered post-approval which we have seen on the Royal Arsenal at Building 11.
But building along Beresford Street? That shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. I suppose I still find it odd someone would do what is one of the biggest decision’s in their life and not Google it beforehand.
What this does is bring up a key reason developers don’t want to improve areas before building. If they do some then complain when plans come in. If Berkeley had left it fenced off for years and unusable they’d get less grief now (though of course that’s not as appealing to sell homes – but again buyers could have done the basics when researching).
Some developers do take the view that they won’t bother enacting interim improvements – or meanwhile uses – as it gives them grief down the line.
Anyway, we’ll find out what Berkeley Homes have in store next week. An in-person event will be held on Tuesday 12th December between 5pm and 8pm plus Saturday 16th December between 10am-2pm in the Knight Gallery at Woolwich Works.
IF they’ve radically changed what was previously opposed they’d be cause to raise it but if not, sorry surely do the basics before moving somewhere to check what’s happening.
This is not about Consultation. First, there was no public consultation with people already living on the Arsenal when the outline plan was proposed in 2013. Second, Berkeley Homes are now arranging not a consultation but an exhibition, at which a marketing company will tell us what will happen not ask us what we think. Third, Berkeley Homes are already trying to change the MasterPlan restrictions on the height of the towers. The Royal Arsenal is, to use Michael Gove’s description of leasehold in general, feudal.
In 2013 the outline masterplan was consulted and people could comment/object/support. It was then up to the authority to decide and they approved.
The developer nor any company employed by Berkeley to provide the event cannot now ride roughshod over previously approved plans. If it doesn’t conform people can object. The EIA submitted is limited in detail. Have to see what comes out next week. They’ve adjusted heights at, say, Kidbrooke but by about a metre on some plots. On others much more. Changes to this phase in Woolwich could be miniscule or it could be far more. I’ll take another look at the EIA but it didn’t suggest an overall uplift in approved homes compared to 2013.
I moved to the Arsenal in 2011 and the masterplan was definitely consulted upon as I went to an event on the plan. We were also encouraged to comment on the council’s planning page (mainly by opponents as I seem to recall but we could give views). Not sure how some missed it as it was well publicised locally. For what it’s worth back then I thought the area beside the Thames was to be over-developed (the newest towers confirm that for me) but the area now proposed for building was fine for construction. Remember back then it was a car park. I got a ticket once in it. A dodgy company ran it. It was an ugly area and the park is a recent change and we always knew it was temporary. It’s revisionist to now say this is a surprise or we didn’t know and had no chance to comment.
I’d also add that since the early 2010s Woolwich has seen investment in the form of the Elizabeth line which back then was touch and go. More reason not to object imo as housing around busy stations is a fact of city life and without it would mean urban sprawl and building on the green belt. I hope this development does however provide ample commercial space and good quality affordable housing.
In sum, the previous plan was consulted and approved. Everyone should have known about it back the and anyone moving since could see what was coming and if they didn’t I don’t know how.
“the area now proposed for building was fine for construction. Remember back then it was a car park”. Untrue, it was a riverside park, a copse of well-established trees, and a children’s skate park. The Royal Borough of Greenwich has a bad history on public consultation. There are statutory requirements about consulting those affected. How did they inform those of us already living on the Arsena in 2013? Or was it like Woolwich Works and Punchdrunk where they refused to say what they were planning until the contracts were signed and all the infrasture works completed, and still they failed to inform even those living right next to the properties that a Licensing application was being decided?