Where should new homes be built in Greenwich borough? Have your say

A consultation into where new homes should be built across Greenwich borough is underway.

The council are seeking feedback and also looking into where housing, offices, retail and industrial use should be located. Get your skates on though as it ends tomorrow (July 31st).

To be fair to Greenwich it’s not their fault as this has been underway for weeks. I’d half written up a post, got distracted, reminded then thought crap I better put something up before it ends.

The consultation is pretty much a box ticking exercise and any officer worth their salt will know it’s blindingly obvious what should be located where.

Have an £18 bn new rail line with excellent links? Probably should have housing and mixed-use nearby rather than low-rise use.

Have much land wasted with single level sprawling car parks and retail sheds while there’s a housing shortage and mass population increase? Probably should densify that land.

Still, while this may all seem obvious previous plans have been rather poor. So maybe they do need the guidance. Unless they ignore it again.

You can comment and make suggestions here. Make it productive though; just moaning about any and every possible development and alleviating housing need won’t get you far.

For me the obvious ones are inner city retail parks which are an utter waste of land and big warehouses seconds from Woolwich Elizabeth line station.

Most are occupied by businesses that could easily work in a mixed-use site with housing – and there’s ample examples of how that can work across London.

Does a BMW dealership and car storage unit, exercise class yard and offices (to give just three examples) really need expansive units to themselves at the expense of much needed housing near high frequency transport links? Particularly when the White Hart Triangle a short distance east in Thamesmead is half empty – and a place industry is ideally located.