Michael Gove has suggested that the government could step in to kickstart the development of thousands of homes on the Charlton riverside and Thamesmead – calling the plan “Docklands 2.0”.
The announcement by Gove, the levelling-up secretary, was tucked away in a wide-ranging speech he made on Monday where he announced plans to “supercharge” housing development in Cambridge.
But he also said he wanted to do the same in London – saying that while City Hall said the capital could take about 52,000 new homes each year, it was only coming up with 30,000.
Today the Evening Standard reported that Rishi Sunak has announced a review of Sadiq Khan’s housing plans “to boost house building and make home ownership a reality again for people across this great city”.
Gove said he wanted to follow in the footsteps of Michael Heseltine, who as a Conservative environment secretary forced through the initial transformation of much of the Docklands in the 1980s and 1990s.
“We are planning to intervene, using all the arms of government, to assemble land, provide infrastructure, set design principles, masterplan over many square miles and bring in the most ambitious players in the private sector, to transform landscapes which are ripe for renewal,” he said.
“Our ambition in London is a Docklands 2.0 – an eastward extension along the Thames of the original Heseltine vision. Taking in the regeneration of Charlton Riverside and Thamesmead in the south, and the area around Beckton and Silvertown to the north, tens of thousands of new homes can be created. Beautiful, well-connected homes and new landscaped parkland are integral to our vision – all sympathetic to London’s best traditions.
“We will look at how we can ensure better transport connections from east to west, to crowd in local and private investment, and we will build on the best evidence on how and where to invest ourselves in the future.”
Plans to transform the Charlton riverside have been around for decades while Thamesmead arguably remains unfinished after starting life as a “new town” of council homes in the 1960s.
Gove’s comments on Thamesmead may provide some indication that the government is willing to help fund the £1.7bn Docklands Light Railway extension to the area.
Most of Thamesmead is now under the control of the housing association Peabody, but even though some of the original blocks have been demolished, development there has been slow and transport connections remain poor.
Transport for London recently submitted proposals to the government for the DLR extension, which would serve a 10,000-home development – Thamesmead Waterfront, to be built on one of the last remaining chunks of old marshland. It would also stop at a new development across the Thames, Beckton Riverside. But even if the government is happy to help fund it, the new link would not be built until 2033.
Charlton Riverside remains a more complex challenge, despite plans to build up to 7,000 homes there. There is no one clear landowner, with a number of companies looking to develop, while a masterplan calling for low-rise housing looks harder to fulfil because of the risk of flooding.
A lack of public transport in the area also remains a challenge, with Greenwich Council trying to ensure that an east-west road is built to provide a bus link.
The one development that could have kickstarted development – controversial plans to build 771 homes off Anchor & Hope Lane – was thrown out by Gove’s predecessor, Robert Jenrick, in 2019, after it had also been rejected by Khan and Greenwich Council.
Those plans have now been scrapped altogether and the land has now been bought for warehouses.
As demand for online shopping and home deliveries grows, and industrial land in inner London becomes more scarce, a location such as Charlton Riverside – close to the Blackwall and Silvertown tunnels – becomes more attractive to logistics companies than housebuilders.
Building has now started on 67 housing-association homes behind the old Victoria pub – itself being redeveloped as a pizza outlet with a flat above. But land for a development next door put on the market last year, and those moving into the flats already being built face having heavy lorries and dirty industry as their neighbours for some time to come.
Hyde Housing also has approval for 1,200 homes closer to the river, plans which look to be going ahead. Two other major schemes in the area are also waiting for a decision from councillors, at Flint Glass Wharf next to the Thames Barrier and Faraday Works, the old Siemens works on the Charlton-Woolwich border.
But proposals for a Thames Barrier Bridge to link with Silvertown across the river have so far not won the backing of the mayor or the councils on either side.
Greenwich Council has been contacted for comment.
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