Greenwich Council leader Anthony Okereke has said the government needs to invest in new homes in the borough, rather than “interfere” with its planning powers to force through development in the area.
Last week Michael Gove, the levelling-up secretary, said he wanted a “Docklands 2.0” to be created along both sides of the Thames, encompassing the Charlton riverside and Thamesmead.
And Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, said he wanted London mayor Sadiq Khan’s planning policies to be reviewed so more homes were built in inner London.
Gove said he wanted “tens of thousands of new homes” to be created around Silvertown, Beckton, Charlton and Thamesmead.
“Beautiful, well-connected homes and new landscaped parkland are integral to our vision – all sympathetic to London’s best traditions,” he said.
Gove said that he wanted Docklands 2.0 to be “an eastward extension along the Thames of the original Heseltine vision” – referring to the former Conservative politician Michael Heseltine, who took powers away from councils to create the London Docklands Development Corporation. The LDDC encouraged the early development of the docks – including the first stage of Canary Wharf and the road network around it – before it was wound up 25 years ago.
City Hall has used a similar model to develop the area around the Olympic Park in east London although the London Legacy Development Corporation has recently been criticised for approving a 21,500-capacity concert arena, the MSG Sphere, at Stratford, despite the opposition of the local council, Newham.
Okereke told The Greenwich Wire that he was “pleased that the Government recognises the potential of Charlton Riverside and Thamesmead for new homes and employment. Thamesmead and Abbey Wood alone could provide around 15,000 new homes and 8,000 new jobs.”
He said: “We are currently working with Homes England [a government agency] and the Greater London Authority to bring forward many more new homes in our borough but to do this we need Government funding and not interference in our own local planning powers – that is currently being threatened.
All the area’s in Gove’s Docklands 2.0 are currently slated for thousands of new homes under Khan’s London Plan, which sets out City Hall’s planning policies.
The Docklands Light Railway route to Woolwich Arsenal – finished in the late 2000s – has encouraged development in Silvertown on the north bank of the Thames, including the dense Royal Wharf development close to the Thames Barrier.
But Thamesmead and Charlton Riverside are poorly served by public transport – and politicians on both sides of the Thames want funding for a Docklands Light Railway extension to allow new developments at Beckton Riverside and Thamesmead Waterfront.
“We also need improved transport connectivity,” Okereke said. “We have been calling on the Government, alongside others, for a new DLR extension from Gallions Reach to Beckton Riverside and Thamesmead to create much needed public transport connections into central London.”
Thamesmead started life as a “new town” created by the Greater London Council in the 1960s, but the unfinished district – which stretches into the borough of Bexley – is now mostly under the control of the housing association Peabody.
Together with part of Abbey Wood, the area now forms a vast City Hall “opportunity area” for development, but planning decisions still remain with Greenwich and Bexley.
Even though some of the original blocks on the Bexley side of the border have been demolished, development to replace them has been slow, even though they are relatively close to the new Elizabeth Line station at Abbey Wood.
New homes and community facilities at Cygnet Square – replacing the Tavy Bridge blocks which made up part of the original incarnation of Thamesmead – were recently completed.
Work is also progressing fast at Lombard Square, a 1,750-home development by Berkeley Homes close to Plumstead station, in west of the opportunity area.
Charlton Riverside – also an opportunity area – is a more complex challenge, as it is in the hands of a number of different landowners and does not even have a road running through much of it.
A masterplan calling for low-rise housing looks harder to fulfil because of the risk of flooding in the area, by the Thames Barrier, while it is feared that the land could be more valuable for warehouses because of its proximity to the Blackwall and Silvertown tunnels.
Work has now started on some housing – 67 housing-association homes behind the old Victoria pub – originally refused by Greenwich councillors before being approved on appeal – but land for a development next door was put on the market last year,
Hyde Housing also has approval for 1,200 homes closer to the river, but much of the area looks like it will be dominated by dirty industry for some time to come.
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