Residents in one of the Greenwich Peninsula’s tallest towers have to endure rubbish being thrown from the 29th floor and pornography being made in communal areas, councillors were told this week as plans for a neighbouring block were approved.
Neighbours also raised concerns about high winds and said that a glass panel had come off the Waterman tower, smashing into shards on the path below.
Revised plans for a 30-storey block on the east side of the peninsula, containing 300 homes, were approved by Greenwich Council’s planning board on Tuesday. But the developer Knight Dragon was told to improve relations with its residents after people living in the 33-storey Waterman building complained that the company did not listen to them.
Similar plans were approved in 2014 and while they had expired, Knight Dragon has outline approval for more than 17,000 new homes across the peninsula. About 15,000 have yet to be finished, including blocks now under construction close to St Mary Magdalene Primary School and the first phase of the Meridian Quays scheme, approved last month.
The new block, designed to match the Waterman, will be built on an empty site separating Chandlers Avenue from the London Cable Car terminal. Planning documents indicated that Knight Dragon wanted all 300 homes to be for private rent.
But Cara Stimson, one of the Waterman residents, told the committee that private rentals were attracting antisocial behaviour, and that neighbours would prefer a mix of private ownership, shared ownership and discounted rent as well.
“We want to live in a mixed community that has a level of long-term commitment to the area,” she said. “There’ve been serious issues with private renters in the floors of the Waterman above us, with incidents of large bags of rubbish being thrown from the 29th floor and pornography being filmed in the communal areas.
“With the entire building being for private rentals only, we are concerned about transient and antisocial behaviour emerging further.”
Challenged on private rentals and antisocial behaviour by Sandra Bauer, a Labour councillor, Dominic Glanz, the head of projects at Knight Dragon, referred back to a previous meeting where he had talked about the company’s experience in running successful build-to-rent developments. He said: “I think there’s a lot to be learned from some build to rent developments in and around London about how they create sustainable communities.”
Glanz said it was possible that Knight Dragon could sell the flats rather than rent them because sales had been healthy for an adjacent plot being built, Peninsula Gardens.
Another resident, Tracy Irvine, said that high winds had led to a glass panel falling from the Waterman.
“It was a matter of luck that no one was injured,” she said. “We also regularly experience strong winds at the front of our building to the point that an adult needs to lean fully into that wind to even walk down there.”
“And that’s before another building is developed. The addition of a tall tower just 23 metres away from the Waterman building and 29 metres away from 60 Barge Walk will only intensify this.”
Glanz said that he was unaware of the incident and that it may have taken place before he joined Knight Dragon. His colleague, Rebecca Caines, said that the new tower would help reduce wind levels, and that tests would be carried out as part of the work.
“We all know that the Greenwich Peninsula is a windy place,” said Caines, a planning consultant representing the developer. “We know that mitigation has to be included in the development. Without it, there would be some areas that are unacceptable for sitting and standing. The mitigation proposed includes balustrades on some of the balconies around the windy corners.” There would also be more planting on open spaces, she added.
Residents complained about being ignored by the developer, but Knight Dragon insisted that they had been included in consultations about the plans.
“We’re happy to engage on any topic and have that conversation,” Glanz said. “We are the long-term custodians of Greenwich Peninsula. We are going to be developing there for quite some time. We’ve got 15,000 new homes that we still need to develop. We’ve got to take it seriously. We do take it seriously.”
“So why do the residents feel like they’ve been ignored?”, asked Gary Dillon, the chair of planning.
“I don’t know the honest answer to that one,” said Glanz. “We have engaged with them. I think the [council’s planning] officers know that we have engaged with them. We have responded to letters and we have, we have met with residents. We do take and listen to their concerns seriously. There are numerous topics across Greenwich Peninsula, whether it’s wind or service charge or whatever it might be. We have an active engagement policy.”
Councillors approved the development, but Dillon told Knight Dragon it needed to listen to its residents: “I’ve sat on quite a few Knight Dragon applications over the last six years and I’ve heard an awful lot about community engagement and building communities and community space.
“I think tonight is an example where the communication seems to be broken because we have a residents’ association here that clearly feels neglected or not listened to.
“The residents are ringing alarm bells because they live in the properties that you are building for the community. They are your eyes and ears on street level. So I would try and engage more and heed what is being said because they live in that area 24/7.”
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