Greenwich Council is hoping to build new flats on an estate at Kidbrooke Park Road – five years after dropping a controversial plan to sell the land to a developer.
The council has earmarked old garages at Kidbrooke Park Close for 14 flats, including three 3-bed apartments, for the next phase of its Greenwich Builds programme.
In 2018 Greenwich had planned to offload the site to Pocket Living, which is backed by City Hall funding and specialises in “affordable compact homes for first time buyers”. The homes would have been available to borough residents at a 20 per cent discount.
Pocket had planned 46 flats on the site, but after a revolt among residents and Labour councillors, plans to sell the land as well as a separate site on the Orchard Estate in Lewisham were scrapped in January 2019.
However, a third site, at The Heights in Charlton, was sold to Pocket and construction started in the summer of 2022. Work has since been held up because Pocket’s original building contactor went out of business.
Labour activists had demanded the Kidbrooke Park Close site be used for council housing instead, and they may be on their way to getting their way, with the garages on the estate typical of those being used for Greenwich Builds projects.
The sites being earmarked for council housing are outlined in a report to the cabinet for a meeting on Wednesday. Details are sketchy, despite the fact that the papers may be the first time neighbours find out about the housing plans.
The biggest site is on Langton Way in Blackheath, where a former sheltered housing block would be replaced by 40 flats.
In Plumstead, Glyndon Community Centre would be rebuilt alongside 10 new council flats.
The sites being assessed by the council are:
Langton Way, Blackheath: 40 flats
Tattershall Close, Eltham: 16 flats
Kidbrooke Park Close, Kidbrooke: 14 flats
Commerell Place, Greenwich: 12 flats
Sherard Road, Eltham: 11 flats
Wricklemarsh Road, Kidbrooke: 10 flats
Bracondale Road, Abbey Wood: 10 flats
Southwood Road, New Eltham: 10 flats
Raglan Road, Plumstead: 10 flats
Aberford Gardens, Woolwich: 8 flats
Hardy Road, Blackheath: 7 flats
Viola Avenue, Abbey Wood: 6 flats
Zangwill Road, Kidbrooke: 6 flats
Gallon Close, Charlton: 6 flats
Westmount Road, Eltham: 6 flats
Heavitree Close, Plumstead: 5 houses
Panfield Road, Abbey Wood: 5 houses split across two sites
Boxgrove Road, Abbey Wood: 4 houses
Knee Hill Crescent, Abbey Wood: 4 flats
Alderwood Road, Eltham: 2 houses
Admaston Road, Plumstead: 2 houses
Edgington Road, Abbey Wood: 2 houses
Leas Dale, Mottingham: 1 house
Since 2018 Greenwich Council has pledged to build 1,750 homes under the Greenwich Builds banner. These homes would come under the second tranche of 1,000 homes, costing £397 million – with the cash coming from a mixture of grants, right-to-buy-receipts, money from developers and borrowing.
Progress has been slow, though, and the council has boosted numbers by buying into private developments, including two blocks in Greenwich Millennium Village and homes in the Trinity Park development in Woolwich.
The paper will be discussed – or at least nodded through – at the cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
Updated on Friday after Greenwich Council confirmed that Glyndon Community Centre would be rebuilt.
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