The body that looks after Greenwich’s historic town centre has dropped its objection to three giant tower blocks at Enderby Wharf after one was cut by two storeys.
The Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site Executive (WHS) had spoken up against plans for a 35-storey tower and two 23-storey blocks on the west side of the Greenwich Peninsula.
Peter Marsden, the head of the executive, had said that “we are keen to ensure that everything possible is done to maintain the outstanding universal value of Maritime Greenwich and its world heritage designation”.
Rowshan Hannan, a Labour councillor speaking against the plans, said there was a risk that Greenwich could follow Liverpool in losing its status as a world heritage site.
In May councillors voted to defer the plans after the developer’s representatives agreed to consider shortening the towers so they were less obtrusive on the skyline from Greenwich town centre.
During the summer Criterion Capital revised the plans to instead feature a 33-storey tower and two 24-storey blocks, still containing 564 homes.
In response, the WHS said that the change “to a large extent serves to address our concerns and the issues raised about the impact of the Enderby Place development on protected views”.
But the East Greenwich Residents’ Association and Greenwich Society maintained their objections, saying the development was too high. Historic England made no comment.
The Greenwich Society said there was still a risk that Greenwich could suffer the same fate as Liverpool, which was stripped of its Unesco status in 2021 after a number of new developments, including the approval of Everton’s new football stadium at Bramley Moore Dock.
The Enderby Wharf site was once earmarked for a cruise liner terminal, where a development of towers of a separate development of 24, 27 and 32-storey towers had already been approved. These plans were scrapped in 2018. Land to the south has already been developed with mid-rise towers.
Next door, a tower of 36 storeys was approved as part of the Morden Wharf development in 2021.
When Criterion ame forward with new plans for what it now called Enderby Place, it included a block almost as tall as the Morden Wharf tower, resulting in the WHS’s objection.
The revised plan is now likely to pass at a meeting of the planning board on Tuesday.
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