Greenwich Council’s cabinet has approved plans to sell three car parks – with repeated vandalism partly blamed for the decision to put one of them on the market.
The car parks – in Old Dover Road, Blackheath; Charlton Village and Abery Street, Plumstead – are being put on the market by the cash-strapped council as part of a £33 million package of cuts.
Other properties are also being put on the market, including a Grade II-listed former power station in Plumstead, where the council has pulled out of a £8 million deal to create a film studio and is now looking for a new tenant.
Majid Rahman, the cabinet member for planning and development, said it was important the council got “the best possible return for our assets, bearing in mind the financial situation we’re in”.
The council says the three car parks are not well used and brought in a very low income. The Blackheath and Plumstead car parks charge 40p for every 12 minutes and are free on Sundays. The Charlton car park has charged £1 per hour or £4 per day. All three are free on Sundays.
“We’ve looked at their usage at different days and different times of the week and we’re continuing to do so,” said Pippa Hack, the council’s director of regeneration, adding that the effects on neighbouring streets had been studied.
“Holding onto assets that cost the council money, or are not performing well, or are not serving a service use, is not something the council can afford to do,” she said.
“In Charlton Village’s case, colleagues in transport have had trouble enforcing charges with signs being sprayed out,” she said. The council had to spend money installing cameras showing who’s using the car park, and it shows there’s very low usage, so there’s a high cost for the camera and very low usage.”
Averil Lekau, the council’s deputy leader, said: “Quite frankly, the amount of vandalism that has taken place since we tried to put some charging in that car park is costing us more than we get back.”
She added that the council’s transport strategy had called for a cut in the number of miles driven in the borough.
“Keeping a car park for its own sake is not tenable in the financial situation in which the council finds itself,” she said. “It’s important that we use our assets in the best way we can.”
Carol Kenna, of the Charlton Society, told the cabinet that the Charlton Village car park was well-used by people attending events at the adjacent Assembly Rooms, including people with learning difficulties who required specialised transport.
She said removing the car park would affect the viability of the Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust, which runs the Assembly Rooms and Charlton House, and the economy of the village itself.
“What needs to be done is to see the village, Charlton House, Assembly Rooms and car park as a whole. Personally, I think. Charlton Village should be recognised as an urban village, and as good a draw as Greenwich town centre.”
When The Greenwich Wire visited the Charlton car park on Thursday lunchtime, most spaces were taken and there were no signs indicating charges, nor evidence of cameras. At Old Dover Road, most spaces were also taken.
Jeremy Smalley, the council’s head of property, said it was possible that a buyer could keep the sites as car parks if it was viable, or they would have to apply for planning permission to develop them.
Asked by Anthony Okereke, the council leader, if any condition could be put in place so that the council benefited from future development, Smalley said: “As soon as you put in clawback or overage clause, you’re likely to reduce the number of bidders, or the amount they are willing to pay.”
Okereke said the council needed to develop a case for “meanwhile” use so empty properties could be used temporarily “to support our communities”.
“We don’t want to be in a position of selling the [family] silver. There are 23 sites recommended to be let and 11 to be sold,” he said.
“Where we see value in letting our assets, we will do that, where we see value in selling our assets, we will do that, and where we see value in selling certain assets, we will do that, and where we see value in holding onto assets to deliver housing or children’s services, we will do that.”
Other properties set to be sold include Thistlebrook Industrial Estate in Abbey Wood, a school caretaker’s house in King George Street, west Greenwich, and the old tram shelters in Well Hall Road, Eltham.
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