Controversial plans for nearly 600 student flats next to Deptford Creek have been thrown out after concerns that the blocks could affect views from Greenwich Park.
Fears about the effect of more student blocks in an area that already hosts hundreds of students were also raised.
The developer Your Tribe had planned to build towers of up to 13 and 17 storeys on the Deptford side of the creek, on a site currently occupied by low-rise commercial buildings known as Greenwich Quay. There would be 590 rooms. Neighbours had criticised the scheme, with one councillor calling it a “cash cow”.
There are growing fears that the number of approved tall buildings around Greenwich town centre are threatening its prized status as a world heritage site, which is awarded by the United Nations body Unesco.
Liverpool lost its world heritage site status in 2021 following the approval of the new Everton football stadium, because of the effect of years of new developments on the Mersey riverfront.
While the body which looks after the world heritage site had dropped an objection after Your Tribe cut the buildings’ size from 15 and 20 storeys, it still said it was concerned. Royal Parks, which runs Greenwich Park, maintained its objection.
Greenwich’s planning board had postponed a decision last month so they could visit the site on the north side of Creek Road, historically known as Crown Wharf. On Tuesday night all six councillors voted to reject the scheme.
The area between Greenwich and Deptford town centres is already a hotspot for student housing, and Your Tribe already has approval for another 414 student flats in a 27-storey block on the Greenwich side of the creek.
Greenwich’s planning board went straight to a vote on Tuesday night. Greenwich Peninsula councillor David Gardner said that while the plans were “an improvement on the underused commercial space”, he did not think it would be “integrated into the local community”.
“I wonder how sustainable it would be in the long term,” he said.
The north side of Creek Road was not designated for tall buildings, he added, adding that he was “very concerned” about the effect on views from the National Maritime Museum and two spots in Greenwich Park: One Tree Hill and Lovers’ Walk, which runs below the hill.
“I think those views are a really important part of what makes Greenwich,” he said. “It’s not tthat these buildings themselves would represent a clear and present threat to the status of the Greenwich Maritime World Heritage Site, but the cumulative impact.
“If we keep bending our policies on tall buildings and so forth, then I’m very worried that the cumulative impact builds up and that weakens our case should it ever be called in Unesco for review.”
West Thamesmead councillor ‘Lade Hephzibah Olugbemi said the blocks would represent “overdevelopment”, while Eltham Town Conservative councillor Pat Greenwell said: “It would be beginning to look like New York on the Thames.”
Thamesmead Moorings councillor Olu Babatola said he was concerned about fire safety arrangements. “God forbid, I was imagining to myself that in order to escape, if there is debris coming down from – how high is that building? – that they’ll try to jump into the river [Deptford Creek], that’s one of my concerns.”
The board resolved to reject the plan on the grounds of height and massing, it being outside an area designated for tall buildings, its impact on strategic views and the character and appearance of the local area.
Both Greenwich and Lewisham councils have approved tall buildings in the neighbourhood in recent years – but on the south side of Creek Road. Much of the north side – the old Deptford Power Station site – is taken up with a low-rise development, Millennium Quay.
Majella Anning, the independent councillor for Creekside ward, told last month’s planning meeting that student-only blocks were a “cash cow” for developers because they did not have to pay as much community infrastructure levy to Greenwich compared with other boroughs.
Your Tribe is also applying to Lewisham Council to build another 614 rooms at nearby Sun Wharf, and there are wider concerns about a rash of student housing on that side of the border too.
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