Building 575 new homes on top of Woolwich’s Elizabeth Line station would not prevent TfL adding a second entrance at a later date, a developer said as Greenwich councillors approved its plans.
The Armourer’s Court development is to be built at the eastern end of the station, with towers of up to 26 storeys built around its emergency exit.
Berkeley Homes and Transport for London are behind the plans, with TfL telling the council there was not enough demand for another exit at Woolwich, blaming frequent crowding at the station on passengers choosing to use the rear carriages of trains.
Paul Pritchard, Berkeley’s development director, said the development “would not preclude a second station access on land to the east of the development”.
When councillors approved similar plans three years ago, six months after the station opened, the lack of a second entrance was not brought up – instead, bin collections were the biggest worry. That earlier approval meant a refusal or delay to consider a second entrance was highly unlikely to happen.
Woolwich was left off the initial plans for Crossrail, with the government and City Hall at the time believing that a station in the Royal Arsenal would not be value for money. Berkeley and Greenwich Council stepped in to fund early work on a basic station with just one entrance.
With Woolwich now the 33rd busiest mainline station in Great Britain, passengers have been paying the price for the early prevarication with TfL experimenting with queuing systems to deal with the thousands of passengers.
The only resident to address the hearing, Jayn Ammantoola of Thamesmead, said she had “listened over the years” to promises of better public transport, and praised Berkeley Homes and its late founder, Tony Pidgley, for investing in the station.
Listing the major new developments in the area, she said: “I’m not saying build it now because I know nobody’s got any money. TfL have no money, so they would say there’s no demand for a second exit right now, wouldn’t they?
“I’m just asking you to sit down with Berkeley and have a good talk about a bit of foresight, a plan for the future. Take a leaf out of Tony Pidgley’s book, make sure there’s the space there. Do it now before there’s four big blocks of flats on top of it.
“You’ve already got the space for the ventilation shaft, the escape route, and the service buildings. I’m just saying be brave, sit down, allocate for the future, but do your space. Allocate it now.”
Labour councillor David Gardner had also stressed the importance of keeping space for a second exit, suggesting the station would be “busier and busier” as more developments were finished.
With Berkeley also working on a new development within walking distance at Lombard Square in Thamesmead, Gardner asked: “Given your investment here and in Lombard Square, would there not be some commercial value to you in terms of attractiveness of those properties in getting an eastern entrance and thereby saving people about 350 metres’ additional walk along a very busy road?”
Pritchard responded: “Unfortunately it’s not a matter that I can commit to and Berkeley can commit to. It is a TfL-operated and maintained railway and station. Unfortunately all we can confirm is that it doesn’t preclude something in the future.”
Despite being a backer of the scheme, nobody from TfL was present at the meeting.
Greenwich Council told The Greenwich Wire in June that it would support plans for a second entrance if TfL brought them forward. The task of securing land east of Armourer’s Court, as well as the huge expense of building the second entrance, would appear to rule the prospect out in the immediate future.
Of the 575 homes, some 138 homes will be for social rent with 49 for shared ownership.
The council will get about £7.1 million in community infrastructure levy (CIL) from the development – unusually, the exact figure was not disclosed by the council’s officers in the meeting or in planning documents, but instead was referred to in comments by Pritchard.
An additional £800,000 will go towards local healthcare, £630,000 will be allocated for walking and cycling, including the Cycleway 4 extension to Plumstead, and the council’s GLLaB employment service will get £430,000. Another £510,000 will go to carbon offsetting measures.
Councillors unanimously backed the plans. Gardner said he thought Armourer’s Court was an “excellent scheme”, adding: “I’m not terribly keen on height, but we sold that path in 2022 and it’s not out of kilter with the rest of the Arsenal.
“Obviously I’d have much preferred it had there been something about an eastern entrance or at least looking at that – and indeed a taxi rank, which is also something else that’s necessary there. But I appreciate we can’t do everything at once and there is a significant contribution to the cycleway and other public realm improvements as well.”
📺 For transparency: The Greenwich Wire usually tries to attend meetings like this in person. Unfortunately, we could only cover this meeting via the webcast.
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