Three Greenwich Council car parks are set to be sold at auction next month – with the town hall hoping to net a total of £1.4 million from the sale.
The car parks at Old Dover Road in Blackheath, Charlton Village and Plumstead High Street are being offloaded as part of a £33 million package of cuts approved by the Labour council’s cabinet in October last year.
The council has insisted that the car parks are little-used, but some traders and opposition councillors have said that is not the case – and claim that their businesses could be damaged by the loss of parking spaces.
When The Greenwich Wire visited the Old Dover Road car park shortly after noon on Tuesday, about two-thirds of the spaces were taken.
The online sale at Strettons auction house on December 11 will include:
- The 30-space car park at Old Dover Road, serving shops at Blackheath Standard. The guide price is £500,000.
- The 22-space car park at Abery Street was recently refurbished as part of a scheme to improve Plumstead High Street. The guide price is £375,000.
- The two sections of the Charlton Village car park are being sold separately. The 28-space plot next to the Assembly Rooms has a guide price of £325,000, while the 18-space site on the other side of Torrance Close is listed at £230,000.
All the sites are being advertised as “having development potential”.
When plans were approved last year, Averil Lekau, the council’s deputy leader, said 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.”
Matt Hartley, the Conservative leader, called on the council to withdraw the sites from the auction.
”This fire sale of council-owned car parks may be one of the shortest-sightest decisions we have yet seen from this failing Labour administration at the Town Hall. The council should be supporting our small shopping parades to thrive, not taking away their customers,” he told The Greenwich Wire.
”I am particularly concerned about the impact this will have on older residents and people with disabilities who rely on these car parks to access local businesses. Whether Labour councillors like it or not, some people need to drive – and this decision is a double blow to both local businesses and local residents alike.”
Green spokesperson Stacy Smith said the council should build on the land itself. “This is such short term thinking from the council,” she told The Greenwich Wire. “With high numbers of families in temporary housing, wouldn’t it make much more sense to reserve some of this prime land for the council to build social housing on? At the very least one of these car parks should be kept for council homes instead of selling them off for peanuts.”
Majid Rahman, the council’s cabinet member for planning, estate renewal and development, pledged that the council would work with local businesses and said: “We can see from the parking income data that these car parks are poorly used. Keeping poorly performing car parks for the sake of it isn’t something we can continue to justify as a council when we need to make savings and increase revenue.
“We must make sure that council land and buildings work hard for taxpayers and these sites no longer did that as car parks, however, we are optimistic that the borough’s underused car parks can generate much‑needed revenue to support key local services. At the same time, we believe this land could be better utilised by an investor who shares our vision of putting the community first. Going to auction is a transparent and competitive process, ensuring best value for the borough and if they don’t reach their reserve then we won’t sell.”
Added Majid Rahman quote at 3.10pm and Stacy Smith at 8.20pm.
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