Thamesmead may have been declared a new town this week – but the government rejected a suggestion that Charlton Riverside should be given the same status, The Greenwich Wire can reveal.
The new-town status for Thamesmead – some 60 years after work started on the first phase of housing in the area – provides a major boost for plans to build 15,000 homes and a Docklands Light Railway extension.
Documents released after the announcement on Monday reveal that Charlton Riverside was considered too, but was rejected for being too small.
Both Greenwich Council and City Hall have long wanted to transform the land north of Woolwich Road – largely dominated by industry and retail parks – into a mixed-use community of up to 8,000 homes.
But despite a masterplan being produced in 2017, progress has been glacial, with just one residential development – 67 flats on Eastmoor Street – having been built in that time.
Plans for a block next door are progressing while a riverside site west of the Thames Barrier has been cleared in anticipation of development. But plans for 359 homes east of the Barrier were withdrawn last year while a controversial scheme for 770 homes was rejected in 2020. A new masterplan is being developed.
Problems include a lack of infrastructure in the area, while hopes of low-rise development were also hit by the Environment Agency raising concerns about flooding.
Land ownership is split between many different parties. While Greenwich Council has been buying up plots in recent years, there have been suggestions that a development corporation would need to be set up with powers to acquire more land and push through development.
The rejection of new town status for Charlton Riverside indicates that plans for taller and denser blocks could be on their way, suggesting 12,000 new homes rather than the 8,000 cited by City Hall under current plans. Sites in the area have already been identified as being suitable for housing and “limited” numbers of tall buildings in Greenwich’s draft local plan.
“This proposal can only deliver 12,000 new homes, and scope for further expansion over time is restricted by protected wharves and strategic industrial land,” an assessment of rejected proposals read.
Greenwich Council has been asked for comment.
Elsewhere in SE London, the Old Kent Road was also rejected because of the lack of the Bakerloo Line extension, which the government has so far declined to help fund.
“This proposal’s ability to meet the minimum required 10,000 new homes is dependent on a significant extension to transport infrastructure which is not currently planned,” the assessment read.
In north Kent, a 10,000-home “rural town” at Hoo, between Gravesend and the Medway Towns, also failed to make the cut.
Boosts for Thamesmead – but little detail yet
But Thamesmead did pass the test, to the delight of Anthony Okereke, the council leader, and Abena Oppong-Asare, the local MP.
While it was suggested earlier this year that the “new town” designation could apply to a wider area – such as where work on the original estate began in 1966 – instead the government announcement indicates that it will only be for the Thamesmead Waterfront development, where 15,000 new homes are already planned.
Full details of what new town status will mean for Thamesmead Waterfront have not been published, but “targeted support” is promised, which could mean funding and help for the council in ensuring the development is well-designed.
However, no new homes can be built until the ex-military land is remediated, flood defences are boosted and new power infrastructure installed.
”We know how much potential there is waiting to be unlocked in Thamesmead, and we’re thrilled the government has also recognised it as a new town,” Okereke said.
Oppong-Asare said it was “particularly encouraging to see a strong commitment to genuinely affordable homes, including homes for social rent, so local families can benefit”.
While the rest of Thamesmead has not been declared a new town, the area around Birchmere Park will also get £20 million in funding – £2 million a year for the next decade – under another government scheme, Pride in Places.
A neighbourhood board will be set up with the council and local MP to improve the area which could include improving youth services, seizing boarded-up shops or building new homes. Residents are promised a say in what gets done.
The precise boundaries of the area that will get the money have not been announced, but Thamesmead Birchmere Park – the area that has been given the money – refers to a government statistical area that roughly covers an area north of Western Way and stretching either side of Bentham Road and Carlyle Road, including the shopping parade at The Moorings.
📩 Follow The Greenwich Wire on Bluesky, Facebook, LinkedIn or Threads. You can also sign up for WhatsApp alerts – or subscribe to our emails through the blue box above.
You must be logged in to post a comment.