More “affordable” housing could be built at the controversial Morden Wharf development in Greenwich after London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan cut the targets that developers have to meet.
Plans for towers of up to 36 storeys on the west side of the Greenwich Peninsula were narrowly approved in September 2021. Opponents included Greenwich & Woolwich MP Matt Pennycook, now the housing minister, who said he was “incredulous” that the “luxury” towers had been given the go-ahead.
The riverside site, which was formerly the home of Tunnel Refineries, was sold to Galliard and the Singapore-based company City Developments two years later. In February Galliard presented plans to cut the amount of “affordable” housing from 35 per cent to 10 per cent as part of a plan to redesign the whole site. It said changes to building regulations and increased construction costs had forced the cut.
“Affordable housing” is a catch-all term that covers anything from social rent to selling or renting homes at a 20 per cent discount, and also includes shared ownership. In this case, all the “affordable” homes would be for social rent and available to people on Greenwich’s housing waiting list.
These plans were deferred by Greenwich councillors, with one, Labour’s Sandra Bauer, saying approving the low number would set a “dangerous precedent”.
But after Khan introduced emergency changes to London’s planning rules last month – which means the mayor will back schemes providing 20 per cent “affordable” housing rather than the usual 35 per cent until 2030 – the proportion at Morden Wharf has been bumped up to 20 per cent.
The revised plan means 168 flats for social rent, up from 120 under the previous proposal, and 82 “intermediate” homes for either discounted rents, discounted sales or shared ownership.
Galliard had previously said that it would need a grant from City Hall to increase the number of “affordable” homes, but it has now said that this plan is not conditional on getting money.
A joint package of measures to boost housebuilding, agreed between the mayor and the Westminster government, was announced last month on the eve of the local elections in London.
They include temporary relief from community infrastructure levy (CIL) – a fee that residential developers have to pay councils which then goes back into investing in local facilities and services.
This could cause problems for cash-strapped councils such as Greenwich, where CIL money has been used to help fund a pre-election spending blitz. A push to fill in potholes and improve roads has been funded by nearly £4 million in CIL cash.
Guidance on how dense developments can be has also been temporarily removed, meaning developers could build more homes on each site.
Councillors are due to make a decision on Morden Wharf on April 14, at the last planning board meeting before the election.
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