Greenwich Council is hoping that London’s mayor will help with long-delayed plans to knock down shops and businesses around Woolwich Public Market for a major new housing and retail development.
Traders have been left in limbo since plans for hundreds of homes, shops, restaurants and a new cinema in the old covered market were first announced 12 years ago.
Some businesses – on the corner of Woolwich New Road and Plumstead Road – have been given a reprieve as part of the revamped Woolwich Exchange scheme, and will have their facades improved. But others still face demolition.
Now the council is to take on the multi-million cost of buying up properties around the public market, with a deadline for a compulsory purchase order approaching in August. Sir Sadiq Khan’s Greater London Authority is being asked to help out with a grant.
Businesses will not have to leave until at least March 2028.
In an interview with The Greenwich Wire, council leader Anthony Okereke acknowledged the council buying up the properties itself involved “a level of risk” but said it was “a real opportunity” for the borough, and hoped City Hall and the government would assist.
What is Woolwich Exchange?
When the scheme was approved in 2021, the plans for Woolwich Exchange comprised 801 homes, with towers rising to 15, 17 and 18 storeys and two 23-storey blocks. It covered a site between Plumstead Road, Spray Street, Burrage Road and Woolwich New Road.
But the scheme was controversial because of the height of the towers, and because of the high number of ethnic minority businesses that faced being moved out of the area.
An early version of the scheme had involved demolishing the 1930s Public Market before campaigners got it a Grade II listing, while before he was elected as a councillor in 2018 Okereke said the initial plans could have been handled better.
There were no homes for social rent in the approved scheme – the 19.7 per cent “affordable” housing was divided between shared ownership and a higher level of rent. The chair of planning at the time, Stephen Brain, said he had “very, very strong reservations”.
The new plans are likely to be even denser, with a council press release issued on Tuesday evening touting “around 1,000 homes”.
Greenwich Council also hopes its plans will tie in with long-term proposals from TfL’s property arm, Places for London, to develop empty sites at Woolwich Arsenal DLR station. These plots were used to build the rail terminal but have sat empty since 2009 after early plans for homes and shops went nowhere.
“Welcome to Woolwich” banners have recently been erected to brighten up the TfL sites.
What went wrong with Woolwich Exchange?
Woolwich Exchange stalled in 2023 after one of the companies behind the scheme, St Modwen, pulled out amid soaring costs and changes to building regulations following the Grenfell Tower disaster.
The Notting Hill Genesis housing association, the remaining partner in Woolwich Exchange, has been unable to find the sums needed to buy the land on its own. Greenwich hopes that by forcing the issue and buying the properties itself, new developers will come in.
While Greenwich Council owns the public market, it does not own the rest of the land. In 2023 it won a compulsory purchase order (CPO) to buy surrounding properties, but traders have been left waiting for news, with deadlines coming and going.
The council’s cabinet will make a formal decision on implementing the CPO when it meets on Wednesday. Meeting documents said its bid to City Hall for a grant had been “well received” but warned that councillors should be prepared to go it alone. Greenwich’s debt has already risen steeply in recent years, although much of this is for council housing, which is accounted for seperately.
The Woolwich Landlords & Tenants Association, which has fought the plans, said it did not want to comment before a meeting with the council about its plans next week.
‘If we miss a day, the project slips for years’
One source has told The Greenwich Wire estimated the cost of buying the land at £50 million. Okereke did not want to be drawn on the figure, but said it was important that the compulsory purchases began before the August 22nd deadline to prevent further delays.
“If we miss a day, the project slips years behind, and that has an impact on businesses down there, and that has an impact on people,” he said.
“Across London, the market has taken a step back. There is a level of risk involved, and that’s why the cabinet will discuss that [on Wednesday] and understand that.
“More importantly, we’re not just exploring that alone. We’re exploring that with the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government and we’re negotiating with the GLA, and saying to them: there’s a real opportunity for our residents in Greenwich, and the funding shouldn’t just fall on the council, so it needs government support and it needs GLA support.”
Cleaning up the area
The Public Market, which hosted its last traders in 2018, has slipped into visible decay since it was last used four years ago when it hosted the immersive art show Dreamachine. Okereke said he wanted to see the area cleaned up.
“We’ve invested in new equipment, you’ll have seen our new equipment cleaning some of the streets down there, and there are new ways to make sure rubbish is collected,” he said. “We’re working with businesses down there in terms of when they drop off their refuse and other stuff like that.”
When the development was first mooted, the Public Market was briefly used as a street food market. Okereke said he was open to further “meanwhile” use of the site.
He said: “I went to Street Feast and had a whale of a time, but the challenge is, what does that meanwhile use provide and is there an opportunity to do that in the context of the timeline?”
‘Hopefully they keep their word’
Among the businesses given a reprieve is the Arsenal Gate Café on Plumstead Road. Sibel Suleyman, whose family has run the café since the 1980s, told The Greenwich Wire: “I’m holding my breath. Let’s see. Hopefully they’ll follow through and keep to their word, because so many promises have been made. One day at a time.”
Okereke called into the café to deliver the news before the public announcement on Tuesday evening, and spoke to her husband, Mehmet.
Mehmet said they hoped they would now be free to invest in their business after years of being “handcuffed”.
“I hope they don’t change their minds again,” he said.
The proposal will be discussed at the cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
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