Developers have applied to amend plans for 1,200 homes on the Charlton riverside – four years after councillors approved them.

The first residents were supposed to be moving into the Herringham Quarter scheme this year, but beyond the site being cleared and fenced off, there have been little signs of progress with the scheme.

Now the Hyde housing association has applied to Greenwich Council to make minor amendments to the plans. 

The documents were published just weeks after the council agreed to work with City Hall and Transport for London on pushing through long-stalled plans to redevelop the wider Charlton riverside, which is earmarked for 8,000 homes but has little infrastructure to help deliver them.

Plans for a data centre next door to the site have also surfaced in recent weeks. 

Riverside walk by Thames Barrier with graffiti on hoardings
The site has been cleared, awaiting redevelopment. Image: The Greenwich Wire

Hyde plans to build 718 homes along with commercial units at Herringham Road and New Lydenburg Street, close to the Thames Barrier, in blocks of up to 10 storeys, some of which would be on the riverfront. It was given outline permission for a further 494 homes further back from the river, is due to return with more detailed plans in the future. In total, 40 per cent of the homes would be deemed “affordable”. 

The changes include reordering heights of the buildings, making some smaller and adding a storey to others.

Developer's render
The Herringham Quarter blocks are on the left of this image of the data centre development. Image: GLI

Residents’ lobby groups in Charlton had objected to the scheme, branding it too dense and too big, while Tarmac said its plant next door at Riverside Wharf would be put at risk because residents would have to live with “nauseous” smells. Flats would be given sealed windows and mechanical ventilation.

Objectors also said that Herringham Quarter did not comply with a masterplan for the area, which envisaged blocks of four to five storeys.

The council’s planning board was split 4-4 on the scheme when it met in March 2022, with the combative committee chair at the time, Stephen Brain, using his casting vote to approve the scheme – as he had done with the controversial Morden Wharf project in Greenwich. “I’m still receiving abusive emails,” he told objectors. “Start tapping now and I’ll read them in the morning

He told his colleagues: “The area is horrible, this provides an opportunity to improve the area. If we turn this down, how do any of the applications for the riverside go forward?”

The revised plans can be found on the Greenwich Council planning website.

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