Greenwich Council has agreed to put forward plans to increase the fee developers must pay to contribute to local infrastructure amid claims from residents that the borough is becoming a ‘s***hole’. The authority has decided to move ahead with plans to increase its community infrastructure levy (CIL), a fee for developers to pay to the council while creating new projects in the borough in order to benefit the surrounding community.
The funds collected from such a fee can be used for services such as energy and waste, as well as transport infrastructure. The decision to increase the fee was made at a cabinet meeting for Greenwich Council on March 13 and will be finalised by an independent examiner.
The new fees will see rates increasing from £96 to £150 per square metre for residential properties built in Zone 1, which includes areas of Greenwich Peninsula as well as Greenwich and Woolwich town centres. Rates for Zone 2 would rise from £55 to £96 per square metre, which covers the rest of the borough.
Projects with less than ten homes would cost £150 per square metre anywhere in the borough. Co-living spaces would be set at £90 while student accommodation would remain unchanged at just under £96 per square metre.
Labour Councillor Aidan Smith, cabinet member for regeneration, said at the meeting: “Although it’s true to say that we’ve received several applications for student development within the borough, no student accommodation has been built since around 2012.”
He added: “That was three years before we adopted CIL. So the fact that we don’t have any recent data for student accommodation makes it difficult to prove that an increase in this rate could be supported.”
The cabinet member said a future review of the CIL for student accommodation in the borough could be brought forward if there was evidence to support increasing the rates. CIL rates were first set by the authority in 2015.
The proposed increase follows two sets of public consultation in August and September last year, with 144 responses being received online. Out of this figure, 65 people said they agreed with the proposed CIL increases while 68 said they disagreed with the proposals. Some 35 people also said they felt the proposed charges should be higher to fund better maintenance of infrastructure in the borough.
One resident said in their objection: “The entire Greenwich borough is becoming an utter s***hole and it’s getting worse by the day. The council seems to be completely unable to collect money for infrastructure needs. Roads, pavements, street cleaning and traffic management are now on par with a developing third world country.”
Several developers also outlined their concerns on the increased rates including Knight Dragon, Berkeley Homes, Peabody and Lendlease. Council officers said in response that the authority had outlined the projects that the council intended to spend the CIL funds on.
Council documents for a cabinet meeting in December that the council had raised £4.3million from the CIL in the previous financial year. It added that £1.8m of this sum was used to pay Transport for London for the cost of the Woolwich Elizabeth line station, which reportedly cost the authority £15m. Cllr Smith said at the meeting that the bill was intended to be paid off by April this year.
Picture 1: One Peninsula Square, a student accommodation development in North Greenwich, was approved by the council in February 2024. Permission for use by all LDRS partners. Credit: Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands / Crosstree
Picture 2: Another student accommodation project in Ravensbourne Wharf was approved by the council in November last year. Permission for use by all LDRS partners. Credit: Smith Jenkins / Tribe
