A decision on whether two high-rise blocks of student accommodation by Deptford Creek will be built has been deferred after councillors voted for a site visit. Greenwich Council’s Planning Board discussed the contentious plans—which garnered 294 letters of support and 251 objections—for nearly two-and-a-half hours on Tuesday evening (May 27).
Luxury student accommodation business YourTRIBE and development and investment company Redington Capital first applied for planning permission to demolish three low-rise residential buildings in Greenwich Quay and replace them with 20-storey and 15-storey student tower blocks in December 2023. These plans were reduced earlier this month, bringing the 20 storeys down to 17 and shrinking the number of beds from 700 to 598.
This reduction in part was because Maritime Greenwich had objected to the plans due to the height of the development and its potential visual effect on the nearby UNESCO World Heritage Site. Maritime Greenwich withdrew its objection after the height of the tallest tower was reduced.
Cllr Majella Anning, speaking on behalf of Greenwich Creekside ward where the development site is located, stated that the student provision in Creekside would increase to around 20 per cent of the ward’s total population if the proposal was approved.
She said: “I am in favour of the provision of student housing in my ward. What I object to is the scale of what is being proposed and the lack of a mixed housing offer, in particular social housing for local Greenwich residents.”
Cllr Anning also likened the development to a “cash cow” and claimed that developers would pay a lower community infrastructure levy in Greenwich when compared to other London boroughs. She also called the height of the buildings “completely inappropriate” and described them as looking “ugly”.
She added: “Student-only tower blocks do not offer any relief to the 28,000 people on our Greenwich Council [social housing] waiting list. These are blocks of temporary accommodation, by their very definition.”
Cllr Anning’s fellow Creekside ward Cllr Calum O’Byrne Mulligan also spoke in opposition to the proposal. He said: “I urge the committee to reject this application as the scale and mass of the buildings not in a tall building area go against existing council policy.
“I fear that this development risks the intangible strategic asset that we have in the world heritage site and jeopardises protected views, going against our local plan.”
Scott Fitzgerald of the Millennium Quay Residents Association (a residential development nearby the proposal site) said: “The public consultations held by YOURTribe have repeatedly failed to address reasonable concerns.”
The concerns he focused on were those of access to the site via Clarence Road which measures 3.5 metres wide, and fears that the site does not have adequate space if an evacuation was needed.
He said: “This development is about short-term economic gain, not long-term community diversity… It prioritises financial return over inclusive, sustainable living and would turn Greenwich Quay into a de facto student dormitory, not a diverse residential neighbourhood.”
Another Greenwich resident opposed to the plans, Charlotte Kiddie, said: “Who benefits from this proposal? Not those on the social housing register, not local residents, not London which risks losing one of only four UNESCO sites, not Greenwich Council, unable to generate council tax, nor even the students who are being overcharged. The only party that benefits in this is the property developer.”
Phoebe Juggins, senior planning manager at YOURTribe, spoke in support of the application. She said: “We expect that through delivering 590 purpose-built student accommodation units, we will free up the equivalent of 236 homes in Greenwich, and will importantly mean that students are living in a well-managed and supportive environment.
“We want this scheme to not only invest in the education of the next generation, but to the local area, delivering £7.3 million annually to the local economy, 43 full-time jobs plus over 500 construction jobs.”
Ms Juggins also responded to queries brought up by councillors and objectors, assuring that all the necessary hoops had been jumped through to ensure the development has a robust fire safety and evacuation strategy.
Planning committee member Cllr David Gardner asked what students would actually be able to afford this accommodation, calculating that other rent prices offered by YOURTribe in London exceed the maximum student loan for living costs.
YOURTribe director Nick Lawrence responded: “I think it’s a misnomer that all students are poor. We are having high demand for our accommodation, and in conjunction with the universities we set the rent.”
Cllr David Gardner proposed a site visit because he thought the committee needed to look at “the impact on the neighbouring development Millennium Quay”. This was seconded by Cllr Olu Babatola, who thought a site visit would help him assess the fire safety concerns raised at the meeting.
The committee voted for this site visit proposal, and a final decision on whether planning permission will be granted has been deferred until after a visit has been made.
