Plans to build 1,251 flats on top of the IKEA car park in Greenwich have been approved despite fears that living on the peninsula would soon become a “nightmare” due to infrastructure pressures.
At the planning meeting in which the large-scale residential development (called Peninsula Gardens) was discussed, borough residents and councillors raised concerns that in the future, Greenwich would suffer as the provision of local services such as healthcare and transport was not keeping up with the introduction of new housing.
Greenwich Council’s Planning Board approved the development—which will be contained within seven buildings ranging from four to 20 storeys in height at the Millennium Retail Park—after discussing it for over three hours on June 17.
Michael Macy, representing the residents of nearby Aldeburgh and Fearon Streets, stated at the meeting that due to the sheer amount of planned residential developments on the Greenwich Peninsula, it would soon become “pretty much the most densely populated part of London”.
He continued: “[The plan] seems to be to build as many houses as you possibly can on the peninsula as fast as you possibly can, and then hope that maybe the NHS will provide more surgeries. Right now there’s one.”
He asked for the decision to be deferred until a “broader perspective” could be taken on the provision of educational, healthcare and transport services in the peninsula and whether more would need to be included within this scheme.
Sam Moorhead, an Aldeburgh Street resident for 26 years, feared that living on the peninsula would soon become a “nightmare”.
He said: “It is clear there is no big plan for the peninsula. People are not aware of what they want in terms of facilities and amenities. What the needs are for schools, hospitals, police and all the rest of it. It is clear from this, and the chairman said it himself, that you’re just adding one development after another without thinking about the big picture.”
This is a sentiment shared by councillors. Planning Board Chair Cllr Garry Dillon said: “If you look at the developments in the pipeline, there are up to 10,000 dwellings being built from Charlton Riverside to Morden Wharf. That equates to 25,000 people, and they keep looking at each individual application and saying ‘It’s not enough’.
“They’re telling us that there’s still capacity at Queen Elizabeth, but we know that Queen Elizabeth is more than doubly over-subscribed. When does the NHS and TfL start looking at the bigger picture and putting the jigsaw together?
“We’re not looking at this individual situation. We’re looking at six or seven of these all in the pipeline and they’re all going to come together in maybe a five or six-year window, and then all of a sudden there’s going to be a massive panic because there will be 300 people queuing for a bus that can hold 80 people. It is not fit for purpose.”
In response to infrastructure worries, Ewan Grunwold, speaking on behalf of the developer Weybourne, outlined the financial contributions to local services that Weybourne would be making, including £1.28 million for health services, £65,000 for bus services, £900,000 for walking and cycling improvements and £1.25 million to support employment and apprenticeships, alongside £14 million of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funding.
Greenwich planners also revealed that Weybourne initially offered to provide space for a small GP surgery within the development to allay concerns about the lack of healthcare services, but the NHS said there was sufficient capacity in the area.
Before councillors voted to approve the development, Cllr Dillon reiterated his criticism of the NHS and TfL for infrastructure problems. He said: “What this has highlighted tonight is that TfL and the NHS need to get a bit more urgency in their communication, especially with our officers and with our new Local Plan.
“They need to get up to speed with the development that they’re putting us under pressure for. When we’re looking at the government asking for 1.5 million homes and we’re looking at the Mayor asking for 88,000 homes, they need to make sure that the infrastructure is moving at the same pace, because what we’ve got tonight is concerns about health provision, pollution, road management and public transport which is not down to this developer. It is an issue for the numerous developments we’ve got going on in the same area.”
