Plans to update flood defences on a stretch of the Thames in South London have been approved despite local concerns about tree felling and a walking path.
Greenwich Council has approved plans to repair flood defences on Greenwich Peninsula in a series of works that will include updating a footpath along the River Thames.
The project will see the existing flood defences at Morden Wharf being updated, which council officers described as being in a very poor condition.
The works will also see the width of the Thames Path expanded to 4.5 metres and 11 willow trees removed and replaced by seven semi-mature ones.
The topic was discussed at a planning board meeting for Greenwich Council on October 17.
Labour Councillor David Gardner said he disagreed with officers’ comments that the existing trees were of poor quality and thus of limited value, but admitted he saw no reason not to approve the application.
Similar plans to repair the revetments were brought to the planning board in February this year, but they were rejected on the basis of the Thames Path not being widened enough and inadequate provision of replacement trees.
The new plans include a wider walkway for the Thames Path and an additional tree being planted.
The extra space given to the Thames Path compared to the previous application was taken by permission from waste management company Sivyer’s industrial site. Despite this, several residents questioned why the path couldn’t be expanded to six metres, as it is at other points of its route. The path is currently 1.5 metres wide at its thinnest point.
Labour Councillor Majella Anning said at the meeting: “I accept that the officers and the developers have worked hard to increase the size of the path, but I don’t think it’s enough.
“This is about not just tomorrow, this is about the next 50 years. And we are all being encouraged, and it’s part of Greenwich Council’s policy, to be more active.”
Edward Koops, senior development manager at LandsecU+I, said at the meeting that the developer had undertaken further work to respond to the concerns of councillors and residents since the last application was refused.
He added that the area around the path was a safeguarded wharf, meaning the Port of London Authority would object to additional land being built on to widen the path.
Mr Koops said: “It’s always been our intention to improve this section of the Greenwich Peninsula to the benefit of the wider community and this planning application is predicated upon the necessity to replace a flood defence which is in an extremely bad state of repair.”
Conveyor belt plans also approved on wharf
The updated flood defences were also carried out to allow Sivyer to use a jetty in the area to transport goods across the Thames by installing a set of conveyor belts.
Simon Sivyer, executive managing director at the Sivyer Group, said at the meeting the move would help the company to switch to water transport instead of using lorries to and from its site.
Council officers said at the meeting that two barges a week would visit the site, equating to 200 tipper truck journeys.
Ralph Hardwick, who lives in the Isle of Dogs and faces the site, said at the meeting that he was worried about the additional dust that may arise from the extra activity on the jetty. He said he had already complained to Greenwich Council numerous times about the dust arising from the area.
Mr Hardwick said: “I’ve got other residents who sit along the river walkway on the Isle of Dogs. They have tables and chairs out and they can only leave them for a day or two before they’re covered in dust. All the cars that are over there are all covered in dust a lot of the time.”
Mr Sivyer said in response to the claims about dust coming from his company’s site that they had never received any negative comments from regulators.
He said he was aware about the comments made regarding emissions from the site, but said he felt they were subjective and refuted them.
Mr Sivyer said: “We have a considerable responsibility also to the people who work on site, our colleagues who we work with every day. Nobody wants to come to work to get covered in dust every day.”
The plans for the updated flood defences and new conveyor belts were approved by the planning board at the meeting, on the condition that the conveyor belts are totally enclosed and that air quality monitoring data is kept on record at the site.
Mr Koops said at the meeting that the time for the repairs to the flood defences to be carried out, including the Thames Path and hoarding works, was planned to take up to three months.
