STOP PRESS: VICTORY - LOVELL'S PLANS HAVE BEEN REJECTED

Greenwich borough's Planning Board voted unanimously  on Monday 21 October not to approve the expansion of the Lovell's Wharf development.

Our campaign and this petition has succeeded in getting those plans rejected.

Thanks to all of you who signed the petition.

Thanks to our Councillor Mary Mills, our Assembly Member Len Duvall, the News Shopper and the 853 blog.

Thanks also to the Greenwich Society - if you care about Greenwich and  about proposed developments like this please join the society: http://greenwichsociety.org.uk/Join-The-Society/


Stop unsightly development and overcrowding in historic Royal Greenwich.

We want the Royal Borough of Greenwich Planning Board to reject a revised planning proposal for the redevelopment of Lovell’s Wharf which is due for a decision in October 2013.

We want you to help us petition the council to adhere to its own planning policy in overseeing sustainable development within our borough and to exercise its duty in managing developers and ensuring developers deliver on the commitments they have made to the community as part of the planning process.

Lovells Wharf is located in East Greenwich, London SE10 on the Thames Path and sits on the very edge of a large Victorian conservation area neighbouring UNESCO’s World Heritage site. The area is characterised by  quaint terraces of two storey Victorian houses and cottages built for river and dockworkers.

The applicant, Greenwich Wharf Ltd, received planning consent for the residential development of the riverside wharf in 2007 and after much consultation and significant amendment to their original proposal want to change the plans. We strongly object to the revised plans for the following reasons:

1. The number of units would increase by 87% under the new application, rising from a consented 282 to a proposed 528 units. Including units already built, this would take the site wide figure to 926 representing a 36% increase in density and a rise in the number of habitable rooms per hectare from 499 to 560 which far exceeds the cap the Council has set down in its own planning policy (Unitary Development Plan)

2. Plans will lead to substantial increase in population and overcrowding in the local area and will put further strain on local transport, health, policing and education services which are already much stretched. The situation is further exacerbated by a planned 645 residential units at the Greenwich District Hospital site and a high density development planned at Enderby’s Wharf which are all in the immediate vicinity of Lovell’s Wharf.

3. There is already major congestion and pollution on Trafalgar Road which is the main conduit for traffic into the development from the Blackwall Tunnel. The small Victorian streets surrounding the development are currently being used as rat runs and the increase in density will lead to further traffic and will make it more dangerous for families with small children. Existing transport infrastructure to support the proposed development currently does not meet the Mayor’s requirements under the London Plan. Plans to upgrade the transport are not confirmed, they are not funded and are far from being delivered. 

4. Residential blocks will increase in height by  an extra two to five storeys rising to 13 storeys on the river resulting in loss of river views for existing residents. The plans also risk breaching guidelines for the right to sunlight. The development's bulk and massing will have a negative impact on the river walk view in the Maritime Greenwich World heritage site and from the Wolfe Monument in Greenwich Park. The view of the Dome from Greenwich Park will be obscured.

5. The number of residential units go up but community benefits go down: Rowing club removed and no other sporting/community facility proposed; the area given over to the  health club and the ecological centre have been slashed by two thirds.

6. Greenwich has the lowest business density in London, the lowest square footage for any borough, and increasing this is one of the borough's mission statements – yet the new proposal substantially reduces the amount of business space compared to approved plans by removing the hotel, studio workshops and reducing office space. What would have been a genuinely mixed development would become overwhelmingly residential and this represents a departure form the Unitary Development Plan.

7. The plans will mean overdevelopment of the site. The blocks already built are unsightly and are out of keeping with the immediate neighbourhood.  The view of our historical area has been blighted by the already large, uncompromising bulk and height of the site and the development dwarfs the Victorian terraced cottages.

8. The development completely flies in the face of the Council’s own objectives  outlined in the Greenwich Peninsular masterplan which aims “to provide Thameside mixed use development with SEAMLESS LINKS TO HISTORIC GREENWICH AND THE MASTERPLAN ZONE OF THE GREENWICH PENINSULAR” …… and “to provide development of the highest design and sustainable quality". The development is on the cusp of historic Greenwich and the Peninsular and the sight of the modern blocks towering over the terraced streets is oppressive and anything but a seamless link.

9. The plans fails the National Planning Policy Framework in responding to the local character, reflecting the identity of the local surroundings and materials. The quality and the design of the development is poor. The newly delivered blocks already look tired and have broken awnings, cracked concrete and stained walls.

10. Developers have failed to honour many existing commitments and must be held to account by the council. They have failed to conclude negotiations for the relocation of the adjoining boatyard, the delivery of a children’s playground has been pushed back, the re-opening of the Thames path has been much delayed and already caused much disruption to existing residents. Developers have even reneged on commitments to existing residents of Lovells Wharf despite assurances in writing not to increase the heights of the development and to block their views of the river.

The developers are already marketing the development based with on the new plans before the Council has even made a decision.

The Greenwich Society and the Greenwich Conservation Group strongly object to the proposal, but their views have been ignored.

We acknowledge the need for homes, the opportunities afforded by the brownfield area on the Peninsular and the borough’s ambitions to regenerate and bring investment into the borough. But it cannot be development at any cost, development which goes against the council’s own planning policies and development at the expense of local residents’ and their quality of life. Nor should development be a scar on the landscape of Greenwich’s unique conservation area. 

The new proposals will deliver a worse development to the one the Council has already approved and we ask you to support us in petitioning the Council to reject the revised application.

Please share the petition with your friends and neighbours - we haven't much time !!!

Watch a video of our recent demonstration here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssa-iC4uAl4