COUNCILLORS will decide next week whether to give the go-ahead to almost fifty new student flats in East Greenwich.
The developer behind the scheme has proposed a 47-bed block of student accommodation in Denham Street on a plot of land previously used as offices and a depot by Lewis Coaches.
Eleven letters of objection were received by the council, citing concerns over increased noise, parking and loss of light and TV reception but officers have recommended councillors back the scheme at the Greenwich Area Planning Committee next Wednesday evening.
New townhouses
Councillors will also consider whether to approve the demolition of three Victorian houses at the meeting. The empty homes at 24-28 Greenwich High Road would be replaced by four new townhouses, if planning permission is agreed.
Ten letters of objection have been received and the redevelopment is also opposed by the Greenwich Society and Greenwich Conservation Group. In its objection, the Greenwich Society cited “the need to preserve as much as possible of 19th century fabric.”
The houses back on to the car park of Greenwich’s newest hotel, the Mercure, and councillors will also be considering whether to approve a new internally illuminated rooftop sign for the boutique hotel. Periquin Limited is the name of the developer that is behind both the hotel and the application to redevelop the houses in Greenwich High Road.
On a busy night for councillors, they will also decide on the latest bid to develop the land at the corner of Roan Street and Straightsmouth with the developer wishing to build a three storey block containing two flats.
See the full agenda for the Greenwich Area Planning Committee on Wednesday 7th November
Has anyone noticed that the illuminated signs on Mercure hotel have been installed without planning permission? It looks like this is becoming the norm in Greenwich after Zizzi and F&B have done it on Greenwich Pier.
BG is wrong. The illuminated strip on the Mercure hotel was actually part of the original planning application which was given planning permission last summer. It was also a supplementary detail that the Council approved this spring. Saying it has been installed without planning permission weakens the position of people who want to oppose the installation of two illuminated signs (saying 'The Greenwich' and 'Hotel Mercure'), which comes before the planning committee meeting this Wednesday. If you've really got a beef about the signage, come along and register your protest in Woolwich this Wednesday. But maybe get your facts right first.
The Ashburnham Triangle Association, which opposes the illuminated rooftop sign on the Mercure, will also be opposing the demolition of 24-28 Greenwich High Road, some of the very few remaining Victorian buildings in this stretch of road, which has been savagely 'renovated' by a range of, we think, ill-considered developments. If anyone else wants to add their voice in support of keeping the existing buildings in this small terrace, we'd be very happy to see them on Wednesday.
Walking past everyday, I see the extreme state of disrepair of these Victorian Townhouses. The designs are lacking any noticable 'beauty' and add nothing to the street. Their outer shell looks far too damaged to restore. (There are plants growwing out of the roof!) I'd far rather they be replaced like for like, as the plans detail. (They're not proposing anything near as ugly as the black rusty cube which sprang up opposite) We cannot leave this end of Greenwich High Road to rot like the dilapidated pub, boarded up court building and fire-damaged buildings surrounding. If the Ashburham Conservation society want to improve the area, how about petitioning for the owners of Booker Cash and Carry to have their graffiti removed, or to have the 7 (SEVEN!) burnt down buildings next to the townhouse developed? Please though, don't spend time holding up plans to build some fairly classic townhouses. I'm all for preserving the past, but if these townhouses aren't taken down soon, they'll fall down!
These buildings may be neglected – but that is the responsibility of the owner, who is allowing them to deteriorate in order to build four houses, where there were once three.
The notion of knocking down old, worthwhile buildings and replacing them with bland pastiches is wrong-headed, all the more so as this is a Conservation Area, and these are among the last survivors of the period buildings in this gateway to Greenwich.
The historic buildings in Greenwich are an intrinsic part of the area's appeal to tourists – tourists the Borough, and indeed the Mercure hotel, need. In the long term, restoring and retaining these unusual, distinctive buildings is the more modern and worthwhile solution.
Posted on behalf of Dawn Harverson:
The Mercure hotel has already changed the area for the worse with the badly designed extension on the existing building and the tacky LED lighting round the top which would not be out of place in Vegas but is totally wrong for a conservation area.There are to many hotel's in Greenwich, has anybody really thought what impact they are having on the area Also I think the Victorian houses should be restored.To much has already been knocked down in this area and no building of any grace has been put up in it's place.Wren can certainly rest on his laurels.
Unfortunately I couldn't attend the meeting but I understand the Denham Street application was turned down, a decision on the houses in Greenwich High Road was deferred and the Mercure roof sign was turned down but its other signage was approved.
The Townhouses were recently sold to a developer with the singular view of knocking them down. (Why else would all 3 go on the market at once, and all 3 be bought at once?) 'Bland'? To be fair, the replacements have far more detail and are far more inkeeping with it's terraced neighbour than the existing plain bricked Victorian Flat-roofed box. The Mercure is a renovated old building and no one seems to like that either? It seems the developers are damned if they do keep original infrastructure and damned if they don't…. If it's not financially viable to repair them and bring them up to a profible/sellable standard, then they'll be left dilapidated. That's the real choice: New Townhouses, or Condemned and rotting old ones. (Like the buildings opposite them!) I'm afraid there isn't really any other option, short of the Conservation group creating some kind of legal charter for new arrivals to the area that forces people to maintain their current buildings to a particular standard so they never get to the 'Better to knock down and start again' stage. Now that's something I'm sure a lot of residents would get behind!