A town hall is to build a new 15-storey tower block despite councillors airing complaints about the height of the project.
Eight buildings between six and 15 storeys tall will be erected in Kidbrooke after councillors signed off the plans.
All 322 Greenwich council flats are proposed to be under 100 per cent London affordable rent, meaning it should be cheaper for local people.
The plans from Greenwich Builds, the council’s home-building programme, met broad approval from the planning board, but some hit out at the size of the largest tower block, and questioned whether there were enough spaces for families.
Councillor Gary Dillon asked whether if it was possible if the five floors on the largest tower block could be “distributed among the other buildings”.
A Greenwich Builds representative said: “We’ve been given feedback from officers and our own design analysis demonstrated that the 15-storey building is well located in that position.
“But we’re trying to maximise the number of homes within the scheme, and to do that, there has there be a certain amount of homes in a taller building.”
He added that decreasing the size of that building and making the others bigger would result in a scheme “without the diversity of design and diversity of elevation that we’re trying to achieve on the site”.
Cllr Dillon hit back that Greenwich Builds “should be looking at protecting heritage” and that he was “disappointed” residents’ views were not taken on board.
Cllr John Fahy revealed his misgivings with the make-up of housing in the plan.
Only 30 per cent of the residential units would be designated as “family-sized”, according to council documents, which Cllr Fahy said was “not defensible”.
The Greenwich Builds spokesman said that they had to “make the best use of what we’ve got.”
The 322 new homes will be built on what is currently a vacant brownfield site.
It is close to Kidbrooke railway station and an Aldi supermarket.
The development will be car-free but will include 10 blue badge parking spaces for residents with disabilities.
Pictured: Artist’s impression of what the development could look like
Related
https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/height-complaints-for-new-build-in-kidbrooke/
