Response to the Greenwich Local Plan
The East Greenwich Residents Association (EGRA) has officially submitted our response to the Royal Borough of Greenwich Draft Local Plan (Regulation 18) consultation. As a community-led organisation, our mission is to create a cleaner, safer, and more vibrant neighbourhood where everyone can thrive.
While we support the broad ambition for sustainable growth, we have voiced significant concerns that the current draft risks facilitating over-development without the necessary infrastructure, eroding our local character, and failing to address the day-to-day realities of our residents.
Housing, density, and heritage
We are deeply concerned by the potential dilution of safeguards regarding tall buildings. The designation of the East Greenwich riverside for tall buildings risks encircling our low-rise neighbourhoods with out-of-scale tower blocks, potentially eroding the value of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site.
Furthermore, we have observed a worrying trend of projects intended for family homes morphing into Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA). These units do not alleviate local housing pressure and are difficult to repurpose. We are calling for:
Reinstatement of explicit protections for low-rise residential amenity.
Strict controls to prevent the loss of family housing to student units.
A robust strategy to manage the proliferation of short-term holiday lets (like Airbnb).
Retail and town centres
EGRA believes that Greenwich Town Centre has effectively ceased to serve local residents, as it is dominated by chain outlets catering to tourists. Simultaneously, the Plan continues to ignore the reality of the Charlton Retail Zone (Bugsby’s Way), which serves as the primary shopping area for our community. We urgently need:
A management plan that prioritises resident needs alongside tourism.
Formal recognition of the Bugsby's Way retail clusters to justify vital investment in pedestrian and cycle safety.
Community facilities and open space
East Greenwich is an area of open space deficiency, yet money from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and Section 106 often flows elsewhere. It is unacceptable that local children must be bused to other areas for sports because of a lack of local facilities. We are requesting:
Dedicated CIL/S106 funding specifically for open space and play provision within East Greenwich.
The revitalization of The Greenwich Centre’s community functions.
A clear roadmap for a permanent home for the borough’s archives.
Transport, maintenance, and the 'gig economy'
The ambition for a "high-quality public realm" is currently undermined by a collapse in basic maintenance and the chaos caused by poorly managed delivery hubs.
EGRA has provided the Council with firsthand evidence from Fingal Street, where delivery drivers illegally use residential roads as cut-throughs, mount pavements, and pose serious safety hazards—including a reported incident where a child was struck. To fix this, we are demanding:
Mandatory off-street provision for all new commercial developments intended for delivery operations.
Enforceable physical measures to prevent illegal access to residential "rat runs".
A proactive maintenance plan for the Thames Path and increased street cleaning in high-footfall areas.
Conclusion and next steps
EGRA wishes to see a Local Plan that reflects the reality of life in our neighbourhood. We urge the Council to provide concrete protections and infrastructure investment that matches the pace of development.