Two “mutant” tower blocks are to be knocked down which will leave hundreds of residents homeless, a Labour council has ordered.
Greenwich Council issued an enforcement notice against Comer Homes Group, who built the £36million development, after they claimed the company had deviated from planning permission requirements.
The Mast Quay development
The developer has been told to completely demolish its Mast Quay Phase II residential towers in Woolwich.
The flats – which consist of a 23-tower block and a smaller one attached to it - were given the green light in 2012.
The original plan for the development
The Labour council says the flats are “substantially different” to the approved plans, citing 26 deviations, and are now breaching planning permissions.
They said the two towers looked “more solid and bulky” than envisaged and complained of a lack of a landscaped roof garden or children’s play area.
Royal Borough of Greenwich Council also stated that the apartments – which they called a “mutant development that is a blight on the landscape” - lacked a disabled parking space and wheelchair access.
Local Labour councillor Aidan Smith, Cabinet Member for Regeneration, said: “The Mast Quay Phase II development had the potential to deliver hundreds of beautiful riverside apartments in an exciting area of London with a rich maritime past. Instead, what we have is a mutant development that is a blight on the landscape, local conservation zone and heritage assets and views.
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The council said that “the only reasonable and proportionate way to rectify the harm created by the finished Mast Quay Phase II development to the local area, and the tenants living there” was “the complete demolition and the restoration of the land to its former condition”.
The move from the council will mean hundreds of tenants could lose their homes.
Isabelle White, a resident at Mast Quay, said “no one wants to lose their home”.
White, who lives in a one-bedroom flat costing £1,200 a month, told The Guardian: “It seemed too good to be true and now obviously it is. Moving in I thought there were a lot of things that didn't make sense – the layout.
“There had to be a catch and this is the catch. Hopefully, the residents are going to be put before everyone else. No one wants to lose their home.”
Council leader Anthony Okereke said the decision to demolish the flats was not an easy one, but they believe they are justified in their actions.
“Mast Quay Phase II represents two prominent high-rise buildings on Woolwich's riverside that just are not good enough, and the reason that they are not good enough is because the development that was given planning permission is not the one that we can all see before us today.
“In Our Greenwich, our vision for the borough by 2030, I committed to development that delivers positive change to the area for existing and new communities, and this is simply not the case with Mast Quay Phase II.
“The right thing to do is not usually the easy thing to do. That is why we will not stand by and allow poor quality and unlawful development anywhere in our borough and we are not afraid of taking difficult decisions when we believe it's the right thing to do.”
Residents could lose their homes
Google Street View
A spokesperson for the council said that they had written to residents to offer them support.
Comer Homes Group has said they will appeal against the enforcement notice.
The housing market was dealt a major blow last autumn after ex-Prime Minister Liz Truss instructed then-Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng to deliver the pair’s tax-cutting mini-budget.
