Coming to the Connaught - David Gardner

From the ashes of the much maligned Connaught estate, the phoenix is arising with outline plans for the new community by Woolwich New.Road and Brookhill Road going to the council's planning Board on Monday 14 April.

Back in 2004, when the council embarked on the Labour Government's Decent Home Programme to bring all Greenwich's own homes up to modern standards the decision was taken that three estates - Charlton's Maryon Grove, Morris Walk and The Connaught in the centre of Woolwich had a limited lifespan structurally and to rebuild them rather than upgrade. 

Sadly, just as plans were underway the global recession hit and developers baulked. But now, we're on schedule again and as you will have seen the old estate has been decanted and tenants rehoused. The plans have been subject to local consultation. They envisage street houses facing Brookhill Road and higher flats on Woolwich New Road and the interior with a central green boulevard through the estate.

Some concerns have been raised about the height and proximity of the Brookhill homes to the road and about the lack of community facilities and the reduction in greenery. It is really important that if you have views, you come along to the Planning Board and ask to speak beforehand. 

It will transform this quarter of Woolwich between the town centre and military quarter and be a vast improvement on the old concrete rather faceless monstrosities of the 1968 brutalist Connaught but we should ensure we are building a new stable, thriving and environmentally sustainable community not just squeezing in the highest number of housing units sold off-plan to investors. 

David Gardner

A London Living Wage for Woolwich - David Gardner

This week, the Government confirmed it will support the Low Pay Commission recommendations to increase the national minimum wage from £6.31 to £6.50 an hour, a paltry 3% increase. The minimum wage, introduced by Labour in 1998, would have to be £7 to have kept pace with inflation since the recession.

And for many people on low pay, costs continue to rise especially for essentials like electricity and gas, and for those renting privately, local rents have rocketed. This is why Labour is a strong advocate of the London Living Wage (LLW) where all employees and contractors are paid at least £8.80 per hour, just enough according to the experts to afford the essentials needed to survive from day to day without any luxuries or indulgences.

Greenwich Council has recently been accredited as a Living Wage employer and is ensuring all new contracts stipulate paying the LLW. Many leading businesses in London already pay the LLW and Canary Wharf is considering becoming the first Living Wage Zone. Paying the living wage means for employers not only that they are treating their people with dignity, but improved morale and productivity with lower staff turnaround and sickness. All the evidence is that the business case is strong as the social case and means lower benefits bills. Indeed, it could be argued that for  the 5.2m on poverty pay (under the living wage), employers are effectiveky subsidised by the taxpayer. 

At the moment average monthly wages in Greenwich are more than £300 lower than neighbouring Tower Hamlets over the water. We need to redouble our efforts to attract higher value and decently paid jobs locally and build pressure on existing local employers like Tesco and the army to do the decent thing and pay the LLW. 

David Gardner