The need for new towns across all corners of the UK is clear. And while it’s vital to explore areas beyond the capital, we must also consider the major growth opportunities within it. Thamesmead is one such place, as John Lewis, Peabody’s Executive Director of Sustainable Places, explains.
Straddling the boroughs of Bexley and Greenwich, Thamesmead offers one of the biggest and most exciting opportunities for housing and economic growth in the UK.
It’s a remarkable town with a remarkable history. Envisaged as a new town in the sixties, progress stalled in the seventies, due to a series of setbacks including lack of investment, inconsistent governance and poor infrastructure. But things have been changing for the better in recent years.
Now is the time for Thamesmead to realise its potential as a successful new town for London. Peabody has been the major landholder here since 2014 and is now bringing much of the town’s housing, land management and community investment activities together for the first time in a generation.
As an experienced and well-resourced organisation with a social purpose, we’re taking forward the large-scale regeneration of the town. Our mission is clear: to improve, grow and look after Thamesmead for the long term.
Thamesmead is roughly the same size as central London (if you picture the area within the circle line) but with a population of just 47,000. It has the capacity for 20,000 much-needed new homes. Around 5,000 homes are already in train (planned for, being built or completed) in the south and west of the town.
Complementing this work is an active programme of day-to-day care, cultural activities and events, landscaping improvements, and community support. These factors are integral to what we call our ‘whole place’ approach to regeneration – and central to the success of sustainable places.
Change is already happening at scale, as our five-year
impact report published at the end of last year shows. But there's much more we want to do alongside the community and a range of public, third sector and private partners. The major growth for potential for Thamesmead lies in a 100-hectare site on the southern banks of the River Thames. Master-planned by a joint venture between Peabody and Lendlease, the Thamesmead Waterfront offers a brand-new piece of London – with up to 15,000 new homes, a rejuvenated and expanded town centre, and major new park for London.
The vision at Thamesmead Waterfront is eminently deliverable, and work on the site could begin within this parliament. But for this to happen, we need certainty and a commitment to providing the right transport infrastructure. Thamesmead has historically been poorly served by public transport. Remarkably SE28, where the site is placed, is now the only postcode in London that doesn’t have a tube or rail station. This has held the town back.
The great news is that change could happen with an extension to the Docklands Light Railway (DLR). Not only would it secure the delivery of the 15,000 homes at Thamesmead Waterfront, but it would also unlock a minimum of 10,000 homes in Beckton, north of the river. With improved access to the jobs hotspots of the Docklands and central London, the potential for nationally significant, sustainable housing delivery and economic growth is enormous.
The benefits of extending the DLR are both widely understood and supported – a recent consultation showed the majority of local people support it. As part of a public/private partnership group, we’ve been working with TfL to develop the business case for it, which will be submitted to government in summer 2025.
We’re now making the case to the New Towns Task Force to recognise Thamesmead as a key area for growth and expansion. Their support will undoubtedly add certainty and acceleration of this much-needed urban extension. We have the connections, capital and know-how to make sure Thamesmead is a thriving new town for London.