Convoy's Wharf

Convoy's Wharf is the site of Deptford Dockyard the first of the Royal Dockyards. It is a riverside site in Deptford, by the Thames in London first developed in 1513 by Henry VIII to build vessels for the Royal Navy. Currently owned by News International, which used it to import newsprint and other paper products from Finland until early 2000, it is subject to a planning application to convert it into residential units. [ [http://www.richardrogers.co.uk/render.aspx?siteID=1&navIDs=1,4,25,124,125 Concept ] ]

History

Established in 1513 by Henry VIII as the first Royal Dockyard building vessels for the Royal Navy. [ [http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.52/chapterId/774/Deptford-and-Woolwich-Londons-Royal-Dockyards.html Deptford and Woolwich: London's Royal Dockyards - The working Thames - Port Cities ] ] In 1698 Peter the Great of Russia came to Deptford to learn about shipbuilding. It closed as a Dockyard in 1869.

From 1871 until World War I it was the City of London Corporation's Foreign Cattle Market. In 1912 The Times reported that over 4 million head of live cattle, and sheep, had been landed.

In 1923 a director of the News of the World bought the site and began to import newsprint. Eventually the site, as with the newspaper came into the ownership of News International. Although significant investment was made on the site in the mid 1990s restrictions on heavy lorries in Greenwich town centre made it uneconomic to continue using the site as a freight wharf.

Planning application

In 2002 News International applied to the London Borough of Lewisham for outline planning permission to erect 3,500 residential units on the site. Lewisham councillors resolved to approve the application in May 2005. As of July 2008 the application has yet to be referred to Mayor of London Boris Johnson. Boris has the power to direct a refusal of planning consent and if the matter is ever referred will probably direct a refusal.

If Mr Johnson allows the application it will then be referred to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. This is for a variety of reasons, not least a Government direction that half the site is safeguarded for freight use. Since freight wharves on the Thames were safeguarded in 1997 by, the then Secretary of State for the Environment, John Gummer no wharf has been lost to residential use without a full public inquiry.

If News International succeed in gaining planning permission then the site will be sold to a subsidiary of Cheung Kong Holdings for £100million. The supposedly confidential sales agreement dated 13 May 2005 can be purchased from HM Land Registry for £10 by post (or downloaded for £5) where it is filed against title number SGL292753.

Protest

Local community groups, businesses and churches in Deptford, and beyond, have and are campaigning under the banner of Convoys Opportunity to have the current application refused and the safeguarding order upheld. London is exceptional amongst major cities, with the necessary depth of water, in not having a purpose built Cruise Liner Terminal. If the application gets past Mayor Boris then Convoys Opportunity will ask Hazel Blears to call-in the application for a ministerial decision (after a public inquiry).

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