Greenwich Reach Cruise Liner Terminal Plans
Plans for a cruise liner terminal complete with hotel, restaurants, casino, cinema and shopping centre in the ‘Millennium Capital’ of Britain, Greenwich, have now received full planning permission from Greenwich Council. Work was due to have begun on the site in July 2001.
Unfortunately, it was recently learned (June 2001) that the liner terminal component of this development may not now go ahead owing to City concerns that the numbers of potential visiting ships may not warrant the facility.
The world’s largest liners would have been able to dock, giving passengers a welcome worthy of London, and in particular Deptford and Greenwich, both steeped in major areas of maritime history.
The £80 million development at Deptford Creek, just to the west of Greenwich Town Centre and the location of the famous tea clipper, the Cutty Sark, will transform the Greenwich stretch of the Thames and provide an estimated 1,500 jobs in an area of high unemployment.
A deal has been signed between developers Clearwater Estates and Greenwich Reach Developments, which owns the eight acre site.
Liners of up to 50,000 tonnes and 240 metres long would have been able to dock at the terminal which is located at an existing deep-water berth known as Greenwich Tier that for many years has hosted visits from new liners on their maiden voyages as well as naval vessels such as H.M.S. Ark Royal. However, these do not carry the fare-paying passengers that the developers hope will bring life back to the river and a new prosperity to a famous, but much neglected area.
The Port of London Authority are reported as saying: “As conservators of the Thames we are delighted that big (passenger-carrying) liners will be able to come so far into central London.”
Original post: 12/7/01
The WebMeister updates, 16 years on..!
Almost unbelievably we still await this development. One thing for sure is that it will not be located at Greenwich Tier, as originally envisaged, but at Enderby Wharf, about half-way between Greenwich Tier and the Dome. This was the famous old home of the South Atlantic Whaling Fleet and of the various companies over the decades that have been largely responsible for the development of the world’s sub-sea telecommunications industry.. Telcon, STC and most recently Alcatel.
Although fundamentally approved by Greenwich Council, the commencement of construction is still being held up by a battle over pollution levels already experienced in East Greenwich, to which liners berthed with diesel generators running will only add. Protagonists, such as EGRA, are requesting that there provision for a shore-based power system to enable these generators to be switched off whilst alongside. Unfortunately, the number of cruise liners currently able to connect to such supplies is limited, and, it would appear that despite being just a few hundred metres from the under-used East Greenwich Power Station, this is “unsuitable” for providing such a connection, or it would be prohibitively expensive to do so!
The Webmaster updates, 20 years on..!
In November 2018, following increased public concerns over pollution resulting from static cruise ships, and increases in pollution generally in the Greenwich area, public pressure has resulted in the proposal for a terminal at Enderby Wharf being turned down by Greenwich Council. The shore-based redevelopment of Enderby Wharf for housing and the refurbishment of Enderby House itself as a public house continue apace, with the pub finally opening to the public in April 2021 following the removal of Covid restrictions.
Dated: 20/2/22
Web’d by David Riddle
email: dpreeyore@gmail.com
Originally compiled partly from an article in the Evening Standard, 5/2/97
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