Skip to site navigation

Accessibility Options

Font size

Colour scheme

Achieving the vision

 
Key regeneration achievements
Recession
Income
Deprivation
Future regeneration work

Greenwich is a borough of contrasts. It’s both a major tourist destination with World Heritage Site status, and a borough with pockets of extreme deprivation.

To combat the decline in certain areas the Council created local partnerships to link the Council, local community and businesses. The Council also developed strategies to foster an integrated approach to the regeneration of the borough.

Physical development of land and new transport networks has spearheaded the regeneration of Greenwich. The overall strategy seeks to maximise benefits for residents by improving:

  • skills
  • income
  • housing
  • health
  • and the environment.

Key regeneration achievements

  • Regeneration of key sites.
  • 23,000 new homes between 2003 and 2016.
  • Major improvements to housing estates.
  • Created over 2,900 new jobs from 2002 to 2005.
  • Reduced unemployment to within 1% of the London average.
  • Eight new business parks.
  • New transport links: extension of Docklands Light Rail to Greenwich and Woolwich, two new stations, new piers and the extension of the Jubilee Line.
  • New health and education facilities.
The Council has been awarded Beacon Council status for its work in removing barriers to work, for sustainable tourism, and the provision of affordable housing.

back to top

Recession

The years of recession were characterised by high unemployment and severe deprivation. Statistics include:

  • 10,000 jobs lost between 1991 and 1993
  • Less than 6,000 manufacturing jobs left
  • Male unemployment up to 60 per cent
  • 80 per cent of Council housing stock in need of repair
  • Fear of crime and violence
  • 1,100 acres of land in the borough was contaminated
  • Greenwich experienced the worst health inequality in London
  • Educational achievements were some of the lowest in the country
The regeneration process aims to address these issues, making Greenwich a place where people want to live, work, learn and visit.

back to top

Income

Greenwich families earn on average £26,000 per household (2002 figures). This places Greenwich among the 10 boroughs in London with the lowest average incomes. Strong disparities in income exist across the borough, often between adjacent Wards. For example, in Palace and St Mary’s, over 37 per cent of households earn less than £10,000, whereas this figure falls to 10 per cent for Deansfield and Blackheath Wards.

back to top

Deprivation

Using the Government’s measure of deprivation, the Index of Deprivation 2004, Greenwich is the 41st most deprived borough in England and Wales.

Sub-ward areas – Super Output Areas – are used in the identification of deprivation.

Wards with areas in the 10% most deprived in England are:

  • Abbey Wood
  • Charlton
  • Eltham West
  • Glyndon
  • Greenwich West
  • Middle Park and Sutcliffe
  • Peninsula
  • Thamesmead Moorings
  • Woolwich Common
  • Woolwich Riverside
This shows a concentration of deprivation along the waterfront Wards, but with significant concentrations further south.

back to top

Future regeneration work

The economic decline of past decades has been halted and the borough now has a new identity. Greenwich is now entering a new phase and the challenge is to build upon our achievements.

Greenwich is still a borough of contrasts. Future regeneration work will aim to help improve:

  • areas in Greenwich where there are local concentrations of relative deprivation
  • some housing estates that remain in need of repair
  • transport in some areas of the borough where it is inadequate
  • employment: while unemployment is falling, it remains higher than the London average
  • serious health inequalities within the borough.
back to top

For further information

For more details on the regeneration projects across the borough, go to Your environment > Regeneration and renewal

A to Z of Services

Council & democracy

About Greenwich