2 April - Enjoy it while you can
For
some years after I retired from BT I was able to see the BT Tower from most
local vantage points, certainly if I wandered up to what is now the Viewing
Point in Lesnes Abbey Park. I think it was The Gherkin that took that view away
and slowly but surely town planners are building a barrier to our City views.
If you go to the Lesnes Viewing Point today you can see Peabody scarring the skyline to the North
West and across the borough boundary a 21 storey tower is going up
that will dwarf our only existing skyscraper that towers over Sainsbury’s. (The
gold coloured building on the second photo below.)
Maybe it is a blessing that Bexley Council plans to hide them all with another BexleyCo
monstrosity to be built on the Felixstowe Road car park site. Due for completion in 2026 it
allows plenty of time for me to get out of town if the useless Mayor doesn’t persuade me to leave sooner.
A 14 storey tower at 500 Abbey Road for which
permission is already granted
will obliterate the view from the new Viewing Point. It will appear to grow out
the left side of the historic Mulberry tree. (Second photo again.)
Since Council Leader threw Councillor Danny Hackett off the Planning Committee
as his punishment for falling out with Labour, the North of the borough has had
no one to stand up for what it might want.
Fortunately, if you value the skyline, Peabody always drags its heels.
Their 14 storey tower was
due for occupation
at the end of this year but clearly that is not going to happen. There is as yet no sign of any
work on Peabody’s Knee Hill site.
How it was. (16th March 2014.)
Today from the Viewing Point. (2nd April 2021.)
Harrow Inn Site timetable.
Peabody land.