High Quality Housing

Too many people in Greenwich and Woolwich still have to endure poor housing conditions.  Housing has always been one of my main priorities, and so I have been pleased to see good progress being made in several areas over the past year.

The Decent Homes programme, which I launched when I was Housing Minister, has brought real improvements to thousands of council properties in Greenwich and Woolwich - and I continue to monitor progress with the council. The aim is to ensure that all council housing in the Borough reaches the decent homes standard by 2010.

We have also seen new and expanded housing developments in many parts of the constituency including New Haddo, Greenwich Millennium Village, the Royal Arsenal Woolwich and Master Gunner Place.  In all these sites the objective is to provide high quality homes for rent and sale in mixed communities meeting demanding environmental standards.  This is a significant contribution to reducing carbon emissions and global warming.

Ambitious plans are being drawn up for the regeneration of the Ferrier Estate in Woolwich as well as for Woolwich Town Centre and its surrounding area.