Before I do something highly unusual and criticise a consented scheme, I should make it known from the outset that while I know Richmount Gardens from a happy childhood spent in south-east London, I have no project interest in its redevelopment. I’m not an ‘on-paper’ objector or a consultee. I am but a bystander, albeit a frustrated one.

Frustrated, because infill is increasingly promoted as a solution to a deepening housing crisis, despite – as in this case – being blatantly detrimental to the welfare of local communities. It is now over six months since I attended a planning committee meeting in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, and yet I am still thinking about the decisions made that evening.

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