Plans for a new set of flats in South London have been approved despite locals fearing “drugs and cigarettes” will be dropped from the balconies.

Greenwich Council has approved changes to plans for 20 new flats on Greenwich High Road.

The five-storey building for the project was originally approved by Greenwich Council in August 2020.

The proposal, sent by Southern Housing, includes space for shops in the building’s ground floor, with a three-storey office building previously sitting on the site.

Changes to the scheme include making all flats in the development “affordable”, when only half were planned to be under the previous proposal.

Other amendments include minor changes to the height of the building and sizes of windows.

The plans were discussed at a planning board meeting for Greenwich Council on September 19, and have received 64 objections online from locals.

Council documents highlighted concerns that a nearby car park would become vulnerable to items being “dropped” from the new building’s balconies.

José Olivera said at the meeting that he felt the increase of social housing from 50 per cent to 100 per cent in the building would mean Southern Housing, formerly known as Optivo, would be the only housing association managing flats in the building.

He said that a block already managed by Southern Housing in the building next door to the site regularly saw issues such as objects being thrown off of balconies.

The local said he feared similar problems would arise given the balconies and windows in the planned development line up with an existing car park in the area.

Mr Olivera added: “Block D is managed by Optivo. Block D has not got a very good track record of people throwing things off balconies. Drugs, cigarettes, food, all sorts.

"Optivo knows about this. Optivo does nothing to address the issue… How is it going to work if we’ve got a development right in front of us where there is nobody who is going to be able to hold them accountable?”

Tom Tanner, speaking on behalf of Southern Housing, said at the meeting that the association was aware of previous issues in its housing on Greenwich High Road.

He said procedures had been recently amended and management had not received any complaints since the beginning of the year.

Mr Tanner added: “During construction, we’re going to have a dedicated contact so that if there’s any issues, we can deal with them straight away.

But going forward in terms of management, there’s a manager dedicated to the block for that area and they will be there to respond to any problems.”