Blackheath Standard / Rectory Fields / Westcombe Park advice please!

[shardtongued]

London peeps, help/advice please!

We (DP and I, DC1 on the way) are looking to buy our first home ideally in the Blackheath/Greenwich area. We've noticed there are quite a few places within our budget up for sale in the "Blackheath Standard" area - mostly east of where the Old Dover Road crosses the A2 Blackwall Tunnel Approach.

Lots of them have been on for what seems an age in the present climate and quite a few have been reduced really really significantly, especially a couple in the Rectory Fields conservation area. This despite them looking really lovely and well kept (at least from their rightmove photos...) and offering bedroom numbers / floor areas that would go for £££ more on the other side of the A2 divide.

Are these too good to be true - what am I missing? Is the Old Dover Road completely traffic clogged (it doesn't look that way to me based on my (weekend) recon trips)? Is the pollution or traffic noise from the A2 really bad (even though the air quality maps look OK)? Or is there something else going on locally, eg major development works? I don't trust local estate agents to tell me the truth here

I know there's been a massive construction project going on at the Leigh Academy which backs onto the Rectory Fields area and wonder whether site traffic has been bad there but surely not enough to depress house prices to the point where people are selling at a loss?

Help please!

PS if anyone can shed light on what it's like round Westcombe Park I'd love to know too - it's the "right" side of the A2 for the leafy areas of Greenwich and Blackheath but it feels a bit like the sort of place where people pass through on their way somewhere more interesting - no real local shops or that sort of thing - and it's all very close to the A2 as well. But it is in the catchment area for a few schools!

I don't live in the area but looked to buy there back in April. Many properties there seemed to come up with very aspirational price and had to reduce later. But the good ones are still snapped up quickly (not many of them coming up on the market unfortunately...).

A local friend advised me that the main roads are indeed noisy.

If you like the leafy areas of Greenwich and Blackheath, then Westcombe Park is a much better location for you. As you say, it is on the right side. Westcombe Park is close to Bugsby Way which has IKEA and Sainsbury. The area between Westcombe Park and Maze Hill station is good, often referred to as 'East Greenwich'. There is a good primary school Halstow if you live close enough to get in.

The houses "east of where the Old Dover Road crosses the A2 Blackwall Tunnel Approach" are on the wrong side of the Sun-in-The-Sands roundabout, which is a very busy roundabout that leads to the A2. I am not even sure how you can walk across that roundabout to get to right side i.e. Blackheath and Greenwich Park. Shooters Hill is a busy road. I would consider that area more 'Charlton' than 'Blackheath Standard', estate agents calling it the latter presumably because of the Blackheath cache. You get more house in Charlton and some are big and lovely but the transport links in Charlton are generally not the best. If you stay near the mainline station Charlton, it has good rail links to Blackheath and Greenwich.

It’s a lovely area but you do need to be careful about traffic, both in terms of where a house is (if too close to the major roads) but also where you need to get to (don’t even try the black wall tunnel in the morning.). But loads going on, good facilities, good transport links and fabulous parks/ coffee shops etc. I would happily live there again. The houses stuck on the market might be flats with no outside space or too close to big roads. One other thing, if you really like that area you could also look at Hither green which is also great and you can usually get a bit more for your money (around Manor House gardens is particularly nice).

I have lived in Westcombe Park / East Greenwich for over a decade. Moved here when my eldest child was a baby.
Great place to be... Really easy and quick into the City or Canary Wharf, lots of families, lots of green space, decent local shops and pubs etc
The 'wrong' side of the a2 varies. Charlton slopes (Eastcombe Ave to Wyndcliff and down to Bramshot) is very popular and loads of families etc.
The roads off Old Dover Road tend to have smaller houses than the above (apart from Banchory which is similar to Charlton slopes). Old Dover Road itself not great for parking and at the Shooters Hill Road end tends to be noisier from that road.
The bit of East Greenwich that borders westcombe Park (south of Woolwich Road, West of a2, east of park, south of railway line) is convenient for stations, good green spaces with pleasaunce as well as easy access to the park and has the outstanding Halstow school (though beware tiny catchment). It's cheaper than westcombe Park too. Avoid too close to a2 ideally as it is noisy, and houses too close are priced to reflect this.
I really like this side of the heath.. I think it is friendlier and more diverse than blackheath village and cheaper too.
Happy to help with comments of specific location on properties if useful!

Thanks everyone for the advice so far!

There's a house in the Rectory Fields area that we're wondering about viewing (it's half the price of identical places over in central Greenwich!) but it's been on Rightmove a long time and the asking price has been dropped - it's now on for less than a couple of its neighbours sold for a few years ago! I wonder if that's a sign of something seriously amiss...

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/78490752#/?channel=RES_BUY

It's near the back entrance to the Leigh Academy school but I wouldn't see that as a dealbreaker as I think the main entrance and car park are off the main road instead?

Looks like the neighbour's tree is growing directly across the front window - I can see how that could lead to problems and disputes. Maybe that's what's putting people off? The tree looks like it's been there for a very very long time. Moving that big thick branch would probably be out of the question unless we could find a very good tree surgeon :(

There are a couple of others directly on the Old Dover Road (near the British Oak pub) that we're thinking of viewing. They look like they're set back a fair way and double-glazed but obviously we'd need to check the noise levels - don't want to be living life to the soundtrack of a constantly thundering highway...!

The one on Lizban Street looks very small for the money and the layout would put most people off — a bit further north in Charlton would get you a three bed for that price (not a fully done up one but still). Westcombe Park is gorgeous but may be too pricey. We looked at houses on Old Dover Road where there are some lovely Victorian houses with really really good back gardens for the area but the front gardens didn’t feel safe for children or dogs on such a busy road. We ended up buying in Charlton but looked at a LOT of houses in the last year (also FTBs and we were moving from East Greenwich). Feel free to DM me — some of the ones still listed are ones we looked at a year ago.

Lizban St/Rectory Fields is a nice little enclave although I agree with previous posters that you can get a larger house nearer to Charlton station for that price. However, Lizban is closer to the Heath/Park etc and there are a few good shops at the Standard. It's not that close to any stations if you need them but there are buses to the stations (traffic can be crap over the Heath). Good primary schools nearby and Leigh Academy will hopefully turn out to be a good school.

The Lizban Street one I suspect has not sold because of odd layout. If it works for you could be worth a lower offer though.
Which ones are you looking at on Old Dover Road? The 675k one is far enough from the main road to avoid noise. Near the pub, but it's a pretty chilled pub.

As pp said you could get a bigger house in Charlton proper for the same money, but it feels like a completely different area and way further from green spaces

Yeah that looks like wisteria as well which is very pretty in full bloom, could it be protected?

Well, we saw the Lizban Street property this week and can see why it's not selling! It's not the layout, the wisteria, or the location. The place is an absolute and total wreck inside! The photos on the website must be at least 10 years out of date - it looks nothing like that inside. Damaged floorboards, walls, skirting boards and window frames everywhere. Back fence collapsing due to the neighbour's triffids growing into it. HORRIFIC, and I mean horrific, damp problems throughout the basement. Plaster falling of the walls upstairs... I could go on!

Such a shame as it could be an absolutely lovely place (original Edwardian tiles in the hallway, good space, good use of light and so on) but it's a massive renovation project before you even get to the issues of potential boundary disputes over the wisteria growing from one side and the collapsing fence on the other.

Lodged a very strongly worded complaint with the estate agents' head office pointing out how utterly misleading the online listing is and how much of a waste of time they've generated!

The search goes on...

That makes sense about why the Lizban property still has not been sold.

Good luck with your search. There is a right property for you in the right location.

Hi - does anybody know what the primary schools are like near Old Dover road? Looked at a property on old Dover road we liked. We don’t have children right now but considering it in the near future.

The houses "east of where the Old Dover Road crosses the A2 Blackwall Tunnel Approach" are on the wrong side of the Sun-in-The-Sands roundabout, which is a very busy roundabout that leads to the A2. I am not even sure how you can walk across that roundabout to get to right side i.e. Blackheath and Greenwich Park. Shooters Hill is a busy road.

There are pedestrian subways under the roundabout.