Month: October 2013

Signs of worry over Charlton House’s future

Darryl Chamberlain21 Comments

Charlton House sign

English Heritage have complained to Greenwich Council about new signs promoting Charlton House, which have been placed outside the Jacobean mansion.

The two signs, in the council’s house style, use stock photos to advertise the Grade I-listed venue’s availability for weddings, meetings, and other events.

Charlton Society chair David Gardner, which is also chair of the Greenwich & Woolwich Labour Party, said he was unaware that the signs would be installed but that the heritage body had complained to the council.

The revelation came at the Charlton Society’s annual general meeting on Saturday, where the council’s management of the house was repeatedly criticised.

Plans for Charlton House’s management to be taken over by a specific trust have been scrapped by council leader Chris Roberts, with it now to be run by a trust which looks after all of Greenwich borough’s community venues.

Charlton Society president Lord Gough – a descendant of the Maryon Wilson family which owned the house – voiced his regret at the collapse of the plans, while Gardner complained the council was “not talking to us” about the future of Charlton House.

The new signs point potential customers to the council’s website, despite the council having recently launched a new website for Charlton House. A previous website for Charlton House, which cost £3,500 to develop, lasted only two years.

The meeting also saw Charlton councillor Allan MacCarthy appeal for people to get in touch with council chief executive Mary Ney (mary.ney [at] royalgreenwich.gov.uk) if they wished to complain about the Run to the Beat event, while assembly member Len Duvall said Greenwich Council and organisers should either improve arrangements and information or axe the event.

The meeting was also addressed by Greenwich & Woolwich MP Nick Raynsford, who spoke about the opportunities – and dangers – presented by riverside developments. You can hear some of his speech below.

  • Charlton Champion contributors Darryl Chamberlain (that’s me) and Nikki Coates, along with Andrew Donkin from the Friends of Maryon and Maryon Wilson Parks, were elected to the Charlton Society committee on Saturday. We’ll be looking at ways to breathe some new life into the organisation and get more people involved – if you’ve got any ideas, get in touch.

    • Talk to rail bosses about Greenwich line changes

    Darryl Chamberlain11 Comments

    London Bridge station, in the future
    Network Rail’s launching a publicity campaign to warn people of the big changes taking place to train services along the Greenwich line, which will involve most of Charlton’s trains being permanently routed away from Charing Cross and into Cannon Street instead.

    Staff will be at Charlton station during Thursday and Friday’s rush hours to talk about the changes, and will also be at other local stations in coming days.

    The changes are prompted by the rebuilding of London Bridge for the Thameslink programme, which will cut the connection to the Charing Cross tracks. It’ll also mean many trains won’t be able to call at London Bridge for three years from 2015.

    Here’s the press release…

    To raise passengers’ awareness a number of information events will take place at affected stations from next week including Maze Hill, Westcombe Park, Deptford, Charlton, Greenwich, St Johns and New Cross.

    Leaflets and information will be available to passengers outlining the changes which include:

    * For all passengers from January 2015, services to Waterloo East and Charing Cross will not stop at London Bridge for nearly 20 months.
    * For passengers using the Greenwich line from January 2015 onwards, Charing Cross services will be diverted to Cannon Street.
    * For passengers using New Cross and St Johns from January 2015 onwards, Waterloo East and Charing Cross services will not stop at New Cross and St Johns stations.
    * For all passengers from August 2016, no Cannon Street services will stop at London Bridge for nearly 16 months.

    Fiona Taylor, Network Rail’s route managing director for Kent, said: “Thameslink will transform the railway in London and the south east of England, providing greater capacity and better journey options for millions of passengers. To rebuild London Bridge station and carry out the complicated track work on the approach to the station, it is unavoidable that there will be a certain level of disruption.

    “We are working closely with all train companies which operate through London Bridge to keep this disruption to a minimum and are committed to providing passengers with as much information as early as possible. The end result of this investment will be a vastly improved service which will better meet the demands of passengers.”

    Southeastern managing director, Charles Horton, said: “Although Greenwich line passengers will eventually see a much improved station at London Bridge, we understand that these works will be disruptive and our customers will be inconvenienced.

    “We’re sorry about this and are working in partnership with Network Rail, Transport for London and other train operators to do what we can to minimise the inconvenience, advise on alternative travel options and keep passengers informed.”

    Full details of the public information events are:

    Maze Hill: 21-22 October, 7am – 10am and 4pm – 7pm
    Westcombe Park: 21 – 22 October, 7am – 10am and 4pm – 7pm
    Deptford: 24 – 25 October, 7am – 10am and 4pm – 7pm
    Charlton: 24 – 25 October, 7am – 10am and 4pm – 7pm
    Greenwich: 29 – 31 October, 7am – 10am and 4pm – 7pm
    St. Johns: 28 October, 7am – 10am
    New Cross: 29 – 31 October, 7am – 10am and 4pm – 7pm

    As part of the Thameslink Programme the layout of the tracks around London Bridge station are being changed. When the programme is complete, each service will have dedicated routes allowing more trains to run. The new layout means trains on the Greenwich line are unable to continue on to Waterloo East and Charing Cross. From January 2018, you’ll be able to travel to Waterloo East and Charing Cross by changing at London Bridge.

    Passengers can find out more about the Thameslink Programme by visiting www.thameslinkprogramme.co.uk where you can also sign up for email alerts or by following us on Twitter @TLProgramme.

    ‘Understanding the Children and Families Bill and SEN reforms’ – Free Event At Charlton House

    Neil Clasper

    Greenwich Parent Voice

    Greenwich Parent Voice have been in touch about an event they’re running next week at Charlton House:

    The Children and Families Bill and SEN reforms: what will they mean for you and your child?

    24 October
    Charlton House, Charlton Road SE7 8RE
    10am-2pm

    Brian Lamb O.B.E. and Greenwich Parent Voice present a free information event about the big changes coming in the Children and Families Bill, due to become law in September 2014. They will be helped by managers from Children’s Services in the Royal Borough of Greenwich.

    Brian is an expert in SEN policy and will be talking in depth about the impact the reforms will have on every family with a child with special needs or disability. He will cut through the complexity and leave parents with a clear idea of what it all means and how to take advantage of the changes. There will be plenty of time for discussion and questions from the audience.

    Email to book your place: info@greenwichparentvoice.org

    You can also find Greenwich Parent Voice on Twitter: @GPVinfo

    Pollution in SE7: Silvertown Tunnel public meeting tomorrow

    Darryl Chamberlain4 Comments

    Silvertown Tunnel public meeting, 16 October
    You may have heard about London mayor Boris Johnson’s proposals to build a new Silvertown Tunnel – effectively a third Blackwall Tunnel – between Greenwich Peninsula and the Royal Docks. It’s likely this would attract more traffic to the area, making Charlton’s roads even more polluted.

    During the summer, a couple of the Charlton Champion’s contributors took part in an air pollution monitoring study. The results are worrying – with EU air quality limits being broken on both Woolwich Road and Charlton Road, and with levels at Fossdene School only just under the limit.

    There’s a public meeting tomorrow at 7pm at the Forum at Greenwich, Trafalgar Road, London SE10 9EQ. Speakers are transport consultant John Elliott, the Campaign for Better Transport’s Sian Berry, King’s College London air quality expert Dr Ian Mudway and Clean Air London’s Simon Birkett. If you can, please come along and find out why the tunnel’s a bad idea for drivers, and a bad idea for Charlton reisidents.

    There’s more about the study on the No to Silvertown Tunnel website, and extra details and opinion over at 853.

    Charlton Society Annual Meeting – Saturday 19 October 2013

    Neil Clasper2 Comments
    Charlton House
    Charlton House

    If you’ve ever wondered what the Charlton Society gets up to – or want to get involved – here’s an opportunity:

    Dear Charlton Friends

    All members, Charlton residents and friends are invited to attend our 45th Annual Meeting on Saturday 19 October at 14.30 in Charlton House.

    Our guest speaker will be our local MP, Rt Hon Nick Raynsford. We will also be joined by the Society President, Viscount Gough and the Mayor of Greenwich will also be with us at the end of the meeting. Charlton councillors and representatives from other Charlton organisations have also been invited.

    Charlton has continued to grow in its resilience and confidence this year although we face a few challenges. One of these is the attempted renaming of Charlton Lido to Royal Greenwich Lido, please do sign the petition if you haven’t already: http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/gll-it-s-called-charlton-lido-because-it-s-in-charlton-2?share_id=ZBzGdxRuwG.

    The developments on Charlton Riverside move on apace and the 20mph zone is to be extended to most of Charlton.

    I do hope you can join us for the AGM. As a society, we celebrate our heritage and conservation, care passionately about our built and green environment but also about our community and future. We would always welcome new people to join the Society and our Committee.

    Hope to see you on the 19th.

    Yours

    David Gardner
    Chair
    The Charlton Society

    PS Date for your diary – our Annual Dinner will be on Friday 22 November 2013.

     

    Charlton Community Gardens: Gardening Party And Open Day

    Neil Clasper
    The community garden at Charlton Station - photo by Nikki Coates
    The community garden at Charlton Station – photo by Nikki Coates

    Charlton Community Gardens have been in touch with a couple of dates for your diaries (and  they also have a new website):

    Gardening party Sunday 6th October 2-4 pm
    This is the first of our regular gardening sessions planned for the first Sunday of every month. Those that use the station regularly will have seen 2 more raised beds installed and the newly planted wildlife-friendly garden. There’s still plenty to do before winter is upon us, so please join us any time between 2 and 4 pm this coming Sunday 6th October at Charlton Station.

    The jobs that need doing include:

    • planting spring bulbs
    • clearing shrubs
    • planting currant bushes
    • tidying and clearing the raised beds
    • planting winter veg

    We have some tools and gardening gloves if you don’t have your own.

    Open Day
    Our next open meeting will be on Wednesday 23 October in The Old Library at Charlton House from 7pm We plan to have stalls featuring local projects as well as the usual Plant Sale and raffle. Come early to visit the stalls before the formal meeting starts at 7.30pm. The first part of the meeting will involve planning for the Highcombe site and will also consider how the station garden might develop. This will be followed by a quiz–questions on both gardening and Charlton. Please get in touch if you can spare some time to deliver flyers door to door in the next couple of weeks.