Author: Matt

What will Charlton’s riverside look like in five years?

Matt

This website has brought you news on future and proposed developments. Sainsbury’s are inviting residents to give feedback on their plans for the area. But what does all this mean as a whole? How could the area alter over time and what role are the council playing in this? Please accept this invitation (see below) to attend the second meeting for the Charlton Riverside Action Group.

This meeting – perhaps more of a forum – is for residents, stakeholders and proprietors of the riverside and beyond. We hope to have in attendance representatives from Greenwich Council, Transport for London, community managers, property developers and land owners. But we also need you, a person who’s interested and cares about Charlton and what the future has in store for it.

Hope to see you there. While we’re waiting here’s part of the council’s strategic development plan, laid out earlier this year:

  • Charlton Riverside is a key regeneration area that provides a significant opportunity for new high quality river front development. The area will be transformed into an attractive and vibrant mixed use urban quarter providing around 6,000 new homes. The area has the potential to offer new community and education facilities, space for small businesses particularly within the creative industries, new employment opportunities and accessible open spaces.
  • The Strategic Development Location will exclude the current Aggregate Zone and the safeguarded Angerstein’s and Murphy’s Wharves. The total area for the site is over 100 hectares.
  • An Area Action Plan will be prepared to guide development at the site. It is envisaged at this stage that the large site could provide for a significant residential led mixed use development plus improved commercial space, retail and community facilities as well as improvements to the existing open space.
  • It is considered that the housing component at the site will commence around 2016 and could take up to 20 years to be completed. It is therefore anticipated that just over 70% of the 6000 dwellings will be delivered in this area during the plan period, with the remainder coming post 2026/27. Development of the site is dependent on the provision of increased public transport infrastructure in the waterfront area.

Spooky goings-on at Charlton House this weekend

Matt

Once again, this Halloween Charlton House will play host to a ghostly performance by Phantasmagoria Events. Tours run every 15 mins on Saturday 29th October and Sunday 30th October between 7pm and 9pm. Every tour lasts one hour and tickets are available at Greenwich Theatre’s website. Here’s the ghoulish description of their show:

Way back in time, when gods and monster rules an ancient land, an iron age community lived near the site. They created a portal to the spirit world – From the four corners of Greenwich, a legion of the borough’s most horrid and historical phantoms are drawn to the imposing Jacobean mansion. Once a year, at Halloween the portal opens to allow the trapped spirits to ascend to a higher realm. In order for the ancient magic to work, 13 spirits are needed. However, there is a catch. Only 12 spirits are in the house. They meet you, greet you, tell you there story, however they are watching you like a hawk. You could be the 13th. 

There is actually a real ghost that lurks through the halls of Charlton House (no, really!). It’s said to be Sir William Langhorne who bought the house in 1680. At the age of 80 he married a 17-year-old bride from Charlton Village. He was desperate to have a child to inherit his wealth but died two months after the wedding before his wife had conceived. He still haunts the grounds in the hope of finding a fertile bride.

Perhaps even more scary is that back in the 1990s GMTV devoted a whole five minutes of programming to this story, anchored by the timeless Lorraine Kelly. Enjoy:

Talk about the new Sainsbury’s… and not just any new store?

Matt15 Comments

You may know about this already, a letter may have appeared on the doormat this morning. In fact, a letter appeared on 13,000 people’s doormats this morning.

Sainsbury’s and developers LXB want to hear your feedback on proposals to build a new store in Charlton’s retail parks, set to be the biggest in the country. It’s being held on Friday 21st (1.00pm – 6.00pm) and Saturday 22nd October (10.00am – 3.00pm). The venue is the former council office at Valley House, 445 Woolwich Road (see picture, it’s opposite the BP Garage).

The Sainsbury’s is proposed to be on the northern end of the plot of land highlighted above. There will be four other retail units to the south of this development, connected to Woolwich Road. This website understands that negotiations are underway with Marks & Spencer to occupy the larger of these units with a clothes and food store. The other three are being reserved for smaller, and perhaps more “local” shops.

As for the Sainsbury’s, its promoters say it will be a lot more “eco” than the current store without necessarily looking like it is. There will be a small nature reserve at its rear, car charging points and energy-efficient fibre-optic lighting, and it will recycle its own cooking oil. Additionally, there will be canopy walkways for the pedestrian and new markings will alter the roads in the locality, with traffic lights being installed at the bottom of Gallions Road.

So, make sure you make the trip and have your say. See you there.

Open day for the Charlton Parks Reminiscence Project

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Earlier this year the Greenwich Mural Workshop were given a lottery grant to initiate a 15-month period of research known as the Charlton Parks Reminiscence Project. The idea for this project is to gather memorable stories from local people relating to Charlton’s various parks over the past 50-100 years (Charlton, Hornfair, Maryon, Maryon Wilson, Thames Barrier and Gilbert’s Pit).

In the run up to the Olympics they will be holding three events to gather more stories but at the same time display photos, maps, interviews and information they have collected already. This Saturday, the 1st of October, sees the first of these open days as Charlton House opens its doors. The Old Library will be open between 1 and 4pm and the public are welcome for the whole afternoon or just to drop-in. You can learn more about the project or even contribute yourself if you have your own story. They are also looking for volunteers to help in their research and undertake interviews.

Greenwich Sainsbury’s store plans move to Charlton

Matt33 Comments

Sainsbury’s Greenwich food store will move 400 metres to a new plot within the Charlton retail parks if plans are approved. This Sainsbury’s, its flagship store, was opened in September 1999 by Jamie Oliver.

Original mock-up for Greenwich store (photo from Annette Ridelle's Greenwich MM website)

It was billed as the supermarket for the new millennium. Last year it was visited by President Zuma of South Africa and was also winner of the an RIBA Sustainability Award in 2000.

Chief executive Dino Adriano proudly announced at the time of its opening: “This store represents a watershed in supermarket architecture. We will learn from the energy saving features of this remarkable store and consider where we can use them again.”

Sainsbury

A host of energy saving features were incorporated into its design such as solar panels, wind turbines, large windows for natural light, insulating earth banks and electric car charging points. Ironically one of its greatest technological advances is believed to be its downfall. A large underfloor radiator heats the store using waste heat from its own refrigerators. But this technology is said to have caused problems with flooding and has led to the store being closed on numerous occasions.

The land where the Sainsbury’s is currently located is now owned by retail developers LXB Properties. As well as owning the land for the proposed new site they are also behind the building of the new Travelodge which is due to be completed next year.

Plans to move the store to Charlton were released to the stock exchange in May and further details were given at a meeting with local residents last week.

The plot of land earmarked for Sainsbury’s (see picture below) is where Wickes and Dreams are currently situated. The former will be relocated at the old Lidl site and the latter will move further along the road into the Stone Lake Retail Park.

The new Sainsbury’s will be three times the size of the current store and will also be the centre of its online operations in the area, providing a base for home deliveries. It’s hoped the increased size will allow the store to develop and sell more of its non-food items. Planning approval is due to be sought from Greenwich Council later this year with an opening date pencilled in for 2013.


Sainsbury’s regional property development head Jamie Baker says the store will at least match the current outlet’s eco-friendly credentials:

“We believe this is a great opportunity to improve the Sainsbury’s offer to our customers in Greenwich and look forward to working with LXB to deliver what will be another flagship environmental store for us.”

Other plans include a creche for parents to use while shopping as well as a bus countdown screen at the store’s checkouts.

Vacant warehouses at proposed site

This announcement may leave some regular shoppers astonished at the move. However, the flooding at the current store and the increased footfall over at Charlton’s retail parks must be the two key reasons for the relocation.

Despite this there are numerous interesting questions this issue raises. What will the new Tesco in Woolwich make of this development? How will traffic alter in Bugsby’s Way and Woolwich Road over the coming years? How will public transport develop, with Charlton station now close to yet another large amenity? Will Sainsburys learn from the mistakes they have made with the peninsula site? What will happen with the plot of land south of this site linking it to Woolwich Road? What will happen to the small ecology park to the rear of its current site? What retailer would want to move into the empty peninsula building and how will they deal with the store’s capacity to flood?

No doubt all these issues will need to be addressed but one certainty is this development, if given planning permission, will have to take centre stage with the council’s long term plans for Charlton riverside.

Calling all residents: The Charlton Riverside Action Group is formed

Matt24 Comments

After various discussions between local residents, it’s been decided that a group of people should form to meet regularly to discuss and act upon issues concerning the northern part of Charlton.

The map below outlines the area the Charlton Riverside Action Group will be dedicated to. As you can see this is the SE7 postcode north of the railway track.

This doesn’t mean that the group is only for residents living within these boundaries. Any resident who lives in any part of Charlton, Woolwich, Greenwich or beyond is more than welcome to attend.

The group will cover varying issues. No doubt people would like to talk about the recent incidents in the retail parks. We will also be looking at the Thames Barrier visitor centre, new developments such as the Travelodge hotel, the Thames path, litter, traffic concerns and long term plans for the area.

A local resident recently spoke to a developer who now owns much of the land where the retail parks are situated. He has made it clear that he would appreciate input from the local community regarding its upkeep and future developments. We will hopefully be welcoming him to one of our meetings at a later date and would also welcome support from other landlords and local councillors (not just those from the two wards that this area straddles).

This initial meeting will be in early/mid September and will be held at either the Charlton Liberal Club or the Cattleya (Chu & Cho) restaurant depending on initial uptake.

More details will be posted on this blog and leaflets will be given out. Feel free to comment below on whether you are interested in attending and to share ideas.

Charlton’s night of looting: Confessions of a curtain-twitcher

Matt6 Comments

Living on Woolwich Road has its ups and downs. The constant traffic is unfortunate, but there are many positives. One positive is being able to see the realities of human life through the partially drawn curtains of my home. On Monday night this took a turn to the more extreme.

After watching disturbances in Lewisham on rolling news since I arrived home from work it was hard to rule out something happening in the retail parks opposite my house. I had popped out to Asda at 8.30 just as the sun was going down. Despite increasing numbers of police cars rushing along Woolwich Road it actually seemed fairly normal. I asked the Asda security guards whether they were about to close. They replied: “We’re staying open – for now.”

Back home it wasn’t long till the violence erupting in Woolwich was confirmed. Tied with footage on the news of the fire in Croydon, things definitely went from serious to disastrous. It reached 10 o’clock and I was still transfixed to the television when a friend alerted me to the looting commencing over the road. There it began.

I looked through the blinds and sure enough five men were pulling up scarves over their faces outside my very house. My eyes followed them towards the alleyway at the foot of Victoria Way where there was already people filing in and out of the retail park. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

Before long I started to see people coming the other way: Women with new clothes still on the hangers, men struggling with large boxes, teenagers fingering freshly looted trainers.

At the same time false rumours were being spread that Asda was now on fire. I looked into the sky and couldn’t see smoke. My girlfriend wouldn’t let me leave the house so I rushed into the garden to see if I could smell smoke. If Asda was on fire, then we would have certainly been evacuated.

I was in a state of shock at this point, I could hear shop sirens wailing in the distance. We had been on hold to the police for fifteen minutes before we spoke to someone. They kept on repeating the same question, “Is anything on fire?”. I had to be sure, my view of Asda from my house is restricted at best. Could I smell smoke? I couldn’t see anything in the sky, online reports of fire were severely outnumbering those saying there wasn’t any. “No”, I replied, three times over.

I really didn’t know what to do with myself, the next two hours were spent flitting from one room to the next. I peered through the upstairs curtains, cowered behind the downstairs curtains. I watched BBC News in the living room, Sky News in the bedroom. I would comfort concerned housemates, probably only making them worse.

I would rush out to the garden to smell the air, unravelling the hose pipe at the same time. I literally tripped over myself at numerous points, frantically trying to be everywhere at once. I managed to find a brass candlestick that I stared at in disbelief in the thought I might have to use it. There was a steady stream of looters by this point, some carrying weapons. Looters gushing out of the alleyway onto the road, sometimes causing traffic to swerve.

Hooded thieves were disappearing into the darkness of Wickes’ car park, jubilantly thrusting their arms into the air as they jumped over the two foot wall. Cars were parking in numerous laybys with masked men appearing from them. Police cars rushed towards us from Greenwich, only to fly straight past to the more serious riots in Woolwich.

At around 2am I tried to sleep. The looting had calmed down slightly. I was still uneasy about the threat of fire. Distant shop sirens were still haunting me, I had placed my candlestick beside my bed. It goes without saying that I couldn’t sleep. However, I was relieved to here the rotors of a helicopter over our house. A police helicopter, training its light over the retail park. They had arrived, they were here in force, it was going to be okay, after four hours of waiting.

The noise was deafening and it sounded like it was outside my bedroom window at points, but it was far better than shop sirens. After what seemed like ages I managed to drift off and get a few hours sleep before work.

Throughout the whole experience and the day after the incident thoughts revolved around my brain. Many entered my mind, but overriding them all was my disbelief that there are so many unlawful people in the world. I had no idea that amount of people would be willing to break the law in what was a night of opportunistic madness.