What has Charlton ward councillor GARY PARKER been up to? Here’s his latest report.
Dear Charlton Residents, this is my current ward report, this is a ‘snap shot’ of my recent activities it does not cover individual case work or a range of other meetings. I try to highlight a few key activities which maybe of general interest. Please contact me direct if you want more information- gary.parker [at] royalgreenwich.gov.uk; Twitter: @CllrG2013
Apologies that I have not reported for sometime, but I will try to get back to more regular reporting, in future.
The past year or so has seen the local elections, Euro elections, more Brexit issues and a lot of campaigning, I have done a lot of this both locally, regionally and nationally, which I did not expect to do, together with local street campaigning in the local and Euro elections. I have always supported Remain, but respect the views of Leave voters (I oppose Brexit, not them) and I hope that we can move beyond this issue in due course, though at the time of writing that looks doubtful to say the least!
New funding
Charlton-based organisations or those that support Charlton residents can now bid for new funding from the council. This includes the ward budget – your ward councillors want to give money to as many local organisations as possible within the £30,000 budget allowable and also from the Community Infrastructure Levy 2019 programme – a fund from actual development to support local neighbourhood wards including Charlton, the new programme with significant funding will be launched soon, in either late September or early October 2019 – for more info see www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk.
Planning & Development Issues
I have been working with local groups and individuals regarding a range of planning issues, yet again. I also support the local campaign to establish a Neighbourhood Planning Forum by Charlton Together and other groups/individuals and have had a number of meetings with local people about this on an individual basis. For more information, visit www.charltonneighbourhoodforum.com and click on ‘’Contact’’ to get in touch.
I opposed the recent application by Rockwell and spoke at the planning board meeting in July 2018 as did many local residents. The application was rejected and the Mayor of London ‘called in’ the decision for review and rejected it too. There is a large group of residents, community organisations, businesses and groups in the area actively opposing this development – I will support them as much as I can. Rockwell and Meyer Homes developers have both made eleventh hour appeals to the Secretary of State against rejection of their planning proposals, and Meyer Homes for a 24 storey tower in General Gordon Square, Woolwich. Greenwich Council’s Planning Board rejected the proposals in separate planning considerations in 2018, and the London Mayor turned down an appeal by Rockwell last January – this further appeal was submitted on 13 August, just two weeks before the six month deadline. The Secretary of State has decided both appeals will be determined through public inquiries, and both are opening on 19 November – Rockwell for 12 days, and Meyer Homes for 6. The council will be vigorously resisting both applications as will I as one of your local councillors.
Events & Engagements – A selection
I attended the meeting on Co-ops and community development on Tuesday 16th April at the Town Hall, which I am a strong advocate of and their capacity to create and support local jobs.I attended the Board meeting of the Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust on 14th May and a meeting with Speak Out Woolwich on regeneration issues in the area on 20th May. I also attended the AGM of Volunteer Centre Greenwich on 22nd May, which was an excellent event. Other events included:
- The launch of the new Woolwich Creative District on 11/3/19
- Met with the CEO of Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust about Charlton House and the re-location of the RGHT Heritage Archives 29/5
- The Great Get Together event at Woolwich Arsenal on 29/6
- CASE public meeting on new National Education Service
- Unite Community SE Lnd Branch- spoke on Universal Credit issues on 19/6
- Unions 2019 event in Woolwich on 22/6
- SE London Business Network meeting on 2/7
- Greenwich Housing Forum on 25/6
I supported the John Roan anti-academisation campaign and attended the picket line to support striking workers and supportive parents and also at the Halley Academy in Kidbrooke.
Surgeries and Casework
I am concerned about issues being raised regarding Universal Credit and Disability Benefit, some of which are shocking but due to confidentiality and GDPR rules I cannot go into details. I have a large amount of housing and planning related casework, community safety and crime related issues which is ongoing. I also dealt with some issues in Charlton Park related to alleged drug dealing, motorcycling, dangerous dogs and anti-social behaviour and continued graffiti and vandalism around the toilets. I am concerned about the escalation of such behaviour in Charlton Park and am working with my co-councillors to address this issue.
Council
I have attended all of the main council meetings in 2018/19 so far and have spoken on several occasions on issues including, Climate Change Emergency, Austerity and economic development and others
I attended the July 2019 full council meeting and other meetings including main overview and scrutiny panel meetings of which I am a member. This received reports from senior council officers and cabinet members about major issues in Greenwich. I chair the Regeneration, Culture and Transport Scrutiny Panel, which will shortly publish a review of Community Regeneration in Greenwich, which has taken nearly a year to complete and was developed in association with community representative from across the Borough; the report will be presented at the next meeting on 26th September 2019 or will be available online via the council’s website at www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk
You can contact Gary Parker and any other councillor via the Greenwich Council website.
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