Author: Darryl Chamberlain

Greenwich Council set to finally approve Morris Walk Estate demolition

Darryl Chamberlain1 Comment
Morris Walk Estate
Morris Walk Estate was constructed in the late 1960s

Greenwich Council’s cabinet is poised to approve the demolition of Morris Walk Estate next week – a year after the next stage of the redevelopment of three estates in Woolwich was due to begin.

Morris Walk, on the Woolwich/Charlton border, along with neighbouring Maryon Road estate and Woolwich’s Connaught Estate, are being redeveloped by developer Lovell as part of the £269 million council-backed One Woolwich scheme, agreed under former leader Chris Roberts. The Connaught has already been demolished and the Trinity Walk development has risen in its place.

Remaining tenants and leaseholders have been left in limbo by delays to the scheme, with Greenwich Council denying last year that the project had been delayed until 2027. Demolition had been due to start in autumn 2018.

Papers to go before the cabinet next Wednesday recommend approving the demolition of the estate. However, there is still no date set for new buildings to be erected on the site, with the cabinet report stating “without this instruction, the site would remain derelict and subject to flytipping and antisocial behaviour activities with concerns of security and health and safety”. The cabinet is the council’s main decision-making body, made up of councillors picked by its leader Danny Thorpe.

The redevelopment of the estates had originally been billed as being at no cost to taxpayers. But there has been frustration within the council at the slow pace of the project. Greenwich is exercising an option to underwrite Lovell’s costs of £14.3 million to knock the estate down.

Legal advice states that there is only a “remote risk” of Lovell’s development not going ahead, noting that if Lovell did walk away, the council could develop housing on the site itself or sell the land for profit. “The risk is that the demolition takes place and the developer walks away,” a note states. “[Greenwich is] required to pay the costs of the demolition. However, if the site is clear [the council has] a saleable asset in terms of a fully demolished site, along with outline planning.”

Morris Walk Estate
Many of the Morris Walk buildings are now in a poor state of repair

There is also a second set of papers reconfirming a compulsory purchase order on the estate, with improved terms for leaseholders who are being bought out, who will now be given help to buy a home worth up to £550,000 within the borough of Greenwich.

This follows a ruling against Southwark Council in 2016 when the Westminster government refused to sign off the compulsory purchase of homes on the Aylesbury Estate in Walworth, where it was judged that Southwark had not offered enough money for leaseholders to buy a new home in the area. There are 24 leaseholders left on Morris Walk and Maryon Grove, with 91 council tenants.

Built for the London County Council by Taylor Woodrow Anglian from prefabricated parts in the mid-1960s, Morris Walk’s construction can be seen in some shots in the cult film Blow-Up, which featured scenes shot in and near Maryon Park. It was built in a similar fashion to the ill-fated Ronan Point tower across the Thames in Canning Town, which partially collapsed in 1968 after a gas explosion, killing four people. Morris Walk’s gas supply was removed soon after. Half a century on, many of the buildings are now in a poor state of repair as they await demolition.

Across the Connaught, Morris Walk and Maryon Road estates, 1,064 homes originally built for council rent will be replaced by 1,500 homes with 35% as “affordable”, a catch-all for a range of tenures from shared ownership, through proportions of market rent to social rent. Of the total number of homes, Greenwich Council says 25% will be for social rent. A topping-out ceremony took place at phase 3 of the Trinity Walk development on the Connaught site last week. Despite Greenwich Council’s press release boasting that 239 of the 684 homes – 35% – would be “affordable”, only 25% of the homes are for social rent, with a further 10% available through shared ownership schemes, according to papers filed in 2014.

The scheme follows the demolition of the Ferrier Estate in Kidbrooke, which had 1,910 council homes when completed in 1972, and its replacement with Berkeley Homes’ Kidbrooke Village development, which will have 738 homes at social rents when finished, along with a further 787 “affordable” homes.

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The Boys from the Village: Charlton Athletic at War walk and seminar

Darryl Chamberlain

Charlton Athletic museum
The event begins at the Charlton Athletic Museum

Thanks to Charlton Athletic fan and war historian Steve Hunnisett for letting us know about an interesting event on Tuesday 6 August exploring the history of the Addicks during both world wars. The Boys from the Village starts off at the Charlton Athletic Museum, and includes a walk up the hill led by Steve and the museum’s Clive Harris to the White Swan, where there will be talks about the club and its players during both wars, including the youths from some of the earliest Addicks sides who were conscripted into the First World War. The event is free, so you can dip in and out of it as you please, and it is also a chance to visit the fantastic volunteer-run museum inside The Valley, which has flourished despite the ownership problems surrounding the club.

Poster for Charlton Athletic at War event

The museum is open to visitors from 4pm, the walk starts at 6.15pm, and the talks at the Swan begin at 7.45pm.

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Got a business or event? Advertise with the Charlton Champion from just £10 per week

Darryl Chamberlain

Are you putting on an event in south-east London, or do you have a business that could do with more customers? We’re delighted to announce that as of today, you can now place an advertisement on The Charlton Champion.

We’re even more delighted to confirm that Flying Squirrel Furniture of east Greenwich is our first advertiser, so pop in and see what they’ve got on offer – they’re at 102 Woolwich Road, by the flyover, and tell them we said thank you.

Advertising with us is affordable. Our ads start at £10 for a week, a fraction of what you’d pay to appear in our printed competitors. The difference between us and them is that people choose to read us – in the first six months of 2019 alone, we’ve reached 75,000 readers, almost as many as in the whole of 2018.

It’s also simple – our ads are provided by Sakaza, a product of Reach plc, one of the UK’s biggest media groups. You build an ad and pay them with your credit card, and your ad could appear as quickly as the next day. Go on, try it.

Your money is staying local – by advertising with us, you are helping secure the future of The Charlton Champion, which is published by Flyover Media, a Charlton-based community interest company providing independent local media in SE London.

Design and buy an ad now

If you’ve a business, event or service in Charlton or the surrounding areas, find out more about advertising with us – or start building an advertisement right now.

If you’re not a business, why not suggest it to your local pub, shop or tradesperson? We’d also love your support via Patreon – we’re hugely grateful to the people who have signed up recently to support us with a monthly donation. We’re also looking into new ways for people to support us – more information soon.

Would you like to write for us? We’ve recently welcomed Lara Ruffle Coles to the team, but more contributors are also welcome. Got an idea for something you’d like to write? Get in touch.

And, of course, please tell us your stories. Is your community group up to something exciting? Don’t keep it to yourself – you never know who else in Charlton might be able to help. Tell us about it, and let’s bring this community together.

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Glenn Tilbrook to play free Parksfest show in Charlton Park

Darryl Chamberlain

Squeeze frontman Glenn Tilbrook is to play a free show at Parksfest in Charlton Park this Saturday, organisers have announced.

The Charlton-based musician is a late addition to a line-up which also includes his son, Leon. Other acts performing from 1-5pm will include the Baby Blues Choir, DJ Mikee C, Central Vibe and Ronnie Ripple and the RipChords.

It will also include community stalls and the Great Charlton Cake Off, a free, open-to-all baking competition. There will also be sports day games with prizes donated by Asda and Sainsbury’s.

The event is being held by the Friends of Charlton Park as part of Greenwich Council’s wider series of Parksfest events across the borough.

“I am so pleased that so many fantastic musicians, artists and local people will be volunteering their time to share their skills and talents within our lovely park community – there is still time to get involved by turning up and tuning in, or entering the amazing bake off,” said Annie Drewry, the chair of the Friends group.

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Parksfest 2019 comes to Charlton Park this Saturday

Darryl Chamberlain2 Comments

The Friends of Charlton Park have been in touch to say…

“The Friends of Charlton Park invite you, your family and friends to come and enjoy a celebration of our community at the second Parksfest event in Charlton Park. Bring a picnic, enjoy live music and fun activities, as well as the opportunity to purchase fabulous cakes produced for our Bake Off competition.We hope you will all join us for a fun filled day!”

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Greenwich Council drops plans to build on woodland site

Darryl Chamberlain
Gollogolly Terrace

Greenwich Council has dropped plans to build homes on a woodland site between Charlton Church Lane and Elliscombe Road.

The council had scoped out the site, close to Nadine Street, for 24 new flats as part of its first council homebuilding programme for decades.

The Charlton Champion understands that a number of issues were found with the site. Many site readers have been in touch to say the land is contaminated as it used to be used as a dump for the Harvey engineering works, once a major employer in the area and formerly based where the Asda store is now.

The site sat behind an old 1970s council block, Coutts House, which was demolished in the early 2000s for new homes run by Charlton Triangle Housing. The overgrown site contains closed-off pathways which would have linked it to Coutts House.

Greenwich’s Council’s cabinet member for housing, Chris Kirby, announced the news on Twitter this afternoon, and said a letter would be sent to local residents confirming the decision.

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Architects suggest Thames Barrier bridge for Charlton riverside

Darryl Chamberlain

Thames Barrier Bridge
The Thames Barrier Bridge could be positioned either side of the barrier

A firm of architects has unveiled a proposal to build a cycling and pedestrian bridge next to the Thames Barrier, with lifting spans to allow shipping to pass through.

Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands’ suggestion of a Thames Barrier Bridge would connect the Charlton Riverside with the Royal Docks, two areas undergoing huge redevelopment schemes. It would put many Charlton residents within walking distance of the Docklands Light Railway and, slightly further away, the Crossrail station at Custom House.

The proposal, worked up alongside Beckett Rankine, a marine engineering company, was unveiled this morning at the press launch of the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy on Piccadilly, Architects Journal reports.

It would feature four lifting sections with each 61m span capable of being individually opened or closed to allow river traffic to pass.  It is anticipated the bridge would have to open and close 10 times a day.

A proposal was submitted to Transport for London in late 2017 and both practices are currently engaged in “exploratory conversations” with a number of “relevant stakeholders”, according to Architects Journal .

The bridge could sit either side of the barrier “so impact on the flow of the river would be minimised”, the firms said. A bridge just west of the barrier, could affect the plans for 500 homes at what the developer Komoto is calling Flint Glass Wharf on the old Johnsen and Jorgensen factory site, but would lead directly to Thames Barrier Park on the other side of the river. Designs showing a bridge on the west side show it landing at the Thames Barrier control buildings on the south side and slotting into housing developments on the north side.

Thames Barrier Bridge from above
The bridge would have to open and close 10 times per day

Alex Lifschutz, founding director of Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands, told Architects Journal: “There is really only one location in east London for a relatively low bridge suitable for cycles and pedestrians.

“Construction would take about 18 months and phasing would mean that at least two of the barrier openings are always open for navigation, so no river traffic would be stopped. And because the majority of the construction can be done from the river, it will minimise disturbance to residents.”

While both Charlton Riverside and the Royal Docks are both designated regeneration areas, there have been no official plans made to link the two – despite the claims made for the Silvertown road crossing a mile west. Greenwich Council’s Charlton Riverside masterplan contains no plans for linking the area with its docklands counterpart.

Three years ago, another architecture practice, Farrells, suggested a series of six low-level crossings of the Thames, with designs showing one linking Anchor & Hope Lane with what would now be the Royal Wharf development on the north side of the Thames.

Four major development schemes for the Charlton riverside are on the cards, with plans to eventually build 7,500 homes in total – a figure which will likely increase. After years of delay, the Royal Docks has already seen development alongside the Docklands Light Railway, with the giant Silvertown Quays development yet to come.

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