Author: Darryl Chamberlain

TfL bus cuts: Route 486 to North Greenwich to be less frequent from 23 February

Darryl Chamberlain3 Comments
Route 486
Route 486 was used for 4.5 million journeys last financial year

Transport for London has confirmed plans to reduce the frequency of bus route 486, which links Charlton with North Greenwich station.

From Saturday 23 February, the service – which is frequently full to standing and suffers from buses terminating early – will run every 10 minutes during weekday daytimes and every 12 minutes on Saturdays, instead of every eight minutes as now.

However, TfL has told The Charlton Champion that it will increase frequencies on busier weekday morning journeys.

TfL confirmed full details about the changes on Tuesday afternoon:

  • Introduction of two journeys during Monday to Friday morning peak hours from Bexleyheath to North Greenwich, increasing the frequency from 7.5 to 8 buses per hour during the busiest hour in the morning peak
  • Reduction of Monday to Friday daytime frequency from every 8 minutes to every 10 minutes (7.5 to 6 buses per hour)
  • Reduction of Saturday daytime frequency from every 8 minutes to every 12 minutes (7.5 to 5 buses per hour)
  • Reduction of Sunday and evening frequency from every 12 minutes to every 15 minutes (5 to 4 buses per hour)
  • There is no change to the weekend–only night service at this time

The news, first revealed in a bus enthusiasts’ newsletter published last week, comes just days before the east Greenwich Ikea opens on the route, with a planning agreement compelling to the furniture giant to advise customers to take public transport.

It also comes as mayor Sadiq Khan – who is also chairman of TfL – is poised to approve plans for 771 new homes from developer Rockwell off Anchor and Hope Lane, also on the 486 route.

A proposal to scrap the weekend overnight service on the route – which meets Night Tube trains on the Jubilee Line – is on hold, the London Omnibus Traction Society reported.

Financial problems at TfL

There has been no consultation on the cut, which is part of a new contract for bus company Go-Ahead London to run the service. Currently, the route – between North Greenwich station and Bexleyheath shopping centre – is run with 16 vehicles at peak times. The new contract specifies just 14 buses.

In 2017/18 the route saw 4.5m passengers – the most since its inception in 2001. While North Greenwich station is the major destination for many passengers, it is also well used for the Charlton retail parks, Charlton station and Queen Elizabeth Hospital. It also serves the massive new St Mary Magdalene school on Greenwich Peninsula.

The frequency cut is the latest in a number of planned cutbacks to local bus services. Last year, this website revealed plans to trim route 53 back from Whitehall to Lambeth North, while route 180 is due to be rerouted from Lewisham to North Greenwich when Crossrail opens, slashing the number of buses between Woolwich and Greenwich town centres. Route 472, another North Greenwich service, is also due to suffer a service reduction at the same time.

TfL’s director of public transport service planning, Geoff Hobbs, told The Charlton Champion on Monday: “We constantly review and reorganise the bus network to modernise bus travel in London. This makes sure that Londoners’ fares are efficiently used with buses serving areas they are needed most and reduces bus-on-bus congestion.

“The changes to the frequency of route 486 reflect its varied demand during different parts of the day and week. We are increasing frequencies to the busiest weekday morning journeys to respond to the higher demand and are reducing its frequency when there is less demand. This will ensure our network is efficiently run and that buses are running where they are needed most.”

“We are aware of new developments in the area and are always reviewing our services to adapt to changes and, if needed, we will make further changes accordingly.“

TfL is currently facing a financial crisis on three fronts. It is primarily caused by the loss of its grant, signed off by previous mayor Boris Johnson, but has also lost some income because of current mayor Sadiq Khan’s partial fare freeze and the ongoing delay in finishing Crossrail.

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Fundraiser launched after Charlton’s Old Cottage Cafe hit by break-in

Darryl Chamberlain3 Comments
Old Cottage Cafe
The break-in took place overnight

The community has rallied round the Old Cottage Cafe in Charlton Park after it was hit by a break-in overnight.

Burglars broke into the much-loved cafe, stealing money and a cash register and leaving furniture overturned and crockery smashed up.

A fundraiser has been launched to get the cafe back on its feet, while customers have been offering their help.

Old Cottage Cafe
Thieves stole Saturday’s takings and a cash register
Old Cottage Cafe
Work is taking place to secure the cafe

At noon today, the fundraiser had seen £580 pledged. You can pledge cash here. (Update: It sailed through its £1,000 target at 12.40pm.)

Among those offering their help have been local MP Matt Pennycook.

The cafe is closed and police have been on site, with locals turning up to help. Anyone with any information should call 101 or use the Metropolitan Police website. If you can offer practical help in the days ahead – we understand a plumber is particularly needed today – then drop by the cafe.

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Greenwich Council warns Victoria Way developer for disturbing neighbours

Darryl Chamberlain2 Comments
Victoria Way
Fairview’s development was unpopular enough with neighbours before work started (photo: Neil Clasper)

Greenwich Council has threatened the developer behind 330 new homes off Victoria Way with an unlimited fine after neighbours complained work was taking place outside permitted hours.

Fairview, whose controversial development was approved by councillors a year ago, is only allowed to carry out work between 8am and 6pm on weekdays and 8am to 1pm on Saturdays, but neighbours complained to the council about work taking place outside these hours.

A Section 60 notice was served on Fairview last month warning it that it would face a fine if work continued outside permitted hours.

Greenwich’s cabinet member for community safety, Jackie Smith, told The Charlton Champion: “The council served, Fairview, the building contractor working on 40 Victoria Way, Charlton, with a Section 60 notice in December 2018, following complaints from residents that it had been working outside of the hours permitted by its planning consent.

“The notice restricts the times that noisy works can be carried out. The council is in contact with Fairview to encourage it to take all reasonable steps to limit the impact on surrounding residents but if it is found to have contravened its notice the council has the power to take legal action.

“Concerned residents can report unreasonable or out of hours, noisy work from a construction site to the council by calling 020 8921 8921. We log all calls as this enables us to both assess the extent and pattern of activity and provides supporting evidence should enforcement action be necessary.”

An eight-strong committee of councillors approved the scheme, which includes two 10-storey blocks and 144 car parking spaces, by six votes to one last year. Among the complaints from residents was a lack of consultation with neighbours about the scheme.

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Former Charlton Triangle Homes chair Mark Adams jailed for rape

Darryl Chamberlain
Mark Adams was jailed for seven years (photo: twitter.com/markadamsobe)

Former Charlton Triangle Homes chair Mark Adams has been jailed for seven years after raping a woman at his house in Blackheath.

The 56-year-old was found guilty after a trial at Woolwich Crown Court. The BBC reports that his victim, in her 20s, woke up on his sofa, found her trousers pulled down and Adams raping her.

The Times reports that prosecution counsel Catherine Farrelly described Adams, who was also chair of London Chamber of Commerce from 2013 to 2016, as “controlling”.

A former private secretary to prime ministers John Major and Tony Blair, Adams was made an OBE in 1997. He later set up in business as a lobbyist, helping to found a right-wing party in Scotland, before returning to London.

In 2013, Adams sought to become a Greenwich Labour councillor, but was rejected in his attempts to be nominated by a number of ward parties. More recently, he was briefly on the board of Blackheath rugby club and had been running a business consultancy in Portsmouth.

For advice and support on sexual assualt, contact Rape Crisis South London.

Pennycook criticises Rockwell Charlton Riverside as City Hall deadline looms

Darryl Chamberlain1 Comment
Rockwell revised scheme
Rockwell’s revised scheme will be examined by City Hall, not Greenwich Council

Greenwich & Woolwich MP Matt Pennycook has told City Hall planners that major changes need to be made to developer Rockwell’s plans to build 771 new homes off Anchor & Hope Lane before they are approved.

London mayor Sadiq Khan took control of the planning application in August, weeks after Greenwich Council’s main planning committee threw out the proposed development, and a public hearing at City Hall is due to take place on 29 January.

Neighbours in Atlas and Derrick Gardens had complained that the development – likely to be the first development on the Charlton Riverside to get planning approval, albeit from Khan rather than the council – would loom over their homes, while Greenwich’s planning chair Sarah Merrill called it “reminiscent of Stalingrad”.

While the plans have been altered to reduce the impact on the two cul-de-sacs, Pennycook says in a letter to Khan’s planning team that more needs to be done to make the scheme acceptable.

Rockwell is holding two brief exhibitions this weekend about the proposals from 9am to 11am today and tomorrow at the Anchor & Hope pub, while comments about the scheme need to be sent to VIPtradingestate[at]london.gov.uk by Monday to be considered by the mayor’s team.

Pennycook says the scheme remains too dense and should be cut from a maximum of 10 storeys to six storeys, while it also needs more family-sized homes. He also calls the design “sterile and monotonous”, and says there needs to be a cut in car parking.

“If approved, this application would constitute the first major development within the Charlton Riverside masterplan area and would set a clear precedent for all other developments that would follow,” he said. “That is why I have always argued that it is critical that we get this development right.”

“The masterplan stresses that the development of Charlton Riverside requires a very different approach to that taken in other parts of the borough, such as Greenwich Peninsula. Yet in too many respects, this revised application is at odds with the spirit of that masterplan.

“I continue to support development on Charlton Riverside but I urge the mayor to refrain from approving the application until the applicant is persuaded to bring forward further amendments along the lines I have suggested.”

Charlton ward councillor Gary Parker has also submitted an objection.

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Planning inspector throws out scheme to build house by White Swan beer garden

Darryl Chamberlain
White Swan
Mendoza bought the freehold to the White Swan in March 2015

The firm which owns the freehold to the White Swan pub in Charlton Village, property developer Mendoza Ltd, is has lost its third attempt to build housing on land behind its beer garden.

The Isle of Man-based company, which makes its money from buying pubs and converting at least part of the land to residential use, has had two past applications rejected.

Now a planning inspector has upheld Greenwich Council officers’ decision to throw out the third application, to build one three-bedroom house on the currently-disused land which sits between the beer garden and the Torrance Close service road.

The house would have been partly built below ground level to reduce its impact on the surrounding conservation area, and would have no windows that could open onto the beer garden.

However, planning inspector Gary Deene rejected the scheme, saying “the proposed development would unacceptably harm the character and appearance of the local area”.

White Swan planning application
The rejected proposal was for one house, sunk partly below ground level

There is a glimmer of hope for the developer – the inspector did not wholly reject the idea of building on Torrance Close, saying: “The local area to which the site belongs [Torrance Close] has an air of neglect and to my mind is capable of successfully accommodating a bespoke form of new development.

“The conservation area itself has no single unifying architectural theme and there is no obvious reason why it could not in principle readily assimilate a variety of new dwellings in terms of size and style.”

The plans were first submitted to Greenwich Council in summer 2017. Mendoza bought the pub from previous owner Punch Taverns in March 2015, evicting the then-management three months later. However, it reopened in September 2015 under the management of Greenwich’s Pelton Arms boss Geoff Keen, who is trying to keep it as a viable, community-focused pub. A second bar and function room has now opened on the pub’s upper floor.

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Meet Charlton-based graphic novel author at Thames-Side Studios

Darryl Chamberlain
Andrew Donkin, Eoin Colfer and Giovanni Rigano
Prize guys: Andrew Donkin, Eoin Colfer and Giovanni Rigano. Andrew and Giovanni will be speaking next week

Last year, The Charlton Champion caught up with writer Andrew Donkin to talk about the success of his award-winning graphic novel, Illegal, about a boy’s epic journey to Europe.

Now he is holding a talk at Thames-Side Studios in Warspite Road on Thursday 17 January with illustrator Giovanni Rigano (above) to talk about the process involved in putting Illegal together, from their initial thoughts and ideas, location sketches and characterisation, through to storyboarding, final artwork and publication.

Giovanni will be flying in from Italy and drawing live during the talk. Individually customised copies by Giovanni will also be available on the evening.

Illegal, written by Andrew and Eoin Colfer and with artwork by Giovanni, won the Judges’ Special Award at the Children’s Books Ireland Awards in May, and the UK paperback edition was released in August. It is also curently nominated for the Carnigie Medal and Kate Greenaway Medal.

The talk, at 6pm, is free, but spaces are limited – contact Thames-Side Studios to book a place.

Illegal is available from Hive Books (pick up at Ottie and the Bea on Old Dover Road) and through Amazon.co.uk.

PLEASE SUPPORT THE CHARLTON CHAMPION

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