Rockwell’s revised scheme will be examined by City Hall, not Greenwich Council
The developer behind controversial plans to build 771 new homes off Anchor & Hope Lane is to hold two short consultation sessions this weekend to explain their proposals to residents.
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 likely to come in a few weeks. (Update:The Charlton Champion understands this is likely to be on Tuesday 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”.
The amended scheme, created after discussions with Khan’s officers at City Hall, sees two storeys lopped off a block that overlooked homes in Derrick Gardens, meaning the historic cottages of Atlas and Derrick Gardens will now have a four-storey block behind them.
Rockwell is now holding a last-minute public exhibition about the proposals – however, it will only run from 9am to 11am on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 January, at the Anchor & Hope pub.
The City Hall consultation on the scheme has been extended until the following Monday to take account of the brief opportunity for neighbours to talk to Rockwell about the proposals.
The benches have been in place since 1980, when a mural was also painted
Neighbours of Rathmore Youth Club’s distinctive mosaic benches can vote for them to get funding to be restored to their former glory under a Greenwich Council scheme.
The benches were installed in 1980 along with a mural along the Rathmore Road side of the building. The mural has long gone but the benches remain, albeit showing their age through wear, tear and vandalism.
Greenwich Mural Workshop wants to restore the benches to their former glory
Greenwich Mural Workshop, which created the benches, is hoping for £16,518 from the Greenwich Neighbourhood Growth Fund, a scheme created from a levy placed on developers in the area.
The borough is divided up into four areas for the scheme – residents who live near the youth club in Peninsula ward, as well as across Blackheath and Greenwich, can vote for the benches to be restored. Other schemes in that area hoping for money include a summer fair in Greenwich Millennium Village, a drinking fountain in East Greenwich Pleasaunce and an autism support centre at the Montessori centre on Westcombe Hill. There is a total of £227,761 available.
Residents in Peninsula ward can vote for them to be restored
Residents in the rest of Charlton (Charlton, Woolwich Riverside and Kidbrooke with Hornfair wards) are placed in the Charlton and Woolwich area and have a different choice of projects, with £109,029 available.
The Charlton Champion visited Champions 4 Change last year (photo: Neil Clasper)
The Friends of Maryon and Maryon Wilson Parks are looking for £17,350 to help improve facilities in the animal enclosures; while on the Cherry Orchard Estate the New Leaf Food Cabin is hoping for £7,500. Charlton Park rugby club, based on Broad Walk, Kidbrooke, is looking for £9,750 to improve its rugby training schemes for young people.
The other projects hoping for money from the Charlton & Woolwich pot are the creche at the Clock House community centre on the Woolwich Dockyard Estate and a community hub at the Stir Cafe in Woolwich.
On the last day of 2018 – an email from Ann Olson…
On Sunday 7th October my husband and I visited the McIntosh family grave at Charlton Cemetery after having flown in from Sweden the previous day. We had no flowers with us but after a while we spotted a middle-aged couple and I went over to ask if there was a flower shop in the area. The lady said that October 7th would have been her mother’s birthday and they immediately offered to share their flowers with me!
I was quite overcome – this act of kindness could only happen in England I thought to myself…
I would truly like to thank this lovely couple once again and wish them all the very best as we enter the New Year 2019. I would be so grateful if you could find a space to put this in a paper covering the Woolwich/Charlton area.
My maiden name was McIntosh and my great-grandfather started a watch repair business on Thomas Street, Woolwich which passed to my paternal grandfather Robert McIntosh who lived in Heathwood Gardens. I used to stay with them during school holidays.
Later my father, Douglas Robert McIntosh took over the business which had expanded to jewellery, rings, silverware, etc as well as watch repairs. After my father’s retirement, the old shops were taken down and a small community park now stands on the very spot.
Ann Olson at the McIntosh family grave
If you helped Ann in the cemetery that day, drop us a line and we’ll put you in touch.
On that note, thank you for your support of The Charlton Champion in 2018 – have a happy new year.
There are widespread fears Ikea will bring traffic gridlock to Greenwich and Charlton
The first weekend of trading at east Greenwich’s new Ikea store will coincide with a big match at Charlton Athletic’s ground, threatening serious traffic issues across the area.
Yesterday the Swedish flat-pack furniture giant confirmed it would open its doors on Thursday 7 February. Signage appeared on the building, on the site of the former “eco” Sainsbury’s supermarket, two weeks ago and stock is already being taken into the giant blue store.
The Charlton Champion understands both Ikea and Greenwich Council – which has wrapped itself in the store’s yellow and blue colours, allowing it to sponsor a sustainability prize at its business awards and run a promotional stand at a recent festival in Woolwich – are keen to avoid such scenes, with rumours of a “soft” opening ahead of the advertised date.
However, the first Saturday – always due to be a concern – coincides with a home match at The Valley, raising concerns that nearly five years after giving it planning permission in the face of opposition from local residents’ groups, neither the council nor Ikea have got to grips with the potential for the store to bring the area to a halt.
Charlton Athletic will play Southend United that day, a match which usually sees the away side bring a large number of supporters to The Valley, whose proximity to the Blackwall Tunnel and the A13 to the Essex coast usually make it an easy trip. The Shrimpers are managed by former Addicks favourite Chris Powell, a factor which could also bump up the home crowd.
There are mitigating factors – Southend fans could be routed via the tolled Dartford crossing, while attendances at The Valley have dropped significantly in recent years with fans alienated by Roland Duchatelet’s ownership. But matches still cause short-term traffic congestion, and the curiosity factor around the wildly popular furniture retailer’s debut in SE10 is likely to make 9 February a difficult day to get around the local area.
Rail services are due to run as normal on the Greenwich line that weekend on Saturday, but the line is closed by engineering works on Sunday.
Other shopping centres are available: Greenwich Shopping Park last Sunday
Indeed, closer to home, long tailbacks regularly form inside the Bugsbys Way shopping parks as drivers queue to get out.
To mitigate this, Ikea has signed a legal agreement pledging to direct drivers to the west of the site “to address network capacity constraints on Peartree Way and Woolwich Road roundabout”, with £50,000 for new signage. (See the full legal agreement and travel plan.)
Coming soon: Meatballs to the right, bargain corner to the left
However, there are no signs yet of promised “improvements to pedestrian and cycling access links to the development from Westcombe Park and Charlton railway stations”, due to come from £750,000 to promote “travel by sustainable modes”. Work to widen Peartree Lane to create a southbound bus lane has started, though, and extra pedestrian/cycle crossings are being installed on Bugsby’s Way, which could address a promise to improve links from North Greenwich station. The store also pledged to pay £500,000 for extra bus services.
In a press release not sent to this website, Ikea promises to be “being a good neighbour and a true partner in the local community”, offering “a wide choice of affordable delivery services will be available, from 24-hour delivery for those living within the Royal Borough of Greenwich, to a Zedify bike courier service, competitively priced mini cabs and Hertz EV [electric] van hire”.
For the first 10 weeks the store is open, it will also have a special offer on home delivery for those who live within 40 minutes on public transport – although if pessimists’ predictions are true, that could be a very small area indeed on the opening weekend.
But officers said the plan would “result in the loss of an existing pub that has a community role in the borough” and that Pure Let Greenwich had not submitted adequate evidence that it was no longer economically viable.
They called its planned replacement “a poor quality building” and added: “The existing building is considered to be a landmark building on Woolwich Road which makes a positive contribution to the surrounding area in general.
“Its demolition is therefore considered to be inappropriate and would lead to less than substantial harm, namely to the character and appearance of Woolwich Road. The proposed building by reason of its height, scale and appearance is unduly dominant and inappropriate within the street and fails therefore to act as a suitably high quality replacement for the existing public house. The poor quality replacement building coupled with the limited public benefits do not outweigh the harm.”
Plans to build six terraced homes on the site of the beer garden were “an inappropriate form of backland development that would be out of keeping and detrimental to the character of the surrounding area”, intruding on neighbours in Woolwich Road and Dupree Road, the officers added.
Rockwell’s new plan includes an “active frontage” along the new east-west road
London mayor Sadiq Khan has launched a new public consultation into the developer Rockwell’s controversial plans to build 771 new homes off Anchor & Hope Lane.
The amended scheme, created after discussions with Khan’s officers at City Hall, sees two storeys lopped off a block that overlooked homes in Derrick Gardens, meaning the historic cottages of Atlas and Derrick Gardens will now have a four-storey block behind them.
Another block, to the south of Atlas Gardens, has also had two storeys removed, cutting it down to five. Other blocks around the site have been increased in height to compensate.
The number of homes – 771 – remains the same, but with the possibility of 165 homes (21.4%) for “affordable rent” and 127 (16.4%) for shared ownership with a City Hall grant. (See more details in the design and access statement.)
Rockwell’s revised scheme, with Atlas Gardens at the centre
Rockwell’s new scheme is unlikely to satisfy critics, who say the developer’s plans go against the recently-adopted Charlton Riverside masterplan, which sets out a vision for lower-rise developments aimed at families in Charlton to sit in between the towers of Greenwich Peninsula and Woolwich.
All 11 councillors on Greenwich’s planning board rejected the scheme, with chair Sarah Merrill declaring: “This application in no way resembles the spirit of the Charlton Riverside masterplan, in terms of height, massing and design. It’s reminiscent of Stalingrad.”
But Rockwell – which has retained former Greenwich Council leader Chris Roberts’ company Cratus Communications as lobbyists – insisted it was “fantastic opportunity to kick-start the regeneration of this area”.
Much of the Morris Walk Estate is now in a poor condition
Greenwich Council has hit out at “misleading rumours” that a major scheme to redevelop Morris Walk Estate has been delayed for nine years.
The programme, which will see the estate on the border of Woolwich and Charlton knocked down and replaced with new housing, was due to begin this year. Demolition was due to start this autumn. But little has happened so far, and the council and developer Lovell are currently discussing timescales for the scheme, which was first announced five years ago.
Tenants and leaseholders in both the Morris Walk and the adjacent Maryon Road estate have already moved out, and people on the council’s homeless list have moved in on a short-term basis. But many have spent all year waiting for the council to finally move them out so developer Lovell can begin work.
They were due to be moved out by late summer, but have been left in limbo by the unexplained delay to the scheme.
Chris Kirby, the council’s cabinet member for housing, spoke out after it emerged a residents’ group had been told the scheme had been delayed until 2027.
Morris Walk Estate was built in the mid-1960s in a similar fashion to the ill-fated Ronan Point block in Canning Town
“I am saddened and disappointed that misleading information appears to have been given to local residents,” Cllr Kirby told The Charlton Champion.
“On behalf of the council I would like to apologise to residents who deserve better than to be subjected to gossip and rumour about what is going to happen to their home and their community.
“I also want to reassure residents that the council are in active discussions aimed at ensuring this project remains on course and delivers the homes that local people need.
“As soon as the new timescales for the project are finalised we will be contacting our residents to update them fully.”
Built for the London County Council by Taylor Woodrow Anglian from prefabricated parts in the mid-1960s, the construction can be seen in some shots in the cult film Blow-Up, which featured scenes shot in and near Maryon Park.
Across the three 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, and that the scheme is at no cost to taxpayers.
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.
Members of the Maryon Park friends’ group heard about the delay last month
Neighbours of the estates have been hoping to secure improvements to the area as part of the development. While the missed timetable has made it clear to all that there is a delay, the 2027 date emerged in, of all places, the publicly-available minutes of the Friends of Maryon and Maryon Wilson Parks’ AGM last month. Maryon Park is adjacent to the Morris Walk Estate.
The minutes note that residents were “shocked to be told by councillors that work on the Morris Walk estate will not now go ahead until 2027. This will presumably have an effect on any plans for the Maryon Park playground, where we will continue to press for improvements and updating”.
Homeless families are living temporarily on the estate
Woolwich Riverside councillor John Fahy, whose ward covers the two estates, called upon Lovell to give the land up.
He said: “It is a matter of regret that Lovell seem to have taken a decision not to develop the estates until 2027. Officers continue to engage with them to clarify their intentions.
“300 residents are living in the most appalling conditions and remain an urgent priority. Clearly Lovell have failed to honour their commitment and should relinquish any rights they have in respect of the land in question.
“The council should urgently consider developing the site as part of its commitment to maximise council housing in the borough. Housing demand is a priority and any land available must be used now rather than allowing a developer to land bank for commercial gain.”
The Charlton Champion 