A disused shop unit in Charlton Village could become a coffee shop – if a developer is as good as their word.
The former ironmongers at 7a The Village, which has a two-storey flat on top, has been closed for seven years, but a developer wants to build an extension so it can accommodate two flats, and divide the downstairs unit so it can incorporate a coffee shop.
A planning document submitted to Greenwich Council reads: “At ground floor, the shop front will be restored and refurbished, with provisions made for future use as a coffee shop or similar. The area has struggled to compete with larger centres such as Woolwich and Blackheath, as well as with out-of-town retail parks of Charlton Riverside.
“This is a factor that may have led to the closure of several shops in The Village in recent years, according to the Charlton Village Conservation Area Character Appraisal.
“We hope that by restoring the shop it will provide much needed footfall to the local high street. There is also strong demand for coffee shops in the area, according to a local estate agent. At ground floor, behind the shopfront will include two offices for use to carry out general administrative tasks, plus a training/presentation room.”
It adds: “[The development will] e of great benefit to The Village high street and the Charlton Village Conservation Area. Restoring the disused and vacant shopfront is critical to enhancing the relevance of the high street in Charlton Village, which is currently falling away to become instead a through road to Woolwich and Greenwich. This refurbishment alone won’t solve the issues facing The Village high street, but it is a positive step in the right direction.”
Platinum Jubilee events will take over Charlton Park for two days in June
The House and Garage Orchestra will headline Greenwich Council’s free Together 22 festival in Charlton Park, which will kick off the four-day Platinum Jubilee weekend.
The South London-based act, who specialise in classical reimaginings of house and garage favourites, will close the festival, which will run from noon to 6pm on Thursday 2 June.
Other acts on stage will include the indie band Two Weeks in Nashville, Columbian-Italian singer/songwriter Desta French, all-female bhangra collective Eternal Taal, Tyber and Pete from the Dualers and YolanDa’s Band Jam from CBeebies.
There will also be a marketplace with food, drink and crafts, a kids’ zone, community groups and sporting activities, while the festival will celebrate 50 years since the first Britain’s first Pride celebrations with a dedicated Pride50 tent.
Two Weeks in Nashville will spend one afternoon in Charlton Park
The park will host two days of jubilee celebrations, with Platinum Picnic in the Park following on Friday 3 June, with “activities reflecting royalty across the globe” between noon and 4pm.
Charlton parkrun will not take place on Saturday 4 June because the festival stages will still be in place.
Slightly earlier in the week, there will also be a jubilee celebration in Cherry Orchard Estate from noon to 4pm on Wednesday 1 June, with a kings and queens procession, teddy bears’ picnic, live music and tea and cake.
Beacons will be lit up across the country at 9.30pm on Thursday 2 June to mark the jubilee. One will be lit on Blackheath, with choirs and a bugler, while another will be lit at the same time in General Gordon Square in Woolwich.
The sale is part of a wider community day that will also feature the Charlton Society, Charlton Toy Library, Charlton Community Gardens, Blackheath Flower Club and the Friends of Greenwich Park, with a discovery trail and crafts for children.
Inside Charlton House there will also be a World War I-themed day as part of its Meet the Collection series of events.
Proceeds from the plant sale will go towards the walled garden and the society’s other work as well as the Greenwich & Bexley Cottage Hospice.
The event runs from 11am to 3pm this Sunday.
Meanwhile, this evening Charlton Community Gardens will be hosting its own plant sale in front gardens in Inverine Road, Elliscombe Road, Sandtoft Road and Wyndcliff Road. See its website for more details.
The fate of The White Swan in Charlton Village will be up for discussion at the Charlton Society‘s regular monthly meeting this Saturday, together with a number of issues about improving the area.
The Swan closed suddenly in March 2020, just before the first lockdown, after a lengthy battle to pay the rent demanded by the Isle of Man-based property developer Mendoza, which bought the freehold from Punch Taverns for £900,000 in 2015.
The society has added the restoration of the Swan as a priority item to its Save Our Village Action Plan, which it will be discussing on Saturday.
Most of the (many) other items in the plan are to do with the public realm around the village, although it also includes the 20mph zone which was implemented two years ago, along with “continuous pavements” that were described as an “accident waiting to happen” on this website in March.
The meeting will be held at Charlton House at 2.30pm this Saturday; there is an admission fee of £3 for non-members and £2 for members.
Instead of running from Lewisham to the Belvedere industrial area, it will now run from North Greenwich to a new housing development at Erith Quarry.
The change will mean more buses to North Greenwich, but route 472 is being reduced in frequency at the same time and rerouted so it runs from North Greenwich to Abbey Wood. Morning rush-hour buses from Charlton station have also been scrapped.
Route 129, which runs from North Greenwich station to the Cutty Sark, has been extended to Lewisham as a partial replacement for the 180 beyond Greenwich, but at a reduced frequency of every 12 minutes.
Whereas both the 177 and 180 provided 12 buses per hour between Woolwich Road and Greenwich town centre, only the 177, with six buses an hour, will cover this section now. In the evening, the combined service drops from nine buses per hour to five.
The change was announced five years ago – when it was still believed that Crossrail would open in 2018 – but hopes of a rethink were dashed when the new 180 route started appearing on bus stops and journey planners at the end of last month.
Back in 2017, TfL, which is chaired by London mayor Sadiq Khan, said: “The 177 has sufficient capacity for the level of demand on this corridor. We will continue to keep this under review.”
The two schemes would bring 255 new homes to what is currently industrial land
A planning inspector has approved two new housing developments on the Charlton Riverside, including 107 homes for people on housing waiting lists, overturning Greenwich Council decision to refuse the schemes last year.
The twin schemes, for land behind the disused Victoria pub on Woolwich Road, are the second and third housing developments to get approval on the riverside after plans for 1,200 homes close to the Thames Barrier were approved in March.
A lobby group representing residents’ associations, Charlton Together, had objected to the Aitch scheme, but both were thrown out by Greenwich’s Labour-dominated planning committee last July for not fitting in with the masterplan drawn up for the Charlton Riverside.
Optivo’s plans for Eastmoor Street, with the Aitch scheme in white next door to it.
In that area, the masterplan suggests building three or four-storey townhouses to fit in with the Victoria and the former Lads of the Village pub – now a vets’ surgery – near by. Optivo is planning blocks of up to seven storeys, while the Aitch scheme goes up to 10 storeys.
But the planning inspector, Patrick Hanna, said that townhouses did not fit in with plans to build up to 7,000 homes on the riverside – or guidance from the Environment Agency that the lower floors could not be occupied in case of flooding.
“The townhouse typology is unlikely to be a realistic or optimal option at the appeal site, which in turn affects the ambitions for an intimate village feel in this location,” he wrote.
“As a consequence of these site constraints, it follows that when the [masterplan] is taken as a whole, and bearing in mind that it represents guidance only, its general thrust can reasonably and sensibly be taken to encourage medium rise developments.”
Having commercial units on the lower floors would be more attractive than townhouses with ground-floor garages, Hanna added.
Optivo’s site as it is now with the Aitch site to the right
Hanna also said that the council should have approved the schemes because the borough did not have a big enough supply of new housing coming up.
Despite the clear flaws in the masterplan, Labour councillors Gary Dillon and Jo van den Broek – elected last week for the new Charlton Village & Riverside ward – put it centre stage in a leaflet delivered to residents.
In a passage that may only have made sense to those involved in residents’ groups that have fought for lower-rise buildings on the riverside, they promised to “ensure that the communities’ voices are heard and that the spirit of the masterplan is respected”.
However, the inspector’s decision – and his explicit acknowledgement that aspects of the plan are flawed because they do not take into account flood risks – may now give future developers the confidence to aim higher when they submit their plans.
Candidates have been announced for next month’s Greenwich Council elections – as well as hustings so you can ask questions of the hopefuls.
This time, Greenwich will elect 55 councillors across 23 wards – a big change from the last election when there were 51 seats across 17 wards. The increase is to reflect the borough’s growing population – particularly in Greenwich, Woolwich and Thamesmead.
Previously, Charlton was split into four wards, with most of the SE7 area being in a simple “Charlton” ward.
Left: Charlton Hornfair. Right: Charlton Village
Now you can bin your old map, because the bulk of the area will be split into two – Charlton Village & Riverside and Charlton Hornfair. A chunk in the north-west is in a new Greenwich Peninsula ward, while a few streets close to the SE18 border are marooned in a Woolwich Dockyard ward.
Broadly speaking, the boundary between the Charlton Village and Charlton Hornfair wards runs along Victoria Way and the south fence of Charlton Park.
This is, essentially, the old Charlton ward, but future-proofed to take in where the new riverside developments will be. Only two councillors will be elected from here.
Incumbent Charlton councillor Gary Dillon stands for Labour alongside Jo van den Broek – a new name to most voters but a longstanding activist behind the scenes in the Labour party. At least she’ll know what she’s letting herself in for.
The Greens came second in the old ward last time out, and they will be standing two candidates who also have some experience of how the council works. Clare Loops used to be one of its planning officers – she now works for Bexley – and is the chair of the Charlton Neighbourhood Forum. Phil Connolly is a party stalwart and is involved with the Derrick and Atlas Gardens Residents’ Association; more recently he has also been working with the council on its response to the pandemic in the Charlton area.
The Conservatives are fielding newcomer Lucy Woodruffe and James Worron, a local party activist, while Stuart Watkin carries the Liberal Democrats’ hopes. The Women’s Equality Party, which came third in 2018, is not fielding a candidate this time around.
Want to quiz the candidates? There are hustings at Charlton House at Wednesday April 20th at 7pm, held by the Charlton Society and Charlton Central Residents’ Association, which covers a small part of the ward near the station. Contact charltonsocietychair[at]gmail.com to ask a question.
Charlton Hornfair takes in areas towards Bramshot Avenue
This brand new ward includes the SE7 bit of the Kidbrooke with Hornfair ward and what estate agents call the Charlton Slopes, together with the Cherry Orchard and Harold Gibbons Court estates and The Birches. A little chunk of SE3 slips in here, too, up to the Sun-in-the-Sands roundabout. Two candidates are elected here.
Labour stands Clare Burke-McDonald, a relatively new councillor who was elected to represent Shooters Hill last year. She is joined on the ballot paper by a newcomer, Lakshan Saldin.
The Greens are standing Cole Pemberton and Ann Brown, while Rupert Fienes and Alan O’Kelly represent the Tories. Sam Burridge is the sole Lib Dem representative.
Want to quiz the candidates? There are hustings at Charlton House (sssh, just outside the ward, but we won’t tell anyone) on Saturday April 23rd at 10.30am, organised by the Charlton Society. Contact charltonsocietychair[at]gmail.com to ask a question.
The colourful Rathmore Road Youth Club benches are in Greenwich Peninsula ward
If you were in Peninsula ward last time, you’ll be in Greenwich Peninsula this time, except if you’re in Barney Close, in which case you’ll be in Charlton Village (see above). If you’ve just moved into the new homes on Bowen Drive (welcome!), this is your ward. This new ward is all the new developments on Greenwich Peninsula, then Ikea and the flyover, then the east Greenwich communities around Aldeburgh Streets and Fearon Street, and then a chunk of Charlton up to the station. (Don’t ask.) Three candidates are elected here.
Labour stands incumbent Peninsula councillor and deputy council leader Denise Scott-McDonald here, along with veteran councillor David Gardner, moving down from Woolwich Common ward but a longstanding activist in the Charlton area. Newcomer Nick Williams makes up the trio.
The Greens have traditionally performed strongly in the old Peninsula ward, and Roger Bailey, John Holmes and Laura Sessions will be standing for them. The Tories are fielding Godwin Amaefula, James Cowling and Anthonia Ugo.
There are three Lib Dems here – youthful activist Ulysse Abbate, Richard Chamberlain (no relation to the author) and Greg Mulligan. The right-wing Reform UK party is represented by Terry Wheeler.
While most of the SE7 bit of the old Woolwich Riverside ward has come home to Charlton Village, a few streets have been left out in the cold around Maryon Road, Erwood Road and Maryon Grove. Don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten you.
These are now in Woolwich Dockyard ward, which also includes the estate of the same name, the Cardwell Estate and the 1990s King Henry’s Wharf development by the Thames. This is another-future proofed ward – it will also include the Trinity Park development when that is built on the site of the Morris Walk Estate.
Incumbent Woolwich Riverside Labour councillor Dominic Mbang stays to fight for the new seat alongside newcomer Asli Mohammed. The Greens are not standing here, but the Tories are fielding Simon Gallie and David Chunu. Nichola Martin and Matthew Rose will stand for the Lib Dems.
Want to quiz the candidates? We don’t know of any hustings. If any are organised, we’ll add them here.
The Charlton Champion 