In case you weren’t in the area yesterday, Charlton Athletic fans held a mock funeral procession along Charlton Church Lane and Floyd Road ahead of their match against Middlesbrough. It’s the latest in a serious of protests against the management of the side by absentee Belgian owner Roland Duchatelet and his chief executive, Katrien Meire.
Please join us in the first of the Charlton Society’s ‘HAVE YOUR SAY’ sessions. The aim is to strengthen the community’s influence over Greenwich Council’s planning and environmental policies.
The starting point for the session is Charlton Village – still the heart of Charlton. Our guest speaker will be Clare Loops, the council’s planning policy manager.
To kick off the Council’s consultation process, we’ve asked her to tell us about its draft Charlton Village Conservation Area Management Strategy.
And that’s just the start! After Clare’s presentation, questions and a short tea break, we will split up into four groups for the ‘HAVE YOUR SAY’ session.
The groups will discuss not only the Village Conservation Area proposals but also what we like or dislike about Charlton as a whole, what’s special or unique about it, and how we see its future – from Shooters Hill to the River Thames. And don’t forget: this is a future that must take into account the avalanche of change happening all around Charlton.
Comparing notes together at the end of the session, we believe we can begin to lay the basis on which the community can help shape Council policy.
We look forward to seeing you at Charlton House.
The event’s open to all, and runs from 2.30pm to 5pm on Saturday 19 March.
The Conservation Area Management Strategy’s something all councils have to do with their conservation areas – they update them, take bits out, add new areas, and set requirements for what you can or can’t do if you own a property in the area.
This plan sees the council expand the area around Charlton Church Lane, Lansdowne Lane and Hornfair Park. You can find out more about what the council wants to do in this draft document. (The full, final document is released on Monday 21 March, so don’t take this version as gospel.)
If you’re at all interested in the history of Charlton, an accompanying document sets out the history of the area, and just why the area around Charlton Village is so special. It’s a hefty tome, quite different in tone from the usual council documents, and well worth a read. You’ll find a draft of the Character Appraisal here. (Again, a final version is released on Monday 21 March, which will supersede this one.)
With the hugely important new Charlton riverside masterplan due to come after the mayoral election, the Charlton Society hopes Saturday’s event will start to get local people properly involved in the discussions about the area’s long-term future.
Greenwich Council planners are seeking views on the proposed skatepark in Charlton Park – so if you’ve got a strong view on the proposal, now’s the chance to have your say.
The proposals, which have attracted petitions both for and against the scheme, would see an L-shaped facility built around the mini-gym to the south of the Charlton Lane entrance.
This application is to get permission for the location and size (900m²) – full details, including the final design, will follow in a further application, if this one gets the nod.
So there’s no visualisation of how the landscaped facility will look – the closest you’ll find is a site plan showing the dimensions of the skate park.
The location has been chosen for its “minimal effect on Charlton House”, according to a statement from Woolwich-based architecture firm Martin Arnold, which is handling the scheme for Greenwich Council.
It adds:
“The proposed design will aim to be sympathetic to Charlton Park with features of the skatepark complementing materials and finishes from Charlton House. The open nature of the park will try to be maintained by sinking the skatepark within the ground to reduce the visual impact of the proposal within Charlton Park and also assist in noise reduction.
“The skatepark will be excavated into the ground at different depths and heights with a maximum measurement of 1600mm below the existing ground level. The proposed skatepark will not extend more than 750mm above the existing ground level, for reference the adjacent climbing wall is approximately 2000mm above the existing ground level.
Comments need to be with Greenwich Council – either through the planning website or by emailing planning[at]royalgreenwich.gov.uk – by 15 March.
The proposals have been controversial since they first emerged in July 2014, mainly due to the lack of public consultation on the scheme.
Funding for the scheme is coming from Berkeley Homes, which is paying £365,000 towards the facility to replace the skatepark at Royal Arsenal Gardens, Woolwich. A condition of the money was that the new park had to be within two miles of Woolwich. A further £15,000 is coming from the council.
Sites at Hornfair Park and Barrier Park were also considered, this website has also discovered that a site at Villas Road, Plumstead was also briefly in contention. A “stakeholders’ forum” has been meeting regularly since then to discuss the proposals.
A counter-petition to support the park, signed by 1,038 people, was also presented to the council and received a rather warmer response:
“Charlton Park was deemed the most suitable location for a skate park because it is a visible, safe area that: is easily accessible by foot or public transport, has existing infrastructure such as toilets and floodlighting and is close to local amenities. It will also complement the existing sport and leisure provision in the park.
“Royal Greenwich sees this project as an exciting opportunity to not only revitalise facilities for existing skateboarders and riders, but as something that will bring added value to Charlton Park and the Royal Borough as a whole.”
Despite this official support from the council, one curious feature of the scheme is that local councillors have been lukewarm at best in their backing for the proposals.
Since the planning application is not fully detailed, one thing is certain – the skatepark saga has some way to stagger on yet.
Recognise yourself in these photos? If you’re an old pupil or teacher at Invicta Primary School, you’re invited to a street party to mark the end of its old 1950s buildings.
Thousands of Charlton children have been educated in those old buildings – among the school’s former pupils is actor Daniel Day-Lewis, who namechecked it and Sherington when he won a Bafta in 2008.
Now former staff and pupils are invited to a street party on Saturday 19 March to mark the closure of the old buildings and their replacement with new facilities built on the old playground.
The old buildings replaced the original school, destroyed by a parachute mine in 1940. Considering it was an infant school for much of its existence, these must be a bit of a squeeze for older pupils.
Here are the new buildings – apparently due for completion in April. The school’s also expanding in other ways, opening a new site in Deptford to replace the old Charlotte Turner School.
If you recognise yourself in those old photos, want to share your memories of the school, or want more information about the street party, drop the school a line at admin[at]invictaprimary.co.uk.
Charlton Asda: This site could be zoned for housing under a Greenwich Council plan
The area around Charlton’s Asda superstore could be earmarked for housing under plans being consulted on by Greenwich Council.
We’re still waiting to hear what the council has up its sleeve for redeveloping Charlton’s riverside – plans to reveal a new Charlton Riverside Masterplan have been postponed until the spring.
But you can find a few clues about what’s going on in the snappily titled Greenwich Local Plan Site Allocations consultation. It’s not being very well publicised, but it’s happening now and will have a bearing on the future development of Charlton and the wider borough of Greenwich.
This is about allocating particular sites in the borough for particular uses. For example, the unbuilt plots at Greenwich Millennium Village are allocated for housing.
Much of the focus is on Charlton’s riverside area – and that includes the possibility of converting much of SE7’s retail space into housing and community uses.
The Asda site, together with the retail parks and industrial premises that surround it, are part of one area suggested for “residential, non-retail commercial/employment uses, community infrastructure including open space, and an area of search for schools”.
“Current uses are out of-town retail, threatening growth of retail development in other centres,” the consultation says – a not-very-subtle way of saying Woolwich’s development as a shopping centre is being throttled by Charlton’s retail parks.
The effect of Charlton’s retail parks on Woolwich has been a running sore with Greenwich Council for decades. Big box retail first came to Charlton in the 1970s when Makro – aimed at business customers – opened on the site of the old greyhound stadium.
In the early 1980s, Greenwich Council originally refused permission for Asda to open its Charlton store, but was overruled by a planning inspector. Local newspapers at the time reported that plans for a new Co-op store, which would have been the centrepiece of a redeveloped Woolwich town centre, would be axed if Asda went ahead. It’s pretty much undeniable that Woolwich entered a long period of decline from about that time.
Since those early days, retail parks have opened across the Charlton riverside area – with the council’s blessing. The latest – an extension to the misleadingly-named Greenwich Shopping Park – is under construction.
It now appears the council is trying to turn back the tide. The plans don’t affect the retail parks’ ability to trade from their existing sites. But expansion or replacement could be more difficult – and selling up for housing could be more lucrative.
Charlton’s riverside has changed since this photo was taken, and is set for more changes
There’s a useful interactive map on the Greenwich Council website – here’s the plans as they affect Charlton and immediately adjacent areas.
Charlton Riverside West (Asda, Ramac industrial estate, surrounding retail parks): “Residential and area of search for schools.”
Charlton Riverside North West Industrial (north of Makro): “Industrial uses compatible with PIL (SIL) and area of search for Waste facility to include a Vacuum Waste Collection Centre and a Reuse and Recycling Centre.”
Charlton Riverside Central (Makro, Stone Lake Retail Park, Stones Foundries, Penhall Road) “Residential, small scale retail, employment use. Seconday and primary school area of search. To include bus and cycle east-west route and transport interchange at the south western corner of the site opposite Charlton Church Lane.”
Thames Barrier approach and Eastmoor Street (car breakers’ yards, etc): “Community open space to include playing pitch which could be dedicated for school use, replacing playing pitch north of UTC building if the existing playing pitch is needed for school expansion.” (A neighbouring zone, Charlton Educational, covers Windrush Primary School and the Greenwich University Technical College.)
Land to the south of Thames Barrier: “Safeguarding for Flood Defences, only a use compatible with this is to be considered, such as Community Open Space.”
Harrington Way (area around Second Floor Arts): “Existing historic buildings to be retained and used for B1, offices , creative uses, studios in accordance with IBP designation.”
Westminster Industrial Estate (immediately to east of Thames Barrier site): “Existing historic buildings to be retained and used for B1, offices , creative uses, studios.”
Morris Walk, Maryon Grove estates:“Redevelopment for improved quality and intensification of residential uses” – which looks like this little-publicised 13-storey tower planned for the site of the Albion pub on the Woolwich side of Morris Walk.
Maryon Road estates: “Redevelopment for improved quality.” No tower blocks, then.
40 Victoria Way (the one remaining warehouse from the old Thorn Lighting site): “Housing.” No surprise there.
This last one’s interesting – the Angerstein Triangle is an old railway yard (there’s still a set of steps linking it to Westcombe Park station) that was once proposed as the terminal for what became the Jubilee Line extension. Perhaps this is still sitting in planners’ minds. Charlton Champion reader Stephen Baycroft suggests it “should instead be rezoned into parkland and/or community facilities” to ease the pressure of lorries coming down residential streets.
Finally, both The Valley and the Rectory Field remain zoned as community open space under the proposals.
Naturally for a set of council proposals that directly affect Charlton, none of the roadshows for the scheme are taking place here.
Instead, you can talk to planners at the Greenwich Centre on Saturday 27 February from 2pm-5pm, and at the Woolwich Centre on Thursday 3 March from 4pm-7pm. More details on the Greenwich Council website.
Fans of Charlton Athletic are planning to step up protests against absentee owner Roland Duchâtelet after revealing the first of series of billboard posters ridiculing his ownership of the club, which has fallen to the bottom of the Championship.
It’s also emerged that Duchâtelet’s management team at The Valley are exploring the possibility of building flats inside the football club’s stadium.
The billboard, which appeared on Anchor & Hope Lane at the weekend, features a photo of a young boy at The Valley, taken in 1992, while it was being rebuilt in anticipation of the club’s return from its seven-year exile away from the area. The slogan reads: “Here before you and long after you’ve gone”.
It echoes a similar poster used by the Valley Party, which fought the 1990 local elections after Greenwich Council refused a planning application from the club to return to The Valley. That featured a young fan with the slogan: “If you don’t support us, who will he suppprt?”
“We’re bottom of the league at the moment, but it’s not about results,” Phil Reeks, from Greenhithe, Kent, says.
“It’s about the mistreatment of staff, the abject player recruitment policy, the constant mistruths, the same mistakes being repeated again and again, the list goes on.
“Over the years, I’ve had roughly 12 season tickets in various places around the Covered End, but I don’t currently have a season ticket. Even the club has admitted that 3,000 of its season-ticket holders aren’t currently attending games at the moment, and it’s doing nothing to win those fans back.”
After 2,000 fans attended a protest following the match against Blackburn Rovers at the end of January, CARD says it is planning another protest, “with a twist” for this Saturday’s game against Cardiff City.
Meanwhile, the club is considering the possibility of building flats inside The Valley, fanzine Voice of The Valley has reported.
Duchâtelet is said to have ordered his management team to find ways of making more money out of the stadium site. His first club, Belgian side Sint-Truiden, has had its Stayen stadium redeveloped to include shops, bars and a hotel. With The Valley being in a residential area – a plan to include a bowling alley met fierce opposition in the 1990s – his options are likely to be restricted to a hotel or flats.
Rumoured plans to build flats on the site of the current club shop appear to have faded for now after the club went back on an earlier scheme to close the Valley Central community space on Floyd Road. It is believed the club wanted to move the shop into the space. This website understands staff at the Charlton Athletic Community Trust were told Valley Central – which hosts youth services on behalf of Greenwich Council – would close in May, but the club later announced it would stay open.
The 36-year-old Jimmy Seed Stand – the stand furthest away from Harvey Gardens – has been identified as a candidate for redevelopment. The stand, used to accommodate away supporters, is the only significant structure to survive from the days before the club temporarily switched to Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Park in 1985.
The Jimmy Seed stand is named after the manager who won Charlton the FA Cup in 1947
Club executives are said to have visited Leyton Orient’s Brisbane Road – which has flats built in each corner, with balconies overlooking the pitch – to see how it could be done.
However, such a move is unlikely to be popular with fans, who fear it will restrict the possibility of increasing The Valley’s 27,000 capacity should the club return to the Premier League. Greenwich Council gave outline approval – since lapsed – to a plan to expand to 40,000 a decade ago, a capacity that would be unlikely if there were flats in the stadium.
There are also some practical difficulties – while the current stand is rather old, it allows the police to segregate away supporters easily. There’s also the question of how residents of any flats inside The Valley would access their homes, as the south stand does not sit on public roads.
Charlton’s defeat to relegation rivals Bristol City on Saturday leaves them at the foot of the Championship table, and leaves recently-reinstated head coach José Riga with a far harder task than his last stint in charge two years ago.
The club faced further ridicule this week when a prankster faked chief executive Katrien Meire’s signature on a document sent to Companies House, apparently resigning her role at the club.
Instead of playing down the hoax, the club – which has recently appointed a new head of communications after months of bad publicity – responded with a terse statement saying it was “investigating the matter as it is something we take seriously”, leading to press coverage of the joke in both the UK and Belgium.
In a possible indication of the mood inside the club, a security guard was posted at the entrance to the stadium on Tuesday when Duchâtelet – who has not attended a match since October 2014 – arrived for meetings.
Local MPs Matt Pennycook and Clive Efford met Meire last month to discuss fans’ concerns about the running of the club. However, Greenwich Council leader Denise Hyland told a council meeting two weeks ago that there would be no similar approach from the town hall, saying she was sure the club’s management were aware of fans’ views.
Blow Up in Maryon Park: Charlton’s most famous contribution to cinemaWant to get involved with a free film festival for Charlton and Woolwich later this year? Organiser Gavin Eastley is looking for people to help make it happen.
They show mainstream films – last year’s Peckham event screened Gravity in Peckham Rye Park – as well as more arthouse fare in smaller venues. Most festivals hold a couple of big outdoor events that bring in crowds of up to 300-400.
There are also workshops, filmmaking events and the chance to support local filmmaking talent.
And there are also chances to volunteer…
Projection. Could you get involved in projecting films at our free events? No particular skills needed as long as you’re happy around a laptop, projector and PA.
Event planning and management. Would you like to plan a film event? Do you know a venue that might like to host a film screening? At Free Film Festivals we welcome people who want to create their own film events – feature films, documentaries, new films, filmmaking events. Our festivals are completely created by local volunteers.
Stewards. Could you guide people at our larger events and help with collecting evaluation forms and shaking a bucket? Stewards always needed.
Filmmakers. Could you help to run a filmmaking workshop or organise a ‘meet the industry’ day or similar event to inspire new filmmakers? Read a filmmaker Tom Worth’s blog on how getting involved can inspire you as a filmmaker.
Marketing. From leafleting to social media, press, graphic design and website editing – our marketing teams are always looking for people to help with publicity.
Fund raisers. There is a cost to putting these on and most are funded by partnerships with community organisations and sponsorship.
Gavin says: “I can see The Draughtman’s Contract at Charlton House, The Guns of Navarone at the Royal Artillery (bit of a stretch that one), Mr Turner at Rushgrove House, a big cycle-powered event in Charlton Park and I am sure someone will want to do something with Blow Up. I am sure there are great documentaries about Woolwich.”
Well, now you say it, the London Screen Archive has a few…
Can you help Gavin put the Charlton & Woolwich Film Festival on? He’s holding a meeting at the White Swan, Charlton Village on Wednesday 24 February at 7.30pm. Or contact Gavin via the Free Film Festivals website.
The Charlton Champion 