Author: Darryl Chamberlain

It’s Your Charlton: Community Council campaign kicks off at Horn Fayre

Darryl Chamberlain15 Comments

It's Your Charlton website

A campaign for Charlton to get its own community council will launch at the Horn Fayre in Charlton Park on Sunday – and you’re very welcome to come along and find out what it’s all about. Other events are due to be held later in the year.

As reported here in January, the Charlton Society has been given some funding to explore the idea of a community council- the level of local government closest to residents. They’re common in the rest of England, and new laws mean they can now be introduced in London.

The first community council in London, in Queen’s Park, north-west London, was elected in May.

In Charlton, a community council could work with Greenwich Council and other bodies to attract funding and bring lasting improvements to the local area.

Councillors would be volunteers, and a council would be non-party political.

Campaigners need one in 10 SE7 residents to sign a petition to get the process of starting a community council under way.

Since January, the idea’s had some local press coverage, and some of the people who responded to that have been meeting in recent months to work out just what a council would be for, and what the next steps should be.

Now the It’s Your Charlton campaign has launched a website, and will have a stall on Sunday to explain what it’s all about.

The theory is that a community council would bring decision-making closer to you. There would be a cost – the Queen’s Park council is charging an extra £3.70 per month on Band D council tax bills – but a community council would be able to apply for grants and other funding, so that money could go much further.

All this would depend on who gets elected – would you consider standing? Or do you have skills you could lend the community council campaign?

It’s a big issue, and there’s a lot of work to be done yet – but you can be among the first to find out more at the Horn Fayre (that’s the Charlton Park one) from 11am to 4pm this Sunday.

Greenwich Council planning Charlton Park skate park

Darryl Chamberlain44 Comments
Charlton Park Lane, 2011
A skate park could be built on the left, if cabinet members back the scheme on Wednesday

Greenwich Council is considering plans to build a skatepark in Charlton Park, according to papers to be presented to the council’s cabinet next week.

The skatepark would replace one at Royal Arsenal Gardens, Woolwich, which is being destroyed as Berkeley Homes prepares to build tower blocks on the site.

Plans by the Greenwich Skatepark Co-op to build one close to the Thames Barrier fell through after the council decided not to make a decision on a planning application put forward by the group.

Now Greenwich Council is planning to build one in Charlton Park with £365,000 of money from Berkeley Homes, given on the condition that the park is built within two miles of Woolwich.

Two sites in Charlton Park are being considered; one next to the children’s play area on the north side of the park, the other in the corner next to the junction of Charlton Park Lane and Cemetery Lane.

Council officers also looked at sites in Barrier Park, the north side of Maryon Park and at Hornfair Park, but recommended against using these. No sites outside Charlton feature in the report to be presented to the council’s cabinet on Wednesday.

Hornfair Park already has a BMX track but council officers dismiss the site, saying it is the furthest away from Woolwich.

“Among the other disadvantages of this site are that it is less well-connected to Woolwich than the other sites by bus, and is the furthest from a national rail or Underground station. It is also very close to a residential area, from which there is direct access. There are no public toilets on site,” the report says, adding there is a risk it “may not be well-used”.

The report says of Charlton Park: “The infrastructure needed to support it is largely in place which would minimise revenue costs. There is continuity in having a skateboard park in proximity to other outdoor sports facilities, adding to the appeal of Charlton Park as a centre for recreation and sporting activities. Moreover, there is a choice of locations within the Charlton Park, proving some flexibility to adapt proposals in response to consultation.”

The site at Charlton Park Lane is away from homes – opposite Meridian Sports Club – but is popular with local dog owners and is across the other side of the park from the mini-gym and other facilities. There’s been no consultation on the issue so far, but one would begin if the council’s cabinet backs the scheme, which envisages work starting at the end of 2015.

What do you think? Should there be a skate park in Charlton Park? Is there a more suitable location?

Let us know your views (and your councillors might want to know, too.)

It’s an asset – Greenwich Council acts on Charlton’s White Swan

Darryl Chamberlain4 Comments

White Swan, Charlton, 12 December 2013/ Nikki Coates

The White Swan pub in Charlton Village has been declared an asset of community value by Greenwich Council after a successful application by the Charlton Society.

It means if the building is sold for development, the local community will be asked if it wishes to put together a bid. If it does, then the sale will be put on hold for six months to allow a bid to be put together.

The pub’s currently on the market, but the designation will encourage owner Punch Taverns to sell it as a going concern, rather than as a site for development.

Now the Charlton Society’s looking to repeat the process for the village’s other pub, the Bugle Horn.

“We’re delighted to see the ACV application be granted,” the society’s Andy Donkin told this website. “It’s vital that Charlton keeps two thriving pubs at the centre of the village.”

The pub’s recently reopened, although things still aren’t ideal – when a Charlton Champion drinking party popped in last Thursday, it was told that only Fosters was on offer.

But with a Facebook group dedicated to its future topping 200 members, hopefully better days lie ahead for the White Swan – so long as it can find a sympathetic buyer. Who will step forward?

Two pubs in Plumstead, the Star and the Plume of Feathers, were given ACV status by Greenwich last month, while another Punch pub, the Dutch House, near Horn Park, has also joined the Swan on the list.

Do you have photos of the Charlton Park prefabs?

Darryl Chamberlain6 Comments

54/366 Palaces for the people?

An interesting museum has opened in Catford – the Prefab Museum, which is open until May on the Excalibur Estate and recreates the atmosphere of these temporary homes erected in the 1940s. See the Prefabs – Palaces For The People website for more.

But while the Catford prefabs survived for decades, those in Charlton are long gone. Carol Kenna of the Charlton Parks Reminiscence Project has a question:

“The CPRP project was told about the prefabs that were along Canberra Road backing into Charlton Park this was up to the end of the 1950’s. During the project we could never trace any photos of this. I have now been contacted by a gentleman who lived in one of the prefabs asking if we had any photographs.

“Could you ask your other readers if they have any, whether they would accept them – if they do – being passed on and also added to the Parks website.”

If you have any photos, drop Carol a line via the project’s website.

(Photo of Catford’s Excalibur Estate courtesy of Clare Griffiths on Flickr.)

An ‘affordable’ one-bedroom flat in Charlton? Just £216,000…

Darryl Chamberlain6 Comments

Fairview New Homes mailout
I can’t help get the feeling that Saturday’s bound to be a heartbreaking day for home-hunters looking for a berth in the new flats going up at Fairthorn Road.

They go on sale on Saturday – with just 31 of the flats going on sale as “affordable” housing. Even then, that section of the development won’t exactly be within reach of many buyers, with one-bedroom flats starting from a stonking £216,000. Or, as developer Fairview New Homes calls it, “only £216,000”, according to an email sent out yesterday, with Fairview holding 20% in equity for 25 years.

Mind you, at least Fairview isn’t claiming the flats are in Greenwich, although they’re much closer to the muck and noise from the A102 than they are Victoria Way.

“Greenwich Council wish to prioritise the sale of these homes to households with incomes of less than £55,147 as of December 2013,” the small print says, adding that priority will go to residents from the five south-east London boroughs.

The development, on the site of an old light bulb factory, has had a troubled history, with a planning inspector approving the scheme in 2010 after Greenwich Council originally threw it out, partly on air quality grounds.

White Swan: Community asset process gets under way

Darryl Chamberlain2 Comments

White Swan, 15 February 2014
Thursday update: The pub has reportedly reopened this week. So if you’ve got a thirst on, pop in and see what it’s like, and let us know.

The Charlton Society has formally asked Greenwich Council to make the White Swan pub an asset of community value, days after the pub suddenly closed its doors once again.

A nomination form has been sent to Greenwich Council, together with a 110-name petition (88 online, 22 offline) to ask council officers to designate it a community asset, a legal process which would make it harder for the pub to be sold.

The council has also been asked to consider making a planning direction to ensure the current owners cannot change its use.

Greenwich Council officers will now study the application to decide if it is valid. If it is, a decision should take place within eight weeks.

If the council designates The White Swan an asset of community value, then if the building is sold for development, the local community will be asked if it wishes to put together a bid. If it does, then the sale will be put on hold for six months to allow a bid to be put together.

The White Swan, 15 February 2014

The Charlton Society acted after the pub shut its doors suddenly last weekend – with bar fonts and lights still switched on. Financial problems also continue at owner Punch Taverns, now £2 billion in debt. If you’ve not signed it yet, the petition stays open…

Here’s what the application to Greenwich Council says…

The White Swan is one of two pubs in Charlton Village, a distinctive retail and commercial area of the Royal Borough of Greenwich, with a unique history of its own. It’s both a local landmark and a heritage asset, and for many decades, it has served both the local community and customers from further afield heading to football matches at Charlton Athletic.

With the growth of tourism into the borough and London as a whole, the pub should have a bright future, with space above which could be used as rooms for visitors.

However, recent events have made us worry for the future of the building. In the past three months, the pub has been shut suddenly on two occasions for lengthy periods (in December 2013, and in February 2014 – it’s believed to have closed on 9 February and has not reopened).

Individuals have come forward to try to run the pub, but have found the financial demands from Punch Taverns (£43,000/year in rent) onerous. Punch itself is in financial trouble, owing over £2billion, which leads us to fear for the long-term future of the pub.

Yet there is interest in seeing the pub continue. A Facebook group, founded in December 2012, currently has 194 members. And in just two weeks, a petition lauched by the
Charlton Society has gathered 110 signatures (88 online plus 22 on paper) – with the vast majority of signatories coming from Charlton itself.

So, on behalf of the local community, the Charlton Society would like Greenwich Council to declare the White Swan an Asset of Community Value, to help safeguard its long-term future. We note that Greenwich Council’s core strategy supports the retention of pubs as a community resource, so we hope the council back this up by acting to protect the White Swan.

We would also ask Greenwich Council to consider making an Article 4 Direction to prevent a change of use to the building. This was used
successfully by Lewisham Council in April 2013 to prevent the Catford Bridge Tavern from becoming a supermarket.

In light of Punch Taverns’ financial problems, we hope you can act quickly on this to protect a valuable community resource for the people of Charlton.