Charlton – Page 29 – The Charlton Champion

Primary school could be built on Anchor and Hope Lane industrial estate

January 20, 2021June 19, 2023Darryl Chamberlain1 Comment

Google image of Anchorage Point — This site could host a new primary school (image: Google)

A 630-pupil primary school could be built on an industrial estate at the end of Anchor and Hope Lane – and could open as soon as September next year.

Councillors on Greenwich Council’s cabinet are due to rubber-stamp a decision next week to sell the Anchorage Point industrial estate so it can be used as a free school for the Harris academy trust.

A report to councillors says a new school is needed to meet demand in the north-west of the borough, with the Charlton riverside area due to see thousands of new homes in the coming years. The site is next door to where developer Rockwell had a 771-home scheme rejected by a planning inspector last year.

Councils are banned from building new schools themselves, and Harris Federation had permission granted by the government in 2017 to build a free school in the borough. Greenwich plans to transfer the Anchorage Point site to the new school.

“It is proposed that Harris Primary Free School will open on a phased basis with 90 places in the reception year in September 2022 (subject to a site being secured and planning permission being granted) but will eventually have 630 pupils in the reception year through to Year 6. There is also the potential for the school to offer early years education provision,” papers for next Wednesday’s cabinet meeting state.

The industrial estate opened in 1999 to accommodate businesses that were displaced when council land on the Greenwich Peninsula was taken over as part of the project to bring the Millennium Dome to the area. Tenants include Tavern Snacks, which makes crisps and nuts for the pub industry. The council says it will offer tenants new sites in the borough – a process which could start the long shift of much of Charlton’s industry to sites in the Plumstead and Thamesmead area.

Another tenant is Greenwich’s borough archive – facing its second eviction as little as three years after being turfed out of the Royal Arsenal in 2018 for the Woolwich Works creative district project. When the possibility of the site being disposed of emerged before Christmas, The Charlton Champion contacted the Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust to find out its plans; it received no response.

Provision for a new road cutting through part of the site will be included in any deal to sell the land.

Councillors will decide whether to go ahead with the sale at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

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Coronavirus in Charlton update: What to do if you test positive

January 19, 2021June 19, 2023Darryl Chamberlain

Keep your distance banner

An update in the coronavirus emergency from Greenwich Council’s public health team, with special advice on what to do if you need to self-isolate.

In the past seven days, there have been 2,447 confirmed new cases of coronavirus in Greenwich borough. There are signs that lockdown is beginning to work, with cases lower than they were a week ago. However, numbers are still very high across the country, and are even higher in London – including Greenwich. We need to stay safe and avoid our health system being overwhelmed by following the guidance explained in this update.

242 people are in hospital right now in the borough because of coronavirus. Hospital numbers remain high and are not yet reducing. To have to go to hospital because of coronavirus means your case is very serious, and these high numbers are putting a strain on our hospitals and everyone who works in them.

A national lockdown is in place across the country. This means everyone must stay home except for when it is absolutely necessary to leave.

It has never been more important to take every measure we can to fight the virus. Everyone needs to stay at home, except for essential activities. If you do need to leave home: Wear a mask. Make space. Wash your hands.

You can read all the details about the lockdown at gov.uk/guidance/national-lockdown-stay-at-home.

Self-care at home if you test positive

If you do test positive with coronavirus, try not to panic. There are things you can do at home to help you recover.

It’s common for symptoms to re-emerge when you think you’ve recovered. Don’t worry if this happens – continue to rest and look after yourself and the likelihood is you’ll feel better in a few days.

If you have a high temperature, it can help to get lots of rest, drink plenty of fluids (water is best), and take paracetamol or ibuprofen if you feel uncomfortable.

If you have a cough, it’s best to avoid lying on your back. Lie on your side or sit upright instead. You can also try at home cough remedies such as lemon and honey or cough medicine.

If you’re feeling breathless, it can help to keep your room cool. Try turning the heating down or opening a window. Do not use a fan as it may spread the virus. You could also try:

breathing slowly in through your nose and out through your mouth, with your lips together like you’re gently blowing out a candle
sitting upright in a chair
relaxing your shoulders, so you’re not hunched
leaning forward slightly – support yourself by putting your hands on your knees or on something stable like a chair

Try not to panic if you’re feeling breathless. This can make it worse.

NHS.uk has more information about self-care at home, and a helpful video on what to do if you’re feeling breathless.

If you feel breathless and it’s getting worse, get medical advice from the NHS 111 online coronavirus service.

Getting tested for coronavirus

If you have coronavirus symptoms: (a high temperature, a new, continuous cough, a loss of, or change to, your sense of smell or taste), even if they’re only mild, it’s important to get a test and stay at home until you get your result.

There are several local testing centres – please go to gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test to book a test. Booking is essential for all testing centres. Order a home test kit if you cannot get to a test site. If you have problems using the online service, call 119. Lines are open 7am to 11pm.

Rapid testing centres
If you can’t follow the Government guidance to stay at home and have go to work, you can get a test very quickly in a number of walk-in centres around the borough, including at The Valley.

The test takes five minutes, and the results are emailed to you in 30 minutes. It will tell you if you have Covid-19, but no symptoms, so that you can protect those around you by self-isolating for 10 days until the virus clears from your body. Book a rapid test here.

Testing is NOT available at the Emergency Department at the hospital or at your GP practice, so please do not attend here trying to get a test.

Support if you test positive and have to self-isolate

If your test result is positive, you and your household will need to stay at home and self-isolate for 10 days (this has changed from 14 days). This is important to stop the virus spreading and to keep your community safe.

This can be stressful and worrying when you need to go to work. If you are unable to claim sick-pay from your employer and are a low income household, a one-off £500 payment may be available from the Government to support you and your family during these 14 days. Find out if you are eligible to apply for this payment or call 0800 470 4831.

Training available

If you’re interested in helping your community through volunteering, short training is available to introduce and prepare volunteers for the role of Neighbourhood Champion. This is an opportunity to learn, ask questions, share information and practice.

For more information, please email victoria.smith[at]royalgreenwich.gov.uk.

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We’ll think again about our consultations, Morris Walk developer Lovell says

January 17, 2021June 19, 2023Darryl Chamberlain

Lovell Trinity Park render — Lovell’s proposed view from Maryon Park – where Denmark House stood until recently

The developer behind the redevelopment of Morris Walk Estate says it will reconsider how it presents its consultations after presenting residents last autumn with a series of confusing QR codes.

Lovell, which is knocking down the 1960s estate on the Charlton-Woolwich border and turning it into the Trinity Park development, launched a virtual consultation with residents last year ahead of submitting a planning application to Greenwich Council.

However, it took the form of a series of videos that could only be accessed by using QR codes. The Charlton Champion decoded the consultation to present the videos individually in a story last October.

In a residents’ newsletter released just before Christmas, Lovell said: “Concerns over the inaccessibility and complication of the online QR codes and videos have been carefully considered and will be taken very much in consideration in the next steps in the aim to create a more accessible and easy-to-understand platform.”

Read the Lovell Trinity Park newsletter

The estate, built on cleared slum housing between 1964 and 1966 and named after its most notorious street, originally had 562 council homes. Of the 766 homes promised on the new development, 177 will be for affordable rent (about half market rent) with 76 available for shared ownership.

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Fancy taking over The White Swan? It’ll cost you £40,000 a year

January 13, 2021June 19, 2023Darryl Chamberlain

Property developer Mendoza, the company that owns the White Swan, has put the pub on the market for prospective tenants – at a rent of £40,000 a year.

You can see full particulars at the estate agent Jenkins Law.

The Charlton Village pub closed suddenly last March – just before the pandemic began – after a lengthy battle to pay the rent demanded by Mendoza, which bought the freehold from Punch Taverns for £900,000 seven years ago.

In November, Mendoza won its long battle to build housing in part of the beer garden, when a Greenwich Council planning committee approved plans to build a home on land behind the pub. A Mendoza representative conceded at the meeting that the rent may have been too high.

Last March, Mendoza told The Charlton Champion it was committed to keeping the building as a pub.

According to Jenkins Law, £40,000/pa will also get you a shop unit in Earls Court, a Costa Coffee outlet in West Kensington, a former bank on the Streatham High Road, while the Old Justice pub, on the riverside at Bermondsey with lots of footfall, is on offer for just £32,000 per year.

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Injuries after King’s Troop horses run amok in Charlton Park

January 11, 2021June 19, 2023Darryl Chamberlain

Charlton House air ambulance — The air ambulance landed outside Charlton House at 10.20am (Photo: Steve Hunnisett/charltonchampion.co.uk)

King’s Troop horses ran amok in Charlton this morning, causing injuries and a flood of emergency services to descend on Charlton Village.

King's Troop incident — Photo: Steve Hunnisett/charltonchampion.co.uk

Service personnel were hurt and an eyewitness at the scene told The Charlton Champion that one horse was taken away injured after the incident at about 10am. Other service personnel were said to be looking shaken.

One horse made it as far as Charlton Park Lane before being retrieved, hoof prints were left round Charlton Park.

One person was being treated outside Charlton House. Photo: Steve Hunnisett/charltonchampion.co.uk

It is understood the horses broke free after a motorist sounded a car horn behind them at about 10am. Ambulances were on the scene outside Charlton House for about an hour. An air ambulance arrived but left without taking a patient on board.

The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, which is based at Woolwich Barracks, performs ceremonial duties at state occasions. It moved to the area in 2012 and the horses can regularly be seen being exercised in the neighbourhood, although training has been reduced to a minimum during the pandemic.

Hoof prints can be seen all over Charlton Park (photo: Steve Hunnisett/charltonchampion.co.uk)

In February 2017, a soldier broke her neck trying to stop a gun carriage and runaway horses on exercises in Charlton Park.

An eyewitness, Anne James, had just driven through Charlton Village when she saw “a stream of horses rushing towards me”. She called an ambulance after seeing a rider fall from her horse.

“I could see that they were army horses and assumed they were running blindly because something had upset them – the clattering of their hooves at speed made quite a noise,” she told The Charlton Champion.

“Each rider led a second horse, and things were clearly out of control. There were at least a dozen horses, and some of them were slipping and sliding on the tarmac. They ran in front of my car and across the pavement, where they jumped a small wall then the boundary fence at the front of Charlton House.

“As I watched them head off across the grass, I saw one rider fall to the pavement – she held on to the reins and was dragged for a few seconds, but then let go and curled into a ball to protect herself from the horses that were still hurtling past her.”

An Army spokesperson told The Charlton Champion: “We can confirm a number of military personnel and horses from the King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery were injured whilst training this morning.

“The injured personnel are receiving medical treatment and the horses are being assessed. It would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”

Update: Six people were taken to hospital, MyLondon.news reported.

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Charlton Park is getting cash to improve it – help decide where it’s spent

January 10, 2021June 19, 2023Darryl Chamberlain

Last October we reported that Charlton Park had received a share of a £1 million Greenwich Council fund to improve local parks.

The cash is due to go to:

Modernise, repair and redecorate the sports changing rooms
Improve the playground
Help create the wildlife meadow
Various repairs: footpaths, benches, bins, the boundary wall, repainting gates and railings
New signage at the car park entrance
Marked and measured route markers

The Friends of Charlton Park is asking for your views on where the money should be spent. The group says: “Green spaces should be for everyone, so let us know what would tempt you outside! For example, better lighting in winter may help people who are concerned about safety to feel comfortable spending time outside even after it gets dark around 4pm.”

When the council asked for suggestions last year, the suggestions for Charlton Park included additional toilets and maintenance as well as picnic area improvements, more bins and floodlights in the skatepark.

To find out how to have your say, visit The Friends of Charlton Park.

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Fast, free Covid-19 tests available in Charlton this weekend

January 8, 2021June 19, 2023Darryl Chamberlain

Local residents who are not showing coronavirus symptoms can now book fast, free tests at The Valley this weekend to see if they have Covid-19.

The tests are being made available as part of a borough-wide community testing programme and are also available at locations in Greenwich and Eltham. Results will be sent to you within 45 minutes.

A testing station was set up at The Valley last weekend to test school students and staff, but there are slots available for all without symptoms this weekend. So to save you making an unnecessary journey to the Old Royal Naval College, you can book a test at The Valley at the Greenwich Council website. Results will be sent by text within 30 minutes.

If you have symptoms, don’t use this service – go straight to the standard testing service instead at gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test, or call 119.

Many people with the virus don’t show symptoms, so the fast lateral flow tests are useful at picking up these cases. If you get a positive test, you should always act on it – but don’t be reassured by a negative test, because analysis shows lateral flow tests only pick up half the active infections. It’s better than nothing – if people self-isolate as a result of taking these tests, then they have done their job – but not fool-proof.

A major incident has been declared in London because of the pressure the health service is coming under.

In Greenwich borough, 1,092 people out of every 100,000 had a positive test in the seven days to 2 January – you can see local breakdowns on the Public Health England dashboard. The highest rate in the country is across the Thames in Barking & Dagenham, with 1,615 positive tests per 100,000. The Office for National Statistics believes 1 in 30 Londoners are infected.

If you need to self-isolate but need help with shopping or other services, get in touch with Greenwich Council’s community hub or call 0800 470 4831. If you cannot claim sick-pay from your employer and are a low income household, a one-off £500 payment may be available from the government to support you and your family. Find out if you are eligible to apply for this payment or call 0800 470 4831.