Developer Fairview New Homes is asking residents what they think of plans to build 370 new homes, including 11-storey blocks, on the site currently occupied by the remaining warehouse units off Victoria Way.
The western part of the site – the former Thorn Lighting factory – was developed a couple of years ago as an extension of Fairthorn Road, providing 209 homes.
Now Fairview wants to finish the job by building blocks of between two-and-a-half and 11 storeys, of which 20% will be “family sized units”, with 148 car parking spaces. 35% of homes will be “affordable”, the firm claims, adding a nursery/creche may be provided on site.
There’ll be no vehicle access to the already-developed part of the site, although it’ll be possible to walk between the two areas.
A consultation event is behind held today (Thursday 16 March) at Charlton House from 6pm to 8.30pm (we only found out about it today), but you can find out more and have your say at www.fairviewvictoriaway.co.uk, including the exhibition boards.
Early concerns are bound to surround the height of the development – but access is also going to be an issue for a development that sits between both Charlton and Westcombe Park stations.
A side entrance to Charlton station was promised at the time of the Sainsbury’s/M&S development but has not materialised – can this development fund that? More ambitiously, should a new bridge across to Westcombe Park station also be built from the original development, to save residents from having to use a dingy alleyway?
It may also be a prompt to do something about rat-running around Victoria Way and Eastcombe Avenue, a problem which some residents feel has increased since the new supermarket development.
Incidentally, this consultation is being run for Fairview by Cratus Communications, whose deputy chair is former Greenwich Council leader Chris Roberts. (This hasn’t stopped the consultation materials being strewn with basic errors about the area, mind…) We will be watching with interest.
Rockwell’s plans include a 28-storey tower close to Charlton station
A little while back, while alerting people to a meeting about the new masterplan for the Charlton riverside, we touched on plans for a 28-storey tower block on Anchor & Hope Lane, along with other big blocks behind Atlas Gardens and Derrick Gardens. What we didn’t know is that a planning application had already gone in. We’re grateful to those who took the time to let us know – here’s an update on what’s happening.
What is planned? According to planning application 16/4008/F (search via here), developer Rockwell wants to put up nine buildings ranging from 2 to 28 storeys on the site of the VIP Trading Estate and Industrial Estate – the old British Ropes site off Anchor and Hope Lane, providing 975 homes with retail, community and leisure facilities. “Affordable” housing is set at just 13%.
How come I didn’t hear about this earlier? Good question. There had been two consultation sessions, one in September, and one on 24 and 27 November, billed as Charlton Conversations. However, that second consultation didn’t take long to digest, because Rockwell put in a planning application on 5 December. It was published by Greenwich Council in mid-January, but Rockwell doesn’t seem to have alerted people on its database to respond, and no amenity groups or residents’ associations kicked up a public fuss. Nor did the nine ward councillors who represent areas within a few hundred yards of the site, although we know a lot happened behind the scenes.
One factor which complicates matters for those of us who choose to look at this kind of stuff in our spare time is that Greenwich Council no longer publishes many of its planning applications in a newspaper, making them harder to seek out. (When Greenwich Time closed, only notices about conservation areas moved to the Mercury, whose print edition is rarely seen but a digital version can be found online.)
It’s a classic example of how checks and balances can fail, because it’s so easy for these things to pass completely under the radar, particularly now there is no effective local press and we’re all scrabbling to do this in our spare time. (You can tip us off on our open thread if you get a heads-up before anyone else about an issue like this.)
Plans show blocks looming over Atlas and Derrick Gardens (left and centre) and the tower block overlooking Anchor & Hope Lane and the Makro car park (nice)
No public campaign against it – this must be fine and dandy then? Nope. Basically, this drives a coach and horses through the 2012 Charlton Riverside masterplan, which cites the area shouldn’t have buildings of more than five stories. I’m grateful to the Charlton Society for passing on its objection letter, which brands it a “completely inappropriate use of the site while setting a fundamentally misleading precedent for Charlton Riverside as a whole”.
While building a tower close to Charlton station makes sense (in theory, whether the transport network can cope is another matter), what’s planned looks ugly. And the other blocks loom over Atlas and Derrick Gardens, the two cul-de-sacs off Anchor & Hope Lane.
But isn’t there a new masterplan? Yes. It’s out this week. And it sticks two fingers up at that, too. The new masterplan allows buildings of up to ten storeys, not 28.
What does Greenwich Council think? It had been pretty widely assumed that this was fine by the council. Recent highly controversial planning decisions in Greenwich and Woolwich together with the imminent redrawing of the masterplan suggested to some that this was going to be another done deal. This actually wasn’t the case.
We know (and thanks to commenter The Hebridean for mentioning this to us) that Greenwich Council suggested that Rockwell might like to hold off with its plans until the new masterplan was ready to go. This was confirmed at last week’s public meeting into the new masterplan. Rockwell ignored the council, and claims the (original) masterplan is “not deliverable” because of the complex land ownership on the site, a criticism that would surely apply to the new one.
We’ll deal with the masterplan in detail another time, but reading between the lines, it looks as if Greenwich wants a lot more control over what goes on at Charlton Riverside than it has had at Greenwich Peninsula or in Woolwich. There’s talk of compulsorily purchasing land, a tactic it’s using to revamp the town centres in Eltham and Woolwich. With this strategy, you don’t want a developer barging in and calling the shots. And yet this is what Rockwell is doing, even calling the development Charlton Riverside Phase 1.
So what happens next? Objections by councillors mean this is all set go to the council’s main planning committee, the planning board. If the planning board objects, Rockwell can resubmit something new or appeal to planning inspectors.
One potential spanner in the works is London mayor Sadiq Khan, who can call in planning applications if he thinks he can do better, as his predecessor Boris Johnson did to Lewisham Council over Convoys Wharf in Deptford. Khan has already acted on two rejected applications, a tower block in Tottenham and another development in Wealdstone, in an attempt to secure more affordable housing. This doesn’t feel as likely with Khan, but you never know.
In any case, this will probably rumble on for ages. So watch this space.
And the new masterplan? Coming this week. Details were revealed at a meeting last week, and it actually looks like a very carefully thought-through piece of work – those used to holding their head in their hands at Greenwich Council development plans may be in for a nice surprise. Again, watch this space…
A winter night shelter at a Charlton church has been given a £500 grant by Greenwich Council as it opens its doors for the first three months of the year.
The shelter at St Thomas Church opened its doors for the first time this winter last Friday. It operates one night each week until March, providing up to 15 homeless people with a hot shower, an evening meal, a warm place to sleep and breakfast, as well as a packed lunch to take away.
Other Greenwich borough churches take part on other nights of the week to provide a volunteer-run service throughout the week during the coldest months of the year. We covered the St Thomas project last year.
The grant comes out of the ward budget fund, where each council ward has access to a pot of cash to help community groups. Woolwich Riverside ward councillors Barbara Barwick, John Fahy and Jackie Smith put the shelter forward for funding.
With temperatures dropping and snow expected later today, if you know of anyone sleeping rough, you can contact streetlink.org.uk to ensure they are offered help and advice.
Last year’s Charlton & Woolwich Free Film Festival included a screening of Shaun of the Dead at the White Swan pub. Look closely and you’ll see one of the original cast in the audience!
The Charlton & Woolwich Free Film Festival, launched last year and run entirely by volunteers, is back for 2017 and the organisers have been in touch with details of their first planning meeting:
The Charlton and Woolwich Free Film Festival (CWFFF) is returning in 2017 for its second annual event. Launched in September 2016, the inaugural CWFFF programmed thirteen screenings and seven supporting events. We had “The Third Man” at St George’s Garrison Church, the rain masking tears of nostalgia in the hardy audience; the weird and controversial “A Field in England” in Charlton House; and a zombie-interrupted “Shaun of the Dead” at the White Swan.
Matthew Pennycook MP introduced our screening of the troubling “Winter of Discontent” at the Blue Nile restaurant while the intrepid battled their way to Bunker51 for “Predator”. Local filmmakers Select18 conceived a first rate festival ident and our short film festival attracted over 3,000 entrants. The under 5s took over Shrewsbury House on the Monday, by Friday we were seeking the Grail.
We had talks and performances by a local musician who was part of the 2012 Paralympic closing ceremony; a local director introducing and providing a fascinating Q&A of his Bollywood style documentary; a film academic describing his love of film moments and a local writer and photographer team who gave a location walk and talk, a photo exhibition and an introductory talk to our inevitable screening of “Blow Up” at a packed Charlton House.
All this was done by volunteers. Come along to our planning meeting to find out how they did it and how you can get involved this year.
All of you are well and truly welcome. We are meeting on Wednesday 25th January at 7:30pm at Charlton House to start the planning. Be part of the Charlton and Woolwich Free Film Festival 2017.
Charlton Champion reader Jon Kingsbury has been in touch about a petition he’s launched to get a defibrillator installed in Maryon Park.
He says:
It’s wonderful that the park is home to communities from all across the area who play sports throughout the year. Football, tennis and, during the Summer, the park hosts a number of school sports days.
Installing a defibrillator by the public toilets in the park would provide people with the means to save a life should someone have a cardiac arrest. Waiting for an ambulance to arrive may be too late.
Councils across the UK are beginning to install these life-saving devices, which can be unlocked and used after a 999 call. They are designed to be used by members of the public and cannot give a pulse to someone who doesn’t need it.
We want our local park to be as safe as possible for our communities and families. Please join our campaign.
Here’s a video from London Ambulance Service which explains how they work.
It seems like a good use for some of the ward budget money (in this case, Woolwich Riverside ward) that Greenwich Council started to make available last year. You can sign the petition here – and it’s something to think about for the area’s other parks, too.
The college, which opened in 2014, caters for 14-19 year-olds, but has struggled to persuade 14-year-olds to switch their education there.
From next year, it will be known as Greenwich Trust School, with 150 places available in each of years 7-9 from September. For the council, it’s a quick and simple way of easing huge pressure on school places across the borough.
The expansion has already been agreed by the government, and most of the £13.7 million costs are being met by Greenwich Council. £200,000 is coming in section 106 payments from two housing developments in Abbey Wood.
Greenwich Trust School will be the first secondary school in Charlton since St Austin’s boys school on Highcombe closed in the late 1980s, eventually becoming part of St Matthew Academy in Blackheath.
The former Charlton Secondary School for Boys, which was merged into John Roan School in the early 1980s, had its upper school in the current Windrush Primary School building, next door to Greenwich Trust School.
Earlier this month, St Mary Magdalene Church of England school opened a temporary site in the old Blackheath Bluecoat building on Old Dover Road, ahead of moving to a new secondary school on the Greenwich Peninsula in 2018.
The Charlton Champion 