Keen readers of the council’s Greenwich Time paper will have spotted that this week’s front page story was about how the council has given permission for a start-up company to trial its grocery-delivering robots in Thamesmead. This is the latest announcement under its Smart City strategy, and the publicity has played heavily on futuristic self-driving cars and robots.
There’s a lot more to the Smart City strategy that the council published last year than that, though, which is worth a read if technology infrastructure and planning is your thing. The document spends very little time talking about shopping robots and concentrates more on whether Greenwich borough will have the right digital infrastructure for the future, along with whether the council can make more use of open data and internet-enabled sensors on council premises.
You might have missed, meanwhile, that the council would like to know more about your experience of using broadband services in the borough.
There’s a survey here, open until April 23rd, and it’s probably in the long-term interests of anyone struggling with connectivity to fill it in so that the scale of any problems are known.
Back in 2013, we reported that Charlton was supposed to have London’s fastest broadband – is that still right? How is your internet connection? Do you run a business dependent on internet connection or work from home in Charlton and how do you get on? What would you tell the council about the digital future that it hasn’t asked?
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.
It’s Charlton Toy Library’s Easter Party on Saturday 19th March, 10-12am to 12 noon at Charlton Assembly Rooms. Tickets are £5 for children, with free admission to adults and children under 12 months. Tickets are available from the Toy Library, and will help to fund the Toy Library and their outreach programme.
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.
If you’re a member of the congregation of St Luke’s or St Thomas’ churches, you’ll already know this, but it came as a surprise to some of us: there’s a winter shelter for homeless people in St Thomas’ hall, and still has another six weeks left to run.
The weather can be cruel at the start of the year and while you may see more campaigns around Christmas, the need for shelter is just as pressing now.
Seven churches across Greenwich borough take part in the night shelter project, run by volunteers, with each church opening their doors one night of the week.
St Thomas’, working together with the congregation of St Luke’s, welcomes its guests on Fridays. They arrive at 7pm, are offered showers and a hot meal, breakfast the next morning and a packed lunch to take with them. The hall can hold 15 people and most of these places are usually taken, with between 12 and 15 people normally sheltering for the night.
Most guests are now regulars, and the volunteers have got to know them well.
Volunteers get ready for Friday night
Beds ready to be made up
We asked James Kinsella, a volunteer at the shelter, to describe the experience of running the shelter in one word, and he chose “humbling”.
He says volunteers have found the project rewarding and that they have been made “more aware of the plight of the homeless in London”. James says his attitude to homeless people has changed:
I am more aware of the homeless that are on the street in this cold weather, and if I give them some money I don’t cast judgement on how they spend it: if I was out in this cold weather I may need some alcohol to numb the pain
Asked how he thought guests found the shelter, James says he hopes they have found the church hall “a very warm and welcoming place where they are treated with dignity and kindness”.
If you’d like to support the valuable work that St Thomas’ Church is doing this winter, while there are enough volunteers, the team woud be very grateful for donations.
You can donate food to the shelter by leaving it at the church after 4pm on a Friday, or you can donate money. The church has a good relationship with its local community and already receives a good amount of food, but it also needs to pay for heating, fresh food and lighting, so money is – if anything – more welcome.
Cheques should be made out to St Thomas’ PCC and can also be dropped off at the church – the volunteers can give you a written acknowledgement of your donation if they know your name.
If you’re a member of the congregation of St Luke’s or St Thomas’ churches, you’ll already know this, but it came as a surprise to some of us: there’s a winter shelter for homeless people in St Thomas’ hall, and still has another six weeks left to run. 
The Charlton Champion 