News – Page 4 – The Charlton Champion

Metro Bank plans drive-through branch for Charlton – despite housing plans

September 11, 2019June 19, 2023Darryl Chamberlain

Metro Bank design — The bank plans a glass-fronted building

Metro Bank is planning to open a drive-through branch in Charlton – on land designated by Greenwich Council for long-term housing development.

The bank has agreed to take over the McDonald’s branch on Bugsby’s Way, and plans to knock it down and build a new building with drive-through facilities, so customers can do their banking without the bother of having to leave their cars.

In its planning application to Greenwich Council, the bank – which already has a drive-through branch in Southall, west London – says planning law already allows it to use the existing McDonald’s building. However, this would be “a missed opportunity to significantly enhance the site”.

The Charlton Champion has contacted McDonald’s to find out the fate of its current outlet; however, the fast-food giant’s lease runs out in October 2021. This website also understands that Metro Bank has been interested in moving into Charlton for some time, and at one point was in talks about moving into the Sainsbury’s M&S development on Woolwich Road.

Now Metro, which has high street branches in Bexleyheath, Bromley and the City of London, has opted for a drive-through branch – a concept common in the US, but which failed to catch on when introduced as an experiment by British banks in the 1950s. One remained in Leicester until the late 1980s, closing shortly after a car crashed into its entrance gate.

As reported on From The Murky Depths, the bank’s plans do little to improve the miserable and intimidating pedestrian environment on Bugsby’s Way – and how Greenwich Council deals with this could be an indicator of just how serious it is about plans to transform the Charlton riverside from a collection of retail barns and industrial uses to a new, mixed-use neighbourhood with 7,500 new homes.

The Charlton Riverside masterplan, published in 2017, states that the Bugsby’s Way retail strip does not conform with the council’s “policy to promote Woolwich as a metropolitan town centre”.

It adds: “There is potential for some of the retail activity to remain, potentially embedded within new neighbourhood or local centres, but with a significant change to a mixed use form of development.”

However, as many of the retail barns have recently been built, the council does not envisage development starting on this part of the riverside until 2031.

Prudential, the insurance company, bought the whole Peninsular Park [sic] retail park – which sits between Asda and the Angerstein Wharf railway line and opened in the mid-1990s – in December 2016 for £38 million. Most of the leases run out next year or in 2021; the leases for the Smyths Toys and Tapi Carpet branches last until 2028.

Metro Bank, which rather optimistically refers to the area as “North Greenwich”, says it is aiming for a 25-year lease on the site – putting a spanner in any plans to rework the site for residential use until the mid-2040s. It says it will create 25 jobs with the proposal.

A letter from council officers submitted with the plans says: “The use of the building as a bank with drive-thru facilities will maintain the attraction of the retail park to customers and continue its economic contribution.”

In its transport statement, the bank claims most customers will use public transport or walk. The council’s transport officer raises no objection, saying there is an “abundance of parking available”.

To see further details, and to comment on the application, see reference 19/2781/F on Greenwich Council’s planning website. Comments need to be submitted by 30 September.

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Westcombe Hill to get new bus to North Greenwich from October

August 30, 2019June 19, 2023Darryl Chamberlain

Route 335 map — The new 335 service will follow the red route to North Greenwich

Bus users who live on the western side of Charlton will get a new service to North Greenwich from October after Transport for London confirmed its new route, the 335, will run via Westcombe Hill.

The new double-deck service will run between Kidbrooke and North Greenwich every 12 minutes during Monday to Saturday daytimes and every 15 minutes during evenings and Sundays. TfL hopes to begin the service, which will provide relief to the often-overcrowded 108 route, on 26 October.

Two options were presented in a consultation, with the possibility that the route could run straight down the A102, as the current 132 service does now. TfL – backed by Greenwich Council – opted to for a route via Kidbrooke Park Road, Shooters Hill Road, Stratheden Road and Westcombe Hill, to follow the 108 to North Greenwich.

The Westcombe Society – an amenity society for the Westcombe Park area – had led objections to the route serving Westcombe Hill, which has been a bus route for over a century. According to TfL, the society said running via Westcombe Hill was “unacceptable to residents who already suffer from frequent buses on a residential road”. It claimed the area was already “well served for buses to Greenwich Peninsula and North Greenwich”.

Another group, the Westcombe Traffic Group, complained about noise and pollution and called for buses on route 132 to be given double-decker buses to serve passengers from Kidbrooke. Double-decker buses have operated route 132 for ten years. TfL plans to use hybrids on the new 335. (Read the full consultation report.)

While the new route will be of huge use to those who have struggled to squeeze onto routes 108 or 422 to North Greenwich, it remains to be seen whether buses will already be crowded by the time they reach Westcombe Hill. The service is being funded by money from Berkeley Homes, which is developing the Kidbrooke Village development; while Transport for London – which has been cutting services in recent years due to financial problems – says it is using business rates income to bring the introduction of the bus forward.

It will also add to crowding at North Greenwich bus station, which already struggles in the evening rush hour. Plans are afoot for a new bus station, but a dramatic design with 24-storey towers has reportedly been dropped.

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Charlton Riverside: Rockwell challenges Khan’s refusal of 771-home scheme

August 20, 2019June 19, 2023Darryl Chamberlain1 Comment

Rockwell revised scheme — Neighbours disputed Rockwell’s images of what the scheme would look like

The developer behind plans to build 771 homes off Anchor and Hope Lane has appealed to planning inspectors to overturn Sadiq Khan’s rejection of the scheme.

Rockwell’s proposals, the first to emerge on the Charlton Riverside development area, were bitterly opposed by residents in Atlas and Derrick Gardens who feared their homes would be overlooked by the 10-storey blocks planned for the site of a trading estate.

Greenwich Council’s main planning committee rejected the scheme in July 2018, with one councillor saying the scheme was “like Stalingrad”, despite the council’s own officers recommending they approve the scheme. Then the mayor of London overturned Greenwich’s decision a month later, “calling in” the proposal to decide himself. City Hall’s planning officers recommended he approve a slightly amended scheme, but the mayor made the surprise decision to reject the scheme himself after a hearing in January.

Now Rockwell is putting its scheme’s neighbours through a third round of the fight by appealling to the Planning Inspectorate, where an inspector will decide on the development after a detailed public hearing.

Once again, residents are being asked to submit comments on the scheme – visit the Planning Inspectorate’s website and enter case reference number 3233585.

Rockwell’s appeal is against Khan’s decision, not Greenwich Council’s. At the time, Khan said: “This is an underutilised, brownfield site in an opportunity area and very accessible. It is well-connected and in an area capable of accommodating growth. It is precisely the kind of site that we need to bring forward in order to create vibrant and active places, ensuring a compact and well-functioning city.

“However, I am clear that we must deliver good growth, not growth at any cost, where people have more of a say and don’t feel excluded from the process. I have listened carefully to the concerns of residents and considered the substantial amount of work done on the Charlton Riverside Masterplan. I consider that this is the wrong development for the site.”

Anchor and Hope Lane — Rockwell had hoped for approval for its development here

He urged Rockwell to “go back to the drawing board, in partnership with the community, the council and the GLA, to come up with a scheme that delivers on the strong ambitions we all share for the future of Charlton Riverside”.

But Rockwell have instead decided to challenge the decision. They may have been fortified by Greenwich’s Council’s approval of 10-storey blocks at Victoria Way – just outside the masterplan area – in January 2018 without any explanation to objectors, a decision that was later ratified by the mayor.

Rockwell’s scheme is one of five for the Charlton riverside, designated an “opportunity area” for redevelopment by City Hall. The other four are:

The other four schemes, from west to east, are:

1,500 homes from developer Montreaux on the industrial estate containing the Stone Foundries plant behind the Stone Lake retail park. The land has just been sold and the scheme has not yet entered planning.
500 homes are planned by developer Komoto at what it calls Flint Glass Wharf, the former Johnsen and Jorgensen glassworks which closed in 1981, between the Tarmac works and the Thames Barrier;
Hyde Housing is planning to build 1,250 homes over eight years on various plots of land, including the Westminster Waste recycling depot at Maybanks Wharf. A planning application is expected within weeks.
U+I plans 500 homes on the old Siemens glassworks site on the Charlton/Woolwich border, along with a co-working hub for local businesses and space for light industry. A planning application is also expected within weeks.

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Charlton and Woolwich Film Festival: Monty Python’s Life of Brian leads 2019 line-up

August 19, 2019June 19, 2023Darryl Chamberlain

Life of Brian is showing in the garden of the White Swan

Monty Python’s Life of Brian is among the movies coming to SE7 next month as part of the fourth Charlton and Woolwich Free Film Festival.

The cult comedy – banned for blasphemy in several UK towns when it was released 40 years ago – is one of three films to be shown at The White Swan in Charlton Village.

Organisers are screening films at a host of venues across Charlton, Woolwich and Shooters Hill between Friday 6th and Saturday 14th September.

Life of Brian, presented by south London slackers’ site Deserter.co.uk, will be screened in the garden at the Swan on Sunday 8th September. The following night sees the Japanese horror comedy One Cut of the Dead at the Swan, while the same pub plays host to war documentary They Shall Not Grow Old on Wednesday 11 September.

https://youtu.be/AXCTMGYUg9A

There’ll be a family screening of The Greatest Showman on Saturday 7 September at Charlton Manor School, along with a dog-friendly screening of the comedy drama Dean Spanley in the grounds of Charlton House on Friday 13th.

Charlton House is also playing host to Shooting Dogs, which explores the genocide in Rwanda, on Thursday 12 September. It will be preceded by a documentary, Faces of Genocide.

Hollywood classic The Night of the Hunter, starring Robert Mitchum, can be seen at St Thomas’ Church on Woodland Terrace on Monday 9 September, while Mars Attacks! is at the Starbucks on Woolwich Road on Thursday 12th.

The festival opens with two screenings at once on Friday 6th – Cinema Paradiso at Shrewsbury House, Shooters Hill and Black Panther, at Artillery Square in Woolwich’s Royal Arsenal.

Artillery Square also plays host to the festival’s final screening on Saturday 14th – First Man, the story of Neil Armstrong and the first manned mission to the Moon 50 years ago.

Other highlights include the classic war movie Bridge on the River Kwai, screening at St George’s Garrison Church on Woolwich Common on Sunday 8th, and a Friday 13th screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo! at Severndroog Castle.

The festival is one of a number across south London and is run by volunteers and donations, with support this year coming from Greenwich Council. To find out more about what’s on show, visit freefilmfestivals.org.

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Developer plans Domino’s Pizza and flats for Charlton’s derelict Victoria pub

July 30, 2019June 19, 2023Darryl Chamberlain

How developers say the Victoria would look. Not sure what that car is doing, mind

A Gillingham-based developer wants to convert the long-derelict Victoria pub on Woolwich Road into a Domino’s Pizza outlet and four flats, according to documents released by Greenwich Council this week.

Residents can have their say between now and 28 August on the proposals, which would retain the locally-listed building – notorious for its sloping floor but unused for over 20 years and damaged by fires, most recently in May – and build above and behind it to create a two-storey apartment block.

A previous application, in 2016, to demolish the building for flats was refused, while this application follows a withdrawn plan to build two large student flats behind the pub, which the council objected to on the grounds that student accommodation did not fit into the Charlton Riverside redevelopment programme.

Of converting the pub to a Domino’s pizza outlet, the developer says: “The ‘A5’ use would be a Domino’s pizza outlet. They deliver. Even in a Town Centre context 95% of orders are delivered. In a location such as this it would be a lot higher. The layout allows for moped or scooter parking. Staff would be encouraged to use the scooters or cycles to access work from home.”

Side view. Space for a mural on the blank wall, perhaps?

Some things that leap out at us.

Firstly, there have been six months of to-ing and fro-ing with council planners before this has emerged, so presumably they are broadly happy with it.
Secondly, that blank wall! Surely we can get a mural out of this. Get your thinking caps on, readers.
Thirdly, it doesn’t appear anyone has properly surveyed the inside of the pub, even though it is easy to get into – it is a favourite of our pal Paul Talling of Derelict London. Hopefully this isn’t a precursor of “oh no, it’s actually in a terrible state and we’ll have to knock it down anyway!”

Victoria pub interior — Inside the Victoria after the May 2019 fire. Sensitive readers: don’t look left

We took some photos of the pub last summer, a some months before the most recent fire.

The full set of planning documents is on the Greenwich Council planning website (or enter reference 19/734/F here), where you can also leave comments about the proposal.

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Charlton House’s summer house hit by lead thieves again

July 29, 2019June 19, 2023Lara Ruffle Coles

The summer house before the theft (Photo: Neil Clasper)

Charlton House’s summer house has had lead stolen from its roof for the second year running, almost to the same day and time.

Staff at Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust, which runs the house, believe the theft occurred on Monday evening as team members noticed the lead was missing on Tuesday. Ladders are believed to have been used as marks were found on the ground beside the summer house.

The Grade I-listed summer house, which is believed to have been designed by Inigo Jones, has been undergoing restoration since 2017, and the theft combined with last week’s wet weather puts the ongoing work at risk.

The trust’s Helen Moon told The Charlton Champion: “We are currently seeking advice from Historic England in regards to the best way forward, as well as working with the roof specialist Peter Clover and the architectural firm Research Design.”

The theft has been reported to the police, but if you have any information, the trust has asked to be contacted at info[at]rght.org.uk.

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Developers get go-ahead to build houses on Pickwick pub garden

May 22, 2019June 19, 2023Tom Bull, Local Democracy Reporter

Developers have been given the green light to concrete over a pub garden in Charlton and build six new houses, despite concerns from neighbours in overlooking properties.

Greenwich councillor’s approval came months after officers threw out a scheme to bulldoze the closed Pickwick pub on Woolwich Road.

The developer, Pure Let Greenwich, put forward plans to demolish the pub’s extension in place of six new homes, concreting over the pub’s garden in the process.

Neighbour Susan Archer said her house had not been considered by officers who had recommended approving the development, which would have a four-bed family property at its rear.

She said: “My conservatory would be directly looked into by the four bedroom property. The rear buildings will be able to see directly into my property. My privacy will be totally affected.”

The resident said there has also been confusion amongst residents as to what the application was, as a previous scheme for the pub itself was thrown out last year.

A model of the plans, with the original scheme to bulldoze the pub in the corner

Council officers rejected plans last year to bulldoze the three-storey pub after more than a dozen people objected to losing the building.

The neighbour said there could have been more people objecting if the process had been clearer.

Developers said they would plant trees to screen her property from overlooking, but were left red-faced when asked about why they had already cut a tree without permission.

Chair Sarah Merrill said: “In the plans it very clearly says the tree is to be retained but it has been felled. If that’s an old plan as you say what is it doing before us.

“My view is that the pub is empty, the community space at the back is falling down. It’s an eyesore – the land is vacant. When I first looked at the application I was happy you were retaining trees so then to find out you’ve felled the huge one is upsetting. That’s disingenuous.

“However it is not worth turning down housing on those grounds. I do share concerns from the resident and there is going to be a very firm condition for screening.”

The developers said having a profitable development would eventually lead to bringing the vacant pub back into use.

The approved scheme, passed unanimously by councillors at Woolwich Town Hall, featured conditions for extensive screening of the site.

LDRS logo Tom Bull is the Local Democracy Reporter for Greenwich. The Local Democracy Reporter Service is a BBC-funded initiative to ensure councils are covered properly in local media.
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