News

Snow delays council refuse collections

Darryl Chamberlain1 Comment

If your bins were due to be emptied today, then they won’t have been – Greenwich Council has suspended its refuse collections so the bin teams can help out with gritting the roads after the weekend snowfall.

There’s no word on when they’ll be resuming, but Greenwich Council’s website and Twitter feed should have the latest. There’s also details of what to do with that Christmas tree once you’ve finished with it.

It’s certainly still pretty dicey underfoot on the area’s pavements, and Saturday’s blizzard saw more distruption to public transport; although rail and bus services have largely recovered since then. The M&S Simply Food at Blackheath Standard’s been cleared out of bread, which may tell you something (or nothing) about panic buyers…

At the moment, light snow is forecast for Christmas Day.

Maryon Park users speak up for threatened animal centre

Darryl Chamberlain3 Comments

Users of Maryon Wilson Park have joined the criticism of Greenwich Council’s plans to withdraw funding from its animal centre.

Council chiefs want to seek sponsorship for the centre, which employs one member of staff and costs £43,000 each year.

The Friends of Maryon and Maryon Wilson Parks said it was “shocked” to hear the council wanted to withdraw funding for the centre, which includes sheep, goats, exotic ducks and wild fowl, horses and deer.

It said the centre was regularly used by local schools and play schemes, as well as adults from day centres.

Group chairman Tim Anderson said: “Withdrawing funding completely from this unique popular centre is disproportionate to the cuts the council needs to make. A 100% cut in funding is way beyond the 20% required by the Government.

“We urge the council to reconsider this cut and commit to keeping the animals in the park until alternative-funding arrangements can be made.

“We expect that there will be very strong feelings against the possible closure and that there will be a campaign against the loss of this special family-orientated facility.”

There’s more at the Friends website.

Charlton Lido revamp plans collapse

Darryl Chamberlain14 Comments

Plans to refurbish Charlton Lido and build a diving centre have collapsed, Greenwich councillors were told on Wednesday evening.

Open Waters Investments, which signed a deal with the council in 2009 to create a “four-storey dive centre with a 22m-deep, 25m-dive pool, a gym, treatment rooms, exercise studios and a crèche”, alongside a refurbishment of the original lido, has been unable to raise the money for the scheme, the council’s cabinet member for leisure, Cllr John Fahy said.

The lido was controversially closed to the public in summer 2009, just when regulars were expecting to take a dip – apparently so the lease with Open Waters could be signed. It eventually was.

In the summer of 2010, however, the lido was reopened to the public – but it’s unclear quite what work had taken place. I’ve not seen inside the lido for a few years, but from the outside, I’ve not seen much more than a few skips.

Let’s face it – Charlton Lido is not the most well publicised of pools. It’s not the most attractive of locations, either – covered in barbed wire and in a dowdy park that’s seen better days. In fact, you could be forgiven for thinking the place had closed years ago.

So, when I heard in early November that the Open Waters deal had collapsed, I asked the council just what was happening.

The response? A statement reading: “The Council continues to seek solutions for the long-term development of Charlton Lido. While it is disappointing that the development has taken longer than anticipated due to the current economic climate the Council is committed to the redevelopment of the Lido and recognises that this can only be secured with investment from an external partner.”

Did this mean the deal had collapsed?

It hadn’t, I was told.

So, assuming I was being spoken to in good faith, what has changed in that past month? I wonder.

According to Open Waters is in discussions with another – unnamed – organisation about transferring the lease. Rumours I’ve heard include Greenwich Leisure Limited taking the lido on, building a heated Olympic-sized pool by summer 2012. GLL runs all Greenwich borough’s other pools… and ran Charlton Lido before the Open Waters deal was signed.

For some, alarm bells rang the moment the deal was signed – Open Waters is merely an investment vehicle, and with no website, it was not easy for lido lovers to see just who was taking on their pool. Now they – and particularly the swimming club which uses the pool – are waiting to see just what happens next.

Here’s Cllr John Fahy’s written answer to Conservative group leader Cllr Spencer Drury:


Update, 7.25pm: A Greenwich Council spokesperson told the Charlton Champion today:

“The Open Waters arrangement has not collapsed. We believe Open Waters is finding it difficult to raise the bank finance for the project. However, they still retain a lease.

“The council continues to seek solutions for the long-term development of Charlton Lido. While it is disappointing that the development has taken longer than anticipated due to the current economic climate the council is committed to the redevelopment and aims to have the lido open by the summer of 2012. The council also recognises that this can only be secured with investment from an external partner.”

Fire on Charlton Church Lane

3 Comments

Dramatic scenes on Charlton Church Lane last night, as at around 9pm fire broke out at the Fresh Fry Fish Bar. I was in the Cattleya Restaurant next door when we suddenly smelt a pretty acrid burning smell and could hear shouting outside. As we stepped out of the restaurant, black smoke was billowing out of the chip shop and the staff were only just making their way out. By this point it was impossible to see into the chip shop at all, as it was completely consumed by smoke.

While they didn’t have that far to come, the fire brigade still reached the scene incredibly quickly. Five engines made the scene, and while the shop was fully checked out, it thankfully appeared that everyone had managed to escape in time.

A word of thanks to Cattleya, who kept their patrons informed of what was going on, and once it was clear that we wouldn’t have access to the restaurant for some time, waived our bill, and would not accept any payment at all. Brilliant customer service from them, especially while their business was at risk of damage from the fire.

Here are a couple of shots of the fire. You’ll see why I won’t be pursuing a career in photojournalism…

Here’s one from me:

Fire at Charlton Church Lane

And here’s one from @slaponthebutton:

Fire at Charlton Church Lane

Council cuts: Maryon Wilson animals under threat

Darryl Chamberlain26 Comments

Maryon Wilson Park’s animal centre could face closure if it cannot find a sponsor, according to Greenwich Council’s cuts proposals.

The centre currently employs just one full-time member of staff, and costs the council £43,000 a year to run. It plans to seek sponsorship for the centre from April 2012.

“If sponsorship cannot be secured, the only alternative will be closure of the centre,” council officers warn in a document distributed to councillors.

The proposal is just one of a huge range of savings proposed by the council as it responds to the cutting of grants from central government.

Parking in Charlton – as well as Blackheath and Greenwich – is likely to become more expensive, with free parking bays across the area abolished and charges brought in. There is also a proposal to levy a £5 matchday parking charge near The Valley – although there are no details available on how this would work.

Charlton House’s tea room is set to lose its £8,000 a year subsidy – but would remain open.

Councillors will meet to discuss the proposals on Thursday evening at Woolwich Town Hall. All three Charlton ward councillors – Janet Gillman, Allan MacCarthy and Gary Parker – are on the overview and scrutiny committee charged with studying the plans, along with Peninsula ward representative Dick Quibell.

Snow silences Charlton’s cracker

Darryl Chamberlain

Charlton Road

The Charlton Champion has just heard that the Charlton Christmas Cracker event planned for Saturday at Charlton House has been cancelled because of the freezing conditions.

“The snow and ice on the grounds at Charlton House have made it unsafe for a large event,” a council spokesperson said.

Greenwich Council had promised a Santa’s Grotto, live reindeer, a farmers market, fairground games and “wandering entertainers”, as well as “showers of ‘real’ falling snow”. Which proves that you should be careful what you wish for…

O2 bosses back Charlton station bus boost

Darryl Chamberlain8 Comments

O2 arena bosses are ready to back locals who want to see more buses between Charlton and North Greenwich stations.

Residents told a meeting of Charlton Rail Users’ Group last night they wanted to see one or more routes to the Greenwich Peninsula diverted to supplement the existing 486 service which serves the Dome and the Jubilee Line stop.

Charlton station is promoted as an interchange for the O2 – but only the 486 stops directly outside the station. A further two services to the entertainment venue, the 161 and 472, call at two separate spots close by – prompting bus users to do what was dubbed a “dance of death” between busy roads to get the first bus to North Greenwich.

The O2’s transport strategy head Geoff Symonds said he would support diverting buses via a loop in Charlton Church Lane as part of plans to make Charlton station “more of a hub” for for people travelling to the venue.

Mr Symonds told the meeting he was working on plans to ensure more than 75% of O2 visitors continued arriving by public transport, and plans for an express bus link between Charlton and North Greenwich on event nights were also under consideration.

“Less than 1% our visitors overall come via Charlton station, and of our car users, between 80% and 90% come from Kent,” he said. “The next stage of our strategy is to make Charlton station more of a hub.”

The O2 had already been successful in persuading Transport for London to make more bus services call at North Greenwich, he told the meeting.

“The Tube closures have forced us to be creative, and we did run express buses from the O2 to Charlton which were used by around 2,400 people on event nights. We actually had complements about how good the service was, when we would usually get complaints about replacement bus services.”

Charlton’s late night train service would need to be boosted to make improved bus links a success, he continued, explaining that the O2 had paid Southeastern to run extra trains from Charlton when Guns N’ Roses played at the venue, fearing the temperamental band would play beyond the Tube’s closing time.

“It paid off, because they didn’t come off stage until 12.40am,” he said, adding that the venue had secured a train service to 2am.

Southeastern’s public affairs manager Mike Gibson told the meeting Charlton Station had been awarded “safer station status” by the Department for Transport, after improvements to lighting and CCTV, a 30% annual drop in crime and positive results in a passenger survey. Staff monitored CCTV 24 hours a day, he said, and could make announcements over the station’s PA or call police if they saw trouble.

12:25PM UPDATE: It’s emerged that Thames Clippers – owned by O2 backers AEG – is cutting late night boats from central London to Greenwich and Woolwich from next week.

Thanks to David Thomson for the Charlton station photo.