Former Charlton Triangle Homes chair Mark Adams has been jailed for seven years after raping a woman at his house in Blackheath.
The 56-year-old was found guilty after a trial at Woolwich Crown Court. The BBC reports that his victim, in her 20s, woke up on his sofa, found her trousers pulled down and Adams raping her.
The Times reports that prosecution counsel Catherine Farrelly described Adams, who was also chair of London Chamber of Commerce from 2013 to 2016, as “controlling”.
A former private secretary to prime ministers John Major and Tony Blair, Adams was made an OBE in 1997. He later set up in business as a lobbyist, helping to found a right-wing party in Scotland, before returning to London.
In 2013, Adams sought to become a Greenwich Labour councillor, but was rejected in his attempts to be nominated by a number of ward parties. More recently, he was briefly on the board of Blackheath rugby club and had been running a business consultancy in Portsmouth.
The Angerstein branch rail bridge over Woolwich Road has been added to Greenwich Council’s Local Heritage List. Will Network Rail give it a lick of paint to celebrate?
Of the 10 nominations made in my local area of SE7, five landmarks made it through to the updated heritage list. Interestingly, three relate to the fascinating railway heritage in the area – which is all still in use today and definitely worth exploring. I’m really pleased that the Rose of Denmark was also selected because it is such an iconic local building, and this listing could be important when our local pubs feel so at risk. Details of each nomination are in the full document, but here’s a quick snapshot:
Angerstein Freight Railway pedestrian crossing & arched walkway “Rare survival of a historic pedestrian route over a freight railway, still in regular use by residents for its original purpose…and for transport of aggregates around London.”
Angerstein Freight Railway bridge, Woolwich Road “Rare example of a private individual obtaining Act of Parliament for railway construction due to the bridge. Carries a purpose-built freight line serving the Thames which is still in use, a rare survival.”
Railway Electric substation, Troughton Road “Unusual structure within a residential street with features designed on a monumental scale, of historic interest recording technological changes to the railway industry.”
Rose of Denmark public house, 296 Woolwich Road “Local landmark with strong communal value, displaying red of nearby Charlton Athletic FC – time-honoured locally valued feature.”
Rathmore Community Centre & Rathmore Benches (Former Good Shepherd Mission Hall) “Striking, high quality late C20th exterior artwork with strong social, artistic and townscape value. Intact and evocative, unique.” (An appeal has been launched to restore the mosaic benches).
The following SE7 nominations could not be considered at this point in time since they are the subject of current or recent planning applications. Nominations were put on hold until the application is determined, including any appeal:
London mayor Sadiq Khan took control of the planning application in August, weeks after Greenwich Council’s main planning committee threw out the proposed development, and a public hearing at City Hall is due to take place on 29 January.
Neighbours in Atlas and Derrick Gardens had complained that the development – likely to be the first development on the Charlton Riverside to get planning approval, albeit from Khan rather than the council – would loom over their homes, while Greenwich’s planning chair Sarah Merrill called it “reminiscent of Stalingrad”.
While the plans have been altered to reduce the impact on the two cul-de-sacs, Pennycook says in a letter to Khan’s planning team that more needs to be done to make the scheme acceptable.
Rockwell is holding two brief exhibitions this weekend about the proposals from 9am to 11am today and tomorrow at the Anchor & Hope pub, while comments about the scheme need to be sent to VIPtradingestate[at]london.gov.uk by Monday to be considered by the mayor’s team.
Pennycook says the scheme remains too dense and should be cut from a maximum of 10 storeys to six storeys, while it also needs more family-sized homes. He also calls the design “sterile and monotonous”, and says there needs to be a cut in car parking.
“If approved, this application would constitute the first major development within the Charlton Riverside masterplan area and would set a clear precedent for all other developments that would follow,” he said. “That is why I have always argued that it is critical that we get this development right.”
“The masterplan stresses that the development of Charlton Riverside requires a very different approach to that taken in other parts of the borough, such as Greenwich Peninsula. Yet in too many respects, this revised application is at odds with the spirit of that masterplan.
“I continue to support development on Charlton Riverside but I urge the mayor to refrain from approving the application until the applicant is persuaded to bring forward further amendments along the lines I have suggested.”
Dear friends and neighbours – I hope you can join us to welcome the New Year with a Wassail In the Pleasaunce. It’s on Sunday 13th Jan, 1-3pm, and we would be really grateful if you can spread the word!
This is the fifth year the local community have come together for this traditional “New Year” celebration – with music dance and song. Wassailing also involves pouring an offering of cider on the trees of the community orchard. Cider and apple juice from London, and Kent apples will be on sale.
Wassail 2019 will feature:
AmyHollinrake – singer and songwriter from Brockley with dulcimer and Appalachian tunes
The Isle of Man-based company, which makes its money from buying pubs and converting at least part of the land to residential use, has had two past applications rejected.
Now a planning inspector has upheld Greenwich Council officers’ decision to throw out the third application, to build one three-bedroom house on the currently-disused land which sits between the beer garden and the Torrance Close service road.
The house would have been partly built below ground level to reduce its impact on the surrounding conservation area, and would have no windows that could open onto the beer garden.
However, planning inspector Gary Deene rejected the scheme, saying “the proposed development would unacceptably harm the character and appearance of the local area”.
The rejected proposal was for one house, sunk partly below ground level
There is a glimmer of hope for the developer – the inspector did not wholly reject the idea of building on Torrance Close, saying: “The local area to which the site belongs [Torrance Close] has an air of neglect and to my mind is capable of successfully accommodating a bespoke form of new development.
“The conservation area itself has no single unifying architectural theme and there is no obvious reason why it could not in principle readily assimilate a variety of new dwellings in terms of size and style.”
The plans were first submitted to Greenwich Council in summer 2017. Mendoza bought the pub from previous owner Punch Taverns in March 2015, evicting the then-management three months later. However, it reopened in September 2015 under the management of Greenwich’s Pelton Arms boss Geoff Keen, who is trying to keep it as a viable, community-focused pub. A second bar and function room has now opened on the pub’s upper floor.
Now he is holding a talk at Thames-Side Studios in Warspite Road on Thursday 17 January with illustrator Giovanni Rigano (above) to talk about the process involved in putting Illegal together, from their initial thoughts and ideas, location sketches and characterisation, through to storyboarding, final artwork and publication.
Giovanni will be flying in from Italy and drawing live during the talk. Individually customised copies by Giovanni will also be available on the evening.
Illegal, written by Andrew and Eoin Colfer and with artwork by Giovanni, won the Judges’ Special Award at the Children’s Books Ireland Awards in May, and the UK paperback edition was released in August. It is also curently nominated for the Carnigie Medal and Kate Greenaway Medal.
The Charlton Ensemble will perform ‘popular classics for cello, voice and piano’ in support of St. Thomas’ Church’s night shelter for the homeless on Sunday 27 January.
The Charlton Ensemble consist of professional instrumentalists and singers who live, work and/or worship in the Charlton area. They promise a varied programme ranging from Baroque to Bernstein. The concert will take place at St. Thomas’ Church on Woodland Terrace, starting at 7pm; tickets cost £10 – phone 07989 740 252 to book.
The Charlton Champion 