Charlton

What’s on in Charlton: February

Neil Clasper1 Comment
Thames Pilots at the Anchor & Hope
Thames Pilots at the Anchor & Hope – photo © Neil Clasper

Dates for your diary
A round-up of February events we’ve found in and around SE7. What have we missed? Let us know in the comments below or email neilclasper[at]gmail.com, and we’ll update the post as we get the chance.

4th Feb, 7pm: Charlton Rail Users Group (CRUG) annual open meeting, Charlton Liberal Club, Charlton Church Lane.

7th, 14th, 21st, 28th Feb, 1pm: Friday Lunchtime Concerts, Charlton House.

13th Feb, 8.30pm: Charlton Pub Quiz, Rose of Denmark, Woolwich Rd.

15th Feb, 2.30pm: Charlton Society talk – John Beckham on ‘Wildlife in our local parks‘, Charlton House.

20th February, 7-9pm: Death Cafe at Charlton House. “Join us in the comfortable Dutch room to drink tea, eat cake and discuss life, death and what comes after!”.

20-22nd February, various times: the Alexandra Players’ performance of ‘Sleeping Beauty’, Alexandra Hall, Bramshot Avenue.

26th February, 6.30pm: Global Fusion Music and Arts’ Fairtrade Fortnight Networking Event, Charlton House. “Fairtrade stalls including clothing, food, gifts, books, arts, and massage; plus dance, music and poetry – including a few songs from the GFMA singing group. Topping the bill will be the amazing Kora player Mosi Conde from Guinea – and if fancy trying your hand at drumming, Tai Chi or African dance, there will be some fun taster sessions”. Free entry. Email globalfusionarts@yahoo.co.uk.

Disclaimer: These listings are up to date to the best of our knowledge, but we advise checking  details with the event organisers before attending any events.

Photo feature
Have you got a Charlton photo you’d like to share with the world? A shot of your favourite part of SE7, or a recent event? We’d love to feature some readers’ photos in our monthly diary round-up. Send your image to neilclasper[at]gmail.com with a title and – if you like – some words to tell us what the picture means to you (don’t worry: we’ll attribute the photo as you wish, and you’ll keep full control of copyright).

PS. The Charlton Champion is now on Facebook – you can ‘like’ us here: https://www.facebook.com/CharltonChampion!

The Guardian on ‘defiantly unfashionable’ Charlton

Darryl Chamberlain7 Comments

Cherry Orchard Estate

“Estate agents have started calling it Charlton Village.”

Hmmm. But for a series that’s usually written without ever setting foot into the place in question, the Guardian weekend magazine’s Let’s Move To… Charlton is unusually bang on the money.

Charlton has fine schools, magnificent views from its rolling hillside, great transport links to central London, leafy parks such as Maryon Wilson and, at its heart, what was once a Kentish village, with old church, ye olde pubbe, village green and a Jacobean stately home, Charlton House. Its little high street contains useful shops that in other, posher spots might have been turned into candle purveyors and poodle parlours. There is no Starbucks. Its homes are well built and affordable. Plus it has an (almost) restored lido. Heated water, too. Beat that, Blackheath.

Indeed, who needs Starbucks now there’s The Old Cottage Cafe and Brew & Choo? But what did the Guardian miss out? Share your thoughts…

Open meeting this week to discuss Sainsbury’s and M&S plans

Matt10 Comments

The consultation period for the public to put forward their views on the proposed Sainsbury’s and M&S development ends on May 29th.

You can comment yourself by following this link.

Following on from our last open meeting, the Charlton Riverside Action Group have arranged another get-together that will allow people to chat with the developer behind this project.

It’s short notice, but it will be held at the Charlton Liberal Club (non-political), 59 Charlton Church Lane, SE7 7AE on Wednesday 23rd May at 7.30pm.

We’ll have a representative from LXB who will talk in detail about the application and can answer any questions you may have. We’ll then urge everyone to send in their own feedback before the end of the month.

And just in case you didn’t know already, CRAG is a non-political group made up of concerned local residents that have come together to try to improve the local area. We’re concerned about traffic, pollution, improving public transport and cycling routes, and ensuring that one of the last underdeveloped areas of river-side in London is used for the benefit of local people.

We are all local residents and hope that we can re-establish a greater sense of community to improve our area jointly – in partnership with the council, local businesses and developers.

We’d love you to get involved too.

You can contact CRAG at charltoncrag[at]gmail.com

Plenty of space to park at Charlton’s new Wickes

Matt2 Comments

The new Wickes DIY store in Charlton opens later this month. It means a move over to Bugsby’s Way at the northern end of the retail park from its current home facing onto Woolwich Road.

Here’s a first glimpse at what it looks like from the outside. Just look at that car park – plenty of room.

Luckily, there’s more car parking than we used to have when it was a Lidl. Looks more than there is at the current Wickes, which must be a good thing as it’s always jam-packed.

Can’t see any trees, but that surely means more room for cars. With increased gate receipts at Charlton Athletic after their recent promotion, surely match day parking won’t be a problem anymore.

Thumbs up all round.

Wonder how the developers will fare with their next project.?

Application in for new Charlton Sainsbury’s and M&S

Matt25 Comments
View of Sainsbury's from Gallions Road

Detailed plans were released this week for the proposed Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer stores, set to be located within Charlton’s retail park.

These images form part of developer LXB‘s application to Greenwich Council. A planning board will then decide whether to approve or reject these plans – likely to be some time in June.

View of M&S and coffee shop from Woolwich Road

There’s several elements to this application including an impact assessment on retail in much of south-east London. A thorough report by consultants WYG states that:

“The enhancement of the retail facilities at Bugsby’s Way will not affect Woolwich’s status as a Major Centre, nor its prospects of being re-designated as a Metropolitan centre in the long term.”

Their reasoning behind this are the new developments in Woolwich, such as the Tesco, that WYS believes will regenerate the SE18 area, keeping shoppers from getting into their cars or straying onto a bus and travelling over to Charlton.

Another talking point recently has been the downgrade of the western end of Woolwich Road (from Charlton station to the flyover) and how these new developments will impact on the near 24,000 vehicles that use the road on an average weekday.

An equally in-depth report by transport specialists Vectos makes no mention of this, however. It references the draft supplementary planning document that appeared in January. But doesn’t take into account the changes made for the finalised version that states clearly a wish to downgrade the road.

This website understands the developer LXB have been told by TfL and the council’s highways department that alterations to plans won’t be considered until the road has actually been downgraded.

Meaning, the proposed reshaping of Woolwich Road for deliveries and customer access (including current work being undertaken for the Travelodge) don’t take this downgrade into account.

This agreed Charlton Riverside Masterplan also calls for an upgrade to Charlton station which would surely mean a re-think on the junction next to it.

Would it be outrageous for me to suggest that a coherent plan for Woolwich Road, using a bit of foresight, might save a lot of time, money and upheaval in the future?

Two different diagrams highlighting proposed changes to Woolwich Road

The old retail barns that currently occupy this site lay dormant, aside from the odd illegal rave. Wickes is the last store still operating and is believed to be moving into its new home next to Matalan in the next two weeks.

If approved by the council’s planning board the new Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer would be looking to open before the end of 2014.

Members of the public can comment on these proposals and view all the documents by visiting Greenwich Council’s planning website.

Second open meeting for Charlton’s community garden

Matt3 Comments

After a successful meeting back in February, plans for a community garden on Highcombe continue to gather pace.

A steering group has been formed that meet regularly and they’ve just announced their second open meeting.

It”ll be taking place at 8pm on Thursday 10th May at Alexandra Hall on Bramshot Avenue.

That evening they’ll be updating people with details on how they’re negotiating for the land, what the group’s constitution will be and what funding they have applied for.

They’re also urging people to bring spare seeds, seedlings or plants to swap with your neighbours. As well as announcing an edible window box competition to be judged in late summer.

If you need more details then you can email Judy at charlton.community.garden[at]gmail.com.

Council backs amended plans for Charlton riverside

Matt7 Comments

On Monday night Greenwich Council’s cabinet agreed to adopt the masterplan for Charlton riverside.

This follows a four week period of consultation and a new document being drafted after responses from the public.

The main differences to this new version are the following:

1) The designated area now encompasses Charlton station.

2) A firmer commitment to downgrade Woolwich Road.

3) A mention of a green bridge as one option for a crossing at the eastern section of Woolwich Road.

4)  A nod towards enhancing Charlton railway station and improving its connections with other modes of transport.

5) The idea for a marina has changed to “leisure activities on the waterfront” due to concerns from the Port of London Authority that it would interfere with other river uses.

6) There’s a sentence added that calls for a limiting of retail uses in Charlton “to support the aspirations of Woolwich becoming a metropolitan centre”, which possibly came after pressure from investment vehicle Powis Street Estates who own buildings in the heart of the town. A council officer at the meeting stated that any new planning applications for the retail park would have to fulfill impact assessments so as not to take trade away from Woolwich.

Residents also addressed the cabinet at the meeting. Some representing local groups such as CRAG, the Charlton Society and the Westcombe Society. Each underlined the main themes from their formal responses. There were calls for Charlton to be seen as a whole and for residents and businesses to be involved as much as possible. The traversing of Woolwich Road was highlighted as key as well as improving our streetscapes.

Charlton Champion reader Ashleigh Marsh also raised the point that blogs (like this one) should form part of the consultation process, or at least noted.

Before the meeting a crowd had gathered outside Woolwich Town Hall protesting at the potential loss of businesses and the poor consultation. On further investigation it’s believed that this lobby group were actually the Christ Faith Tabernacle Church. They’ve recently been in the news with their battle to take over the former Gala Bingo building in Woolwich – something Woolwich’s masterplan conflicts directly with. Why they weren’t more up front with their intentions is beyond me, but it might have something to do with council statistics showing only 10% of these objectors live within the borough.

It’s probably best not to get too carried away and come back to what a supplementary planning document actually is. My own knowledge tells me that it will complement the overall plan for the borough. It will add to a “core strategy” and will be taken into consideration in future planning applications.

This point was reiterated by councillors and officers on Monday night. Council leader Chris Roberts added:

“Changes won’t necessarily happen overnight, next week or next year. This is a think-through as to what might happen when traditional industry moves on.”

I’m guessing the next step will be to confirm the actual core strategy.

Keep your eyes peeled for another consultation period.