Opinions on Local Services Revealed by “Place Survey”

A  survey of public opinion about the provision of local services has revealed that Greenwich Council achieves a satisfaction rate of 53.1% – the same as Bromley and ahead of both Lewisham and Bexley. The results come from the “Place Survey” which was carried out by English local authorities themselves on behalf of the Department for Communities and Local Governmment, and which measured attitudes across a range of local issues.

Local Decision Making

15.1% of respondents in Greenwich said they had been involved in decisions that affect the local area over the last 12 months. A seemingly small number, but when asked, only 33.4% said they would like to be more involved in decisions that affect the local area.

Litter, Refuse and Recycling

53.3% of the Greenwich borough residents said they were very or fairly satisfied with the way public land was kept clear of litter or refuse, compared with 62.5% in the borough of Bromley and 61.3% in Lewisham.

75.6% were satisfied with refuse collection – an almost identical number to those in Bromley, but still trailing Lewisham where 81.6% felt the same way. Bexley were way behind with just 61.5% happy with their refuse collection.

Greenwich seems to be leading the way with doorstep recycling as far as respondents to this survey were concerned - three quarters of respondents were very or fairly satisfied with that, compared to just 65.9% in Bromley and 69% in Lewisham.

Crime and Anti Social Behaviour

In Greenwich, 26.6% of the people that took part in the survey thought anti social behaviour was a problem. Significantly more than the 17.1% who thought the same was true in Bromley but only slightly above the figures for Bexley and Lewisham.

41.5% in Greenwich agreed that was a problem with people not treating each other respect and  consideration. Again, this was way above Bromley (27.8) but roughly in line with Lewisham and Bexley. Drug use and drug dealing is considered a signicantly bigger problem in Greenwich than it is in all of its neighbouring boroughs.

Transport

Greenwich scored marginally more than neighbouring boroughs on providing transport information, and marginally less then the same boroughs for bus services.

Read the data for yourself here and see how Greenwich compares to other boroughs and authorities.

Major Gas Mains Replacement Starts July 1st

A five month project by Scottish Gas Networks to replace old gas mains in Greenwich town centre will begin on July 1st.  The utility company is spending £270,000 replacing metallic mains with new plastic piping that should last for a minimum of 80 years.

The works are taking place in Trafalgar Road, Romney Road and Nelson road, and require road closures during the replacement programme.

There will be three phases to the project:

Phase One: Work taking place in Greenwich Church Street, from number 8, along Nelson Road to just past the junction between Romney Road and King William Walk. Starting 1 July, for approximately 12 weeks, a series of diversions will be in place to enable the safe laying of a new main in an open trench.

From 1 July, for approximately five weeks, the left turn from Nelson Road into Greenwich Church Street will be closed. Traffic will be diverted via Creek Road and Norman Road to Greenwich High Road, where motorists will continue along their intended route.

In addition, westbound buses on routes 177, 180 and 386 towards Greenwich South Street will also divert via Creek Road, Norman Road and Greenwich High Road to Greenwich South Street. Buses on route 199 coming from Surrey Quays will turn right from Creek Road into Norman Road and Greenwich High Road to Greenwich South Street.

The remainder of phase one will see the reinstatement of the left turn out of Nelson Road and two-way temporary traffic lights installed in Romney Road and King William Walk.

Phase Two: Work taking place along Romney Road to the junction of Trafalgar Road and Eastney Street. From 24 September, for approximately nine weeks, the bus lane will be closed but two-way traffic will be maintained.

Phase Three: Work taking place along Trafalgar Road from the Eastney Street junction to the junction with Hoskins Street. From 26 November, for approximately four weeks, temporary two-way traffic lights will be in place. Maze Hill will also be temporarily closed during this phase with diversions in place.

SGN Team Manager Gareth Lewis said: “We’ve been working closely with the Greenwich Council and the emergency services to find the most effective way to minimise overall disruption while carrying out this essential work.  Advance warning and diversion signs will be in place throughout the course of our work and access to homes and businesses will be maintained”.

What’s On This Week: June 29th – July 5th 2009

To mark this week’s monumental event in Greenwich – a whole week of good weather – I wanted to go in search of a soundtrack to the sunshine and with a raft of musical events happening in and around the town this week, there’s hopefully something to please everyone: get your dancing (or toe-tapping) shoes on.

If you’ve been watching Glastonbury on BBC Three with a tinge of jealousy then most notable is the brilliantly named ‘Nestival’ at the Bird’s Nest in Deptford next Friday and Saturday. Here’s your chance to dance away in the sunshine with a BBQ burger and a beer and in fact, it’s better than Glasto on two counts. 1: you don’t have to sleep in a tent or wear wellies and 2: it’s all absolutely free.  Friday night is the club night featuring what my Mum calls ‘doof doof’ music, so it’s best to venture down on Saturday if you’re looking for something more relaxed as that’s when the live bands are on.  (Fri 8pm-2am & Sat 4pm-2am, Free)

If that all sounds a bit loud and energetic for you, you might prefer to head to Mycenae House in Blackheath this evening for some laid-back Jazz with trumpeter Leigh Henson.  A regular on the Jazznights scene, Leigh’s vibrant style should see off the Monday blues nicely and if you’re a player yourself it’s worth taking your instrument along as you may get to join in for a jam session. (7.30pm; £5/4)  The Birds Nest is also rounding off the Nestival activities with some Jazz and Bossa Nova from Antonion Marzinotto on Sunday evening (Free).

Along the more classical lines the Old Royal Naval College continues its homage to Handel in his 250^th anniversary year by teaming its choir up with the Greenwich Baroque Orchestra for a celebratory concert on Wednesday, in the college chapel. The spectacular setting of the chapel, worth a visit in its own right, fits this style of music perfectly and these two very proficient groups will no doubt put on a great show. (7.30pm, £15). For those of you with budding young musicians Trinity are also holding a Junior Composition Workshop on Saturday and admission is free for spectators.

Is there anything else happening in Greenwich this week? Use the comments box below to share any info.

Michael Jackson Dies Weeks Before O2 Concerts

The shock death of pop legend Michael Jackson comes just weeks before he was due to start his series of concerts at the O2 in North Greenwich.

The “This Is It” tour was announced back in March, and fans of the singer from around the world had snapped up tickets for the fifty dates.

Doubts had been raised about the singer’s fitness and whether he would be physically able to meet the demands of the live shows. He hadn’t performed live for over a decade and the starting date for the residency had already been put back.

AEG, operators of the dome, and its ticketing partners will now have to deal with the huge administrative task of refunding the many hundreds of thousands of tickets that have been purchased and trying to find new acts to fill the dates that Jackson was due to perform.

Andrew Gilligan: Beardie, Don’t You Dare Shave Our Marathon

I HAVE never understood what people see in Richard Branson. His trains are serial offenders against civilised transport, his airline is nothing special and, contrary to his image as the great tycoon, most of his other businesses are distinctly bonsai affairs.

Now, having wreaked so much damage elsewhere in our public realm, the deadliest beard since Lenin is swivelling in our direction. From next year, Virgin replaces Flora as the sponsor of the London Marathon – which, of course, starts in Greenwich Park, passes through Greenwich town centre and spends more than seven of its 26 miles in the borough.

But in my paper, the Standard, yesterday, Sir Richard is quoted as saying he wants to “come up with a better route” because the current one is not “glamorous” enough. It passes, he says, too many dull places in east and south-east London and not enough tourist attractions.

It is stunning how much of what we’ve come to think of as the essence of Greenwich is, all of a sudden, under threat. The Marathon now joins the Market, the Village Market, the park, the Cutty Sark and the foot tunnel on the danger list.

For as our 40-watt council presses blindly on with its plans for a one-off sporting event actively wanted by almost no-one, the Olympic horseriding in the Park, councillors appear to have been completely oblivious to this very real threat to a much more important and genuinely loved Greenwich sports occasion.

The contrast between the stage-managed North Korean spend-fest that is the Olympics and the Marathon could not be greater. The Marathon is democratic: it is the people dressed as bananas we care about, not the manufactured elite athletes at the front. On the morning of the race, you can go into the park and mix freely with the competitors – best of luck if you want to try that in 2012. The Marathon is free for everyone to watch. The Olympics won’t be accessible to most Greenwich people even if they are rich enough to pay.

The Olympics are a giant edifice of lies. The Marathon makes no promises it cannot keep. The Olympics are costing £9.3 billion and could rip up our precious park. The Marathon manages to be one of the greatest sporting spectacles in the world without doing any damage to anything and without costing any taxpayer a single penny.

Now it is perfectly true that south-east London is not glamorous. That’s why I like it, actually. We are protected from fashionability by that impenetrable mountain range of council estates along the Old Kent Road. Madonna and Guy will never be spotted shopping in Somerfield, thank God.

But South Londoners, black and white, embody the real essence of our great city, rather than the rootless cosmopolitanism of the north. We are contrary. We will never be told what to think by Vogue or The Guardian. North London had New Labour; South London had the peasants’ revolt. Turn up the volume on Heart 106.2!

That is precisely why the Marathon, the ultimate people’s sport, should keep on running through the people’s streets. The idea that the route is dull is a slander, too. As anyone except Branson must know, Greenwich is one of the prettiest places in London, the East End is just about the most happening part of town right now, and the Isle of Dogs has been transformed over the exact lifespan of the Marathon itself from vacant wasteland to Europe’s premier financial powerhouse.

The Park, the Observatory, Charlton House, the Naval College, the Cutty Sark (restoration permitting), Tower Bridge, the Tower of London and Canary Wharf must count as tourist attractions, surely? Anyway, if East London is too dull to host a sports event, what does that say for the Olympics?

Beardie is threatening to run the Marathon himself next year, when it will still be more or less on its current course. May I suggest that the people of south-east London line the route and give him, as he passes, the benefit of their unglamorous views?

Greenwich Theatre Group Scoops Lotto Handout

A Greenwich based theatre group has been awarded £4,020 in Lottery funding.

The Pindrop Theatre group, based in Caradoc Road, Greenwich, offers drama workshops to groups of young people in areas of social deprivation. The project will work with schools, colleges and community centres in with the aim of raising self esteem and encouraging creativity.

Other recipients in the area who will benefit from funding include the Blackheath Asian Forum, which is going to use its award of £5,550 to create a new cricket club for players aged 16 and over, and also the Friends of Tarn in Mottingham who have been handed £5,000 to create a new butterfly and wildlife garden.

The handouts came from Awards for All – the small grants scheme administered by the Big Lottery Fund on behalf of Lottery good cause funders, Arts Council England, Big Lottery Fund, Heritage Lottery Fund and Sport England.

What’s On This Week: June 22nd – June 28th 2009

Now that summer’s in full swing there’s plenty happening for kids young and old this week in and around the town.

The main attraction for most will be the Greenwich & Docklands International Festival, in which various performers will adopt the park and river as their stages in short modern dance and musical pieces using spectacular scenery and lighting.  There are events on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, culminating in Pi Leau at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich on Saturday evening.  Think Cirque de Soleil meets Greenpeace – harnesses, raised platforms and acrobatics, with a serious message about Climate Change thrown in.  The whole event is free, but its best to arrive early for some of the peak time shows as there is limited seating. (Jun 25-28, free)

After the nationwide success of the Hogwarts spoof Potted Potter, the connoisseurs of all things silly (aka Dan & Jeff) are back with the aptly named Potted Pirates at Greenwich Theatre on Saturday.  Expect plenty of ‘ooh-arrs’, ‘me hearties’ and slightly inappropriate jokes about parrots that your kids will probably love, and Johnny Depp would probably hate. (Jun 27, 3pm & 7pm, £10/£7.50)

If you like your humour a little more high-brow, you might prefer to check out the new comedy night at the Blackheath Halls on Saturday instead.  I always find comedy nights can be a little hit and miss but these three are apparently ‘top’ and come from the successful Barnstormers Comedy outfit, so it’s definitely worth a look. (Jun 27, 8pm, £12 on the door)

Talking of successful comedians, the legend that is Michael Palin will be gracing the IndigO2 this Friday to regale Greenwich folk with tales of Monty Python and his extensive travels.  If you’re feeling flush you can get tickets in the VIP section for the bargain price of £140  – what credit crunch? – but there are still a few normal tickets available, a snip at £38.  I hope there’s free wine! (Jun 26, 7pm).

Other noteworthy events include The Big Smoke, a showing of Blitz-themed silent films at the Picturehouse on Tuesday and Wednesday, and if English Choral music is your thing you might like to check out “Heavenly Music and all that Jazz” at St Alfege on Saturday evening.  There’s also a free Wildlife Drop-in at Greenwich Park on Wednesday, and a chance to dress your kid up like Henry VIII at Tudor Day at the Royal Artillery Museum -  don’t worry, there will apparently be plenty of adult costumes too, in case you were worried about missing out.

Is there anything else happening in Greenwich this week? Use the comments box below to share any info.

Andrew Gilligan: Tunnel Closure: Bad News on Two Fronts

GREENWICH foot tunnel will be closed to all users for ten months during its refurbishment, council officials have said.
 
Shaun Collins, director of Thames Clippers, the major ferry operator serving Greenwich, told greenwich.co.uk: “We have been asked to tender for a replacement ferry service. We have been told unofficially by Geoff Horseman [Greenwich Council official] that the period of closure will be around ten months or possibly a year. That would be the closure of the whole tunnel, not just the lifts.”
 
In a separate development Peter Brookes, deputy leader of the council, has said that when the tunnel finally reopens the lifts will be “automatic,” raising concerns about security and job losses. Currently the lifts are not automatic and are staffed at all times when they are open, with four attendants on duty across the tunnel and its Woolwich sister.
 
Mr Brookes claimed the refurbishment and the change to automatic lifts would lead to “better security.”
 
The two tunnels are used by around 1.5 million people a year. The Greenwich tunnel is an important tourist attraction and a vital link for cyclists, used by around 250 bikes an hour at peak times.
 
As greenwich.co.uk reported earlier this year, both tunnels are to be given a “substantial refurbishment” running from September 2009 to March 2011 and costing £11.5 million. But news of the closure has horrified local traders, who say a prolonged shutdown would be “disastrous” and could drive them out of business. 

Many cyclists are also opposed and have promised to challenge the closure order. Anthony Austin, chair of Greenwich Cyclists, said: “There’s no point in closing the tunnel. It’s not clear they need to close the stairs when they are doing the lifts. We cyclists have come to use it as an absolutely essential link.”
 
Greenwich Council continued to insist today that no official decision has been taken on how long the tunnel will close. “We are still working out the period of closure,” a council spokesman said.
 
However, minutes of a meeting about the refurbishment between the council and local cyclists’ groups posted on greenwich.co.uk also suggest a substantial period of closure. The minutes were agreed by the council.
 
At this meeting, which took place on 12 May, Mike Freestone, the council’s assistant director for transport and highways, confirmed that the lifts would be closed “for the whole [18-month] refurbishment period” although the tunnels themselves would “probably not be closed for so long.”
 
 
Mr Horseman, the council official who spoke to Thames Clippers, was not present at the meeting but he is quoted by another of the participants as saying that the closure would last “six to nine months.”
 
Mr Brookes, who was at the meeting, admitted that “whilst [the tunnel] is closed, there will be major disruptions.” Mr Brooks rejected suggestions that the tunnel be closed only overnight for the works, saying: “If we choose contract work for nights, it may not be of value, we need to do things more economically.” A “hope” was expressed that some of the closures could be phased.
 
The council says that the lifts will close in October or November and the tunnel will not close before next year.
 
When the tunnel closes, cyclists – who are banned at all times from the DLR – face an eight to ten-mile diversion to reach Canary Wharf from south London. At the meeting with cycle activists, Mr Brookes admitted that any proposed replacement ferry service would “not be frequent.”
 
The DLR link will itself be closed on several weekend over the next eight months as part of the 3-car upgrade programme.
 
The council says the closure is intended to provide “state-of-the-art conditions” in the tunnels in the run-up to the Olympics. It has been widely condemned as unnecessary window-dressing.

Pub Review: Greenwich Park Bar & Kitchen

The Greenwich Park Bar & Kitchen
1 King William Walk SE10 9JY

I wasn’t expecting a lot from this place. I was expecting a bland, chain-style tourist trap. Humble pie time I’m afraid: someone’s clearly put a lot of thought into the (new) new look Bar & Kitchen and has carved out a well-defined and satisfying niche.

The Bar & Kitchen wouldn’t be too out of place with an ‘EC’ postcode and a few Friday night suits, which is actually a refreshing change amongst the town’s raft of ‘local’ pubs with a posh edge (read Gastropubs). The décor is quite dark but stylish: some well-spaced wicker sofas and fairy lights at one end, and a formal dining area at the other.

Where the Union does Ales, the Bar & Kitchen does cocktails, with a list more extensive than the food menu. There’s also happy hour from Monday to Friday between 5pm and 7pm, where the cocktails are £3.95 rather than the usual £6 or £7 (cue happy suits and stilettos). The menu focuses on a few select dishes that presumably change regularly and I was intrigued to see Macaroni cheese on there; very random in June but it beats veggie lasagne any day.

The barman was friendly and took an interest in my unusual choice of vodka and apple juice with lime juice. Actually, what happened was he misheard me when I asked for cranberry juice but he made such an effort with the banter about me inventing a new cocktail, that I didn’t have the heart to tell him he’d made a mistake (plus I was secretly hoping “the Rosie” would make it onto the cocktail menu!). Other than that there was a wide selection of lagers and a few wines to choose from.

I don’t imagine anyone’s socks will be knocked off by a visit to the Bar & Kitchen, but it is a pretty little place with a clear agenda and that makes it a success as far as I’m concerned. Amidst a sea of local, country-ish pubs with real ale and pies, you need a few fairy lights and cocktails every so often, so if mojitos are your thing I’d say give this place a(nother) go.

Greenwich Hospital Applies for Temporary Market Move

Greenwich Hospital, the owners of Greenwich Market, have submitted a planning application to Greenwich Council which would see the market temporarily moved to the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College whilst redevelopment of the famous market takes place.

It is envisaged that the relocation would be in operation for the duration of the controversial works between January 2010 and December 2011. The market would be in Monument Gardens, an area of ground in front of the Pepys building and next to the Cutty Sark.

Commenting today Martin Sands, Director of Greenwich Hospital said:

I am delighted that after extensive stakeholder and community consultation Greenwich Hospital has been able to submit plans to Greenwich Council for the temporary market within the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College.

Subject to gaining planning consent from Greenwich Council, and scheduled ancient monument consent from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport; Greenwich Hospital intends to commence development work on the market regeneration in January 2010 and finish late 2011, with the hotel and market opening in early 2012. During the two year construction period the market will operate on Monument Gardens, an area of ground in front of the Pepys building and next to the Cutty Sark.

Greenwich Hospital very much appreciates the help that the Greenwich Foundation for the Old Royal Naval College has given to enable us to find a good solution for the temporary market

Greenwich MP, Nick Raynsford added:

“Finding a home for Greenwich Market during any construction period has been a fundamental part of bringing forward plans for the market regeneration. I am delighted that Greenwich Hospital has been able to agree with the Greenwich Foundation for the Old Royal Naval College a site within the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College for a temporary market whilst the regeneration takes place. ”

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