Daily Photo: 25/12/2010 – The Nativity

Photo of the Nativity scene inside the chapel at the Old Royal Naval College.

I liked the three wise men in the window as well…

Daily Photo: 24/12/2010 – Christmas e-card #3

Here’s the third and final of the Christmas e-cards I’ve made – this one shows St Alfege church.

I’ve scheduled a post to appear tomorrow with a Christmas day photo but for now there’s not much more for me to say other than “Merry Christmas”.

Daily Photo: 23/12/2010 – Christmas e-card #2

Here’s the second of the seasonal e-cards from Greenwich.co.uk.

Daily Photo: 22/12/2010 – Christmas e-card #1

With Christmas almost upon us, I’m using the Daily Photo section over the next few days to share with you some seasonal “e-cards” I’ve made.

Cost of parking set to rise in 2011

Greenwich residents face a 150% increase in the cost of car parking permits next year and visitors to the town centre could pay almost twice as much to park.

The large increases in the cost of car parking are part of a package of cost saving and revenue raising measures put together by council officers in response to budget cuts imposed by the Government.

The proposals would see the cost of a yearly resident car parking permit rise from £27.70 to £70 – a rise of over 152%. A further rise would come into effect in 2013 taking the cost to £84 per year.

Business parking permits face a 358% increase, leaping from £24.00 to £110 and then rising again to £132 in 2013.

Town centre parking is set to rise by 92% with the price per hour at Burney Street, Greenwich Park Row and Cutty Sark Gardens car parks going from £1.30 an hour to £2.50, and then rising again to £2.70 per hour by 2013.

The cost of parking in metered pays in road adjacent to Greenwich Park, such as Maze Hill, Park Row and Park Vista, will also rise to £2.50 and then again to £2.90 per hour in 2014.

The cost of parking in the park itself increased this year to bring it into line with local authority charging but a spokesperson for Royal Parks has told Greenwich.co.uk that “Royal Parks currently has no plans to increase parking charges in Greenwich Park.”

New charging areas would be established in East Greenwich and Westcombe, as well as elsewhere in the borough, although council officers say that “detailed consultation will be required” and that a review would take place after six months.

The new charges are expected to come into force on April 1st, 2011. Taken as a whole, the council believes that the changes will bring in almost £2million in additional revenue a year by 2013 which would be used to “contribute additional revenue towards the cost of the parking service and enforcement operations and other transport related activities.”

Kings of Leon O2 gig cancelled after tour bus fire

A King’s of Leon concert scheduled for tonight at the O2 arena has been postponed after a fire on a tour bus.

The London Fire Brigade were called out to the O2 this morning after a fire broke out on one of the double decker tour buses belonging to the band who are famous for the number one hit, “Sex on Fire”.

Sixty firefighters and twelve fire engines attended the scene and had the blaze under control by 11.33

Sally Cartwright, from the London Fire Brigade, said: “One double decker tour bus within a loading bay was badly damaged by the fire. It was quite a large incident and we had around 60 firefighters there at the height of the blaze. Firefighters arrived on the scene quickly and were met by extremely hot and smoky conditions. ”

She added, “Our crews should be extremely proud of themselves – they did a fantastic job today and managed to prevent the fire from spreading. We are now working closely with staff from the O2 to ensure that a normal service is restored as quickly as possible.”

Tonight’s gig was immediately thrown into doubt by the blaze and it was confirmed by the O2 this afternoon that the concert would have to be postponed. A statement said:

Whilst a lot of people have been working very hard and every attempt was made to go ahead with tonight’s show, thorough assessments had to be carried out as a matter of procedure before any decision could be made as to whether the show could go ahead. Unfortunately, once the assessments were completed in full, there was not enough time to set up the show for tonight’s performance.

The cause of the fire is being investigated.

The Cost of Leadership

On 9th December the Evening Standard published an article on councillors’ allowances in London. I’ve constructed a table which tries to put Greenwich in context:

2009-2010 Figures	London Average	Greenwich
Total of councillors’ allowances	£994,991	£943,330
Leader of Council’s total allowances	£50,529	£62,816
Basic allowance	£9,972	£10,210

Looking at this, it appears that Greenwich is in the mainstream on total expenditure and the amounts paid to ward councillors, but that Council Leader Chris Roberts receives almost 25% more than the average for his job. Indeed the figure in the table is inflated by including the three elected Mayors. In the 29 Boroughs without elected Mayors, only two leaders seem to have done better than Mr Roberts.

When challenged previously about his allowances Chris Roberts has correctly claimed that they are in line with the recommendations of London Councils (LC) the representative body for local government in London

Now LC is effectively run on behalf of Council Leaders and cynics might say that its views on what they should get paid are about as valuable as those of a committee of sharks on bathing arrangements at Sharm el Sheikh. Indeed Chris Roberts received £10,000+ from LC in 2009-10 on top of his Greenwich Council money (as did many other leaders).

Be that as it may, it is true that an independent panel appointed by LC says that being a Council Leader is

“a full-time job, involving a high level of responsibility and now includes the exercise of executive responsibilities. It is right that it should be remunerated on a basis which compares with similar positions in the public sector, while still retaining a reflection of the voluntary character of public service“.

This panel recommended that Council Leaders in London be paid a total of £64,864 per annum. I would agree with the principle set out by the panel but not necessarily with the amount they came up with. In practice almost all Councils choose to regard it as a ceiling rather than a direction – indeed Greenwich pays its councillors who are Cabinet Members significantly less than the LC recommendation for their role. However for Chris Roberts alone the letter of the law applies.

Does Mr Roberts deserve more money then his peers in the rest of London? Well it is certainly true to say that Greenwich has a good record in keeping Council Tax low over the last decade or so, although it is difficult to disentangle how much of this is down to good housekeeping and how much to the effects of Government funding formulas. On the other hand Greenwich is consistently ranked as being below the London average in the quality of its services.

I conclude therefore that, while Chris Roberts has displayed a basic level of competence as Council Leader since 2000, he is by no means a municipal superstar and his pay should be reduced to the London average. While a saving of £12,287 would only be a drop in the ocean in the Council’s current position, it would be a sign of the Council’s good faith and common sense as it starts to navigate the troubled waters ahead.

Daily Photo: 20/12/2010 – Geese in the snow

Greenwich photographer, Fergus Noone, has allowed me to use this wonderful photo as today’s Daily Photo. It shows a flock of geese taking flight in the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College.

Click here for ,ore information on Fergus and his work.

Greenwich Foot Tunnel closed on Christmas Day

Greenwich Foot Tunnel will close on Christmas Eve and not reopen until Boxing Day, it has been revealed.

With the stairs at both ends of the tunnel closed for refurbishment, a decision has been taken not to provide staff to operate the lift on Christmas Day.

Southeastern trains, the DLR, London Underground and London Buses will also not be running on Christmas Day.

The £11.5m refurbishment of both Greenwich and Woolwich foot tunnels started in April of this year. The Woolwich Foot Tunnel is expected to remain completely closed until March 2011.

Breakdowns and disruption “regretted”

At last night’s full council meeting, Cllr Denise Hyland, Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Enterprise and Skills, expressed her regret at recent “breakdowns and consequent disruption” in the foot tunnel.

In a written answer to a member of the public, she revealed there had been six unplanned closures of the tunnel, totalling 9hr50, during November due to the lift breaking down.

She added that the council has managed to reduce the lift contractor’s call out time to 1 hour and that the council’s Twitter service notifying the public of unplanned tunnel closures is “being revised to include references to the alternate crossings.”

Unplanned foot tunnel closures in November

3 Nov     17.20 – 20.00
5 Nov     16.30 – 17.00
17 Nov   16.00 – 16.45
24 Nov   17.45 – 19.00
27 Nov   13.55 – 16.15
28 Nov   13.55 – 16.15

Council to consult over West Greenwich rat running

Greenwich Council is to consult West Greenwich residents over concerns about “rat running” in the area.

In a written response to Conservative Group Leader, Spencer Drury, at last night’s full council meeting, Cllr Denise Hyland (Cabinet member for Regeneration, Enterprise and Skills) explained that the ongoing consultation into town centre pedestrianisation and a gyratory scheme had resulted in the issue of rat running being raised by West Greenwich residents.

She said that the rat running was an “issue of concern regardless of whether or not the pedestrianisation proposals proceed.”

She added, “We are seeking to bring this work forward and will commence consultation on these proposals imminently.”

Separately, some residents have been informed by email that letters about the consultation on traffic calming measures will be distributed to homes from next week.

The consultation will run until January 31st, and council officers will be be putting on a technical exhibition too although details of when and where it will take place have not yet been publicised.

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