If I worked in the market and was that worried about the proposals I’d be kicking up a fuss. Where are the posters? Where are the leaflets? Where are the petitions? Thousands of people visit Greenwich Market every week – why is there no visible attempt to mobilise them? It’s all well and good people posting critical comments on a blog but something more visible is clearly required.

It’s all well and good people claiming that they are scared to speak out but a) if they genuinely feel it will impact on their livelihood then they need to get a backbone and b) it would be very easy to get a group of volunteers, completely independent of the traders themselves, to run a campaign on their behalf. Why is noone trying?

As for the consultation being a lie and people not having been asked their opinion personally – what do you expect? If my next door neighbour submits a planning application to build an extension overlooking my garden, do I wait for the Planning Officer to come round to my house and ask what I think, or do I proactively contact them to make my objection known. The traders have had representation on the consultation body – if those representatives have not done their job, again, kick up a fuss.

I don’t think it’s Greenwich Hospital’s job to actively seek the input of every individual who may be affected. Village communities organise vocal protests when Tesco’s try to open a new store on a regular basis. Given the absence of any such campaign in this case, I can forgive Greenwich Hospital for assuming that the general public either supports the proposal or at least doesn’t think it’s worth fighting. If that’s not the case, someone needs to pull their finger out sharp.

I did the same thing as Andrew roughly a week earlier; spoke to 15 stallholders on the Thursday. One of them, an elderly chap, said new flooring would be better. He, ironically, is a new arrival who has a stall on the outer section, on the 1980s setts.

Otherwise, the stallholders are all universally puzzled or outraged that one of Greenwich’s most loved locations will be turned into a theme-park version of itself. 14 out of 15 want to keep the old parts of the flooring and the existing vibe.

More tellingly still, NOT ONE of them had been asked their opinions via the consultation. Most of these are people who have been running a stall for five years or more.

To be fair to Greenwich Society – and I do object to their acting as cheerleaders for the development – they have asked for the cobbles to be retained, and for the height of the main hotel building to be reduced.