Daily Photo: 01/02/2012 – New Royal Greenwich street signs

Thanks to local estate agents Conran Estates for sharing this photo showing the brand new street sign for Greenwich High Road withthe new coat of arms on it. The council has started putting new signs out around the borough as it readies itself for Royal borough status on Friday.

Here’s another one, thanks to Alex Brooks:

 

Don’t forget there will be activities in Woolwich on Friday, in Eltham on Saturday and in Greenwich on Sunday to mark the occasion.

Olympic transport plans unveiled by London 2012 organisers

LONDON 2012 organisers have unveiled a raft of measures to help Greenwich’s local transport network cope with the thousands of visitors expected for next summer’s Olympics.

Chief among the proposals, which went on display today and can be viewed by residents until Saturday, are road closures and an enlarged one way system around the town centre throughout the Olympics.

Greenwich Church Street will be closed to traffic, as will Straightsmouth at peak times and Greenwich High Road towards the town centre from the junction of Norman Road, as these become designated pedestrian routes from Greenwich railway station.

Marshals will guide the throngs of spectators along these routes and then down College Approach and through the Old Royal Naval College where they will then access Greenwich Park by crossing two new temporary footbridges across Romney Road.

Locog’s City Operations Manager, Jennifer Impett said of the proposed footbridges:

“We want to maintain the vehicle route as much as we can. The one way gyratory will be adding some pressure within the area so we need to maintain free flowing traffic as much as we can.”

A bridge is also proposed to get spectators arriving via Blackheath station across the A2 from the heath to Greenwich Park.

Drivers heading into Greenwich from Greenwich High Road will have to turn left at the Norman Road junction, before turning into Creek Road and then joining the existing one way system.

Organisers say that Cutty Sark DLR station will have to close during peak hours as it doesn’t have the capacity to deal with the volume of spectators.

Olympic ticket-holders tempted to try and park in Greenwich will find that hours have been extended in all Controlled Parking Zones (CPZ).

Areas within a 30 minute walking radius of the park which aren’t currently in a CPZ will have new temporary controls put in place to deter spectators planning to drive in, and residents and businesses will be issued with special Olympic parking permits.

Other key proposals include:

• Closing Charlton Way and The Avenue/Blackheath Avenue from 7 July-8 September.
• Closing the Lewisham-bound DLR platform at Greenwich train station, with passengers asked to join services Deptford Bridge instead.
• Using the Blackwall Tunnel, the A2 and Prince Charles Road, Maze Hill Road, Park Vista and Park Row as Olympic Road Network routes for transporting athletes and the “Olympic family”.
• Setting aside 100 car parking spaces for Blue Badge holders.
• Establishing “park and ride” areas around Blackheath so spectators can be coached in from Bluewater and Lakeside.

The proposals, along with more planning documents, will soon be submitted to Greenwich Council as London 2012 organisers attempt to meet the conditions of its original planning application.

Clues as to the kind of stunning images viewers at home can expect were hinted at with maps showing the construction of a mile-long cable to carry a TV camera from Millwall Park high over the Thames, swooping across the Old Royal Naval College and equestrian arena in Greenwich Park before finishing near the General Wolfe statue.

London 2012 Venue General Manager for Greenwich Park, Jeremy Edwards, commented:  ”We’re trying to do everything we can to make sure the experience next year is one of the most memorable for the people of Greenwich and the spectators.”

Remaining London 2012 Transport Drop In Sessions
Friday: 09.00 – 18.00
Saturday: 09.00 – 17.00
Devonport House, King William Walk, Greenwich

Norman Road development moves forward

Developers have been given the green light to build new flats and hotels at the corner of Norman Road and Greenwich High Road.

The Movement, covered previously on Greenwich.co.uk, is a mixed use development including hundreds of new homes, two new hotels, residential units and a new street.

The application got the backing of Greenwich Council’s Planning Board last Thursday night at Woolwich Town Hall.

There will be 181 residential properties, over 350 rooms of student accommodation, a 104 bed 3* hotel, a 30 bed boutique hotel as well as commercial units, office space, shops and a health club.

The scheme from local developers, the Cathedral Group, will be built on a disused industrial yard. Cathedral are also behind the Deptford Project and the redevelopment of Eltham’s Grove Market.

Movement planning application submitted

A planning application for a large development of new apartments, hotels and student accommodation at the corner of Greenwich High Road and Norman Road has been submitted.

Proposals for the mixed use development, named The Movement, include 181 residential apartments, 358 student accommodation units, a 104 bedroom three star hotel and a 30 bedroom boutique hotel.

The site of the proposed development is the Greenwich Industrial Estate which fronts onto Norman Road and is adjacent to the North Pole pub.

The plans also include space for shops, a health club, a nursery, cafe and office space with a dedicated business start up area.

The number of student accommodation units and residential apartments is less than was first suggested in the scoping report for this development that Greenwich.co.uk first reported on back in August 2010.

The developer behind the proposal is Cathedral Group – the same developer that redeveloped Devonport House into a hotel and student accommodation and is working on the large “Deptford Project” regeneration.

Andrew Gilligan: Small Shops Under New Threat As Sainsbury’s Comes To Town

Greenwich town centre is to get a new Sainsbury’s supermarket, triggering a potential new threat to the town’s remaining independent shops.

The motorbike accessories store in the same Greenwich High Road block as the existing Co-op is closing down. On its windows are statutory notices announcing that Sainsbury’s is applying for an alcohol licence for the premises. The new store – about the same size as the Co-op by the looks of the site – will be the third new supermarket chain to open in recent years, after the M&S Simply Food at the Cutty Sark and the Tesco Metro on Trafalgar Road.

The post-Tesco fate of the other shops on Trafalgar Road – closure for some, reduced business for many – could be a worrying portent of the future. The new Sainsbury’s will be within a minute’s walk of Greenwich’s main cluster of independent food shops – the greengrocer, butcher, cheese shop, fishmonger and general grocery on Royal Hill.

True, these places have managed to cope with the Co-op, for years. But Sainsbury’s stock is likely be more directly competitive with them – more fresh food, more bourgeois comforts and more upmarket stuff than the Co-op – meaning that it’s a more serious threat.

And the competition between the two neighbouring supermarkets may also (temporarily) drive down prices on the basics and staples to an extent which damages Royal Hill. I found last year that the prices of the Royal Hill shops were suprisingly competitive with the Co-op (then Somerfield). If both of the retail behemoths are prepared to sell things at a loss as they battle it out, however, it seems unlikely that the smaller players will be able to compete on price. That could do them great damage.

At the same time, perhaps the most consuming retail issue in Greenwich – the fate of the market – is about to come to a head. Planning permission for Greenwich Hospital’s hateful scheme to knock down the market was refused exactly a year ago. But the Hospital’s appeal against the decision will be heard by a planning inspector at a public inquiry between September 7th and 17th.

Greenwich Hospital’s changes to the scheme – principally keeping, though reglazing, the roof – don’t seem to have convinced anyone. The existing shops will still be demolished and the number of stalls, and the food court, reduced. The site will be dominated by a 100-bedroom hotel.

On Sunday, as we covered on the site, there was a demo against the plans, with the three local councillors handing out leaflets claiming that even the revised proposals “will see the end of Greenwich Market as we know it.” This is true – because the cost of the redevelopment will almost certainly mean that the Hospital will have to raise the rents to a level beyond that which the existing independent traders can afford. Hays Galleria or Spitalfields, next stop!

The cynical view is that the tourists won’t be able to tell the difference. But of course they will – and we most certainly will. The market was so rammed this weekend that, to the rage of passing motorists, the demonstrators had to stand in the road. If it’s turned into a feeble appendage of a 100-room hotel, with added chain-stores, it won’t be anything like as much of a draw to the town.

As well as the local councillors, the influential Commission on Architecture and the Built Environment – the Government’s design standards watchdog- has attacked the revised scheme. In their response to the planning inspector, CABE said the new plans were still ‘alien.” They criticised the proposed layout of the market, the ‘dominating’ scale of the boutique hotel and the detailing of the glazed roof.

They branded as “awkward” the proposed new route from Greenwich Church Street into the market. And they said that the relationship between the roof and the proposed new buildings on either side was still not “fully resolved.”

I’ll be covering the saga of the market and the public inquiry in more detail within the next two weeks. But we should look at the onward march of the supermarkets – a Waitrose and a further Tesco are also rumoured – with just as much alarm.

The Movement: New development proposed in Norman Road

Proposals have been published for a big new development in West Greenwich.

The plans would see the construction of a hotel with 100 rooms, 500 rooms of student accommodation and 200 apartments at the corner of Norman Road and Greenwich High Road.

Initial details of the proposal have emerged in an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) which was required to be submitted before full planning permission can be applied for.

The proposed development – given the monicker ‘The Movement’ by its London-based developers, the Cathedral Group – would be built on the site of Greenwich Industrial Estate which fronts onto Norman Road.

The development, which would reach up to eleven storeys high and be visible from Greenwich Park and the Old Royal Naval College, also includes plans for a student bar and health club, 5000 sq ft of commercial floor space and space for a new community centre.

Whilst the developers are looking to complete the project by 2013, their first priority would be to get the hotel built and opened in time for London 2012.

Cathedral Group were previously responsible for redeveloping Devonport House into a hotel and student accommodation and are also currently seeking planning permission for a large redevelopment project in Deptford.

The plans are still at an early stage and the developers will now be waiting for Greenwich Council’s formal response to their Environmental Impact Assessment before submitting a full planning application.

Greenwich Industrial Estate in Norman Road – site of the planned development.

Daily Photo: 18/01/10 – Royal Kent Dispensary

The Royal Kent Dispensary on Greenwich High Road, which was, I believe, formerly part of the Miller Hospital.

Daily Photo: 13/01/10 – Greenwich High Road street sign

A street sign in Greenwich High Road, SE10.

Daily Photo: 15/12/09 – Xmas Trees For Sale

Christmas trees for sale on the corner of Greenwich High Road and Roan Street.

Council consults on Greenwich pedestrianisation proposals

Greenwich Council has initiated a consultation on proposals to part pedestrianise Greenwich town centre.

The pedestrianisation scheme would entail closing College Approach and King William Walk (northern section) to all traffic except for access. Greenwich Church Street north of Creek Road would allow some traffic access.

Cllr Chris Roberts. Leader of Greenwich Council, said, “We are very keen to get the views of everyone who lives in, works in or visits Greenwich, and I hope as many people as possible will take part in the consultation on the Council’s proposals.”

The options currently under proposal are:

Option 1 – two-way traffic on all the non-pedestrianised roads.
Option 2 – create new clockwise traffic gyratory with one-way traffic flows on Norman Road and the affected stretches of Creek Road, Greenwich Church Street and Greenwich High Road.

Those supporting the second option are invited to give comments on three variations:

2a – As Option 2 but with two-way movement permitted on Greenwich High Road southwest of Stockwell Street.
2b – As Option 2 but with a bus contra-flow on Greenwich High Road – Greenwich Church Street – Creek Road.
2c – As Option 2 but with a cycle contra-flow on Greenwich High Road – Greenwich Church Street – Creek Road.

The proposed options can be seen in detail, along with a visual computer model, at an exhibition being held at Devonport House on the 19th/20th/21st December between 10am – 8pm. More information is available from the Council website.

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