GREENWICH Council has its last full meeting tomorrow night before the borough goes royal.

Councillors will have the hand of history on their shoulders as they convene at Woolwich Town Hall for the last time under the name “London Borough of Greenwich”.

By the time of the next full meeting in January, the borough will have been renamed as the “Royal Borough of Greenwich”.

The future of the parliamentary boundaries will be under discussion on Thursday night as councillors decide how to respond to the current boundary review.

With the adoption of a new royal title, it will be farewell to a name that came into existence in 1965.

As a result of a large reorganisation of local government in London, neighbouring Metropolitan boroughs Greenwich and Woolwich joined together to form the brand new London Borough of Greenwich.

“Charlton”, and even “Royal Charlton”, were considered as names for the new borough but eventually the “London Borough of Greenwich” name was chosen. The amalgamation wasn’t welcomed by all – the very last resolution passed by the old Greenwich borough council placed on record its “deep regret that the Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich will lose its identity on 31st March 1965.”

The Council of the London Borough of Greenwich’s first meeting as a local authority took place on the 1st April, 1965, at Woolwich Town Hall – 46 years before the final meeting will take place in the same chamber.

At that first meeting, Cllr Bill Brooks, whose mother was also on the council, was elected as the London Borough of Greenwich’s first mayor and a telegram offering best wishes from the borough’s twin town of Reinickdorf, Berlin, was noted.

The New Greenwich

To mark the creation of the new London Borough of Greewich, the Mercury newspaper published a 12 page pull out guide, explaining what the new municipal arrangements would mean for residents. Painting an optimistic vision for the new borough, the document explained what the changes would mean for housing, health, industry and tourism.

The borough’s first Town Clerk, Mr Roderick Doble, told the Mercury: “I am certain that the new council doesn’t want to govern on its own – it wants to govern with the people.”

Read ‘The New Greenwich’ in its entirety below:

Read “The New Greenwich”

First meeting of the council

This is a picture of the front page of the minutes from the very first meeting of the council of the London Borough of Greenwich once it became the responsible local authority.

COUNCILLORS on a Greenwich Council Licensing Committee have backed a large temporary camp site on the Greenwich Peninsula next year.

The OranjeCamping scheme was back before councillors at the Town Hall in Woolwich yesterday after a previous licensing bid was thrown out.

The up-market camp site aimed at Dutch visitors to London 2012 now has permission, with conditions attached, to sell alcohol and put on live music for guests next summer.

Fears over noise and damage to the nearby Greenwich Ecology Park were raised by opponents but the applicant convinced councillors on the committee that the camp site would not cause a nuisance to nearby residents or to the ecology park.

The license granted means alcohol will be able to be sold on site until 1.30am and live music is permitted to 11pm, after which time background music may continue indoors until 1.45am.

Security patrols by contractor G4S would ensure guests behaved at night and a 24 hour manned complaints line would be in operation to deal with any issues, the applicant explained.

Ward councillor, Mary Mills, spoke on behalf of local residents concerned about proposed road closures in West Parkside – which will be examined by a separate meeting of the Highways Committee – and also questioned whether consultation had taken place with the local travelling community.

Oranjecamping’s counsel apologised to representatives from the Greenwich Ecology Park after he riled them by pointing out that the protection of “fish, birds and frogs” was not an objective of the licensing application.

He added: “This application is, if granted, likely to lead to an event that is very good news for Greenwich. With the conditions that are on this license, if you grant it, it’s not going to lead to any undue nuisance or disorder.”

The licensing bid covers HCA-owned land next to Peartree Way, some of which had been been established as the Meantime Nursery. A ‘business lounge’ will be at the northern end of the site, near the River Walkway opposite Greenwich Yacht Club.

View a map of the site that has been granted a license.

The previous application that was rejected by the council had included the use of Greenwich Yacht Club and also plans for a 45,000 capacity concert venue.