Greenwich.co.uk

Greenwich news and information

Councillors back Greenwich budget cuts

By

Greenwich Councillors unanimously supported plans to cut spending by £48.6 million last night.

Council leader, Chris Roberts, presented the council budget to colleagues at the full council meeting at Woolwich Town Hall. He told councillors that it was “a robust budget” but issued the stark warning that there was a “ticking Tory timebomb” underneath it.

The proposed budget would protect the frontline, he said, but acknowledged increased charges for parking and allotments would cause concern for residents.

“It is a budget that will come under increasing strain as Tory policies bite hard. When the poor shift out of central London because they can no longer afford their housing costs, they will land in boroughs like Greenwich in need of affordable housing, schools and social care.”, said Cllr Roberts.

The speech by the Council Leader drew applause from his Labour colleagues, including the Deputy Mayor, and was labelled “the finest I’ve heard in this chamber” by Cllr Don Austen.

Over £7.5 million will be cut through “management de-layering” and over £3 million has been found in back office savings. A pay freeze for employees will save almost £1.5 million and £2million has been cut from grants to the voluntary sector.

The council will “endeavour to keep open” all of its Sure Start centres and protect leisure centres. The council has stated there will be no cuts to the library service – although this claim has raised eyebrows in Kidbrooke.

Responding to the Budget on behalf of the Conservative Group, Cllr Spencer Drury praised the “tough decisions taken by the cabinet” and said they “deserve our support in this chamber”. Any disagreements they did have would be “quibbling around the edges” of what was a “substantial package of cuts.”

The council is anticipating that £63 million worth of savings will be required by 2015 as part of their Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) with most of that front-loaded into the next two years.

The meeting was notable for the lack of protests that have been witnessed at other council meetings in London and elsewhere. A small group of trade union demonstrators congregated at the entrance to the town hall but their protest remained out in Wellington Street and there was no sign of it in the chamber itself.

Nick Raynsford: Nationwide branch closures “disgraceful”

By

Greenwich and Woolwich MP, Nick Raynsford, has slammed Nationwide Building Society for its decision to close branches across south east London.

The MP described the plan to close branches in Greenwich, Woolwich, Blackheath Lewisham, Catford and Peckham as “disgraceful”.

Speaking after a meeting with Nationwide’s Group Distribution Director, Matthew Wyles, Mr Raynsford said:

‘The decision to close every single inner-South East London branch inside of the South Circular Road makes a mockery of Nationwide’s current advertising campaign which invites customers to come and visit a branch. This simply will not be possible if you live in Greenwich and Woolwich. How is a young mum reliant on public transport living in Woolwich, or a pensioner with no car living in Blackheath, expected to get to Bromley to visit a Nationwide branch?

‘For Nationwide to turn its back on the entire inner-South East London area is shameful and a betrayal of the building society’s co-operative history and roots in mutual banking. Instead, this disgraceful decision harks back to the redlining practices of the 1970s, when banks deliberately denied their services to people from poorer backgrounds and low incomes’.

The plan, which was first reported by 853, will see the branches closed by May this year with Nationwide customers expected to visit branches in Eltham, Bexleyheath or Bromley instead.

Two arrested over body in burning car

By

Police have made two arrests following the discovery of a body in a burning car in Angerstein Lane, Blackheath.

Officers found the car alight in the early hours of Saturday morning. The body, found in the boot of the Mercedes C-Class, was later identified as 21 year old Gagandip Singh from Bexleyheath.

Mr Singh was the president of the British Sikh Students Federation. A 19 year old man and a 19 year old woman has been arrested on suspicion of his murder.

An incident room has opened at Lewisham under Detective Chief Inspector Damian Allain from the Homicide and Serious Crime Command.

DCI Allain said: “We are appealing for anyone who was in or around the Angerstein Lane area, and who may have seen this car either arrive or seen anyone acting suspiciously as the car was left ablaze, to contact us.

“We already know that the car was last seen around 5:30pm in south-east London, so we are also appealing to anyone who can help us identify how the car came to be in Angerstein Lane.

Any witnesses or anyone with any information should call the incident room on 020 8721 4805 or they can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Friends and family of the victim are planning to visit Angerstein Lane this evening to pay their respects.

Ms Cupcake mystified over market axe

By

Popular Greenwich Market trader, Ms Cupcake, has been left devastated after being told by market bosses she can no longer trade at weekends.

The baker, who promises “the naughtiest vegan cakes in town”, had hoped to carry on trading at Greenwich Market whilst also expanding the business into new premises at Brixton Market.

An email from market bosses assured her that if she did “decide to open elsewhere we would be more than happy for you to continue with your stall on the market for whichever days you wished to trade.”

Earlier this month, business owner Mellissa Morgan announced her expansion plans – only to get the shock news that Greenwich Market was axeing her from her weekend pitch.

“Ms Cupcake” says the decision will have “huge financial repercussions” for her business and that she will no longer be able to recruit five new members of staff she had planned to.

“All we have ever done is promote Greenwich and the market and loved every minute we were there. This is the biggest slap in the face I could ever imagine”, she said.

Regular customer, Daren Clarke, told Greenwich.co.uk:

“I really don’t understand why a thriving, vibrant stall such as this is having its hours cut in such a drastic and, dare I say, draconian way. Only being allowed to trade on a Friday, and having your regular customers from the usual Saturday and Sunday markets deprived of their ‘fix’, seems very short sighted on the behalf of the powers that be.”

Paul Turton, manager of Greenwich Hospital’s commercial estate, commented:

“Because of the ongoing review of the food stalls at the market, we decided to revert to the pre-November trading pattern which allows Ms Cupcake in the week and Ruby Tuesday [who also sells vegan cupcakes] at the weekend.”

Ms Cupcake will be opening the new Brixton shop in April – get more information about that and where she will be trading until then at her website.

Greenwich.co.uk understands that the shock plan to cut the number of food stalls which was announced to traders last summer may not now be proceeding as originally planned.

The proposal, which provoked an angry response from traders, to reduce the number of hot food stalls within the market and to move those remaining into a retail unit is being reviewed by Greenwich Hospital.

NOGOE are small, vocal and “very well heeled”, says MP

By

NOGOE campaigners have been left smarting by comments made by local MP, Nick Raynsford, about them at a recent House of Commons committee considering the Government’s Localism Bill.

MPs were debating proposals within the bill to give new powers to communities to nominate buildings or land as “Assets of Community Value” – properties the community would have the guaranteed time to put together a bid for if the owner decided to sell.

Mr Raynsford expressed his concern that the system could be abused and put forward his own amendment which included a provision to pay compensation to owners where community asset listings were made as a result of a “vexatious application”.

He described to the committee a “real life scenario” he had “lived with for the last five years”.  The “large majority of local residents” in the borough of Greenwich welcomed the London 2012 equestrian events in Greenwich Park as a “very attractive proposition” he said, but there was a “relatively small but extremely vocal group of people, very well-heeled with access to legal expertise, who were strongly opposed to this.”

He told MPs that if this provision had been available, campaigners would have sought to designate the park as an Asset of Community Value. “That is the risk: people will try to abuse these provisions in order to stop developments that they regard as undesirable.”, he added.

One upset NOGOE member, wishing to remain anonymous, has since written to the MP:

“I need to point out that NOGOE comprises a great social mix of concerned people of widely differing ages,income and professional status which includes lawyers and some well-connected high-profile professionals but the membership is far wider and inclusive than you seem to believe and I think you should apologise for casting incorrect aspersions on these well-intended people in your constituency”

Stockwell Street exhibition opens

By

The University of Greenwich’s vision for a large development in Stockwell Street goes on show today.

The public exhibition of their plans for a new library and School of Architecture at the site, which was formely home to the Village Market, runs from today until Saturday at their Greenwich Campus.

Full details of where to go and of the opening hours can be seen on a dedicated website about the project.

Doctors elected to Greenwich GP Consortium Shadow Board

By

Seven local GPs have been elected by their peers to serve on the new Greenwich GP Consortium Shadow Board.

Under NHS reform plans put forward by the government, local GPs will gain control of NHS budgets and be able to commission healthcare services directly for their patients.

Doctors will form groups to manage this process and the line up of the Greenwich GP Consortium Shadow Board has been settled after 109 local doctors participated in an election.

The elected members are: Ram Aggarwal, Hany Wahba, Robert Hughes, Rebecca Rosen, Niraj Patel, Eugenia Lee and Nayan Patel.

The election count was managed by Greenwich Council’s Returning Officer and the single transferable vote system was used. Electoral Reform Services administered the count.

If the changes are introduced as planned, the consortium will take responsibility for commissioning services by April 2013 at which point the existing Primary Care Trust will have been phased out.

More information available here: http://www.greenwich.nhs.uk/gp_consortia

London 2012 schedule unveiled

By

London 2012 organisers have revealed the schedule for next year’s summer Olympics.

Full details of the whole schedule are on the London 2012 website, but here’s details of the events in Greenwich.

8th – 12th August – Basketball at the “North Greenwich Arena”, as the O2 will be known for the duration of the Olympics.
28th – 31st July – Equestrian Eventing at Greenwich Park.
2nd, 3rd, 7th, 9th August – Equestrian Dressage at Greenwich Park.
4th, 5th, 6th, 8th August – Equestrian Jumping at Greenwich Park.
28th July – 2nd August & 5th, 6th, 7th August – Artistic Gymnastics at the North Greenwich Arena.
3rd – 4th August – Trampoline Gymnastics at North Greenwich Arena
11th – 12th August – Modern Pentathlon events at Greenwich Park
28th July – 6th August – Shooting at Woolwich Barracks

Cable car scheme hangs in the balance

By

The fate of the Thames Cable Car from North Greenwich to the Royal Docks has been left hanging in the air after a new safety review was ordered.

Friends of the Earth campaigners have forced the move by claiming that the cable car would cross the Public Safety Zone for City Airport flights.

The TFL scheme had already received the backing of Greenwich and Newham councils, but in response to safety concerns, London Mayor Boris Johnson has ordered a national air traffic services safety assessment, due to complete by March.

More information can be found in Adam Bienkov’s report for Snipe, and Darryl at 853 has more on the campaigners who have highlighted the issue.