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I was airbrushed out of Greenwich Time, claims councillor

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A Conservative councillor has told a council meeting that she was airbrushed out of an edition of the controversial weekly council newspaper, Greenwich Time.

The claim was made by councillor Eileen Glover during a debate at Wednesday night’s full meeting of the council at Woolwich Town Hall.

The councillor for the Eltham South ward told the meeting that she had ensured she was in all the photos taken by Greenwich Time at an event in her ward attended by the Council Leader but by the time it went to print, she had been “airbrushed out”.

She was only able to make an appearance in a later edition by changing her hair so that she was unrecognisable to the Leader of the Council, she said.

The debate over Greenwich Time was prompted after Greenwich Conservatives put forward a motion calling for weekly production of the newspaper to be ended.

Cllr Nigel Fletcher (Conservative, Eltham North) questioned whether the newspaper offered value for money and asked if it could really be considered a “front line service”. He expressed his doubts over the impartiality of the publication before mocking the content in this week’s edition.

“Is it really a core function of this council to provide, for example, a review of Toy Story 3? Do we really have a duty to inform our residents … that Prince’s new album is his most ‘soulless yet’?”, he asked. He said ending the weekly printing of Greenwich Time would be an “easy cut”.

Cllr Maureen O’Mara (Labour, Greenwich West) commented that Greenwich Time’s council property pages were “very important” to residents who wanted to move, describing it as providing an “essential service” for those that couldn’t or wouldn’t get the  information online.

Cllr Dermot Poston (Conservative, Eltham North) told colleagues that he regarded it as a “political newspaper” and that he “bitterly resents” it. He said the ruling party have “lost any sense of fairness and democracy”.

Cllr Matt Clare (Conservative, Eltham South) used his maiden speech at a full council meeting to say how he would frequently see “No Greenwich Time” notices whilst going door to door during the election campaign. He asked why only Greenwich and Tower Hamlets were delivering newspapers on a weekly basis if it had “such demonstrable benefits”.

Cllr John Fahy (Labour, Woolwich Riverside) reminded fellow councillors that the Conservatives “fought the election on the arguments of Greenwich Time and lost”. He criticised local freesheet, the News Shopper, for printing “10 pages of stories in Lewisham and beyond, and perhaps 2 or 3 stories about the community in Greenwich”.  He said that in raising the issue, it was “payback time” for the opposition because during the election, the “News Shopper was the extension of Conservative news”.

West Greenwich councillor, David Grant (Labour) also suggested that he had been “airbrushed out” of a Greenwich Time photo but said that because of the cabinet system of the council, it was inevitable most of the coverage would be on the executive although he said would like to see more backbenchers featured.

The Leader of the Council, Cllr Chris Roberts (Labour, Glyndon), said that in strict terms, Greenwich Time is “not a political newspaper” and nor could it be according to the law. In fact, council lawyers check it line by line before it goes to print, he revealed.

Cllr Roberts said the paper was “very close to being self financing” and that the cost of producing it had fallen from 22p per copy to just 3.5p per copy. “We are already making significant savings which run into the hundreds of thousands of pounds”, he added.

He said it was “absolutely right that we should prioritise our spending” but printing Greenwich Time meant the Council was “able to deliver statutory notices almost at no cost”.

The Conservative motion was defeated.

School kids work with neighbouring pub to improve area

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Children from St Alfege with St Peter’s Primary School with, from left to right, Sean Brogan (Landlord of the Gate Clock Wetherspoon Pub), Hazel Burnie (Headteacher at St Alfege with St Peter’s Primary School), Cllr David Grant, Cllr Maureen O’Mara, and Cllr Matthew Pennycook

Concerned children from a Greenwich primary school have met with the landlord of a neighbouring pub to call for improvements to their local area.

Pupils from St Alfege with St Peter’s Church of England Primary School, along with their headteacher, Hazel Burnie, met with Sean Brogan, manager of the Gate Clock in Creek Road. They were joined by all three Greenwich West ward councillors – Maureen O’Mara, David Grant and Matthew Pennycook.

A plan was agreed which includes the Gate Clock pledging not to sell alcohol off-licence to be consumed outside the premises, a bigger effort to deal with litter and a promise to remind customers that areas near the pub are part of a ‘no drinking zone’.

The children’s work is part of South London Citizens’ CitySafe campaign, a community-led response to crime and the fear of crime in the capital.

Hazel Burnie, Headteacher at St Alfege with St Peter’s Primary School, said:

“As a school, we take citizenship very seriously, and that’s why we are members of South London Citizens. We are keen to work with our neighbours to improve our local area. We are pleased about the relationship that is developing between our school, the landlord of the Pub next door to us, and our local councillors. There’s so much we can achieve together.”

Cllr Maureen O’Mara, Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Environment, said:

“As local councillors we congratulate the school on this initiative. Anti social behaviour blights everyone’s lives and we are pleased to work with the school to tackle it.”

Sean Brogan, Landlord of the Gate Clock Wetherspoon Pub, said:

“I feel the meeting was very beneficial for us to see a different perspective on our business and how it is viewed by the younger generation. I gained valuable information on how they felt about the surrounding community and businesses, and was pleased to learn about their views on litter and minor crime.”

Daily Photo: 27/07/2010 – Where in Greenwich is this? *Competition*

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Where's this?

We’ve had some fun “Where in Greenwich is this?” type picture posts before but if you can identify the spot at which the picture above was taken, there’s more than kudos up for grabs. Mike Catterall from Mike Catterall Floral Designs in Trafalgar Road has generously put up a hand tied bouquet to the value of £30 as a prize. It can be picked up from the shop or delivered to any address in the UK.

So, to win the bouquet, all you need to do is work out where I took the picture above in Greenwich SE10, and post your answer as a comment on this post. The winner will be the first person to post the right answer here as a comment.  If nobody has got it right by the end of the afternoon, I will add some “hot and cold” clues to the answers suggested.

UPDATE: Well done to Graham for getting it right in the comments below – the answer was the auction house in Old Woolwich Road, near to the Power Station opposite Stone Interiors. Here’s the bigger picture…

Auction House, Old Woolwich Road

London Mini Golf at the O2

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Fans of mini golf can play an 18 hole course at the O2 until the end of September.

The fun indoor test of your putting skills has been positioned at various London locations over the last four years, and has now come to the O2 in North Greenwich for the first time.

Younger putters can play the Junior course which consists of just 9 holes.

London Mini Golf is open from noon til 7pm every day until September 5th.

Jubilee line upgrades will be delayed by a further year

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The estimated completion date for upgrades to the Jubilee line has been put back another year.

It was confirmed by TFL today that the new signalling system has been beset by problems and the project will now finish a year later than the revised date. It was originally due to be completed by the end of 2009 before being revised to October 2010.

London Underground are now running the project after their recent acquisition of Tube Lines.

Local MP, Nick Raynsford, has expressed has expressed his “deep disappointment” at the news. He commented:

‘For the past two years, residents and businesses in my constituency have had to put up with serious inconveniences caused by closures. Announcing yet further delays to the programme is a clear indication of bad planning and is only going to cause yet further inconveniences to local residents. It will make businesses, small and large, suffer at a time that they can least afford. I will continue to press London Underground to ensure that the works are fast-tracked and cause as little inconvenience to my constituency as possible’.

Galliard’s Constellation wins planning appeal

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A new development of over two hundred apartments will be built in Charlton after the developers finally gained planning permission.

The Independent Planning Inspectorate has given Galliard Homes the go-ahead for the development, which has been marketed for several years as the ‘Constellation’, on land behind Victoria Way.

The application, which had taken Greenwich Council two years and five months to decide, was previously rejected over air quality and noise concerns. A large warehouse, which will be well known to the many drivers who pass it everyday on the A102, will be demolished to make way for the development.

In the Inspectorate’s findings, he acknowledged that “the considerable number and range of objections” suggested the “proposed development would not be welcomed by many existing residents in the local area” but goes on to say that the “planning system works to regulate the development and use of land in the public interest, not to protect private interests.”

The Inspectorate found fault with the Greenwich Council had handled some parts of the planning application and they will have to pay partial costs for the appeal.

See also: 853 – There goes the neighbourhood