THE COUNCIL has launched its annual Greenwich in Bloom competition to find and reward the best gardens in the borough.

Green-fingered residents of Royal Greenwich are invited to nominate their front and back gardens in the following four categories:

• Front garden with colourful summer plants
• Front garden with the best landscape design and creative use of plants
• Back garden with creative use of colour and plants
• Colourful window boxes and hanging baskets

The gardens will be independently judged and prizes will be presented by the Mayor of Royal Greenwich.

Councillor Peter Kotz, the Royal Borough of Greenwich’s cabinet member for Cultural & Creative Industries said: “Greenwich in Bloom is a fantastic chance for residents to showcase their horticultural and gardening skills to the Royal Borough.

“The competition has had great success in the past and I’m really looking forward to seeing this year’s entries.”

An entry form for the competition can be downloaded from the council’s website – the deadline for entering is June 15th.

THE NEW mayor of Greenwich has carried out one of his first official duties – the unveiling of a topiary horse in a Greenwich garden.

The bushy creation is in the garden of local B&B, No 16, and has been named Benson in honour of London 2012 equestrian course designer, Sue Benson.

Dozens of people turned out yesterday afternoon to see the mayor, Cllr David Grant, arrive and declare Benson “open”.

Owner of No 16, Robert Gray, hopes visitors to Greenwich this summer will stop for a photo in front of Benson and make a donation to the mayor’s chosen charity for the year – the Alzheimer’s Society.

Minutes before the mayor arrived, two mounted police officers trotted down Roan Street and posed for photos with the new equine addition to the neighbourhood.

Benson can be found on Twitter and Facebook.

More photos from the unveiling can be found here.

A NEW PLANNING application has been submitted for a bridge across Deptford Creek.

If approved, the footbridge would link the new development at Greenwich Reach with Millennium Quay.

The bridge, described as a “trapezoidal lattice girder bridge”, would be six metres wide and have lifts at both sides, making it fully accessible to all. It would be fifty metres long and be seven metres above the creek’s average high water mark.

Planning permission for a bridge was previously given in 2008 at the same time as the rest of the development, labelled New Capital Quay by developer Galliard Homes, but the Port of London Authority subsequently raised concerns about the swing style bridge proposed.

The developer is at the same time asking the council for permission to build 22 extra flats to help finance the bridge. The additional apartments “would ensure the provision of a footbridge across Deptford Creek,” says the submitted Planning Statement.

A planning report by the Mayor of London at the time of the original application said it was “clear that the success of the proposed redevelopment is, for a significant part, dependent on the delivery of the bridge.”

Update: Councillor Matthew Pennycook has posted an illustration of how the bridge would look on his blog.

David Miliband, Chris Roberts and Executive Head Bryon Parker are joined by students for unveiling of plaque.

DAVID MILIBAND MP visited Thomas Tallis School, Kidbrooke, this morning to officially open its new buildings.

The secondary school has undergone a complete rebuild using money from the Building Schools for the Future programme which was set up by the last government.

Mr Miliband, who was Schools Minister when the scheme was initiated, arrived at Kidbrooke railway station and walked to the school where he enjoyed a tour of the new state-of-the-art facilities.

The former Foreign Secretary gave a short speech to guests during the opening ceremony, where there were brilliant musical performances by pupils Zana Wilberforce, Matilda Morris, Jess Ludlam and Jazz Rodrigues, and a thought provoking piece by year-10 student Nadeem Islam.

Listen to David Miliband’s speech

New recording studio in Thomas Tallis School.

But with some PFI projects attracting criticism because of expensive contracts – one school that had to pay over £300 for a plug socket has been repeatedly highlighted in the press – is Mr Miliband still convinced that PFI deals represent value for money for taxpayers?

“Every project whether it’s conventionally funded or PFI funded needs to be done in an efficient way, and you can see here what happens when you spend money well so there’s no excuse for wasting it,” he said.

Additional funding from the council has paid for a dedicated dojo, an artistic gymnastics gymnasium and a sports hall with space for six badminton courts. Council leader, Chris Roberts, said Thomas Tallis School had “grasped the opportunity” and it had been “transformed”. He added:

“It’s a fantastic place for people to come and learn. All of the [BSF] projects in Greenwich had particular challenges. This one had challenges around flood defence because it’s close to the Quaggy but you can see the product of everybody’s efforts and, backed by excellent teaching, we hope it will become a beacon of education for the future.”

Photographs from this morning’s opening

Main Entrance

New drama studio

KEN LIVINGSTONE topped the polls in Greenwich at the recent mayoral election, according to ward breakdown data just revealed by London Elects.

The figures show that Labour’s candidate, who was London’s mayor between 2000 and 2008, got a 42.93% and 43.32% share of the vote in SE10’s Peninsula and Greenwich West wards respectively.

But while his support was static in Peninsula, his support was down by 3.5% in Greenwich West compared to four years ago. Boris Johnson, who won the mayoral contest on May 3rd, saw his share of the vote rise by almost 4% in Greenwich West.

The high profile cable car under construction in North Greenwich didn’t do much to boost the Conservative candidate’s fortunes – Johnson’s support rose by only half a percent in the Peninsula ward.

Lib Dem Brian Paddick, who came to Greenwich town centre during the campaign, saw his first preference support reduced by more than a half in both Peninsula and Greenwich West. The Green Party candidate saw their support rise by about 3 percentage points in both wards giving them third place in the overall share of the vote.

Peninsula – First Preference Votes
Ken Livingstone 42.93% (+0.03%)
Boris Johnson 35.46% (+0.48%)
Brian Paddick 5.44% (-6.18%)
Jenny Jones 7.38% (+2.47) *compared with Sian Berry, Green Party candidate in 2008

Greenwich West – First Preference Votes
Ken Livingstone 43.32% (-3.5%)
Boris Johnson 35.84% (+3.85%)
Brian Paddick 4.94% (-6.47%)
Jenny Jones 7.91% (+2.94) *compared with Sian Berry, Green Party candidate in 2008

**not including postal vostes

For information on the results for other candidates, visit London Elects.