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Man in court on Greenwich Park criminal damage charge

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AN ANTI-OLYMPICS campaigner appeared in court today charged with criminal damage and possession of a bladed article.

Edward Hill, 62, of Foyle Road, Blackheath, pleaded not guilty to the charges at Woolwich Magistrates Court and opted to be tried by jury at Crown Court.

The activist is accused of using a kitchen knife to cut feather markers showing where equestrian events are due to take place at Greenwich Park during the London 2012 Olympic Games.

He is also alleged to have used the knife to dig into the ground in the royal park on September 23 this year.

Dave Townsend, for the Prosecution told magistrates: “This is our first anti-Olympics case.”

Mr Hill, who appeared without representation, was told that the magistrates could deal with the case.

But the defendant, who is a local artist and member of Transition Westcombe,  opted for a jury trial at Woolwich Crown Court despite being warned that costs of £1,500 could be payable if convicted.

He was granted unconditional bail pending his next appearance at Woolwich Magistrates Court next month for committal to Crown Court.

Pickles calls time on Greenwich Council’s weekly newspaper

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Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles, has announced proposals to clamp down on “town hall pravdas” and singled out Greenwich Council’s weekly newspaper, Greenwich Time, as “one of the most blatant examples”.

New guidelines put forward by the government would restrict councils to publishing their own free-sheets no more than four times a year.

Speaking exclusively to Greenwich.co.uk, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government said:

“Councils should be focusing resources on frontline services, not running one-sided Town Hall papers that threaten the genuine local press. ‘Greenwich Time’ is one of the most blatant examples of this practice that I’ve seen, and demonstrates why tightening the rules is so necessary.”

The new rules, which are subject to consultation, would also impose stricter controls over the content that councils can publish. Local authority publications should only include “information for the public about the business, services and amenities of the council or other local service providers”, according to the proposed code of practice.

Greenwich Council’s controversial newspaper was the subject of a debate at the last full meeting of the council when local Conservatives put forward a motion calling it for to be axed.

Leader of Greenwich Conservatives, Cllr Spencer Drury, welcomed the government’s announcement. He added:

“Greenwich Time undermines local business and publishes what I would describe as propaganda masquerading as news.  I hope that this will encourage our existing local newspapers to revive their news reporting function and to start investigating the failures of Greenwich Council in a more systematic manner.”

Council Leader, Cllr Chris Roberts, defended Greenwich Time at the last full council meeting. He said that the paper, which is delivered to homes across the borough, was “very close to being self financing” and allowed the council “to deliver statutory notices almost at no cost”.

Emergency services called to chemical incident in Greenwich

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For around two hours on Sunday afternoon Greenwich town centre was eerily free of traffic as emergency service units descended on the Admiral Hardy pub on College Approach.

At around 2.50 pm Creek Road was closed between the Norman Road junction and Greenwich Town Centre. College Approach was also closed as around six fire crews, an incident support unit and a scientific support unit attended a chemical incident at the Admiral Hardy public house.

Metropolitan Police and the London Ambulance service also attended the scene in volume.

The London Ambulance service received the first report at 2.20 PM with a single responder and hazardous area response team attending first. Four adult males were assessed on scene for inhalation of fumes and were transported in a single ambulance to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich, for further assessment.

A spokesperson for the London Fire Brigade confirmed that an unknown quantity of floor cleaner and bleach had been mixed and firefighters attended the scene with specialist detection equipment but did not find any elevated levels of a dangerous chemical. College Approach and Creek Road reopened at 4.30 PM.

‘High Quality’ development proposed in Woolwich Road

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Developers want to demolish part of a Victorian terrace to build new ‘high quality’ homes and commercial space in Woolwich Road.

Local property owners, the William Hatcliffe Estate, have applied for planning permission to knock down the former council offices at 17-23 Woolwich Road which are on the corner of Hatcliffe Road

They propose replacing the building with new commercial space, for use as shops, restaurants or offices, on the ground floor, and 9 new apartments above.

The new property would be in a similar style to the existing terrace with the addition of a new mansard roof to provide another storey of accommodation.

Developers say they considered other options such as refurbishing the property, or retaining the original frontage, but opted to demolish the properties and rebuild in a style that would match the neighbouring terrace.

See the planning application on the Greenwich Council website here.


How it looks now


Developers’ illustration of how it would look if their plans get the go ahead

Meeting planned to discuss new ‘free school’

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A meeting will take place this weekend to discuss proposals for a new ‘free school’ in the area.

Nouvelle Racines had previously outlined their desire to set up a new languages state school outside of local authority control but their bid was not one of the first sixteen announced by the Department for Education earlier this month.

Greenwich.co.uk understands the original hit a stumbling block when the council let it be known that the former Charlotte Turner site in Deptford would not be available.

Nouvelle Racines say they are now refining their proposal with a view to opening in 2011. They say they have  already received expressions of interest from 135 families with more than 200 children between them.

The meeting will to discuss the new school, which would offer the International Baccalaureate (IB), will take place on Saturday 25th September at West Greenwich House Community Centre, Greenwich High Road, at 2pm.

Greenwich Council’s funding for Blackheath Fireworks fizzles out

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The popular Blackheath Fireworks risk turning into a damp squib after Greenwich Council “reluctantly” decided to withdraw funding, leaving partners Lewisham Council to find the extra cash for the event to go ahead.

The annual fireworks display, which attracts an attendance of about 80,000,  has until now been jointly produced by Greenwich and Lewisham councils but with large cuts to their grant from central government anticipated, Greenwich has pulled out of this year’s display in order to protect “front line services”.

Greenwich’s decision not to fund the popular pyrotechnics display has left Lewisham Council requiring public donations to meet the shortfall to allow the event to go ahead.

Lewisham council announced its appeal earlier this week, with Mayor Bullock commenting: “I don’t want to see this event cancelled without giving people the chance to show their support. Just £1 each from every one who attends would ensure that the skies sparkle as usual over the heath this year.”

Local blogger, Darryl at 853, was quick to spot that Lewisham’s announcement conspicuously failed to mention their traditional event partner, Greenwich Council.

Greenwich Council has now confirmed to Greenwich.co.uk that they have decided not to contribute to the funding of the event.

A Greenwich Council Spokesperson said:

“The Council has reluctantly taken the decision not to fund the event this year, having been advised to anticipate up to 40% cuts to its grant, representing some £70m when the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review is published on 20 October. The Council is committed to maintaining front line services and has a strong track record of identifying efficiency savings, which has enabled us to freeze council tax in six of the last 12 years. “

Back in October 2008, it was Greenwich councillors who were worried that Lewisham may withdraw funding from the event. Blackheath Westcombe councillor, Alex Wilson, raised the issue after there were local news reports that Lewisham could pull out. In response  Councillor John Fahy, Cabinet Member for Culture & Olympics, stated that councillor Wilson should not believe everything he read in the newspapers.

Visit www.lewisham.gov.uk/fireworks if you would like to contribute.

Updated 17th September

Blackheath Westcombe councillor, Alex Wilson, has responded to the news with this comment:

I think that Greenwich Labour have been looking for an excuse to stop paying their share of the funding for Blackheath Fireworks for years and are now using Government cuts as cover. I think that this has been done without probably considering all the options. I am worried that Blackheath is going to see the bare brunt of the cut backs in spending whilst Woolwich remains untouched.

Two other points come to mind when I think about the Blackheath Fireworks.

Firstly, the safety of the public, fire and health officials often state that they would rather people go to professionally organised events rather than risk using fireworks at home, if this event is not provided then it is likely that there will be more fireworks parties happening at home and so therefore at greater risk of accidents.

Secondly, on the night of the fireworks both Blackheath Villages and Blackheath Standards shops, restaurants and pubs are able to attract a large number of customers, this helps to fuel the local economy.

“Character and potential historic significance” of market revamp praised

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The proposed Greenwich Market redesign would see new buildings of “character and potential historic significance”, a planning inquiry heard today.

That was the verdict of Dr Jonathan Edis who was called as a professional witness by Greenwich Hospital.

Dr Edis said that the market buildings dating from the 1950s do not “really hang together” with the rest of the market and are “not worthy of preservation”. He added that the scheme would see “no loss of significance” and would instead create an “attractive way of drawing people into a new and vibrant space”.

He was asked if he knew why Bespoke Hotels, the selected operator for the hotel if it gets the green light, had produced a web page advertising the hotel including “an alfresco restaurant-bar set amidst the cobbled courtyard” but Dr Edis said he had no knowledge of that.

The lawyer representing the council suggested to Dr Ediz that in his written submissions he had tried to “create an argument” with the council’s Senior Conservation Officer, Rebecca Duncan, and he was in fact a “hired gun”.

Dr Edis is a former local authority conservation officer himself and now runs his own cultural heritage consultancy.

Other developments from the inquiry’s fifth day included the Planning Inspector announcing that he will make his own unaccompanied visit to the market on Saturday. The inquiry schedule includes an accompanied visit on Thursday but market trader, Kate Jaconello, suggested earlier in the week that he visit at a weekend which he has now agreed to do.

The inquiry continues at the town hall on Wednesday, the site visit due to take place on Thursday and closing submissions on Friday.

For Sale: Record-breaking yacht, the Gipsy Moth IV

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The Gipsy Moth IV, which was in dry dock in Greenwich for over three decades, has been put up for sale.

The  famous yacht was single handedly sailed around the world by Francis Chichester in 1967, setting a new record for the fastest voyage around the world in a small vessel.

Such was the public interest in Chichester and the Gypsy Moth IV, they were greeted by a crowd of a quarter of a million people in Portsmouth as they returned from the voyage in 1967.

Later that year, the yachtsman became Sir Francis Chichester in a public knighting ceremony held by the Queen in the grounds of the then Royal Naval College. The Gipsy Moth IV – built in Gosport especially for the voyage – was put into dry dock in Greenwich in 1972 following his death.

The Gipsy Moth IV became a tourist attraction in Greenwich, placed next to the Cutty Sark (this photo was taken in 1970) for over 30 years. Unfortunately she fell into a state of disrepair and in 2005, a campaign launched by Yachting Monthly resulted in a £300,000 restoration which saw her refurbished and returned to the high seas under the ownership of the UK Sailing Academy.

The yacht has now been put .

More new homes proposed for Norman Road

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Proposals for a new development of 85 new apartments in Norman Road have been submitted to Greenwich Council.

The new homes would be at 30-52 Norman Road, overlooking Deptford Creek and directly adjacent to the Hilton’s Wharf proposal that was submitted last week.

Although the two construction projects have been put forward separately by different developers, the neighbouring developments are sympathetic to each other and they were exhibited jointly earlier this year.

The 30-52 Norman Road development would also include 1250m² of commercial floorspace and 2 ‘live/work’ units.

The planning application is available to view on the council’s website.

Market redevelopment would “rip the heart out of Greenwich”, councillor tells inquiry

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Proposals to redevelop Greenwich Market will “rip the heart ouf of Greenwich”, a local councillor told an independent public inquiry into the market’s fate today.

Cllr Maureen O’Mara (Labour, Greenwich West) said that the market is a “well loved part of London” and that it would be a “disgrace to allow it to be destroyed”.

The councillor has served on the Greenwich Area Planning Committee since 1998 and was the Chair of the Borough Wide Planning Board between 2002. She explained that she had originally been involved in the Key Stakeholder Group that was discussing plans for the redevelopment but that she pulled out when she saw the scope of their plans.

She said that the Market owners, Greenwich Hospital, have never shown “any understanding or interest in the impact of their proposals on this sensitive location”.

Cllr O’Mara ended her comments to the inquiry, which started on Tuesday and is now in its third day, by requesting that the Secretary of State for Local Government, who has the final say, reject the appeal.

The afternoon’s session was mostly taken up by questioning of Greenwich Council’s Chief Planning Officer, Fred Brown.

Mr Brown acknowledged that the Greenwich Market site “needs investment” and conceded that the development had the “potential” to bring benefits, such as additional employment, but said there was a “question mark” over whether the changes would benefit residents and traders.

He said that the proposed boutique hotel “would not fill a gap” as there were other high quality hotels in Greenwich, specifically citing the Devonport Hotel and the Novotel, and more hotels were already planned.

“Mr Raynsford is not an urban planner so is not qualified to make those judgements”

He was questioned by Greenwich Hospital’s QC, Neil King, about the support for the scheme from local MP Nick Raynsford, the Greenwich Society, the University of Greenwich and ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites).

When asked about Nick Raynsford’s support for the scheme, Mr Brown commented that “Mr Raynsford is not an architect, he’s not an urban planner so is not qualified to make those judgements”.

Mr King QC seized on that and asked Mr Brown if indeed he was a qualified architect or urban planner either.

“No”, replied Mr Brown, although he did point out his experience of over twenty years in managing planning departments.

The inquiry continues on Friday and from Tuesday to Friday next week.