Greenwich News – Local News for Greenwich SE10

Opinions on Local Services Revealed by “Place Survey”

June 30, 2009 By Rob Powell

A survey of public opinion about the provision of local services has revealed that Greenwich Council achieves a satisfaction rate of 53.1% – the same as Bromley and ahead of both Lewisham and Bexley. The results come from the “Place Survey” which was carried out by English local authorities themselves on behalf of the Department for Communities and Local Governmment, and which measured attitudes across a range of local issues.

Local Decision Making

15.1% of respondents in Greenwich said they had been involved in decisions that affect the local area over the last 12 months. A seemingly small number, but when asked, only 33.4% said they would like to be more involved in decisions that affect the local area.

Litter, Refuse and Recycling

53.3% of the Greenwich borough residents said they were very or fairly satisfied with the way public land was kept clear of litter or refuse, compared with 62.5% in the borough of Bromley and 61.3% in Lewisham.

75.6% were satisfied with refuse collection – an almost identical number to those in Bromley, but still trailing Lewisham where 81.6% felt the same way. Bexley were way behind with just 61.5% happy with their refuse collection.

Greenwich seems to be leading the way with doorstep recycling as far as respondents to this survey were concerned – three quarters of respondents were very or fairly satisfied with that, compared to just 65.9% in Bromley and 69% in Lewisham.

Crime and Anti Social Behaviour

In Greenwich, 26.6% of the people that took part in the survey thought anti social behaviour was a problem. Significantly more than the 17.1% who thought the same was true in Bromley but only slightly above the figures for Bexley and Lewisham.

41.5% in Greenwich agreed that was a problem with people not treating each other respect and consideration. Again, this was way above Bromley (27.8) but roughly in line with Lewisham and Bexley. Drug use and drug dealing is considered a signicantly bigger problem in Greenwich than it is in all of its neighbouring boroughs.

Transport

Greenwich scored marginally more than neighbouring boroughs on providing transport information, and marginally less then the same boroughs for bus services.

Read the data for yourself here and see how Greenwich compares to other boroughs and authorities.

Major Gas Mains Replacement Starts July 1st

June 29, 2009 By Rob Powell

A five month project by Scottish Gas Networks to replace old gas mains in Greenwich town centre will begin on July 1st. The utility company is spending £270,000 replacing metallic mains with new plastic piping that should last for a minimum of 80 years.

The works are taking place in Trafalgar Road, Romney Road and Nelson road, and require road closures during the replacement programme.

There will be three phases to the project:

Phase One: Work taking place in Greenwich Church Street, from number 8, along Nelson Road to just past the junction between Romney Road and King William Walk. Starting 1 July, for approximately 12 weeks, a series of diversions will be in place to enable the safe laying of a new main in an open trench.

From 1 July, for approximately five weeks, the left turn from Nelson Road into Greenwich Church Street will be closed. Traffic will be diverted via Creek Road and Norman Road to Greenwich High Road, where motorists will continue along their intended route.

In addition, westbound buses on routes 177, 180 and 386 towards Greenwich South Street will also divert via Creek Road, Norman Road and Greenwich High Road to Greenwich South Street. Buses on route 199 coming from Surrey Quays will turn right from Creek Road into Norman Road and Greenwich High Road to Greenwich South Street.

The remainder of phase one will see the reinstatement of the left turn out of Nelson Road and two-way temporary traffic lights installed in Romney Road and King William Walk.

Phase Two: Work taking place along Romney Road to the junction of Trafalgar Road and Eastney Street. From 24 September, for approximately nine weeks, the bus lane will be closed but two-way traffic will be maintained.

Phase Three: Work taking place along Trafalgar Road from the Eastney Street junction to the junction with Hoskins Street. From 26 November, for approximately four weeks, temporary two-way traffic lights will be in place. Maze Hill will also be temporarily closed during this phase with diversions in place.

SGN Team Manager Gareth Lewis said: “We’ve been working closely with the Greenwich Council and the emergency services to find the most effective way to minimise overall disruption while carrying out this essential work. Advance warning and diversion signs will be in place throughout the course of our work and access to homes and businesses will be maintained”.

Michael Jackson Dies Weeks Before O2 Concerts

June 26, 2009 By Rob Powell

The shock death of pop legend Michael Jackson comes just weeks before he was due to start his series of concerts at the O2 in North Greenwich.

The “This Is It” tour was announced back in March, and fans of the singer from around the world had snapped up tickets for the fifty dates.

Doubts had been raised about the singer’s fitness and whether he would be physically able to meet the demands of the live shows. He hadn’t performed live for over a decade and the starting date for the residency had already been put back.

AEG, operators of the dome, and its ticketing partners will now have to deal with the huge administrative task of refunding the many hundreds of thousands of tickets that have been purchased and trying to find new acts to fill the dates that Jackson was due to perform.

Greenwich Theatre Group Scoops Lotto Handout

June 23, 2009 By Rob Powell

A Greenwich based theatre group has been awarded £4,020 in Lottery funding.

The Pindrop Theatre group, based in Caradoc Street, Greenwich, offers drama workshops to groups of young people in areas of social deprivation. The project will work with schools, colleges and community centres in with the aim of raising self esteem and encouraging creativity.

Other recipients in the area who will benefit from funding include the Blackheath Asian Forum, which is going to use its award of £5,550 to create a new cricket club for players aged 16 and over, and also the Friends of Tarn in Mottingham who have been handed £5,000 to create a new butterfly and wildlife garden.

The handouts came from Awards for All – the small grants scheme administered by the Big Lottery Fund on behalf of Lottery good cause funders, Arts Council England, Big Lottery Fund, Heritage Lottery Fund and Sport England.

Greenwich Hospital Applies for Temporary Market Move

June 19, 2009 By Rob Powell

Greenwich Hospital, the owners of Greenwich Market, have submitted a planning application to Greenwich Council which would see the market temporarily moved to the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College whilst redevelopment of the famous market takes place.

It is envisaged that the relocation would be in operation for the duration of the controversial works between January 2010 and December 2011. The market would be in Monument Gardens, an area of ground in front of the Pepys building and next to the Cutty Sark.

Commenting today Martin Sands, Director of Greenwich Hospital said:

I am delighted that after extensive stakeholder and community consultation Greenwich Hospital has been able to submit plans to Greenwich Council for the temporary market within the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College.

Subject to gaining planning consent from Greenwich Council, and scheduled ancient monument consent from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport; Greenwich Hospital intends to commence development work on the market regeneration in January 2010 and finish late 2011, with the hotel and market opening in early 2012. During the two year construction period the market will operate on Monument Gardens, an area of ground in front of the Pepys building and next to the Cutty Sark.

Greenwich Hospital very much appreciates the help that the Greenwich Foundation for the Old Royal Naval College has given to enable us to find a good solution for the temporary market

Greenwich MP, Nick Raynsford added:

“Finding a home for Greenwich Market during any construction period has been a fundamental part of bringing forward plans for the market regeneration. I am delighted that Greenwich Hospital has been able to agree with the Greenwich Foundation for the Old Royal Naval College a site within the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College for a temporary market whilst the regeneration takes place. ”

Local MPs’ Expenses Revealed

June 18, 2009 By Rob Powell

The redacted expenses of all MPs have been published on the Parliament website today.

Those hoping to find scandalous tales of moat cleaning and duck houses within the expenses of Greenwich MP, Nick Raynsford, may be left disappointed though. His claims are a dry affair, mostly consisting of stationery, stamps and meeting room space for constituency surgeries.

Nick Raynsford said:

“I believe that it is right that people should be able to see what expenses MPs have claimed to be reimbursed out of public funds.

I hope that the tighter rules and greater transparency now in place will help to restore public trust and confidence that has been shaken by the revelations of recent weeks.

Constituents will be able to see that the expenses I have claimed, which are among the lowest claimed by any MP, are for costs which are necessary for me to carry out my work and responsibilities as an MP, namely the costs of employing staff, running my office and communicating with constituents.”

One question mark perhaps hovers over the £2,000 a quarter he pays to the Greenwich Labour Party for the use of 32 Woolwich Road. Land Registry details show that the property is owned outright by Labour, and whilst the rent doesn’t seem excessive, other landlords around London are having to deal with a slump in rents and one wonders where’s the incentive for Nick to push for an even better deal on rent when its his own party that benefits from the income? And how much has the value of the property appreciated whilst the taxpayer has given it a guaranteed rental income?

Mr Raynsford’s office told me this “is the rental for office accommodation, also used for constituency advice surgeries and meetings. The rental is based on a valuation carried out by a professional valuer”.

Elsewhere in the borough, Eltham’s MP, Clive Efford pre-empted the release of the material by publishing his own expenses on his website which is surely a welcome move. The usual office costs are all there but I was intrigued by the £399.99 purchase of a camcorder as an office expense. In the Youtube age, it’s not a bad idea to have the facilities to create videos, but if that was its purpose, shoudn’t it have come from the Communications Allowance not his office costs, and has anyone seen any videos produced by the Eltham MP?

He also ordered some office chairs from Staples, which is reasonable enough – but did they really require the £25 same day delivery option? I’m sure many have of us have ordered online and paused at the checkout to make sure we get best value on postage.

Mr Efford responded to Greenwich.co.uk with this statement:

As you are already aware, I have a website www.cliveefford.org.uk. To be as accessible as possible I am starting to put short videos on the site. One has already been posted. It originally went up in January this year but we had to withdraw it to sort out some technical issues although a version remained on Youtube. We have recently relaunched the video on the site and it can now be seen here: http://www.cliveefford.org.uk/newsarticles.php?id=2643&bp=3

MP for Erith and Thamesmead, John Austin, has already had his expenses covered in the Daily Telegraph. He has used the MP’s allowance system to claim for a second property, with the paper saying that after spending £10,000 of taypayer’s money on redecorations, he sold it for a £30,000 profit.

There’s a lot of material and I’m sure I’ve missed some noteworthy stuff. Let’s make this a team effort: if you spot anything questionable, feel free to add below in the comments.

29th June Update: Clive Efford has reponded and the post has been updated with his comments.

“Henry Days” Draw Thousands to Greenwich

June 18, 2009 By Rob Powell

A weekend of events to mark the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII’s accession to the throne attracted an audience of thousands.

The two day event, titled the “Henry Days”, was jointly organised by Greenwich Council and the Greenwich Foundation – the charity that looks after the Old Royal Naval College.

There was face painting, Tudor dancing, archery and demonstations of knights in combat. Probably the best time was had by the actor playing Henry VIII who got to lord it up round Greenwich as the most famous English king there has been.

Councillor John Fahy, Cabinet member for Culture and Olympics, said, “Henry VIII is undoubtedly one of the most significant figures in world history and his extensive links with Greenwich are a source of great pride in the borough. As well as being Greenwich-born, his chief residence was the former Greenwich Palace, which is now the Old Royal Naval College, and therefore was the most appropriate venue to commemorate such a special occasion. I was absolutely delighted to see so many people in attendance and I hope everyone enjoyed the occasion.”

Greenwich In Bloom Returns

June 15, 2009 By Rob Powell

Greenwich Council has announced the return of its annual competition, “Greenwich In Bloom”, which aims to encourage local residents to brighten up their gardens and local environment.

If you’re a resident of the borough of Greenwich, you can enter your green-fingered creation in the following categories:

Category 1: Front gardens with colourful summer plants
Category 2: Front gardens with best landscape design and creative use of plants
Category 3: Best back gardens with creative use of colour and plants
Category 4: Colourful window boxes and hanging baskets

The Mayor of Greenwich Councillor Allan MacCarthy, said, “The annual Greenwich in Bloom competition is an excellent way to encourage residents to take care of their garden and other green spaces in the borough while also raising awareness about the importance of working together to protect the local environment. The competition has grown in popularity year after year and I look forward to seeing the great selection of entries on offer this year.”

Entry forms are available from Greenwich’s libraries, community centres and most Council buildings, and can also be downloaded from the Greenwich Council website at www.greenwich.gov.uk

All entry forms must be returned to Parks and Open Spaces, Shooters Hill Depot (opposite Eaglesfield Road), Shooters Hill, SE18 4LX, by Friday 19 June. The first round of judging for the competition takes place on Tuesday 23 June 2009 with the second round to take place on Tuesday 7 July.

European Election Results 2009

June 8, 2009 By Rob Powell

Whilst Labour took a drubbing nationally in the European elections, the borough of Greenwich stayed loyal with the party winning the popular vote albeit with a trimmed lead over the Conservatives.

At the 2004 European elections, Labour had a 10% lead over the Tories but this was cut to just 6% in Thursday’s vote, which was counted yesterday evening.

The LIberal Democrats and UKIP both saw their share of the vote decline whilst the Green Party and the BNP recorded increases.

Turnout in the borough was 32.44% – down slightly on the 34.90% turnout in 2004. The table below details the number of votes cast for the major parties against their previous performance.

	2009	2004	Change +/-
Labour	13,414	15,780	-2,366
Con	10,360	10,428	-68
Lib Dem	4,998	7,210	-2,212
UKIP	6,507	8,470	-1,963
Green	5,573	4,694	879
BNP	4,269	3,908	361
Others	5,510	3,839	1,671

The chart below shows the performance of the major parties verses their performance at the last European elections in 2004 in terms of percentage.

European Election Results

Greenwich Council has the full details of the vote in the borough.

Gulliver Travels To Greenwich

June 4, 2009 By Rob Powell

If you’ve been into Greenwich in the last few days, you will have noticed the heavy presence of a Fox film crew that are making a new live action version of Gulliver’s Travels. The movie is set for release on 2010 and stars Jack Black, Billy Connolly, Emily Blunt, Catherine Tate and James Corden.

I had a wander around today and got some snaps whilst filming took place and the extras relaxed between takes. My rather smart new Canon EOS 500D roused the suspicions of someone in security who asked if I was a journalist, and I honestly said no, but aren’t we all citizen journalists these days?

I was struck by how friendly people were and some people were positively trying to catch my eye to tell me about the film. Here’s a few pics that I took, including one of a fantastic looking dog called “Miska” (not sure on the spelling) who has previously appeared in the Golden Compass and the “Legend of Dick and Dom” where she apparently turned into Zoe Ball. That’s quite a CV! Like the pro that she is, she was happy to pose for a photo.