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Greenwich news and information

Council pressed over car parking charges

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THE CABINET member responsible for car parking in the borough says current pricing is “reasonable.”

Cllr Denise Hyland was answering a question from Conservative Deputy Leader Alex Wilson at Wednesday’s full council meeting, who wanted to know if she agreed with a Labour MP’s recent warning on the price of car parking.

He asked: “Does she agree with Labour MP David Crausby, in relation to car parking charges, that if local authorities charge excessively for car parking within high streets and town centres, town centres are going to continue to die?”

Cllr Hyland began her reply by referring to Westminster Council.

“Well, I’m not taking any lessons from Westminster [council] that’s for certain where the Leader had to resign over the fiasco there and the Cabinet Member has now been shifted sideways, Mr Mayor.”

She continued: “There’s always a balance, isn’t there.  Everybody wants controls, everybody wants enforcement, nobody particularly wants to pay for it and the only way that we can fund enforcement is actually through levying a reasonable charge and if that’s what you wanted to hear from me about reasonableness, that’s what you will hear from this side of the Chamber around all issues including car parking.”

The council ramped up the price of parking at its Greenwich town centre car parks from £1.30 per hour to £2.50 per hour last year.

Greenwich.co.uk revealed last October that the big price hike was delivering only a modest increase in revenue.

Earlier this year, council officers told councillors that the increases had only netted half the amount anticipated, and admitted they have not conducted any studies into the impact of the increases on local businesses

A further increase to £2.70 per hour is planned for next year.

Council’s iPhone app “worth every penny”

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THE DEPUTY Leader of the Council, Peter Brooks, has praised the council’s iPhone app designed to promote Greenwich.

Speaking at last week’s full council meeting, Cllr Brooks said the application, which cost over £5,000 to develop, was “worth every penny”.

Holding his iPhone in his hand, the councillor said he had downloaded the app a day earlier and that it was a “very good app”.

It was revealed in a written answer to Councillor Alex Wilson that the application was downloaded 185 times between 20 August 2010 and 18 November 2010. Since then, the developer has not been able to supply further information, the answer states, but downloads have been estimated at 15 per week.

However, in a previous answer given in response to a Freedom of Information request from 853’s Darryl Chamberlain in December 2010, it was stated that the app had been downloaded 563 times.

Destination Greenwich has been promoted in the council’s Greenwich Time newspaper, which is delivered to every home in the borough.

Destination Greenwich iPhone app

The application contains a countdown to the London 2012 Olympics and a list of “treasures” in the borough.

£2,550 of the development cost was spent on the script, studio time and narration of the application’s list of local treasures. The application contains 35 minutes of narration.

Destination Greenwich’s list of Greenwich Treasures

  • The O2
  • Royal Observatory
  • Greenwich Park
  • Old Royal Naval College
  • Queen’s House
  • National Maritime Museum
  • St Alfege Church
  • Greenwich Market
  • Discover Greenwich Visitor Centre
  • Cutty Sark
  • Royal Artillery Barracks

Which “treasures” do you think the council should add to its list?

Changes agreed to Planning committee system

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More objections will be required for future planning applications before they are referred to council planning committees following a decision taken at last night’s full council meeting.

Currently a planning application that receives two or more objections will be referred to the local Planning Board by council officers, but this threshold is being increased to eight.

The cost saving measure is estimated to cut the number of applications considered by committees from 179 to 75 in a year and result in a saving of £27,000 in 2011/2012.

Council officers say that at least ten London borough have a higher threshold than that which is being introduced in Greenwich, or they leave referral at the discretion of officers and members.

Conservative councillors voted against the plans, with Cllr Alex Wilson suggesting the plans wait til the Government’s Localism Bill has been published – expected to make many changes to local planning rules – and Cllr Geoff Brighty questioning whether applications could be dealt with in a timely manner if the number of meetings were being reduced.

Deputy Leader of the Council, Cllr Peter Brooks, backed the plan and said that the proposals could be reviewed at the council’s AGM in May.

Greenwich Council Meeting: 27th October 2010

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Councillors met at Woolwich Town Hall last night for the first full council meeting since the summer recess.

Royal Hill school building

The Victorian school building in Royal Hill which has latterly been used as an annexe for Charlton Special School could be returned to use as a primary school, it was revealed.

In a written response to a question from Cllr Spencer Drury (Conservative, Eltham North), the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Cllr Jackie Smith (Labour, Thamesmead Moorings), stated that the council “is considering plans for the reopening of the school to meet the growing demand for primary school places in west Greenwich”.

The John Roan School

Councillor Alex Wilson (Conservative, Blackheath Westcombe) asked for an update on the re-building of The John Roan School. A written reply from Councillor Jackie Smith revealed that a design team was in place, the process to appoint a building contractor was “well advanced” and work was expected to start in approximately 12 months.

Sleeping Arrangements

Former Liberal Democrat Paul Webbewood used the opportunity of Public Questions to ask council leader, Councillor Chris Roberts, if he had ever slept at Woolwich Town Hall. “No”, replied Cllr Roberts.

Blackheath Fireworks

Cllr Alex Wilson (Conservative, Blackheath Westcombe) said that the decision not to contribute to this year’s Blackheath Fireworks felt like being “a dinner guest who has walked away at the last minute without helping to pay his share of the bill”, and asked for the cut to be justified by the Council.

Deputy Leader of the Council, Cllr Peter Brooks (Labour, Thamesmead Moorings) said there were “65 million reasons” to justify the decision, alluding to the £65 million the council expects to have to cut. Cllr Brooks said that the share of the costs for Greenwich Council was £37,000 which equated to “a job a bit”.  He said he was “given about two days in the middle of the recess to come up with this decision” and it wasn’t a decision taken “lightheartedly”.

Read more on the issue of Blackheath Fireworks at 853

Disposal of land in Commerell Street

The council resolved to try and sell two houses it owns in Commerell Street. The council has estimated that selling the land will raise £550,000 which it intends to spend on its new Housing Delivery Vehicle, financing decant costs in Kidbrooke and Woolwich and other urgent capital works on council-owned homes. The council will need to gain permission from the Secretary of State for Local Government before proceeding with the disposal.

Nouvelles Racines Free School

A Conservative motion welcoming the attempt to set up a new free school teaching the International Baccalaureate was debated by councillors.

Cllr Dermot Poston (Conservative, Eltham North) praised the “vision” of parents and teachers behind the school who he said had a “passion” for educating children “in depth”.

Cllr Adam Thomas (Conservative, Eltham South) said that the parents and teachers  proposing the free school wanted to “make a difference to the education of children in this borough”.

Cabinet member in charge of schools, Cllr Jackie Smith said it was “wholly unfair to debate in this chamber one particular proposal that is still being assessed by the Department of Education”.

She said that the council was “corncerned about free schools” which she said had “too many unknowns”. She pointed that the borough already a diverse range of schools which within the local authority “family”.

She said she didn’t wish to debate the merits of the IB but didn’t think funding should be taken away from other children in the borough to “set up a bit of elitism”.

Cllr David Grant (Labour, Greenwich West) accused Greenwich Conservatives of “jumping on Mr Gove’s decidedly rickety bandwagon” and said their motion was “trivial and foolish”.

Cllr Alex Grant (Labour, Blackheath Westcombe) – himself a former student of the International Baccalaurate – said it was a good course but not a “magic bullet”.  He also commented that there was “nothing to prevent any state school in Greenwich from starting to do the International Baccalaurate”. He said that as a “through school” catering for all ages, he thought it would be “overwhelming” for young children to be sharing a playground and school building with 17 and 18 year olds.

Cllr Nigel Fletcher (Conservative, Eltham North)  said that there was a “mindset” within the Labour group that they could  allow experimentation and parent involvement with schools “but only up to a point” because “at the end of the day, the council knows best”.