The Greenwich Fair Voices

Volunteering Opportunity

Greenwich+Docklands International Festival is looking for enthusiastic volunteers to join the festival team and be part of the Greenwich Fair Voices project, to make London’s annual festival of outdoor arts and spectacle a truly memorable event.

Read more here...

 

Olympic and Paralympic Tube and Rail Hotspots

Greenwich will be busier than usual with spectators passing through both the DLR and National rail stations. Full and final information for Tube and rail hotspots can be found here.

Now that work in Greenwich park has started, the contact number at LOCOG for anyone with questions or concerns is 08000 722110.

 

Neon Alert - Latest!

Royal Borough Greenwich(RBG) planning officers turned down the application describing the signs as contrary to the accepted guidelines and standards for the town centre and detrimental to the character and appearance of the World Heritage Site. The Council moved swiftly to begin enforcement procedures and a summons was issued against the company which was heard in the magistrates’ court on 30 April. A few days before, the Frankie and Benny signage was relocated to a position lower down on the side of the building, still of course without planning consent, perhaps a move to stymie the Council’s legal action. The court hearing on the 30 April was adjourned at the request of the restaurant owners.

At the time of writing the next steps are not clear but we have been assured that the Council is exploring the legal avenues and intends to take all possible steps to deal with any signage on the pier buildings which does not comply with planning law.

More pictures 

 

A Tale of Two Neighbourhoods

Rat Running Confronted

At the Borough’s Highways Committee on 10 January decisions were made in order to curb rat-running by drivers using residential streets to avoid main roads, and thus seek to reach their destination more quickly, but at the cost of a suffering community.

The first is the residential community in the Old Woolwich Road area. This road runs parallel with Trafalgar Road on the northern (Thames) side of the main road. It has just completed a 6 month experimental period with a traffic barrier separating the western end of the road from the eastern end. The Highways Committee had to decide on a proposal to make the barrier a permanent feature. A number of members of the public spoke to the Committee and there was a strong wish for this decision to be made. Residents referred to safer walking (especially for children to and from the school), less noise, less pollution, and a generally more agreeable climate. A couple of objections on commercial grounds, were recorded. The proposal was agreed. This showed the willingness of the Council to institute traffic calming measures that have strong endorsement by residents, but not if not, as will be seen below.

The second is the residential community in the network of streets from Crooms Hill to Greenwich South Street, where for the past year there have been various consultations but little consensus about the best course of action. This is complex problem. Many wanted action but different sorts and levels of action. The proposal before the Committee was therefore a very limited one, the closure of Circus Street at the junction with Greenwich South Street which had a measure of local agreement. This would restrict entry from the main road and have some knock-on benefits elsewhere. Speakers, including the Greenwich Society, wanted a closer analysis of the figures and opinions gained during the consultations (and more detail not included in the Report to the Committee) in the hope that it would lead to a more wide-ranging series of proposals to tackle the problem. Other speakers also sought a larger set of measures, including width restrictions. However, the limited proposal before the Committee, backed by Ward councillors, proposing one change right away, with an intention to monitor the results, and seek residents’ views after 12-18 months based on the experience of this one change.

The suggested width reduction 'pinch-points’ at the junction with the A2 (Hyde Vale, General Wolfe Road, Westgrove Lane) was not part of the proposal. The proposal was agreed.

The task of the Society and groups in the community will now be to examine the consequences of the decision, with a view to bringing more unity about the use of methods to deter rat-running. It will remain a live aim to make the area safer for all who live in this network of narrow streets, narrow pavements, blind corners and planned chicanes caused by narrow roads.

The outcome of the Highways meeting will be extremely disappointing for some members, but it reflects the policy of the Borough in these matters in looking for substantial agreement on specific action (as demonstrated in Old Woolwich Road) before making decisions that will apply to everyone in the area. Some would have wished for a bolder approach, others for more options, or for a more thoroughly evidenced case to back up the Report’s proposals. But at least there is a basis for the next step in the year ahead. These two examples appear to demonstrate the working of Council policy in the area of environment and traffic management.

Harold Marchant

 

Cutty Sark 

The Glass Canopy 

 

The Greenwich Society has at last had an opportunity to comment formally on the latest design for the glass canopy round the Cutty Sark, which is now being constructed. We have objected strongly, both to the design itself and to the inadequate consultation, which means that it is now obviously too late to make any changes.

The earlier design, approved in 2005, showed an undulating glass roof over the underground space, roughly at the level of the ship’s waterline. But apparently detailed design work since then has shown that the canopy needs to be lifted, to meet safety and access requirements (which have also made necessary the unsightly access tower to be built at the end of King William Walk). The result is an inflated glass bubble, rising at bow and stern and obscuring the lines of the hull which are one of the ship’s main attractions.

The Greenwich Society deplores this damage to an iconic image of Greenwich, part of the World Heritage Site and an important national monument. We also deplore the way commercial considerations appear to have made it necessary to force the scheme through without proper public consultation. As late as May this year, the Council’s approval of the access tower said that detailed plans for the revised canopy must be submitted and approved “before any works on site commence”, but this has been totally ignored.

Read the article in The Mercury

What does Greenwich mean to you?

 

The Greenwich Society, which was born as a civic amenity group in the late 1950s, aims to work to make Greenwich a better place for all who live, work and study here – from Deptford Creek to the O2 and from the river to Blackheath. The Society has a special interest in thriving, long and sustainable businesses, the town’s commercial centres East and West, regeneration, traffic management, the natural and built environment and relations with the local authority and all the agencies who have to manage change. Whether it is the watchfulness that is required to protect the town’s heritage or the natural concerns of local residents to improve its amenities, the Greenwich Society welcomes members and gives a voice to everyone who cares about the past, the present and the future.