London 2012 bunting has appeared at locations around Greenwich, such as here in Straightsmouth which is one of the pedestrian routes from the railway station to Greenwich Park.
Olympic transport plans unveiled by London 2012 organisers
LONDON 2012 organisers have unveiled a raft of measures to help Greenwich’s local transport network cope with the thousands of visitors expected for next summer’s Olympics.
Chief among the proposals, which went on display today and can be viewed by residents until Saturday, are road closures and an enlarged one way system around the town centre throughout the Olympics.
Greenwich Church Street will be closed to traffic, as will Straightsmouth at peak times and Greenwich High Road towards the town centre from the junction of Norman Road, as these become designated pedestrian routes from Greenwich railway station.
Marshals will guide the throngs of spectators along these routes and then down College Approach and through the Old Royal Naval College where they will then access Greenwich Park by crossing two new temporary footbridges across Romney Road.
Locog’s City Operations Manager, Jennifer Impett said of the proposed footbridges:
“We want to maintain the vehicle route as much as we can. The one way gyratory will be adding some pressure within the area so we need to maintain free flowing traffic as much as we can.”
A bridge is also proposed to get spectators arriving via Blackheath station across the A2 from the heath to Greenwich Park.
Drivers heading into Greenwich from Greenwich High Road will have to turn left at the Norman Road junction, before turning into Creek Road and then joining the existing one way system.
Organisers say that Cutty Sark DLR station will have to close during peak hours as it doesn’t have the capacity to deal with the volume of spectators.
Olympic ticket-holders tempted to try and park in Greenwich will find that hours have been extended in all Controlled Parking Zones (CPZ).
Areas within a 30 minute walking radius of the park which aren’t currently in a CPZ will have new temporary controls put in place to deter spectators planning to drive in, and residents and businesses will be issued with special Olympic parking permits.
Other key proposals include:
- Closing Charlton Way and The Avenue/Blackheath Avenue from 7 July-8 September.
- Closing the Lewisham-bound DLR platform at Greenwich train station, with passengers asked to join services Deptford Bridge instead.
- Using the Blackwall Tunnel, the A2 and Prince Charles Road, Maze Hill Road, Park Vista and Park Row as Olympic Road Network routes for transporting athletes and the “Olympic family”.
- Setting aside 100 car parking spaces for Blue Badge holders.
- Establishing “park and ride” areas around Blackheath so spectators can be coached in from Bluewater and Lakeside.
The proposals, along with more planning documents, will soon be submitted to Greenwich Council as London 2012 organisers attempt to meet the conditions of its original planning application.
Clues as to the kind of stunning images viewers at home can expect were hinted at with maps showing the construction of a mile-long cable to carry a TV camera from Millwall Park high over the Thames, swooping across the Old Royal Naval College and equestrian arena in Greenwich Park before finishing near the General Wolfe statue.
London 2012 Venue General Manager for Greenwich Park, Jeremy Edwards, commented: “We’re trying to do everything we can to make sure the experience next year is one of the most memorable for the people of Greenwich and the spectators.”
Remaining London 2012 Transport Drop In Sessions
Friday: 09.00 – 18.00
Saturday: 09.00 – 17.00
Devonport House, King William Walk, Greenwich
200 more buildings to be locally listed – is your house one of them?
APOLOGIES for delaying last week’s column until this week – I have been waiting, so far in vain, for news of the Olympics planning application (promised by “late November” – only one day left, guys!) and the closure of the foot tunnel (supposed to be discussed by the council’s cabinet on 17 November – but the meeting was cancelled).
I’ll post a new column as soon as I have anything concrete to tell you on either subject – probably later this week – but while we wait, let’s talk conservation areas. There are six in SE10 and the Greenwich borough parts of SE3 – and the council has been reviewing five of them: West Greenwich, Greenwich Park, East Greenwich, Blackheath and Blackheath Park. The sixth, Ashburnham Triangle, was done last year but I will include that too, for completeness. The reviews also consider whether any more buildings should be listed or locally listed.
Greenwich Council reviews always cause small a ping on my sonar – is the agenda to sneak through something we might not like? In this case, however, there appears to be little cause for alarm. The proposals from the six reviews are as follows:
– Listing about 25 buildings, all in Ashburnham Triangle; see below for the full list.
– Locally listing about 200 buildings, including the Greenwich Power Station, the Pavilion tea-house in the Park and most of the Span estates in Blackheath. See below for the full list.
– In West Greenwich, reducing the boundaries of the conservation area to take out flats “of no special merit” around Dutton Street and Winforton Street. Adding two Victorian schools, St Alfege with St Peters (in Creek Road) and James Wolfe (Randall Place). Possibly adding the cabaret club in Creek Road.
– In East Greenwich, extending the conservation area to include the whole of Trafalgar Road from Christ Church to the Royal Naval College, including all of Old Woolwich Road.
– In Ashburnham Triangle, small extensions on the fringes the conservation area. (No changes proposed to the boundaries of the other three.)
All buildings in conservation areas are subject to extra planning controls – on, for instance, the placement of satellite dishes and the size of extensions allowed, fences, walls and railings. West Greenwich, East Greenwich and the Ashburnham Triangle (though not the other three) are “Article 4” conservation areas with enhanced protection where nearly all external alterations, including re-roofing and new windows and doors, need planning permission.
Listed buildings have statutory protection – that is, it is a criminal offence to change them (inside or out) without special listed building consent. Locally listed buildings have no special extra protection – they are just buildings the council thinks are nice. Having your house on the local list might increase its value, though.
The buildings proposed for listing (in alphabetical order by street) are:
Blackheath Road: 53-75 (odd numbers)
Greenwich High Road: 21, 24, 26, 28, 133, 133a, 135
Greenwich South Street: 80-98 (even numbers)
The buildings proposed for local listing (in alphabetical order by street) are
Ashburnham Place: 18-27 (odd)
Corvette Square: all
Greenwich Park: Pavilion Tea House
Greenwich Park Street: Former Post Office sorting office
Greenwich Power Station and coal jetty
Hardy Cottages: all
Kidbrooke Park Road: 11-29 (odd)
Maze Hill: 75-81, 89-93 (odd)
Orlop Street: all
Point Hill: 29-35 (odd)
Randall Place: All houses on north side
Roan Street: 33-47 (odd)
Shooters Hill Road: 63-103 (odd)
Straightsmouth: Lovibonds Brewery Warehouse
Trafalgar Road: 177
Wellington Grove: St Ursula’s School
Plus most of the Span estates in Blackheath Park, including The Plantation, Corner Green, The Keep, The Lane and The Hall except 1-27 Foxes Dale and 51-63 The Hall.
It’s also nice to see how the Greenwich Park conservation area appraisal waxes lyrical about the park’s “sense of continuity and timelessness” that “acts as an oasis for visitors… hugely significant for historical, cultural and ecological reasons.” The Olympics’ll soon put a stop to all that nonsense, eh!
PS – Nice to see the Mercury and News Shopper following up another one of our stories – on Chris Roberts’ moonlight flit to a safer ward – for the second time in two weeks, though again sadly without acknowledgement. You read it here first…