Ha’Penny Hatch route in jeopardy

Though not strictly a Crossfields Green issue, those of you that use Ha’Penny Hatch Bridge to Greenwich may know that our friends at Thames Tideway – builders of the £4.2bn super sewer folly – plan to divert the approach to the bridge from the Greenwich side onto a path close to the railway arches in the spring.

They are building the diversion now and users can clearly see that the route they will force us to use is far too narrow, bends awkwardly and has raised concrete sides that will make this section of Quietway 1 deeply unpopular at best, and probably very unsafe and unpleasant at worst.  It will certainly force cyclists and pedestrians into conflict.

We have complained about this – it’s a very poor start to the construction process but we need as many people as possible to make an impact now, before it’s too late to change.

Please complain to the Tideway Helpdesk.  Call 08000 30 80 80 (24hr) email helpdesk@tideway.london or write to Freepost Tideway.

More art on Crossfields Green planned

Artists may crawl out from all sorts of places for this gig…

In an otherwise gloomy evening at the Thames Tideway Community Liaison Working Group last night (7 March) there were two interesting pieces of news.

First, the commissions for the hoardings at the Greenwich Pumping Site and Crossfields site (see below) have now been awarded to local artists, including Edwin Mingard

Secondly, Tideway is now seeking an artist to design a permanent public art work or a series of commissions at Crossfields Green in Deptford.  Around £50,000 is up for grabs, with shortlisted artists being offered £1000 to develop and submit their ideas. Applications are apparently welcomed from artists working in all disciplines, and preference will go to artists who are based in Lewisham borough or who have a good knowledge of the Deptford area.  The work will have to be sympathetic to the history of the site, have some community involvement and meet the objectives of Tideway’s art and heritage strategy.  But it promises to be an interesting project.  If you’re interested, the deadline for the open call is 12pm midday Sunday 2 April 2017. For further information, see the application form.

Hoardings commission – call to artists

Supersewer developers Tideway have issued a call to artists to create an artwork with the theme of ‘identity’ on the hoardings on the Deptford Church Street site.  They welcome applications for the commission, which is worth more than £6,000, from artists of any discipline.  You  must have experience of working with schools to succeed and there’s a preference from people who know the area well.  Detail here: site-hoarding-call-for-artists.

CAN YOU SEE THE WOOD AND THE TREES?

In response to residents’ fears about the loss of trees on Crossfields Green, Tideway has agreed to provide twice as many replacements once the work is completed.  In addition, they also propose to plant an unspecified number of semi-mature trees close by, as soon as possible.

In an effort to establish them before the planting season ends, Lewisham Council’s tree officer has suggested three possible locations:  within the Crossfield Estate, Ferranti Park and Margaret McMillan Park. She and the Project Manager for the area, Adam Platts, will be leading a walkabout at 11am on 16 January to discuss the best locations and species. Interested residents are invited to meet at the corner of Bronze Street and Deptford Church Street, opposite Crossfield Green.

If you cannot make it, don’t hesitate to tell us where you would like to see more trees, and we will pass your suggestions on.  Leave a comment below.

Trees will be felled in January

Thames Water subsidiary, Thames Tideway, has confirmed that they intend to cut down the trees at Crossfields Green from 16 January 2017. In all 44 trees will be cut down on the green and another on Deptford Church Street itself.

The sad news came on the day that yet another scientific report highlighted the danger of living near to busy roads. Researchers found that people living near main roads are at higher risk of contracting dementia, with exhaust fumes and/or noise cited as likely causes. Our trees, of course, play a vital role in mitigating the worst effects of the traffic so they will be sadly missed and one less protective health measure for the community.

And, just to add to the controversy, it follows warnings from MPs that the (unnecessary) super sewer project – which is the reason for the decimation of the trees – could add as much as £90 a year to people’s water rates if costs run out of control. Grant Shapps MP criticised his own government in saying the contract with tideway should have had better protection for householders built into the contracts.

Tideway recently rejected calls from campaigners to reexamine their plans to minimise the loss of trees, but say that they will replace them and plan to plant mature trees prior to the completion of the project.  The details of this initiative are, however, apparently not yet available.

Radical thinking for Crossfields Green?

The masterplanning for Crossfields Green is now underway, so we’re throwing a few wild ideas into the hat to get you thinking.  We’ve not talked to the church, the school, the dog-walkers or any of the users about these yet.  So far they’re just one person’s vision – we don’t even agree about them ourselves!  But they’re here to provoke discussion and set you dreaming. Have a  look at the prospectus five-radical-ideas here and tell us what you think.

Leave your comments on this blogsite and don’t forget to give the planners your ideas here.

Help plan the new Crossfields Green

The masterplanners for Crossfields Green are now undertaking a short on-line survey, seeking views on issues, opportunities and perceptions of the space.

Check out the survey here.

The survey only runs for a few weeks, but in the early part of 2017 they will seek views on design concept options at local drop-in events – details of which are to be announced.  Further engagement is planned in 2017 as the designers develop their ideas and designs for the site. These will be publicised widely.

The council also intends to set up a community and stakeholder steering group to oversee the development of the landscape masterplan.

More details to follow.  And look out for our ‘Five radical ideas for Crossfields Green’ – coming soon.

Developers pledge to be good neighbours

Supersewer developers, Thames Tideway, pledged to be ‘good neighbours’ during the course of their five to six years work on Crossfields Green and at the meeting of the community liaison group on Monday (28 November).

The team of developers, contractors and consultants working in Deptford and at the Greenwich Pumping station set out the next stages of the works and their desire to keep the local community informed.

Residents called for more detailed and imaginative plans to make sure residents are properly engaged, and for openness and transparency on issues ranging from noise and air quality monitoring to working hours and traffic management.

Greenwich Councillor Mehboob Khan volunteered to chair this and future meetings, which are expected to be held every three months.

The meeting also heard from Lewisham Council’s Adam Platts who is starting to draw up the masterplan for Crossfields Green. The planning kicks off with informal discussions and a call for ideas in December, and consultation on a number of options around Easter with the aim of agreeing a plan by the summer 2017. The timetable – which kicks off some five years before the work is due to be completed – is dictated by the need to synchronise with the tunnel programme works. We’ll publish more detail here in the next few days.

Informal notes of the meeting are available here.

Community liaison meets Monday

The supersewer developers, Tideway, have arranged the next Deptford Church Street and Greenwich Pumping Station Community Liaison Working Group meeting for Monday 28 November, 7pm-9pm at the Creekside Discovery Centre, 14 Creekside, SE8 4SA.

Apparently this will be a formal meeting, rather than a drop-in session, but our request for the agenda appears to have fallen on deaf ears. Get along if you can. Otherwise we’ll try to publish a report here.

Keep it considerate

If you were kept awake last night by the roadworks on Deptford Church Street you will find no comfort in the fact that major works in this area are set to continue for another three and a half years.

These works, commissioned by Thames Water for their super sewer project, could be a taste of what is to come on the western side of Deptford Church Street. And, of course, the context is of very significant building work across the area which already causes considerable noise, dust and traffic and parking problems. The combined effect is to make a living here a lot less comfortable.

It is important that you do complain if you are disturbed. It may make no practical impact in the short term but it does help us argue for better protection for residents in future and to assists our campaign to improve liveability in this area.

The Thames Water 24 hour helpdesk phone line is actually staffed 24 hours a day so if you are inconvenienced by the works going on along Deptford Church Street we recommend you ring them and make sure you log a formal complaint. They do respond even in the middle of the night. Last night they were able to establish by about half past midnight that the works would continue for up to another two hours which proved to be correct, though the news was of no particular use to anybody. It was not mentioned in any of their publicity, which had blandly referred only to the road closure.

So, if you want to complain or find out more about what’s going on then the telephone number of the 24-hour helpline is 08000 30 80 80 or you can email them at helpdesk@tideway.london. Copy in the council at environmentalprotection@lewisham.gov.uk

And look out for their community liaison working group meeting on 28 November. Details from getinvolved@tideway.london