The Society is extremely concerned to learn from an article in the Evening Standard that the owners of the Greenwich Market site in Greenwich Town Centre, the Greenwich Hospital Trust, have announced that they propose to re-develop the site.
The Leader of Greenwich Council, Chris Roberts, has written an open letter to the Evening Standard in which he roundly condemns the proposal and urges a re-think.
If you are opposed to this move, then please ensure that you use every opportunity to voice your concern over this matter whenever the opportunity arises.
We will post more information here when we receive it.
6 comments:
The centre of Greenwich continues to evolve, not always for the better.
Whilst the market is part of the package that draws tourists (and money) into the area, it is those people who live and work in Greenwich who are the primary stakeholders - and as such are they should have a say in how the area changes.
Any new developments should stay in within the spirit of the area.
May I take advantage of your blog to request the Westcombe Society's support for the local residents' petition to the LBG asking the Council to work together with the local residents to find an alternative to a
mass tree cull of all the 50-year-old plane trees.
You can download the petition narrative and form from www.maritime-greenwich.net/moodyblue/GT-THE-BC-PH-tunnel-avenue-petition.doc
The narrative includes a charming photograph of the plane trees when they were saplings, 50 years ago, complete with haystack in the foreground.
Thanks.
Thank you Indigo for your information. We were not aware of this issue, but as it is not appropriate for this thread, I have started a new Blog entry for it.
I agree that the wholescale demolition and re-siting of the market is to be avoided at all costs. But I have been talking to some of the people in shops outside the market and begin to wonder whether there is actually an argument for some improvements.
What I would hate to see lost are the little individual shops which mark Greenwich out as "different" from the rest of the capitol - we must fight against the onslaught of the dreaded chain store - but think for a moment before you dismiss this totally out of hand.
Now I haven't seen the plans - but I understand that the four "exterior" walls are indeed listed and cannot be touched. So - think on this - what if the nasty 1950s shops INSIDE the market were demolished, and replaced with lovely new ones (bringing back afterwards the great little businesses like Compendia and the Printmakers Co-operative and carefully NOT inviting big chains in) paid for by some nice, in-keeping flats above? While we were about it, we could lose that god-awful cover and replace it with proper glass. I reckon that would make the market even better - and by keeping the bits that are actually good - like the Coach and Horses for instance - and bringing back temporarily displaced local businesses, we could retain the integrity of this lovely little local asset.
Am I living in cloud-cukoo land? Probably. But you never know...
For clarification, there currently are no specific plans for redevelopment. That is not to say that specific plans won't eventually appear, but as things stand there is nothing to comment on.
Many people are, in fact, of Sandra's view that improvements are desparately needed as opposed to allowing parts of the structure to deteriorate further.
Ideally what is required when, and if, plans are finalised is a rationale analysis of whether they actually resolve some of the present issues, or whether they are indeed a step too far.
Am I right in believing that the charity's proposals will be coming out soon? I vaguely remember reading in a local paper when this furore was at its height that the proposals would be brought in around this time. But then you can't read everything you read in local papers...
I would LOVE to see the market improved - as long as it remains open to all, not a few lucky apartment-dwellers, and with a wide variety of one-off shops rather than chain-store clones.
I pray the charity won't go for the fast buck - losing the market would be to lose Greenwich's heart - and ultimately make the very apartments they propose worth less.
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