Thursday 23 May 2019

Cutty Sark poetry and live music

A reminder that the ATA's Mick Delap is putting on a performance on Friday, 24th of May, on the Cutty Sark. It will be an evening of poetry and live music, paying tribute to the age of sail, in the theatre deep in the cargo hold of the Cutty Sark. See full details by clicking here.

Friday 17 May 2019

Lenox Project event

Anyone interested in the Lenox Project will be interested to learn that they will be at the Friends of Nunhead Cemetery open day this Saturday (May 18th). Representatives from the project will be there with their cannon and exhibition trailer, so feel free to come along to the free event to find out more about their plans for the project's new base in Deptford.

Thursday 16 May 2019

Swifts and the Cutty Sark


A message from the ATA’s Mick Delap.
The Ashburnham Triangle swifts are back, nesting again in numbers in the eaves of Davy's Wine Shop. I find the sight of a swift swooping onto a nest is one of my most exciting wildlife experiences. If the swift has bred here before, then it will not have closed its wings for a whole year. A year that will have taken these wind travellers down to West Africa, then across to East and Southern Africa. And then back. Without ever closing their wings. And if it's a Greenwich swift breeding here for the first time as an adult, it won't have closed its wings for an extraordinary three years. Until now. Go and see for yourself.
Meanwhile, I am in need of urgent help. I am putting on a performance next Friday, 24th of May, on the Cutty Sark. It will be an evening of poetry and live music, paying tribute to the age of sail, in the theatre deep in the cargo hold of that other great wind machine, the Cutty Sark. See full details by clicking here. But tickets are going slowly, and the Cutty Sark management are worried. So, do come, do book your tickets now - and do pass on the details to anyone else you think might be interested.

Monday 13 May 2019

Sunday 12 May 2019

Annual Ashburnham Triangle Plant Swap

The annual ATA Plant Swap will be on Saturday 25th May between 11am-12pm in the Play Street (Ashburnham Retreat, SE10 8TZ).
Please bring plants or anything plant-related to swap, or come along and pick up a bargain.
If you've nothing to swap donations are very welcome for ‘Water for Kids’.
Everybody is welcome. See you there!

Friday 10 May 2019

Safer Neighbourhoods Update


Sadly we have to say goodbye to Sergeant Diane Hill who has been an integral part of the Safer Neighbourhoods Police Team for the last 4 years in West Greenwich. Her most recent initiative helped bring SmartWater to the Triangle. Diane has been promoted to Inspector and is transferring to Swanley in Kent to the First Response Team. We wish her all the best in her new role.  Sergeant Hill will be replaced by Sergeant Ian O’Hara on 2 June.  
The rest of the Safer Neighbourhood Police Team remains unchanged:
Police Constable John Moody
Police Constable Jaime Welch - currently on maternity leave but returning late Aug/Sept
PCSO Henry Lawton

Over the last two months burglary figures are down - we have five reported incidents in the Triangle. Motor vehicle crime, unfortunately, continues to rise throughout the borough. There have been numerous reports of thefts from vehicle and stolen vehicles - mostly mopeds and motorbikes - from within the Triangle. Knife crime in the borough is overall down but violent crime is rising. 

Outside the Triangle
Two men have been arrested in connection with the "Lebanese Loop" on the TSB ATMs within the Town Centre. Their images were captured on CCTV and will be charged accordingly. Low cost thefts in many of the high street shops are on the increase.

The number of homeless people is rising at an alarming rate across the whole Capital. Within West Greenwich there has been a sudden rise in rough sleeping within bin sheds in Tarves Way. If you see a homeless person it was suggested to contact Street Link. Street Link exists to help end rough sleeping by enabling members of the public to connect people sleeping rough with the local services that can support them. 

Within the Triangle
Just when you think you’ve seen it all, along comes a plant thief - yes Plant Thief! Last Friday morning at approx 4.15am two plants were taken from the planters outside the Ashburnham Arms. CCTV captured the thief walking down Ashburnham Place towards Egerton Drive. This individual was looking very closely in all gardens. He was also captured going up to front doors and peering inside so this is just a reminder to make sure you chubb lock your front door and do not just rely on your yale lock.

It's been mentioned before about seeing chalk markings outside properties and that these markings are code for potential burglars. However a new report suggests this is not the case and the markings are purely for potential work. Please see below - blue text is the real meaning. While it would appear there is no burglars' code, there is a colour code to look out for. Typically, different paint colours denote different messages, with red referring to electric wiring, yellow for gas mains and blue for water.  






Tina Pugh
ATA Security 

Thursday 2 May 2019

Update on the Thames Tideway Tunnel

Thames Tideway Tunnel have just re-submitted their Traffic Management plan for the lorry traffic which will take the spoil from the next phase of Super Sewer tunnelling out on Greenwich roads. This period of increased TTT lorry traffic is expected to last for the next three months or so (there'll be another, longer phase of more intense tunnelling starting at the end of the year). You can see this TTT application on the Greenwich Planning Search site, under application no. 19/1499/G. As Mick Delap explains, the new plan replaces the previous one which Planning Committee rejected unanimously at the end of March. And the new proposal looks as if it will affect a far smaller area of the Triangle.
TTT's original Traffic Management proposal had their lorries coming onto the Norman Road tunnel site off the A2 via Greenwich South Street, then round past Greenwich Station and the Queen Elizabeth Alms Houses, and up Greenwich High Road, to turn right into Norman Road. They would then have left, full of tunnel dirt, to head on south down Greenwich High Road and back onto the A2. Planning Committee agreed with local residents that such a route would bring increased HGV traffic through an unnecessarily large area of the local residential community. Now TTT are proposing a route which keeps their lorries away from Greenwich South Street and the area of Greenwich Station. Instead, they are proposing bringing their lorries into the Triangle at the junction of the A2 and Greenwich High Road. The HGV's will then turn left into Norman Road, where they will be checked out at a Vehicle Holding Area outside Norman House. After being waved on to the tunnelling site to pick up tunnel spoil, they will return to the A2 via Norman Road and Greenwich High Road. The new proposal would require restricting the north bound lane of Norman Road, where it joins with Greenwich High Road, to TTT lorries only. So that part of Norman Road would become one way, for the three or four months that this phase of tunnelling lasts. The new scheme greatly reduces the area of the Triangle affected by the increase in HGV traffic. However, more lorries at the Norman Road junction with Greenwich High Road will make an already difficult junction even more hazardous. Pedestrians trying to cross Norman Road by the North Pole pub, to move up or down the High Road, or into or out of Lovibond Lane, will be most affected. The ATA is already working with Councillor Mehboob Khan and Greenwich Traffic Officers to provide more security for pedestrians around the Norman Road part of the junction - and for pedestrians waiting at the A2 / High Road traffic lights, where the loaded HGV's will be turning left out of the High Road back onto the A2. The ATA also hopes to work with any local businesses along the directly affected section of Greenwich High Road who may suffer from the increase in HGV traffic. Do please use the application's Greenwich Planning web page to make a comment on what is being proposed. And if you want to share it with me, my email is mick@delap.plus.com. 
And if you want to discuss their plans with Thames Tideway Tunnel, or catch up on any aspect of the Greenwich and Deptford Super Sewer activity, there is a quarterly Community Liaison Working Group meeting this Tuesday 7th May, at 7.00 p.m. in the Creekside Centre, on the Deptford side of the Halfpenny Hatch Bridge. All welcome.