Developers have submitted a planning applicaton for a new development of 85 apartments in Norman Road.

Hilton’s Wharf, adjacent to Deptford Creek, would also include almost 500 sq m of commercial floor space and 3 ‘live work ‘ units. 30 of the new apartments would be classed as affordable homes in the part five / part seven storey building.

The new apartments are one of two neighbouring developments being proposed in Norman Road. Durkan Estates is the developer behind Hilton’s Wharf and bptw will be separately applying for permission for another 85-apartment development on adjacent land at 30-52 Norman road.

Durkan and bptw showed their plans for both sites to the public earlier this year on a  joint consultation website and in a two-day exhibition.

Click here to see the Hilton’s Wharf planning application

Although the application’s Design & Access Statement, and the consultation website both refer to the development as “Hiltons Wharf”, with no apostrophe, the developer has informed Greenwich.co.uk that the actual development name will indeed be “Hilton’s Wharf”, as the site as hitherto been known.

Last month we reported on a proposed new development with 200 apartments at the corner of Norman Road and Greenwich High Road.

Many thanks to Warren King for sending me this fabulous aerial view that shows much of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Click here to see more of Warren’s Greenwich photographs.

The Metro Centre in Norman Road, which provides support services for the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community says that the letter that was given Star Letter status and awarded with a prize in last week’s News Shopper was “appalling”.

The controversial letter (available to read in full here), written by Mrs Fitzsimons from Lewisham, refers to gay people as being “perverted” and goes on to say that “there is no equality today due to everything being biased towards homosexuality”. She suggests that adverts for gay, lesbian and bisexual clubs promote “perversity”.

As author of the paper’s Star Letter, Mrs Fitzsimons was given a free pen from Webster’s Pen Shop.

Marguerite McLaughlin, CEO of the Metro Centre, has written a furious letter to the News Shopper accusing them of trying to create a “tawdry controversy”. She calls the letter a “hate-filled rant against lesbians, gay men and bisexual people”. The charity boss says that the newspaper should give an apology to its gay readership.

Click here to read Marguerite McLaughlin’s letter to the News Shopper’s editor

Ms McLaughlin has also revealed to Greenwich.co.uk that she has ordered all of the charity’s advertising with the newspaper to be suspended until a satisfactory explanation has been provided by the paper’s editor.

Soon after the letter was published in last week’s Greenwich & Lewisham edition of the freesheet, a storm erupted on local blogs (see here, here and here) and on the social networking site, Twitter.

Greenwich councillor, Nigel Fletcher (Conservative, Eltham North) wrote on his blog that the News Shopper had made a “a big error of judgement” and that rewarding the letter’s author with a prize was ”inexcusable”.

Despite a barrage of criticism, the News Shopper, based in Petts Wood, insists that the decision to award the letter with Star Letter status and give its author a prize was not an endorsement of the letter’s content.

Traffic came to a stand-still on Tuesday evening as a fire broke out at a restaurant in Trafalgar Road.

Around 20 firefighters and four fire engines attended the blaze at Othello Steak House, 113 Trafalgar Road, near the junction of Lassell Street.

Trafalgar Road was closed to traffic in both directions as firefighters from East Greenwich, Greenwich, Lee Green and Deptford stations got the blaze under control.

There were no injuries and the fire caused damaged to the 1st floor and roof.

The Andrew Gibb Memorial in Blackheath at the junction of Maze Hill and Charlton Way has been struck by vandals.

The memorial, which is opposite the Greenwich Park war memorial and comprises of a water fountain under an impressive eight-sided shelter, was badly damaged in the attack which is believed to have happened sometime on Thursday night.

The stone obelisk has been smashed from its fixings on the fountain and then broken into pieces. I understand that although the panes of glass are smashed frequently, this may be the first time the obelisk has been so badly damaged since the £100,000 refurbishment in 2003.

The damage was spotted by local resident, Mr M Qavi, shortly after 1pm on Friday and quickly reported to the council. He told Greenwich.co.uk “that the Councillors and the Council Officials responded immediately by sending out a team to remove the stone ball and glass shards”.

Ward councillor, Alex Grant, visited the memorial to view the damage for himself on Friday afternoon.

Andrew Gibb was a local ship-repairer who lived at Garthlands in Westcombe Park, as well being a philanthropist and one of the first Aldermen of the Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich.  According to the Greenwich Council website, he left £1,200 for the erection of a public water fountain when he died in 1908.

You can see how the Andrew Gibb Memorial looked before the vandalism here and here.

Thanks to local tweeter, @MillenniumQuay, for allowing me to use this photo of Alcatel Lucent’s submarine cable laying ship, Ile De Batz, which was taken from Millennium Quay you may not be surprised to hear.

The ship was actually in the area as part of a day of activities yesterday to mark Alcatel-Lucent, based in Christchurch Way, receiving Queen’s Award for Enterprise 2010. The award was presented by Colonel Cyril Young.

Read more about Alcatel and its role in making East Greenwich ‘the home of communication’

The motorbike accessories store in the same Greenwich High Road block as the existing Co-op is closing down. On its windows are statutory notices announcing that Sainsbury’s is applying for an alcohol licence for the premises. The new store – about the same size as the Co-op by the looks of the site – will be the third new supermarket chain to open in recent years, after the M&S Simply Food at the Cutty Sark and the Tesco Metro on Trafalgar Road.

The post-Tesco fate of the other shops on Trafalgar Road – closure for some, reduced business for many – could be a worrying portent of the future. The new Sainsbury’s will be within a minute’s walk of Greenwich’s main cluster of independent food shops – the greengrocer, butcher, cheese shop, fishmonger and general grocery on Royal Hill.

True, these places have managed to cope with the Co-op, for years. But Sainsbury’s stock is likely be more directly competitive with them – more fresh food, more bourgeois comforts and more upmarket stuff than the Co-op – meaning that it’s a more serious threat.

And the competition between the two neighbouring supermarkets may also (temporarily) drive down prices on the basics and staples to an extent which damages Royal Hill. I found last year that the prices of the Royal Hill shops were suprisingly competitive with the Co-op (then Somerfield). If both of the retail behemoths are prepared to sell things at a loss as they battle it out, however, it seems unlikely that the smaller players will be able to compete on price. That could do them great damage.

At the same time, perhaps the most consuming retail issue in Greenwich – the fate of the market – is about to come to a head. Planning permission for Greenwich Hospital’s hateful scheme to knock down the market was refused exactly a year ago. But the Hospital’s appeal against the decision will be heard by a planning inspector at a public inquiry between September 7th and 17th.

Greenwich Hospital’s changes to the scheme – principally keeping, though reglazing, the roof – don’t seem to have convinced anyone. The existing shops will still be demolished and the number of stalls, and the food court, reduced. The site will be dominated by a 100-bedroom hotel.

On Sunday, as we covered on the site, there was a demo against the plans, with the three local councillors handing out leaflets claiming that even the revised proposals “will see the end of Greenwich Market as we know it.” This is true – because the cost of the redevelopment will almost certainly mean that the Hospital will have to raise the rents to a level beyond that which the existing independent traders can afford. Hays Galleria or Spitalfields, next stop!

The cynical view is that the tourists won’t be able to tell the difference. But of course they will – and we most certainly will. The market was so rammed this weekend that, to the rage of passing motorists, the demonstrators had to stand in the road. If it’s turned into a feeble appendage of a 100-room hotel, with added chain-stores, it won’t be anything like as much of a draw to the town.

As well as the local councillors, the influential Commission on Architecture and the Built Environment – the Government’s design standards watchdog- has attacked the revised scheme. In their response to the planning inspector, CABE said the new plans were still ‘alien.” They criticised the proposed layout of the market, the ‘dominating’ scale of the boutique hotel and the detailing of the glazed roof.

They branded as “awkward” the proposed new route from Greenwich Church Street into the market. And they said that the relationship between the roof and the proposed new buildings on either side was still not “fully resolved.”

I’ll be covering the saga of the market and the public inquiry in more detail within the next two weeks. But we should look at the onward march of the supermarkets – a Waitrose and a further Tesco are also rumoured – with just as much alarm.

Graham Miles kindly allowed me to use this picture that he took today from the Greenwich foreshore. He tells me that he took advantage of the low tide and sunshine, but paid the price in his pursuit of this great photo by ruining his trainers !

I saw this robin yesterday hiding in trees in Greenwich Park by the path next to Crooms Hill.