SEnine
SPY@senine.co.uk
Grade A mess up always newsy,
It seems the saga of Bexley Road’s West Lodge might be
close to resolution, not before time.
sometimes irreverent
and often controversial...
SPY understands a buyer has been found for the listed
cottage which is next to the gateway to Greenwich
University but owned by our friends at the council.
To put the residents firmly in their places, Cluttons cast a new
The little cottage was, for more than 30 years, occupied
threat over the Green in the shape of Thames Water, who
by a member of the Parks department staff who, when
they say are poised to bury new pipes under the grass and
retirement was looming, made a generous offer to take it
erect an abstraction borehole too. Again, sight unseen, they
off their hands.
say they’d probably be pretty happy about this prospect as
well. The only problem is that Thames Water say they don’t
But he was told he could not purchase the property because
have any plans for either pipes or a borehole. Interesting to
the University wanted it as part of their expansion plans.
know what the Royals are paying Cluttons for this matchless
service.
With the skill and aplomb that only Greenwich Council can
muster, however, the first thing their property chiefs did was
Cheers and good luck….
to board up the doors for months. Vandals then nicked the
By the time this issue hits the letterboxes, SPY hopes to have
lead from the roof which allowed the rain to pour through
had his first cuppa and snack in the new café in Eltham Park
the roof through last winter.
South. Full marks to Colin Jerwood for having the tenacity to
see the project through to completion and SEnine wishes
SPY understands that by the time they got around to putting
him good luck. One down and three to go. The Tudor Barn,
the two bedroomed house up for auction, nobody would
Severndroog Castle and Avery Hill Park all have café plans at
meet the reserve price, not surprising seeing the condition
various stages of the planning process.
the building was in.
Furthermore, the money eventually raised for its sale didn’t
Dance demise
match the amount the groundsman had offered in the first
One school not returning after the summer holidays is
place on at least three separate occasions.
the Belcanto Dance Academy in Passey Place. The school’s
closing with financial pressures and SPY understands that
And did the University want it as part of their expansion
OFSTED was breathing down its neck over the non-dance
plans? As they aren’t the buyer of the Lodge, it seems not.
side of their curriculum. Pity.
Meanwhile, the former tenants say they are dumbfounded
Eyes Up….
at what’s happened and want to know why they were
SPY wishes to be remembered
subject to years of worry and uncertainty for no reason.
to all his friends, particularly
if one of them has lifted
Shame really that someone who clearly loved and looked
the first weekly jackpot of
after the building was denied the opportunity to purchase
the Greenwich and Bexley
it. SPY hopes the new owner is sympathetic to the old girl.
Hospice’s lottery, which has
just started. The lottery has
Green’s Royal Blues
been building up steam since
Although Eltham Green is owned by the Crown Estate,
it was announced in May and
SPY understands that they have only just discovered the
has more than 500 members.
footpath shenanigans of recent months. The haughty
Thinking about it, rather than
buffoons at Cluttons, the Royal’s surveyors who manage the
relying on a friend, why not
Crown’s interest in the Green, say they ‘doubt they would
sign up for the £2 a week draw on
have refused’ the permission to whack down the pointless
www.cottagehospice.org.uk
path across the Green against the wishes of residents.
Perhaps a carbuncle on the face of much-loved friend only
Jacko in Chislehurst
counts if it’s near Buck House rather than just in a place you
A further footnote to Michael Jackson's doomed concerts at
helicopter over. Now they say they’re reviewing with their
the O2. SPY understands the King of Pop had planned to rent
solicitors, Burges Salmon, the history of the Green’s legal
a stately pile in Chislehurst, Foxbury Manor in Kemnal Road,
status as common land. SPY hopes they read John Kennett’s
for the duration of his stay in the UK. SPY would have loved to
article in last month’s SEnine before they waste too many
see his entourage cruising through Eltham on the way to O2.
shed loads of public money doing this.
Strong People Strong Families Strong Community
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