Good morning
A council-owned car park on Old Dover Road has just told us more about what buyers expect Blackheath Standard to become than any planning document has managed. Elsewhere: a councillor takes up an old speeding complaint, ministers borrow a Kidbrooke estate for a photo call, and Molesworth Street tightens for a few days.
The big story
Blackheath car park sells for £1.15m, double the guide price
The 30-space car park on Old Dover Road that shoppers at Blackheath Standard have used for years has gone under the hammer at a Strettons online auction, fetching £1,155,000 against a guide price of £500,000. Greenwich Council hasn't said who bought it or what they plan to do with it, but a sale at more than double the guide is the kind of number that tends to mean redevelopment, not continued parking. It's one of three council car parks disposed of in this round, alongside sites at Abery Street and Charlton Village — worth watching what happens to the other two. READ →
In brief
Councillor to take Lee Manor speeding to Lewisham's transport chief
Green councillor Laura Sessions has agreed to raise speeding in the Lee Manor Conservation Area directly with Cllr Corin Ashwell, Lewisham's cabinet member for transport. Resident Peter Knight, who lives on Micheldever Road, says years of complaints have produced nothing beyond painted 20mph roundels — police radar checks happen on Burnt Ash Road but not on the side streets, and a former speedwatch scheme only ever sent warning letters. READ →
Where to take a baby or toddler this term
Our guide to classes across SE3, SE10 and SE13 covers Mycenae House's packed Thursday and Monday/Wednesday timetable (Baby Sensory, Diddi Dance, Sing and Sign, baby massage), Monkey Music's three Thursday sessions at the Quaker Meeting House on Lawn Terrace, and Footprints at St John's Blackheath, which charges just £1 a family on Monday mornings in term time. READ →
Planning & development
Ministers borrow Kidbrooke's 452 social homes for a national launch
Angela Rayner and Sadiq Khan chose Kidbrooke Park Road — 452 completed homes, all of them social housing — as the stage for launching the government's £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme on 26 August. The homes themselves were finished before the announcement; the real question for Greenwich is whether the borough sees any of the nearly £10bn first funding wave, which is aimed at areas outside London. READ →
Getting around
Lane restrictions on Molesworth Street until 16 September
Junction improvement works at the Lewisham High Street end of Molesworth Street (A21) have brought westbound lane restrictions since 14 September, running until 16 September at 4pm. SOURCE →
What's on
Dorothy Kidd's Blackheath, tonight
An illustrated talk at St Michael's & All Angels on Pond Road tonight at 6pm, with Paul Wright drawing on a Victorian memoir to reconstruct late-19th-century Blackheath life. £15, includes readings and refreshments. SOURCE →
Open House: the Brooklands mural and the Cator Estate's 'Ganges'
The Blackheath Society opens up the restored 1958 William Mitchell mural at Brooklands Primary School alongside the Victorian sculpture 'Ganges', as part of Open House London. Sessions run 19 and 20 September at 1pm; book via openhouse.org.uk. SOURCE →
Community garden sessions resume at Lee Green
The Lee Manor Society's volunteer garden sessions at St Monica start their autumn/winter run on 20 September, Sundays 2:30-4:30pm through to February. Vegetable growing, planter and rainwater-harvesting work — all welcome. SOURCE →
Police community meeting, 22 September
The Met holds its Blackheath area community meeting at the Clarendon Hotel on Montpelier Row, 5:30pm on 22 September. SOURCE →