The Greenwich Heritage Centre is unlikely to return to Woolwich because of a lack of funding, according to the head of the trust in charge of the borough’s archives.
Janet Denne, the chief executive of the Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust, told councillors last week that “the situation had moved on” from the council’s plan that the archive would return to the Royal Arsenal.
Greenwich has lacked a dedicated local museum and archive since 2018 when the Greenwich Heritage Centre was thrown out to make way for Woolwich Works.
Greenwich Council had originally pledged it could return to Woolwich, but reneged on the promise after allowing the immersive theatre company Punchdrunk to occupy the space earmarked for a new centre.
The archive is now locked away at Anchorage Point, an industrial estate in Charlton. After hundreds signed a petition demanding the return of the heritage centre, a deal was struck to allow up to six researchers to visit on four days each month as part of a six-month trial.
While the original centre in Woolwich had five archivists and was open five days a week, Anchorage Point has no reading room, a part-time archivist and relies on volunteers to respond to email queries.
It is a legal requirement for councils to keep an make available their records. But with no plan from the council for the future of the archive, the trust, which was spun off from the town hall a decade ago, has had to prioritise the refurbishment of Charlton House, which was put on the “heritage at risk” register last month over a leaky roof.
“The situation now is that it’s unlikely that we will return to Woolwich,” Denne told the inclusive economy and culture scrutiny panel last week.
Asked by East Greenwich Labour councillor Rowshan Hannan what the “wider vision” was for the future, Denne said: “At this point I’m not sort of in a position to say. We’re a small trust and the priority for the immediate few months is the [Charlton House] roof.
“We do have to provide an archive facility and we’ve provided it within the means that we have, until those means change or another option comes along.
“Ideally in a long-term vision, we would want somewhere central, somewhere that was completely accessible for wheelchair users, on bus routes and accessible for everybody. That would be ideal. So we’re always talking about how we might get there, but I am not in a position to give you a plan of what that might look like.”
Pressed further by Eltham Town Conservative councillor Charlie Davis, Denne confirmed that it was the council’s decision to not have the archive back in the Royal Arsenal.
She added: “My understanding is that the situation in Woolwich has moved on, the buildings are filled up with different options now. It’s all part of Woolwich Works.
“So looking at the museum, the collection and the archive is now separate rather than being part of the original scenario as it was in 2018.”
Denne said that exhibitions were being held at libraries and Charlton House to keep residents in touch with their heritage.
Carol Kenna, the chair of the Charlton Society, told councillors: “How can you have an arts complex without the history of a borough included within it?
“It is our history. It isn’t the council’s history, although that is part of it, it is our history, the people of Greenwich, and we believe that it should be fully accessible. We also believe that one of the reasons that Greenwich didn’t succeed in becoming a borough of culture was because we can’t get to our culture.”
Charlton Village Labour councillor Jo van den Broek, one of the town hall’s representatives on the trust, said she “would really love to open [the archive] up wider at the moment. The amount of money simply doesn’t allow that.”
“It’s a huge jump to go back to another building. We hope this will happen in the next few years and we’re working constructively with the council to try to make that happen. We can’t be any more specific than that.”
There was no cabinet member for culture to account for the council’s actions after the sacking the previous week of Ann-Marie Cousins, with no replacement yet appointed by leader Anthony Okereke.
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