A Greenwich Labour councillor has poured scorn on criticism of the revamped public spaces of Woolwich, telling one of her political rivals not to be so negative about the area.
Jackie Smith said that residents needed to “behave” and not leave litter in the town centre, which has had a £17.1 million refurbishment with new paving and planting along Powis Street and in Beresford Square, paid for with central government cash.
Charlie Davis, a Conservative councillor for Eltham Town, said in written question submitted for Wednesday’s full council meeting that “many residents have complained about the state of the square” and said that similar gripes had been made about Eltham High Street, which had a similar revamp eight years ago, and asked what the council would do about the issue.
Jackie Smith, the cabinet member for inclusive economy, business and skills, said that Davis’ question was “very negative. It’s very negative.”
She continued: “There have been complaints, but actually I will tell you, my partner [Len Duvall, the London Assembly member for Greenwich & Lewisham] went to the dentist this afternoon, which happens to be in Woolwich. The dentist waxed lyrically about the works in Woolwich and said that his patients had been complimenting it and saying ‘I hadn’t been to Woolwich for a long time. It’s fantastic.’”
“So can we not be negative about everything? There are challenges. There are absolutely challenges, and we will attempt to meet those challenges as best we can. We have got a co-ordinated response to things.
“We are doing our absolute best to make the town centres clean and safe, but it does need our residents to behave. It’s not the council that’s leaving the litter, it’s not the council that is leaving the mess at night. We are fortunate enough to be getting some extra policing over the summer, at the weekends, and we will be wholeheartedly dealing with that behaviour.”
The Greenwich Wire visited Beresford Square and Powis Street before the meeting. While Beresford Square looked in good condition with children playing in the new fountains, the east end of Powis Street was in a poor state with the new pavements heavily stained.
Averil Lekau, the council’s deputy leader, said in her written response to Davis that the town centres were maintained seven days a week from 6am to 7.30pm and were supported twice daily by cleansing teams collecting sweepers’ sacks and flytipping. Streets were jet washed twice a year between April and September, she said.
But she also said the council was looking into using business improvement districts (BIDs) to help fund town centre management. BIDs are set up by businesses, who agree to pay a small levy to help fund additional services and town centre promotions. They are common in the centre of London and town centres such as Bermondsey, Bexleyheath, Bromley and Sidcup, but there are none in Greenwich borough.
Lekau also said the council would support a tourism tax to help fund local services, as revealed by The Greenwich Wire on Monday – although later in the week it was reported that both Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, are opposed to allowing councils and mayors extra fundraising powers.
Asked by Davis about how the BID plans were going, Smith said: “We haven’t begun the engagement yet because we haven’t started the process, so we wouldn’t talk to them before the process, but they know that we’re going to be discussing it. It will be at some point this year and clearly it will be led by business.”
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