_{A very warm welcome to The Charlton Society and 2023! The Charlton Society Committee had a very busy schedule of events for 2022, and we have prepared a similarly busy Talks programme for 2023 which was delivered at our meeting in December. Due to necessary renovation works, Charlton House has been closed for the last 3 months, so the meetings scheduled for early 2023 have been held at St Luke’s instead and will also do so for our next meeting in April. The next meeting is scheduled for Saturday 15th April, please keep the date clear. This is a presentation by Barbara Holland on Eastcombe Estate. Hope you are able to join us.}

“Celebrating the past and protecting the future”

This is the stated mission The Charlton Society lives by, having been established over 50 years ago – in fact the Society celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2020 to great acclaim and interest, despite the challenges the year presented.

The Society was established as a civic community group in order to address the conservation and improvement of SE7 and surrounding environs, to fight for the protection of its heritage, which the area is blessed with many jewels, from the Jacobean splendour of Charlton House itself, to the Charlton Village parish church of St Luke’s festooned with a myriad of treasures including a statue commemorating Spencer Perceval, infamously the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated. 

But it is not just the high-profile historical sites that we are interested in, it is also the preservation of coal holes, gasometers and ancient mulberry trees to name but a few of the other artefacts that are just as much a part of our local heritage. 

The Society’s civic involvement goes far beyond this too, the Society is responsive to the current concerns of residents living in the area; from traffic volume, bus and cycles lanes, speed limits, street lighting, quality of roads and pavements, and beyond. The Society has a very close working relationship with the Royal Borough of Greenwich and other civic groups in assessing all such issues and challenging proposals.

And as for the future, the other important area in which the Society is involved in is in scrutinising Greenwich planning policy. The Society has been rigorous in challenging recent proposed residential and retail developments. We had a number of successes in 2020, and were delighted to report that both the Rockwell development proposals at Anchor & Hope and the Meyer Tower development in Woolwich were rejected. 

A specific project the Society is committed to working on is the Charlton Save Our Village Action Plan (SOVAP), this was initially presented in 2018 and work is always ongoing. For further details regarding the status of activity for SOVAP, and to read the planning document, please check out the new SOVAP tab which details the initial vision and the ongoing work and achievements of the initiative.

If you have any queries and wish further information on any of the Society’s work, please get in touch here

We wish you all the best wishes for 2023, stay safe and keep well.

The Charlton Society Committee