Update – 15th January 2024

Application presented to Planning Inspectorate

It has now been confirmed by RBG, the planning application for The White Swan is now to be decided by a Planning Inspector, not RBG Planning Officers. This is at the request of the appellant, Mendoza. The decision will be made by both written statements and a site visit. All previous objection submissions sent to RBG will be taken into account, along with RBG’s documentation and the corresponding documentation from Mendoza. All issues will be presented, including the necessary engagement with the police, the squatters, the cannabis farm, maintenance of the site, plus the unauthorised buildings work done to the first floor which has never been given planning permission, nor has any work been undertaken to restore it to its previous state as instructed by RBG. Members of the public are invited to submit further objections directly to the Inspector. The Charlton Society will be submitting one and encourage all members to do the same individually as the volume of objections will help inform the strength of local feeling as to the loss of a viable public house.

The deadline for submissions is Tuesday 13th February 2024, via email to: EAST3@planninginspectorate.gov.uk

Cinema night – Thursday 19th October

The Charlton Society is hosting an evening at the Greenwich Picturehouse to see Ken Loach’s new film, The Old Oak. It is also an opportunity for an informal discussion on what is happening regarding the current planning proposals and objections to the future of The White Swan. Please click here for further details. Tickets available through the Greenwich Picturehouse ticket office.

Update – 29th September 2023

Developments continue apace at the White Swan. There is renewed interest in The White Swan after this week’s developments that has involved the police regarding evidence of cannabis manufacturing being found at the site. This also indicates further third parties have once again accessed the site illegally with further damage to the site being much in evidence.

As members know, The Charlton Society is involved a project to set up a community-run pub with a petition having been set up to Save the White Swan on Change.org, which we encourage all to sign. This petition appeals to Royal Borough of Greenwich to take immediate action against the proposed application by owners Mendoza to stop the White Swan being turned into residential flats and to force the owners to restore the premises to a working pub with function rooms. For the full petition, please click here.

The Greenwich Wire also has a detailed article on the latest developments. Please click here.

For any further queries, please contact The Charlton Society directly here.

Update 21st September 2023:

A revised application was received by RBG on 21st September to include the viability report by Davis Coffer Lyons, property advisors who were commissioned by Mendoza, to assess the economic viability of The White Swan as a operating public house. The survey on the site was conducted on 4th August, although the surveyor did not have access to the interior of the property.

Please click here to view full document.

The report concludes The White Swan is not a viable business as a public house.

The receipt of this modification to the planning application means the deadline for submissions to the made to RBG in response has now been extended to Thursday 5th October.

The Charlton Society will be submitting a further objection in response to the revisions to the application.

The Society also strongly advises those who did not register an objection before the previous deadline, take the opportunity to do so now.

The White Swan has also been in the news again for different reasons, it has been noted the site is once again seemingly occupied by squatters, with the added interest there is evidence of the cultivation of cannabis operating on site. Both RBG Enforcement and the Police are involved. This is an ongoing situation.

Any further updates, will be detailed here.

For the further information, please see a piece published on Greenwich Wire here. Published 22nd September 2023.

14th August 2023:

As many members of The Charlton Society are aware, the Royal Borough of Greenwich received a planning application for change of use of the existing public house to a commercial unit on the ground floor and seven residential units on the first floor, plus the erection of a two-storey extension to the rear.

This application has come from the freeholders of the property, Mendoza Ltd. The Society strongly opposes this application and has delivered a robust objection to the change of use.

As regularly discussed at Charlton Society meetings and detailed in the monthly Newsletter, the Society currently holds the Asset of Community Value (AVC), designated in July 2020, recently secured Local Historic Listing, in July 2023 and is working on a bid with others to secure the site for community use.

For further information on the application received by Royal Borough of Greenwich, please click here.

The Charlton Society Committee hopes members also objected as individuals to support The Charlton Society objection.

When The Charlton Society submitted its response, it was noted 177 others had also been submitted, with only one supporting the application.

The deadline was 5th September. A review of the application and the responses is currently underway by the Planning Officers at RBG. A decision is expected the first week in October.

To view the objection submitted by The Charlton Society, please click here.

If you have any queries for The Charlton Society regarding The White Swan, please email Chair.