Lewisham Central Hither Green

At a packed public meeting last week, the extension of St Mungo’s Spring Gardens hostel was approved by the planning committee subject to the revisions made during the consultation. I have spoken since with many members of the community, and in the coming weeks we’ll be working with the local police to make sure that anti-social behaviour that arises from local hostels is dealt with appropriately.

I received my key to the Barclays Bike scheme this week, which has proved a fantastic and quick way to travel across central London. Here is a fantastic visualisation of which areas of central London the bikes are being used (hat tip: Londonist).

Personally, I’m very much enamoured by the scheme (though it could be cheaper), but the main issue that the area covered is the richest part of our city. Frankly, I don’t think the residents of Mayfair, Kensington, or Farringdon need a free cycle scheme. The residents of Lewisham do. I’ve asked Oona King and Ken Livingstone, the two candidates battling it out to be Labour’s next candidate for London Mayor if they will extend the scheme to cover the entirety of Zone 2, within their first term, if elected as London’s Mayor. The scheme in Paris covers a far larger area, and has more bikes (although London’s scheme is the 2nd largest in the world). What’s interesting is the effect on transport uses, the Guardian reports:

But Britton’s most surprising observation is that the Vélib’ hasn’t done much to reduce road traffic in Paris. Rather than get people out of cars – it is reckoned to have substituted only about 10% of car trips in central Paris – it has done a far better job of getting people off public transport. As many as half of all Vélib’ trips are estimated to have replaced Metro or bus journeys… About 15% of all Vélib’ journeys occur after the Metro shuts down and people want to get home without paying for expensive taxis. The Vélib’ has become part of our lives – Parisians just can’t imagine Paris without the Vélib’ now.

With the tube rapidly approaching capacity, could London’s new cycle scheme be a cheap way of reducing over-crowding on the tube?

photo by Steve Cadman (stevecadman on Flickr Creative Commons)

Sometimes the actions of bureaucrats beggars belief. As reported by the excellent Brockley Central blog, TfL plans to remove various pedestrian and signal crossings across London. This is apparently part of a grander scheme to improve traffic flow across London.

My gut reaction, and I confess I need to look at the proposals in a lot more detail, is one of anger. How is a push to encourage people to cycle and walk in their local areas compatible with speeding up traffic flow?

Many people have complained to me about the lack of safe road crossings in our area. I couldn’t agree more with their concerns, and I think TfL’s policy direction is wrong-headed.

Here is the list of crossings to be removed in our area:

Torridon Road and Hither Green Lane, Hither Green.

Hither Green Lane and Duncrieve Road, Lewisham.

Amongst a total of 4 to be removed in our borough.

We will be making representations to TfL urgently.

As many residents will be aware, I have been following up with TfL the dreadful junction between Lewisham High Street and Courthill Road. Many others including local blogger and activist Max Calo and former Councillors have also made representations to TfL.

This is TfL’s response, which isn’t ideal. I’m drafting a response – if anyone has any suggestions on how to take this forward to drop me an email or give me a call.

Dear Councillor Harris

Whilst I appreciate this is not necessarily the news you wanted to hear, I can assure you every effort is being made to provide a solution for pedestrian improvements at this junction, without causing undue delays to other road users.

Many residents have written to us with concerns over the level of street-drinking in the Hither Green area, and also on Lewisham High Street. There has also been a discussion on the excellent Original Hither Green Website.

On 8 July, I met with Alan D’Arcy, St. Mungo’s Area Manager along with Stella to discuss some of the concerns of local people. We asked about the facilities and resources St. Mungo’s were putting into the care of its residents and questioned the efforts they make to rehabilite long-term alcoholics and drug users. It’s clear that the charity does work hard to try and help its clients. The facilities on site were fantastic and the team are really committed. It is also worth noting that many of those who are street drinkers come from other hostels in the local area.

This isn’t to say all is well and dandy though. Working with St. Mungo’s, Joanne Hall, the Chair of the Lewisham Central Safer Neighbourhood Police Panel, the police and community groups, efforts will be made to tackle this problem.

Firstly, local businesses need to stop selling super-strength alcohol. So far every local business, except the Co-op on Hither Green Lane, have agreed to stop selling super-high volume ciders and lagers. We will be putting pressure on the Co-op to change their vending policy.

Secondly, at the Lewisham Central Safer Neighbourhood Police Panel which I attended last Wednesday, the panel agreed that it would become a local policing priority to tackle the anti-social behaviour that is a consequence of heavy drinking. The police said they would increase patrols in the Hither Green area and make it clear to street-drinkers that they ought to drink in their hostels, or face arrest. This was made easier by our Mayor Steve Bullock, bringing in a borough-wide policy to stop nuisance street-drinkers last week, whilst allowing residents who wish to enjoy a glass of wine in the park to continue to do so.

It is worth noting that there is a planning application here for an new block at the St. Mungo’s hostel with an additional 24 one bedroom self-contained flats.

For comments on any of the above, please feel free to email me.

Under – 16s (and over 60s) will be able to enjoy swimming for free in Lewisham’s pools until the end of the school holidays in September. The Lib-Dem Coalition government had announced cancelling the free swimming scheme early at the end of July, but Mayor Steve Bullock has decided that Lewisham will fund the scheme through the summer holidays and is hoping that it can be extended even longer. Steve says, “Times are tough for families across Lewisham and parents want to know that swimming in Lewisham’s four pools in Deptford, Downham, Ladywell and Sydenham is an activity for their children that won’t cost a penny.” So I hope many of you will pop into Ladywell Pool, especially as they’ve redecorated the ladies changing area for the first time in years!

After planning that our local Assembly would not clash with the World Cup in case England was still in the competition, we thought we would see plenty of Lewisham Central people at the Methodist Church Hall this morning, but we never for one moment considered that people would be put off by the weather being too hot! But warm weather in summer being such a rare occurrence we can’t blame those of you who were unable to come. It was lovely to meet those who did come!
The Assembly was a good opportunity to hear how some of the money you voted to different local groups was actually spent. The Hither Green Community Association, the Grenada Benevolent Society, the Tamil Association of Parishioners UK, St. Swithun’s and the Hither Green Hall and Cinema Group were able to report on progress. You should very soon be seeing ‘Welcome to Hither Green’ signs going up, there is a Community Cohesion event being organised by the Tamil group at Rushey Green Primary School on 15 July from 6.30 – 8.30 p.m. and talent is being called for the Grenada Benevolent Society’s ‘Talk of the Town’ at St. Mary’s Centre, Ladywell Road on 30 October.
At the next Assembly on Monday 11 October (venue TBA) we shall be receiving feedback on the youth activities which will mainly be taking place during the summer holidays and we shall be reviewing the priorities for our ward set in July 2008. They were anti-social behaviour and crime, lack of facilities for young people, lack of amenities, environment and traffic. If you would like to give us your ideas you can visit the online priority survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/lewishampriorities
The Assembly today also heard about the work that British Gas is doing in that part of the ward near the hospital which has been designated a Low Carbon zone. However, if you live in other parts of the ward you may still be able to get free or low cost insulation. Over 1.5 million homes have so far benefited from this scheme. Information is available on the Lewisham Council website.
The Met Police Safer Neighbourhood Team came along too. They have been writing to residents in particular streets to offer advice on crime prevention, but so far no one has taken them up on their offer! They are happy to come along to your home to give help, so please don’t hesitate to contact them at LewishamCentral.snt@met.police.uk or 020 8721 2481. Their website also gives details of weekly drop-in meetings they hold www.met.police.uk/teams/lewisham/lewishamcentral/index.php
Last but not least Max Camplin from the Loampit Vale development gave an update on progress there. As you may have seen from the train or the top of a bus, the site is getting busy now and very soon the large cranes will be assembled on site. I am attending regular liaison meetings with Barratts so if you do have any concerns, please let me know.
Please put our next Assembly on Monday 11 October at 7 p.m. in your diary now. We – Damien, Mike and myself – look forward to seeing you there.

Interesting news – TFL have opened up a consultation on extending the N171 to Hither Green station (instead of travelling down to Catford Bus Garage). For those who rely upon night buses (like myself) you’ll be able to get a night bus from Tottenham Court Road tube station all the way to Hither Green station via Sangley Road, Sandhurst Road, Torridon Road, Hither Green Lane, Duncrivie Road and Springbank Road.

I understand residents may want to comment positively or negatively on this proposal, so if you’d like to let TFL know your views please respond by email to: STEngagement@tfl.gov.uk

Or contact us directly and we’ll get your comments to TFL.

After a lot of training and induction sessions I was looking forward to attending my first Healthier Communities Select Committee two weeks ago and unexpectedly found myself chairing a significant part of the meeting! This is the committee that scrutinises local NHS services as well as adult social services, CEL and even the libraries. I’ve also attended two meetings of the Licensing Committee and am learning about the intricacies of different types of licences, e.g. for late night refreshment, temporary events, gambling as well as for the sale of alcohol.
Out and about in the ward I’ve attended events in the Hither Green Festival week, joined volunteers for a morning cleaning up a small area near the exit of the multi-storey car park which resulted in about 30 sacks of rubbish as part of Capital Clean-up, met with the Loampit Vale liaison group, visited the consultation exhibition on the new Prendergast Loampit Vale school and spoken with volunteers clearing the Himalayan Balsam from the new channel of the River Ravensbourne in Ladywell Fields. I’ve also began to be able to help individuals with queries over car parking zones, housing and road safety issues.
Last week was Refugee week and I was pleased to attend a meeting on refugee women’s health at Lewisham College and I took part in a sponsored walk for Action For Refugees in Lewisham (AFRIL) which is based in our ward for their destitute asylum seekers fund. I also met up with nine young people who have benefited from the Future Jobs scheme to create ‘Culture Snap’ which offers walking tours of Deptford. Check them out at www.culturesnap.com On Saturday I helped to organise a bookstall for the Labour Party at Hilly Fields Fayre. Donations of books far exceeded sales and my house now looks like a second-hand bookshop! Saturday was also the summer concert for the Lewisham Choral Society which this year joined with its counterpart from our twin borough of Antony in Paris for a wonderful concert in St. Paul’s Deptford in aid of the Mayor’s charity, the Lavender Trust ,which works to help young women affected by cancer. Singing is a relaxation I can thoroughly recommend!
Looking ahead, the next Lewisham Central Assembly will be held on Saturday 3 July and I hope that lots of you will come along for this getting to know you session and to get an update on the projects supported by the Assembly.
Our regular ward surgeries will begin in July. Our MP Joan Ruddock has a surgery on Friday 25 June at Telegraph Hill Centre, Kitto Road, SE14 5TG from 3.30 – 6.00 p.m.
CllrStella.Jeffrey@lewisham.gov.uk or 020 8314 6933

On a rare lighter note, there are some great ways Councils can promote their local area, such as the excellent Deptford X festival (24 Sep – 3 Oct) or the forthcoming Lewisham People’s Day (10 July).

Getting a local development agency to write a song about aliens coming down from space and discovering… Northampton, isn’t one of them. This hilarious video is not a spoof (really).

This Saturday there will be a river clean-up in Ladywell Fields, organised by Thames 21 and partner organisations. Meet in the cafe in the North Field (Ladywell end of the park) at 10.30 a.m. The contact is Vic Richardson at vic.richardson@thames21.org.uk or on 07973 442219