Lewisham Central Hither Green

From Lewisham Council:

Chewing gum litter: where do you stick yours?

Lewisham Council is working with the Chewing Gum Action Group throughout March on a national campaign to warn people to stop dropping used chewing gum on the streets of Lewisham or risk a £75 fine.

In a 2010 survey by Local Environment Quality, gum stains accounted for over a quarter of all stains found on Lewisham streets and research has shown that the most likely people to drop gum are in the 16-34 age range.

Lewisham is one of 15 local authorities nationwide to have pledged support for the campaign to help make Britain’s streets free of littered gum. The campaign is being supported by borough partners including Lewisham College, Goldsmiths College and Millwall Football Club PLC.

During the month the campaign will include:

· Gum Boards – special boards where people can stick their used gum – will be erected in Lewisham and Catford town centres.

· Free gum ‘wrap-it’ pouches – will be distributed by Goldsmiths’ student union throughout March

· Lamppost banners – will be displayed in Dartmouth Road and Deptford High Street

· Millwall Football Club – will display a message to fans on their big screen at their home games on 17 and 24 March at The Den.

· Gum advert – six students studying Media Production at Lewisham College will showcase their one-minute film advert called The Gum to Lewisham Young Mayor Kieran Lang.

Cllr Susan Wise, Cabinet Member for Customer Services says:

“I am proud of Lewisham’s streets, and our reputation for having the cleanest streets in London. Used chewing gum is both unhygienic and unsightly and the significant pavement staining to which it contributes is very difficult to remove.

“Through this campaign, we will it make clear that a £75 fine will be enforced on anyone littering our streets with used gum. Lewisham residents care about our streets and I am confident that they will support our efforts to keep them gum free.”

The campaign will be launched at Lewisham Shopping Centre on Saturday 10 March at 11am.

From Cllr Mike Harris.

Sir, Your editorial “A clear case for housing reform” (November 1) ignores the serious concerns many in local government have over these radical reforms. In Lewisham alone, more than 17,000 claimants will be affected in some way by these changes.

While the media have fixated on the new rent cap (£250 a week for a two-bedroom home), this will affect only 69 families in our borough. However, capping local housing allowance to cover only properties in the 30 lowest percentiles by rent will affect every one of our 9,600 private-rented sector residents in receipt of benefits. It is very likely that those receiving housing benefits will move to the cheapest 30 per cent of properties once this benefit is withdrawn.

The outcome will be increased demand for the least expensive properties, pushing up rents and pricing out those not eligible for housing benefit.

As 70 per cent of homes in the 30 lowest percentiles by rent are leased by those not eligible for the benefit, the net effect could be people on lower incomes (but just above the very low threshold for housing benefit) might be penalised by higher overall rents at the bottom of the market.

Housing benefit is a needed subsidy to address our massive national failure to build enough cheap housing. In light of this, cutting the budget for newbuild social housing by 60 per cent (before inflation) is an act of monumental short-termism.

These reforms will cause abject misery and seriously affect the living standards of the working poor and lower middle class in inner London.

Mike Harris,

Labour Councillor for Lewisham Central,

London Borough of Lewisham

Fantastic news from the Council as we’ve managed to reduce our carbon footprint by 10%. This is as a direct result of deliberate policy decisions made by our Mayor Steve Bullock and Labour Councillors. This isn’t just good news for the environment, but reducing our energy usage is essential in making sure we’re using your money effectively. Hopefully, even during the appalling budget cuts we’ll be able to make our environmental strategy pay by reducing our energy bills.

From the Council:

Figures published by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) show that the borough of Lewisham has reduced its CO2 emissions by 10 per cent, making it one of the top 20 local authorities in the UK.

Data relating to all UK local authorities for the period 2005-08 was released in September 2010:

http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/statistics/climate_change/gg_emissions/uk_emissions/2008_local/2008_local.aspx

The figures are based on domestic, commercial, industrial and agricultural fuel and electricity consumption, emissions from transport (excluding aviation and shipping) and land use changes. The figures are calculated from actual consumption data at local authority level and statistics from the Department for Transport on road traffic.

The data covers carbon dioxide emissions from 2005 to 2008 and includes total emissions per area and a per capita figure used as the basis for national indicator 186 ‘per capital emissions in the local authority area’.

Key facts and figures from the DECC data include:

* An overall decrease in total carbon emissions for the UK of 4 per cent.
* A decrease in London’s per capita emissions, falling by an average of 3.2 per cent from 6.2 tonnes per person to 6.0 tonnes.
* Lewisham’s per capita carbon emissions decreased by 10.9 per cent from 2005 to 2008. This makes Lewisham one of the 20 local authorities, out of the 434 in the UK dataset, with a decrease of 10 per cent or more.
* The 10.9 per cent reduction in Lewisham’s per capita carbon emissions exceeds the target of 8.5 per cent agreed with central government in Lewisham’s Local Area Agreement.
* Overall emissions in the borough fell by 7.2 per cent in the period. At 4.1 tonnes per person Lewisham has the lowest per capita carbon emissions in inner London, the second lowest in London as a whole and fourth lowest in the UK.

The Mayor of Lewisham, Sir Steve Bullock, said: “Improving the energy efficiency of homes in Lewisham is an important focus for the Council. This is partly because housing is the biggest source of carbon emissions locally, but it is also because we know the rising cost of energy is a big concern for residents. I am keen that we continue to increase the number of people across the borough benefitting from insulation and other energy efficiency improvements.”

For more information about energy efficiency and the funding that can be available for insulation and other works, residents can contact an energy adviser at Lewisham Council by calling 020 8314 6339 or emailing energy@lewisham.gov.uk

Why not volunteer for Ladywell Fields User Group? It’s a great way to give something back to our local community. Forthcoming events include:

A hedge whip planting session will take place in the northern field from 2.00pm on Saturday 13 March.

The Three Rivers Clean-Up will take place again this year and on Saturday 12 June there will be a major volunteering assault, in Ladywell Fields on the invasive Himalayan Balsam. Posters will be displayed shortly with full details.

Great news! Lewisham’s rivers are receive a grant of £300,000 from the Big Lottery Fund and Natural England so that local people can get involved in helping to clean up and maintain them.

This project will provide activities such as family fun days and river wades. The rivers involved are the River Pool, River Quaggy and River Ravensbourne.

This follows on from the great work of the late Ray Manchester and the Quaggy Waterways Action Group as well as other local groups including the Ladywell Fields User Group.

Labour-run Lewisham Council is to be one of the first Councils to pioneer new approaches to using disused land for local residents to grow their own food.

The “Love growing your own food” guide is now freely available from the Council here and explains to local people how derelict or unused land can easily be made into a community garden.

This is an absolutely great idea! If anyone knows of any land they’d like used as a community garden don’t hesitate to drop us a line.

Mayor Sir Steve Bullock said he hoped the guide could be published across the capital: “We want people to find derelict land, unused ground or even just a place they can put some bags of soil.

“The key thing is getting permission to use the land, and we can act as a broker, wherever possible, to get the necessary permission.

“We can also put people in touch with experts to help them with the practicalities of growing the right plants.”

Yesterday, the Hither Green Community Association began the clearing of the embankment at Hither Green station on Springbank Road. After receiving a £5000 grant from the Lewisham Mayor’s Local Assembly Fund volunteers took to pruning, litter clearing and strimming the embankment around the Platform 1 entrance. From Labour’s local action team Mike Harris (pictured below) and Damien Egan joined volunteers to help out.

Mike said: “Our thanks go to the Hither Green Community Association for organising this event and to Network Rail for overseeing all the safety aspects. It was a great morning out and I’d encourage other people to come along and help. The embankment is really starting to look a lot smarter.”

The Ladywell Fields User Group have organised two volunteering events for the weekend of 14 – 15th November:

Sat 14 November pm: hedge whip planting session in the northern field. It would be good to have 10 or so volunteers. All children must be supervised by an adult.

Sunday 15 November am: – River clean-up to be organised by Thames 21 in liaison with Glendale. Again all children must be supervised by an adult.

For more information, contact the group’s secretary Robert Sheppard at ladywellfields@yahoo.co.uk

Labour-run Lewisham Council has had its bid for £200,000 to make Lewisham Town Centre a ‘low carbon zone’ approved! The Independent reports that City Hall will provide us with a grant for innovative new ways to cut our Town Centre’s carbon footprint. Suggestions so far include: solar panels, urban wind turbines, electric car charging points and “energy doctors” to help residents reduce their personal carbon footprint.

Do you have any suggestions? Let us know and we’ll suggest your ideas to the Mayor Sir Steve Bullock, info@lewishamcentralhithergreen.co.uk