Norwood Area Cooperative Local Investment Plan – consultation extended until January 2017

As many residents will be aware Lambeth Council is consulting on priorities for improving streets, open spaces and places in the Norwood area (Gipsy Hill, Knight’s Hill and Thurlow Park wards).

The consultation has been extended to Wednesday 04 January 2017.

When Lambeth Council gives planning permission for new developments, developers provide the Council with payments to fund local improvements and we want residents to benefit from this income, so Lambth are seeking your views to help guide future spend.

Priorities you may want to suggest can include, but are not limited to, improvements to your streets, open spaces and community places; or support for jobs, training and youth facilities.

Ideas from the West Norwood and Tulse Hill Masterplan refresh, Commonplace, StreetWorks and other consultations in Norwood will be included in the final survey results. We are now keen to hear your ideas about what should happen in the wider area, especially outside of the main town centres.

To find out more about the consultation and have your say by completing a short survey at www.lambeth.gov.uk/gkt-wards.

Priorities will be published in a Cooperative Local Investment Plan (or CLIP for short) in early 2017, which will guide investment decisions in the area for the next three years.

Lambeth Council establishes a Equality Commission

Lambeth has surged ahead in so many ways in recent years: our population is growing, employment is rising and our schoolchildren continue to achieve record-breaking exam results. The enormous investment pouring into the borough is changing lives for the better.

But despite this growth, we are acutely aware that Lambeth is the 8th most deprived borough in London and the 22nd most deprived in England. Deprivation brings significant challenges in health, education and employment for everyone.

And, for some of our people, the problems are even more severe. Some of our communities still suffer even greater levels of poverty and inequality; they still face barriers that prevent them from fulfilling their potential.

Lambeth is open for business and bold in our ambitions but, at the heart of it all, there must be fairness. We must be honest about the inequality we still have in our borough, and ensure that the proceeds of Lambeth’s growth are spread fairly amongst our communities.

Lambeth Council has established an Equality Commission, which will identify these barriers and tackle them head-on. It will concentrate above all on the challenges facing adults with disabilities, our Black Caribbean communities, our Portuguese communities and our Somalian communities.

You can find out more information on the Commission at http://future.lambeth.gov.uk/equality_commission

Lambeth Council leader, Cllr Lib Peck, will chair the Commission, which brings together 10 senior figures, including representatives from business, local voluntary and community sector organisations and research organisations. They will identify the level of inequality in Lambeth – particularly for those communities that are often furthest away from opportunity – and then drive action to tear down the barriers they face.

The Commissioners have a diverse range of links throughout Lambeth’s many communities, and will bring extensive knowledge and experience to the Commission’s work. All members are united in an interest in, and commitment to, reducing inequality; and all of them can offer expertise which will help achieve this.

A key part of the Commission is also public involvement and taking evidence from a range of community organisations. There have already been a series of well-attended meetings on various topics and below are details of the remaining open meetings which all Lambeth residents are invited to. Please do attend if you are interested.

When? 5th January from 6 till 8pm
Where? Streatham Library
What? Participation, representation and leadership discussion – This is an event to discuss and gather evidence about persistent inequalities in regards to participation and leadership in the borough. We want to better understand the issues and need your help to do it.

When? 28th January from 1 till 3pm
Where? Waterloo Action Centre (WAC)
What? Crime and justice discussion – This is an event to discuss and gather evidence about persistent inequalities in relation to crime and justice in the borough. We want to better understand the issues and need your help to do it.

You can find out more information on the Commission at http://future.lambeth.gov.uk/equality_commission

Illegal use of Avenue Park Road development site

At the weekend we saw that the Avenue Park Road site, on the corner with Thurlow Park Road, was being used to dump rubbish and that a number of caravans had arrived.

We quickly contacted community safety and planning enforcement teams in Lambeth to ask that this be investigated as soon as possible, and that all steps necessary be taken to ensure the developer removes dumped waste, prevents the site from being illegally occupied, makes the health and safety of neighbouring residents a priority and secures the site properly to prevent this from happening again.

Carols 4ALL

Missing singing the traditional carols?

Drop in to Carols 4ALL at All Saints Church, Lovelace Road, West Dulwich and sing all the old favourites – plus mince pies, punch and tea and coffee.

Saturday 17 December from 11.00 to 13.00. Come whenever you want and stay for as long as you like.

Welcome to the People’s Fridge!

The People’s Fridge is London’s first community fridge: a public fridge where people can give and take spare food.

After successfully crowdfunding the money needed to kick start the project, the People’s Fridge has arrived! It is currently in a temporary location inside POP Brixton where we will be piloting it internally while the team await planning approval for its final destination on Pope’s Road. A soft launch is imminent but in the meantime do head to Brixton and see it in action!

How’s it going to work?

It’s a big fridge in the centre of Brixton where people and businesses can donate spare food, or food that would otherwise go to waste. Others can then go to the fridge to pick up what they want. It will be open on weekdays from 9am–8pm and at weekends from 9am-5pm. Everyone taking food will need to read and sign a disclaimer and then they can tuck right in! Only certified food traders can leave cooked food but everyone can leave other produce.

How can you get involved in projects like this?

Come along to Open Project Night, on every Monday from 6.30pm at Impact Hub Brixton. It’s a free space for everyone interested in Lambeth and community to come to network, work together, host meetings and make awesome projects happen.

Road sweeping and leaf clearance in Thurlow Park

Each road in the borough receives a manual sweep (clearing detritus, channels, pavement and backlines with all litter) every 8 weeks. Where possible some roads will also receive a mechanical sweep in-between the 8 week manual sweep so every four weeks most roads would have received a mechanical or manual sweep.

In addition, Arduli, Brockwell Park Gardens, Carson, Croxted, Lancaster and Rosendale roads have all been identified as requiring additional resources and so are swept for leaves at least once per week. The additional resources brought in during leafing include manual sweeping, two leafing vehicles and a large mechanical broom.

The above roads listed form part of an area based map with each road assigned a particular day. The area manager will instruct the sweeper to start with the roads with the heaviest leaf fall. However as the weather is a major contributing factor to the volume of fallen leaves, it’s likely that during some weeks following strong winds some roads may not be completed, in which case they will be picked up later in the week.

Rosendale Playing Fileds – letter to local residents

Please find below a copy of a letter that was sent to local residents that live alongside the Rosendale Playing Fields from Lambeth Council. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

Dear Resident,

We’re writing to you to let you know about some changes we’re making at Rosendale Playing Fields that we thought you might be interested in as you live in close proximity to the fields.

Following a review of the condition of the fencing around the perimeter of the fields we feel it’s necessary to upgrade the existing fencing with new, robust materials.

Three local schools make use of the facilities at Rosendale Playing Fields for physical education activities and outdoor learning. It is also home to the Lambeth & Southwark Primary Schools Football League and its 35 schools that play competitive football every Saturday morning of term time and occasional spring afternoons. Safeguarding these children while they’re making use of the facilities is a priority, as well as making sure that the area remains free from damage that might be caused through anti-social behaviour by people accessing the fields and vandalising the area.

The fence that is currently in place is wooden picket style fencing and we feel that at present, it doesn’t meet our standards and requirements for keeping the area secure, and as part of the Lambeth Parks Capital Investment Plan, we’ve made funds available to install a new perimeter fence around the full boundary of the facility.

This will certainly ensure that all children are safeguarded more effectively, and will also mean that more sport and outdoor learning resources such as new football goals and cricket nets can be installed, free in the knowledge that they won’t be affected by vandalism.

The type of fencing that has been proposed is Protek 2000, which is welded mesh panels, with horizontal triangular folds as shown in the picture. These folds help to form a strong, rigid fence line and for this reason, this type of fencing is often used around schools and public buildings.

The Protek 2000 mesh fence provides a ‘medium level’ of security fencing that is easy on the eye and has a high through visibility which means that it blends in easily with the surroundings.

The new fence will also improve the appearance of the current boundaries of the fields, and will prevent episodes of vandalism and disturbance for local residents living on Rosendale Road and Whytefield Estate. The proposal for the new fencing has been submitted to Lambeth’s Planning service and we hope to start with installing the fencing early in the New Year.

If you have any questions or concerns about these changes, please visit our webpage to find out more or leave a comment for us at: https://www.lambeth.gov.uk/places/rosendale-playing-fields

Lambeth council is working with the borough’s businesses to challenge the government over the impending huge hike in business rates.

The business rate revaluation, which is due to come into force from 1 April next year, will see some businesses in Lambeth face an immediate 45% hike in business rates, with the average rise being around 35%.

To find out more and sign the petition please see the below;

http://love.lambeth.gov.uk/rates-rise/

https://www.change.org/p/secretary-join-our-campaign-against-the-rates-hike?recruiter=304964825&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)

Future Community Investment in Norwood

A postcard has been sent to all 20,500 households in the three Norwood wards – Gipsy, Knights and Thurlow Park – asking for feedback from residents on what there priorities are for Norwood. This is your chance to influence the development of Norwood. Please do let the Council know before the closing date or via one of the consultation meetings that are to be held.

https://www.snapsurveys.com/wh/s.asp?k=147810570103

https://www.lambeth.gov.uk/consultations/consultation-on-community-priorities-for-the-norwood-area-knights-hill-gipsy-hill-and

https://www.lambeth.gov.uk/sites/default/files/pl-norwood-clip-leaflet_0.pdf

Lambeth is helping local businesses cut CO2 emissions from supply chains

As part of a wider strategy to improve the air quality in one of the most polluted areas of the UK, Lambeth LBC is working in partnership with Wandsworth, Southwark and Croydon LBCs to improve air quality by reducing the number of delivery vehicles travelling into each borough.

Lambeth is helping local businesses cut CO2 emissions from supply chains