Local news and opportunities to get involved from your local Labour and Co-operative councillors in Thurlow Park.
Residents on Guernsey Grove wanted more space for growing and suggested to councillors that we help organise a community gardening space at the estate on the corner with Croxted Road.
We’re really pleased to see that, following conversations with Lambeth Housing, new raised beds have been installed! We’re looking forward to seeing these planted up and full of fruit and vegetables (and will happily lend a hand with our forks and trowels!)
In May 2014 we committed to working with local businesses to improve our local town centre. We have been working with businesses to take the necessary steps to become a Business Improvement District. The Means were recenty appointed by local businesses to take this work forward in West Norwood and Tulse Hill and the first steering group meeting last month resulted in lots of positive conversation about the issues the BID could tackle.
If you own or work at a local business, we would love to have your input. Our next West Norwood and Tulse Hill steering group meeting will
be held on:
Wednesday 30th September 2015, 6-7.30pm at
Following a petition from local Labour councillors and hundreds of local residents, the Mayor of London granted £5m to transform the one-way system in Tulse Hill. Officers secured an additional £2m to improve Norwood Road.
We believe that local people and businesses are best placed to make decisions about how to improve their neighbourhood, so Cllr Anna Birley has been working to ensure the project is led by the local community. StreetWorks was therefore set up to create a partnership between the Norwood Forum, the Tulse Hill Forum, local councillors, residents and businesses, Lambeth Council and Transport for London. The budget for community engagement has been devolved to StreetWorks and the community chose the design consultants to support the project.
To ensure as many people as possible can have their say, we have organised a series of co-design workshops. These are a forum for local people and businesses to feed in ideas and suggestions, and to choose the final scheme design.
The first StreetWorks co-design workshop was last Tuesday and it was a huge success! With 50 people attending, the discussions were lively and constructive. Updates will be posted to www.streetworks.london – you can also post further ideas on the online forum and find out how to get more involved.
The next workshops are –
– all at 6.30-8.30pm at the Salvation Army Hall on Norwood Road.
In the last few weeks, the problems of lorries driving into the railway bridge over Thurlow Park Road near Tulse Hill have resurfaced with two recent strikes which delayed trains into London and closed off the South Circular.
We have been talking to local residents about the problem of this low bridge – not only is it hugely disruptive to local people, drivers and passengers, it also means most large vehicles are rerouted down Lancaster Avenue, a residential street with speed bumps and a 20mph limit.
Cllr Anna Birley has had a number of discussions with Transport for London regarding the bridge. They have acknowledged that it is in the top ten railway bridges in the country for strikes by vehicles and that this causes huge cost and disruption to their strategic network. They have agreed that this should be a priority to fix.
However, there is no quick solution. In the short term, TfL hope to improve signage to prevent large vehicles travelling under the bridge at all. This will prevent strikes and delays but will not solve the problem of large vehicles travelling along Lancaster Avenue. We have asked that any new signage includes clear reminders of the 20mph speed limit to try to mitigate the impact of the lorries.
Anna has also ensured that officers only see this as a short term approach, and that it is essential in the longer term to either raise the bridge or lower the road so that larger vehicles can fit under the bridge without needing to divert along Lancaster Avenue.
Officers have agreed to look at how this could be funded but are keen to stress that it would be a very difficult and expensive project. TfL have conducted an initial report into the situation and have spoken to Network Rail. They have agreed to try and conduct some tests in the road and pavement below the bridge to identify the location and depth of utilities, and we hope this can be completed over the next 6-12 months. This should help to identify viable options and will support the work we are doing to find funding.
Labour councillors in Lambeth learning how we can better support refugees in South London. We know many of you would like to help – we have received a number of emails and the Feast had a fantastic response to their call for donations. If you would like to help, please get in touch.
The street market at Station Rise Tulse Hill has been allocated a £14,000 grant from The London Mayor’s Office though £3,500 more crowd-funding still needed before it can go ahead, so no start date yet.
For more information please go to – https://spacehive.com/twist-pop-up-on-station-rise-tulse-hill
Letter from Sustrans regarding the Quietways co-design workshops for Rosendale Road – please come along and share your ideas.
Below is an update from the local Thurlow Park ward Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) in relation to anti-social behaviour on the Peabody estate and Rosendale Rd.
The SNT have completed two warrants on the estate after we received information regarding the growing of cannabis. Hopefully, this has disrupted some of the problems in the blocks where youths had been hanging around. We will continue to act on information where we can which is all treated confidentiality.
There have been two mopeds speeding through the estate and Rosendale Road causing a lot of anti-social behaviour late at night. Both mopeds have now been issued with a Section 59 Police Reform Act 2002 warning which means that if they ride around anti-socially and commit one of the offences under the act, we can seize the moped they are riding.
The Neighbourhood Policing Team and Safer Neighbourhood Team have increased our patrols of the estate (including the blocks) and surrounding roads. We stop and engage with the youths whenever we can. The SNT are working closely with Peabody to find appropriate methods of dealing with the youths hanging around on the estate. Peabody have arranged for their wardens to patrol the estate which will begin in September 2015.
The Lambeth Council CCTV van has been deployed to Rosendale Road and has captured some useful images at the entrance to the estate.
If you have any information you wish to pass to us, you can contact us.
Some families in Norwood are struggling to make ends meet. As the new school term approaches, a number of local children are in desperate need of good quality clean school uniform that families no longer need to enable their children to start a new school or go back to school with uniform.
If you have uniform that your children have grown out of or no longer need, please bring it to St Luke’s Church in West Norwood between 10-1pm on Tuesday. If you aren’t able to make it on Tuesday, you are welcome to drop donations round to Anna’s on Monday evening after 6pm at 14a Deerbrook Road SE24 9BE.
We are looking for –
– Basic colours blue, black and grey trousers and skirts
– Basic jumpers, cardigans
– Basic shirts and tee shirts
Various schools and sizes would be very welcome.
Lambeth council has committed to keeping the hugely popular Lambeth Country Show, but massive budget cuts mean the annual fireworks display will not go ahead.
Lambeth’s funding has been cut in half by central government cuts, meaning the council must carefully prioritise how it spends its money.
The Country Show, held every summer in Brockwell Park, attracted 160,000 people last month and included live music, a fun fair, main arena shows such as horse jousting and dog display teams, bars, food stalls, flower displays, a farmers’ market and animals of all shapes and sizes. It is free to attend.
The November fireworks event is also popular but the council had to introduce charges last year in an attempt to keep costs manageable.
For more information please go to – https://lambethnews.wordpress.com/2015/08/04/lambeth-country-show-here-to-stay-but-fireworks-no-longer-affordable/
Thurlow Park News 