Author: thurlowparklabour

Thurlow Park's Labour councillors sharing news and ways to get involved in the local area - including West Norwood, Herne Hill, Tulse Hill and West Dulwich.

Better Streets

Back in November 2017 we wrote on this blog about the exciting work we were undertaking to try and bring about better ways to help residents improve their streets. It is hoped that with resident engagement we will help to make local streets a better place to live; whether through greening, more trees, traffic calming measures, and improving road safety more generally.

After much discussion with both officers and residents we have been able to secure a drop in event for local residents on Saturday 24 March in the Salvation Army between 12:00 – 15:00. 

Flyers like the one below have been distributed across Thurlow Park, and we invite you to attend to share your ideas. There will be light refreshments available, Officers will be on hand to answer questions, and residents can complete the questionnaire which will also be available.

If you are not able to attend please do complete the online questionnnaire (www.lambeth.gov.uk/thurlowpark) or visit www.lambeth.gov.uk/ourstreets to find out more. The consultation will close on Friday 06 April 2018.

Our work on community safety on Cedar Close

Your local cllrs have been talking to residents in Cedar Close and a number of people have raised concerns about security following recent burglaries. We understand that a letter has been sent to the management company for Cedar Close requesting urgent action to improve the security of entrance doors, install enhanced security lighting and to keep vegetation adequately pruned.

As your local Labour team, we are very concerned that resident safety is being compromised by such basic security issues and that it has been necessary for residents to collectively write to Remus Management Ltd about this. This is unacceptable and, so we are contacting Remus Management Ltd ourselves, supporting the recent letter requesting action to improve security.

We are also aware that there have been several recent fly-tipping incidents in Cedar Close and are keeping an eye on this.

Pavement resurfacing – local successes

Throughout our time as your local Labour Councillors in Thurlow Park we have worked hard with residents and local community groups to create safer, cleaner and more accessible streets.

Having held individual resident meetings, attended resident association meetings, organised walkabouts, worked with our MP, arranged for Lambeth officers to visit streets in our ward, andlobbied the Cabinet lead responsible for streets, we are pleased to have been able to secure various resurfacing programmes to a number of streets across the ward – some of which had not been resurfaced for over 20 years despite residents’ best efforts!

Some of the roads or pavements that have undergone resurfacing so far include; Lovelace Rd, Carson Rd, Lavengro Rd, Idmiston Rd, Chatsworth Way, Deronda Rd, Trinity Rise , Brockwell Park Gardens, Guernsey Grove, Arduli Rd, Norwood Rd, Barston Rd, Tulsemere Rd, Towton Rd, Chancellor Grove, Thurlow Hill, Turney Rd, Rosendale Rd, Lancaster Avenue, and most recently, Hawarden Grove.

Despite deep Conservative Government cuts to Lambeth Council, we will continue to find ways to bring about the change that residents want, while continuing to work hard to ensure all parts of the ward have safe streets – streets that we can all be proud of.

If you think your street needs some resurfacing work please contact us and we’ll take a look. We’d also love to hear about any other improvements that you think would make this a better place to live. As local councillors we also regularly attend resident association meetings and arranged walkabouts with residents, so if you’d like to discuss in person, please get in touch to arrange this for your street.

No water in parts of West Norwood – an update from Thames Water and information on how to get help

Many residents have contacted us about the drop in water pressure or, in many cases, no water at all.

Cllr Fred Cowell has written urgently to Thames Water for information. They have sent us the following update:

“Following the recent freeze and rapid thaw, there have been multiple bursts on our water networks and an increase in leaks in and on customers’ properties. Not all areas are affected equally, but significant numbers of customers are currently without water or have low pressure. This has caused a huge amount of call to come into our call centre and we are doing our best to answer these but are also talking to a significant number of customers via social media.

We are putting as much extra water as we can into our local networks and fixing leaks and bursts as quickly as possible. This afternoon we fixed a burst on an 18” water main in SW16 and which will help bring back pressures in the area although issues with airlocks are also affecting some of our water pumping stations, such as the booster station in Brixton. We are also working hard to prioritise supplies for vulnerable customers and to provide bottled water. There is currently a bottled water station in the carpark at Homebase at 100 Woodgate Drive, Streatham Vale, SW16 5YP. We are constantly resupplying this location and will be setting up other sites tomorrow morning and will provide updates via social media and our websites.

Throughout this time we have been working closely with our Resilience partners and are working in coordination with many other organisations to resolve things as quickly as we can. In the meantime, could you let me know if there are any particularly vulnerable customer you would like me to highlight to our teams so we can make sure they get special attention and are looked after.”

As well as asking for issues in West Norwood to be resolved as quickly as possible, we are asking that a bottled water distribution site be set up urgently in West Norwood as travelling to Streatham for drinking water is unacceptable, especially for vulnerable or older residents, those with children and caring responsibilities, and those without cars.

If you or a neighbour needs additional help, please contact us on ABirley@lambeth.gov.uk, FCowell@lambeth.gov.uk and MDeckersDowber@lambeth.gov.uk

Our response to the consultation on the new low emission zone

Soon after his election the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, called for new proposals to urgently help tackle London’s lethal air pollution. The Mayor has already introduced the T-Charge in central London, bought forward the start date of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) for central London to 8 April 2019 and announced a series of measures to clean up London’s bus fleet.

TfL are now consulting on detailed proposals for two further initiatives to improve London’s air. These involve:

  • Tightening the standards of the existing London-wide Low Emission Zone from 2020, which affects heavy vehicles – buses, coaches and HGVs and other heavy specialist vehicles
  • Expanding the ULEZ for light vehicles (cars, vans and motorcycles) from central London to inner London up to, but not including the North and South Circular roads in 2021 so that all vehicles in this area are subject to emissions standards

The full proposals can be found here:  https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/environment/air-quality-consultation-phase-3b/#our proposals 

In Thurlow Park, they involve a new low emissions zone extending up to but not including the South Circular.

As your local Labour councillors, we have responded to the consultation calling on the zone to be wider, covering all of London rather than stopping at the South Circular.

Air quality is a very important
issue for us and our residents. Thurlow Park ward straddles the South Circular
and has a number of other strategically important roads that experience heave
traffic, including Norwood Road and Lancaster Avenue. 

These roads, and the
streets leading off them, experience high volumes of cars, buses, lorries and
vans. As a consequence, the air that residents living, working, walking and
cycling in our ward, and especially on these roads, is damaging their lungs.

We are therefore
very supportive of actions which TfL and the Mayor can take to tackle air
pollution and welcome a large Ultra Low Emissions Zone. We agree with proposals
that there should be tougher emissions standards, particularly given this will especially
impact the heavy vehicles that we experience disproportionately.

We also support
the expansion of the existing Low Emission Zone. However, we are very
disappointed that it is being proposed to go only as far as the south circular.
As shown by this map displaying data from the London Air website compiled by
Kings College London, the South Circular is the worst road in our
neighbourhood. It’s a residential road, and in just Thurlow Park goes past two
schools and very near to two more.

On any given day,
these homes and schools have around 15,000 vehicles driving east and a further
12,000 vehicles travelling west past their front doors, according to data
collected by TfL which we have published here: https://thurlowparklabour.org/post/166566971597/progress-made-in-our-campaign-for-a-safer-south

Other pollution
hotspots would be missed off the new zone too – in our ward, Norwood Road sees
higher traffic and pollution, as do Robson Road, Rosendale Road, Lancaster
Avenue and Croxted Road, for example, thanks to buses, delivery vehicles and
other traffic.

The current
proposals, up to and not including the South Circular, fail to take action on
the road in the greatest need of action and does nothing to tackle the
pollution hotspots south of this boundary. They create a situation which sees
only half of our residents breathing cleaner air, while some of the worst
affected areas see no change in regulation. We are also concerned that the new
zone will push the most pollution traffic south as drivers of vehicles affected
look for alternative routes that avoid the charge. We don’t want to see the
southern half of the ward become a rat run for London’s most polluting traffic.

By extending the
zone to cover the whole city, this scenario can be avoided. We would
therefore like to see the new zone expanded to cover the whole of London,
including the South Circular.

Time to get organising for this summer’s street parties!

We love street parties – not only are they great fun, they’re also a lovely way to meet your neighbours, create a strong community and reclaim your road from traffic for the day. 

We encourage our residents’ associations to organise one if they can, and over the last four years have provided many streets with the support they need to organise (and a cake for the event!).

If you’re planning one this summer, it’s time to start organising. While it remains free to close your street for the day, you have to hit the deadlines to get your permission in time:

If you haven’t organised a street party before, or you would value a refresher on how it’s done, Lambeth have put together a handy guide here: http://www.eventlambeth.co.uk/streetparties/

Please do invite us to come along to your street party – we would love to meet you and your neighbours and will happily join in with whatever you have planned, from Bake Off to egg & spoon race!

#SaveOurStations and Tory police cuts update

Throughout our time as your local councillors, we have been working with our local Safety Neighbourhood Team on various issues across the ward. This has included specific work surrounding ASB on the Peabody estate and on issues relating to more general concerns from residents, from burglaries to speeding, for example.

Community speed watch with the police and residents on Lancaster Avenue

In our time as Thurlow Park’s Labour councillors, we have witnessed Conservative cuts to the Met police budget that have had direct repercussions here in Lambeth. Serious violence has started to rise, police counters have all closed except for a single station in Brixton, neighbourhood policing is under threat.

Lambeth police will likely merge with Southwark police to form one new ‘Borough Command Unit’ with a single Commander, 5 superintendents straddling the two boroughs, and approximately 1400 officers. Many of you have raised this with us, especially your concerns about knife crime and increasing anti-social behaviour.

As a measure to try and help our local police forces the Mayor of London is being forced to increase Lambeth residents’ council tax by £14.20 (band D) to plug a portion of the huge funding gap: https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/mayor-proposes-27p-per-week-council-tax-increase

Further measures set out by the Mayor of London for the coming financial year include:

  • £20m to pay for long awaited 2% pay rises for hard working police officers who are otherwise struggling to stay living in London as rents and the cost of living rise faster than wages
  • £13.9m to pay for recruitment to maintain staff numbers
  • £15m to tackle knife/youth violence – Cabinet Lead Mohammed Seedat will meet MOPAC to decide how this money is used in Lambeth

As your local cllrs we will continue to work with our Safety Neighbourhood Team to support their efforts in the ward and keep people safe. We supported the Lambeth Labour #SaveOurStations campaign and helped to deliver leaflets in the ward as well as support the online petition.

As a result of our campaign in Lambeth and other campaigns across London, the Mayor of London has promised 2 dedicated neighbourhood police officers per ward, while the Deputy Mayor for policing has acknowledged the importance of neighbourhood policing and as a result new ‘contact sessions’ in every ward means police will be engaging with residents more directly. This is very welcome and we have already seen #cuppawithacopper contact sessions begin. Our team in Thurlow Park advertise their contact sessions here.

As your local councillors, we will continue to attend the Safer Neighbourhood Ward panels as it even more essential to support our local neighbourhood policing teams as they try to mitigate the effects of cuts to their service. We have started monthly ASB and community safety surgeries on the Peabody Estate at 10.30am on the last Monday of the month and work closely with Peabody’s community safety team. We helped to roll out Smart Water to tackle rising burglary rates and support residents to run neighbourhood watches.

We want to reassure residents that despite cuts, we continue to work to ensure all parts of the ward are included in police patrols and we meet with officers to highlight areas of concern or which need greater attention.

Map showing where the Thurlow Park safer neighbourhood team patrolled on 8th February

Field Day Licensing Application for Brockwell Park – we want to hear your views

Brockwell park is host to Field Day from the 1-3 of June. This is a much larger commercial event than the park has previously hosted and we are currently working with the organisers on managing and controlling the event.

We understand the concern about large events in Brockwell Park. We fought to block another larger event, Lovebox, from coming to the park, have refused permission for previous events that have not met the standards required in the park to return, and will
be having a post event consultation on whether Field Day comes back to the park next year.

As part of the authorisation process, Field Day has to go through a licensing application. This determines whether under the 2003 Licensing Act it can be granted a licence to sell alcohol and host live music. The Council’s licensing committee then has to review the application. This is a statutory process which is independent from political considerations. The committee is required to take the following four things into account.

  • the prevention of crime and disorder
  • the prevention of public nuisance
  • the promotion of public safety
  • the protection of children from harm

Field day are currently applying for a licence which runs from midday each day of the festivals and ends at 11pm on Friday and Saturday and 10:30pm on Sunday.

As your local councillors, we have been consistent in engaging with local residents, listening to views and concerns, and working on your behalf. Since Field Day and Lovebox first applied to come to Brockwell park, we have met with many residents’ groups, worked with community and park organisations, doorknocked local streets and organised a public meeting for Thurlow Park residents to have their say. We published our view on this website here before Christmas and lobbied hard to stop Lovebox from coming, and for Field Day to reduce the size of the event.

We are currently drafting a submission for the licensing committee to consider, on behalf of Thurlow Park residents, though we would also like residents to make their own submissions on the application itself, and how the event should be managed.

In particular we would like your views on:

  1. We are concerned about the lateness of the times on all evenings. In particular, we are concerned about the Sunday close time given that GCSE exams are the next day. We would like to move these hours back. What is your view on appropriate hours for the events to finish?
  2. How the dispersal should be managed in order to maximise public safety? – at the moment the plan is to exit largely through the Herne Hill entrance.
  3. Should there be a lower upper limit on the noise than the festivals last summer? There were a number of complaints about the noise and we want to get it right.
  4. Field Day have made some extensive commitments about immediate clear up as
    well as a general clear up. Where should there resources be targeted?
  5. Under the terms of the Licensing Act, is there anything else we should take
    into account?

To tell us what you think, you can email Cllr Fred Cowell on fcowell@lambeth.gov.uk or respond using our online survey here. 

Have you visited our monthly ASB surgery on the Peabody Estate yet?

Anti-social behaviour and crime are the top concern for many residents on the Peabody Estates – both Rosendale Road and Peabody Hill. It is very important to us that residents are, and feel, safe in their homes and neighbourhoods, and have been working hard to tackle this issue. 

It’s a complicated issue, and no one agency on its own is going to be able to resolve it. So, we have been developing a multi-agency approach,

regularly coordinating meetings which bring together Peabody, the police, the council, community and youth groups, and local residents. We have ensured that Peabody prioritise our estate, and over the last year we have secured wardens who regularly patrol. 

To complement this, we have started a new anti-social behaviour and community safety surgery and walkabout. Every month, one of your local Labour councillors, the community safety officer from Peabody and the Peabody estate manager will be on site on the last Monday of the month from 10.30-12.30. 

Residents can make an appointment to see us at the community centre, organise for us to visit your home, or drop-in to see us. It’s an opportunity to raise any issue with us and get the support you need to resolve it. We also do a walkabout and visit any parts of the estate which residents have flagged for concern.

This week, our session included a walkabout of Blocks E and F, and a letter delivery to residents in those blocks reminding them of their responsibilities to be considerate neighbours. We also met with the local police who were visiting some households, and had a drop-in surgery where we discussed issues from domestic violence to noise complaints with residents. 

Extra gritting for West Norwood

Anyone who has braved the outdoors for the last couple of days will have seen that we are in the middle of a cold snap, with snow and ice. 

Because of the inclement weather, extra care is taken to make roads across Lambeth accessible. Where possible we pre-grit the main routes before ice forms or snow falls in a decided priority order across the borough. 

This priority order is: 

  • Priority
    1 roads = All main roads (most bus routes). 
  • Priority
    2 roads = Roads that access essential public services such as hospitals, fire
    stations, ambulance stations plus at least one access route from the main road
    network to every community. 

A map showing these routes is available here – https://www.lambeth.gov.uk/parking-transport-and-streets/streets-and-roads/winter-gritting-guide 

Tomorrow morning at 3am, all Priority
1 and 2 routes in Norwood, Streatham, Clapham, Brixton and Waterloo will be
salted at 3am Wednesday morning.  Cul de sacs will also be salted, as will roads with sheltered housing on them. 

Because West Norwood is hillier than other parts of the borough, our neighbourhood will be given special focus.

You can volunteer to become a snow warden to clear ice and snow from your pavements to help keep your street safe.You can individually, or as part of a group. All snow wardens receive tools and training. If you, or a group of neighbours, would like to do this, you can email SnowWardens@lambeth.gov.uk, or any of Anna, Fred and Max for more information.