Twist is a new monthly pop-up market on Station Rise by Tulse Hill station. Thursday was the first event and it was a great success!
Organised by Tree Shepherd, Twist is an opportunity for local business owners to trade at affordable prices. Tree Shepherd offer enterprise training to help first time startups and jobless people become self-employed and Twist as an opportunity for them to test and showcase their skills and businesses.
We were at Twist talking to commuters about Streetworks – asking for priorities and ideas on how we can work together to improve Norwood Road and the one way system by Tulse Hill station.
Streetworks will have a stall every month so please come and share your ideas.
The parks maintenance contract is coming to an end in April 2016 and Cllr Jane Edbrooke, cabinet member for culture, has led on reviewing how we take the service forward – especially in light of the parks maintenance specification as set out in Culture 2020.
There is a significant reduction to the parks budget from next year thanks to severe central Government cuts to our funding, and we’ve been determined to find a way forward which safeguards our parks and provides value for money.
We had a really clear steer from residents involved with Brockwell Park and from local Labour Party members that the possibility of taking the grounds maintenance contract in house should be explored as a means to get better value for money from available funds. We raised this aspiration with the cabinet members.
We are therefore really pleased that it has been recommended to cabinet that the parks service be brought back in-house.We believe this is great news – not only will the grounds staff have better terms and conditions than they currently have, we will be able to look towards integration with other services like our grounds maintenance on housing estates.
More information can be found here and we are happy to answer any questions. We expect the decision on this recommendation to take place on 14th December, and anticipate that should we go ahead we will establish a direct labour force from April 2016.
We’re really delighted that the new Over-60s Club on Peabody Hill was awarded £200 from Age UK Lambeth to hold an event this winter helping older residents stay happy and healthy during the cold weather.
Michael and Margaret, Peabody Hill residents, started the club when they were doorknocking on the estate with a petition about a bus service. They met many older residents who rarely got out because of the steep hill, social isolation and poor health. They decided that they would do something about this – we supported them to book the community hall once a week and organise a coffee afternoon. They delivered invitations across the estate and on the day they drive round to pick up any residents with mobility issues in their car.
It has been a huge success – twenty older residents regularly attend and the club are organising a coach trip to see the Christmas lights in Oxford Street and have fish and chips together in a couple of weeks.
On 22nd December, the funding from Age UK will be used to have a Christmas party. There will be hot food, fun activities and decorations. Speakers and special guests will be invited to share tips on keeping energy bills low, staying warm and active, and where to find advice, and Helen Hayes MP will be there to officially start the party!
Soon, Costa will be opening its doors to its newest coffee shop, here in West Norwood.
Whether you want to continue shopping at our local independent cafes or you are looking forward to a new Costa coffee shop coming to town, we can all agree that West Norwood is a place to be proud of. Our town centre is vibrant and inclusive thanks to its active local community and supportive businesses, and we want to keep it that way.
We worry that pressure on wages and the high cost of living mean that some in our community will not be paid enough to continue living, working and supporting their families here. We value the variety that small local businesses bring, and we are concerned about the pressure that national chains like Costa might put them under. We also worry that centralised supply chains for national brands will take local pounds spent out of the local economy.
Because of these concerns, we have been corresponding with the Managing Director of Costa, Christopher Rogers, to ask if he can –
Employ local residents
Pay them the London Living Wage
Ensure a local supply chain wherever possible to support local independent businesses
Costa’s parent company, Whitbread, says that – “a company needs to do more than just make profits and we are committed to being a force for good in all of the communities in which we operate”. We hope to see these values put into practice in West Norwood.
If you agree with our suggestions, you can sign here and share with your friends and neighbours.
We hope that eventually all businesses can pay the London Living Wage, and will be writing to the national brands in Thurlow Park asking that they commit to paying a decent wage.
Lambeth Council became a Living Wage employer in 2012 and asks its suppliers and contractors to pay the London Living wage.
Cllr Anna Birley recently met with Andrew Gilligan to raise the questions and concerns that many of you have sent us regarding Quietways.
We asked –
Governance and decision making
Timings – can these be more flexible or are they politically driven
Choice of route – why was there no consultation and was it influenced unfairly by the Dulwich Estate?
Why has engagement been so poor?
Interventions – what is on and off the table?
Aspirations for the programme – it appears like a lot of money will be spent on a small increase in cycling, so how will success be measured?
What happens if changes to Rosendale Road are insufficient to deal with priorities highlighted by residents – speeding and safety?
Anna’s feedback is –
“Andrew said he agrees that the programme has not gone as well as intended and acknowledged residents’ concerns about poor engagement. While it may not be of comfort to Thurlow Park residents, I believe that by learning from our experience the delivery of other Quietway routes in the future will be much better.
“He assured me that the Dulwich Estate did not exert undue influence and that a route through Dulwich Village had its own challenges when it reached some difficult junctions at the South Circular. I expressed our disappointment that there had been no consultation about this at the time.
“I wasn’t very satisfied with his reply to my questions about a lot of money being spent to make minor changes – while I’m pleased to see investment in Rosendale Road, it has been pointed out by residents that a 10-20% increase in cycling isn’t in practice very many additional cyclists on the route. He said that in the context of significant TfL budgets being spent on large projects like Tulse Hill, this was not a big sum.
“He suggested that we could look at phasing the changes – we could make very minor changes now as phase one, and plan to make more significant ones later if there is demand for this locally. Currently this is not the plan, and anything we want to do must be done in the current scheme, but I would be interested in residents’ feedback on whether we should be pushing for anything additional as a phase two.
“I explained that the priorities of many local residents were to reduce speeding, make the road safer and tackle ratrunning traffic on neighbouring roads like Dalmore and Eastmearn. He is committed to investing in a route rather than a group of trees so any changes to neighbouring roads would need to demonstrate why they make the route safer. With the issues that residents have raised about the Dalmore and Eastmearn, we perhaps need to focus on why ratrunning traffic makes the Eastmearn junction with Rosendale Road, by the shops, so dangerous. That in turn will hopefully mean we can look at including Dalmore, providing a plan is put on the table that residents like.
“Regarding speeding, I shared the desire for better speed cameras and proper enforcement. He didn’t give the impression that this could be included in the Quietways funding but I have followed up by email to underline the strength of feeling held by many that this is key to tackling speeding.”
Many thanks to Val Shawcross, Assembly Member for Lambeth and Southwark, who organised and facilitated the meeting.
Cllr Matthew Bennett, Cabinet Member for Housing, has shared his opinions on the recent Conservative Governments Housing Bill and we thought you might find it interesting.
There was some concern about SV Surveyors doing some work on Rosendale Road, following conversations they had with residents.
We have confirmed with Lambeth and with Sustrans that they have no plans to remove trees along Rosendale Road. Only designs which come from ideas and suggestions during co-design events, meetings with businesses and residents’ associations will be put forward at the design showcases on 6th and 9th December.
We have been very clear that communication needs to be regular and transparent, and that we would not support the removal of Rosendale Road’s trees.
Many of you highlighted parking, and a review of controlled parking zones, as a key priority for your street. We have consistently been pushing for a review to make sure areas of stress were identified, tackle commuters leaving their cars near stations, look at the gaps left by existing zones and assess hours of current CPZs.
We’re really pleased that a study is being conducted to analyse existing on-street parking demands across the borough, to see where and how extra controls are needed.
You may have seen in the news that David Cameron criticised his own local council in Oxfordshire for making cuts to frontnline services. The Conservative Leader of Oxfordshire rejected Cameron’s assertions on funding and points out that his council has already cut its back office functions, 40% senior staff and 2800 jobs, as well as selling all available property – all while taking on new responsibilities and managing increased demand for services.
In Lambeth we have lost over 56% of our funding since 2010 – much more than Conservative councils like Oxfordshire – which means unavoidable decisions about what services we can deliver, and how. David Cameron seems to think that there are easy decisions that councils can take, and offered Oxfordshire a meeting with his policy advisers. This kind of special treatment is a breach of the ministerial code so Cllr Lib Peck, Leader of Lambeth, has written to the Prime Minister requesting the same meeting so that she can make very clear to his advisers the reality of local government cuts in Lambeth.
The Council’s temporary Environmental Enforcement team has been active in Thurlow Park, investigating and labelling dumped residential waste and domestic flytipping. They’ve been taking action – issuing fixed penalty notices.
The following locations in the ward were patrolled – Thurlow Hill, Norwood Road, Birkbeck Hill, Peabody Hill, Rosendale Road, Turney Road, Dalkeith Road, Deronda Road, Romola Road, Deerbrook Road, Berwyn Road, Brockwell Park Gardens, St Faith’s Road, Avenue Park Road, Elmcourt Road, Maley Avenue, Lancaster Avenue, Tulsemere Road, Towton Road, Hexham Road, Lavengro Road, Dalmore Road, Carson Road, Eastmearn Road, Croxted Road, Ebury Mews, Thurlow Park Road, Lovelace Road and Ardlui Road.
Seven fixed penalty notices were issued between Monday 2nd to Saturday 7th November.
Thurlow Park News 