Thank you for helping refugees in Calais

Last weekend Councillor Anna Birley was volunteering in Calais with a group of Thurlow Park residents, other Labour & Co-operative councillors, volunteers from Emmaus and Helen Hayes MP – helping out at the Help Refugees warehouse.

Thank you so much for helping us with generous donations – we couldn’t do these trips without your help. This time we were able to take three packed full cars, and still have a carload to take in a few days time. 

The situation for refugees in Calais is getting tougher and tougher – as well as dropping temperatures, police are regularly evicting them from where they are sheltering, sometimes forcing them to leave their meagre belongings behind and leaving them without warm or waterproof clothes or tents. Your donations, from sleeping bags to warm shoes, have made a huge difference.

If you would like to get involved next time we are organising a collection or volunteering, please do get in touch with Anna on abirley@lambeth.gov.uk. 

Last chance to nominate a tree for your street – deadline TOMORROW

We have secure dozens of trees to be planted in February across the ward – and we want your help to choose locations and varieties. 

To get as much input from residents as possible, we have put together an online survey, sent emails, met with residents associations, doorknocked on streets across the ward and delivered flyers to homes near potential new tree pits. 

Many of you have been in touch with your requests and ideas – thank you! These have all been passed to tree officers who will evaluate the suggested sites (eg for wires under the pavement) and will where possible source  your preferred trees from the nursery.

If you haven’t shared your preferences – now is your last chance to do so! The deadline for the survey is tomorrow Monday 10th December. Please let us know your favourite tree varieties and spots across the ward you think could do with some extra greenery, and encourage your neighbours to respond too.

Progress on our campaign for a safer South Circular!

For the last five years as your local councillors we have been campaigning for a safer South Circular.

Following the tragic death in 2017 of Dr. Jasjot Singhota at the zebra crossing on Thurlow Park Road, by Birkbeck Hill, in February we organised a walkabout with TfL, Helen Hayes MP and our GLA representative Flo Eshalomi to highlight the problem of speeding, as well as lobbying the transport deputy mayor of London.

Sadly, another young woman was killed on the South Circular a year ago crossing at the pedestrian crossing between Ladbrokes and the Co-op. This is a very dangerous junction, and while the £5 million we have secured as part of the Streetworks project to completely redesign it, clearly it needs to be made much safer much sooner while those plans are developed. 

We met with London’s deputy mayor for transport and got a commitment that the Streetworks project would experience no further delays. In the interim, they agreed to review the positioning and lighting at the corner where the hit and run took place. 

We are incredibly pleased to see that action has been taken – the crossing has been realigned to improve pedestrian visibility on this corner. 

This is by no means enough, and we will continue to campaign for safety improvements. Soon, we hope to be able to share detailed plans for the gyratory redesign – the high level designs were developed with the community and have been with TfL technical officers to model. 

Carols 4ALL! Get festive at All Saints on Saturday

Carols 4ALL will be taking place on Saturday 15 December from 11.00-1.00 in All Saints Church, Lovelace Road. It is a wonderful annual event, bringing together local residents of all ages for mince pies, singing, mulled wine and festive cheer. 

Drop in any time and stay for 10 minutes or 2 hours to enjoy singing traditional carols.

Community gardening next weekend – get involved! 🌱

Join us and the Streetworks team on Saturday 15th at 11am to garden the circular bed on the corner of Harpenden Road and Norwood Road. The bed needs weeding, some digging over and some new plants added where some less scrupulous passers by have dug up and taken some of the shrubs we planted there a few months ago. 

Local volunteers, Councillor Anna Birley and members of Streetworks and the Norwood Forum planting the bed in May. 

We will be bringing some tools, plants and soil – but if you have bulbs or plants you would like to contribute or your own tools to use please do feel free to bring them along.

Choose a tree to plant in February

As part of the Our Streets investment programme, we will be planting trees across the ward – and we want to hear from you! Help us to choose locations and species of trees using the form below. Please complete the form by 10th December.

We are working our way around the ward to identify empty tree pits that need a new tree, and to doorknock different streets and ask for residents’ suggestions. If you’d like us to doorknock in your street – please just get in touch! 

Temperatures are dropping – if you see someone sleeping rough, tell StreetLink

StreetLink exists to help end rough sleeping by helping members of the public to connect people sleeping rough with the local services that can support them. 

If you see someone sleeping rough this autumn and winter, you can alert Lambeth, or other local authority if you’re out and about, by sending an alert to StreetLink using their website:

https://www.streetlink.org.uk/

You can also contact Lambeth’s Safer Streets Team directly who will offer emergency accomodation to any rough sleepers during cold weather, when the Met Office forecasts three or more nights of zero degrees celsius.

Telephone: 020 7501 0601 
Email: sstlambeth@cri.org.uk

If you are contacting the team with concerns about someone else, please provide details of where you have seen them and what they look like; the more information the better.

New restaurant getting a pizza the action in West Norwood

We are very excited that West Norwood town centre will be welcoming a new restaurant. Opening early next year, 400 Rabbits will be opening their third restaurant in South London on Norwood Road, where Kahvah used to be. 

Residents have often raised the lack of choice in the evenings in West Norwood, and along with the new cinema we welcome the new addition to our evening economy. 

We also hear rumours of a new local brewery opening up soon near the bus garage…

And were delighted to welcome Sweet Carolina at their opening this week – on the corner of Bloom Grove and Knights Hill, opposite the library.

As well as many local businesses investing in improvements in store, including Champagne and Chocolate on the corner of Lancaster Avenue, Iceland and Greggs. 

While there are many challenges for high street stores and independent businesses, we are pleased that West Norwood continues to grow as a town centre where people enjoy spending time and shopping locally. We continue to work closely with the Business Improvement District to support local businesses and will continue to stand up against potential Government business rates hikes which would create an even more challenging business environment for many. 

Show your support for local businesses on the first weekend in December on Small Business Saturday  by shopping in West Norwood and supporting our local independent businesses.