Tackling crime in the ward

Since 2010 300 police officers have been taken off Lambeth’s streets as a result of huge funding cuts by London’s Tory Mayor. Thurlow Park Tories, despite their tough talk on crime, have stayed silent while their party slashes the number of uniformed officers on the beat in our community.

Thurlow Park labour want to make families feel safe, which is why we have:

1. Backed Lambeth’s ‘Lock It and Stop It’ programme which has resulted in a 38% reduction in burglaries across the borough.

2. Campaigned against cuts to police numbers and police stations closures across Lambeth.

3. Supported a tough licensing policy to crack down on anti-social behaviour caused by alcohol, including in Tulse Hill and on Norwod Road.

4. Worked with police to support their efforts to reduce gang crime by arresting serious offenders and persuading others to leave Lambeth’s gangs.

Green light for a bus to Peabody Hill

The location of Peabody Hill can make it difficult for some people with young children, the elderly and those with disabilities to access the local shops, transport connections, places of work and other services. We want to help fix this, and so, have ben campaigning for a new bus route.

Your local Labour councillor, Ann Kingsbury and Labour Action Team see this as a priority for the area and have submitted have spoken with Lambeth Council, Transport for London, Peabody and the London Assembly and have worked with residents ho have organised a petition.

We are delighted that Lambeth Council have given their full support to our request ad have submitted their views on the urgent need for a service during recent TfL consultation. In response to a question from Val Shawcross AM, the Mayor has written saying that TfL understand the need for a service but caution that it will cause changes to traffic management locally.

As a result TfL have acknowledged our views on the ned for the bus service and have agreed to begin discussion with lambeth on how it can be delivered. Your Labour Action Team and Lambeth Council will continue to make the bus service a priority and will campaign to improve access across Thurlow Park ward.

Community Hubs Challenge Fund

The Community Hubs Challenge Fund is being proposed by the council to make investment funds available for local community groups and community-led social enterprises. The fund will be used for the refurbishment and redevelopment of community facilities across the borough.

This funding will enable the next phase in the growth of the community hubs network in the borough, to provide safe places for residents, community groups, and small and medium sized enterprises from which they can operate and deliver services. Community hubs will provide a home where community growth, community action, volunteering and enterprise will flourish.

The fund proposes to fund project’s in two ways; 1) the Match Challenge Fund, and 2) the Challenge Fund Purse. A total of £1,000,000 funding will be available for the financial year 2014/2015. The fund will be open for a maximum of 12 months, using two proposed funding rounds: (1) June 2014 to September 2014 (2) November 2014 to January 2015.

Community Hubs Challenge Fund

Robson Road junction proposals

Cllr Ann Kingsbury wrote to the Head of Transportation at Lambeth Council to express her strong support for the views of the Norwood Forum and Norwood Action Group in response to traffic plans of the Norwood Road /Robson Road junction.

As you may well be aware, there has been extensive consultation on the junction and there seems to be widespread approval for Lambeth’s proposals – which also include a pedestrian crossing and better design for cyclists.

From the pedestrian point of view the introduction of staggered crossings is not an improvement in either safety or amenity, as its quiet possible that people will be tempted to cross the road in a straight line and will take risks in doing so.

The current Lambeth proposals should result in improved safety, but it would appear that the TfL modifications give pedestrians and cyclists safety and amenity a lower priority. It also appears that these modifications could lead to a loss of road space and force cyclists to compete for access.

In any case, banning a left turn at the junction with Robson Road will presumably force traffic to turn into Ernest Avenue or Hannen Road to join the northbound traffic on Knight’s Hill and then right into Robson Road. This will effectively create a new gyratory system and introduce the possibility of the junction being blocked by the 322 bus turning right. The plans do not seem to allow for a permitted left turn for buses, an it is difficult to see how this will improve journey times for passengers on the 322 in the Crystal Palace direction.

Furthermore, the route along Robson Road, turning left at West Norwood is the only direct route between West Norwood and West Dulwich. Although only a small proportion of West Norwood traffic takes this route, the amount is still sufficient. If redirected down other left turns off the Norwood Road an increase in traffic would be to the detriment to the centre.

£5million for improving the Tulse Hill gyratory

We want to ensure that Tulse Hill is a safe, pleasant place to live, work and cycle. Currently, the busy traffic on the gyratory makes it unsafe and there have been a number of accidents. Your Labour Action Team have been campaigning for the improvement of the junction since 2010.

In October, Val Shawcross AM presented a petition, collected by Thurlow Park ward Cllr Ann Kingsbury and local campaigners; calling for TfL to give Tulse Hill gyratory urgent priority for road safety measures, following a long standing issue with collisions and accidents.

Many of you signed that petition last summer and we are delighted that TfL have listened to us and announced a £5 million investment to redesign the junction as part of the London-wide junction improvement programme.

A response to the petition from the Mayor of London has now been received and you can read this here. Val said ‘I’m delighted to see that TfL have allocated £5million of funding for improvements in the Tulse Hill area’

Improvements include –

1. Removing the current one-way gyratory
2. A new road system which prioritises the needs of pedestrians and cyclists
3. Intermediate measurers to improve safety until major measures can be implemented

Thank you to everyone who signed our petition and joined the campaign. This investment will greatly improve the lives of residents living close to and working around the gyratory.