Private renters – have your say!

Private renting is an important issue for us – in the borough roughly a third of residents live in privately rented accommodation and in our ward we have dealt with many pieces of casework relating to the private rented sector, from damp and repairs to security of tenure.

Last year, we organised a survey and meeting for private renters in West Norwood. Many of you who attended told us that you weren’t always confident in asserting your rights to landlords, or that landlords weren’t aware of all of their responsibilities. Renters have told us in the survey and at our surgeries that rents are increasing and getting harder to manage.

We have been working hard to champion the private rented sector, so that the council makes fuller use of its powers to intervene when landlords don’t meet the standards they should, and provides the information and support that good tenants and good landlords need to improve the sector.

We’re proud that Lambeth Labour recently voted to call on the Government to end Section 21, and you can read Councillor Anna Birley’s blog about her experiences of Section 21 and renting locally. She is now the Private Renting Policy Lead for Lambeth. As part of this work, we have introduced tougher fines on rogue landlords, recruited more enforcement officers to drive up standards and moved ahead with a licensing scheme for landlords for flats with five or more renters.

But there’s more to do – and currently we are consulting on renters’ main priorities and challenges are to help shape the council’s next steps. The first outcome will be to draw up a private renters’ charter, to set out renters’ rights, give advice, support and guidance, as well as detail the council’s powers to intervene and will be published later this year.

Please share your experiences and views here >> https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/lblrenters

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.

Norwood Road – bollards, trees, benches and grot spots

A public consultation is now underway on the proposed location of trees, benches and bollards which will go in along Norwood Road between Robson Road and Tulse Hill station under the Streetworks project.

Please advise Streetworks of your views on the types of trees and possible locations, and also on sites for bins and bollards.

Identified actions needed to tidy up the street scene includes repainting all the post boxes, removing redundant street furniture e.g. relocating the temporary bike rack outside The Old Library, and relocation of commercial waste bins.

You can email your thoughts to hello@streetworks.london

An invitation to help us improve the Tulse Hill Gyratory and Norwood Road!

We are starting work on a
project which will bring real improvements to Norwood Road and Tulse
Hill, with funding from Transport for London. There is an opportunity to
come together with others from your community on 6th and 7th of June to share ideas and come up with projects that can make a real difference to the area.

Don’t worry if you haven’t been involved in a neighbourhood project
before. Just come along and meet other people from your community who
want to make a difference. There will be plenty of people on hand to
make you feel welcome, answer any questions you might have and help you
to turn your ideas into live projects.

Not only will you be able to get involved in making your area a
better place to live, you will also be offered training and support to
develop and realise your ideas. Who knows? You may end up running your
own community project.

The sessions will be at the Old Library on Saturday 6th June (10-4pm) and Sunday 7th June (11-2pm). The Sunday session is being run as part of the Norwood Feast and you can also find us at a stall near St Luke’s Church.

Don’t worry if you can’t come to both days, or even to all of one
session. Just come along and join in for as long as you can, you’ll be
very welcome.

Light refreshments will be available on both days and children are
welcome too. If you would like to book a space or have any questions,
please contact abirley@lambeth.gov.uk or georgina@jameswilsoncoffee.co.uk. Alternatively, just turn up on the day!