Brimmington Festival - Does your dog have the waggiest tail?

Saturday 27th June 12 - 6pm, Brimmington Park (between Clifton Crescent and Culmore Rd)

Not to be missed! This year's Brimmington Park Festival promises to be bigger and better than ever.

In addition to all the usual fun of live entertainment, sports events and children's fancy dress contest there will be the first Brimmington Fun Dog Show and Football Training provided by Millwall FC!

Council to Close Nunhead Community Centre - AGAIN

The council has gained an interim possession order on the Nunhead Community Centre which means the occupation must end and the padlocks will be back in place tomorrow.

So last chance to visit the community centre is today. The Occupiers are inviting local residents to pop by for a cup of tea.

Access is via the back door. Go through the green gate into Basswood Close at the corner of Linden Grove and Candle Grove.

Map

Nunhead Community Centre Update

I went over to the Centre last night for a meeting organised by the occupiers. It felt really great to be back in the centre for a community meeting, it felt like a return to better days.


So as ever, there's good news and bad news.

Good News
1. The initial test findings are that there is no legionella bacteria.
2. The members of the original Campaign Group and the Occupiers decided they have the same goal to save the centre for the community and that they will work together.

The United Nunhead Community Centre Campaign Group

The newly united Campaign decided as next steps they will try to continue to occupy the centre, seek further health & safety certification and if given the all clear to start holding some community events (Sunshine Club Bingo is high on the agenda!) . They will also call on the Executive Members of the Council (ie the cllrs in charge finances and community centres) to attend a public meeting to discuss the future of the centre.

Bad News
The only really bad news is that the council is seeking possession of the centre and there is a court hearing on Friday. Local residents at the meeting signed a petition of support and hope that the occupation and use of the Community Centre will be allowed to continue.

Nunhead Community Centre Occupation

So where were we...

When I last posted about the Nunhead Community Centre we'd just had a public meeting which agreed to reject the Council's proposal of a couple of small shop fronts as a wholly inadequate replacement for the Community Centre and we were launching our campaign to Save the Centre. We were doing all the traditional campaign things - letter writing, getting the local paper involved (see here and here), asking questions, lobbying Executive Members etc.

The council was still adamant that it would cost £1.3m to reopen the centre (more than four times the original £300k quote) and was sticking firmly to its line that the shops were the only option. In fact residents even saw a local property developer being shown round the centre.

Then about a week and a half ago some squatters moved in. Now considering that it's been well known that the centre was closed and empty for two years this is not terribly surprising, but it turns out these are not just any squatters, these are campaigning Nunhead Artist occupiers.

I went over to see what was going on and found the centre occupied by a few well known local artists who are involved with organising Nunhead Arts Week and other community events. They told me they thought it was a scandal that the centre had been left empty for so long and that they want to tidy it up and start getting it used for community events again. They are cleaning it and getting health & safety tests done (particularly to check there is no legionella), then they hope to get public liability insurance and then invite the community in.

There are quite mixed views about this amongst local residents. Some see them as taking courageous direct action, seizing a public building back from the council which has been showing little or no regard to the community's wishes. Others are angry that they have taken unilateral action and fear that their action could be counterproductive and undermine the campaign to save the centre.

I have to say I'm quite torn on the matter myself. As a councillor I can't condone their actions and fear that it could undo the small amount of progress I think we were making, but I must admit it mostly felt like we were hitting our heads against a brick wall and the idea of just ignoring the council and reclaiming the centre for the community is quite tempting.

A meeting is being arranged over the next few days between the Nunhead Community Centre Campaign Group and the Occupation Group so we'll see what comes out of that.

Councillors Come Dancing

My Nunhead colleague Cllr Althea Smith and other Southwark Councillors will be putting on a show in aid of Diabetes UK at the Mayor of Southwark's Charity Ball this Saturday.

I'm told there will be a disco display by Cllrs Morris and Dixon-Fyle, some ballroom from Cllrs Hook and Kyriacou, whilst our Althea will "endeavour to portray, together with two young professional dancers, the image of the young people of today through dance"!

Read more on the Council website and while your at it why not sponsor Althea!

I hear there will be a YouTube video available next week...

Nunhead Community Centre - The Fight Goes On!

Much of my time over the last month or so has been focused on the future of the Nunhead Community Centre.

The council closed the centre about 2 years ago after one of the residents who ran the centre contracted legionnaires disease (maybe from the centre, maybe not). We expected it to reopen after the water systems had been given the all clear.

Instead the council said it couldn't reopen without some quite substantial work done to it. An initial surveyors report said £300k - so we set to the task of securing the funding.

Line Dancing in the last Older People's Day - before the centre closed!

Up till a few weeks ago it was looking quite promising. Both the council officers and the LibDems councillors running the council said they supported reopening the centre and we'd raised £150k from the small Nunhead & Peckham Rye Community Council budget. I was hopeful that Southwark Council would match fund the rest.

But shockingly in the last few weeks the council has completely changed its tune. They say it will cost at least £1.2m to reopen the centre and that the running costs will be completely unaffordable. They say they is would be a waste of money and they won't do it.

Instead they offered us some shop fronts in the new building next to the Nun's Head. They said they wanted to buy 2 shops for use as community space and sell off the old centre.

We gave it a chance. I went to see the shops with my fellow cllrs and a number of people who run local community groups and the simple truth is that the rooms are just too small. It's just a totally inadequate alternative to the centre.

We had a well attended meeting of local residents last week where we resolved to reject the council's offer and to keep on fighting for to get our centre back.

Local residents say Nunhead Wants its Centre Back

The Community Centre was a lifeline for so many people in Nunhead - particularly the large elderly population. Groups like the Sunshine Club for pensioners have had to stop meeting - they just can't find anywhere else big and affordable enough in the area for their group of 60+ people to meet. But it seems they just aren't a priority for this Council.

A well-attended Community Forum AGM - before the centre closed

I find it simply impossible to understand how the costs could have quadrupled in just two years. With the first surveyors report we were given a full breakdown of the work needed and cost estimates - but this time the council is refusing to give us any details at all, which makes me, and everyone else, deeply sceptical as well as really angry about the whole thing.

Read more in the Southwark News.

Brimmington rubbish (again)

Sadly I spoke too soon and it's still not fixed. One local resident is keeping a photo diary and it's clearly as bad as ever.

The council now plans to start the pilot of a new collection method on King Arthur Close, Loder Street and Blanch Close starting 12 May, so fingers crossed.

Assorted Bus Issues

One of the Council's Scrutiny Committees is doing an investigation into bus services in the borough. Who knows whether TfL and Mayor Boris will pay any attention to the conclusions, but it can't hurt for the Council to have a clear picture of the issues across the borough.

They've asked ward cllrs to give the committee information about any bus issues in our wards and I've pasted in below what I've sent in so far based on the various complaints and comments I've received over the years (mostly about the 78 which is currently being reviewed by TfL - I've sent my comments on that one direct to TfL as well).

I couldn't think of anything in particular about services in the Queens Rd area - perhaps I don't get complaints about it because it's fairly well served?

Let me know if you think differently or have any other bus issues you would like included in the scrutiny review.

Missing Links
Residents in the centre of Nunhead (around Evelina Rd) would like to have links from the centre to New Cross in the east and to Dulwich Hospital in the west. It is particularly noted that now Dulwich Hospital is the centre for so many health services the hospital really needs better transport links.

78 bus
The 78 route is extremely important as one of only two routes serving the central shopping area (Evelina Rd) of Nunhead. It is also highly valued by residents living in the Dundas Rd area as it is the only bus coming into that residential area. There are a very large number of elderly and disabled people living in that area as there are a number of sheltered housing units as well as social rented housing purpose built for disabled people. There would be an enormous outcry if the route ceased to serve these residential streets.

That said there are significant problems with the route. A particular problem for Nunhead residents is that vehicles are frequently turned around at Peckham Rye and therefore Nunhead residents do not receive the full advertised service frequency - I note this is clearly picked up in the % kms operated performance stats.

The route also suffers from chronic overcrowding in the core section of the route which makes it difficult for residents trying to come home to Nunhead when they are often unable to board the first bus in peak hours. This could be alleviated by providing additional capacity either on the 78 or an alternative route in the core area serving Peckham, Bermondsey and the City.

I also note that the vehicles used on this route are very old and are not the greatest capacity single deckers. I would like to see more modern buses on the route and the use of the slightly longer single deckers would also help reduce the overcrowding.

There has been a suggestion from some residents that 78 could be extended to New Cross (ie continuing up St Mary's Rd, turning right on Queens Rd then down to New Cross). Residents have complained that none of the services through Nunhead provides a quick link up to Queens Rd or New Cross where they can access high frequency rail services and Sainsbury's at New Cross. That said I would not support this proposal if it meant that the 78 ceased to serve the St Mary's Rd/Dundas Rd area.

343 bus
Again this bus provides a vital link - this time for people living in the south of Nunhead. That said residents do complain that the buses frequently speed down Ivydale Road and when these double deckers hit the speed bumps it is extremely noisy. On one occasion a 343 crashed into a parked car and residents fear that someone will be hurt if this speeding continues. I hope that the proposed pinch points for Ivydale Rd will resolve this.

P12 bus
Two complaints about this service really - one is the frequency, particularly around school drop off and collection times. The bus serves the very popular St Francesca Cabrini Primary School and many local parents prefer to take the bus than to drive, but find the P12 service unreliable and overcrowded. The second complaint is speeding on Ivydale Road -something we have taken up repeatedly with TfL but with no success. I hope that the proposed pinch points for Ivydale Rd will resolve this.

484 bus
Nunhead residents have repeatedly asked for this route to actually go into Dog Kennel Hill Sainsburys and use the new bus stop there.

Progress at Brimmington

I think we might be getting somewhere with the refuse collection on the Brimmington Estate.

I managed to get a group of officers from the council and Veolia to come and walk round the estate with me and some residents on Tuesday morning. They have some ideas for putting in wheelie bins where there's room and getting the bin crew to collect bags straight from the door step when they can get close. There will still be some piles, but fewer and hopefully smaller. Later in the year they should be able to bring over some containers for those bags to into instead of them being piled up in heaps.

They plan to start this as soon as possible and then they'll be coming to the next Tenants & Residents Association meeting on 21 April so residents can have a say about how it's going.




Update 15 April 09
I fear I may have spoken too soon. Reports from yesterday's collection suggest that little or nothing has changed.

Surrey Docks Farm Goes Mobile

I went over to Surrey Docks City Farm last week to welcome the new "mobile farm". The idea started when plans for a City Farm in Nunhead fell through - we just couldn't find a viable site or funding. That gave Surrey Docks Farm the idea that they should go mobile and so they could bring the farm to other parts of Southwark.

They'll be coming to Southwark in Bloom event on Peckham Rye in April.

Build a station at Surrey Canal Road

Regular readers will know that the excitement about phase 2 of the East London Line Extension was dampened slightly when we found out that the new Surrey Canal Road Station might not be built after all.

The Station would serve parts of Bermondsey, Deptford and New Cross as well as Millwall FC.

People living in the area are putting up with a huge amount of disruption while the building work is going on and had been expecting to get a new station and the chance for some real regeneration in the area.

Now Boris Johnson says he needs to do a "Value for Money Assessment" before he decides whether or not to build the new station.

Along with Southwark councillors in Livesey Ward, I'm now joining forces with councillors in Lewisham to campaign for the station.

Please help our campaign for the station by signing the online petition and join the Facebook group.

Brimmington Refuse Update

So last Monday I emailed Cllr Nick Stanton, the LibDem Leader of the Council and also the Chief Executive of the Council to complain about the disgusting refuse collection arrangements on the Brimmington Estate (see previous post and video for a recap).

Neither of them has replied personally, but the contract manager has got back to me to say that he is "reviewing refuse arrangements on the Brimmington Estate and examining what improvements could be made". He says he will write to me again before the end of next week.

What I want to see is some immediate action to make sure that the bags of domestic waste aren't left for hours all over the estate. This is an urgent problem, especially now it's getting warmer. They need to change the system straightaway - even if it's just a temporary measure until something more permanent can be sorted out.

I was at the Tenants & Residents Association meeting last night and lots of people are really upset about it - hardly surprising, it's just horrible.

Southwark Council's dirty habits

I went down to the Brimmington Estate this week to investigate complaints about Southwark Council leaving piles of rubbish all around the estate for hours and hours twice a week. It is a real disgrace. The video explains more.



I think this is horrible. It wouldn't be tolerated on a middle class street, yet the Council thinks it just "not ideal" on a council housing estate in Peckham. I'm writing to the Leader of Southwark Council to ask him to ensure immediate action is taken.

Ivydale Road & Linden Grove Traffic Calming Update

Quick update on my previous post. We had a brief presentation and discussion about the traffic calming proposals at last night's Community Council.

Most people are in favour of the proposals as speeding is a very serious problem on these two streets. There are a few concerns about the measures causing traffic to divert onto other roads like Limesford Rd and also about loss of parking spaces on Ivydale Rd.

The officers are going to amend the plans a little in light of the responses to try and address these concerns and will come back with revised proposals soon. I'll post up the new drawings when I get them. They still hope to start work on the measures in the summer.

I'm going to pass all the comments I've had through to the officers - particularly the excellent suggestion that they should include a crossing point close to Ivydale School.

ThamesLink Programme

Key information for Nunhead - Blackfriars rail users on London Reconnections.

London Reconnections: ThamesLink Programme Month

Blackfriars underground station closes this weekend until late 2011 for a complete rebuild. Mainline station is not closing.

And from 23th March Nunhead - Blackfriars trains will "come under the Thameslink/First Capital Network, with all trains running through the Central London Core at least as far as Kentish Town."