Just a reminder that from this Friday evening, there are FREE sports activities for 13-19 year olds at Colfe’s School Sports Centre every Friday night.

The action kicks off at 6.30pm and continues til 8.30pm – no need to book,  just turn up.  For more info contact Lewisham Youth Service – Muhammad Rahmani at muhammad.rahmani {at} lewisham.gov(.)uk

This regular session has been kick-started by the Lee Green Assembly’s work to establish youth facilities in Lee Green Ward.  Many thanks to Muhammad and his colleagues at the youth service for securing extra funding in order to run these sessions.

Directions to the sports centre can be found here – access is off Upwood Road.

The Lib Dem campaign to improve access at Hither Green station was ‘ramped up’ last week. We gathered hundreds of signatures in support of our demand to open up the closed ramps to platforms 1, 2/3 and 6. Currently anyone in a wheelchair, with a pram, or simply with heavy luggage really struggles to get beyond platforms 4 & 5.

We think opening up the closed ramps to platforms 1, 2/3 and 6 would help, but in the long term we need works to ensure access for all at this busy station (2.9 million people use Hither Green each year!).

If you back our campaign, please sign the petition HERE.

The photo on the right shows Pete Pattisson and local campaigner Jim Caple, who edits our FOCUS newsletter, collecting signatures at the station.

My colleague Cllr Sven Griesenbeck scored an important win for older people at Wednesday night’s Full Council.  The Council passed a motion proposed by Sven to remind all older residents in the borough of their entitlement to Winter Fuel Payments.

Councillors from all parties joined behind Sven’s motion calling on the Mayor to ensure that all elderly residents are aware of their entitlements, and to publicise the scheme further.  Most older residents receive these entitlements automatically, but there are a minority of people who are entitled to the payment but won’t receive it unless they apply.

Sven said, “Far too many older people die of hypothermia when they can’t afford to turn the heating up, because they either don’t know about the benefit available, or else don’t claim it. We’ve had two cold winters in a row, and this shouldn’t be something they need to worry about.”

For reference, you can find out if you’re entitled to a Winter Fuel Payment, and apply if you need to, here.

There’s also the Cold Weather Payment, which is triggered if the temperature falls below zero for seven consecutive days.  We’ve already had one such period in Lee Green this year. Info on that payment, and a postcode search facility, here.

The one thing I’d emphasise is that these are entitlements - people who have contributed to society for so long shouldn’t be ashamed to accept or apply for what they’re entitled to.

There’s been some concern that the drama of election night might become a thing of the past, as many councils have been considering moving the election count from the traditional Thursday night slot to Friday daytime.  This has prompted a cross party campaign to ‘Save Election Night’.

If people give up their time to troop down to the Polling Station and vote, then the least they can expect is that their vote will be counted quickly and accurately. With a tight result expected nationally (and here in Lewisham), then it’s only right that votes are counted as soon as possible so we know the result.  Of course, I come from the home of speedy vote counting!

So I was pleased that on Thursday night the Council’s Elections Committee, which I chair, agreed to keep Lewisham’s general election count on election night, with a result expected early on Friday 7th May.  Counts for the Mayor of Lewisham and our 54 local councillors will take place later on Friday May 7th.

So good news, and I’m sure that – for Pete at least – it’ll be alright on the night!

Further to my post earlier this month, latest info on the Northbrook application is:

• The application to vary the render shades and add louvres is going to planning committee B on Thursday 4th February.  Officers have recommended to the committee that the application is approved.  You can read the report here. The meeting is held in public at 7.30pm at the Civic Suite, Catford, so you’re welcome to attend if you wish.
• The application to alter the window to reflect the more appropriate design agreed with the community (see my 12th Jan post) has now been received.  The application and drawings can be viewed online, at the Planning Office at Laurence House, Catford, or at Manor House Library during normal library opening hours.   Deadline for comments is 9th February.  These can be emailed to planning {at} lewisham.gov(.)uk – please quote ref DC/10/73303, and feel free to copy me  in.

Tuesday’s Local Assembly went really well – with a big turnout (about 100, I’d say) which was really good for a cold, dark January evening!

Manor Park

I explained that the £22,500 we allocated to the park at our September meeting has now been supplemented with a further £32,500 from the Parks Department, meaning £55,000 will be invested to bring the disused building in the park back into use.  Work will take place from April, and should be completed by September.  This will deliver:

• A base for 2-3 members of staff from the parks contractor
• A meeting venue for use by the community (e.g. the Manor Park User Group or youth club) and local schools
• Fully accessible toilet facilities
• The potential to re-open the Kiosk facility that once existed.

The ‘Trinity Enrichment Project’ – previously known as the Northbrook Primary Transition Project – is already using the park as a ‘Forest School’ for kids who are looking to move to secondary school from one of our local primaries, and clearly the building will make this kind of use so much easier.  The addition of toilets will also make the kid’s play park so much easier to use for parents.   This is all really good news, and I can’t wait to see the finished product in September.

I also updated the Assembly on the bridge project.  This is a proposal to create a bridge across the Quaggy, enabling a third entrance to the park from Longhurst Road.  The Assembly backed this proposal in principle at the September meeting.  The latest info we have is that the Council are seeking to meet with EDF (London Electric) to clarify their requirements for access to a small substation on the Longhurst side of the river.  As I understand it, the substation doesn’t need to be moved – the Council just needs to work out what access EDF require to it so they can plan accordingly.  A planned meeting in January didn’t happen due to the snow, but they’re hopeful they’ll meet up soon.  Once this is done, a planning application will be submitted and residents will be consulted in the usual way.

Leegate

The Assembly approved the draft constitution for the Friends of Leegate Group (now to be branded ‘Lee Green Lives’).  An AGM will be called in due course to elect officers and formally constitute the group.  Everyone who’s signed up to be involved will be invited – if you haven’t already signed up, or aren’t sure whether you’re on the supporters’ list, give me a shout and I’ll make sure you find out about the AGM.

Secondly, we launched our Leegate Survey.  This is intended to guide the work of the group (and the new Town Centre Manager) by establishing what the local community’s priorities are – for both short term and longer term improvements to the centre.  You can complete the survey at www.tinyurl.com/leegate

The Lee Green Lives group are also hoping to share in the use of the shop unit in the centre which St Modwen have provided (see youth provision below)

Finally, residents asked why the Council had bought the Catford Centre from St Modwen’s but had not done the same with Leegate.  The answer offered by the Deputy Mayor was that Catford is fully-occupied and can therefore be relied on to pay its way, while Leegate, because it is half-empty, wouldn’t cover the costs of the loan required to pay for it.  This shows quite a short-sighted attitude on behalf of the Council, in my opinion.  Given no detailed modelling has been done on this, I think this is something we should still pursue with the Council.  Who knows what might happen if longer term leases were on offer at the centre?

Energy Action Zones

During the break, residents got the chance to meet Carmel from the Council’s Energy Action Zone team.  Lee Green is an Energy Action Zone until April, which basically means a team will be out and about knocking on doors, giving advice on energy efficiency and advising whether you might be eligible for a grant or discounted fuel bill.  You’ll also get two free energy saving light bulbs!   You can read more about the Energy Action Zones here. If you can’t wait for the team to get to you, then you can book an appointment to see them by calling Sue Cole on 8314 8392.

Youth provision

Muhammad Rahmani from the Youth Service explained the problems we’ve had securing a location for the Lee Green Youth Club.  The latest possibility is to use a unit in the Leegate Centre, which St Modwens have agreed to provide rent-free for a year.  This will require some work and is currently being looked at by the Council.

In the meantime, from February 5th, there’ll be sports activities for 13-19 year olds at Colfe’s School Leisure Centre (access via Upwood Road) every Friday from 6.30pm until 9.30pm.

After Muhammad had given his update, two young people who’ve attended the youth leadership training we paid for through the locality fund gave us a presentation on their views of Lee Green, and then got the audience to vote using large pieces of coloured paper on what they thought of some parts of Lee Green.  I found the results very thought-provoking.

Parking

Finally, we got on to discuss parking – always a hot potato.  Bill Tarplett from the Council’s highways team gave a presentation on what’s going to happen between now and April on parking.  You can read more about this in detail here. Bill did a good job answering the technical aspects of the consultation, and of the operation of the zones currently.  However, many of the changes residents would like to see (like two hour restrictions, rather than all-day-long ones) aren’t in his gift – they’re issues of policy rather than operation.  The people who set the policy are the Mayor and his cabinet.  They say they can’t afford to reduce the CPZ hours at present.  Given they make £1.3million from the operation of controlled parking zones each year, you can understand their reluctance to give up this cash cow.  However, the fact they’re raking in such a profit surely negates their pleas that they can’t even afford to consult people on it.  The assembly has injected some common sense into the discussion by securing the ward-wide review – now we need to keep campaigning for a two-hour option.

Overall, a really good night.  Tuesday was the last Assembly before the local elections, so I’d like to thank everyone who’s attended one of the seven Assembly meetings we’ve had so far.  Chairing them has been challenging at times, but mostly good fun, and I hope people have found them as useful as I have.