Having stuck his head above the parapet and offered himself for election as our local MP, you might have thought my colleague Pete Pattisson had taken on enough new challenges lately.  But no - Pete’s now signed up to do the London 10k run on behalf of the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, along with his wife Jo.

The Suzy Lamplugh trust works to raise awareness of the importance of personal safety and to help people avoid violence and agression.  I know they do a lot of work with vulnerable lone workers (like housing officers) so it’s a great cause.

If you’d like to sponsor Pete and Jo, you can do so here.

I spent Tuesday night on the other side of the South Circular in Grove Park Ward.  I was there with the Housing Select Committee looking at the former council homes there.  Like residents in Lee Green, tenants in Grove Park decided they’d had enough of Lewisham Council as their landlord, and in this case voted to transfer their homes to L&Q - a not for profit housing association.

The whole committee was really impressed with the work that’s taking place at Grove Park.  You can see in the picture above the choice (and standard) of kitchen residents are entitled to under the decent homes work.  Residents are also getting new bathrooms.  We spoke to a few residents who were very impressed, and the surveys that have taken place have very high levels of satisfaction.

Of course, for Lewisham Homes tenants the picture is a lot bleaker.  7/10 properties managed by Lewisham Homes will fail the decent homes standard by next year.   That’s a disgrace, especially considering the basic naure of the standard.

Other points of note from the meeting:

• Housing benefit changes and applications doubled between February and March this year.  That suggests a lot of people are adjusting to changed circumstances as a result of the recession.  I wonder whether the service will be able to cope with such a huge increase in demand - but the cabinet member responsible assured me it will at the last council meeting.  I guess we’ll see.
• 38 people have approached the Council in mortgage difficulties. The council has been able to help 32 of these.  But not a single one has been helped by Gordon Brown’s mortgage rescue scheme.  That’s not surprising - Vince Cable has exposed that only 6 people in the whole country have benefitted from the scheme!

Residents on Leahurst Road had complained to me about a fly-tipping hostpot in an alley to the rear of houses on Manor Lane.

There was some delay in clearing this as the council first wanted to attempt to trace the owner of the land.  Having been unable to do so, I’m pleased to say the Council has finally cleared this and arranged for a gate to be erected to stop any repetition.

We’re delighted to welcome two new ‘Streetcar’ cars to the ward.   Car clubs, like Streetcar, allow people to hire cars for as little as half an hour whenever you need them.  They reduce the need to own your own car (or for a second car!)

New Streetcars have now been added on Fernbrook Road by Hither Green Station and on Holme Lacey Road opposite the Citroen garage.  They join the existing Streetcar on Manor Park.

The move to put more car club cars on the street follows a report published by the Sustainable Development Select Committee, which I vice-chair.

We’ve been campaigning for more car club cars in Lee Green since we were elected.  It’s great there are now three cars in the ward, and we’re sure residents will take advantage of this alternative to car ownership which saves residents cash and will hopefully reduce the number of cars on our congested local roads.

They’re obviously proving popular, as when Sven and Pete visited the Holme Lacey car, it was already on hire!

I’m really pleased to say that Cllr Pete Pattisson has been selected as the Lib Dem candidate for Lewisham East.   Pete will fight the seat at the next general election - which must be held at some point over the next year.  Labour MP Bridget Prentice has already said she’s standing down at the election. 

Pete’s a local councillor in Whitefoot ward, a former local teacher, and well-known campaigner.

You can find out more about Pete and get in touch with him over at his (excellent) website.

Pete writes:

Our community and country are in urgent need of change.  We deserve representatives who listen, not lecture; that serve us, not themselves.  Only the Liberal Democrats can offer this change here.  I have spent my life in public service; as a local teacher, councillor and resident.  Please join me in helping change Lewisham for good.

Lewisham East has twelve Lib Dem councillors, compared to six Labour and three tory.  We’ve elected Lib Dem councillors - now we can vote for a Lib Dem MP - and in Pete Pattisson we’d have a great local representative.

… that make being a councillor frustrating and worthwhile - at the same time.

Residents of Kimberley Terrace approached me back in February.  They’re a small terrace in the middle of Manor Lane, and didn’t have a street sign.  This had led to all sorts of confusion regarding deliveries and visitors, and after over 15 years of paying taxes to Lewisham Council, they thought a street sign was a reasonable thing to ask for.

So did I - but predicatably, the first response from Lewisham was ‘no’.  Kimberley Terrace was a private development, and therefore not the Council’s problem.  Residents should apparently tell people they live at Kimberley Terrace, 228 1/2 Manor Lane.   Naturally, neither I nor the residents thought this was good enough.

So I took this further, and after a few months waiting for the sign to be made up and installed, I’m pleased to say these residents now have a street sign.  A small thing, perhaps, but it’ll make a big difference to them.

Cross your fingers that the good weather keeps up*, because on Saturday 4th July we’re holding the next Lee Green Local Assembly in the park!

From 11am until 2pm in Manor House Gardens, we’ll be there to update you on the assembly priorities (youth provision, parking, the environment and the state of the Leegate Centre). 

There’ll also be entertainment from Northbrook School - who have promised us a choir and cheerleaders.   In addition, local groups have also been invited to have stalls at the event.

This isn’t a formal assembly meeting, so do feel free to drop by anytime between 11am and 2pm on Saturday.

*There’ll be a marquee, so like Wimbledon, we’re fully prepared for rain!