Confirmed acts are Roddy Lumsden, Niall O’sullivan, Christopher Horton, Jocelyn Page, Paul Blake, plus others tbc – with John Citizen (mc) plus OPEN-MIC – £3.

It’s taken a while, but thanks in no small part to Peter’s persistence, the board’s now been installed and hopefully more people will become aware of the Friends’ work.

The photo shows Claire from the library with Peter, Pat and Mary from the user group, and my colleague Cllr Paul Bentley.

Manor Park

The assembly heard from Sam Kirk of the Council’s environment team, who explained about the new dog control orders that will be coming in soon.  Dog fighting in our parks, and poor management of animals by a minority of dog owners was a real concern at the last assembly. The assembly thanked Sam for her report and agreed to consider this again if the new measures don’t prove successful.

The assembly also voted to allocate £22,500 towards bringing the old building in the park back into use.  We’re hoping to do this in conjunction with the parks department and the new parks contractor when they’re appointed.  The intention is that up to three members of staff would be based in the building (including a gardener) and the building would also be available for community use.

Finally, the Assembly agreed in principle to support the concept of a bridge to provide a new access to the park from Longhurst Road, though they noted that this is subject to planning permission.

Youth provision

Muhammad Rahmani from the Council’s Youth Service updated the Assembly on the summer schemethat took place and explained that we are still looking for a permanent venue for our youth club (though we were delighted to learn that the New Testament Church are interested in discussing this with us).   Muhammad also outlined the extra funding he’s been able to attract to add to the £20,000 we’d already allocated to this project.  Special thanks to Muhammad for popping in during his week off, and for all his hard work on this to date.

Leegate

The coordinating group updated the assembly on progress to date, and the good news that we’ll soon have our own town centre manager (shared with Crofton Park and Ladywell).  The assembly agreed to allocate the remaining £2,500 of the Mayor’s fund to Leegate.

Parking

I explained that we’re still to hear back from the Mayor on our ‘Statement of Community Views’.   I also updated people on the Hither Green East and Old Road/Bankwell CPZ extensions, which should be implemented soon.   Residents in those areas should have received a permit application form by now.

Locality Fund

This was the major item.  This year, we’d decided to ask the assembly to prioritise the bids received.  Each table was asked to choose five projects from the twelve bids, with the intention that we’d produce a prioritised list and fund them in order of priority.  This worked pretty well, and the results are as follows:

1. Lee City Safe – £1,300 to extend the CitySafe project across the ward and develop the skills and self confidence of children and young people in Lee Green
2. The primary transition project in Manor Park – £2,385 for fencing and pond improvements so students can use the park safely for study
3. Lee Green youth forum – £1,400 for two days of workshops for young people to find out their views on the ward
4. Lee fair share time bank – £400 for trips to the coast and purchase of a digital camera
5. Manor House Gardens User Group – £1,235 to reprint the ‘History and Wildlife of Manor House Gardens’ leaflet
6. FUSS – £1,000 to refresh their planting on Staplehurst Road
7. St Winifred’s Junior School – £1,000 for a Peace Garden and vegetable beds

After those projects were funded, we had £1,280 left.  As there was a tie for the next most popular project, we’ve agreed to discuss with Northbrook School (£500 for a bench on Staplehurst Road) and The Users and Friends of Manor House Library (£1,000 for a heritage board) how we can reduce/amend their proposals to fit the budget.

All in all, a really positive, productive meeting.  Next one on January 19th.

On the agenda:

• Youth provision – an update on the summer scheme and Lee Green Youth Club
• Leegate – update on work so far and an opportunity to join in
• Manor Park – a proposal to improve the derelict building in the park
• Consultation on the ideas we’ve received for spending the 2009 £10,000 locality fund

Hope you can make it – refreshments are provided and the meeting should be over by 9.30pm.  Buses 178, 122, 321 and 261 stop practically outside and there’s full disabled access.

The photo on the right shows Sven cutting the ribbon and one below shows the unveiled board.   If you get the chance, do wander over and learn something about the history of our area.

To give you an idea of the kind of thing we are looking for, in previous years funding has been spent on projects including:
• a community board at Hither Green station
• match funding for the sculpture in Manor Park
• installing litter bins and planters at Leegate
• start-up funding for the Friends of Hither Green Triangle and Manor Park User Group
• outdoor classroom seating at Brindishe school
• local poetry events and workshops
• Lee Manor Society Local History Board
• Good Shepherd Youth Club Folding Pool Table
• Picnic bench for Manor House Gardens User Group
• Community notice board at Hither Green station
• FUSS Staplehurst Road Christmas Lights & plants

Funding cannot be used to employ staff although ‘one off’ costs for personnel who will be directly responsible for delivering the improvement, i.e. artists, are allowed, and money can be added to funding that has already been identified for a particular activity. No applications can be accepted after midnight on Sunday September 27th, 2009. 

We’ll be consulting the local assembly on the proposals we’ve received at the Assembly meeting on the evening of Monday 28th September.   Whilst the deadline for suggestions is midnight on the 27th, the sooner you can get your application or suggestions in the better.   Obviously we can’t guarantee that every application or suggestion we receive will be included.

We’ll ask the Ward Assembly for their views on the suggestions we receive, but the decision of your ward councillors is final, and we’ll contact everyone who has submitted a suggestion or application with a list of this year’s successful applications.  This will also be published here, on Leepedia and in E-Focus.

Please email your suggestions to us (details here), or write to us at the Town Hall, Catford, London, SE6 4RU.  It would help greatly if when making an application you could give details of cost and supplier.  If you don’t know this, then please do get your application in sooner rather than later so we have time to investigate…!

We look forward to receiving your ideas!

I’ve reported this to the Council and asked for it to be removed ASAP.  If anyone knows who’s responsible for the tagging, please do let me or our local Safer Neighbourhoods Team know.

My flyer was on the doormat when I got home tonight, and I’d encourage you to have a read of yours when it comes through – it gives a good summary of what we’ve been up to since the assembly began last June.

Up for discussion this time are:

• Proposal to spend £20,000 on developing a youth club in Lee Green
• An update on the Leegate priority
• An update on the environment prority and a suggestion that we spend £20,000 on further improvements in Manor Park
• An update on the parking ‘motion’ we passed at the last Assembly
• An update on the re-opening of Manor House Library from the Library service.

So a lot to discuss – do come along if you can make it, and if you can’t, feel free to let me have your views in advance of the meeting.

Free bike checks and advice, and a chance to discuss anything cycling-related with someone from Lewisham Cyclists.

10am until 2pm this Saturday in Manor House Gardens.

Instead, we shared the suggestions that have already been received and asked for views.    We also asked people if they had any further suggestions of their own.   Ade from the assembly team is going to collate all the responses we received last night.

If you’re not already aware of it, the locality fund is £10,000 that’s allocated to your councillors each year to spend on improvements that benefit Lee Green.   There aren’t many restictions on what it can be spent on, other than that the funding must be used by the end of the financial year (31st March 09) and that it can’t be used to employ staff.  In the past, it’s funded bins, benches, community notice boards, and all sorts of other stuff, including some great poetry evenings!

If you’ve got an idea for this year’s fund, then do get it in to us by the end of the month.   You can either fill in this form, or drop one of your councillors a line.    If you’re having problems costing a proposal, then we might be able to help – let us know!