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.

Just a quick reminder that the next Local Assembly meeting is on January 19th from 7.30pm at Northbrook School (at the former Ennersdale School site on Leahurst Road).  Flyers should be hitting doormats across the ward this week.

On the agenda will be the usual assembly priorities:

• Manor Park – with an update on the propsed work on the Manor Park building and bridge (more details on Paul’s blog)
• Leegate – we’ll be launching our residents’ survey on how local people would like to see Leegate change in the short and longer term
• Youth provision – an update from the youth service on how they’re propsing to spend the £20,000 we’ve provided for youth work in Lee Green
• Parking – a member of staff from highways will be on hand to tell us how the Mayor’s responded to our statement of community views on parking

Should be a good evening – and it’s our last assembly until May/June, so do brave the cold if you can!

Last night’s local assembly was our 5th since we started back in June 2008.  Time really has flown.  Once again, a good turn-out and plenty of discussion.  A quick report back from the Chair’s eye view:

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.

Lee Green residents should have received a flyer through their door by now (I got mine today) but just a quick reminder that it’s our Local Assembly on Monday at the New Testament Church of God, 370 Lee High Road from 7.30 – 9.30pm.

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.

Just a quick reminder that there are two events in Manor Park this week.

On Tuesday 11th, there’s a nature trail from 11am until 12.30pm. Please book in advance by contacting the park managers, Glendale : Tel: 020 8318 3986 or Email: lara.al-jabi {at} glendale-services.co(.)uk

And on Wednesday, there’s the free dog mirco-chipping day.

There’s a free dog micro-chipping day next Wednesday (12th August) in Manor Park.   It’s absolutely free for dogs owned by Lewisham residents.   Microchipping is a safe, permanent form of ID that can help reunite owners with their dogs should they become lost or stolen.

The microchipping session will be held on Wednesday 12 August from 12 – 4 pm on board the Waste Education Trailer, which will be parked in Manor Park.

If you want to get your dog chipped, take along:

• Proof of ownership such as a bill, vet card or pedigree papers 
• Proof you live in the borough, e.g., Council Tax statement or utility bill

 More info from the Animal Welfare team on 020 8314 2098 or just turn up on the day.

The day is organised by the Council, in conjunction with the south east London branch of the RSPCA, Battersea Dogs & Cats home and our local Safer Neighbourhood Teams.