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.

Before Christmas, I wrote here and here about the controversy over the changes to the Northbrook School front window, which had been approved behind closed doors by Lewisham Council without any consultation with residents or their local councillors.

I’m pleased to say that following a meeting with residents and the Lee Manor Society held just before the Christmas break, the designers have come back with a revised window which addresses many of the concerns local people had – the image to the right illustrates how this will look (we’re waiting for a better visual from the designers).

The change to the window will have to go through the planning process in due course, and I was told at the meeting that residents will be consulted on the window this time. 

In the meantime, the planning department are consulting on some alterations to the render colour/louvres application.  This has now been changed again to tone down the yellows, oranges and reds.  You can see examples here.  Residents have until Friday to get their comments to planning {at} lewisham.gov(.)uk (quote DC/09/72596, and please feel free to copy me in).

For reference, the main page for the render/louvres application is here.   Incidently, the notes of the public meeting I chaired on 24th November are now online here.

The frustrating thing is that we could have got here a lot more quickly if the Council had chosen to consult locally in the first place…

You might remember that last year I gave a plug to the appeal for ex-St. Winifred’s staff and pupils to come forward with their memories, stories and photos of the school for a ‘Memories of St. Winifred’s’ publication.

The work’s now complete and the book is at the printers and expected to be ready later this month.  The editorial team are delighted that so many people contributed to the project.  If you’d like a copy of the book, please email Rose Gibbs, Co-Ordinator of the Editorial Team at roseanngibbs {at} onetel(.)com with your postal address.

It’s the Lee Manor School Summer Fair this Sunday from 2pm until 4.30pm at the school.    Last year’s was great fun, so hopefully see you there!

You’re probably aware that the old Ennersdale Primary School building on Leahurst Road is currently being used by Northbrook School as a temporary building while their site on Taunton Road is re-built. Ennersdale, was of course closed by the Labour Council back in 2002.

The Council has now been approached by English Heritage, who have told them that they are processing an application to make the school a listed building.

Once Northbrook move back to Taunton Road, the Council’s plan is to move the Brent Knoll School to the Leahurst Road site, though as Brent Knoll is a special school, the building will require internal adaptations. If the building were to be listed, this wouldn’t be impossible, but it might impose some constraints.

The Council has until May 30th to let English Heritage have their views – in the meantime, I’d be interested in yours!

You may notice there’s been a rash of listings locally – in addition to the listing of pre-fab bungalows in Whitefoot Ward, Lewisham Bridge School has been listed too.   I understand the school listings are because English Heritage have been doing aLondon-widestudy of London School Board buildings. They’re also considering listing Holbeach Primary school in Catford.

I’ve  spent the last two evenings stuck in the Town Hall, so thought I’d explain what I’ve been up to.

On Wednesday, I attended a meeting of Mayor and Cabinet. I don’t make a habit of going to these, but there were three things I was interested in on the agenda.

Firstly, the Mayor was (finally!) agreeing the rent increase for 2009/10. This was delayed as the Government announced – very late in the day – some extra money for rents. This has caused chaos as Lewisham had already announced the rent rise, and so has had to freeze rents til July while they work out what to do. The Government has also managed to exclude thousands of tenants across the borough, who won’t benefit from this cash at all. Not their finest hour. Anyway, the final increase is 3.84% and should come in from July 6th.

Secondly, the Mayor agreed the waste strategy, which (amongst other things) will see a garden waste drop-off point set up during weekends, probably in the Blackheath Station Car Park. A bit nearer than the Landmann Way site for people in Lee Green, but still no good if you haven’t got a car (can’t see many people pushing a wheelbarrow that far!).

Thirdly, the Mayor rubber-stamped the £5,000 the local assembly allocated for community consultation and activities at the Leegate Centre. Excellent news.

After work on Thursday, I met with the Executive Director for Customer Services to discuss various housing issues. The good news is, the Lee stock transfer is still on-track for approval in June/July – can’t come a moment too soon for me or the residents on the stock transfer estates.

Then I was off to housing committee, which was considering the draft homelessness prevention strategy. I was pleased to get the document amended so that councillors will get regular reports on how the strategy’s progressing. It’s one thing having a good strategy (which I think we now have) but it’s another thing making sure it’s implemented.

Once housing committee concluded, I was straight into the Sustainable Development Committee, where they were already half way through taking evidence from Sutton, Islington and Greenwich Councils on home insulation. Always good to hear what some Lib Dem-run councils are up to – and Islington and Sutton do seem to be setting the pace. After that we discussed the new parks management contract (currently held by Glendale). This gave me a chance to put in another plea for a park keeper for Manor Park. I was also pleased to learn that some of the investment cash for this contract will be targeted at smaller parks – so there’s a chance we could get some improvements to the little-known Edith Nesbitt Gardens, Lee Green’s third park.

Thankfully the weekend’s a bit more Lee Green focussed – I’ve got my monthly advice surgery at Leybridge Court, and am planning to drop into the Lee Manor Society Plant Mart and the St. Margaret’s Victorian Fair. Late on, I’m attending a meeting with residents regarding 87 Old Road, and then I’m sitting back to watch Eurovision.