Manor Lane must be one of the busiest roads through our area.  Many residents will use it to reach the South Circular or to head down towards Lee High Road.  It’s also used as a rat-run by many motorists.

Recently, some residents approached the local Lib Dem team, concerned that the various speed limit signs the Council has put in are contradictory.  Sure enough, signs at the entrance to Manor Lane from the South Circular tell you you’re entering a 20MPH zone – which you are.  But drive up Manor Lane towards the South Circular, and just before you hit the railway bridge, the round signs painted on the road tell you you’re entering a 30MPH zone.    They also said you were entering a 30MPH zone if you were driving towards Manor House Gardens!

We took this up with the Council, and asked that all the signs were inspected and corrected.  They’ve altered the sign painted on the road at one side – so it says the limit is 20MPH heading towards the park.  But they haven’t altered the sign painted on the road as you head to the South Circular.  So we seem to have a situation where if you’re heading north on Manor Lane, the limit’s 20, and if you’re heading south towards the South Circular, the limit’s 30 once you reach the railway bridge. <

This is an unacceptable state of affairs, so we’ve gone back to the Council and asked them to finish the job!

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.

Now the snow’s melted, the damage the freeze has caused to our roads and water mains is clear.  Sven and I spent some time today identifying pot holes, damged road surfaces and water leaks so we can report them to the Council or Thames Water as appropriate.   There are plenty about – including on Manor Park, Staplehurst Road, Fernbrook Road, Manor Lane, St Mildred’s Road, Upwood Road, Micheldever Road, Lee High Road and Burnt Ash Road.

Whilst we were on Burnt Ash Road, we bumped into a member of staff from Thames Water, who was attending to a leaking main outside number 84 Burnt Ash Road, which Sven had already reported to them.  It’s good to see these reports are being acted upon.

If you do know of a pothole or leaking water main that needs attention, do let us know.  Potholes in particular can be dangerous for some road users, especially cyclists and motorcyclists.

Alternatively, you can report them directly.

• Potholes can be reported using the form on the Council website
• Damage to red routes (e.g. Lee High Road, Eltham Road, St Mildreds Road) can be reported to Transport for London
• Water leaks can be reported directly to Thames Water on 0800 714 614.

If, like me, you’re a South Eastern Trains commuter, then you’ve probably had some ‘interesting’  journeys to work over the last week.   I didn’t get to work at all last Wednesday, then ended up getting the DLR in on Thursday and Friday.  Last Friday, I met some old colleagues from Hyde for a drink in town, and we had to finish up at about 8pm so we could get back to south-east London.   Once again yesterday, the slightest amount of snow seemed to bring things shuddering to a halt.

Greenwich blogger Darryl has chapter and verse on the various initiatives frustrated commuters and politicians have set up, but I wanted to highlight a campaign my Lib Dem colleague Max Calo is running, for a public refund from South Eastern.  Max has discovered that SouthEastern receive £136million in subsidy from taxpayers.  He’s asking that they return three days worth – £1.1million – to Network Rail to be invested in improvements at the stations affected.  As Max says, ” It’s a practical way to compensate those that for 3 days have been inconvenienced and to publicly acknowledge that it must do better if it wants to keep on running this strategic public service.”  Who knows, perhaps it could pay to open up the closed ramps at Hither Green Station to save us crossing bridges to get to most of the platforms..!

To sign Max’s petition, just click here.    My Lib Dem colleague Caroline Pidgeon AM, who chairs the London Assembly Transport Committee has written to South Eastern MD Charles Horton, asking some pretty searching questions about his inability to run a railway.  I’m ashamed to say that the company ultimately responsible for this shambles hails from my native north east, and also run most of our local buses.

Older and disabled Freedom Pass holders in Lee Green need to renew their Freedom Pass by 31 March 2010 so that you can continue to enjoy free travel across the capital.

Current Freedom Passes are renewed every two years, with current passes running out in March 2010. For added security and to help cut down on fraud, the new-look Freedom Passes will also contain a photo of the pass holder on the card. All new passes will be valid for five years from the date of renewal. 

New cards will take up to 10 working days to be processed and will be sent by post, rather than being available immediately at the counter, so Freedom Pass holders are therefore being urged to begin renewing their passes early in the New Year. 

If you’re a Disabled Freedom Pass holder, you should have already received a letter from Lewisham Council asking for confirmation of your details. This letter needs to be checked and returned. You’ll then receive an authorisation form which you must take to the Post Office with your application form.

How to apply:

1) Go to any Post Office from 4 January 2010 to collect an Application Form for a new Freedom Pass

2) Complete the form and return it to the Post Office with two passport sized photos on the following dates, depending on the first letter of the surname:

A – E from 4 to 9 January and between 11 to 16 January 2010

F – J from 18 to 23 January 2010

K – O from 25 to 30 January 2010

P – Z from 1 to 6 February 2010

For applicants who miss their week, applications can be collected between 8 and 13 February.

Current Freedom Passes can continue to be used until a new one has been received.  You can visit the Freedom Pass information stand inside Lewisham Shopping Centre on Friday 15 January for more information about the renewal process.   Further help and advice is available from the Concessionary Awards team at Lewisham Council on 020 8314 9844 or go to www.freedompass.org or by contacting the Freedom Pass telephone support line 0845 275 7054 or 020 7934 9633 (Mondays-Fridays between 9am and 5pm).

Not in our ward, but no doubt of interest to people who live near Lee High Road and use Blackheath Station to get into town.  My colleague Cllr Chris Maines, who represents Blackheath Ward, tells me that from the 13th December, Southeastern are planning to make major cuts to services from Blackheath Station.  In particular, peak time services between 8.00am and 9.01am will see a 50% cut in Cannon Street services, with three Cannon Street trains and one Charing Cross train being withdrawn.

Chris and the Blackheath Village Residents Group have been campaigning against these changes.    You can sign the petition against the cuts here, join the Facebook group here.  The campaigners are also planning to organise a mass lobby at Southeastern ‘meet the managers’ events.  There’s one at Cannon Street on Thursday 12th November – details here- and also one at Blackeath itself on Tuesday 10th November – details here.