We have asked council officers to make sure that any plans do not increase parking stress on the side roads, and that any crossings are sited in safe locations for pedestrians. Now there’s an opportunity to have your say and we’d like to know what you think. Simply fill in the reply slip below.

Details about the plans are set out below.

• A raised pedestrian crossing outside No. 73 Elder Road opposite the Woodvale Estate shops.
• A pedestrian island outside ‘Scandals’ on Norwood High Street near the junction with Windsor Grove.
• A zebra crossing between Stable Mews and Norwood Park , to provide a safer crossing point between the bus stop and the school.
• Moving the bus stop next to Norwood Park southwards to accommodate the zebra crossing.
• Junction remodelling and anti-skid surfacing at the junction of Elder Road / Crown Lane.
• Pavement build-outs near the Elder Road-Linton Grove junction.
• ‘At Any Time’ waiting and loading restrictions on Elder Road by all side roads intended to improve visibility.
• At other locations on Elder Road, Lambeth Council is proposing one of two options for waiting and loading: (1) No waiting and loading Monday – Saturday 7am – 7pm; or (2) No waiting and loading Monday – Saturday 7am – 7pm and Sunday 7 – 10am and 4 – 7pm.

Click on the links below to download the council’s consultation papers.

• Consultation leaflet (with map)
• Map of the plans
• Questionnaire
• Road safety information leaflet

Please send us your views before the consultation ends on 26 March 2010. We will make sure that your views are taken on board by Lambeth Council.

• 3 – Crystal Palace to Oxford Circus
• N3 – Bromley to Oxford Circus

These routes have contract end dates between September 2011 and March 2012, when any changes would come into effect.

Carl would like to hear your views about the service on these routes – email carlbelgrove@gmail.com or write to fill in our feedback form below.

Here’s the text of a letter that TfL are sending out to stakeholders:

“Feedback is welcome on any particular problems you may have identified (in addition to those already shared as part of the on-going liaison) and also suggestions that may include:

 - enhancing social inclusion
 - corridors or areas that might benefit from new or enhanced Sunday or night services
 - areas or corridors on which you feel increased frequency or larger vehicles are needed to cater for demand
 - identifying routes which you feel are unreliable
 - ideas which improve integration with other transport modes or interchange with other bus routes or improve access to major developments

Once we have input from stakeholders and have reviewed the services, proposals for change will be evaluated to assess their value. While this means that not all suggestions made can be progresses, it is important that we have your ideas to help us understand differing priorities.

We will conduct further consultation for each route after the service has been reviewed and, where applicable, we have developed more detailed proposals.

Please return your comments to me by noon on Friday 5 March August 2010.”

Carl says: “I know from my own experience, and speaking with other bus users, that speeding and reliability remain important issues that TfL needs to take on board. The 3 and N3 are as popular as ever and the only local service for many people in this area. There must not be any more cuts to the service and, if anything, a more frequent service is needed as part of the new contract.”

If you would like to make your voice heard, please get in touch before the 5th March deadline. We’ll post a copy of our submission on this site next weekend.

In recent months there has been a spike in robberies across the area and we encourage anyone who wants to make their home more secure to take part. The scheme is being run by Help the Aged/Age Concern (now Age UK), but it is available to people of all ages.

For more information, call the Clapham Park Project on freephone 0800 085 2378. The answer phone service will ask for your name, address and contact details. Someone should then call back to give you more details.

If you have any concerns about your safety, the Gipsy Hill Safer Neighbourhood Team are also available to help. CLICK HERE for more details.

The Mixtape Project is being run by the Crystal Palace Community Development Trust and gives young people the opportunity to take part in various workshops that include MCing, vocal recording, DJing and sequencing software producing.

Each day-long workshop is run by CRB-checked youth workers and offers a brief overview that covers:

• Sequencing – A basic audio/midi introduction to sequencing programs
• Sound synthesis – Demonstrating the basis of how to create a track using midi-sequencing
• Sampling/remixing – Cutting, pasting and editing music to create samples and remixes
• Recording techniques – Recording vocals
• Post production techniques
• DJ skills – Beat matching and cueing

There are only a limited number of places available, so contact Andrew for more information on how to apply by telephone (020 7926 2449) or email (agibson@lambeth.gov.uk).

Opposing Labour's plan to put local families at the back of the queue for school places

Extra school places are to be provided from September 2010 at Kingswood Primary School, Gipsy Road.

But Labour-controlled Lambeth has proposed plans to place local children last in the queue for places. Priority will be given instead to residents as far away as Crown Lane and the Streatham borders at the request of their Labour councillor (even though they have a school on Crown Lane).

We oppose Labour Lambeth’s plans for queue-jumping, which discriminate against Gipsy Hill residents.

Under Labour’s plans, places for Kingswood will be allocated as follows:

• Categories 1-3: Special cases, such as a brother or sister already at the school
• Category 4: Children from as far away as Crown Lane/Streatham borders
• Final category: Children who live near the school

A copy of the map is shown below. The shaded part is the ‘priority area’. Notice how Labour has excluded many houses next door to the school in favour of others much further away. PLEASE NOTE: Lambeth Council changed the boundary of the proposed zone on 12 February 2010 and this map is the most recent version.

Labour’s queue-jumping plans are now out for consultation (ends March 1st).  CLICK HERE to download more details from the Lambeth Council website.

The Council has no plans to anyone about this consultation by post. Also, Labour’s election candidates recently put out a letter welcoming Kingswood’s expansion, but – disgracefully – they didn’t tell you about the consultation or that Labour would place this area’s children at the back of the queue.

Sign our petition below against Labour’s bare-faced cheek and leave your comments on these proposals too.

UPDATE: Labour’s MP for Dulwich & West Norwood has been distributing a letter opposing these plans a week after we first alerted residents.  We welcome her support for our campaign and hope that Labour councillors at the Town Hall will see sense and reach the same conclusion.

We have asked the council to jet clean the pavements, which they have done.  To tackle the root cause of this problem we have also demanded that the council has Network Rail make the bridge pigeon-free by erecting netting.  The council agrees that this is Network Rail’s respnsibility and have told us:

“The matter has taken longer to resolve than we would have liked or anticipated and we are pressuring for a resolution.  If this does not materialise soon we will consider taking an enforcement stance and present a notice to Network Rail.”

We will press the council to take enforcement action and to have Network Rail pay for this, rather than taxpayers, as the responsibility is theirs.  We will keep residents informed of progress.

For regular local news updates from your local Councillor Action Team visit www.yourgipsyhill.com.

The road and pavement on Hamilton Road is in a poor condition and needs  to be resurfaced.  We have been demanding that Lambeth Council makes resurfacing work in this area a priority for several years, particularly with two sheltered housing blocks in the area, but Labour-controlled Lambeth Council continues to neglect Norwood in our view.

When the utility company is digging up the road, this would be an ideal opportunity to get the job done.  We have asked for this to happen and will continue to press officers to make this happen.

If you experience any problems with the utility company during the planned works – for instance, workmen failing to keep the area around their works safe – please get in touch using our contact details above and we’ll do what we can to help.

A copy of the statutory notice published by Lambeth Council is reproduced below.

- – - – - – - – - -

LONDON BOROUGH OF LAMBETH

ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 – SECTION 14

TEMPORARY TRAFFIC RESTRICTIONS BERRY LANE, HAMILTON ROAD AND GIPSY ROAD

1. NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that, to enable gas main replacement works to be carried out, Lambeth Borough Council intend to make an Order the effect of which would be to temporarily:-

(a) ban vehicles proceeding in Gipsy Road entering Hamilton Road (alternative routes for vehicles would be available via (i) Gipsy Road, South Croxted Road, Park Hall Road and Clive Road and vice versa and (ii) Gipsy Road, St Gothard Road, St Cloud Road, Carnac Street and Clive Road and vice versa);

(b) impose one-way working for vehicles in Hamilton Road between the north-eastern kerb-line of Clive Road and the north-western kerb-line of Gipsy Road in a direction from north-west to south-east (towards Gipsy Road);

(c) ban vehicles proceeding in Berry Lane from turning right into Hamilton Road.

2. The bans and one-way working would only apply at such times and to such an extent, as shall be indicated by the placing of appropriate traffic signs.

3. The Order would come into force on 25th January 2010 and would continue for a maximum duration of 3 months, or until the works have been completed whichever is the sooner.

Martin Sachs

Head of Transport and Highways

]]> http://www.yourgipsyhill.com/2010/01/hamilton-road-traffic-notice/feed/ 0 http://www.yourgipsyhill.com/2010/01/green-garden-waste-recycling/ http://www.yourgipsyhill.com/2010/01/green-garden-waste-recycling/#comments Sat, 23 Jan 2010 17:04:44 +0000 yourgipsyhill http://www.yourgipsyhill.com/?p=586

Carl with a keen gardener on South Croxted Road

The introduction of fortnightly green waste collections last year has been extremely popular with green-fingered residents across our area, encouraging more people to recycle more garden cuttings than ever before.

Carl, Andrew and Suzanne support the current arrangements and were shocked that Lambeth Council won’t guarantee regular collections after April, risking a return to the dark ages when residents had to make an appointment for their bags to be collected.

Carl says: “We need to be encouraging people to recycle more, not making it harder. Scrapping such a popular scheme would be madness – the Council must see sense.”

CLICK HERE to sign our petition and demand that Lambeth doesn’t axe fortnightly green garden waste collections.

For more local news visit www.yourgipsyhill.com

Carl, Kemi and Andrew: Speaking up for local families

Four years of empty promises from Labour Lambeth – only Conservatives can offer new thinking on school places

CLICK HERE to sign our petition for a new primary school for Norwood.

Four years after being elected, Lambeth’s Labour-run Council has failed to confirm the site for a much needed primary school in Norwood.

Carl, Andrew, Suzanne and Kemi say ‘enough is enough’. They are demanding Lambeth Council guarantees a new primary school no later than September 2011 by opening on a temporary site and moving to a permanent location two years later.

Last year, local Conservatives suggested a suitable site close to West Norwood town centre. But Labour-run Lambeth rejected their proposal – preferring a cash and carry instead.

To make matters worse, there is a £10 million black hole in Lambeth’s current plans. Because Labour councillors failed to set aside land for a school the Government has only promised half the money needed for new places. Tory Wandsworth had better plans and secured the full amount.

“Lambeth Labour is letting down local families,” says Suzanne. “A new school could open in 2011, but action is needed
now. Currently many local children are being denied a school place of their choice. Sometimes they aren’t offered a suitable place at all.”

Kemi: We need schools, not a cash and carry

Kemi Adegoke, Norwood’s Conservative Parliamentary Candidate, says: “Lambeth must put children’s education first, but the New Labour MP has failed to speak out against the Council’s failure to get a site for a new school.”

“Conservatives agree with parents: We need to plan ahead and provide space for more schools.”

Nationally, a Conservative Government support schools set up by parents if they wish to do so and remove obstacles that delay them. A parent-run school has already opened in Lambeth at the Elm Green School – a UK “first” – with support from local Conservatives. We want to see more initiatives like this to improve access to schools that reflect local demand.

For more local news visit www.yourgipsyhill.com

The meetings provide an opportunity for residents to discuss crime and community safety issues with the local police team and your local councillors. For instance, last week the Streatham Guardian reported that extra police resources have been located in our area Gipsy Hill to combat a surge in crime after the latest available statistics showed that some 123 crimes took place in Gipsy Hill ward in November last year, compared with 91 in October.

The agenda for next week’s meeting is set out below and we hope to see you there.

1. Introductions

2. Apologies for absence

3. Det. Inspector. Christopher Stanley, Murder Investigation Team – Presentation

4. Minutes of previous meeting –26^th November 2009.

5. Police Report:

a) Ward performance figures;

b) Abstractions;

c) Crystal Palace SNT.

d) Controlled Drinking Zone Enforcement – update

6. Inspector Fallowfield

7. Inspector O’Donnell – Communications

8. Neighbourhood Watch: Information and reports from ward schemes.

9. Conclusion of meeting.

Date of next meeting: 25 February 2010.