Gavin Edwards

Hi Lucy, I'm one of the local Councillors (along with Victoria Mills and Renata Hamvas). I know that there have been growing concerns about speeding in the area for a while. It's also a significant problem on Cheltenham Road. Could you email me the general details (location/general time etc) of the two "near miss" incidents? I will then use this as a starting point for contacting council officers to investigate this further. It may be that they will need to carry out a traffic survey to gather further evidence first. My email address is [email protected]

Hi Laura, Yes there is an ongoing campaign. Take a look at the Peckham Rye Labour Blog. Lots and lots of stuff on there. As it happens there's been some recent developments, so I guess this is a good chance to update people. At a recent Council Assembly debate I offered local Tory Cllrs the chance to co-sign a letter with Peckham Rye's Labour Councillors to Boris Johnson. We've just agreed the wording of the letter and it went out yesterday. The text of the letter is as follows: Dear Boris, For some years now, local residents in the Peckham Rye/East Dulwich area have been calling for a very modest extension of the 63 bus route to Honor Oak Park Station. The route currently stops on its southwards route on Forest Hill Road near Camberwell Old Cemetery. This is close to Honor Oak Park station, but not quite within a reasonable walking distance, particularly as the route is over a steep hill. Local people are extremely eager for this extension to be put in place without reducing the regularity of the existing service. The last time Peckham Rye councillors wrote to you (along with our local Assembly Member, local MPs and the Leader of Southwark Council) making a case for this small extension we received a response from a TfL officer telling us that the extension would only generate 640 new trips per day and that the total subsidy per year for the extension would be 525,000. I attach a copy of this letter here. We believe that these estimates are based on passenger demand prior to the opening of Overground East London Line services from Honor Oak Station. We would therefore argue there is far more demand for the extension now, and that the resultant subsidy required is much lower. We write now, on a cross-party basis, to ask you to request TfL officials to look again at the financial case for implementing the 63 bus extension to Honor Oak Park. If, as we expect, a thorough and up to date assessment finds that the extension make sense as part of a joined up transport strategy, we would strongly urge you to put in place the extension. I am sure you realise how rare it is for Labour and Conservative Councillors to join forces in this way. Please take this as an indication of the strength of feeling locally! Your Sincerely, Peckham Rye Labour Councillors and Southwark Conservative Councillors

Dboy - As someone else pointed out on this thread, buses can reduce traffic. I just don't accept your arguments about traffic congestion. You're simultaneously arguing that the extension would be very unpopular and that Labour is only backing it because it's popular. It's a confused position to say the least. Henry B - spot on. As you say, the extension is overwhelmingly supported by the local community. Still not a single "No" on our online survey.

No dboy, this is the full response (as opposed to your selective quote): "as councillors for Peckham Rye ward that's where we do the majority of our door knocking. So for example, when we were out door knocking yesterday morning we spoke to 69 people (out of 109 doors knocked on). In the last month we've spoken to 339 people. There are currently 9,794 registered voters in Peckham Rye ward and since we were selected as council candidates at the end of 2009 we've spoken to 5,208 of the current registered voters on the doorstep. We'll have actually spoken to more people than this but every year about 400-500 people move out of the ward (to be replaced with new voters). So, some people may never have spoken to us, on the other hand some will have spoken to us two or three times. In addition, I appreciate that Peckham Rye ward doesn't just cover parts of Honor Oak and East Dulwich that are interested in the 63 bus and there will be roads not in Peckham Rye ward that are interested. However, we certainly cover plenty of roads where plenty of people have raised this issue with us. And, as I say above, when we delivered a leaflet about the extension about 18 months ago we received hundreds of responses - more so than any other survey or leaflet we have put out." i.e. We've knocked on thousands of doors all across the ward. It just happens that on Saturday we were out on Surrey and Athenlay (though why that's relevant is a mystery to me!) You say we're using this issue to generate support. I say we're hearing what local people want and responding to it. The view you take just depends on how cynical you are! I have a question for you. If extending the 63 is such a bad idea (as you claim), why is it so popular?

Our Assembly Member Val Shawcross has e-mailed me and asked me to post the following on her behalf: "Politics is all about priorities and choices. TfL have carried out a cost benefit analysis on the extension proposal and decided not to allocate the resources required to make the 63 link to Honor Oak. Having looked at the figures I believe it is worthwhile because it will encourage more local people to use public transport and reduce car use - the benefits to the environment are not properly costed in. It will help people economically in the area- easier access to jobs and colleges, for example and in the wider picture its just a worthwhile and well supported proposal to make life more convenient people of the area. Boris Johnson has made it his explicit intention to reduce the subsidies to bus services in London. However, I believe that passengers should be seeing some improvements to the bus services for the high fares they are paying, I particularly feel that communities which do not benefit from Underground services need some additional bus services. This is a relatively small change to an existing and well established service."

James, So local Lib Dems are in favour, but can't say yes or no? Odd. By the way, still not a single "No" to extending the 63 route on our online survey. Gavin

Marmora Man and Dave - Fair point. I know some people get turned off by party politics. Understandale, particularly as the tone of council politics in Southwark is sometimes hysterical. However, there are times when a bit of party politics is helpful to a local cause. We are now in a situation whereby the Labour candidate is pledging to make an important change to transport in our area. That simply would not have happened without a little bit of politics. It's a straightforward choice: if you want the 63 extended, vote Labour. If you don't, vote for one of the other candidates. Dboy - "What do we want? An official consultation! When do we want it? Now!" I despair. If that was our pledge we'd be derided. I'm sure there would be consultation on the details of any change, but not the principle. That consultation is called an election. I don't believe that the extension will cause gridlock and writing in capital letters isn't going to convince me that it will. It's noticeable that on our online survey 100% of people have said they do want the 63 extended. There is a "No" option. Feel free to have your say here. Finally, you've misread the post on door knocking. We were out on the nunhead side of the ward last Sat. I was just giving that as an example of our activity. (Although some people are interested in the extension there, it's fair to say most interest is on the East Dulwich\Honor Oak side.)

James, the pledge to extend the 63 bus route will be delivered. Peckham Rye's Labour Councillors will work with Val Shawcross to ensure that it does. Instead of practising your depressing brand of political pessimism on this thread, maybe you could get behind Labour's campaign? Anyone can register their support here Local people want this extension and that it would be a sensible way of linking up transport in our area.

ellie glad to hear you're in favour. dbboy/indiepanda - as councillors for Peckham Rye ward that's where we do the majority of our door knocking. So for example, when we were out door knocking yesterday morning we spoke to 69 people (out of 109 doors knocked on). In the last month we've spoken to 339 people. There are currently 9,794 registered voters in Peckham Rye ward and since we were selected as council candidates at the end of 2009 we've spoken to 5,208 of the current registered voters on the doorstep. We'll have actually spoken to more people than this but every year about 400-500 people move out of the ward (to be replaced with new voters). So, some people may never have spoken to us, on the other hand some will have spoken to us two or three times. In addition, I appreciate that Peckham Rye ward doesn't just cover parts of Honor Oak and East Dulwich that are interested in the 63 bus and there will be roads not in Peckham Rye ward that are interested. However, we certainly cover plenty of roads where plenty of people have raised this issue with us. And, as I say above, when we delivered a leaflet about the extension about 18 months ago we received hundreds of responses - more so than any other survey or leaflet we have put out. Gavin Edwards www.peckhamryelabour.blogspot.com

Hi, I've knocked on lots of doors in the area and spoke to lots of people and it is very clear to me that this would be a popular change. When we put out a leaflet about this 18 months ago, we received hundreds of responses. Boris Johnson has made clear to us that he opposes the extension, so of course people on the 63 route could vote for him is they want to retain the status quo. I suppose it is easy to question the motives of any person arguing for a change. The only thing I can say in response is that Labour Councillors have been listening, and now we're responding to what people have said. Even if you're cynical about politics, that can only be a good thing. Gavin Edwards Peckham Rye Labour Blog https://twitter.com/#!/GavinEdwards77

Hi Fox, I suspect it would go through to Brockley Rise, where there is a bus stand. Gavin Edwards Labour Councillor for Peckham Rye Ward Peckham Rye Labour Blog https://twitter.com/#!/GavinEdwards77

Really pleased to give a positive update on this. Val Shawcross, our GLA member and Ken Livingstone's Deputy Mayoral Candidate, has announced that if Ken is elected as Mayor in May 2012, she will use her position as Chair of Transport for London to extend the 63 bus route to Honor Oak Park Station. The text of Val's letter and further information on this is here. Gavin Edwards Labour Councillor for Peckham Rye Ward Peckham Rye Labour Blog https://twitter.com/#!/GavinEdwards77

The builders were almost right. It is going to be a nursery, but it's going to open on the 15th December. Gavin Peckham Rye Labour

Hi, We had our meeting tonight as mentioned above. Vikki has just posted this update on the Peckham Rye Labour Blog : "As some readers will know, there is a great deal of community interest in the future of Peckham Rye One O?Clock Club, partly as a result of the budget cuts which have hit Southwark Council and also as a result of rumours that the club was soon to close. We?re not sure where the rumours have come from and we remain committed to keeping the club open. We?re now at the stage where we want to set up a community ?steering group? for the club to make sure that happens. The cuts mean that the staffing budget for One O?Clock Clubs across the borough will be cut from next April ? the budget to cover maintenance and running costs (heating, lighting etc.) remains. Two One O?Clock Clubs are pretty certain to be run by local children?s centres ? i.e. they will take on the club and run the club without charging the council as they will benefit from the use of buildings at other times. We had hoped that this might be a possibility for Peckham Rye and negotiations continue with Rye Oak. However, at the moment there is no certainty that this will happen. We have therefore been investigating exactly what responsibility the community would take on if a group of people came forward to run the club. On the face of it, it might be quite a big ask as parents would need to organise the club being open, cleaning it up at the end of the day and possibly managing bookings for other users. However, it looks like there would be no cost to community group and no charging for people who use the club. The council will offer some help in getting things set up and also investigate whether the council?s parks team whether they might be able to help out with a few things. As there is money to rebuild the club, it?s also possible that the rebuild could be timed for April which would allow the community a little more time to get organised before it opened with a new club. Lots of questions remain and we are a little frustrated that we still have some unanswered questions after having waited so long. However, we?re hoping we?ll have more answers very soon and would also like to hear what interest there is from the local community to help run the club. So we?re suggesting a meeting sometime in the week beginning 7 or 14 Nov. We need to check availability of a few council officers but it would be good to hear any thoughts about what time during the day or evening would be best for people to meet. We?ll then post a finalised date here asap." Please do suggest times here or by emailing us. My address is [email protected] but as Vikki says, just good times for now as we need to chase a few people for date availability. Gavin Peckham Rye Labour

Hi Donna and others, We've got a meeting with the Cabinet member about this tomorrow night, so we'll report back here after that meeting. Happy to meet up with people as you suggest, but let's wait and see what comes out of tomorrow's meeting first. Watch this space. Gavin Peckham Rye Labour