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

Hi Evie and Higster, Yep, we've been campaigning on this for some time. Over the last year there have been verious developments, but the short version is that TfL (which is run by the Mayor of London) is using out of date statistics to claim that an extension would be under used. They say the financial case for the extension does not stack up. With the help of our local GLA member (Val Shawcross) we've been pushing them on this, but to no avail. We are now seeking to secure a commitment to an extension to Honor Oak Park Station in Ken Livingstone's manifesto for the Mayoral elections next year. I am very confident that this can happen. As soon as we get confirmation I will let you know here. There are some other past updates on our blog www.peckhamryelabour.blogspot.com (just search for "63 bus") Hope that helps. Gavin Labour Councillor for Peckham Rye http://peckhamryelabour.blogspot.com/

Claire - thanks for bringing this thread to my attention via pm. We held a meeting in August with cabinet members to ask them to investigate a way forward on this issue. We had been waiting for an update and have been chasing for an update as we agreed it would be good to speak to parents and the community in October ? that?s obviously now! I will chase them again now and come back with more information ASAP. Gavin Peckham Rye Labour Councillor http://peckhamryelabour.blogspot.com/

Thanks for the comments above. A quick update: I've been down to the playground with officers to talk over some of these issues. They agree that the positioning of the tap is wrong, but told me that it was only put there following comments made during the consultation. Whatever the reasons, I think this needs to be sorted out. Officers are going to come up with a proposal to do this (probably moving the tap). They also said that clearing out the "stream" on a regular basis is important and they will take steps to ensure this happens. We also talked through the safety issues with the cycle path being so near to the playground. Officers think they can come up with something which maintains the "open" feel of the playground but provides some protection on that side of the playground. Obviously these changes need to be funded, but I am optimistic that the money can be found. I don't have any further details on this at the moment, but I hope to soon, and I'll post them here when I have them. Gavin Edwards Councillor for Peckham Rye Ward http://peckhamryelabour.blogspot.com/

I promised on a previous post to come back on the issues of the position of the tap and the fact that the playground is not fenced off. On the tap: Officers tell me that the position of the tap was designed in response to the initial consultation when there was concern expressed about the tap being in use for 24 hours a day and a preference that it was restricted to the One O?clock Clock opening hours. Personally, I think this needs to be looked at again and moved as the current position doesn't really restrict its use and makes its use (when it 'allowed' to be used) difficult. One (or two or three) of the Peckham Rye Councillors are going to go down to the playground with officers over the next week to talk this over and see what can be done. Regarding the fencing: There is a bit of history to this. The main source of the funding for the playground was through the Play Builder program. This funding sought to address the gap in play for 8-13 year olds and to also create more risk in play, part of this theory was also eliminate fencing in new play areas to not cage in and over protect children. There are other examples of this at Lucas Gardens, Nursery Row Park and Newington Gardens which were constructed under the Play Builder program. These also don?t have fencing. Having corresponded with council officers about this they have said that the playground would benefit from more protection on the cycle route side of the play area. This is something that we?ll discuss with them at the site visit. Regarding the old fencing, I?m told that has been reused to fence the One O'clock Club (although I didn?t spot this when I was down there last week). Apparently, 90% of the fencing has been used for this purpose. I?ll report back here again after we?ve done the site visit. Gavin Edwards Councillor for Peckham Rye Ward http://peckhamryelabour.blogspot.com/

Fuschia - Just to clarify, the One O'Clock Club play equipment is going to be re-installed in the area it gains to the rear. Gavin Edwards Councillor for Peckham Rye Ward http://peckhamryelabour.blogspot.com/

Hi Fuschia, The seating is still be installed, but it will be. The One O'Clock Club is gaining area to the rear. Just to add a little perspective though, I think it's going a bit far to say it's depressing. I didn't see many depressed kids there this morning! Gavin Edwards Councillor for Peckham Rye Ward [peckhamryelabour.blogspot.com]

Hi Fuschia - Yes, I'll try and confirm what the cost would be. Just to confirm though, the playground was paid for out of a grant from the national government (about 18 months ago I think). Money is very tight at the council now. For the time being it's unlikely that we would be able to secure more money for a fence. Gavin Edwards Councillor for Peckham Rye Ward www.peckhamryelabour.blogspot.com

Hi All, Two main issues about the playground on this thread seem to be: a) The lack of fencing b) The position of the tap inside the One O'Clock Club Fencing. I think I spoke to one or two of you earlier today at the "opening". On the fencing, I'm told that the lack of fencing is down to cost. There simply wasn't enough money in the pot to pay for it. Perhaps, in time, this is something that council officers can be looked at again. Although I notice that some people quite like it open. One for further debate perhaps. On the position of the tap, I've got to agree with the comments here. It is odd that it's inside the fencing of the One O'clock club. I did ask officers about this today and didn't really get a clear answer. I'm going to pursue this and see if anything can be done about it. I'll report back here. On the whole though, I am pleased that the playground has been delivered. Most of the parents I spoke to this morning were delighted with it. This doesn't excuse the issues above, but I think with the money that was available, it's a positive thing for the area. Gavin Edwards Councillor for Peckham Rye Ward http://peckhamryelabour.blogspot.com/

I've just got a reply from our local police team. They're putting in place a number of measures in response to these muggings, including additional patrols. As mentioned above, the ward panel meeting tomorrow will be a good chance to speak to them and find out more. Gavin Edwards Councillor for Peckham Rye Ward

A local resident just emailed me about these incidents and suggested that I post here. Obviously it is very concerning that this should take place at all, but particularly in daylight hours. I'm sure the police are dealing with the individual incidents already, but I'll be getting in touch with our local Safer Neighbourhood Team right away to see if anything more can be done to ensure there is no repeat. I'll post an update shortly. Gavin Edwards Councillor for Peckham Rye Ward