goldilocks

Thanks Charlie. I think though that the bigger problem is the appropriation of public open space for commercial letting by Southwark council. Who made this decision? Does this mean that Goose Green is now 'fair game' to be sectioned off and rented out to private companies throughout the year without any notice or consultation? Its one thing to use the Green for fairs such as the Dulwich festival fair, but another to 'privatise it' in this way! In addition - as a council who has declared a 'climate emergency' - allowing an enterprise to run a diesel generator next to people's homes for a month seems beyond irresponsible. It would be good if in addition to the logistical issues you raise, you could also respond on these points. Many thanks

sorry - wrong dire pubco !

the Dog is the Crown and Greyhound in Dulwich village - not sure if Youngs pub food is what you'd be looking for though!

Usually the Dog and maybe the Cherry Tree

Think both are good and people are happy with both. Consider what you'll do at 7 though if you select DVIS? Ie if you'll continue to rent in the area and will be close enough to Dulwich Hamlet for juniors, then fine. If you'll move further away that might not work out as well. There's no automatic transfer between the Infants and the Hamlet, so you reapply during year 2 for year 3. If you have the chance to go and see the schools, it would probably be best before selecting - if not pick the one that will be easiest to get to / from?

Charlie Smith - one of the Goose Green Councillors has responded on the local councillor thread that he'll look in to this - contacting local councilors to express concern would be a good step though.

I think if your objection is to a 'non local tree seller' then it is - but the comments on this thread seem more focussed on the inappropriateness of using communal green space which should be available to the whole community for a commercial venture, and linked to this whether the site is powered by a constantly running diesel generator.

Hi James You may have seen the other thread re Amigos trees on Goose Green. This is a massive infringement on the green - taking over almost half of the open green space. Given the scarcity of open green spaces in the Goose Green area, how has it been decided that this is appropriate, especially the fact that its been let to a commercial operation and meaning that half the available space is pretty much out of bounds for the next month. Its also an eyesore when looking from ED Road towards goose green. Would appreciate some feedback on how this was deemed appropriate and whether this is the start of commercially letting our public green space? Thanks

when I first saw this I thought it might be an overreaction to a 'few Christmas trees being sold in the corner of the green'. I walked past today and now totally understand the issue. Almost half the green is fenced off with opaque barriers and huge advertising for Amigos trees. Its not a nice festive scene, its a huge commercial operation being run out of what is supposed to be public open space. If posting photos on here wasn't such a pain I would do - but definitely worth a look in considering whether this is appropriate.

I'm afraid I'm not 'totally wrong' as I talked about scholarships - I also went on to clarify my point. Scholarships are awarded for academic ability and are at a fixed rate - bursaries are awarded separately for those who could benefit from Alleyns education but are financially excluded. In fact you'll see I clearly commented on this on my second para. I'm aware that the means tested bursaries exist, i also think that for many families locally, their household income exceeds the bursary level but perhaps would struggle with the full fees, so i stand by my comments. Finally - do you think that you could try to be more polite in your messages please - perhaps you could imagine you were talking to a person face to face? its something that would improve the quality of discussion on here!

I see a lot of comments attributing the lack of local children attending these schools to the improvement in state schools locally. Whilst its certainly true there has been huge improvement and that prior to Charter North being opened, a significant number of local children may have gone to private secondary schools, I don't think this is the full picture. Alleyns, JAGS and DC are very well renown schools. If you look at their annual fees now compared to 20 years ago its clear that they have been able to increase fees significantly in excess of inflation year on year (whilst keeping scholarships fixed at a static level as an absolute ? level rather than % of fees). Add to that the increased burden of housing cost for local families (again comparing housing costs locally now vs 20 years ago) and you can see why Alleyn's, JAGS, Dulwich College etc have fewer and fewer local children attending. Whereas 20 years ago, reasonably well off middle class families could afford the fees with a few sacrifices, now such schools are becoming the preserve of the very wealthy (plus those kids eligible for bursaries - so essentially a polarised intake. Therefore its hardly surprising that the net for these schools is cast more widely. There is also the fact that given their reputations, there is high competition despite the points outlined above. All of this said though - it is not clear why the Foundation schools need to continue to thrive economically should be more relevant than local residents quality of life. By all means cast the net for pupils widely, expand if you wish - but in doing so there is an associated level of social responsibility. JAGS and Alleyn's currently claim that 'they can't do anything more' to encourage parents to switch off engines whilst waiting, stop parking in cycle lanes, on double yellow lines or on zig zags. Instead they are requesting more enforcement by Southwark Council - enforcement which is paid for by those of us living in the borough and not those attending the schools. This is exactly the type of issue they should be tackling head on, by educating their pupils on the issues, by patrolling the roads outside their schools and asking parents to switch off engines, not park illegally etc as well as going much further to address the impact on air pollution and road danger that they bring to our area, rather than pushing this off onto external bodies.

1. the new speaker is already decided - its Lindsay Hoyle 2. The hustings discussed are for Dulwich & W Norwood - Helen Hayes is the incumbent MP (not Harriet Harman)

I don't think that there has been a suggestion that the sweeping driveway was MOL - more that the playing fields were. In either event there are 2 points really with the application - one of the coaches and parking issues that may be alleviated by making better parking provision, but the other and bigger issue in my view is the impact on air quality. Calton Avenue monitoring showed pollution levels way in excess of legal limits. The gridlocked congestion that is in place every day the independent schools are in is clear as to the reason for this. Increasing junior school (for clarity - actually infant places here) is very likely to further compound this issue as a majority are likely to be driven. We need urgent changes to the way the independent school pupils travel to school - more appropriate coaches and routing and less ability for parents to drop off at the gates. Once addressed, then consideration could be given to increased numbers, but not before!

I agree that the ridiculous parking of multiple coaches along Townley is a problem - and the foundation schools really ought to look to a solution that isn't huge coaches travelling through and parking on wholly unsuitable roads. EV minibuses might be a better option - or a central drop off point with a 'walking bus to the school' from that point. I guess the main problem is that there is no mechanism at the moment to force any change. The roads are providing free parking for everyone and there isn't really a way of restricting it only for foundation coaches much as we might want to do that. I'm also torn - as I definitely wouldn't want more foundation school parents to drive their offspring to the schools so the coaches are a necessary evil to a certain extent (though as per above - they could be much improved).

I don't think there's only a 'parking problem' for Alleyn's and the other independents, rather there's a 'driving problem'. Gridlocked roads making it dangerous to cycle on or cross as a pedestrian and illegal levels of air quality are a huge concern, the parking for me is a secondary issue (though also a problem). As above, I think that they should be able to expand from a commercial perspective, but not to the extent this brings harm to the rest of the community - ie this commercial need shouldn't come above all else! Hammerman - interested to understand why you commented on the new Charter school - it was my understanding that their figures for how kids get to school had in excess of 90% walking - does this not seem accurate?

It was never a consultation covering NorthCross road - that just came up as a point on here. The main thing to realise is that: 1. There is a healthy streets consultation for Dulwich Village within a defined area which closes shortly (as per above) and if you would like to respond then you need to do so via the consultation process as outlined above. 2. This covers a small area within Dulwich Village ward only.

The issues re residents and shops are relevant considerations - but not necessarily a reason not to close the road to vehicle traffic between defined times. For example the road could be closed between 'Willow' and Lodrship Lane, with access only for deliveries at certain times. I understand that on occasions people living above the shops on the left or in the very few houses on the right hand side of the road as you walk towards Lordship would need deliveries, but realistically these could be made from parking next to the closure. It would definitely be transformative for the businesses along that area and make it a more appealing area to spend time

thanks vm - have replied

My husband and children were cycling along Trossachs and Hillsboro road this morning on their way to school and there was an incident with a silver Merc. A dog walker on Hillsboro spoke to my husband and said they'd be happy to be a witness, but he didn't get proper details. We would like to fill in a report for the Met Police - if you were there and saw anything would be grateful if you could get in touch. Understand it was a woman walking a grey medium sized, pointy type dog (lurcher / whippet) on Hillsboro towards Tabert Road) Thanks!

But for balance - I'd have to say that in years of using the forum, that's the first whole-hearted recommendation for Piplings I've ever seen! I would recommend searching for previous comments which are generally along the lines of the care in the nursery being fine / good and the management / admin being awful. It may be though that things have changed recently and the glowing recommendation above is the new normal, but would make sure you had understood everything fully before signing up.

Interested in this = wondered how long it takes at a not super fast speed including lifts please?

Maybe send the picture to your local safer neighbourhoods team and a summary of what you've typed here. There have been a bit of a spate of vehicle robberies involving break ins recently.

Despite this consultation being scheduled to close yesterday, it seems from the site that you can still make comments. 54 comments - 53 of them opposing the expansion. If you wanted to comment and haven't done yet, worth clicking the link above.

Sounds like you need to take them swimming for fun for a while to get your 5 yr old to a point where he likes water. Having a noodle and goggles at all times is probably ideal. Once they stop being scared they'll learn at lessons! My 5 year old went through a phase of not wanting to get her face wet, crying in lessons etc. We went on holiday and she went in the pool every day and just started to love it, then when we got back lessons were much better.

I'd hazard a guess that your age gap is unlikely to work well. You'd need to be in the pool with a 2 year old unless you did one on one lessons i'd think. The 5 year old is likely to need a totally different type of teaching to the 2 year old. Dulwich leisure centre really lacks the capacity to run one to one classes - they have very few slots and unlikely to be at suitable times for both. You could ask at JAGS or more broadly advertise your requirements on ED forum facebook page