first mate

Just to correct you, it is not just 3 days, it is nearly a month of disruption for the sake of 3 days. You still have not said if you support the event being extended?

Ah, we have tried the Nimby approach and now it's personal attack time. I don't feel security guards, there to protect the interests of a private event, add to or are in any way appropriate to the park ambience. I don't think I am alone. To infer posters who disagree with the idea that hiring out parks for festival-style events is all great are therefore DM readers is laughable and a lazy, cheap shot. The notion that a poster like DKHB is a vociferous DM reader is just ludicrous. Shall we try to keep the discussion civil and adult? If you read the evidence and objections to extending the event ( and indeed having it at all) you would know that the concerns are entirely valid, so much so that the council and organisers had to back down this time. But I have little doubt they'll try again next year. I am prepared to live with the three days, just so long as this does not set a precedent for extending this event or mounting other events of similar scale, down the line. But Cllr Catherine Rose is on the record saying that is precisely her aim.

Have you read the objections and the supporting evidence to the event? It is not about crime waves but long-term impact on the park. Do you really believe that after each 'clean-up' the land used is returned to baseline? Do you really think that the month's worth of upheaval, noise and light pollution has zero effect on the wildlife? It is disingenuous to make out that the impact on the rest of the park is negligible and everything carries on as usual. Do you support further extending this event? Because if this Council have their way that is what will happen.

The point here is to stop further degradation of Peckham Rye Park and other green areas. The first action would be to extract a pledge that the Gala event will never be extended and no similar events mounted. I would also maintain that Peckham Rye Park was never suitable for an event of this scale.

But surely protecting and cherishing our green spaces is for the greater good?

But, the 'vast' open spaces like Hyde park, Clapham Common, Finsbury Park, already have these events only a short bus, train or cycle journey away. So these sort of events already exist for those that want them. However, I would not describe Peckham Rye park as a vast space. It is relatively small and compared to the aforementioned, in a totally different class in terms of scale. That is, of course, why it should not be used to mount this kind of event. This is not about serving the community, though there will always be takers for an event like this among dedicated festival goers. There is no pressing need, this is purely about the council making money by whatever means it can and I think we will come to regret letting them do this. FWIW I also like live music but there is a time and a place and I find it hard to accept that our supposedly envrionment-loving and green-friendly council is actively pushing to extend this event.

We will have to agree to disagree on frequent use of that area, bearing in mind that part of it was/ is left to grow wild in the more swampy area to encourage flora and fauna. However, the mowed areas are, in my experience, well used. We must go at different times of day.

Let's just ignore the casual ageism (for some reason one of the more acceptable isms). I disagree it is an unloved and little used section of the park, quite the contrary. On my many park visits it is well used and, naturally, much more so as we head towards summer. The area used is a significant part of the park, for comparison, apparently the common land on the Rye, where most events have been held, is not large enough! If you are attuned to creeping privatisation of green spaces then I assume you would not support extension of the event? It may be well organised in your view, but there is enough evidence of year on year damage to the parkland that is used for the event, as well as failure to meet various obligations ( admitted by the organisers), to raise question marks on that score. Well organised is not just about fewer drugs, etc..

The thing is, the impact does not last for three days but for nearly a month, that is a lot of time to have a major part of the park removed from local access. It also changes the character of the park over that time. The giant metal hoardings are awful. Early summer is also when the park is most beautiful and when you hope to enjoy that oasis of nature and escape the hustle and bustle of the city. That peace has massive benefits for mental and physical health. Instead, for around a month, the park is partly sectioned off; metal barriers erected, there is a background noise of generators and building vehicles and work, security guys dressed in black wander around yacking on walkie talkies. it is a park; not a music venue. There are literally hundreds of festivals for committed festival goers to visit elsewhere. There are zillions of live music venues and clubs. Why transpose all of that onto one of the few green oasis we have? It is bonkers. The primary motivation of this thread was to halt the madness of extending the live music event from 3 days to 6 and beyond. I am extremely glad that did not happen.

All the services we were promised were to ensure a large part of the site was moved from NHS use to enable building of the Charter School. I remember Cllr James Barber making all kinds of promises as to the wonderful services that would be available at the new 'state of the art' medical centre; there to serve the community. As it is we have lost a hospital that although very rundown did provide lot of services, including x-ryas, maternity and rehab for the elderly- all services we need. TJ has fairly active physio and phlebotomy depts ( so did the old hospital) but what else does it provide? Do they do x-rays on the site? When last there I saw an MRI sign. Do they have an MRI scanner? Who uses it?

Has Helen Hayes replied? If there was ever a reason for an MP to get involved surely this is it? How is it that a bunch of profiteering wide boys were handed TJ on a plate? I am surprised this has not hit the press big time.

Yup, that is how it will go and very much the plan. Once, and if, that source of funding runs dry they'll be looking around for others.

Not just roads but pavements too. Paving on NX already looking shabby and in places a trip hazard; ditto other local streets. Could some of that money be used for maintenance of street trees? Perhaps that is already happening? The other thought is fly-tipping on street corners?

At Southwark council level, taxing electric car users is a definite, they are also looking at woodburners and, as a natural extension of that we should not be surprised if gas use crops up too. Should car use ever be significantly reduced they will need to introduce some form of road tax and surely e-bikes and ordinary cycles would be near the top of the list.

For now, in the very immediate future, electric vehicles are being incentivised but that is not to last. Cllrs Rose and McAsh have been very clear that electric cars are next on the hit list.

Don't forget the infamous 'parking stalkers' of East Dulwich- the mythical creatures that allegedly intimidated residents while waiting to nab their parking spaces in the morning. They all simply disappeared once councillors got the CPZ they needed on the Charter School side of Melbourne Grove etc..

Google Dr Simon Fradd and you begin to see what this man and his city boy mates have done long-term to our GP practices (nationwide, not just locally). He was behind Concordia and the drive towards super GP Practices; medical telecare, no GP surgery on Saturdays and so it goes on. Those within the various healthcare Trusts would have known his record, he is/was a big wheel within the GMC and yet, it seems, he and his mates were handed the Tessa Jowell GP practice on a plate.

What would be refreshing is if they could simply tell the truth; they desperately need money; some bad decisions had been made in the past; in future they will dump the vanity projects and focus on the basics and essentials- none of those are 'sexy' and probably quite dull for those of the councillors that are career politicians, but dull and dutiful is what we need.

I believe Openreach is a wholly owned BT subsidiary company, so the notion that BT workers can only contact OR via foreign call centres seems absurd. BT also now owns EE. It was suggested to me that I could have a new BT contract and better internet speeds but when I pointed out that the wires into my home were copper and, I have been told by OR and BT, are unlikely to be replaced any time soon, it could not be explained to me quite how performance would improve. However fast the fibre signal to the cabinet is, it will degrade as it goes through the copper- at least that is my understanding.

Has anyone else noticed the xmas lights hooked up to lamp posts down NX road. They were on today at 4pm?!

Just checking again, did anyone ever get one of the 8000 leaflets Cllr James McAsh is on record as saying were sent out around a week before the consultation closed?

Good news that for this year they have dumped the 6 day event and reverted to three. Is the whole build and dismount process within the same timeframe or has that been reduced? Problem is they have the premises licence in perpetuity, so I think they'll try to extend the event again next year and the year after that. Cllr Catherine Rose, the Cabinet member in charge, really, really wants many more events and, of course, the income, so she'll be looking for ways to make the extension happen, I'm in no doubt. Be prepared to fight on!

Thames Water has been installing smart meters for each home. You can lift off the covering and see the meter. Before you go to bed go out and take a reading (photo). Ensure that overnight nobody flushes the loo or turns on taps. As soon as you get up and before you fill the kettle, go out and take another reading. If it is the same as the other reading then I doubt you have a leak. If there is a difference then you need to investigate. I think at that point you could turn off your water at the mains and watch the meter, if it turns then it could be a leak external to your property.

If this consultation ( the one on Southwark's website) is genuine then why are we not able to see the input and comments? It seems Southwark is keeping the public response under wraps, although presumably sharing those with Gala, hence a further meeting with Gala in March? It says the Council consultation closed late January, so why can't we see what the public response was?

Fair enough. If all sorted at the contractor's expense and properly sorted then at worst an inconvenience.