rch

Better to contact the council's parks department... the contact details are on the noticeboard by the Christmas Tree on the East Dulwich Road side of the park. I saw white stuff on the grass as I was passing by, but couldn't stop, so it's useful to know what it is...

Just saying hi to DulwichFox and singalto... it's great to actually be able to talk to everyone in person! FYI, I made a special request to the local police to patrol on Lordship Lane more visibly, as per the discussion above. So can someone post on this thread when they see our officers out and about? Also, I was intrigued by Cora's comments above... so now I'm curious as to what the EDF users think are causing the most problems in Goose Green ward?

I would love to see the hanging baskets back on the lampposts on Lordship Lane!

Hi Pugwash... I'll have a look at the tree roots to see if I can help come up with a better solution. There is a tree pit treatment called Flexipave that looks like tarmac, but it's made from recycled tyres. It's as solid as tarmac, but flexible enough to accommodate unhappy tree roots... plus rainwater can percolate through the treatment so that the tree gets enough water and doesn't keep pushing roots out of the pavement in order to survive. I tried a Flexipave experiment with CGS funds a couple of years ago around the ancient chestnut tree on the corner of Lordship and Melbourne Grove (across Melbourne from the Chinese restaurant) and it's been working brilliantly. Maybe have a look? Ironically, the council now seems to be using Flexipave a lot in the north of the borough but I haven't been able to convince them to use it in the south of the borough where we actually have more older trees. I've been trying to get all the trees on Lordship Lane sealed with Flexipave, but there have been so many politics that I keep going around in circle. I was thinking of putting in another CGS bid for Lordship Lane... maybe you could put in a Dulwich Hill bid for your tree up on Barry Road? As a regular local pedestrian (non car owner!) I agree that the council's Healthy Streets scheme is useless. I tried getting the project manager to understand during the last consultation, but she was oblivious. So now more public money is going to be wasted on "improvements" that won't make a difference for most of us...

Yes, you're right ed_pete... the police do know which back and side roads to patrol, but we need to find a way for local residents to be reassured and report issues more easily. Part of the problem with Goose Green Ward is that it looks like nothing is happening around here because people tend not to report, so extra resources are diverted to other local wards. Our new SNT team are really good at communicating, we just need to find a way for the public to interact with them more easily.

It would still be useful to know what time you all think the police should patrol Lordship Lane? I will try to attend the police meeting tonight and will request that High Visibility Ward Patrols are listed as a priority.

Hi redjam, we just overlapped posts... I've been lobbying for this multi-use community hub concept at the Maudsley site for several years now, as the last thing we need is more empty shops and community hubs tend to increase footfall on high streets. Just after the last election, I hounded the current councillors who have now had this idea approved by the council. The space has recently been leased to a group called Oru Spaces, who are in the process of upgrading and converting all three floors into meeting rooms, mini offices, pop up start-up business facilities and have agreed to consider a private police/council officer rest stop. There's been one drop in consultation, which I attended and there will be a better publicised drop in soon. I'm now in the process of liaising with Oru, police teams, and councillors with the view of creating the police room in the back of the property so that they can have privacy and also so that the users of the public spaces have priority. Therefore, the support of the local residents is going to become crucial to having this agreed in addition to the other community spaces. Looking at the building works being done, I'm assuming that the hub will open early next year? I've recommended that Oru posts on the EDF once they have a better idea of timing, etc, while I will focus on the police room aspect.

Thanks for the support, first mate. I'll stay in touch on progress, as we may need residents to lobby councillors. Also, Pugwash... my idea was that Goose Green SNT, Village SNT, and Champion Hill SNT would be able to use the community hub as a rest stop, but it may be possible for Dulwich Hill to access it as well, as the buses down the Lordship Lane axis are more convenient that the rubbish bus services running east-west. I'm aware that the Gypsy Hill location is useful for Dulwich Wood SNT, but not great for some of the other teams. Therefore, we definitely need some kind of stepping stone to fill the gap between Peckham and Gypsy Hill. I understand budget cuts, but there are sometimes more creative ways of addressing issues. We all just need to stick together!

Also, now that the former Maudsley offices at 20-22 Lordship Lane (by Goose Green Roundabout) are being converted into a community hub with workshops and pop up shops, there is a possibility that a private room in the back of the building could be provided for police officers and also council officers (i.e. housing, park managers, wardens and other departments) to use to take breaks and catch up with paperwork and emails while they are in the area, rather than hiking back to Peckham or Tooley Street on foot or by bus and then back to Goose Green ward again. This would mean that police would save a lot of time travelling and therefore could spend more time on the local streets. They could also arrange meetings with residents in the meeting rooms that would be available. Would residents support this possibility?

Bear in mind that we now only have half the number of local officers than we used to have... just two PCs and one PCSO. They sometimes patrol on bicycles so that they can cover more of the ward, but this means that they are not as visible. But, I agree that it would reassure residents more if our local officers were seen more often on Lordship Lane on foot. What time of day do you guys think would be more high profile? Maybe between 3-5pm when most people are doing their shopping?

I had two window boxes of geraniums stolen from my front windows in May. I was so annoyed that I called 101 and reported it and was given a Crime Reference number, so at least our ward stats will reflect what's happening in the area. We used to have a local sergeant who called these thieves The Flowerpot Men... apparently, as per above, they drive around areas of London in a white van and steal plants from front gardens to sell at "pop up" flower markets. From memory, some East Dulwich plants were found at a flower stall in Chelsea(!) several years ago and stolen goods were returned to residents who had reported.

By coincidence, I spoke to one of the park managers who oversees the parks in the south of the borough (including Goose Green). Firstly, I asked him to inform the park wardens that mid-morning would be a better time to patrol than mid-afternoon, as per our above discussion. So, this will get passed on. But the manager told me that he personally does monthly inspections and hasn't noticed any dog poo issues, so he asked me if there was a section that had particularly noticeable problems. If we can demonstrate a regular issue, then the manager can request for a machine to pick up poo on a regular basis. Ironically, you guys are probably improving the poo situation on GG by picking up yourselves, which then means that the inspections are negative. The manager suggested that residents could email complaints to [email protected] whereupon he'll monitor the situation. I also asked if maybe they could put signage up to notify dog walkers and owners that they have to pick up their dogs' poo, so he's going to look into this. There are various restrictions on signage in parks, but I suggested that maybe he could at least put a paper notice in the community noticeboards. He also confirmed that the Friends of Goose Green had ceased, so our ad hoc communications are the only way forward at the moment. Lastly, he noted that free dog poo bags were available at certain council facilities, such as the foyer of the Francis Peek Centre in Dulwich Park, but we don't have much in the way of council facilities near Goose Green in East Dulwich... the Leisure Centre is too far away in one direction and the Grove Vale Library is too far in the other direction. We need a Community Hub in Lordship Lane! Will keep updating...

Yes, I vaguely remember dogs being restricted to a small fenced off section of GG, but I suspect that this couldn't be enforced in the long run. Goose Green has long been part of South Camberwell ward (which is now Champion Hill ward), but now that the ward boundaries have all changed, it's now in East Dulwich/Goose Green ward. But I think that first mate and Penguin are right... the community is going to have to start sticking together and working together more actively on a LOT of things. Goose Green dog poo is as good a start as anything... Let's keep posting updates.

It depends on where you live, Sue... it takes me 10-15 minutes to get to GG and then another 10-15 minutes to get to Peckham Rye, which can be up to an hour round trip, hence I hardly ever go to Peckham Rye. The 37 bus service is so pointless, it's often quicker to walk. It takes approx half an hour to 45 mins to walk to Dulwich Park in the other direction. Nigello... in my experience it needs a combination of efforts to address the problem. I've seen regular poo owners begin to pick up poo after being spoken to. But unfortunately resources are so limited that it will probably be up to residents and park users to form a an Anti-Dog Poo Alliance...

I hear what you're saying and agree, Penguin, but seeing the Park Warden yesterday was spontaneous, so I just wanted to make him aware of the GG problems in the first instance with a view towards setting more accurate timings later on (as no one had mentioned specific timings on this thread). I wasn't even sure that we still HAD Park Wardens anymore, so my hope is that raising awareness and giving park users a chance to directly speak to them would be a good start, rather than information just coming from me. I also discovered that there is an extra "roaming" Park Warden, so I was hoping that we could lobby to get two daily patrols in the short term. But we also need to lobby for better park maintenance funding, i.e. clean up crews, so a Park Warden's observations could support that as well. Will suggest mid-morning patrols if I can get my hands on someone but two patrols per day at varying times might be good to start with? If anyone sees a Park Warden wearing a red jacket can you speak to them and let us know??

As a result of reading this thread, I spoke to one of the council's Park Wardens when I saw him in Dulwich Park yesterday... they can issue fines if they witness an owner not picking up dog poo in Goose Green, but there are only six Park Wardens operating across the borough now. I suggested that maybe he could patrol Goose Green in the afternoons during the summer when more people/children are using the park, as this will increase awareness/visibility if nothing else. Otherwise we can suggest a more suitable time based on when the most dog owners attend? I saw a box of dog poo bags in the foyer of the Francis Peek Centre in Dulwich Park, so I'm not sure if we can request high visibility free bags and poo bins with signs for Goose Green? Or maybe apply for CGS funds for more specific park maintenance for Goose Green? I understand that dogs are banned from the Children's Playground in Goose Green, but I'm not sure that there is legislation or enforcement resources that would support banning dogs from the whole green. But this issue is something that would be helpful for the community to stick together on, as we don't have much green space in the immediate Lordship area - Dulwich Park is too far away in one direction and Peckham Rye Park is too far in another direction for residents without cars. I think there used to be a Friends of Goose Green volunteer group?

Just to remind everyone that there is an open meeting with the local Goose Green police team and the community tonight in the conservatory of the East Dulwich Picturehouse beginning at 7pm. If you're interested but unable to attend, maybe we could flag concerns here on the forum?

I was pleased to hear that the local Goose Green Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) are going to start holding regular community meetings again. The initial meeting is being held tomorrow night in the conservatory of the East Dulwich Picturehouse (116 Lordship Lane) from 7pm to 8.30pm. It was set up fairly quickly and hasn't been that well publicised, but this will get better. They are also starting to do the Cuppa with a Copper open contact sessions again, this time at the new East Dulwich Library (which has meeting room if people want to speak privately). Again, the notice for these sessions are quite short, usually given by Tweeting. Our team is short of a PCSO at the moment, which is why all the meetings and sessions are quite last minute, as our two PCs can't fix their schedules too far in advance. But, hopefully, residents can attend in an attempt to communicate some of the problems in their neighbourhoods, bit by bit, as we have a really pro-active team now (albeit time-restricted).

Hi James thanks for posting this... I have a spreadsheet, but have been too busy to type it out on a list. FYI, eight of those trees on that list are my babies, which I liaised with the tree officer on. I was out today watering some of them with my Red Bucket. I'm going to try to stay more in touch with the councillors on the planting schemes in the area, as I've been doing these projects (some of which are now covered in the media) since 2005, and I am very familiar with most of the history and the successful and failed urban tree planting experiments. I'm also going to address the questions on this thread and a previous thread when I have more time to type! I have always believed that we all need to stick together on this, as tree planting is so important to a neighbourhood... therefore I try to always knock on residents' doors to explain options and listen to opinions, but I also think public discussions are extremely important... and the EDF is really useful for this.

James, just to be clear about my tree work... the CGS funding awards that you refer to above have actually become obstructive to local tree planting projects. I now work "independently" with council officers directly as a highway "stakeholder" with the council's internal funding in order to circumvent various obstructions, or can sometimes access CGS underspends if the political machinations drop the ball. But it's taking a lot of my time to circumvent the obstructions, which is why the dead tree replacements are limited and planting new trees is difficult. I didn't even bother to submit a CGS bid for tree planting this past year... instead, I coached other local residents on how to do this and I noticed that the new councillors have allocated funding more democratically.

Thanks treehugger... yes, I moved into the area in the mid-80s and Lordship Lane was a barren wasteland for years due to a series of issues which are slowly being addressed. I am going to try to address all the historical and technical issues brought up my Moovart above, as there are explanations for everything, but I need to find time to type! Might have to do it bit by bit...

Hi Nigello... apologies, most of these trees are due to me working with the tree officer to replace dead trees in the area (having consulted relevant shops and residents), as per a previous thread that I got too busy to update (will try to go back and reply). The two trees on Lordship are both Plane trees, as the Lordship Plane Avenue is now being regarded as a high street feature. There is another plane stump in from of Foxton's which was removed yesterday and is due to be replaced with a plane soon... am also trying to get the stump near SMBS replaced this year, but we're running out of budget. Sadly, I couldn't get a memorial tree planted for John Kennedy due to complex water drains under the pavement, but will try to get another nearby location agreed for next year. The plane on GG was meant to replace the dead tree in the grille next to it... it was originally meant to be a spectacular Foxglove feature tree, similar to the one that we planted and have recently replaced in Dulwich Village, but we couldn't get a good enough specimen and a spare plane become available so we decided to go with the GG Plane theme rather than wait another year. Also, got various cherries replanted on Melbourne Grove and Colwell Road, plus a few trees in Dulwich Village. Don't know what the tree on the corner of Goodrich and Upland is, as that's outside my patch. I can see 4 trees on my spread sheet due to be planted on Upland, but they only have house number references, so I need a house number. Apologies to other people asking questions in the previous thread, will try to go back and post replies... or else let's have another discussion on this thread. More soon!

Cella, I got your PM and managed to walk round to your road and spoke to a neighbour by chance. As your road is lined with Kanzan cherries, I think the smaller Sunset Boulevard cherry experiment might work well in some of the gaps, but this would probably require residents to unite and submit a CGS funding bid and work with cllrs and the tree officer. I'll PM you back to explain better...

Hi Alex... I'm used to referring to water sprouts as basal shoots, so apologies. Yes, the council doesn't tend to allocate budget on cutting back basal shoots unless they are doing overall tree maintenance nearby or if it's a main road. There was originally a plan to train up volunteer residents as "tree wardens" to water and cut back low level sprouts and branches on their local trees, but even that scheme ran out of funding. A former tree officer gave me the proper equipment and trained me to do the basic low-level pruning, which I do on both sides of Melbourne Grove (see above reference) and other side roads near my house. Residents in other areas are expressing interest in doing this as well, so we may try to create an informal group in the area to do this in liaison with the tree officer (although I think the council may be wary due to health and safety responsibility issues). If the shoots get so bad that I can't deal with them then I whinge at the tree officer to put a location on his maintenance list, but it can take time. Another way of dealing with this has to review various species that are being planted in the streets, as some trees genuinely don't like being street trees in this urban climate... for instance, planting native trees such as Hawthorns in the past ten years have created so many problems with shoots on the pavements, that we tend to avoid planting them now. There was also an experiment with a variety of pear trees, but they went shoot-mad as well and are now avoided. Let me know if you have any specific locations with problems... or, if I get organised, maybe we can start a planting/maintenance tree thread on the forum which I can direct Ernst to?

Ah, thanks, I can see it now! As Penguin says, I'm guessing that it was probably pollarded to avoid wind and storm damage (which is one of the health and safety issues I alluded to above). From memory, a lot of the trees have been blown over/down on Peckham Rye during storms in the past, so this would be a way of protecting the older trees and anything underneath. If you look at the tree to the right in the photo, you can tell that that one has been pollarded in the past as the shape of the arms is different and you can see where the little branches have shot out of each of the pollarded arms. So I'm guessing that the trees are done in an organised sequence over the years so that the park doesn't look too barren if several were done at the same time. Will try to run this by Ernst eventually as well. It would be good if this sort of thing was on the Southwark website, as residents are very interested in trees!