James Barber

csluyuan, No they don't plan to build on outside sports facilities as I understand it. Hi Renata, Yes our schools are mostly good or outstanding. But its taken a very long time to reach this overall standard. Responding to your points. First the council can't build new schools under Tony Blair rules not rescinded and we need new schools. So its either free schools or the council has to advertise for people to open new schools. This risks bodies none of us would feel comfortable with getting to open new schools. Second Southwark has one of the nations poorest record of providing peoples first choices or a school place families didnt want. This is surely someting even you will agree is embarassing? Expanding existing schools. All our popular schools already have 2 or 3 form entry. Educationlaists tell us going above these sizes risks our children's education. So I disagree. Southwark should not be planning under your administration to boost school sizes above the ideal for children. But the government will fund free schools. Fortunately for the new Dulwich Hamlet proposed new school and Bellenden children your council leader has finally agreed to support them taking the free school route. Hallelujah. You've then cited one free school temporary school site. I've not visited it. Have you? Second Harris primary school. Harris do not plan to reduce the secondary school admissions if a primary schoo lis added to that site. Possible admissions criteria. This has yet to be decided and families lending their support will inlfuecen this as will anyone responding to the two stage public consultation. But you would know this if your cabinet member for education was willing to meet with Harris. Saying that glad to hear you're meeting the girl headteacher - I'm sure you'll be much happier afterwards.

Hi worldwiser, They're being visited today and having the regs and laws explained to them. You should see an improvement. If you don't by tomorrow let me know else I'll check on Saturday.

It would appear to be at best bullying then.

Yes. I'm expecting them to hold one later this month early next fleshing out more details. But seller ate o DS for parents just interested in sending children to it.

I FOI'd for a list of the bus lane offences on Lordship Lane for last 12 months by date and time. Please see attached. Shows 621 people given bus lanes tickets on Lordship Lane of whom 3 given after 10am. Amazingly one in the evening - I hope they appealed and didnt pay. On reflection I should have asked for that. Guess the argument for all bar one would be the car was parked in the bus lane before 10am but it takes a few moments to issue a ticket. So is the bus lane clear? Is it necessary?

Hi keane, I have ZERO expectation of more buldge classes at schools in East Dulwich primary schools - this assumes the council fully uses the new free schools in its admissions process. This September 50 more places opened at Judith Kerr. Another 60 open next September'14 at 1st Harris ED primary school and another 60 open the following September at 2nd Harris primary school. Bessemer Grange primary school open a third form entry adding 30 places. Dulwich Hamlet open on Bellenden 2016 releasing around 30 places at Goose Green school for East Dulwich families. The next step is a new local co-ed secondary school. The council expects its every other day litter pickers to remove dog mess. If it isnt removed please let me know. I have reported it as not being removed. IF it's still there on Friday let me know so I can make a visit.

" Drake House (The Concrete House) London's oldest concrete domestic structure and Grade II listed former vicarage. Now restored and converted by Hexagon Housing Association in partnership with Heritage of London Trust and converted to provide 5 apartments. Event Days/Times Sunday | 10am-to-5pm Event/Entry Details - Tours/talks on the hour with architect/developer of restoration, first come basis. Last Entry Time - Last tour 4pm. Entry Areas - grounds, entrance, possible entry to one flat. "

Hi keane, I've not said we're surprised by the buliding primary school bulge. We learnt lessons from 2009 and have been working tirelessly every since to ensure we have sufficient great places locally. The secondary school level we relatively more time to prepare and to get plans in place locally. We're working on it and have publicly said we think we need a new secondary school. Ideally opening around Sept 2016. Dog poo. I'm sorry the council response isnt as good as it used to be - used to be 2hours to remove nbow 48 hours. Effectively issues are ignoed when reorted and left to regular litter pickers to resolve. This inst being given the same priority I or my policial group would give it.

Hi SteveUK1978, worldwiser, Clearly unilaterally closing the road is not allowed. I have contacted enforcement and asked them to ensure the highway code etc are followed and not ignored.

This is turning into one of the more unusual threads on the forum. The facts: The gates were raised way back after some work by then Village ward councillor Michelle Pearce. She wasnt re elected back in 2006. The more recent fence raising is via Cleaner, Greener, Safer funding. The applicants were the local Village ward Safer Neighbourhood Team as part of their professional crime prevention work and of the three Village ward councillors who get to allocate these funds - two voted for this scheme - Cllr Toby Eckersley and Cllr Michael Mitchell.

So if I've understood correctly... The Police applied for funds which were granted to prioritise crime and anti social behaviour fencing at the Lytcorr Estate. Council housing felt it deserved to win this funding and then implimented it - presumably after the Tenant and Residents Association chair and committee were involved. One of the three councillors for Village ward (where the Lytcott Estate is located) has said she wasnt involved. That councillor continues to be blamed for fencing they've said wasnt down to them - and councillors arent normally bashful about claiming things were down to them! Seems a bit obsessive. If a resident has such a complaint then make it to all the councillors if you feel one doesnt share your view. Talk to your Residents and Tenants Assocaition chair and committee and ask why they agreed to this fencing. Ask the Police why they felt the need to apply for this funding. Going on the forum although interesting isnt likely to get the information you saught.

Southwark Community Wardens will over the next couple of weeks be holding special patrols along Lordsihp Lane targetted at pavement cycling. I didnt ask for them but as we no longer have locally based Police welcome these extra patrols in a general sense. WRT to pavement cycling. Rarely an excuse for adults to do it. A few places they're encouraged to do it. Lordship Lane isnt one of them. Certainly don't condon doing it in a stupid way however much it hurt them on this occassion. As for the car driver they should sue for damages to their car.

Chips56, please email me the details and I will confront the head of department.

Hi Calsug, Certainly the puddling around the shoe shop is programmed to be fixed this autumn after I complained. I suspect it will take a lot of nagging to ensure this happens. Borough High Street works wer funded by the Traffic Director for London more than 15 years ago - I used to live on Tabard Street then. So seperate funding becuase of its red route status. Sadly they've not maintained the shop names on the pavement idea. The shop next ot the butchers is a private home that had a fire about 18-24months ago. But I am surprised by how many shop front owners would sooner have no rental income than a sensible rent. As for UK vs. Swiss workers. We have a huge cultural gap about how all employees are trained, apprenticeships, public pride. Certainly Southwark Council should be enforcing better standards but it is an uphill struggle. But Westminster CC do seem to do a better job of it.

Hi Scribble, As an opposition councillor my focus is on ensuring we have sufficient excellent school places for all school children. Stating the obvious but being a councillor for East Dulwich that's my main area of focus. Excellent in terms of ambition for our children to help them develop their full potential. The advice I've had is that the ideal primary school size is two or three forms per year (60-90 pupils) the former being easier to give a great child focused experience. The latter size has much larger budgets making for more financial flexibility. So also focused on ensuring lcoal schools are of that optimum size. Hence the ?5M support for St.Anthony's expanding from 1.5FE to 2FE. Council forecasts are of a 215-235 shortfall in places by Sept 2016 in the Dulwich area. That's a massive gap to close. Hence why we've spoke to just about all local school providers but Harris were one of the few that wanted to provide more schools, had ambition for our children, and credibility with DfE to deliver. But we've also supported the Judith Kerr bilingual free school proposing a number of sites including the one they've finally settled on. I should add originally I was dead against academys and free schools. But local councillors don't get to change national policies. After much reflection about who can provide great schools and how quickly they can become great - and local councils don't have great records - reached the conculsion even quite good ocuncils such as Southwark wont provide great learning environments sufficiently quickly. National rules have two main routes to open new schools: 1. the lcoal authority advertises for someone to open a school the LA thinks they need - anyone can apply and it risks shall we say more unusual providers. 2. free schools. I've favoured the latter approach to maximise the control over who provides the capacity we need by leading the free schools to apply that we want. The former option also requires the council to have successfully applied for basic needs grant which Southwark has failed at. Hope that answers your question. As for petty. Who provides a school is really important. It affects chance and speed of becoming a great school.The process they take affects whether it's paid for by the government or council and chance of getting of the ground and how quickly it can open. They typically cost ?5-10M each at primary level. For example Harris applying now will could open a new school 18 months later via the free school route. Dulwich Hamlet opening a new school via the LA seeking bidders route may or may not succeed and if they do it's likely to open a year later. It may appear petty quabbling but it makes a material difference to the outcome.

Hi Calsug, It's a tricky one. WE have some very limited local devolved budgets which East Dulwich councillors have allocated to things like resurfacing North Cross Road, providing electric points form market stalls. We've also successfully campaigned and after five years we have much better pedestrian conditions in terms of crossing Lordship Lane and soon 20mph. But shop rents are not something Southwark can directly control. It can indirectly apply planning policies of 50% remaining shop use. But it does seem odd that freeholders would prefer to see empty shops than accept rent levels that shop owners can afford. Repaving Lordship Lane pavements would be welcome but it wasn't that many years since it was last done and is incredibly disruptive. It could be the nail in some local businesses. But what we could do is fix some of those private forecourts that are a real pickle.

Hi unlurked, Perhaps we should continue via PM's. This EDL demo only become news when the counter demo's were added into the equation. It then became a conflict and the press attended, and then needed to cover it to justify their use of limited resources, expecting things to kick-off between the two sides. Overall it appeared to add credibility to EDL. I think they're an irrrelevance with almost no suppport but others including the press might think they're not with such a huge counter demo. Eitherway it generated more column inches and photos than they EDL could ever have hoped for. But of course if they werent an irrelevance, if they had real tangible support, I'd take a different stance.

Hi Joskat, I don't think they're planning on using the Dulwich name in the title. Expanding the existing Bellenden School would be one option. It currently only has one form entry. Ofsted rate it as good. Perhaps hugely expanding a good school, i.e. tripling its size, while trying to improve it further wouldn't work. I would suggest it would be quite a feat. Dulwich Hamlet are an outstanding school. Replicating that should be relatively in comparison straight forward. Secondary school is the next big project.

Lib Dems have always condemned the views of EDL. This particular march was planned to start in Tooley Street going to Tower Hamlets and then back again. So as you say little to do with East Dulwich. As a liberal we believe people have a right to protest and counter protest. Personally I believe going to the counter protest feeds the media interest. So Lib Dem colleagues I;m told did attend - LAbour council leader perhaps wasn't omni present. The real issue of far right politics isn't EDL but UKIP. I and colleagues are on doorsteps this weekend taking about real politics and not EDL freak show. So I'm not sure what ramifications your talking about? Lib Dems in government are implementing policies the EDL are horrified by - gay marriage being a great example.

Hi Renanta, A number of times I've tried engaging you in private to work together on schools places. You've ignored those olive branches everytime. You seem only to want ot talk to me via the East Dulwich Forum - bizarre. Your comment about council officers and the proposed site is weird because I was speaking directly with Harris and they've not said this - either their project manager or director of projects during 121 conversations. The distance would be 400m as crow flies or 500m walking. It wouldnt encroach on any sports space but on land used previosuly for school buildings. Harris see no negative impact of doing this for existing or future pupils but do see synergies of sharing running costs - that leaves more money for teaching. We have a wider dulwich area shortfall of 215-235 reception places by September 2016. A second Harris Primary school there would be fully funded both building and running costs by the government and provide 60 places towards this shortfall. Harris have a significantly better track record of creating outstanding scholls and the speed at which they do this than Southwark or the other options suggested by you. So despite my huge anti free school angst when they were first proposed they appear a great solution for the actual children and families involved.

Yes, harharhar.

I agree and East Dulwich councillors are working on this at the moment and will announce something in 2-3 weeks time.

An application for a second East Dulwich Harris free primary school has just gone in. It would open September 2015. ** Update the application has been approved and just looking for a permanent site now. ** Most likely site would be spare space on Harris Girls' Academy East Dulwich on Homestall Road filling a large black hole for primary school admissions. Our proposed target is that it will be outstanding as per Ofsted and in the top 10% of primary school for England & Wales both in terms of overall results and indivudual pupil progression. To meet these objectives it would be in the top 5%. Exactly the high aspirations we need locally on Eastern East Dulwich. IF you want to add your support and have children who need reception places September 2015 or 2016 please let me know. By September 2016 we'll have a shortage of 215-235 primary reception places in the Dulwich area. The already agreed first Harris Primary school for East Dulwich will provide 60 places, the Judith Kerr school just opened this week provides 25 based on distance, The new Dulwich Hamlet schools would relieve around 30 places from Goose Green School. The Bessemer Grange extra class will add 30 places. Expanding Ivydale will help slighly in our area. But this still leaves circa 60 extra required spaces. Hence the need for this second Harris primary school.

hi worldwise, But I doubt you drive to Lordship Lane?

The landlords in this case ar elocal and have been working really hard to find a good tenant for Lordship Lane. I hope this unit isnt proposed to become a non retail use. That owuld require a change of use and depart from the plans for the area.