James Barber

This week a third cinema chain has contact me and I've passed them onto Father Gerry. First steps so too early to give their name but not a large cinema chain. Interesting thinking of how it would work best for the local church owners. Remaining a freeholder brings hassle and risk of having one large investment in one property. Also owning a cinema could bring issues about films that are shown. So suspect Father Gerry would want to sell the freehold and invest the money professionally for the long term.

Hi P68, I agree with all your points. Southwark Council has seen some smart housing officers matching tenants who are over crowded and under occupied - one great three way swap in the same block. Another realised a resident should be receiving pension and helped them organise it. The trouble with big national policies is making them work sensibly at the micro level.

Hi Pugwash, The Welfare reforms doesn't affect so many residents of East Dulwich. But not much fun for those it does affect. Numerically and proportionally our patch is one of the least affected in SE London. But I would encourage anyone affected or just interested to pop along to East Dulwich Community Ceintre 10 September for 8pm to hear from Southwark Citizens Advice Bureau. Isnt it weird how a benefit reduction has been nicknamed a bedroom tax by some. The reduction in housing benefit for council and housing association tenants who have un used spare bedrooms - where the rent is paid for by the government - is predicted to affect 43 households in East Dulwich. Equally the government has made it clear such households can rent out one bedroom for ?80pw tax free and this wont affect their benefits. ?80 would cover the benefit reduction several times over. Such households can also downsize and swap homes to one of the right size for their needs. In tough times it is hard to justify larger subsidies for some households to have more space than they need. While at the same time other families are severely overcrowded in social housing.

Hi boosboos, I've also asked for the same details but from the director of the service. The survey gives no context to any of its questions. They seem rather leading and don't nclude any do nothing options. I've also had ED residents tell me it was solely being handed out to people with pushchairs and not dog walkers. This doesnt give the impression of being a real consultation. So I'm torn between asking people to complete the survey and not completing it because it appears flawed. I

Hi Renata, so where is the money for thE Ivydale expansion coming from then? It sounds like things are in the air and unconfirmed. For the information you're asking people to PM. Why don't you ask council officials for this - they have all this information in a database..

The URL to the consultation is: http://www.southwark.gov.uk/info/200431/street_improvements/3180/east_dulwich_grove Whatever your view please do respond.

Hi Renata, I see now harm in people emailing the school that they support this intiative, In fact if the school chooses to go via the Free school option - which I hope they do as it will maximise their control of the situaiton - then they'll need 80 such offers of support to successfully navigate the process. I've also offered to share the experiences we've had in East Dulwich of how to successfully navigat rthe free school process.

A couple more supporters made contact over the weekend. The Educational Finance Agency property agents are now looking at 10 potential sites across East Dulwich for the first Harris East Dulwich Primary School. That's slightly one site longer than the list I suggested to them.

Hi dbboy, Yes, we have a commitment fro mthe post office that any replacement will be very local to the current one. Wil lprovide at least the same services as the current one. And they're not clear that they will find an alternative in which case the current one stays. BUT if it stays making a loss then any change of government could see the current guarantees evaporate. So we need a long term solution to gurantee Post office services in the heart of East Dulwich.

You'll also need to involve your building insurance supplier so that the rebuild value is amended to take account of this. I'd do this in advance as well. Building works place extra risk of disaster and being under insured might invalidate your policy if you, heaven forbid, needed to claim on it. Also, for your neighbours make sure you have a Party Wall Agreement with them.

Hi Foxy, Is it an issue using iPads in public?

I've started antoher thread for the Dulwich sponsored new school. Great suggestion LondonMix, oimissus and I've asked that it be made sticky. And that this thread be un stuck if it helps make that happen.

Well done to the whole team and all the supporting families that have seen their applciation for a new Belham free school approved - https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-schools-bring-total-number-of-free-school-places-to-175000 Well done. This will bring an extra 60 places. The last I recorded over 125 supporting families for this new school to be based on Bellenden Road on the old Bellenden School site. So far 86 families have lent their support to this proposed new school. They needed 80 but please do continue to shwo even more support to make the case even more compelling. Will you join them? If yes then please email [email protected] with your name, home postcode child DoB starting in reception either Sept'15 or '16 and please do cc me so I can keep people posted here. It's great news to hear that Dulwich Hamlet Educational Trust leaders have agreed to create a new school on the old Bellenden School site, Bellenden Road. So a tad north of East dulwich but hopefully it will still serve many East Dulwich families. A governor has told me they'd be looking to open September 2015 or September 2016. The school will have two forms of entry - that's 60 children per year. Two or three FE's is the optimum size for a great education. Less than two form entry probably wouldn't be viable without cross subsidy from the existing Dulwich Village budgets. Southwark Council the owners of the old Bellenden School site are keen to provide the site for this purpose. This is gresat news as until now Southwark Council have been rather negative about free schools and academies. Dulwich Hamlet Educational Trust leaders will be applying via the free school process for government money. Probably submitting the application early January 2014 for September 2015 opening. Typically a new school or renovation costs around ?5M (St.Anthony's RC schools renovation is costing this). For a two form entry they'll need at least 80 local families, ideally close to the old Bellenden school site (junction Bellenden Road with Maxted Road), lending them their support. If you have children that would need to start primary school reception September 2015 or September 2016 then I'd recommend you contact the school [email protected]. They'll need to know your name, address with postcode, child DoB and obviously your email address. To ensure a viable school ASAP they're likely to want to take reception and Year 1 pupils Setepmber 2015. But I'm sure this will be clarified over the next few months.

Hi Renata, I'm not even vaguely reassured by such a long list of people involved but not clear who is LEADING this project and such a lack of clarity of what is proposed. How many forms of entry are proposed? Two routes o make this happen. One where the council leads. But clearly this is not the route being followed as Southwark Council are NOT listed on the DfE website as looking for a provider. Or is the council just a bit slow following this route? Else it must be the school leading. If the school is leading then they'll need to justify the school and drum up supporting families. They'll need 80 such families by the time they apply for two form entry. The govt is hopefully persuaded by the application and the govt agency then seek premises. At which point Southwark Council offer the old Bellenden school site. Equally the agency may decide on what they consider a better site. The old Bellende School site was only a single form entry. The optimum school size is two or three form entry. So a real issue. Dulwuc Village is unliekyl to want ot agree to create a single form entry as existing parents would be up in arms as it would be likely to need some cross subsidy to work if that small.

Hi oimissus, New Dulwich Village school in Bellenden road is good news. Email from them they're unsure whether they'd be able to make it happen for Sept'15 or 16. An awful lot of hoops to jump through including applying to the government for funding. Normally the application should go in this September to maximise time to make it happen for Sept'15 or latest January 2014. Good to hear that some of the many people who didnt get one of their choices is finally getting a school they can be happy with. Congratulaitons. And you've had this good news with sufficient time for your children to get nicely excited.

Please do everyone vote for this local pub. NB. I'm a shareholder.

Hi undergran, Car2Go appears to be a new car sharing scheme. Using smartcars the idea appears to be they'll always find somewhere to park. Their website says they;'ll have up to 500 cars covering London and as of today 442 - https://www.car2go.com/en/london/how-does-car2go-work/ with about 10 around Lordship Lane/East Dulwich. They appear to be concentrated in areas without controlled parking. As the vehicles are MOT, taxed and insured theyre allowed to park without restrictions. If the car sharing is successful they should take more cars of off local roads than they provide. Most cars are idle 95%+ of the time. Car sharing is nol profitable if they're used regualrly daytime and evening 7 days a week. Rules. Without controlled parking, which isnt coming, the only rules are single and double yellow lines.

Lordship Lane Post Office costs ?1.48 to run for every ?1 of commission for providing the services. So its making a sizeable loss. So the Post Office are seeking a retail partner to run a replacement Post Office franchise in the centre of Lordship Lane. I presume such a partner would make a profit by opening more hours to spread their capital costs further. For the staff they could either TUPE across but it's likely the hours would become more shop like. The staff union the CWU is dead against any changes as clearly the staff are - hence the strikes. Personally I find no queues at the Crossthwaite or 369 Lordship Lane (near Dulwich Library) sub Post Offices and provide 99% of the Post Office services I need.Both are open slightly longer except for Weds and Thurs afternoons respectively when they're closed.

Hi UncleBen, I'm not aware of any lies or distortion. But happy if you PM me to tell me which house we should stop delivering to. Best wishes, james.

Hi FionaC and buggie, Well yes and no. Since Lord Adonis local councils havent been able to build new schools themselves. Daft situation. The government has changed this to presume local councils will seek someone to provide an academy/free school.If they don't find someone they get to build one. Ministers have talked about council opening new schools. Expanding Ivydale means using some of this year ?12.5M given by the government to Southwark Council to expand basic needs i.e. school places. IF however Southwark were to find a great school provider, as they are doing with working with Village outstanding school to open a new school on the Old Belleden School site, then the government pays all the capital nsd revneue set-up costs. That difference in approach is circa ?5m capital loss to the local area. It means that other school changes will be funded with ?5m less money.

The application form for Free schools is also quite a project in itself. Who's filling that in?

Hi Callie, That's weird. It has closed several times this year when on strike. If this is the reason then Rye Lane will also be closed. I'd suggest you try the Sub-Post Offce on Lordship Lane close to Dulwich Library.

Hi Renata, That is good news. You'll need to obtain support as part of the free school process of around 80 families to prove need. I wouldn't have thought that a problem and happy to talk through with Peter or you Renata how we did this in East Dulwich. The next deadline for free school application September 2015 opening is this September. So you have 4 weeks. If you need any help let me know.

Indeed Sue.

I have to agree with you all. It's so poorly designed. I hope the 'architects' are hanging their heads in shame. An appalling use of public money to produce a confused sub standard design which for most users has resulted in a reduction in utility. I suspect the excuse would be protecting the listed components of the buildings. But the additions are so poorly conceived that they've significantly detracted from the listed building.