James Barber

Thought this Press Release based on Freedom Of Information requests was interesting by a councillor colleague - for the last two years we've been losing street trees. 70 from the Dulwich area alone.

Hi LoivaDee, I'll get some asnwers to why the basic custoemr service you rightly expect hasnt been happening for you.

Hi fazer71, Yes, the council can make people relinquish the pavement back for people to walk along safely. No council official wants to particualrly do this as most people are able to ensure their vegetation doesn't go outside of their gardens. If they leave it too long then when they do cut it back it can look really unsightly with just branches showing. Equally keeping vegeation in check sends a strong message to burglars that a home is well looked after. Hedges and plants should apparently be kept lower than chest height according to crime prevention Police officers to ensure burglars can't work at breaking in unobserved. So in the first instance email [email protected] with the details and address - even better with a photo. Council officials then visit. If they agree a problem is present they issue a letter giving the occupants two weeks to fix. They revisit after two weeks. If its not resovled the council engage contractors and charge the household. The contractors are not cheap. If the occupants are phyiscally unable to do the work then the council will attempt to find an alternate long term solution. IF you find this process and system doesn't work let me know with specifics so I can try and help everyone.

The Olympics have sent me the attached. Going through the website etc it seems clear the Zil lanes, mostly intended to benefit Olympic flunkies, will affect Southwark Roads - Tower Bridge Road, New Kent Road, E&C, Newington - Sunday 5 & 12 August and 9 September.

Hi Fred, From what you've indicated Iceland staff are saying M&S are intending to take over the site whether the Planning Application is successful or not. I would encourage anyone with a view for or against the planning application to make their views known to the planning officer [email protected]

Hi edborders, I think it extremely unfortunate and wasteful that a rec site in Lewisham was not only bought but maintained by Southwark rate payers for 100+ years. Southwark should sell the site to Lewisham Council with a covenant about it remaining a sports grounds into perpetuity. With the planned growth in London's population of over 1 million residents its even more of an imperative to ensure we keep all the open space we have such as this recreatino ground. Talking to funeral undertakers they're clear that the councils crematorium could be run significantly cheaper with better experiences for grieving families. This opportunity should be used to lower charges and for those that can use this making it more attractive. They also suggested that the grave spacing has been appallingly inefficient meaning much more land has and is being used for each grave. Burial costs are exlcusively used to cover current operational costs. The council needs to create a fund that each burial contributes into to cover the maintenance costs into perpertuity. Otherwise we get cemeteries uncared for or cost tax payers in the future large sums to fix. The council also plan to only sell burial plots for 25 years. I'd counter that if grave reuse has to occur then we have lots over 100 years of age. For the first time ever I've also had case work this year from people with religious beliefs who must have quick burials but being given dates weeks away. OVerall the service doesn't sem responsive to residents needs.

Hi fredricketts, No decision has been taken on the Planning Application to nearly double the size of the shop unit Iceland currently have the lease on. If you and your neighbours have views on this scheme please do let the planning officer know [email protected]

Hi citizenED, i thought exactly the same when i walked past it last weekend. I'll try and find out.

Contact the Noise Team via 020 7525 2000 even after the fact to report the problem. Also the Police via 101 no emergency number so they log the problem. Also worth contacting the Village ward Safer Neighbourhood Team. Now that the Noise Team is no longer 24/7 it appears that building up a case over several or more instances is required and then they attempt to fix the underlying problem. Hope this helps. If you find it doesn't please get in touch and I'll put you in touch with one of thE village ward councillors.

http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?5,847390,page=1 A thread on exactly this topic has been running this year.

I'm told technicians are on site today to fix the sensor in the chiller controller and that this should fix the extreme temperatures experienced.

Hi GinaG3, I've just had confirmation that they've just been done - but not made public by placing on the Southwark website mapping system yet. This financial year ?23,250 is being spent assessing East Dulwich Grove from Townley Road to Matham Grove. FY13/14?48,360 for a full public consultation and then details design and FY14/15 full implementation but no stated budget.

Zebra crossings, in law, give pedestrians priority. Pelican crossings give traffic priority. EDG has two issues. Vehicles not stopping at Zebra crossings and as per the thread title speeding. Raised treatments would solve both but make journeys less comfortable. I can;t see any traffic counts having taken place in since 2006. So I'll try and arrange this which will measure traffic volumes and speeds.

The online train thingy says trains are running this Sunday.

Southen on Sea have inreoduced average speed camera to enforce 20mph zone. Would this be preferable at about the same cost to raising these two crossing?

Hi fazer71, Concrete house I understood to have been finally compulsorily purchased and then sold on to a sympathetic developer who has already lined up lanning permission and listed building consents and has a suitable track record for this type of work. You may be corect about some contractor attutides. My personal experiences have usually been of people who do take a pride in the work they do.

My understanding is that the appeal the owners made they lost. Southwakr made the compulsory purchase and then sold it immediately to a sympathetic developer. Yes, some officer time was spent on this. But all that time was deducted from the price paid to the owner. If my mmemory is correct the coalition govt are planning on making empty properties easier to compulsory purchase. And with over 5,000 such empty homes Southwark could really start to solve its housing shortages.

Hi manindulwichse22, Southwark Council had a backlog of road and pavement works totalling ?18m a couple of years ago. Some minimal monies are devolved to local councillors. We decided to spend our ED ward ?33,333 for financial year 11/12 on North Cross Road. Two reasons - condition of the road and that its a street market with many more people walking around it. Also until it was re surfaced we seemed to be gettting resistance about marking our market pitches so stall holders turn up from 5am making a hell of a racket to grab better pitches causing a lot of upset for all the local residents. This marking now seems possible. Where to spend FY12/13? My ward colleague Cllr Rosie Shimell has studied the area you mention with a wheel chair bound resident. So we plan on ensuring proper access in the area. We're also thinking a number of other locations where the pavement is broken and needs fixing. And also several location where the road marking have worn away and causing local problems - around Chesterfield car wash for example. Hope this makes sense. Would be delighted for more input via emails to [email protected]/uk Hi DulwichFox, The south side North Cross Road pavement was renewed in gharish red brick prior to 2006 when I was first elected using Cleaner Greener Safer money. Why just one side? Because that side has most pedestrian movements due to market stalls facing that way.

Hi mynamehere, Not sure I follow. The Peckham Pulse swimming pool had massive leaks which could only be fixed by a very large project to tunnel under the pool to plug. Dulwich Leisure Centre was delayed in completion but stuck to budget. It definately has had teething problems but nothing on the scale of Peckham Pulse. E&C Leisure Centre. The very shallow swimming pool closed many many many years ago. The new centre is planned to have smaller sports hall, no squash courts but with a working bog standard 25m pool. I'm afraid its a long time since I used this centre and then only for badminton.

Dulwich Leisure Centre gym aircon chiller controller sensor replacement should happen within 3 to 4 working days. As know at least last Friday it should be repaired no later than tomorrow COB by my reckoning. Sorry it taken so long and I'm still a little concerned this might slip.

Feedback about the Dulwich Leisure Centre aircon problems. Apparently a chiller unit controller went faulty that controls chillers that help keep the gym chilled. The controller 'tripped out' and wont reset. After detailed investigation a sensor with the controller was found as the root cause of the problem and a replacement is on order. As soon as they confirm the date a replacement will be installed and tell me I'll post it here.

Hi mikeb, Did you report it via 020 7525 2000 or [email protected]? mikeb Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Lots of broken glass repeatedly on the pavement > recently on corner of Townley Road and Lordship > Lane, outside the dentists. I've swept it up once > already and I'll do it again at the weekend. > > If possible, it would be great to get one of those > machines with brushes that hoovers it up as it's > quite hard to get all the bits out of the cracks.

Hi fazer71, I made a point of cycling over it at the weekend slow up the hill and faster down the hill and it felt flat to me. I don't believe it was a cheap deal - Southwark term contractors were used and standard pricing. Hi DulwichFox & Fazer71, Re: digging up roads. I've asked for confirmation that a Section 58 notice has been served which bars utilities from digging up resurfaced roads for three years (excepting dire emergencies). I've also asked that the long promised market pitch marking out takes place allowing pre pitch allocation and to avoid stallholders feeling the need to attend pre dawn - often waking up residents.

I've been assured by council officials this afternoon that the gym aircon problem has been fixed and that theyll explain how this happened and how fixed on Monday. So apologies for being so cryptic but this as much as I know! Edited to correct spelling.

Southwark News running a story about school hygiene ratings 0-5 stars with 5 being the best. In the Dulwich area: Goodrich School 2* on Scores on the Doors and 3* on Food Standard Agency website - for same inspection! Goose Green 4* Heber 4* on Scores on the Doors and 5* on Food Standard Agency website - for same inspection! St.Anthony's 3* on Scores on the Doors and 4* on Food Standard Agency website - for same inspection!