James Barber

Please if anyone spots suspicious activity - call the Police first if necessary 999 - and THEN create a thread at your leisure. The Police regularly tell me how incredinl;y fristrating it is that people don't immediately tell them but instead create debates on places like EDF.

Alastair Darling said he was going to introduce 20% cuts and increase VAT. The coalition have introduced 19% cuts. I presume the reference to children;s libraris and surestart were aimed at me? Bit hard to tell. No Lib Dem run council has cut libraries or sure starts. Local govt still have sufficient money to keep them IF they choose. Our own Labour run Southwark Council is choosing to stash away an extra ?9M every year for the next 3 years into reservs and contingency funds. Therefore needing to make much more cuts than actually required. This is a Labour trend across the country.

Have requested a new Wood Vale street name plate for the junction Wood Vale with Lordship Lane. Also asked for the mini roundabout at junction of Melford Road with Wood Vale to be repainted. Hope the person who PM'd me will be happy when completed. Person who asked why council flat 8A Worlingham Road has remained empty so long - I've been told its been empty since 8 November 2009. It had structural faults so the council tenant had to be moved out and structural work completed. This work cost so much and finished in the new year that the council now plans to sell the property to pay for the works. It will use the surplus to renew other council properties.

Hi peckhamboy, Some years ago I volunteered to be a technical trainer 2 days a week. I had a little bit of trian the trainer training and then had groups of 16 well paid colleagues from across the UK who had asked to attend the training. At the end of the each training day at 5pm I had to go home and lie down thoroughly exhausted. My respect for teachers rose significantly from my two years of doing that. I onlt rtrained for 50 days during the 2 years. I could not imagine doing it day in day out for decades on end. It would kill me. That's where my perspective comes from. Equally I suspect many indistries could do with recharged employees and colleagues.

TTT3, Which Liberal morals do you think we've burnt? Just a smidgen of context but the Lib Dems have 70% of our promises in the coalition agreement - the tories 60% of theri promises in the coalition agreement.

Hi TonyQuinn, You have a curious way of engaging people to do your bidding. The junction of Upland Road with Barry Road in the last 3 years had zero reported collisions and crashes. So we used that as a template for changes to the Underhill Road with Barry Road junction. So far it appears to have had zero reported crashes or collisions. Money is supposed to be coming as per the three year plan to improve safety on Barry Road - and the obvious speeding. But how do you reduce the speeding while avoiding mega humps affecting the buses that use Barry Road? Where humps and have been placed - a la speed table junction Goodrich Road junction with Barry Road neighoburing properties suffer terrible vibrations. In the past we were hoping that average speed cameras would have been type approved by now but they still haven't been. And frankly if a Labour govt had the heebie jeebies over them then the tory part of the coalition will have a fit at the suggestion that illegal speeding should be contained. BUT I can get a question asked. I'd welcome constructive ideas.

Hi binary star, I had meant to mention it but yes research has shown that definite discrepancies between actual and officially reported collisions and crashes. But it is extremely hard to extrapolate the level of crashes factoring in the researched under reporting rates by set severity of crash types if literarily none have been reported!

Hi binary star, No works have taken place at this junction of Barry Road with Upland Road. In the last three years prior to this collision this junction had zero crashes. A single crash on the adjacent pelican crossing had occurred. The junction we've had work done on is Barry Road with Underhill Road. Hope that clears up this misperception.

Hi cactus, If you (or anyone else who experiences this) ever find the poll on the chilly side please do complain. I've had lots of assurances that the pool temperature is now fixed and anyone finding it cold should ask to speak to the manager. If it's ruined your swim then ASK FOR YOUR MONEY BACK. Hi Natalie f, Throughout the main gym closure a temporary gym has been in place - but the importan thing is the full gym reopening is in 4 weeks and 6 days time - 10am Saturday 25th of Jne can't come quickly enough....

Hi Marmora Man, I get the point which is why I picked up on it. But working for 60+ years as a teacher is a huge challenge. They have a habit of burning out. I think that if we as a society want to challenge teachers more on performance, and I think we should, it needs to go hand in hand with a system of sabbaticals for them to recharge their batteries. But my post was reporting a visit to various schools, rather than an attempt to turn this into a running schools thread, which was in response to various queries from people about schools admissions.

East Dulwich seem to have gone crazy. Several residents complaining about particualr hedges and other residents complaining about having their hedges cut back by Southwark brutally to the property line. Apparently the deal is everyone has to keep vegetation behind their property line. If Southwark highway inspectors feel a serious overhanging is occuring they will issue a notice on the residents - sample attached - giving two weeks to cut it back to the property line. If the residents fail to do this then Southwark calls in contractors who typically charge ?200-300 depending on the amount of vegetation and Southwark invoice the residents for this. One of the holes in this process is where residents do trim their hedge but not enough and then feel Southwark is heavy handed by treating them as though they've done nothing rather than asking them to try again. Hope this helps explain how we an all avoid getting a notice letter. If anyone has any hedge problems please email me to try and help.

Hi cavid_carnell, As the saying goes as week is a long time in politics - so 4 years until the next general election is a political lifetime. A couple of weeks before the elections lots of opinion polls had us on 9%. Clearly its a volatile time politically as Lib Dems have been taking more of the brunt - in many northern parts being associated with tories in any way is poisonous and that's the key to the result. But in some areas we made our luck. So, yes I had a smile when I posted it but as a Lib Dem it feels true.

It was fine for my family a fortnight ago - and they don't do cold! eitherway, I'm still really looking forward to the Gym reopening 10am Saturday 25 June.

Hi Jane, We've effectively copied the layout at Upland Road junction with Barry Road. Council officials and the Cabinet cllr helpfully brought forward budget from this year to enable these works to take place at the Underhill junction. If we're correct the measures installed will resolve the collisions a this junction. To install humps and bumps on Barry Road would take some time to get past (if at all) Transport for London Buses. Hope that helps explain why we've done what we've done and all going well we'll see hugely reduced collision rate.

The Dulwich Leisure Centre gym is reopening in 5 weeks and 2 days time. I'm assured it will have free weights. You'll be amazed how good it will be when it reopens.

Hi bonaome, People had exactly that view of Walworth Road but the changes which largely have results in 20mph being observed even if through lack of choice has resulted in dramatic collission reducton and also the severity of collissions.

But vehicles turning left from LL facing northwards would give pedestrians little opportunity to avoid them. Equally the vehicels going southward tunring into EDG cause tail backs along LL the opposite way don't. So the proposed crossing point maximises LL traffic flow and gives pedestrians a better chance where they are continuing along LL by crossing EDG.

The Gym will open Saturday 25 June at 10am. I'll even get to make one of the speeches at the grand reopening - you lucky lucky people! The grand opening will include refreshments, magnificent speeches, and announcement of 3 x free year membership - enter the competition at www.southwark.gov.uk/Dulwich If you like to see detailed world exclusive 3D pictures of what the gym will look like then pop along now to the Dulwich Leisure Centre to view A1 3D pictures in the foyer. You heard it here first.

Hi Peckhamboy, I've not found them on the Southwark Council website but I did post them on my blog a month ago: http://www.jamesbarber.org.uk/ look at 14 April. NB the tree outlines represent already present trees. Hi first Mate, I did track down the Living Streets street audit but can;t find it again. I'll keep looking for you. Hi bonaome, Sadly Lordship Lane and Grove Vale do have a number of speed related crahses every year and changing them to 20mph would make a noticeable difference.

Hi MazzyStar, Council officer visited 5 Melbourne grove and explained how the rubbish and recyclnig works and the resident assured the council officer they would fully explain to all the other residents of this address. If you think the problem happens agains please let me know ASAP. Hi intexasatthe moment, Hedge trimming process - council officers is told or spots an overhanging vegetation. They leave a letter explaining the residents has two weeks to resolve. They re visit after two weeks. If resolve by resident all well and good if not they instruct contractors to cut the vegetation back to the proprty line. Often this makes the hedge look ridiculous. I have asked for a copy of the letter sent to residents to check if it fully explains what is required/expected. Where residents have cut back the vegetation but considered insufficient I believe a second letter should be issued as clear the residnt has tried. So the process needs tweaking to be a. more effective avoiding southwark contractor costs and b. more reasonable where residents are trying to comply but have misunderstood.

I met the president of the lib Dem party last night - he came to visit us in Dulwich. He reminded us of where been before - in 1989 on 0% as per The Oberserver. We're a tenacious lot and 16% as per two weeks ago isn't ideal but is a fine launch pad for the next few years.

Do take a look at crimestoppers website for crime prevention advice. This is a horrible thing to say but sometimes they come back now they know the layout of a property. also neighbours are more lilely to be burgled for similar reasons. Really up your crime prevention, locks and tell your neighbours so they can act preventatively. You South Camberwell Safter Neighbourhood Team should also be willing to visit to give crime prevention advice. One something like this happened to me I made a big list of all the advice and went through it quite systematically as, touch wood, we've not been burgled or attempted since.

Hi benmorg, The garden centre owners sold to a developer some years ago but the economic situation and planning consents have delayed things by several years.

But this is affected by insourcing and outsourcing. Frankly it's pretty meaningless.

This will be the likes of shop stewards. Organisatinos are required to allow such emoployees time to perform union activities. The other costs are probably the offices they do it from. I would imagine these costs will go down slightly as for example the teachers union officials will increasingly be representing teachers not employed by Southwark Coucnil but academies.