taper

Is there any assessment on how much land will be brought into public use from the current football pitch?

The Friends of DKH Woods are now arguing that Hadley's plans put local children at risk of getting cancer.

"The future of Green Dale and the future of DHFC are not a zero-sum game. I fear the possibility that the developer might use a 'divide and rule' approach, when other plans are possible and can satisfy all parties." I agree absolutely. I think DH fans (among who I count myself) are fairly long in the tooth and are by no means cheer leaders for Hadley. but I think there's a win/win in here somewhere: where Greendale is enhanced and the club's future is secured.

"There is no evidence given that Green Dale is ?under-used?. It's a well-loved oasis of peace and greenery and as such does not need ?reclaiming? and its unique ecology and unspoilt nature would be harmed by it being turned into a park." Really!? I use Greendale a lot and is usually pretty empty, save for the odd person cutting through or more likely taking their dog for a dump. There's also the occasional burnt out stolen scooter to add to the vernacular. Unique ecology is one way of describing it I suppose. It is a great space, but it needs some serious management (cf DKH woods) to enhance its value to and use by local people and to improve biodiversity. If that's what's planned, while giving DH a sustainable future, then I will be all for it.

No, the dead of today can be buried, just not (for much longer) in a Victorian cemetery coming to the end of its life as a working cemetery. Camberwell New Cemetery I don't really give a damn about, but COC needs to be wound down and new land identified where local people can be buried.

Well perhaps, but that's no excuse for modern cemeteries looking so damn ugly, particularly in a residential area. There's a risk that COC could become a blight on the area, rather than an asset. Sooner rather than later a long term burial solution will be needed in Southwark. COC isn't it. but the risk in using COC as a short term solution is that the long term utility and value of the space will undermined.

Warwick Gardens in Peckham is an old slum/bomb damage clearance area, made into a small recreation ground in the 60s I think. Since then, because of the mature gardens on one side and the railway on the other, it has become an unlikely haven for wildlife, particularly insects (including stag beetles). Because of the work of this woman, catalogueing the insect life of the park (here - http://insectinside.me/category/warwick-gardens-se15/page/3/), we have come to appreciate that this unlikely setting is hugely important for local wildlife. In fact one insect found here had never before been seen in the UK and the Natural History museum came down to verify the find. Locals with LB Southwark have sought to enhance the space by planting a wild hedge along the railway side and allowing the grass to grow wild on the garden side over the next few years. I have no idea whether COC is similar in its importance to local wildlife, but my guess is it may well be. Has there been any sort of detailed assessment? I'm afraid i find the argument that "other green/wooded areas are available" to be rather shallow and shortsighted. Modern graveyards look bloody awful and COC is an old graveyard that should be in process of winding down as a working graveyard and turned into a mini Nunhead cemetery for future generations.

That's a very useful link (to the Peckham Rye ward councillors' site). The plans I would strongly object to are mentioned towards the end of the article: the plans to re-use area "H" (or the gladed area. I assume this is the wooded area with the old graves at the north east end of the cemetery. Developing this area for re-use would be a retrograde step and severely diminish COC. It's here future protest should focus.

It's a double bluff isn't it? The Brian Simpson character is the fake.

It's not charming; it's based on ten years working with Southwark as chair of a local friends group. Sometimes Councils do things or propose to do things that are ill considered or not right. It's the role of local groups to point that out and help come up with alternative solutions. But in doing that, you need to appreciate the Council is often arbitrating between and reconciling different demands and viewpoints. So in my park, we worked with the council to improve lighting, add play equipment (despite some local people worrying about noise) and enhance biodiversity by planting a wild hedge and altering the way they cut they grass in the park. This process is not always easy, particularly at a time when budgets are under severe pressure. And I'm sure at times the council thought we were a pain in the arse. But if you start from a position of empathy and willingness to compromise, without losing sight of what's core to your case, then you will find that council officers are good and dedicated people who want the best for the local area. Sometimes protest and activism is the only way, or even recourse to legal avenues (eg fighting off proposals to circumscribe dog walking walking in southwark' sparks), but this really is a nuclear option. SSW will fail because as presently constituted, and with its current mindset, it is incapable of building a broad coalition of support and sitting down to do a deal with the council.

It's not the hyperbole of this campaign that saddens me so much as the self-indulgent shrill naivety. You need to take the Council with you on issues like this There is clearly a compromise to be reached here; to preserve that which is worth preserving and nurturing in COC, while allowing for burials to continue for a time. But to tee up the whole debate as zero sum, berate anyone who has a different viewpoint, and alienate those who you need to persuade, is just inept and serves no-one.

I see the latest tack SSW are taking is to lobby and petition for a junior Southwark Council officer to get the sack.

I think Lewis took the photo. Given that he's banned, I thought I'd share the fun on the Forum.

Tonight's Comedy benefit seems to have had them rolling in the aisles.

All 63s terminating at and running from Peckham Rye because of faulty lights on FHR, I saw on twitter.

Here's what Southwark are saying. http://www.southwark.gov.uk/info/200032/deaths_funerals_and_cremations/2231/the_future_of_southwarks_cemeteries/6

I rest my case.

Problem with this whole debate is I'm still not entirely sure whether the wood in Camberwell Old Cemetery (on the northern and north eastern side) are genuinely under threat. I think the failure of the campaign, on top of the hyperbole, is to spread their goals too wide. Plus resorting to ad hominem against Southwark's political leadership has been a big mistake as they are the people that need to be persuaded to modify or clarify their plans. I like Lewis and his group a lot and admire their passion and energy. But I think they need now to re-assess the scope and tone of the campaign and focus on that which is really worth preserving, maintaining and improving. And they need to work with Southwark to come up with a plan that manages and preserves the woods in COC for the future.

There is definitely a wood in Camberwell Old Cemetery, whatever you call it. I've walked around it. Worth preserving in my view.

There is a significant area of Camberwell Old Cemetery that looks and feels like a wood to me. So it probably is a wood, whatever you want to call it. Coc Wood probably inadvisable. Not sure I'd welcome it being cut down.

I've seen a lot of near accidents and near misses on the one way system at the bottom of Warwick Gardens, particularly at the junction between Lyndhurst Way and Holly Grove. People don't seem to understand the right of way system there and a lot of drivers really hammer it heading onto Bellenden Road. I don't think it's particularly bad for cyclists because of the one way. More of an issue for pedestrians and the general amenity of the area; which is essentially residential, but is blighted by the one way system. Biggest issue for cyclists round there is the quality of road service on Lyndhurst Way, which is dreadful. And the really big issue is that the whole of the Bellenden area is used as a rat run and cut-through. anything to address that would really make a big difference

Not so fast. Here's a picture I took last night, just after the King of Camberwell had equalised.

Brenchley Gardens park is churned up with tyre tracks, so they went through there. I know they headed down Westwood Park and then Canonbie Road beforehand.

If you're not able to visit the woods in COC to decide for yourself whether they're worth protecting, there's a good description here. http://www.baldhiker.com/2015/08/21/a-walk-on-the-wild-side-in-londons-southwark-woods/

So you haven't been Sue. Have you been to Nunhead Cemetery recently? COC could look like that in a few decades time, but not if it's torn down in the next few years.