Glemham

This is a commonly held misconception. The Dulwich Estate’s Scheme of Management is self funding. The annual charge which those of us who live on the Estate are obliged to pay on an annual basis does NOT go to funding the Foundation Schools or the other Beneficiaries of Edward Alleyn’s estate. www.thedulwichestate.org.uk/property-on-the-estate/residential-freehold/ the scheme of management will tell you all you need to know about this feudal tithe gathering enterprise created in 1974. The Dulwich Estate Charity is bound to distribute every year its disposable income to its beneficiaries, which include the three Dulwich Foundation Schools. In 2022-3 this was £5m.

I’m saddened by this response Alice as you usually post sensible comments. Is this a response to the Dulwich Bus Campaign https://dulwichbuscampaign.co.uk which aims to use an existing bus to improve connectivity between different parts of the Dulwich constituency, and in doing so highlights the shortcomings of the P4 bus. If so you haven’t seen our website and the petition which currently has close to 1,000 signatures, and is supported by several organisations across Dulwich. I live close to Lordship Lane which is well served by buses that will take me directly to the centre of London in one direction and to Lewisham in the other. But if I want to travel to see friends in West Dulwich/Norwood or to use the shops and cinema there without using my car there is no direct bus that will get me there. I don’t want to, and cannot cycle because I am 80, and although I look quite fit and healthy for my age, I have a heart condition which means walking other than in the flat or for any length of time makes me tired for the rest of the day. Something that cycling enthusiasts don’t always recognise….. I know that many people in West Dulwich/Norwood would like to come more often to Dulwich Village to support the Gallery, the shops which are struggling with a much reduced footfall and to work. This is what the Bus Campaign is working towards. Oh and if successful will link four local train stations which might help in ferrying around all the thousands of schoolchildren from across London who are being educated here!

Not sure our recent Bus Campaign can claim credit for a decision that has probably been months in the making, but it’s very welcome news. We hope to be involved in any consultation process. https://tfl-newsroom.prgloo.com/news/three-london-boroughs-win-tfl-funding-to-transform-local-bus-networks

Hope this works https://dulwichbuscampaign.co.uk

A campaign started by a small group of Dulwich residents for better connectivity between West Dulwich, Dulwich Village and Herne Hill. For all the details see the website: dulwichbuscampaign.co.uk This also includes a petition to sign showing TfL the level of support for the proposal. Please forward and share the website.

Might it also be a result of drivers racing their cars as happens in other areas of London?

Agree with Treacle Rabbit. Zen is a WHICH? recommended provider.

The Dulwich Park Friends might know the answer: dulwichparkfriends.org.uk

On dark nights LTN roads are often too quiet and some people both young and old don’t feel safe walking home alone. Not helped by large trees obscuring the street lighting on some roads. Is it my elderly imagination or is the new environmentally friendly lighting not as helpful to elderly declining sight as the previous lighting? But then the needs of the elderly don’t seem to count for much in LTN and closed roads planning.

Heritage Cheese in Vanity Square closed suddenly yesterday and has a High Court notice on the door “That goods have been secured on site”. Apparently the Dulwich Estate knew nothing about the closure. It might be some time before another tenant can move into the shop……..

The tenants are/have been Stonegate Pub Co. which claims to be the largest pub company in the UK. Last year they were £2.2billion in debt and “seeking to refinance”. Allegedly the Estate has been receiving anything from £50 to £100K in rent.

I understand that The Grove is to be handed back to the Estate in September hence the cleaning up process. Will we ever know why this building was allowed to become so dilapidated and remain empty for so long and who profited?

Meanwhile whilst you are both going down a crime rabbit hole yet another shop has closed on Vanity Square. Heritage Cheese is no more and only a High Court notice about goods being secured on site remains. Will the Dulwich Estate make any comment about the disappearance of yet another business tenant? Don’t hold your breath……..

Oh come on Malumbu don’t be so disingenuous! There are many causes of obesity and LTNs are a minute part of the solution. If active travel is so important to you why not start using your undoubted energy to campaign for it in the form of improved public transport and access to it; to and from, and in and around Dulwich. It’s not too late, although it might have been more sensible to make improvements to public transport before closing roads. Certainly most of our elected representatives don’t appear to have had much interest in doing so. Some facts: Going to Beckenham and Bromley from East Dulwich by public transport - which many people would like to do necessitates two bus journeys, whereas there’s a direct bus to Lewisham. Easier to take the car. Getting across Dulwich from East to West is almost impossible by public transport. There is a single decker but that goes via a congested South Circular. You might say take the train, and indeed in the area covered by Dulwich and West Norwood constituency there are 10 rail stations. BUT only three of these have step free access, Herne Hill - the only one with a lift, West Norwood and East Dulwich. There is one step free northbound platform at Tulse Hill and Gipsy Hill. But the remaining five are problematic. If you are a parent with a buggy, disabled, elderly with heart or breathing problems, have a heavy suitcase and cycling is not an option, then your active rail travel options are somewhat limited. So Malumbu are you willing to try and make difference?

Many of the tradespeople care because their footfall at the junction has fallen since January when even more traffic restrictions in the form of a CPZ were installed. This combined with the high rents levied by the Dulwich Estate and Southwark business rates, are forcing more businesses to close. Romeo Jones, one of the last independent businesses in the Village will close on Saturday and Harold George the hairdresser is moving to smaller premises a few shops away. A Tapas bar is rumoured to be taking that corner site. I realise this posting is not strictly on the topic of the West Dulwich Action Group, but no doubt they will recognise their own concerns in the Dulwich Village problems.