Sqiggles

Having thought about this quite carefully, this is where Ihave got to. The traffic problems with Dulwich Village have been seriously exacerbated by the Quietway changes to the main junction, which were completely ill conceived. The proposed restrictions on traffic in Dulwich Village will have a disproportionately adverse effect on local roads such as Croxted Road, Half Moon Lane, East Dulwich Grove and Lordship Lane, all roads categorised as ?main roads? but which are in reality narrow residential roads with schools and nurseries. By comparison, Dulwich Village is wider, with pedestrians for the most part well set back from the road, and is much more suitable as a main road. Dulwich Village is our high street and the shops are already struggling - the changes will damage their businesses and I am told that nearly all are against the proposals. The foundation schools are at the heart of what makes Dulwich special, but unless and until they move to a more catchment area focused admissions policy the cost of the schools is term time traffic. This traffic is destination traffic which cannot be rerouted away from Dulwich - parents will continue to drive their children to school, particularly given the lack of east/west public transport in South London. That then leads to the other proposals that are provoked by the justifiable fear that the Dulwich Village changes will cause rat-running through and school drop-offs in other residential roads. This puts neighbours against neighbours as each road looks to be a winner not a loser - and this divides our communities unnecessarily. Blocking off roads also divides communities from their neighbours and from local facilities. It inevitably pushes more traffic into roads that are retained as access points. For these reasons I believe that the proposals are too radical and Southwark needs to go back to the drawing board to find a less fundamental proposal that has the full support of the community.

you could think about walking through Dulwich Park and picking the P4 up in Dulwich Village. If the traffic is bad you could walk on to North Dulwich, or pick it up at any of the stops between the park gates and North Dulwich?

My experience is a little ealderly, but nothing to worry about. Just a bit of a chat and some games. Nothing you can prepare them for - although it helps if they are chatty children!

Why don't a group of you get together and go and see then about planning issues in your road? In my road we had all assumed that there was a limit on what you could do because of the estate, but one house worked with them to come up with a much more extensive extension plan and since then we have all just copied that plan. The estate are a bit obsessed about what the houses look like from the road, and keeping the road homogeneous, but otherwsie they can be a bit more flexible, particularly if they think neighbours are in favour.

Very difficult. The scheme dates back to the 1960s, when leasholders acquired the right to but their freehold. Before then all properties were leasehold from the estate who buried these rights in the leases. The scheme was introduced so that, as freeholds were sold, the same rights were embedded in the land rights - so it is all reggistered with the title to your house. I think it has been considered by the Courts and held to be watertight. You would be better off speaking as a group to the estate about whatever your issues are - for instance, if it is planning type issues, you could all approach the estate and negotiate. If it is just to avoid the annual charge - that pays for the maintenance of a lot of the spaces around Dulwich - like all the greens surrounded by white posts - as well as the admin on the scheme. If fewer people pay the cost goes up for the rest!

Herne Hill this morning had one Thameslink train between 7.15 and 9.15. This is the standard service in the morning at the moment - as compared to 6 trains an hour before the new timetable, So I do hope that you are enjoying your new trains at Crofton Park......

for swimming lessons - JAGS or Crystal Palace?

I do not agree with the use of public parks for these festivals. The park is paid for by all of us and we should all be able to use it on a sunny weekend. The screens that have gone up at Brockwell effectively block off most of the park - and they are up already for a fesitival that is not this weekend but next weekend. So in pracice the park will be out of acrtion for nearly three weeks - once you take into acocunt making good afterwards. I also do not think it is appropriate to have live music in tents which do nothing to dampen the sound for local residents.

Yep the rest of us have been shafted! Herne Hill, currently 6 trains an hour through to Farringdon etc - all crammed to the rafters - from next week 4 trains an hour. Blackfriars is going to be chaotic on Monday morning as everyone gets thrown off terminating trains. And whilst the niterchange going north at Blackfrias is just crossin gthe platform, has any tried it going south? It is not straightforward, becasue the station is built over the river and so you have to go right to one end or the other to cross over.

The one thing that the apps do not suggest is the walk from Victoria. I would not try to get on the tube at Victoria - too grim - so train from Peckham Rye to Victoria and walk. It is quite a nice walk once you get away from Victoria - Buckingham Palace and through the park.

Hornimans!!

I thikn they might be the circus on Streatham common? I saw them last Thursday.

Does anyone have a contact name for DHFC. I may have a suggestion of who might be able to help the club out.

The picturehouse strikes will have had an effect?

The workshop at the half moon in Herne Hill - smallish room in the pub garden

Under the old configuration it was more obvious that the traffic from Turney Road had priority over traffic from Calton Avenue wanting to turn right into Dulwich Village - in the same way that all right turners have to give way to traffic coming in the other direction straight on. By shifting the Turney road traffic further over to the right, it is less obvious that the Turney road into Calton cars are coming "straight on", as opposed to performing a left then right turn. Also, by moving the Turney traffic further to the right, they are now directly opposite the 2 lanes of Calton Avenue facing the lights. It should be obvious that the Turney traffic should not go this side of the island when cars are waiting at the lights, but on an empty road you can see why someone might mistakenly drive the wrong side of the island when driving Turney to Calton - that would be straight on rather than the rather awkward left and right. And if you are a pedestrian crossing Turney Road on a green man, you need to realise that you do not have a green man to get all the way across, but the cycle lane out of Turney is green at the same time. Again, this is not obvious - and also pretty frustrating given how long you have to wait for a green man at these lights. Lastly, there is no longer a right filter for cars turning right from Dulwich Village into Calton Avenue. There is space for about 6 cars to be queuing to make this turn, so if they cannot start to turn until the Dulwich Village lights go red, and the green man on the Calton Avenue crossing goes green as those lights go red, pedestrians crossing on a green man (including children who have been told that the green man is "safe") are caught by the stream of right turning cars.

we are interested - our 15 year old daughter wants some help with Spanish GCSE. I will PM

We have done quite a few adventurous trips with our kids. You need to watch the weather in the summer holidays - I am not sure it is a good time for Sri Lanka or Costa Rica, for example (we had a great holiday in both, but at Christmas). The west coast of Canada is amazing - Vancouver and Vancouver island. Bears, whales, kayaking .....and a very cool city. Africa too - safari is very expensive, and actually a bit boring for most kids for more than a day or two, but Victoria falls, South Africa etc. And the US too - California, San Francisco, Yosemite, drive down highway 1, LA, Grand Canyon..... But don't dismiss Europe - if you travel long haul you will use up quite a bit of your budget on flights. Look at some of the family adventure holiday companies for suggestions of cool adventures you can have in Europe. Sicily, for example - volcanos, greek and roman ruins, beaches and pasta! Tour around in a car, or for a real adventure use public transport.

The fact that there is a lollypop lady to help children crossing the end of Court lane (albeit she starts too late for the Alleyns/JAGS/JAPS kids) would indicate that this is an accepted crossing point. I cannot believe the route for cyclists coming south along Dulwich Village. I sat in a car last night and watched a cyclist cycle up the inside to join the little cycle lane, before realising in was a dead end and there is no room (with the waiting cars) to get into the cycle box at the lights. He therefore had to weave through the cars to the outside to get into the box. It is a 4m long cycle lane that leads nowhere!

If you cycle south through Dulwich Village the cycle lane is suddenly blocked by the new bit of pavement, so if there is a car waiting at the lights it is a real squeeze to get into the cycle waiting area.

This is all part of the cycle quietway works. Southwark insisted on rushing on with the works even though there was much local opposition. Quite why the works had to start just as the schools went back? But it is indeed chaos.

It is lovely - but probably best to avoid the really busy times.

I have no problem with young children cycling on the pavement - or older children/adults for that matter - so long as they respect the fact that pedestrians have the right of way. Cycling up behind a pedestrian and then ringing you bell in order to tell the pedestrian to give way is not, however, acceptable. A cheery excuse me and thank you is all that is required....

We used Sax.co.uk - but be warned that the hire cost is not cheap and it quickly becomes cheaper to buy it.

I think by 7 it is worth asking them what they fancy doing and then searching for that? For example, there is a great hockey club (Tulse Hill?), Beacons netball club, gymnastics at alleyns and Dulwich college, football in Burbage road, climbing at jags, lots of swimming clubs...and that is before you get into the more obscure sports.