tomchance

Huguenot, I am neither trying to wheedle a plug nor deceive anyone, I'm not sure where that hostility comes from. Which thread are you referring to when you say that I tried to deceive people? I'm asking not because I want to while away my evenings plugging my candidacy, or debating every aspect of Green Party policy, but because I sometimes find this forum a useful place to exchange views and don't want to get on people's nerves.

I'd plant out loads of salads, herbs and tomatoes. You might not want to spend a whole afternoon there but it will smell lovely if you open your french doors, and you'll have a ready supply all spring/summer.

I think it's pretty sad, but laughing is a great response!

Opening up the square in front of the train station would be wonderful, I know it's something a lot of people have worked on for years. The main barrier seems to be the ownership of the buildings and long leases on them. @Acid Casual, I agree with your comment about building/development policy. I've noticed that the Christian group who have recently refurbished the old Arsenal co-op building at the bottom of Rye Lane have kept the curved arch as part of a fairly contemporary glass frontage, which is a good example of it. Oh, and don't forget we do have a Green councillor in Southwark who is also a London Assembly member and six next door in Lewisham ;-)

PeckhamRose, I'd suggest you actually read our proposals and perhaps that article I linked to. Then we can debate what to do. We actually explicitly state that we are not talking about posh shops and getting rid of what's there. It's absolutely not a complaint about the great west African shops we have there, some of which I make regular use of.

@TheArtfulDogger - yes, a town centre manager and a re-established forum is top of our list. But I do think it's right to extend the spirit of community councils to provide more people with input into their town centre. What do you think? @The Minkey - M&S hasn't been in Peckham for a long time and I doubt they'll return for a while. Longer term there are lots of people looking to open up the square in front of the station and the arches, creating a better public space for cafes & restaurants, whilst the Copeland industrial area could be a thriving workshop / arts space, if the business model could stack up. @PeckhamRose, yes I'm one of three Green candidates. I'm a bit reluctant to advertise that here, a lot of people are upset about politics on this board, I'd hoped it would be obvious from following the link to the proposals. As for white liberals sticking their nose in, many of our ideas came from talking to a really diverse mix of people on the doorsteps. For more thoughts on this maybe read my recent piece for Liberal Conspiracy? http://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/04/09/responding-to-the-bnps-claims-in-peckham/ @MitchK - did you know that Peckham used to be one of the major shopping and business destinations in south London? They're just demolishing the historic Holdrons store, which was anything but a turd.

Administrator, presumably this means no mention of political parties in signatures, elected politicians included? I got rapped on the knuckles for this and have left my signature out since, but would appreciate a clarification.

Apols if this is in the wrong part of the forum, I can never quite work out what the rules are... Anyway, I'm interested to read what others would do to improve Peckham town centre, which a lot of people in ED - and SE15 people who say they live in ED ;-) - use. I've spent the last six months surveying almost a thousand households in the area and talking with planners, town centre managers etc. along with my fellow candidates. We've put together these proposals and we've sent them to various local groups like the Peckham Society and tenants/residents associations: http://southwark.greenparty.org.uk/peckham In parallel there have been a few meetings of a loose forum of people, which we've participated in, to discuss the town centre. Something I really came away with from those was the importance of getting cross-party and wider resident/trader/police/council/etc. agreement, so I thought it would be interesting to see what fellow ED forum users think.

If it helps, Dulwich and West Norwood includes the local Southwark wards of East Dulwich, Village and College. All the others down this way are in Camberwell & Peckham. I've noticed several "email the candidates" type web sites telling me I'm in the wrong constituency because they haven't got the new boundaries :-S

Not sure if this was in the past year, time moves so far, but Inside 72 closed down and became the dreadful Adventure Bar. If you have kids then the Goose Green playground is being torn up and rebuilt to be a bit more fun, and Warwick Gardens has a new play area with lots of free trees.

cmck83 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Don't cycle down Surrey Canal! It's not the safest > place to be cycling, seriously. There is no proper > lighting, and lots of incidents happen along there > according to the bike forums my boyfriend goes on > (ditto Burgess Park). Really? I cycle down it twice a day and have never noticed anything untoward. If it gets dark you can just follow the on-road section of cycle route 22 down Sumner Road or even go onto Willowbrook Road / Peckham Hill Street if you prefer main roads... http://osm.org/go/euuvHkgm?layers=00B0FTF During the day the only problem I've ever encountered is irresponsible fellow cyclists going too fast.

Two more handy web sites for choosing cycling routes... A cycle map of the area - http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=51.4665&lon=-0.0731&zoom=14&layers=00B0FTF (actually covers loads of bits of the whole world, but I doubt you'll commute to Cape Town!) A really excellent cycle route planner - http://london.cyclestreets.net

Many thanks to those involved in getting these all put in. It's going to keep me busy updating the cycle map for the area - http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=51.46103&lon=-0.07105&zoom=16&layers=00B0FTF If anyone spots any that are missing, add them here or let me know! http://openstreetbugs.appspot.com/?lon=-0.07140448150621496&lat=51.46178135764238&zoom=15

It's made all the more silly by the fact the Peckham was at one point a village, then in the 19th century grew rapidly to be a town centre with a major shopping parade and has remained urban ever since. Perhaps the estate agents are trying to re-establish the role of village idiot?

I like the idea of someone arriving in Bellenden from East Dulwich!

Do that too, as I wrote in the Flickr group description. I've sent lots of reports in on TfL's web site too. You could also have some fun whilst waiting :)

Hello there, Come winter, councilors across the country don warm coats and pose with grumpy faces next to potholes not yet filled by the council. Fed up with training for the London 2012 Olympic cycle slalom? We have set-up a group on the photo sharing web site Flickr where you can don your creative hat and take some unusual, funny photos of potholes. We've called it the Southwark Potholers: So get out there and add some snaps. If you can't work out Flickr, just email some to me and I'll add them ([email protected]). Spread the word to any cyclists you know. Happy potholing.

Oops, sorry, it's just in my signature! I'll be sure not to have it switched on for this board ::o

Quite. I got my response in a couple of weeks back, it will be interesting to see how the elections affect this consultation and other recent moves by the Government to open things up a bit.

Spartacus Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Question > > With all of the pot holes after the snow, why do > councils spend their 'under spend' at the end of > the financial year on so called 'Road and Junction > improvemens' (like the current one near the White > Horse in Peckham) rather then filling in the > bleeding holes ? Those works have been in the pipeline for quite a while, I don't think it would be sensible to jack them in at such a late stage. Still, the potholes have made my daily cycle commute quite a lot scarier when you have to avoid foot-deep holes whilst contending with racing vans, buses and pedestrians wandering out into Rye Lane without looking :(

If you're looking for high quality, totally free maps & data in the meantime have a look at OpenStreetMap. Happy to help anyone use it, I mapped a good deal of the area :)

PeckhamRose, maybe we shouldn't have a speed limit at all then! ;-)

SeanMacGabhann Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > James - people aren't interested in facts. You can > prove anthing with them. They prefer blind > prejudice and gut feel Too true! So here's my gut feeling. What most people get annoyed by is money wasted on lots of ugly signs, painted road sections, speed humps, traffic calming islands, and by speeding idiots whether on a bike or in a van. 20mph zones allow you to get rid of lots of that. Just like the highway code, they set a clear standard for the whole area and in the places they've been tried out they've worked a treat. In an area like East Dulwich, nobody needs to go faster than 20mph.

Siduhe is spot on. A further problem is that many parts of Southwark are really multicultural, and whilst it has a bunch of languages and alternative options on the back you hit the same problem as putting them in public buildings - who is going to follow it up? Southwark Life potentially helps people know (a) about important new schemes they might benefit from and (b) how to get involved with things in their area. I think part of the solution to the second bit - and I emphasise, part, is to spend less of glitzy broadcast stuff like magazines and more on unglamarous community development work. Put a few people out on the streets getting to know all the local tenants and residents associations, active community groups, councillors, neighbourhood watches, etc. and supporting people who do want to get more involved in their neighbourhood in a small way. Help people connect up with the services and help that's available. We lack that layer of civic involvement between our mates and the funding/constitution/AGMs world of the voluntary sector. Sorry - getting a bit off the Labour ED team topic there!

I think it's a fantastic idea and should apply to the whole of London except for major through-routes. Safer roads mean fewer casualties, more people feeling happy to walk and cycle around, and a much more humane environment to live in. If you make entire areas 20mph, you get much better compliance than having lots of changes between 20/30/40mph, and you don't need to clutter roads with speed bumps and other really annoying rubbish. Portsmouth has been trying this out with great success. I'm really glad Southwark are gradually rolling this out. Islington recently joined us in exploring a whole-borough 20mph approach. Both have come about from tireless campaigning from charities, road safety groups and people like Jenny Jones. Twenty is plenty!