legalalien

Re councillor campaigning, here?s a couple of pics from Twitter. Amusingly they seem to have taken along a councillor from Colchester who is keen on cycling, and who is copping flak after failing to explain an under-consultation bus gate to his constituents. https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/19423678.concerns-proposed-new-bus-gate-colchester-ban-cars/ Here to compare notes on communication strategies, or pondering a move to Dulwich?

One of the strange things about the debate locally is that (out of my personal contacts) some of the strongest advocates of LTNs are ?born again? active travellers- ie those who used to drive LOADS of short journeys and child- ferrying to any from school and activities and who have switched some of their journeys) whereas those against are those who have been walking and cycling these journeys the whole time. Perhaps the former see more potential for change than the latter / the latter see the downsides but aren?t really appreciating any benefit personally?

Why are councillors canvassing now - no election till next May is there? Or are they taking the political temperature locally? I haven?t seen any, or any leaflets, so presumably not seen as being a ?swing? street.

As a reminder, you can submit a new response to the review and change your original response if you want to: "If you've already responded but wish to change some of your answers, you may do so but please give the same name and details, and indicate clearly that this is your second response (we'll disregard your earlier response)." https://www.southwark.gov.uk/transport-and-roads/improving-our-streets/live-projects/dulwich-review I think the extension is because the council / councillors were getting grief about not providing data prior to consultation end date, as they'd promised to do - the extension takes that problem away.

While we wait for ex- to finish his or her breakfast, some light reading : https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.417.7811&rep=rep1&type=pdf. Assuming these are pneumatic tube counters (are they?), there?s some suggestion that large pulses of traffic can jam the counter. Old article though and not sure whether technology has improved the situation. From what I can gather, suppliers of tubes stress their accuracy and suppliers of other types of counting technology stress their inaccuracy (no surprises there). Quite a few suppliers suggest a minimum speed of 5mph and I saw in a US govt procurement doct that ?Pneumatic tubes... sometimes fail to count when vehicles are moving slowly because the velocity of the air inside the tube is insufficient to trip the air switch.?, which sounds like what you are referring to Rockets?

I think I?d find it more helpful to assess the timed closures if the council could split out the weekday traffic data (when the measures are in place) from the weekend data. I imagine the weekend data smooths out the peaks and troughs a bit? It would also help enable people to understand the breakdown between the increase in commuter and school travel by cycle and weekend leisure cycling.

Here?s the draft Air Quality scrutiny report Part 2 due to be considered / signed off at next week?s Commission meeting https://moderngov.southwark.gov.uk/documents/s100159/Air%20Quality%20Part%20Two%20scrutiny%20review%20report%20draft.pdf

Loads of questions from councillors at the upcoming Members? question time at the upcoming Council Assembly, some the kind of friendly questions you get from Tory back benchers at PMQs, others more challenging. https://moderngov.southwark.gov.uk/documents/b50013441/Supplemental%20Agenda%20No.%202%20Wednesday%2014-Jul-2021%2019.00%20Council%20Assembly.pdf?T=9 Cllr Leeming asking about air quality and Cllr Mills about cycle routes on Peckham Rye East, among others.

only had a preliminary look but I have a question as to exactly how pre-implementation data has mysteriously been "adjusted" to April 2019 levels when in some cases there is no pre-implementation data. Also why compare winter school term time in Calton with spring Easter holiday time? Devil will be in the detail. Hopefully some people with better stats skills than me can tell me what is going on....

No you're right, I don't think it was.

That's an interesting debate - "green technocapitalist solutions": Environmental Progress v Extinction Rebellion, and the question of nuclear power. https://environmentalprogress.org/ https://extinctionrebellion.uk/2020/09/16/statement-on-zion-lights-michael-shellenberger-and-the-breakthrough-institute/ Late to the party but trying to educate myself a bit on some of this stuff...

The background info about all the applications is here https://moderngov.southwark.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=533&MId=6871&Ver=4 The Court Lane beds stuff was potentially out of the Devolved Highways Fund, whereas Harmony in the Square was from the Neighbourhoods Fund. I'm not sure if there was ever a document explaining the rationale for which projects were chosen. It seems to be at the discretion of the local councillors.

The decision notice says ?Parking - to date, twelve stations to park the eScooters have been identified. These are all off the carriageway and are located in the north of the borough near main transport hubs, but some are located in the south of the borough. Some are in the same locations as agreed and used for the dockless bike stations as there was no concern raised with these locations previously.?

The reconstituted Environment Scrutiny Commission meets next Tuesday, will be interesting to see whether the dynamic changes with new personnel ( will they continue to co-opt Living Streets? Jeremy Leach and allow him such a strong voice at the table (perhaps not, given the shift in focus for this year?s work plan). One of the tasks is to finalise part 2 of the Air Quality Report, will be interesting to see whether the outgoing chair (Cllr Ochere)?s comments at the last meeting that he didn?t think the committee could include things without evidence will hold sway. https://moderngov.southwark.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?MId=7159 They?re focusing on community energy this year which I guess explains Cllr Newens chairmanship as she is involved in local community energy company SE24. https://www.se24.co.uk/.

Early signs are that XR Southwark don?t think the new strategy goes far enough as they?ve made a deputation request for next week?s cabinet meeting : https://moderngov.southwark.gov.uk/documents/b50013439/Supplemental%20Agenda%20No.%205%20Tuesday%2013-Jul-2021%2011.00%20Cabinet.pdf?T=9 You may recall that while XR and Fossil Free Southwark were involved in the early stages of policy formulation, by October last year they were expressing concerns about progress, see https://xrsouthwark.earth/lobbying-xrs-open-letter-to-johnson-situ-on-his-appointment-as-cabinet-member-in-charge-of-transport-planning-and-the-climate-emergency https://fossilfreesouthwark.wordpress.com/2020/11/27/climate-strategy-partnership-steering-group-statement-27-11-2020/ - I guess that prompted the various XR stickers that popped up around ED. One of the things called for was an independent review by one of two named organisations, which seems to have happened (from late March)- see https://procontract.due-north.com/ContractsRegister/ViewContractDetails?contractId=94666f08-bd7d-eb11-810a-005056b64545&p=2241eb95-058a-e511-80f7-000c29c9ba21.(although if you google it, looks from linked in like the work was largely done by a junior intern, which may not be quite what the lobbyists had in mind). See also a more recent lobbying letter from XRS to Cllr Dennis who is now in charge of the portfolio. https://xrsouthwark.earth/xrs-letter-to-cllr-helen-dennis-climate Kudos to XR and FFS for publishing these online, the more transparency there is around lobbying the better.

I've tried to give cheddar a bit of a miss and stick to mozzarella and feta (which is what the bhf seems to recommend, thanks for the link). Seems to be genetic in my case. New cheese shop - if you ever read this- perhaps you could have a section/ some flagged up low fat cheeses :) Or plenty of crackers, celery, apples and pears. I love the accompaniments nearly as much as cheese.

Really? I?m sure the doctor told me to cut dairy ( I don?t mean that sarcastically). Can I now justify cheese as a way of staving off osteoporosis?

Here?s the Council?s report on its performance against milestones, prepared for next week?s cabinet meeting. LTN stuff at around page 19-20: https://moderngov.southwark.gov.uk/documents/s99996/Appendix%202%20Performance%20Schedules%20Borough%20Plan%20Cabinet%20Report%2013072021.pdf. Slightly concerning reference to the fact that no real data on level of active travel in schools but that sensors, social media feeds and incoming correspondence suggest targets met. Is this where we?re at? Worth looking at the whole document to get a sense of the various things the council is doing across the board.

Looks like there is an online meeting this Thurs to discuss traffic calming measures around Goodrich School - see https://moderngov.southwark.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?MId=7169. Described as a Dulwich Hill ward meeting so I guess it?s open to the public and you email the council officer for Zoom details - not entirely clear.

Could you not extend the consultation window until after the data is released? The high street forums sound like a good idea. amesmcash Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hi Abe > > It's taking a frustrating amount of time to get > hold of data on this but I understand it should be > released in the coming two weeks, with a meeting > to discuss it. I realise it would have been better > for it to have come out before people respond to > the consultation but this wasn't possible. > > Best wishes > James

That would be quite inspired. Spartacus Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Maybe the council will use the ?3000 allocated to > "dulwich square" events to put up an outdoor > screen to show the game. > > But then again ....

Completely get that - same thing in lots of areas of law. The particular project described didn?t sound to me like something that needed an online platform at all, but who knows what they plan? One of the consultancies I saw on this morning?s register seems to be being paid ?100k pa on a ?sole source because of time constraints basis?, where linked in seems to show that they guy concerned has been working there in an ?interim? post for 5 years, 2 years before founding the consultancy with another ex Southwark employee and three years after. That?s the kind of thing that rings alarm bells for me. exdulwicher Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Legal - I suspect they would counter that since > the govt cuts they no longer have the resources to > do this stuff internally! winking smiley Your > point is a very relevant one though - we all know > getting consultants to do anything is actually a > very expensive way of doing it. > > On the other hand, there's a lot of expertise out > there that would cost councils far more to keep > "on hand" as employees. And if you do need > something doing relatively short term (say over > the course of 12-18 months), it's often far easier > to get in consultants because recruiting the > relevant expertise on short-term contracts is > difficult and expensive. > > Generally quicker and easier to buy in the > relevant needs - on the face of it, an ?85k > consultancy (which is the value of the dxw one) is > expensive but compared to keeping that level of > expert staffing as permanent employees of the > council, it's actually very cheap.

On the need for significant central government funding point - which is (rightly) made frequently - I can?t see how Southwark can think that central government would fund Southwark to achieve a decarbonisation commitment that is even more radical than the government?s own, national commitment, particularly given Southwark is a Labour council. Seems to me like that would never happen. I also don?t really understand why Southwark needs to spend so much on consultants to come up with something so general - a lot of the material in this is very general, and if all councils are producing strategies like this independently, that?s a lot of consultancy spend happening on duplicative stuff, rather than on genuinely borough specific things. Slightly off topic but it seems to me it?s going to be difficult for Southwark (or anyone) to achieve a reduction in emissions while at the same time carrying out a massive house building plan?

What?s strange is that the company is a software consultancy so it seems as though this is something that?s going to involve an online platform or service...

Was googling to see how much Southwark had spent on the external consultant helping to pull the climate strategy together (?60k contract) and came across the online contract register. For those interested in air quality issues, this new contract was added in May: https://procontract.due-north.com/ContractsRegister/ViewContractDetails?contractId=13a0cc7a-c5b8-eb11-810c-005056b64545&p=2241eb95-058a-e511-80f7-000c29c9ba21 Discovery phase: Mitigating the impact of air pollution on the health of vulnerable groups in Southwark (?airTEXT discovery project?) Description: Commissioning user-centred discovery phase research to improve the Council?s understanding of the needs of vulnerable residents in relation to mitigating the impact of air pollution on their health. The discovery phase will consist of new primary research with a sample of residents from our key target groups (children and their parents; residents with heart and respiratory conditions; older people). Within these groups, we will focus on understanding residents of BAME background and those living in more deprived areas in Southwark where there is the poorest air quality. This research will assess the capability, opportunity and motivation of these groups to change their behaviour to mitigate the impact of air pollution on their health, identifying opportunities where the Council could intervene to support health seeking behaviours. It?s within the environment and leisure portfolio (rather than health), ?83.4k. ETA there?s also a late 2020 contract (?153k) for air quality audits of maintained schools in areas of poor air quality, so looks like some priority being given to air quality issue. Other schools can request an audit at the same price Southwark pays. https://procontract.due-north.com/ContractsRegister/ViewContractDetails?contractId=bbf02071-3e9e-e911-80f8-005056b64545&p=2241eb95-058a-e511-80f7-000c29c9ba21