When was the last time you saw an East Dulwich Councillor

[jamesmcash]

Brilliant thread, thanks a lot everyone.

[FairTgirl]

Hi James, hopefully you are getting some emails and tweets about the below and you will be able to help direct an actual consultation process and removal of the barriers until a consultation is borne out.

I have posted this elsewhere on forum. It really needs dealing with now as people's livelihoods and health are at risk and NO consultation is utterly unjust.

Closure of Melbourne Grove (and adjacent roads Derwent Grove, Elsie Road and Tintagel Crescent)

Hi all, I am one of the business owners on Melbourne Grove. At the end of last week Southwark Council closed access to Melbourne Grove from Grove Vale and all the other above mentioned roads, with absolutely NO consultation with the businesses, instantly cutting off passing trade, vehicular access and we have already seen customer footfall drop.

The aim appears to be to cut off all cars using these roads except residents, to prevent cars getting across to Dulwich Village this way and to get all traffic to use the more 'main roads' of Grove Vale and East Dulwich. I am parent of primary shcool age children in East Dulwich and totally agree with lowering pollution (especially around schools) but these plans will not actually achieve that, or will for a handful of residents but actually make it worse for the rest of us AND are cutting off trade to businesses that are just trying to get back on their feet post lockdown.

As an East Dulwich local you may have already noticed worse traffic and confusion on Grove Vale and East Dulwich Grove, heavier traffic equals more cars, idling engines, and more pollution on these roads, which include 2 schools, a public library and a new nursery on Grove Vale.

These roads may be considered to be more 'main roads' but are also heavily residential too. Why should the residents and businesses on these roads have to suffer greater pollution? There is social justice aspect to this, the people who tend to live on the busier roads tend to have less expensive housing, why should the value of your street or housing influence the amount of pollution you are exposed to?

Additionally there appears to have been no actual air pollution testing, traffic monitoring or modelling of redirected traffic loads on any of these roads prior to this plan. This 'experiment' could be for a minimum of 18 months. Small independent businesses can die in under 3 months without footfall, less given we are all on shaky ground post lockdown.

May I reiterate that there has been NO consultation of any kind, and this almost definitey will result in higher levels of pollution for the people who walk down, work and live on these roads. Do you walk to East Dulwich Station, down Grove Vale? You will be breathing in higher levels of pollution than you were last week.

This is an hugely ill conceived plan, with very little thought behind it, no nuance, no exploration of options, or any discussion with the larger local community.

[Abe_froeman]

You're welcome James.

Those surgeries adervtised in your sign off, are they still going on?

[FairTgirl]

I too would like to know this.

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

If you're that curious, you should email him and ask. The email address is right there.

[FairTgirl]

I have and have had no reply.

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

How long has it been? Councillor isn't a full time job (or a job at all, strictly speaking) and it looks like he's got a school to teach...

[FairTgirl]

I do appreciate that.

[Abe_froeman]

I wonder if we'll see a bit more of them now that there is an other election on the horizon?

Have many local councillors been here at all to see for themselves what the impact of the measures they took during the last twelve months has beem?

[heartblock]

Before the last council election...never seen again on EDG

[smooch]

;the poor things are hiding - three line whip to toe the line on supporting a dreadful policy destroying local businesses and creating massive congestion and pollution for most people to the benefit of a few bods. it would seem that most residents and businesses in the shut down areas do not actually want them

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

What is the point of this snippy thread? Are you people literally expecting to see councillors hanging around on street corners like ice cream vans?

If you want to speak to a councillor: call them or email them. If they don't reply - then moan!

[colville09]

Also, there has been a small thing called Covid which would have made the normal routine sugery visits that councillors make round their wards a tad difficult...

[Bic Basher]

I've had regular contact with Andy Simmonds on email about local issues such as the LTNs.

[Rockets]

Apparently from May 7 councils are being expected to start meeting in person (certainly to hold council meetings in person). Cllr McAsh mentioned it on twitter a week or so ago in relation to the govt forcing councils to do so - it may not be long now before the council and councillors will be expected to start meeting their constituents again.

https://twitter.com/mcash/status/1375220703994204165?s=19

[legalalien]

Is that good or bad? Good to have ward meetings but in relation to other meetings I think zoom / youtube has actually made the council's processes more accessible / at all accessible to many. I think the online thing as opposed to a physical meeting for eg cabinet and scrutiny meetings where the public don't have a right to speak generally has quite a lot of merit. A film of a physical meeting is much more difficult to watch / follow.

[Pugwash]

Many of the people who use Councillors' Surgeries do not have access to SMART phones or the internet so rely on seeing their Councillor in person. They also bring various documents to show them. Ward meetings need to return to face to face for the same reason as above. They can always video it as well.

[Abe_froeman]

Ah look, one of the Goose Green councillors was out at Easter "delivering for Sadie Khan".

Unfortunate positioning of his left middle finger :)...

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

So what?

[jamesmcash]

Hi all,

Yes, government rules are being changed so statutory council meetings can no longer be online as of May. I think that's a shame - online meetings were a good way of engaging the wider public.

I don't really understand the point of this thread. I walk around East Dulwich fairly frequently. I suspect that most people who see me have no idea that I'm the local councillor - why would they?

If you need to get hold of me, send me an email and I'll get back to you.

Best wishes

James