The Ladywell Local Assembly
Wednesday 9 February 2011
7-9pm
Lewisham United Reformed Church
18 Courthill Road, SE13 6HB
Minutes of the Meeting
Welcome, introduction & format for the evening
Cllr Vincent Davis (Chair) welcomed everybody and introduced the agenda for the evening which included the following items:
· Recycling your waste in Lewisham
· Bringing empty properties back into use
· Group discussions
· Safer Neighbourhood Team Update
· Community Updates
Recycling your waste in Ladywell
David Brinson (Waste and Initiatives Officer for Lewisham Council) delivered a Power-point presentation on various ways of recycling your waste in Lewisham. The key points were as follows:
· Recycling makes better use of our decreasing natural resources
· It’s better to recycle something we’ve already taken out of the ground than to use it once and get rid of it!
· Recycling makes more financial sense
· Kerbside Refuse and Recycling collections to 76,000 LBL properties
· Near entry collection points for 38,000 estate based properties
· All LBL residents can use Recycling Centre at Landmann Way, SE16
· Recycling at the kerbside or from your estate
· Weekly collection on the same day as your refuse
· LB Lewisham is currently recycling 16.80% of waste
· Five years ago the Council was recycling 10.21%
· Tell your neighbours and friends about recycling
David was asked a number of questions concerning the disposal of waste material including low energy light bulbs. David encouraged residents to make use of Landmann Way as this was the preferred method of disposing of household items including low energy light bulbs. Mattresses will be removed on the normal collection day without the need of a sticker. These should be left clearly outside the premises. In response to another question, David said that the wheelie bins came from Germany and this explains the delays in replacing lost or stolen bins.
A number of residents expressed concerns about garden waste. David explained that there were four places where garden waste could be taken across Lewisham and this included Landman Way. A third of people in Lewisham do not have a garden and therefore it was not cost effective to provide comprehensive garden waste facilities. 10 green bags could be collected at local libraries.
Bringing empty properties back into use
Nick Long (Empty Property Manager) gave a presentation on ways of bringing empty properties back into use which included flats above shops. Nick highlighted a number of examples and answered a number of questions from residents. A summary of Nicks presentation is outlined below:
· there are over 2,000 residential properties empty at any one time-figure is increasing
· over 600 private sector properties have been empty for 6 months or more
· there are 270 long term empty properties (one year or more)
· 100 problematic cases which are giving cause for concern
· empty properties lead to increase in anti social behaviour
· the Council has powers to compulsory purchase properties although the process can be very protracted
· the Council can also enforce a sale under the Law and Property Act 1925 where debt and interest is owed. This is an option which Lewisham has pursued successfully in the past.
· Empty Dwelling Management Orders were introduced under the Housing Act 2004
· 44 interim and final orders have been granted nationwide under the EDMO, 15 of these have been in the London Borough of Lewisham
· Applications to the Residential Property Tribunal will shortly be abolished by the Ministry of Justice
· It is now possible to take control of an empty property (not ownership) if the dwelling has been empty for more than 7 years
Nick concluded by saying that he was happy to work with the assembly on individual cases and report back to a future meeting.
Cllr Davis thanked both David and Nick for their contribution and invited the meeting to break for tea, coffee and light refreshments.
Group discussions
John O’Reilly [Local assemblies Coordinator] explained that £25,000 Mayor’s Fund will be available for 2010/11 and a further £18,750 from April making a total of £43,750. The coordination group, chaired by Cllr Davis, had decided to ask the assembly to identify the key actions linked to each ward priority. At the end of this process we would have a clearer idea of how to allocate the Mayor’s Fund.
The meeting then broke into groups to discuss the ward priorities. A summary of each workshop is outlined below:
1 Traffic
· lights on Ladywell Road by Gordonbrook Road school
· 20 MPH zones, traffic calming? mixed views but would be good to see evidence.
· CPZ’s generally not a good idea (but depends on where people live and requires majority consent of local residents)
· narrowing of roads by encouraging parking on both sides
· the items identified (above) are possibly not appropriate for the Mayor’s Fund due to costs involved
2 Streetscape and Environment
· lack of street trees in Brockley Road and Ladywell Village
· requirement to implement the Ladywell Streetscape plan
· litter/rubbish around shops and restaurants
· lack of bins in the ward
· row of shops in Brockley Road has deteriorated,owners need to improve
· too many confusing signs
· recycling businesses waste is required.
3 Lack of youth facilities
· Funding for netting at the Ladywell Centre
· Request out of hours access to schools
· Link Brockley Max to training young people in event management/ community engagement
· lack of things for young people to do
· summer activities programme
4 Anti-social behaviour and crime
· Drugs/smoking in the flats and stairwells of Grettfield Close and Nuding Close coupled with intimidation of visitors
· stray dogs and dangerous dogs on Hillyfields
· Burglaries have increased over Christmas
· worst affected areas are Loampit Vale, Embeleton Raod, Halesworth Road, Overcliff Road,Tyrwhitt Road, Chalsey Road and Tressilian Raod.
· Public awareness campaign
· Noise, not within police remit, are referred to Environmental Health Officers
· AHOY, Brockley Max, Lewisham Community Sports provide short term projects for youths, however something more long term required
· Parenting issues need to be addressed
· Street lighting at Fossil, Ivy, Viney and Tresillian
· Lights are too low a priority
· Embelton Road youths smoking cannabis
· Loampit Hill cannabis smoking across all groups
Local shops
· Better parking for shopping
· 20 miles per hour zones may need revisiting
· more local cafés
· many empty shops now in Ladywell, no collection of business rates
· no green grocer, butcher or pharmacist
· fast food outlets should be capped by planning
· impact of tesco retail needs to be evaluated
· farmers market 1 per month by Ladywell Station
· greater variety and range of restaurants
Ladywell Safer Neighbourhood Team presentation
Officers from the local Safer Neighbourhood Team provided the following report
The ward priorities are decided by the ward panel which is comprised of members of the community and chaired by a lay member. The current priorities are burglary, theft from motor vehicle and anti social behaviour by youths in Greatfield Close and Slagrove Place.
The SNT produced and hand delivered several different burglary prevention packs to hundreds of residents within the ward. These packs took into consideration the current methods used by burglars to gain entry into houses within certain areas. One such campaign highlighted the need to fit modern secure locks to sash windows. The team have organised and conducted several operations using the Automatic Number Plate Reading (ANPR).
The team recently adopted a new scheme aimed at tackling theft from motor vehicles. Letters were sent to owners of vehicles with valuables on display. The letter provided crime prevention advice and highlighted theft offences occurring within that area. This new method was especially helpful within Ladywell, as most of the victims were commuters or people using the Town Centre.
Following discussions with residents officers monitored anti- social behaviour at key times at Greatfield Close and Slagrove Place. These patrols enabled officers to identify most of the youths involved. After liaising with Pinnacle Housing officers officers from the SNT visited the youths and their parents and issued tenancy warning notices. This partnership approach has helped to combat incidents of anti social behaviour.
The SNT provide a drop in surgery at Brockley Police Station and also a street briefing at Greatfield Close. Residents can also telephone enquiries by calling 0300 123 1212.
Community Updates
The following organisations were present at the meeting and gave brief community updates:
Brockley Max
Ladywell Centre
Lewisham Community Sports
Closing comments and next steps
Cllr Davis (Chair) concluding proceedings by thanking everyone for attending, in particular Dave Brinson and Nick Long for their excellent presentations.
The next meeting of the Ladywell assembly will take place on Thursday 12 May 2011. A venue for the meeting and precise timings is still to be decided. The coordination group will shortly meet to analyse all the information from the workshop sessions and decide the next steps with the development of the Mayor’s Fund. There was a very good start made this evening and the contribution of all those involved was acknowledged.
There being no other business the meeting was closed at 9:30pm.
No declarations of interest were made at the meeting
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