Forest Hill Society Seeks New Chairperson

The Forest Hill Society is looking for a new Chairperson to oversee its activities and to help manage its future direction. The role is important — chairing both the Executive Committee meetings and the Annual General Meeting. Though much of the work done by the Society is at the Committee level  — which currently includes environment, planning, transport and communications — it is important to coordinate all our activities and campaigns.

Should you be interested in the role of Chairperson, please send us an email or arrange to speak with any member of the Executive Committee who would be more than happy to meet and talk about this.

The Society has grown to become an important part of Forest Hill life. We oversee activities like the annual flower planting in and around Forest Hill station. Of course, there was much discussion on the Christmas Tree this year and its errant hat — that’s us too.

The Society continues to provide input on major planning applications and has been instrumental in recent decisions around the SE23 postcode in the last year — including the creation of the Christmas Conservation Area. And, of course, there are the many ongoing efforts of the Society often mentioned in this newsletter, such as the Clean Air and Aircraft Noise campaigns.

Since the wonderfully attended Christmas Tree lighting ceremony with carols and Santa, the Society has hosted a public meeting of the Clean Air for SE23 campaign; organised a history walk around Perry Vale and Blythe Hill; and recently spring-cleaned the pedestrian subway. We have a plethora of events and activities coming up this year, including a number of themed social events to connect local people in real life.

If you would like to help out in other ways, there’s always room on our committees for more members.

For more information contact us via:
email@foresthillsociety.com

AGM Minutes

The following Officers of the Society were elected for a period of one year at the AGM on 6 October 2011.

Chairperson: Richard Hibbert

Vice-Chair: Michael Abrahams

Secretary: Katherine Willett

Treasurer: Alisa Owens

Membership Secretary: Belinda Evans

Communications Officer: Alison Wadley 

 

Committee Reports:

Environment

Quetta Kaye gave a short presentation at which she summarised the activities of the Environment and Leisure subcommitte and outlined proposals for the next year.

• Raising awareness of environmental issues through public events such as May Day and various Open Days at local nature reserves.
• Had reached a different demographic by holding events at Dacres Road nature reserve as well as Devonshire Road
• 'Friends' groups were now up and running at Albion Millenium Green, Devonshire Road and Dacres Wood. It was hoped to start one for Garthorne Road too.
• Money would be received from Ward Assembly for continuing Forest Hill In Bloom at the station next year. We had not yet heard how the results for this year.
• There had been regular meetings with the Head of Lewisham's Environment and Waste Management team which had resulted in less bins on pavements in the Town Centre. There were still issues to be resolved.
• Shannon's Garden Centre, Willmott Dixon and LOROL were thanked for their sponsorship of our 'In Bloom' entry
• There would be a Christmas Tree in the Town Centre this year (funded from the Localities Fund) which we would be able to decorate again
• There had been three 'Bring & Take' days during the year. These had proven very popular and there would be another in the spring
• Lewisham's Environment department had said they would provide wildflower seed for the bank at Honor Oak Park station if we could organise people to broadcast the seed

Transport

Andrew Reid then presented the report of the Transport sub-committee.

• The committee meets every 4-6 weeks
• We continue to keep pressure on the relevant authorities to improve the standard of our stations and their surroundings.
• We represent the community at Lewisham Transport Liaison Meetings and on the LOROL and Southern Passenger Boards
• Platform extensions to 10 car are under way. Forest Hill platforms are now both being extended towards Croydon.
• Network Rail claimed they had finished the works at Honor Oak Park and handed responsibility to LOROL. There were still areas which looked unfinished and we would raise this with LOROL
• Work was supposed to have been completed on Forest Hill Subway, but the programme had slipped and Network Rail were refusing to refurbish steps or supply handrails. The relevant personnel at Lewisham and Network Rail were leaving shortly, so progress may be further delayed.
• The December timetable would see 10 car trains running on some Southern services, but the 1725 and 1824 services were being withdrawn due to low passenger numbers on these badly spaced services.
• The Olympics would impact train and bus services. The Overground should be running later evening service. A member requested that we lobby LOROL for later running ELL services, particularly at the weekend
• In the near future, there would be:
  • Possible cuts to our London Bridge service starting in December 2012. Southern will only be able to run 24 trains per hour into London Bridge instead of the current 30, but are unable/unwilling to tell us how this may affect us.
  • Step free access at Honor Oak Park, Brockley and New Cross Gate as part of Access for All. The current date for this to be completed is December 2013.
  • a new Franchise from 2015. We expect consultation on this to take place late next year
• In the more distant future,
  • Further extensions to the platforms for 12 car trains (for Thameslink)
  • Direct service from East Croydon to Finsbury Park when Thameslink is completed in 2018
  • Crossrail would provide step free access at Whitechapel
  • The Overground would probably be extended to 5 car trains, with Selective Door Opening at Canada Water, Rotherhithe, Wapping and Shadwell.
  • An extra two trains per hour have been proposed by TfL from Crystal Palace to Dalston Junction
  • TfL are currently working on proposals for Tramlink to be extended from Harrington Road to Crystal Palace providing 6tph to Beckenham and Croydon.
  • Tfl had produced draft plans showing the DLR being extended from Lewisham to Forest Hill via Catford
  • Tfl had supported extension of the Bakerloo line via New Cross Gate, Lewisham and Catford to Lower Sydenham and Hayes
  Despite these improvements, our line was still expected to be one of the most crowded by 2021
• We had met with TfL London Streets and they had promised a number of improvements to the A205 South Circular including a right turn lane under the Railway Bridge onto Waldram Place and removing the loading restrictions outside Mirror Mirror on London Road.
• We had met with Lewisham to discuss the abysmal gritting last winter. They would be providing chains for the griting lorries so that they could treat the hilly roads, among other improvements
• Network Rail had told us that the A205 South Circular would be closed on 10 October so that the Railway Bridge could be repainted. It was not known whether this was an all day or early hours closure.
• Live Countdown information is now available by sending a text to 87287 or online at m.countdown.tfl.gov.uk. This allows you to find out the times of the next bus at any bus stop by simply entering the bus stop number, which is displayed on a label attached to the bus stop.

Planning and Development

Hilary Satchwell explained how the Planning committee operated and ran through the various planning applications which we had objected to in the last year. Two current applications which had provoked strong local feelings included an application by Domino's Pizza to change the Old Bank in Honor Oak from A3 (Restaurant) to A5 (Takeaway) and Southwark's plans to use Honor Oak Rec for burials.

She then went on to discuss Neighbourhood Planning. We had recently run a very successful event in conjunction with Sydenham Society.

Communications and Membership

Alison Wadley gave a brief presentation on the activities of the Communications sub-committee and asked for feedback on the Newsletter. We had introduced PayPal as a means of payment this year and it was proving popular. Most people were paying extra to cover PayPal's fees.

Chairman's Report

Richard Hibbert then summed up before the elections of the Officers. This year had been one of less intense campaigning and more supporting of other single interest groups, such as the Friends of Honor Oak Rec due to our concentration on the Town Centre. We had persuaded Lewisham to put in a bid for the Outer London Fund, but this had been ultimately unsuccessful.

He went on to thank all members of the Executive for their contribution over the year, particularly Quetta, Charlie, Alison, Alisa and Hugh. He also thanked Peter, Liz and Helen who were stepping down this year for all their work.

A Fond Farewell

With a mixture of sadness and happiness we say goodbye to Liz Hannaford, one of the very first members of the Forest Hill Society.

Liz has been with the Society from the first meeting and has provided all manner of communications including the excellent newsletters for all of this time (with a couple of short breaks on maternity leave). She has also been wonderful in organising stalls, walks, and lots of other fabulous events. Her cheerful smile will be sorely missed.

Pictures of Liz are rare as she is always dashing around, but she was caught in the attached photo celebrating our victory in the battle to keep the swimming pool in Forest Hill. Alas, she may now never be able to swim in the pool, but since she is moving to Manchester, where it is apparently always raining, she may never be dry again.