May eNewsletter

GENERAL MEETING
Forest Hill Society’s next General Meeting will be on Thursday June 10th at the Hob, opposite Forest Hill Station. We’ll be getting an update from the Horniman Museum on their plans for the gardens then we’ll move on to Society business and an informal discussion of the key issues facing SE23. We look forward to seeing many of you there.


FOREST HILL STATION
Following the cosmetic upgrading of Forest Hill Station, the Society initiated contact between the station’s Delivery Manager, Alan Jessop-Peacock, and Shannon’s Garden Centre with a view to removing the plastic flowers and greening up the station. It has now been agreed that Shannon’s will plant up and maintain tubs of real plants on the platforms, once the station has supplied the containers. Meanwhile, the tubs either side of the station’s main entrance will be given new plants donated by Shannon’s. We hope the floral results will put a smile on your faces as you run for your trains.

EAST LONDON LINE
Trains start running on Sunday, May 23rd. There is a rumour (from TfL) that they will be giving away 10,000 free tickets on a first come/first served basis. If these plans go ahead, the tickets will be distributed across the ELL stations according to “ridership patterns.” Those with Annual/Monthly/Weekly travel cards will be able to collect a souvenir ticket, rather than a free ticket.

23 CLUB DOES THE EAST LONDON LINE
If you’d like to celebrate the ELL’s first operating day, then do join the 23 Club on Sunday, May 23rd as we ride the rails.

The plan is to meet on Platform One at 14:00 and catch the 14:11 from Forest Hill Station with Sydenham Society, enjoying their theatre performance on the way. They will be going to Dalston and back. But the 23 Club would like to recommend getting off at Hoxton Station at 14:36 for a visit to the fabulous Geffrye Museum (www.geffrye-museum.org.uk). Opening hours on Sundays & Bank Holiday Mondays are 12 - 5pm. Admission to the museum's eleven period rooms, special exhibitions and herb and period gardens is free. The restored historic almshouse, in the south wing of the museum buildings, will not be open.

Pools Planning Application

The planning application for the new pool can now be found on the Lewisham Council Website.

Havelock Walk Open Days

A total of over 20 local artists, including the Havelock Walk community, will be exhibiting their wares as part of the Dulwich Festival's Artists' Open House event starting today. The exhibits will be open from 11am-6pm on Saturday & Sunday 8-9 May and 15-16 May 2010. Some venues are only open on the first weekend and these are shown in green on the map below.
Click on a pin for details of the Artist and their work.

View Dulwich Festival - Artist Open Days 2010 in a larger map

The Dulwich Festival runs from 7-16 May and consists of walks, concerts, films, exhibitions and dancing. Full details can be found on their website DulwichFestival.co.uk

Mayoral Elections - Liberal Democrat Reply

1. After a hard fought local campaign, the council has agreed to fund and build a new swimming facility in Forest Hill on the site of the old baths. These plans have now reached the stage where they are due to be submitted for planning approval at the end of May and the construction contract has been put out to tender. What commitment will you make to the future of these pools and what guarantees will you give that the pools will be built and will not fall victim to any budgetary cuts after the election?

I am completely committed to the future of Forest Hill Pools, and making sure they are rebuilt now that the council has finally come around to the community's way of thinking on them. When they are completed in 2012, Forest Hill will have been without swimming pools for six years, which is an improvement on the ten years it took Labour to rebuild the pools at Downham, but still far too long. The cost of the delay to taxpayers like you and me has been horrendous - the existing building has needed securing and heating, and inflation has hit the construction industry - this project has cost millions more than it should have done. As well as being committed to making sure the pools are finished efficiently, I want to make sure that Lewisham Council learns lessons about both costs and dealing more straightforwardly with the public so such a shambles doesn't happen again.

2. At 70%, Lewisham has the highest proportion of residents that work outside the Borough of any Borough in London. What will you do to attract employment to the south of the Borough?

We need to look at the types of employment which will provide long-term growth. While Lewisham has been treated as a dormitory borough by successive planners, we can recognise that Forest Hill in particular has a particularly large single-person business sector. Not enough has been done for either high streets or newer hubs as Havelock Walk, and this can be as simple as making sure that other council services such as road repairs and refuse are prioritised. We need to support the local shopping areas, and build on opportunities provided by future trends - while 'chore' shopping is likely to move increasingly online, smaller local parades are likely to be successful and town centres where they provide a pleasant leisure destination. There are examples of successful small industrial areas at Malham Road and at Willow Way, and there are opportunities around Bell Green. Certain forms of employment have not sat happily as immediate neighbours in residential streets, but many of the industries we are likely to see growth in do not share this problem.

3. Approximately 30% of Lewisham's commuters use the train service to London Bridge along the Sydenham corridor. While welcoming the introduction of the East London Line and the new travel opportunities it presents, we recently presented a petition of 5800 signatures to the DfT and are greatly concerned by the reduction in service to London Bridge. The timetabled services due from May 2010 are predicted to be severely congested at peak times from day one. What will you do to lobby the DfT, TOCs and National Rail and achieve increased capacity to London Bridge?

The hugely complicated and bureaucratic system for dealing with the rail system that the Labour government has set up masks the fact that civil servants and ministers have more control over day-to-day services on the railways than they had in the days of British Rail. Yet changes to service levels are poorly consulted when they negotiate the new minimum timetable with the train operating companies and network rail. Nowhere has this been more apparent than on the Sydenham line, where the public were not invited to the decision on removing the requirement on Southern to run so many services to London Bridge or any to Charing Cross. To no-one's surprise, Southern have chosen not to run a train they don't have to when ministers failed to press them to and commercial realities dictate otherwise. The ministers' response to the local campaign and petition has been the shockingly high-handed strategy of 'lets wait and see how the new service pattern beds in' - in other words, to fob local people off. At the same time, Lewisham Council announced that their outgoing Mayor decided that this wasn't a campaign they wished to press the government on just a week-and-a-half after he supported the full Council in a strong message to his friends in the government. I can assure you that I will always stand up for local residents in this sort of situation and will make sure that the council is paying attention across the web of responsibility the government has set up.

4. According to Lewisham's LIP, Forest Hill Town Centre has had the highest vacancy rates in the Borough for at least 15 years. What will you do to revitalise the town centre?

There' currently quite a significant shift in shopping patterns taking place. No-one knows exactly where it is leading, but we can be sure that past performance can only be a limited example of future success. What we can be sure of is that town centres which are successful are those which are convenient to get to and pleasant to visit. On the former, the footfall around the railway station is not sufficiently expanded upon, while the car parking situation has only just begun to be dealt with (thanks to money from Sainsburys rather than any direct investment from the Council). On the latter, the town centre has undoubtedly been damaged by the absence of the pools and the signs of neglect are everywhere, from broken pavements to bins left out and street clutter left for years. With the new pools campaigners have won there is an opportunity for further development, and building on the survey which the local assembly and your Liberal Democrat councillors commissioned, we have the chance for some exciting work.

5. The success of the Beach in the Horniman Triangle highlights the need for better youth provision in the ward. How will you address the needs for primary school places and extra curricular youth provision?

The success of the Beach has been fantastic. Your councillors have been campaigning to improve the play park since 2005 and the Beach, demolition of the old toilet block and new cafe have transformed it. The new toilets near the cafe are a success which can be traced to the money which the local assembly invested in it. The Beach, does however, provide facilities for a quite specific age group and it will be one of my six priorities to invest more in providing extra-curricular activities for young people right across the age spectrum.

Whoever you choose as Mayor tomorrow, the crisis in school places in Lewisham is going to be probably the biggest single issue facing the Council over the next four years. For a variety of reasons, this is a problem affecting all of London, but Lewisham is expecting one of the highest increases in demand of any borough. This is at least partially down to poor planning by the outgoing administration: figures three years ago highlighted this was going to hit Forest Hill, Lee and Sydenham particularly badly but the Mayor's managers pooh-poohed the figures when they were raised by Liberal Democrat councillors. The result is a shortage of over 500 places next September, rising to a shortage of over 3000 places in a few years' time. This means children in emergency accommodation: schools expanded so fast that children are in overcrowded conditions which affect their learning. When the Labour candidate promised a new secondary school in 2002 which he's still promising and on which a brick has still not been laid, residents can perhaps be forgiven for lacking confidence in his ability to deliver for our children. I will have an urgent programme of sensible expansion of schools, reopening some schools closed under the present administration, and building new schools.

A little background...

I am a Blackheath councillor. Before living in Lewisham I was a Bromley resident and local councillor. Between 1998 and 2001 I was Leader of Bromley Council, so have some experience and knowledge about leading a local authority. The Liberal Democrats are opposed to the system of directly Mayors - we do not feel it gets the best decisions for the local community. A system where views are exchanged, opposition can challenge and scrutinise leads to better decision making. If elected I will strengthen ward assemblies and devolve power and some budgets to local communities, I think many issues should not need to decided by officers in the town hall but are better decided at a ward level.

May Day at Albion Millennium Green

Dacre Lady Morris Dancing


Tree Planting

Mayoral Elections - Labour Reply

1. After a hard fought local campaign, the council has agreed to fund and build a new swimming facility in Forest Hill on the site of the old baths. These plans have now reached the stage where they are due to be submitted for planning approval at the end of May and the construction contract has been put out to tender. What commitment will you make to the future of these pools and what guarantees will you give that the pools will be built and will not fall victim to any budgetary cuts after the election?

I do have to be careful not to appear to be favouring Forest Hill over other areas but as a Forest Hill residents I must say I am looking forward to being able to use the new facility myself as soon as possible. The decision to go with the new build behind the old facia of the building was taken by me and I also identified the funding needed. Forest Hill residents can be very sure that if I am re-elected I will make sure the project is completed. It may be worth explaining that the funding for the Forest Hill Leisure Centre is capital and the expected squeeze on public expenditure is likely to hit revenue (i.e. day to day) spending more quickly than its hits capital – at least over the next year.

2. At 70%, Lewisham has the highest proportion of residents that work outside the Borough of any Borough in London. What will you do to attract employment to the south of the Borough?

Lewisham has always been a largely residential borough and that is one of the reasons that I have given a high priority to improving transport links and making sure our residents are able to develop the skills they need to compete for jobs elsewhere in London. The actual patterns of employment are complex in London with both inflows and outflows to and from Lewisham. It would not be realistic to expect to create large-scale opportunities for employment growth in the South of the Borough but we do need to protect the employment that is already here and identify opportunities for growth.

The retail sector is important and I want to launch a “Shop Local” strategy building on the positive work that has already been done with local businesses. Lewisham as a borough has some particular strengths like the cultural sector and an unusually high number of successful Social Enterprises. I have worked with these sectors in the past and the Council should go on providing support to enable both those sectors to grow further.

3. Approximately 30% of Lewisham's commuters use the train service to London Bridge along the Sydenham corridor. While welcoming the introduction of the East London Line and the new travel opportunities it presents, we recently presented a petition of 5800 signatures to the DfT and are greatly concerned by the reduction in service to London Bridge. The timetabled services due from May 2010 are predicted to be severely congested at peak times from day one. What will you do to lobby the DfT, TOCs and National Rail and achieve increased capacity to London Bridge?

Lobbying ministers, the London Mayor, Transport for London, the TOCs and National Rail are almost an everyday part of the mayor’s job. That extends from pursuing long terms campaigns to get things like the DLR and the ELL to very detailed issues about the operation of services and management of stations. I am not happy about some of the changes not least the end of through running to Charing Cross. I am aware as mayor of the whole borough just how complex some of these issues are with changes on one line impacting on capacity elsewhere. I will want to see what happens once the new services start running – as a regular user of the line I know only two well how bad conditions get at times and if there are problems I will seek to use the links that I have developed to not only lobby those who can do something about it but make sure they are held to account for their actions.

4. According to Lewisham's LIP, Forest Hill Town Centre has had the highest vacancy rates in the Borough for at least 15 years. What will you do to revitalise the town centre?

The fact that units remained unlet even during a period when the economy was buoyant points to an underlying problem. It may be that there is an over supply of units and this is something which should be looked at carefully. We know that shopping patterns have changed with an increase in Internet shopping (I can remember buying vinyl records from a specialist record shop in Forest Hill!) and also the increasing tendency for Supermarkets to offer “one stop” shopping.

The businesses that appear to be most successful in centres like Forest Hill are either specialist retailers or personal services. The new Leisure centre on the Pools site offers a major opportunity to look at Dartmouth Road. It will pull more people to that location and I would like to see an exercise carried out that looks at the whole stretch of road from there to the junction with London Road to seek ways of improving the lay out and facilities with a view to not only encouraging pedestrian use but trying to create small but attractive spaces where potential shoppers can linger – the work which is going to be carried out in Sydenham High Street may offer some ideas.

5. The success of the Beach in the Horniman Triangle highlights the need for better youth provision in the ward. How will you address the needs for primary school places and extra curricular youth provision?

The revamp of the Horniman Triangle through the Play Builder scheme has proved a great success and the missing link i.e. the toilets is being sorted too. Provision for older young people is more challenging. There are good youth projects either within the ward boundary or close by which will need to be supported. The new Leisure centre should offer young people much more than the old pools did and they have had a voice in what is planned. A major investment in a new youth facility will be taking place near Wells Park and this is intended to serve young people from a wider area including Forest Hill.

London Councils, the body that brings together all the London Boroughs, reports that this problem has emerged quickly and is likely to be due to a number of factors, Including an increase in migration to London and the accompanying rise in birth rates and changes in London’s housing stock, which has led to parents remaining in the capital rather than moving away as their children reach primary school age.

Neighbouring Southwark has had a government bail out because of the problems it faces. In Lewisham we did not act as precipitately and retained some so called “surplus places” even when the figures seemed to falling. However the spare capacity in the Borough’s schools is in the upper years and demand is, of course, lower down the age range. At least 17 “Bulge” classes have been created for September, and a number of these are in the local area.

It does appear that this is a permanent shift in numbers rather than a temporary change and we will need to increase primary provision across Lewisham. I have already instructed council officials to work on plans to do this either by expanding current schools or building new ones. If I am re-elected I have made it clear that this will be one of my priorities for the next four years.

Steve Labour candidate

A little background...

Source: citymayors.com

Steve Bullock’s public service career began in 1982 with his election to the council of the London Borough of Lewisham. Bullock steadily worked his way up its civic ladder, becoming Chair of Finance and Deputy Leader before taking the council leadership in 1988. Bullock spent five years as leader before standing down in 1993 and from the council altogether in 1998. During this time (1993-1995) he served on the Commission for Local Democracy, an influential think tank which was successful in getting elected mayors on the agenda for the reform of local government by the incoming Labour government in 1997. He was also instrumental in establishing the New Local Government Network in 1998, the leading campaign and think tank in favour of elected mayors and modernisation in local government. After leaving the council in the late 1990s, Bullock became Head of the Labour Group Office at the Local Government Association (formed in 1997), an important time for the body given the new Labour government and Labour’s pole position among the ranks of local government. He also took up the post of chairman of the local hospital trust, a central government appointment, which he held until becoming mayor in 2002. He was reelected in 2006, though Labour lost control of the council chamber that year for the first time in 25 years.

Mayoral Elections - English Democrats Reply

1. After a hard fought local campaign, the council has agreed to fund and build a new swimming facility in Forest Hill on the site of the old baths. These plans have now reached the stage where they are due to be submitted for planning approval at the end of May and the construction contract has been put out to tender. What commitment will you make to the future of these pools and what guarantees will you give that the pools will be built and will not fall victim to any budgetary cuts after the election?

I am on record as saving another swimming pool in South London last year. I assure you I will fund the swimming facility in Forest Hill. After several years of Labour mis-management with our economy nationally, there will be national cuts to councils, but in Lewisham it will be easy as it has the highest of council taxes, and gives the worst service, so just dealing with the inefficiency will be enough to reduce the budget without any cuts to projects.

2. At 70%, Lewisham has the highest proportion of residents that work outside the Borough of any Borough in London. What will you do to attract employment to the south of the Borough?

Lewisham needs to be attractive to businesses so working towards zero crime is the answer through dealing with all small offences rather than ignoring them to send the message out. Also traffic on the south circular at Catford needs to be dealt with to enable people to get out that way.

3. Approximately 30% of Lewisham's commuters use the train service to London Bridge along the Sydenham corridor. While welcoming the introduction of the East London Line and the new travel opportunities it presents, we recently presented a petition of 5800 signatures to the DfT and are greatly concerned by the reduction in service to London Bridge. The timetabled services due from May 2010 are predicted to be severely congested at peak times from day one. What will you do to lobby the DfT, TOCs and National Rail and achieve increased capacity to London Bridge?

The London Bridge line is key and I will work with TfL and National Rail to ensure the best of service (I use it myself).

4. According to Lewisham's LIP, Forest Hill Town Centre has had the highest vacancy rates in the Borough for at least 15 years. What will you do to revitalise the town centre?

Forest Hill town centre needs better parking facilities to open up the economy.

5. The success of the Beach in the Horniman Triangle highlights the need for better youth provision in the ward. How will you address the needs for primary school places and extra curricular youth provision?

I will continue to work with the Youth offending teams to ensure there are healthy ways for youths to spend their time, and will ensure the increase in school demand through immigration is met with double entry schools, coupled with a reduction in immigration to the borough by cancelling all council funded translation services.

Graham Dare English Democrats

A little background...

Source: hustings.com

Medium and spiritualist healer. Croydon councillor 1998-2002, originally for the Conservative party but defected to the Liberal Democrats 2001. Contested Croydon South 2005 for Veritas, Barnet and Camden 2008 London elections for Veritas. Contested London in 2009 European elections. I live in Forest Hill.

East London Line launches

Boris Johnson formally opened the first section of the new £1 billion East London Line at 0945 this morning, signalling the start of London Overground's East London route, which builds on and extends the old East London Line.

The line is opening at first with a "preview running" service of eight trains an hour between New Cross, New Cross Gate and Dalston Junction, between 0700 BST and 2000 BST, from Monday to Friday. Northbound services will leave New Cross Gate at 10, 25, 40 and 55 minutes past the hour, while Southbound services to New Cross Gate will leave Canada Water at 13, 28, 43, 58.

Full evening and weekend services will begin on 23 May, when 12 trains will run each hour.

Mayoral Elections

As there are no Mayoral hustings scheduled in the Borough, we asked each of the candidates to answer the following questions:

1. After a hard fought local campaign, the council has agreed to fund and build a new swimming facility in Forest Hill on the site of the old baths. These plans have now reached the stage where they are due to be submitted for planning approval at the end of May and the construction contract has been put out to tender. What commitment will you make to the future of these pools and what guarantees will you give that the pools will be built and will not fall victim to any budgetary cuts after the election?
2. At 70%, Lewisham has the highest proportion of residents that work outside the Borough of any Borough in London. What will you do to attract employment to the south of the Borough?
3. Approximately 30% of Lewisham's commuters use the train service to London Bridge along the Sydenham corridor. While welcoming the introduction of the East London Line and the new travel opportunities it presents, we recently presented a petition of 5800 signatures to the DfT and are greatly concerned by the reduction in service to London Bridge. The timetabled services due from May 2010 are predicted to be severely congested at peak times from day one. What will you do to lobby the DfT, TOCs and National Rail and achieve increased capacity to London Bridge?
4. According to Lewisham's LIP, Forest Hill Town Centre has had the highest vacancy rates in the Borough for at least 15 years. What will you do to revitalise the town centre?
5. The success of the Beach in the Horniman Triangle highlights the need for better youth provision in the ward. How will you address the needs for primary school places and extra curricular youth provision?

We will publish their replies in the order received.

Supermarket Shakespeare

Teatro Vivo will be bringing their Supermarket Shakespeare back to Forest Hill for a second outing. This year there will be performances on

• Tuesday 27th April at 7pm
• Wednesday 28th April at 7pm
• Thursday 29th April at 7pm
• Friday 30th April at 7pm
• Saturday 1st May at 12pm and 6pm, and
• Sunday 2nd May at 12pm and 3pm

Inspired by Sonnet 23, six performers will create contemporary characters that have intertwining stories and these will be performed all around the supermarket.

Supermarket Shakespeare is FREE to attend, with no need to book; just show up and find the characters in the Vegetable Section.

Get Involved

They want you to send them your pictures of Supermarket Shakespeare. Upload them to their Facebook Group and the best one taken at each store will win a prize!