Peckham Rye Labour

Cleaner, Greener, Safer (CGS) funds ideas from residents that improve our local area. Grants range from £100 to £50,000! This year we are keen to fund urgent improvements to the toilets in Peckham Rye Park (by the park office, large playground and café). You can add your support to this project and/or tell us about your other ideas taking this short SURVEY . This year’s applications will be open from 9 September until 13 October. The application form will accessed HERE once it goes live.

Tell us where you would like a street light charging point and good locations for a rapid charging point in our area:  TAKE SURVEY

Vote for Victoria & Renata on 3rd May – Two Local Voices for Peckham Rye, with Labour Values Being a councillors for Peckham Rye since 2010 has been an honour and we're seeking your support once again in the forthcoming local elections on 3rd May. We are proud of our record since 2010. We have:- - Introduced free swim and gym for all residents; - Introduced free healthy school meals for all primary school children and now plan to roll them out to school nurseries; - Raised standards across our schools and created more school places; - We’re building new council homes and making existing ones warm, dry and safe with quality kitchens and bathrooms so now 97% are decent; - We’ve kept all our libraries open and opened new ones; - We have the best recycling rate in inner London; and we have made the borough cleaner, greener and safer. We have done all of this while the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in government have slashed the council’s budget and made i...

We are expecting the new play area to open during the May Half Term holiday. We’re delighted that after years of working tirelessly to get a new play area, new football changing rooms and a new playroom on Peckham Rye we are nearly there. The playroom is about to open. By fighting to protect the funding for local Children’s Centres we will still be able to deliver a range of free activities for local families and carers from the new playroom. Our promise if elected – we will fight for new investment in the Peckham Rye Adventure Playground. Once again this shows that your Peckham Rye Labour councillors are always role up their sleeves to get the job done! 

(This post from Victoria about the closure of 'Southwark Free School', first appeared on LabourList .) Last week saw the demise of yet another free school.  Southwark Primary , which opened four-and-a-half-years ago in temporary buildings, will hastily close by February half-term never having made it to its permanent site, after being developed at great public expense. As Southwark council steps in to pick up the pieces and find places for children at other local schools it is difficult not to grind the axe about the government’s free school programme. We remain pragmatic that the programme is here to stay. However the government must reconsider the need for free school applicants to have a local and outstanding educational experience. At a time when many areas are experiencing a shortage of school places, and schools’ budgets are being cut, they must also stop wasting money building schools where there is no established demand. The story of free schools in Southwar...

Southwark Council is giving away salt at the locations below. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Southwark's Overview and Scrutiny Committee is carrying out an investigation into the problems relating to peak-time travel across the borough.   As part of this work we have put together a short survey to gather your views.  You can complete the survey here:  https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/7CSGMYT We want to know about those issues, big and small, which make it difficult for you to get to work or get the kids to school in the morning.  Are there bus stops where people just can't get on the bus because it's always to crowded?  Is it difficult getting in and out of your train station at peak times?  Are there cycling routes which you feel are unsafe?   We also want to get your positive suggestions for improvement. Could extending a bus route a little further link up the local transport network?  Could more be done to relieve congestion on the roads? Southwark Council does not have direct control over many of the issues which will co...

Just a quick note to remind Peckham Rye residents that, since 29th July 2016, all Southwark residents can use the swim and gym facilities for free in six of the borough’s leisure centres.  This is one of Southwark Labour’s flagship policies from the 2014 manifesto, and your Peckham Rye Councillors are very proud that it is being delivered after a successful year piloting the scheme. Registration for free swim and gym is here . Alternatively, ask in your  local leisure centre  or  library  for an application form. 

As local residents will know, Southwark Council has suffered as a result of unprecedented cuts Government funding since 2010.  The council has had a third of its funding cut. As  a result  of these deep cuts, the council has been forced to consider reduc ing   adventure  play services.  This could have meant that Peckham Rye Adventure Playground, while keeping its weekend sessions, might have lost of its four after-school sessions . Many local people spoke to us about this issue and Renata, Victoria and I  were committed to using our local devolved budget to protect the hours to ensure the reduction would have been avoided. I’m very pleased to tell you that, at last night’s budget setting meeting, w e managed to secure a commitment that Peckham Rye Adventure Playground will see no change in opening hours.  We are now taking a look at how the hours are structured to see if it would be possible to open up the playground to more peop...

Southwark’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee has warned that the Government’s Housing and Planning Bill would have a ‘devastating impact’ on Southwark. The Scrutiny Committee has investigated the impact of the Government’s proposals to introduce right to buy for housing association tenants, which will be funded by forcing councils to sell off vacant properties in “high value” areas. The Committee has warned that the impact of the proposals in Southwark would be to “significantly reduce our housing stock, damage our ability to build much needed new homes and could indirectly lead to an increase in homelessness and overcrowding.” The Scrutiny Committee conducted a series of interviews with housing officers, Chief Executives of major national housing associations, the Cabinet Member for Housing and Former head of the Civil Service and current Chair of the Peabody Trust Lord Kerslake. The Scrutiny report outlines a number of risks arising from the proposals, including home buildin...

There will be a summer evening concert on One Tree Hill in Southwark Woods at 6.30pm Saturday 23rd May. The venue is St Augustine's Church, One Tree Hill, Honor Oak Park. Suggested donation of £10.00 The  OneTree Hill Sinfonia  will be playing:- Grieg - Peer Gynt Suite 1 Varela - Urashima Taro Sibelius - Symphony No 2 in D Please do come along for an entertaining evening and to support this very good cause. 

As Southwark's Cabinet Member for Childcare and Schools I warmly welcomed this week's report of the Lambeth and Southwark Childcare Commission, chaired by Dame Tessa Jowell MP. Like our neighbours in Lambeth, we are firmly committed to giving every child the best start in life and helping parents find affordable, accessible and quality childcare. This report acknowledges the challenges faced by local families but sets out a range of options that could be used to tackle these by the Mayor of London, central government, local authorities and employers. There is no one solution to deal with the many problems parents in London face trying to get back to work while managing the burdens and prohibitive costs of childcare. The Council no doubt has a role to play in stepping up to deliver the options set out in the report but we also need to work with parents, businesses and the Mayor in open partnership to create a city that embraces parenthood and creates a world of opportunity fo...

Ahead of next week's public meeting to discuss our local cemeteries I just wanted to explain some of the background to the current situation.  There was a very extensive consultation on the cemeteries in 2012. The consensus was that people wanted the council to continue to offer burial space in the borough. I personally don't agree with this knowing the huge existing pressure on land but the point of the consultation was to listen and plan our future policy on peoples' views. Many options like out of town burial were explored as part of this process.   As ward councillors we all thought it vitally important to protect Honor Oak Rec. This is a green space used by local residents and also used by local schools and football clubs. Whilst I think many parts of Camberwell Old are beautiful and a haven for wildlife I think that sensitive reuse of parts of the cemetery which allow us to protect Honor Oak Rec are worth pursuing. All three of us are also committed t...

A report published today is recommending a new approach to outsourcing and procurement at Southwark Council.  Proposals include introducing an in-house "preferred provider" policy, a target for creating local jobs and apprenticeships with council spending and greater protection for the workforce. Southwark’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC) is publishing an investigation into the council’s approach to commissioning, procurement and outsourcing. You can see the full draft report  here .  Changes will be made to this following our OSC meeting on the 19 th  January where the committee will discuss the draft. This is a huge issue.  Southwark Council’s register of contracts with external organisations shows 220 different contracts for goods and services.  That accounts for a total contract value of £2.6 billion.  A huge range of services, from the building of new schools to employment support services to homecare for vulnerable residents, ar...

Southwark Council's Tooley Street Offices On Monday night Southwark will show its first ever live webcast of a council meeting. True, it's won't be challenging Game of Thrones or Downton Abbey in the ratings but it is an important step in opening up the democratic procedures of your council. The meeting will be of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee which will be debating the borough's cycling strategy (which is currently being consulted on) and procurement. We will also be questioning Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Planning and Transport about issues across his remit. The papers for the meeting are here .  I don't have the link for the webcast page just yet but will publish it here and Tweet it as soon as I do. My view is that the more people who can see what goes on in Southwark Council's meetings, the more they will reflect what is important to people in the borough.  Many people simply don't have the time to come to Tooley Street to si...

OSC is scrutinising council procurement Our latest Southwark Overview and Scrutiny (OSC) meeting took place on Monday night.The meeting covered the prospects for a new secondary school on the Dulwich Hospital site, an interview of the Leader of the Council, a briefing from officers on the regeneration of the area around Peckham Rye Station and finally, a session to discuss how and why certain council services are contracted out.   Dulwich Hospital Site The Committee heard from representatives of two groups interested in running a secondary school from the Dulwich Hospital Site. Charter School Educational Trust and Haberdashers’ Aske’s Federation are sponsoring Free School bids to run a new secondary school from the site. The council is assisting and facilitating the bids. Projected figures on pupil numbers show a real need for more secondary places in the area in coming years.  The mess created by the anarchic free school system, has resulted in the Department ...

On Monday night we held our second Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC) meeting since the election. Our work programme this year includes analysing the provision of school places across the borough. So as one of the main agenda items for this meeting we invited the council officers responsible to explain how demand is being met.  Officers said that Southwark is facing a number of challenges regarding school places. Demand, both primary and secondary places continues to rise.  The council is co-ordinating the expansion of a number of existing schools to address this and there are also several free school proposals which are being progressed.  Further details of this programme can be found in the newly published  “ School Places Strategy Update”  .   This programme is being looked at as part of our scrutiny.  One particular issue of concern is the uncertainty over the future use of the   Dulwich Hospital site .   The council...

Last night we had our first Overview & Scrutiny Committee (OSC) meeting since the election. This is an update on how the meeting went.  I blogged last week about how I wanted to improve OSC by producing more real recommendations for improving services and making the proceedings of the committee more open. We agreed a number of changes (including making progress on streaming meetings live online) and then set out our work programme for the coming year.  OSC will start by taking an in-depth look at the following: -  School places across the borough -  The implementation of free gym use and swimming -  The council's procurement strategy (what services are contracted out and how is this done) -  The detail of how Southwark Council will deliver on the pledge to build 11,000 new council homes -  The quality and speed of responses to casework raised on behalf of residents. We will also be looking at numerous other issues as and when they ar...

Since the election last month I've taken on a new role as Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC).  As the name suggests, this is the committee which has primary responsibility for scrutinising how the council is being run and looking into various issues of interest and concern. Some parties on the council are less than happy to see a Labour Councillor taking on this role. But the real problem is that most people couldn't care less who the Chair of OSC is or which party they're a member of. To the vast majority, council committees are irrelevant to their lives which is why people rarely turn up to them.  Having been a member of the committee for the past 4 years, I'd have to say that people weren't missing much.  In four years this supposedly powerful committee achieved very little either in terms of changing council policy or developing new ideas for delivering services.  There were some meetings where we made progress, but that was...

In case you haven't heard already, the results for the council elections in Southwark came in on Friday. I'm really pleased that Renata, Victoria and I have been re-elected to represent Peckham Rye Ward for another four years.  Across the borough Labour made significant gains from the Liberal Democrats meaning that Southwark continues to have a Labour run council. We'd like to say a huge "thank you" to everyone who voted, and especially to those who supported us.  We are very proud that you have given us the opportunity to continue our work for the ward and on the council. I'll try not to bore you with too many statistics, but the short version of the vote in Peckham Rye is that Labour significantly increased its support whilst the Lib Dem vote almost completely collapsed compared to the previous election. 56% of total votes cast went to Labour, that's up 15% on 2010.  You can see the full results here .  It's also worth noting that Labour has f...