Peckham Rye Labour

For people concerned about the new natural play area, the new One O'Clock Club and changing facilities on Peckham Rye, it's worth taking a look at the respective Southwark Labour and Lib Dem manifestos and making a comparison. The plans for new facilities have crept along at a snails pace under the Lib Dem-Tory council, leaving residents of Peckham Rye wondering what was happening and if the scheme was at risk. As local Labour candidates we have ensured that the Southwark Labour's manifesto included a commitment to "turn the plans for a new One O'Clock Club and changing rooms and pitches for local teams into a reality." This means that if residents of Southwark elect a Labour council, we guarantee that this too-long-delayed redevelopment with actually be delivered. So when the the Southwark Lib Dem Manifesto was published the other day, I was extremely surprised to see there was no reference whatsoever to the new One O'Clock Club, the natural play area or...

I'd heard at the last Friends of Peckham Rye Park meeting that the Adventure Playground on Peckham Rye would be opening at Easter. Walking past over the last few days it's been very much closed and it's clear work still needs to be done. However, Gavin and I noticed a sign up today giving opening times for the next week or so. I understand that further work is still needed but the playground will now be open on the following dates and times: Tues 6 April 11.00am - 5.00pm Weds 7 April 11.00am - 5.00pm Thurs 8 April 11.00am - 5.00pm Fri 9 April 11.00am - 5.00pm Mon 12 April 11.00am - 5.00pm Tues 13 April 11.00am - 5.00pm Weds 14 April 11.00am - 5.00pm Thurs 15 April 11.00am - 5.00pm Fri 16 April 11.00am - 5.00pm I know that lots of local parents, including Renata, have chased the council about the playground many times over the last year or so. I'm glad that progress is now being made but it does seem painfully slow. The Lib Dems' do have a terrible record on deliveri...

Southwark Caribb F.C. is based on Peckham Rye and runs teams for hundreds of local kids and teenagers. We're delighted that Nunhead and Peckham Rye Labour Councillors secured the funding for their newly opened clubhouse. In a quote from the most recent edition of "Southwark News" Labour Councillor Mark Glover said: "Club president Carlton Scafe and his team have built a fantastic community sports club. They are a shining light of inspiration to others working with young people in the Peckham area." We hope this is just the start of investment in sports facilities on Peckham Rye .

Horrid isn't it! That's what many residents on or near the lower part of Forest Hill Road kept saying to me as they pointed out how tatty and untidy the lower part of Forest Hill Road is. They also mentioned that, with a bit of effort, this could be a small but attractive shopping area. I'm a big fan of Si Mangia and the Herne Tavern and the Co-op is a much needed store too. It would not take much to make this well-used row of shops a great 'hub' for local residents. Based on these comments and the clear level of support from local residents to improve the area I submitted a 'Cleaner, Greener & Safer' bid to the council, back in January. In my bid I asked for the street to be tidied up, the old rusty bollards to be replaced, proper designated areas be created for bins, some planting and for the odd shed building by the bus stop to be repainted and repaired. Lots of residents signed my petition as they were keen to support the proposals. Now I just need ...

With Peckham Rye Park and Common right at the heart of our area why not tell Southwark what's good and bad about Peckham Rye, how often you use it and what might improve it? You have until 30th April to fill in this online survey from the council . Many of you will be aware of the plans for a new One O'clock Club and new changing rooms and pitches for local sports clubs. This survey is another good opportunity to tell the council to get on with this much needed work. Of course, the Rye isn't the only green space in our area, so if you're a fan of One Tree Hill or Brenchley Gardens or Nunhead Cemetery then this is also a chance for you to express your opinions. Southwark's website says that information collected from the survey will be used to inform future council decisions related to parks and open spaces. For those of you in the East Dulwich part of the ward, you may also be interested in the Goose Green consultation that is currently taking place. This consultati...

I've just arrived back from the latest Nunhead and Peckham Rye Community council meeting. It was, once again, a lively meeting in which a number of important local issues were discussed. However, there was one piece of news which will give rise to significant concern among local residents. The meeting was addressed by Cllr Tim McNally, the Lib Dem Executive Councillor for Resources, on the council's policy on community buildings. A very revealing moment came when Cllr Gordon Nardell asked Cllr McNally if a group of local residents concerned about local community buildings (which he chairs) could have some information. Cllr Nardell asked for a list of non-housing properties in the area which the council is considering disposing of. That was all he wanted. A list of local, publicly owned properties which the council is thinking of selling or renting out. As the representative of a party which claims to support openess and accountability, you'd think Cllr McNally would have ag...

Just a quick post to remind those who are interested that the next Nunhead and Peckham Rye Community Council meeting will be take place on Monday 8th February, starting at 7pm. The meeting agenda includes a discussion of accomodation for local community and voluntary groups and an update from our local police team. The meeting will take place at Rye Oak Primary School and Children’s Centre on Whorlton Road. The community council is a great place to find out what is going on in your local area and a good forum to make your voice heard. If you're the type who's prepared to wade through the agenda and papers (it's an acquired taste!) You can find them here .

We’re delighted to tell you that Mayor Boris Johnson has at last listened to our calls to improve the frequency of the 343 bus in the morning peak. Following representations from Labour Assembly Member Val Shawcross and a number of local residents, TFL are proposing two extra buses towards London Bridge during the morning peak period. On a separate but connected issue, Val Shawcross has recently met with the new company running the 343 to ask them about the poor reliability and the difficulties getting on the bus at Elephant and Castle in the evening rush hour. Val came to Peckham Rye to speak to residents in November last year, and this was one of the issues that came up. Val would like to know whether you see any improvements or not. Contact her on val@valshawcross or 020 7983 4401.

We’ve just been given some really shocking news about the school admissions forum – the body which oversees almost all aspects of Southwark’s school admissions. Many readers will already know about the chaotic allocation of primary school places in East Dulwich and Nunhead for 2009-10, when the council hugely underestimated the demand for places in local schools and failed to provide enough staff to administer the process adequately. Having a cross party appraoch on the admissions forum was essential to ensuring that officers were challenged to improve the process this year. With the apparent support of Peckham Rye Lib Dems, Southwark’s Lib Dem/Tory coalition, have thrown the Labour representative off the committee, without any explanation. Southwark Labour’s Education spokesperson Cllr Veronica Ward had been a member of the School Admissions Forum for almost four years, before being chucked off at a meeting of Lib Dems and Tories on Monday night. She had attended the forum far mor...

Speaking to people when we're out and about in Peckham Rye, there does seem to be some confusion about how well Southwark is performing on recycling. Tory and Lib Dem canvassers seem eager to muddy the waters on this important issue. What follows is a quick summary of the facts and our own position on recycling. In November 2009, the latest official league tables for recycling rates in England were published. Incredibly, the figures reveal that Southwark council has become the 6th worst council in the country for recycling. Southwark recycles less than 21% of household waste and the Lib Dems and Tories couldn't even manage a 1% increase in the recycling rate over last year. When they took charge of Southwark in 2002, the Lib Dems and Tories promised to increase the borough’s recycling rate to 30% by 2010. Not only have they failed to meet that promise but, when compared to the rest of the country, they have dramatically moved backwards. Recycling rates in neighbouring Labour La...

Just a very quick update to tell you about Val Shawcross' (our Labour London Assembly Member) question to the Mayor of London about the extension of the 63 bus route that we're campaigning for. Val asked what the prospects were of getting an extension but was given this dissapointing response . Nevertheless, residents of Peckham Rye shouldn't give up hope of us eventually getting a result on this. It may take some time, but I'm sure we can get there in the end. I recently wrote to Southwark News to promote the campaign and we've got further activities planned for the future. Watch this place for more on the 63. P.S. If you find the link to Val Shawcross' question isn't working, this is because of a temporary problem with the GLA website. You might need to keep refreshing the link before you can see it.

Just a very quick reminder that today sees the introduction of Oyster Pay As You Go on Southern and South Eastern trains. After a very, very long wait, this means that people travelling from Nunhead, Peckham Rye, East Dulwich, Honor Oak and Brockley can now travel using this form of payment. Frustratingly, some stations don’t yet allow you to update your card at the station, meaning you might need to go to a local newsagents instead. Also, some of the changes to ticket prices don’t see that fair. You can see more info from the train companies here and here . It may have taken years to reach this point with the train companies, but its better late than never.

An important development regarding the former toilets on Peckham Rye Common. It seems we may have had some success in convincing the council that this shouldn't be a commercial enterprise. We've just received an e-mail from "Peckham Rye Projects" saying that the council have now offered them the contract to restore and maintain the toilets building. For those who haven't previously heard of Peckham Rye projects, I'm sure they won't mind me briefly quoting their e-mail here: "We are a not-for-profit gallery offering outreach programs to local schools and groups. We intend to sensitively restore the building, maintain the gardens and to open the gallery toilets to the public. We also intend to offer the building to community groups for use when the gallery is closed for business. We are aware that M.O.L and common land restrictions apply to any alteration of the building." They applied for a Cleaner Greener Safer grant to restore this building befo...

Local residents and blog readers may remember previous posts about the plans for what Southwark Council calls the 'central area' of Peckham Rye - essentially the area around the cafe near where the Common and Park meet. In summary a new One O'Clock club is planned, as is a natural play area. New changing facilities will follow although funding for these is still to be secured. Last Wednesday, like many other locals, I turned up at the cafe to see the initial plans. I'm not sure what had happened but because the cafe wasn't open the meeting could not go ahead. I've subsequently been sent the plans. I was expecting a little more detail on what the new buildings and development might look like but below are the two options currently being proposed. They are are really just an overview of how facilities might be laid out. I've emailed the council to find out when the meeting might now take place - the drawings are helpful but I think we all need to know a littl...

We recently reported the news that Southwark’s recycling rate was sixth lowest in the country. The Lib Dems pledged to increase the recycling rate to 30% by next year, but they’re missing that target by almost ten per cent. To get some pressure put on the Lib Dems on this crucially important issue, Southwark Labour have set up a petition calling for a recycling system which which is easier to use and deals with a wider variety of materials. If enough people take the time sign this petition then would can present it to the Lib Dem environment boss at the January council assembly meeting. This would force him to explain what is going wrong in Southwark and to tell us directly what he is planning to do to improve the recycling rate. If you want your borough to improve its recycling rate and catch up with all the hundreds of councils currently putting Southwark to shame, I would strongly urge you take a moment to sign the petition here

Many residents (including myself) have been trying to find out what's going on with the traffic calming measures on Ivydale Road, Nunhead. Back in November I blogged on news that work had started between St Asaph's Road and Athenlay Road (Nunhead ward) and that residents who lived beyond this (Peckham Rye) ward should expect work to start around 30th November although the council would write to us first. However no letters have been received by residents who live on this bit of Ivydale (including myself) and when a written statement from the Council, presented at Community Council on 9th December, declared that work had started on the 30th November it was clear that things were going a little awry! I've been in regular touch with Cllr Fiona Colley of Nunhead ward about this as I was particularly concerned about what was happening with the 343 and 484 buses that many locals are reliant on. I've heard from her today about the chaos that is reining on the Nunhead end of I...

As I've mentioned in a previous post , last Wednesday's Nunhead and Peckham Rye Community Council passed a motion regarding the former public toilets on Peckham Rye Common. The motion set up a group, lead by local Labour Councillor Gordon Nardell, which will make suggestions to Southwark Council on alternative uses which might be made of this building. Those present at the meeting rightly felt that local people should come up with some alternative proposals to the current plan: Southwark Council seems hell bent on renting the building out as a shop, despite the fact that it's on common land. In case you're not sure which building I'm writing about, it's located near East Dulwich Road here . At the meeting I asked Councillor Nardell if I might become a member of this sub-group. He agreed, and I think membership is open to anyone who is interested in joining. The group will be coming together in the near future to hold the first meeting. Personally, I'm ...

Just a quick notice. I've just recieved the e-mail notification from Southwark Council about the display of development options for the Peckham Rye Project. Details of the options are going to be put on display on 16th December from 6:30 - 9pm at the Cafe on the Rye. I'd encourage anyone interested in this vital project to try and get along to this event. According to the e-mail, it is going to be an open meeting at which people will be able to discuss the options with the designers and park staff themselves.

Cheeky, I admit, but we’ve decided to make an offer to our Lib Dem opponents in Peckham Rye. Some of the recent statements made by Lib Dems standing in this ward for the council elections have been a little wacky to say the least. They seem determined to steer clear of the issues and their local newsletters routinely deny any responsibility for running Southwark council for the past 7 ½ years. We thought that maybe their refusal to talk about the concerns of local people (such as the allocation of primary school places, the hole in the housing maintenance budget and the council’s poor recycling record) might be down to the distance they live from the ward. You see, none of them live in Peckham Rye and two of the three live a twenty minute bus ride away. Maybe they’re having trouble getting over to our part of Southwark? Maybe the recent rain and cold weather has been putting them off making the trip? It’s relatively easy for us to talk to people in Peckham Rye because they’re our neigh...

For anyone frustrated by the same roads being dug up over and over again to do different jobs, help may be at hand. Val Shawcross' report on a new scheme that would enable the highways authorities to coordinate road works shows that common sense may at last be coming to the fore. Our London Assembly member is right to encourage as many of London's local authorities as possible to participate in this scheme. It's clearly idiotic for the same road to be dug up twice, when all the work could be done in one go. It costs more money and causes more disruption. But as of 16th November, Southwark Council was still one of 15 London Authrorities that hadn't signed up to the scheme. Peckham Rye Labour will be writing to the council to urge them to do so.