Oggie

Hi, I went through this with my child and was given a very good book called "There's a Volcano in my Tummy" which has simple exercises to do with young children to help them understand and label their emotions. Highly recommend it.

The council tried to include Oglander Road in the CPZ zone about 8 years ago. We (local residents) fought back vigorously with a door to door petition signing campaign and it worked. Local sentiment was overwhelmingly against it. I think the council thought they could get the current CPZ proposal approved by not including Oglander Road (and not informing any of the residents that I've spoken to) so there would be fewer objections. Please write in, even though the consultation has closed your local councillors should be made aware of your objections. Local permits often double in price in the second or third year of implementation and the zone usually ends up expanding too. As bonamone said earlier: Please don't just confine your views to the forum, I urge you to make you views known at [email protected] and suggest you cc [email protected] and [email protected] with reference to "Grove Vale - proposed Controlled Parking Zone, GV"

I saw a good post on the Nunhead forum which I've copied below... Hello, here's a quick update. The Mayor of Lewisham met with the Leader of Southwark council, Cllr. Peter John last week. One of the things discussed and agreed to was to work together on longer term solutions to the limited burial space in Lewisham and Southwark. However in the short term we need more Southwark residents to write to our councillors to let them know that we want to protect the Honor Oak Park Recreation Ground. This precious green space will only be protected if Southwark council agree to preserve it along with the other protected parks in the borough. Please email or write to the leader of the Cabinet, Cllr. Barrie Hargrove and copy the other members to let them know if you want the the Honor Oak Park Recreation Ground protected. Their email addresses are below and I have attached a sample letter that you may copy and or adapt to your liking. [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Please do write to the councillors and sign the petition at [www.petitionbuzz.com] And thank you for all your support!

The important thing to focus on is that Southwark need to develope a more sustainable plan for their cemeteries. Why aren't they reusing the old plots as they said they would (in 2000 if I remember correctly)? We can't just let them swallow up our green spaces because it is easier then developing a proper policy. Why aren't our councils talking about this issue with us as most are in the same position. We need to understand our available choices rather than avoiding the whole issue. And please don't be distracted by negative people who have a different agenda (ie: Southwark employees who don't want this issue debated or challenged).

Hummm... after reading Me Me Me's post (above) I went for a walk through HOP Recreation Ground and then on to Peckham Rye Park this morning. HOP Recreation Ground had 7 dog walkers & joggers (not sure who was what) first thing this morning. PRP which is a vastly bigger area had 10 dog walkers & joggers.Had a coffee and walked back and HOP Recreation Ground had 3 adults and 5 children in the children's play area and 1 dog walker. So in response to Me Me Me, I would strongly refute that it is a "pathetic plot"that is hardly used. During the week all the parks are certainly quiet at certain periods but HOP Recreation Ground is consistently used by all the residents at different times. Go on Saturday morning and it is packed with children's sports teams playing on the fields - in fact it is crowded to the point that I don't go there on weekends as it is too busy for me! Would these teams be able to play on PRP or Dulwich Park which are also crowded on the weekends? I doubt there is space for additional teams. In response to the comment: "just a boring bit of grass space with no redeemable aesthetic features, (trees, flowers, planting, etc.)" the grass space is +2 football pitches so planting around those would be silly as nothing would survive. There are no flowers around the football fields in PRP for the same obvious reasons. The border with the new bit of cemetery was horribly denuded by Southwark council when they made that new bit of cemetery and hopefully they will eventually plant something along the borders. Perhaps they will do this once Network Rail finish all their works along the rail line. So while Me Me Me doesn't appreciate HOP Recreation Ground most of the local community do!

According to Southwark's website the area is designated as one of the borough's smaller parks, as is Goose Green and Brenchley Gardens. As the website says: Honor Oak was preserved as open space in the late 1890s. The site includes two football pitches, two tennis courts, a playground and picnic area. We need to stop Southwark taking away our playing fields and children's playgrounds!