Rockets

Oh dear mako - it appears that your correction of some stated "facts" appears to have somewhat annoyed TG..... And the statement that 9,000 people die from car pollution seems to somewhat overlook the fact that buses that the TG family no doubt uses are some of the main pollutants with diesel particles being particularly bad for you. Let's be honest here - the efforts of various local councils to close local roads will zero impact on car ownership in the long run - people just adapt and adjust...and we use things like Waze which finds you a route in the most trying circumstances.... We will not be stopped from getting to where we need to go......;-)

TG - good for your three children I am happy for them. This is precisely my argument - you family's model doesn't work for everyone yet you seem happy to use this ideal as the bar by which you decide what should and shouldn't happen. I work in Chiswick (used to work in Hammersmith and used to cycle in to the office but Chiswick is that bit too far) so my options are very limited. This is not Victorian Britain where we all work, live and play within a bike ride of our homes. I don't feel I need to address your point on pollution as I am not arguing there is not a problem just we need to have an approach that is more inclusive. The stop driving cars, stop taking flights model just doesn't work. We need a more intelligent and inclusive debate. The "let's reduce car usage" is all too often hijacked by local government as means to raise further funds by punishing drivers trying to go about their business - the Loughborough Junction debacle is a prime example and these proposals look like more of the same.

TG - your approach to this is admirable but somewhat unrealistic. These plans are not pragmatic - as we have seen on numerous threads on this forum they are ill-convinced, badly-designed and executed and ultimately do nothing but aggravate people trying to live in the city and many would argue actually create more pollution due to increased traffic congestion. Your utopian mantra of ditch the car and get on a bike is just not practical for the majority of people living or going about their business in the city and I think the numerous threads on this, and other, forum/s shows how much people are not supporting these ideals - or at least the execution therein. And I don't think anyone is suggesting demolishing anything to make way for new roads (and I would suggest London's road system hasn't been expanded for decades - it's the same layout it has been for a very long time) but to take a balanced approach to traffic management to make journey times for everyone as quick, convenient and a safe as possible whilst at the same time protecting the environment as much as possible.

Is the service outsourced? Maybe we can get more joy making noise with the company responsible for it. Companies with a commercial interest tend to care more about reputation than unaccountable council officials. Anyone who has had problems please feel free to PM me with details of the issues and we can collate a list of problems. Thanks

So, the collection was re-arranged for yesterday and guess what....nothing removed - what a surprise. And, no calling card left either....so looks like the council are still not following their own code....or perhaps no-one bothered to come out...what a shambolic council we have to endure...I will call them tomorrow for their latest round of excuses.... Anyone got the contact details for Deborah Collins at Southwark as I understand she is the one responsible for this "service" within the council....?

Tigres...I agree their proposals are utterly unrealistic. Unfortunately for them we don't live in Victorian Britain where we all work, study and play within a stone's throw of where we live. Nor do the majority of people work, study or play along the antiquated and shambolic transportation routes into and out of town. These are just the type of job-justification plans that 10 years down the line everyone says "what were we thinking....."

I think road planners have started smoking crack....what on earth are they trying to do - did someone declare war on drivers? What with this, Loughborough Junction, Melbourne Grove etc it seems that local councils and authorities want to create a life of misery for anyone who might actually have to get around this bustling city of ours. Perhaps some of them should pool their limited grey matter and maybe analyse why people are using those routes, where are they going. I suspect much of the traffic along Court Lane and Turney Road is school related so perhaps they should work closely with schools to organise something similar to the school bus programme in the US. Now there you go, that idea took about 30 seconds to come up with.....

It is incredibly confusing - deliberately so I suspect. The whole thing is an example of council scatter-brain ideas poorly executed with no consideration for the impact it causes for other members of the community. Whomever is responsible for it should be fired - and by the look of the weight of public opinion against these closures someone higher up in the council will start worrying about how it portrays their leadership or lack thereof. From what I can gather they are only policing this with one of the those mobile spy cars which lurks either under the bridge or on the road opposite - so you might be ok.

Renata - can you explain what you mean by the council doesn't gain financially from them? Who does then? And what other relationships does Southwark have with the company that makes money from them?

Sue, there is nothing attached to the fence that is dangling that anyone might be able to trip on or to hang themselves on! Granted they do have to negotiate a front gate that will swing shut in a brisk wind....perhaps they need to do a risk assessment....;-) Quite simply they are being bone-idle and not doing the job they are paid to do and many other people are having the same issue with these teams. Ultimately, it is wasting tax-payers money. I now have my third collection attempt booked (they were a no show on the second and the telephone helpline people say that you just need to keep booking slots and they will pick it up eventually). As I said earlier perhaps they won't want to pick it up for fear of getting splinters....there is definitely a potential splinter hazard....

Those minutes are laughable and I cannot believe that George Wright really said: "GW said emergency services have been told about the road closures and if they need to access road they will need to pull out the road blocks." Someone needs to send that to the Evening Standard as a follow-up to their article last night.... So if you're having a heart-attack the ambulance will be with you after they have moved the temporary road blocks....honestly.... And not sure who suggested the following but really.... ? Should close Herne Hill Road, Hinton Road and/or Milkwood Road.

Their response is utter poppycock - whatever next we couldn't touch wood as we might get splinters....? I can very much assure you they were not breaking up in hand as I moved them from the garden to the front of the house and they are very much intact.... And the trailing vegetation is laughable....photo attached of the killer vegetation.... James, thank you for following-up - could you send to me the contact details of the person who responded as I would like to speak to them? It appears there is a problem with the bulk collection team and I wonder whether anyone within the council is prepared to address the issues? Today I called their customer service line and spoke to a very helpful person who once again said they are having lots of problems with the team responsible for collections and a mass of complaints. It looks to me that there are problems and yet those responsible for the collections are turning a blind eye to it....

Drove around this morning and someone has decided to spray paint a lot of the road signs....looks someone is making their feelings know about this!

If anyone wants to send a note direct to those responsible for this mess then, according to the Brixtonbuzz website, these are the folks: George Wright [email protected] Barbara Poulter [email protected] Write to Steve Griffen at The Stockwell Partnership [email protected] I did a few days ago....haven't heard from them yet.....

I arranged for 8 fence panels to be arranged this Tuesday and needless to say the council guys turned up and left what they were supposed to collect. Just called the Southwark helpline and was told there was a note on the system that I have to tie all 8 fence panels together for them to be collected......I was amazed....not entirely sure how anyone will lift 8 bundled fence panels but I will give it a go! The person on the phone then said that they have been having a lot of problems with the collection teams who are not doing the job properly and leaving a lot of items they are supposed to collect and making lots of silly suggestions (like binding 8 fence panels). Anyone else had any problems? I wonder if this will continue like this when they start charging for the service?

They are starting to issue fines on this route now - a friend got a letter after being pinged doing 26. Southwark and surrounding boroughs are going in to lockdown mode - slowing traffic to a awful crawl in the name of "safety". How anyone can justify that stretch of road being a 20Mph zone is beyond me. Is there anything anyone can do? Cllr Barber?

It is obvious this has been terribly planned and executed by Lambeth - no one seems to have the first clue what is going on and the temporary nature of most of the signage and road markings is laughable. If they do start sending fines to people then it is a joke. I drove past there today (using a sneaky short-cut that Lambeth haven't yet tried to close) and everyone seems to be going up and down the road quite oblivious to the supposed closures - it really does look like a work in progress. @Dulwichquine if you look at the link at the top of the thread, which takes you to the Lambeth website, you can see that they are trying to cut most routes off around the area. How they are allowed to do this is anyone's guess. @Cllr Barber - can you speak to anyone at Lambeth to get an update on this ludicrous situation?

If those signs are all the effort Lambeth is going to go to then this is yet another example of local council shameful profiteering at motorist's expense wrapped in a veneer of "helping the local community". At a time when councils are being shamed across the country for entrapping motorists with unclear markings and roadsigns around bus lanes they are brazen enough to put a few tiny signs on an arterial route and start cashing-in via CCTV. Cha-ching! The Dandy Highwayman now works with a bucket of road paint and a couple of tiny road signs! Has anyone seen how they are "policing" the other road closures nearby which were obviously designed to avoid the creation of rat runs as people find a way round it? I have already found a route down some side streets which I don't think is impacted - and if the local residents have a problem with that they can talk to their council!

Still open to traffic now...unless we are all going to get a photo of our cars and a demand for monies for disobeying a tiny road-sign....wouldn't put it past them.... To be honest I am surprised Lambeth are able to ring-fence this area with a load of road closures - there is a reason people have to use it and it will cause chaos once it does close.

There were two cars with outriders this morning. The first, a Range Rover with two out-riders passed through Dulwich Village towards the a205 at about 8.55 and was followed a few minutes later by another Range Rover with four out-riders.

Nothing to indicate what happened but the police have been there all day, a house is taped off and police were going door to door but not saying anything about what they were investigating.

Crisis are collecting towels for homeless families this year

We had our post Christening party in The Actress yesterday. The staff were great with our large crowd. It was 4pm, post the lunch rush, so they pushed tables together where we all enjoyed drinks and shared a selection of pizzas. The chefs then cut our Christening cake for us. It worked out really well. Child friendly and very good value for the amount of food we had.

It makes me really sad that people unfairly set such hefty price tags to these local events. With 3 small children it would cost us an absolute fortune to go as a family! We've been to Harrods which was ?10, adults free, and we got the money back to spend in store afterwards. The kids got a book and chocolate coins and we bought some tree decorations. I really hope that a good slice of the profits are going to charities, homeless and needy children at this time of year. For those of you who decide to purchase tickets, please use some of your spare cash for something a bit more worthwhile as well whilst you're spending. Shame.... It would have been lovely to have a local grotto in the park, open to all children for just a few pounds.

Hi Busybee, where do you work from- is it home visits? What do you charge for high bikini? Thanks