mynamehere

I have discussed this further and indeed there seems to be a London tendency to require Party Wall Agreements and in fact this makes sense. I spoke to Southwark Planning and they said that they DO NOT require it. This was very clear. It is NOT part of the Planning Application process. In fact, I may now do exactly that, have my surveyor survey my neighbour and draw up a statement of the pre-existing condition. Dulwichgirl2, The definition of scam is: scam - a fraudulent business scheme. To say I have to pay for something when Southwark says I don't is fraudulent. I now realise that these applications are poured over by people looking for business on the web. I have received a letter from another firm soliciting me to use them for party wall surveys. In fact I have used an extremely reputable engineering firm to draw up plans with an architect. They have submitted to Southwark what Southwark requires in the form that it is required. These letters that go fishing for business are in my opinion a type of scam. A survey firm that operates from a post box? Give them a go Dulwichgirl2 and post the quality of their work here. Southwark or who ever regulates the built environment lays out a set of rules, a check list. Personnally, I use these as a minimum of what I expect. Whether Southwark should require a Party Wall Agreement, or whether I will now have one drawn up as I have become more enlightened is not the reason I started this thread. Many of you are way ahead of me but when I first saw PSG's letter it struct me as odd and having looked further, because Southwark has left the requirement of Party Wall Agreements as a grey area, firms of every sort are piling in looking for business.

Public Land Should Remain So: from the FT/ Anna Minton click and read. It pretty much sums up my opinion. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/90058608-b60b-11e1-a511-00144feabdc0.html#axzz210DYKGrL We are very much in danger of selling everything and building high before a generation of planners and politicians arrives with the full facts of where we're going climate/ land/ population This particular building is hidious. But, it seems to be a hive of activity on the inside, undetectable on the outside. Should we have to go to Peckham for routine policing what should be the fabric of puplic services? What other services could fill the building with a new cladding of solar cells or a horizontal farm and solar panels on the roof. Why not a cinema with bijou showing rooms or a children's activity centre for paid drop in by the hour? I despair at the lack of imagination shown by politicians for whom disposal of everything held in the public trust is the only option.

Fuschia hits the nail on the head... exactly and Stacey-lyn you're right. I've filed a report with Southwark Trading Standards and I've asked the Planning Department what they think. The Planning Dept wasn't fussed that my details had been taken for this.

Hi, you may all be more savvy than I! But this was new news to me. My neighbour was contacted about building work I've applied for permission to do... all well and good except they were sent a letter directly by a firm that said "Southwark regulations require (the planning applicant) to pay for their neighbour to have a survey as to how any work will affect the neighbour's property stucturally. Whatever the merits of knowing how work in one place affects an adjoining building, it is factually incorrect that Southwark requires that a property being worked on must pay for an adjoining property survey. The firm in this instance is: PSG Surveys LTD Talbot House 204-226 Imperial Drive Harrow, Middlesex HA2 7HH which does not in fact exist!

I also agree that this important petition should have been "stand alone". Now it seems to be derailed! Ridiculous. As Sue says, I am also outside the political process. Over the years I've worked with anyone who'd listen.

Just to say for the record: All and any comments I make are "going forward" which is my understanding of the discussion. This means what is, is. The one in no way impacts the other. My interest in planning and decision making is based on new ideas/ synthesis of ideas/ technology/ quality and so forth. Lucky you that you have so many people in one place. My idea is how to continue to use the space more beautifully/ creatively and multi-task at the same time: new comers could have their names on trees that shade/ pollinate/ bear fruit. Or you could sit and visit on benches with other stories and so forth. I just wonder out loud why I am constantly hearing (for example) what Queen Victoria might have to say about whether I put solar on my roof. The lady would probably loudly say: (I) lived in a different world. You need to be much more creative and insightfull about living in your century and how your decisions impact and possibly limit the future.

I think this point in history will be viewed in hindsight as one of missed opportunity. The massive building and regeneration with good intention but without insightful new ideas or orientation or working new smart technologies. The new sewers without meters or water separation or anything not even better than the Romans. Why not plant trees when people die instead of putting stone markers? Put a beautiful memorial on the tree. Put a bench someplace you like to walk. Donate a climbing frame to a school and so forth. Nunhead piles old gravestones. The idea to bury stone under a metre of earth and put down more stone. Yawn. Plant an orchard. And then harvest it. And then have a bake sale. And all the while dream and think about the continuity of time and the people who floated through.

Before we blame trees consider the nature of the soil and building code past present and what should be planned for a better future. My house and many others were built with little foundation! Poor trees to suffer the blame of poor planning and building. If we are entering a time of draught... hard to imagine with the rain we're having... but if the long term trend is dry... then our great and dear leaders (as some in Southwark see themselves) might ask for expert council in protecting our houses built on London Clay and the trees we need for all sorts of reasons Searching the web turns up tables like this. There are loads of ways to have your apple tree and your house foundation. What you need is good will, a vision and the plentifold expert advice that all too often goes unasked for WHERE TREES SHOULD BE PLANTED (but remember there are new trees with new root systems constantly being developed!) A Balanced View. Very little root action leading to subsidence damage to buildings in the UK is caused by direct physical pressure exerted by roots. A tree has to be very close to the structure indeed for such damage to occur. Planting a tree so close to a structure that trunk buttressing or increase in trunk diameter was being restricted could lead to damage. More commonly, pavements and boundary walls with little or no foundation may be lifted by large shallow roots of, for example, Populus, poplar, species. Buildings with adequate foundations, standing some distance from trees, are very rarely subject to such direct damage. Most reported damage is secondary in nature. The problem is confined largely to soil types that shrink considerably on drying. In the UK these are mainly certain types of clay and some peaty, fen soils. Under conditions of drought when tree roots remove water from shrinkable soils, they accelerate the drying and shrinking process. This can lead to loss of support to inadequate foundations and subsequent subsidence. Continued drought, even in the absence of trees, can lead to subsidence in such circumstances. Tree root spread data have most relevance to relatively ?safe? planting distances when relating to trees growing on shrinkable clay soils. Planting distances on other soil types that do not contract on drying have to be determined more by consideration of the respective scale of the buildings and trees, the ultimate size of the trees, and the desirable or undesirable qualities of the trees concerned. In all cases it is wise to consult a qualified expert. KEEPING A SENSIBLE DISTANCE min distance max root spread from property recorded Cypress Cupressus 3.5 metres 20.0 metres Cypress Chamaecyparis 3.5 metres 20.0 metres Birch Betula 4.0 metres 10.0 metres Apple Malus 5.0 metres 10.0 metres Pear Pyrus 5.0 metres 10.0 metres Cherry, Plum and Peach Prunus 6.0 metres 11.0 metres Hawthorn Crataegus 7.0 metres 11.5 metres Rowan & Mountain Ash Sorbus 7.0 metres 11.0 metres Plane Platanus 7.5 metres 15.0 metres Lime Tilia 8.0 metres 20.0 metres Black-Locust Robinia 8.5 metres 12.4 metres Beech Fagus 9.0 metres 15.0 metres Ash Fraxinus 10.0 metres 21.0 metres Horse Chestnut Aesculus 10.0 metres 23.0 metres Elm Ulmus 12.0 metres 25.0 metres Maple & Sycamore Acer 12.0 metres 20.0 metres Oak Quercus 18.0 metres 30.0 metres Willow Salix 18.0 metres 40.0 metres Poplar Populus 20.0 metres 30.0 metres sorry about the table... it looks fine but posts like this. First number is minimum distance suggested to a building and the second number is the very very last tiny tiny hair root

I agree with you Henry. The conversation is not: How little can we live with. That's like the conversation about Battery Hens: how little do they need to produce eggs. The conversation is about how we want to live.

Michael.C.Page@met.police.uk Michael Page acts as the police liason office with neighbourhoods setting up Neighbourhood Watch. Email him arrange a meeting with him and a group from your street Then Michael stays in touch and tells you what's been happening crime wise relevant to your street. You tell him what your concerns are and what makes you feel insecure. He responds ASAP very correctly and professionally and with depth. I think NW is definitely the way to go to make neighbours aware and helpful of their area and each other

All healthy honeybees will try and swarm at least once a year, usually between May and July. It is the natural means by which honeybees establish new colonies to multiply. Urban beekeepers try and prevent their bees from swarming by anticipating when they want to swarm, and splitting the colony before the bees have chance to swarm. However, bees don't give us much notice, so the occasional swarm gets away. Swarms are harmless if left alone, because they have no home, young or honey to protect. They both a cluster around the queen, and scout bees go find a suitable place to live. Once they've found somewhere, they'll go. "Help, I have a swarm!"... or do you? Bees, bumblebees and wasps often get confused for one another. Are they wasps? Are they bright yellow with black stripes? Very smooth mainly yellow with black stripes? Is it in the roof of your house? Are they coming from a round nest in a tree? Is there a nest in the shed? Do they have a high pitched buzz? Are they after all things sweet? Then these are probably Wasps and the LBKA will not collect or remove them. Are they another type of bee? Bumblebees are larger, fluffier and rounder than honey bees. They don't generally sting or swarm. If they are living in the ground, in a compost heap, in chimneys or under decking then it is best to leave them alone if possible. Solitary Bees, they are harmless and as their name suggest live more or less alone. If there are lots of small bees popping in and out of the wall or very small holes in the ground, if they have a reddy/brown bottom or if they almost black, they are probably solitary bees? The LBKA will not collect or remove bumblebees or solitary bees. If they are not wasps, bumble bees or solitary bees, and have settled in large numbers on a building, post, bush or tree they could well be a swarm of honeybees. If this is the case, then the LBKA can help collect a swarm. The LBKA swarm help line is 07922 147379 or call our Swarm Coordinator on 07864 933 266. Once you have called a collector remain calm, leave the swarm alone, make sure everyone is away from the swarm and wait for a swarm collector to arrive. This may well be in the evening but swarms will happily sit quietly for hours even days so be patient. The LBKA does not charge for removing swarms. And there is always a happy ending because the LBKA takes in swarms makes sure they are free of disease and then allocates to new LBKA bee keepers.

2010 : EDF, same conversation about trees Are the councillors responsible for trees in 2010 still responsible in 2012?

vanilla ice cream

should everyone be required to have water meters?

Did I hear right: The Council Will help manage trees on private land? Or is that only for elderly people? Or is that only elderly people with dead trees?

Instead of burying people under stone slabs... why not plant a tree and have their name on the tree. You could bury them under the tree or not as you liked. By definition the dead would be a living forest of memory. and / or Take up the grave stones and make walls of memory out of them. The idea muted to bury grave stones under a metre of earth ... !

An Upland Road neighbour called me today to say she thinks her door was forced open at 4:30am Monday the 4th. The door was chained as well as closed and remained chained so no one entered the house. She called the police and was happy with their very fast responce. She's in her 70's and wanted this reported to people near-by.

I'm also doing research on new technology uptake. I'm glad this thread has been lounged as you are the intelligensia of the EDF, too numerous to name but you know who you are and I court your ideas here please: What would "sell" you on more than required (insulation is all that's required and then people replace their windows on a need to basis) home energy new technologies? Would you ever put in solar electric? hot water? geo-thermal? grey water reuse? Do you think they don't work? Do you think they are too expensive? Do you just not have enough ?? for things like that and other home improvement, so you defer? I'd really love to read your ideas... by Tuesday next week... not to put you under pressure. 20's a statistical sample but you are all so smart it would be a biased sample Would you use a website that showed costs based on rooms and technologies and payback projections if it was shiney and bright? There are existing government unbiased websites and WHICH? has a members website which calculates costs and payback. Are they not user friendly?

I like the look of Peckham Pulse and I like the look of Dulwich and so forth. I am not talking about how spaces look. I am talking about how spaces function. My question is who is responsible in a public building project for what's under the design skin. Who's responsible that: Peckham Pulse Pool leaked and so did the roof. Dulwich Leisure Centre's climate system is "too small" (I heard) and does not allow for instructor temp selection. The roof also leaks. How old was the Leisure Center at E & C? I don't think it's all that old and who decided that a leisure centre should have an inadequate pool. I believe in public decision making for the collective good. I do not think that the market is going to deliver for all the people in society as it is designed to deliver, if left to its own devices, on the basis of money. But I do not want to pay for uninformed, visionless, unimaginative, petty beaurocratic public decision makers. And I think that buildings should be built to last / guaranteed for more than... what it it now? 5 years? 10 years? a BUILDING!!

A general comment: The planned new Fusion recreation facilty at the E & C. The "old" facility was ripped out for waste after ... how many years and how much money down the drain? Peckham Pulse: how many years of problems at what cost? Whatever other public purse buildings and their problems and now Dulwich Leisure Centre: what are the size of the cost overruns? Is it the same people in charge of tech specs and planning who have made mistakes on other buildings that are now in charge of the new E & C facility? Who are these people?

Always willing to wade in: I respond to Junad1997 saying he's a ... 15-year-old? You're quite mature to use a forum to get feed back on your perceptions of yourself and others! Write a letter to TFL but use the exercise to write very carefully and clearly so that you and the reader know why you feel bad. This is what I wrote within the year on what my son related to me: This is a general comment about the P13 service My son takes the bus to his 6th Form at 7:30 weekdays from Croxsted to be in school for 8:30. He leaves plenty of time and for a teenager every minute not sleeping HURTS. The bus has left him standing/ avoided picking him up/ not opened its doors more than once. It should not matter his age or what he wears: Although he has a "hoodie" on my son is an A* Maths and Science pupil whose taxes in a few years will pay all of our retirement as well as finding answers to world problems In Other Words: When Your Bus Drivers Do No Bother To Stop To Pick Up a School Child They are Cutting Their Own Throats (Metaphorically speaking). They are hurting their own son/ daughter/ niece/ nephew/ cousin/ friend. You ruin the start of another human's day. How dare you hurt people when your job is to stop at a designated pick-up/drop-off / look out for and help people to catch the bus? Thanks and this is what they responded: Thank you for your recent feedback regarding route P13 bus drivers. I was concerned to learn about your son?s experiences. Let me apologise for the distress and inconvenience he has suffered as a result of bus drivers failing to stop for him. It goes without saying that drivers are expected to stop at all bus stops where there are passengers waiting. It?s disappointing to learn that driers are failing to follow this basic procedure. Bus drivers are the public face of London Buses. As such, they?re expected to behave in a professional manner at all times. Driver behaviour such as this is unacceptable. I?ve passed your comments onto Abellio, who operate route P13 for us. They will take this matter up with the drivers on the route. Please rest assured that both we and our operating companies take complaints about poor staff behaviour extremely seriously. If your son continues to have problems on the route, I would appreciate it if you could let us have some specific details (eg. date, time, location and, if possible, the bus registration number and a description of the driver). The driver can then be traced and disciplinary action taken. Thanks again for taking the time to bring this matter to my attention. If I can be of any other assistance, please let me know. Yours sincerely

my insurance went up by ?120 reason: whip lash claims... bogus claims

Michael.C.Page@met.police.uk Michael Page helps local streets set up the scheme We're having a meeting this evening to set up Upland Road and Piermont Green and we need people to definitely come at 19:30 to East Dulwich Police Station Conference Room It's one thing to start threads and compare problems but what stops crime is claiming the streets for the forces of good.

I completely agree

We're setting up Neighbourhood Watch for the length of Upland Road and Piermond Green. Thank you Thomas Mickelwright for helping me contact the police officer responsible. We are having a meeting with the police, local councillors and as many residents as are available on a Friday evening: 18th May, this Friday, 19:30, East Dulwich Police Station in the conference room All Upland Road and Piermont Green residents are urged to come! PM me if you have questions or want to join an emailing list