first mate

Sorry PR, somehow I missed that. Do you think that without a licence that means the event cannot be extended then? If so, that would be fantastic news. I would also like to see it cut back to the original size before it was extended in terms of footprint, last year.

Next time I go that route I will take a very careful look at the cycle lane, along the stretch where the Dulwich Paragon club jersey wearing cyclist ran the red lights- I assume you will not find an excuse for that behaviour also? The cycle lane looked to me in good condition and wide enough at that point and that in part is why I found this cyclist's behaviour so odd. I will take a closer look next time I am there. Had he stopped at the red lights, as he should have, I'd be more inclined to think you have a point.

What is also surprising is the silence of Cllrs Hamvas and Mills. Have either of you any sense of where they stand on the issue? If We are the Fair no longer run the event, what do we know about the organisation that has taken over?

More fireworks tonight. Seriously, there are going to be large numbers of domestic pets that will require medication for half the year at this rate. Heaven knows what it is doing to wildlife.

In this case the road was not clear, there was a queue of cars, all I might add patiently and politely moving behind the cyclist who, as I said, slalomed in and out of the cycle lane, effectively keeping the whole queue of other traffic behind him for some distance. The cycle lane looked wide enough without loads of sharp detritus, that I could see, and also well surfaced- perhaps this was just the section closest to Crystal Palace, where I saw the cyclist. It could be the cycle lane is not as good at the Croydon end. Anyhow, this guy was not a great advert for 'good' cycling and sailing through a red light was, I guess, to be expected. It just came over as very entitled and somewhat inconsiderate display by someone wearing a Dulwich Paragon jersey.

Blah Blah, many of us are grateful to you for taking the first steps towards saving the park from further privatisation and exploitation. A truly valuable community service. I do hope Cllrs Hamvas and Mills can find the time to advocate for the future of the park, rather than seemingly view it as a useful events space for private hire money-spinner for a cash-strapped council.

Thanks for posting. Sounds like little will change then. I am not clear from the response if this will still go to debate or not. I hope it does.

I suspect Musk and his supporters may disagree.

Over the weekend, going towards Crystal Palace from Croydon, a cyclist wearing a Dulwich Paragon Club jersey was ahead of me. He veered repeatedly in and out of the cycle lane, one moment he was in it, then not, it was almost like he was doing a slalom run. There was no signalling as he suddenly pulled out in front of cars in order to move to the other side of the road. At the traffic lights on red, he just sailed through with no change in cycling speed. He had lights but no pedal reflectors. For a club cyclist, I thought this was a surprising display of poor cycling behaviour.

The problem there is that at the time the planning application went in for the M&S, the point was made many, many times by local residents that the rear entrance (on a residential street) was not wide enough or easy enough to access. Naturally this fell on deaf ears and council planning officers allowed themselves to be persuaded by planner computer generated modelling that large delivery lorries would be able to manoeuvre through the entrance and into the delivery area. With the passage of time what has come to pass is exactly what local residents anticipated and objected to; the M&S lorries hardly ever go into the delivery area, instead they park up on LL and on the residential side street (often blocking the footpath of the side street as they unload). To add to the problem, you have cars lining up on yellow lines to go to the car wash (often with engines running) and magically the increasingly plentiful council parking wardens never, ever catch them. I gather local residents are also fedup of M&S staff taking fag breaks on the street and dumping the ciggie butts on the pavement, once they are through.

Or we just assume that they were driving without 'due care and attention'- either way, without knowing what actually happened any view is speculative and based on assumption.

Well DKHB, if, as a number of you seem to be saying, very few shoppers in cars visit LL, why would the Council feel it necessary to go out of their way to facilitate them by creating lots of new paid for parking slots. It is the Council who said they had to balance the parking needs of shoppers with those of residents. Surely they would not say or do this without it being evidenced...would they?

Why do you think Southwark Council has justified the potential introduction of paid for parking slots on LL and ED residential streets with the rationale that it has to balance the needs of residents with visiting shoppers in cars? Do you think this was a decision based on no evidence at all? Were they lying or making it up? Were they just saying this to allay shopkeeper fears about loss of trade if a CPZ is brought in?

Indeed, yes my mistake 🤣 Weren't the regs reviewed and updated in 2017? So although bicycle lights are a legal requirement, it is a technicality that few really know or care about. It certainly tallies with the suggestion that more people are cycling at night without them.

The new planting areas are slowly filling with rubbish and weeds- not a great look. As I have said before, this is now a great cut through for delivery motorbikes and e-bikes and I would not say all adhere to 20mph or stay off the newly widened pedestrian areas. Cannot imagine what it will be like if and when the massive new student accommodation off Melbourne and the licensed shop go through. Further up towards Melbourne South a widened pavement area is full of bikes of various types and so badly designed that in heavy rain it floods and most cannot be walked through.