first mate

Having visited the Peckham sorting office recently, it seems morale is rock bottom.

The dog has obviously recently had a medical procedure or escaped from a groomers (hence the collar). One of the local vet practices is likely to know the dog. They can also check his/her microchip.

Spending money on road repairs would be a pragmatic and useful shorter term intervention to increase cycling. Given the shorter days and recent torrential rain where puddles disguise craters in the road surface, I do not feel safe cycling in those conditions at all. I would also like to open up LTNs to buses. Since LTNs were implemented I have seen few examples of children playing in the streets, probably because most LTN properties in ED have large back gardens. It is not my experience that cycling is up locally at all. It also occurs that the large Evans shop closed. Why if cycling is booming?

That pretty much puts to bed the myth that cycling is massively on the up.

But you have just gone on at length about issues between bikes and parked cars, including your personal experience of near misses with cars and how you "love controlling the road". Having vented on cars and bikes you cannot then direct everyone else to stick rigidly to whatever it is you feel the thread should focus on.

I agree, the forum is a real community asset and a means to give issues a wider airing. I like it when Southwark Council listens to the residents it represents. Sadly, this does not happen as often as it should.

So Southwark are just going to stick their fingers in their ears until the inconvenient questions go away.

And again, the fact that people are not giving up their cars in the numbers expected/hoped for, despite this council piling the penalties and pressures high is telling us something. It is not the black and white simple solution you make it out to be.

Malumbu, your last post should be removed and put in the traffic section.

I think for clarity we should refer to the various vested interests on all sides in keeping the area unstable (Netanyahu, Hamas, Iranian leaders, Syrian leaders, just for starters). Civilians on all sides are caught up in and victims to the various agendas. The whole thing is made more scary by routine use of fake news accusations on all sides. I find it worrying to see young supporters of Palestine in the UK seeming to deny the recent horrors perpetrated by Hamas or revel in them. I also know there is a long history of denial of horrors inside Gaza at the hands of the Israeli regime and lack of scrutiny in the media.

I think it is fair enough to ask what Netanyahu and elements of Israeli Intelligence services have to gain by the current situation- as with any leader who sees conflict/ war as an opportunity. There are reports Israeli Intelligence were aware a Hamas attack was being planned. However, and I know the use of the word Israel is shorthand, but we cannot say the general population were aware. That's the problem. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/20/benjamin-netanyahu-hamas-israel-prime-minister

Good you managed to see it. These sessions are quite illuminating.

I actually really do really love and value our local parks and hope they are kept primarily as oases (not private entertainment sites) for all the community to enjoy and connect with nature.

That's a great idea Heartblock, isn't there some sort of community green funding that can be applied for each year?

The level of mismanagement is truly scary as are the apparent attempts to block and bury. It does seem that the only reason any of this has come to light is that one of the residents reps is involved with planning elsewhere and I think he said he had been, or is, a councillor in another borough, so he knows how to work the process. I would urge everyone to try to watch the monthly scrutiny sessions on environment as this is chaired by Cllr Margy Newens and it is where Cabinet Member Cllr McAsh has to report. If you google Southwark YouTube and then click on playlists, the various scrutiny sessions show up.

Again, just your view Malumbu. You continue with the idea that people drive cars because they are lazy, rather like the urban myth peddled some time ago that local car drivers were all popping out in the motor just to get a latte. Most of us knew this was not true and simply made up to push the anti car/pro cycling agenda. There is the odd person that is indeed lazy, however most people drive because they cannot effectively manage their family, work and day without the use of a motorised vehicle, at least some of the time- and no car shares and hire cars are not t(e great solution you make them out to be. Seriously, if it was really as simple and easy as you make out, people would be selling cars in their droves. You often refer to human behaviour as a motivator and maintenance factor in car ownership but your insistence that it is all about habit and laziness is just overly simplistic and black and white.

@march46 To get the facts straight, this is not just about parking penalties but traffic enforcement as well as parking. In the last 12 years we have seen a rise in cameras, in some cases with poor signage, and wholesale traffic circulation redesign. It is not therefore surprising there has been a rise in penalties. But, the real reason for the desired rise is contained in the text below "The impact of inflation on penalty levels has meant that there has been a reduction in the real value of penalty charges over time." This is a nonsense argument. We are in a cost of living crisis and people continue to use their cars because very often they need to. Fines are higher because the system is designed to elicit fines. I do wonder if the real reason, implicit in the bolded text, is that Southwark had projections on what they could rake in and this has not been met, despite roads being in surplus. Full Text "Parking, bus lane and moving traffic penalty charges have not been reviewed since 2010 and many of the charges have not changed since 2007. The number of people receiving penalty charges has increased by 50% over the last 12 years and we are concerned that the current penalty levels are not set high enough to act as a deterrent. The impact of inflation on penalty levels has meant that there has been a reduction in the real value of penalty charges over time. Local government, the Mayor and central government share the same aims: to increase active travel, improve road safety and reduce emissions (both air quality and carbon). Effective management of parking and traffic movement can contribute towards this. Transport for London has similar responsibilities to London boroughs for setting charges on their own roads (Red Routes). In 2021, Transport for London increased parking, bus lane and moving traffic penalty charges on the roads they manage from £130 to £160. Many parking, bus lane and moving traffic contraventions are dangerous and have impacts on the safety of other road users, how they travel and access public transport services in London.

I believe the Housing dept has a particularly bad rep and there is even mention of possible fraud/corruption by one resident representative. However, the MO does seem very familiar, in the broadest terms: flawed data, blocking resident scrutiny, mismanaging information or misleading, misuse of consultation process, misrepresentation of consultation process, or no consultation process at all. The impression is that the Cabinet Member and even the Leader had over the years been dismissive of resident concerns and objections, fobbing them off at every turn.

At the Scrutiny session he seemed very clear everything was going ahead, so not sure how really genuine that letter to residents is. It reminds me a bit of his response to One Dulwich, promising to look into data. On the other hand, being a very political politician (now Socialist not Marxist) he may just be trying to buy time, as you say, while presenting different faces and 'takes' according to his audience; has anyone else noticed how borderline besotted Margy Newens appears to be with him, when she chairs the Scrutiny sessions?

This was from a discussion way back in May, many, many pages back. It was to do with reports there were moves to ban bikes (including e-bikes) from the centre of Amsterdam, as they were making life too difficult/dangerous for pedestrians. I don't know if Rockets' information on cycling going down also includes e-bike and scooter use? I do think usage probably tends to go down as summer and the good weather ends, but happy to be corrected. As an aside, Cllr McAsh indicated at the Scrutiny session that he supports e-bikes but is not so keen on scooters.

My word, have looked at some of that scrutiny session on housing and there is a stench of possible fraud/corruption. What also stands out is the extent to which residents trying to raise very real and valid issues with the council say they have been deliberately and systematically blocked, misled and even lied to by officers and contractors, over ten years! Even council members seems to imply something very awry in that department but I was also struck by the emphasis on mismanagement of information/data, poor/non-existent consultation, appalling communication.

It will be interesting to see the contortions they resort to. Everyone should try to make a point of watching the monthly Scrutiny sessions on Southwark's YouTube channel. They are really most interesting and to a degree the place where Cabinet Members must report on policy and process.

Post removed as it may have breached posting policy.

Yes, there is something almost grotesque at seeing money pumped into Dulwich Village (turning long-used public highways into 'village squares' etc.) while the genuinely useful and loved physic garden at Dulwich Hospital site has just been junked. What liars our politicians are. All of them.

Malumbu. Confused by your post. Are you saying "anti vaxer nutters" who have posted on your WA street group have also posted on your group against 15 minute cities? What has any of that got to do with CPZ?!