Amelie

Manda Have you made a formal complaint to Southwark's CEO? If not you must, you should take this up with Eric Pickles MP in his capacity as Secretary of State for Local Government as well. Should the CEO prove unhelpful complain to the Ombudsman. You might like to consider taking legal action against Southwark for breach of statutory duty under the relevant powers and also for breaching its duty of care to you.

What I don't understand is why the Head of Legal Services at LB Southwark didn't put a stop to this business at the outset. There was never any need for LB Southwark to conduct an enquiry. This could have been dealt with in a private meeting. @James Barber, could you ask the HofLS why he/she didn't intervene? It is his/her job not only to protect the interests of LB Southwark but also to protect LB Southwark from itself. If I were the Met Police's Borough Commander I would be having pointed conversations with various people on the subject of wasting police time. I would think the Ombudsman and the District Auditor would be deeply unimpressed too, particularly by the amount of public money that has been spent.

James Re: streetlighting. I don't know how much they would cost, and one of the smaller residential roads would probably be a good place to run a trial.

James Re: streetlights and blinkers. To my knowledge it has not been tried anywhere else, I keep hoping a local authority somewhere will try it. At the same time as passing a local byelaw requiring all business/commercial premises to turn off ALL their lights once they have ceased trading for the day. This would include illuminated shingles, lights in windows, illuminated name signs etc.

Dear James Re replacing the streetlights, is there any chance of East Dulwich leading the way and fitting blinkers to its streetlights? The reason I ask is that at the moment the streetlights allow the light produced to form a nimbus around the lamphead. The effect of this is to blot out everything around and above the light, the most notable problem being the impossibility of seeing the stars in the night sky. Blinkers would focus the light into a beam toward the pavement and might help to make the stars more visible.

Is there a camera at that junction? If yes you should ask the police to check the film.

@ CivilServant Do you know who carried out the works on the pavement? If so you should send Gary's invoice to the relevant CEO.

Jeremy If your neighbours have been opening your post you should call the police.

The Forest Hill JDW was a cinema and then a bingo hall; the inside is great but unfortunately JDW haven't done anything much with the pavement outside and this has not been helped by Lewisham Council's lackadaisical approach to street cleaning and maintenance, or indeed its lack of thought about what type of commercial premises should be granted licenses/planning permission. TfL sticking badly maintained bus stops smack bang outside only made a bad situation worse.

There is far too much light pollution in this country. All yellow sodium bulbs should be replaced with white bulbs, and all street lights should be fitted with blinkers to direct the lightbeam down towards the pavement instead of forming a nimbus around the lamp. All shop owners/commercial businesses/office buildings should be required to switch off ALL the lights both internal and external, including illuminated shingles, as soon as they have finished trading for the door. Estate agents and supermarkets are far and away the worst offenders in this regard. All buildings which have external floodlights should be required to switch them off at 10.00pm. Children growing up in the towns and cities of the UK have no idea what a starry sky looks like because they never have the opportunity to see one.

There is too much electrical wiring and cabling under our pavements for ground penetrating radar to provide an accurate picture. Ask any any Planning/Street Scene officer.

James You could consider what the Councillors in Newbury do; each Saturday two of the Councillors stand on the steps of Newbury Town Hall and hold their surgery. Saturday is a market day in Newbury as well as being a major shopping day. It seems to be very successful.

My brother got married there a few years ago; we had a lovely time.

What astonished me was the Headmaster apparently threatened to report the parents to Social Services if they did not stop their children cycling to school unaccompanied. This is an outrageous abuse of authority. The Headmaster should be called in by Southwark Council on Monday and given a dressing down he will never forget. At the very least if he felt the need to say anything he should have asked the couple to come in so he could speak to them privately, and if he was receiving complaints from other parents he should have told them to speak directly to the Schonrocks and not interfered in an arrangement the parents had made in such a high-handed fashion. I would hope that the Headmaster will have the decency to apologise and to withdraw the disgraceful threat contained in his original letter.

Agree with Tulsie, lots of free advice to be had from the Probate Office. If your friend has time she should go into the offices in Holborn and ask for some in-person assistance.

She should have prosecuted the child and his parents, and the Council for assault GBH and criminal negligence.

James The thing that always surprised me about tree pits in East Dulwich was the number that were empty; clearly there had been a tree there at some point but for some reason it had been removed/chopped down. There used to be several empty tree pits along Lordship Lane for instance.

Have you asked Building Control at LB Southwark to come and have a look? If there have been any kind of works at or around your house over the years that might have something to do with the problem, and Building Control may have relevant records or someone with some expertise about the local water table.

If I were in charge of this country the first thing I would do is reform local government banning any party politics from it. Anyone wishing to stand for local office would have to show that they had lived in the area for a minimum term, that they were at least 35 years old and that they had been in permanent employment for a minimum term before standing. No-one but no-one would be allowed to stand on a party political basis, no political party would be allowed to take part in any shape or form including providing funding, candidates or research. I would also abolish the payment of elected members, including expenses, and cut the number of elected members; as well as make them subject to limited terms of office. I would engage in a wholesale devolution of power from Whitehall to local government and return Whitehall to what it is supposed to be - the provider of ideas and funding and general oversight, no more micro-management and interfering in things that shouldn't concern it. Finally, former MPs would be banned from standing for local office as would anyone wanting to use local government as a stepping stone to central government.

James If the Audit Commission is not following its own published rules then you should do the following: 1. Make a formal written complaint to the Chancellor of the Exchequer - he appoints the Commission's senior staff asking for those staff to be disciplined for misconduct. 2. Make a formal written complaint to the Cabinet Secretary for breach of the Civil Service Code, which binds the Audit Commission. 3. Write a formal solicitor's letter to the Audit Commission requiring absolute compliance with its own stated rules within a set time limit. Make clear that if the Commission does not comply LB Southwark will not allow it on to Southwark premises, and the Audit Commission will be taken to Judicial Review. Tell the Commission that you have also complained to the Chancellor and the Cabinet Secretary requesting disciplinary action for gross misconduct. 4. Write a formal letter of complaint to the relevant Select Committee giving chapter and verse. 5. Write a formal letter of complaint to the Standards Committee setting out the Commission's failure to comply with its own published rules and ask for a formal enquiry. You have it within your power to make life extremely difficult for the Audit Commission and you should not hesitate to do so.

My mother and I lived in Darrell Road until a few years ago. On tracing her family, who moved to Camberwell and Dulwich in the 19th century (1870s), we discovered that my great-great grandparents from her family had lived in the house directly opposite us in Darrell Road. How weird is that? My grandfather was born at No. 20 Blackwater Street. His family later moved to the Peabody Trust estate in Camberwell and lived in the flat directly underneath Charlie Richardson's family, my great-uncle went to school with Charlie Richardson. I no longer live in ED, so sadly the Dulwich/Camberwell connection has ended after over a century.

James PeckhamRose is right, and moreover if Private Eye is misrepresenting Southwark's expenditure of public money then you and the other councillors and the CEO have a duty to make Private Eye correct what it wrote. Can I take it there will be a letter from Southwark printed in the next edition? I do see the point of incentivisation but I also believe people should not receive bonuses (or figure in the Honours Lists) for doing the job for which they are employed and paid. Bonuses should only apply for work done 'above and beyond' not for routine work. You must also be aware that management receiving bonuses when in fact the efficiencies and improvements have been made by the poor bloody infantry causes huge resentment and is bad for morale.

Dear James and everyone on this thread, have you seen Southwark's dishonourable mention on the Rotten Boroughs page in this week's Private Eye? Oh dear oh dear.

Fuschia You have a choice of either taking a train to London Bridge/Charing Cross/Waterloo or Cannon Street and then the tube; or taking the bus to Camberwell and another bus to Paddington, or a bus to Waterloo and catch the stopping service to Reading. If you can drive I would.

Dear James Re the Audit Commission, there is nothing to stop Southwark taking judicial review proceedings against the Audit Commission or indeed charging the Audit Commission with misuse of public funds, in other words making a complaint to the Fraud Squad. Call the CEO of the Audit Commission in, tell him his organisation has a deadline of x months to complete its findings after which time its members will be required to leave Southwark's property (by court order if necessary) and make clear that Southwark will not under any circumstances pay more than xx for the audit. Dare the Audit Commission to take you to court, my money says that it won't.