jamesmcash

I have had a few residents contact me about new LED streetlights outside their homes being too bright and disturbing them inside their homes. If you have experienced this then please email me to let me know, make sure you include your address! Best wishes James

It is indeed!

Hi all I set up email notifications for this thread a while back but recently they have started going into my spam. Hopefully it's sorted now. But email is always a more reliable way to contact me. Anyway, to answer your question rahrahrah, I am very keen to better promote cycle hire schemes. The issue is that, at the moment, most of them are quite unstable and are struggling to deal with vandalism. The industry is still very new and I think they're learning quickly though, so hopefully there will be more opportunity to bring them into East Dulwich soon. Best wishes James

No Christmas tree sellers will be invited back to Goose Green park. Best wishes James

Hi all Thanks to everyone who emailed about that. Sorry for the delay in responding, I have been liaising with the council on it and everything is much slower during the general election. I have just sent out the email below to residents who contacted me. Best wishes James ---- Dear all I am writing to you because you contacted me regarding the 'Tree Amigos' event on Goose Green Park. I only became aware of it when local residents contacted me. There was consultation about it back in July, where no issues were raised, but it is fair to say that it was not as well promoted as it should have been. The Tree Amigos event is in many ways the kind that the council should support: - the trees are sustainably grown - they offer craft workshops for children - it will accommodate Goose Green primary school?s Christmas Carol event on the 12th December - it helps to raise revenue for the council's important services, after almost a decade of brutal cuts However, I do not believe that it is well-suited for Goose Green Park. Above all, residents and traders have raised concerns that there are already local businesses who sell Christmas trees in the area and they risk losing business from this event appearing well after their business plans were set. As a result, we have agreed with the council that Tree Amigos will not be invited back to Goose Green Park in future years. In the meantime, I want to reassure everyone of the following: - The council will reimburse the licensing fees for the local tree sellers who may lose out from this decision - If there is any damage to the park's ground, Tree Amigos will be will be to cover the costs of any reinstatement that?s required. - The noisy generator has been replaced with a quieter more efficient model. I have cc?ed in council officers Aileen Cahill [[email protected]] and Charlie Simm [[email protected]] who have offered to answer any further questions you may have. I hope that this allays some of your concerns. Many apologies for the problems caused by this issue. Best wishes James

Hi all For some reason I have not been receiving emails telling me when someone posts on this thread. Sorry about that. Regarding the Tree Amigos issue I have just sent out the message below to residents who contacted me. Best wishes James ---- Dear all I am writing to you because you contacted me regarding the 'Tree Amigos' event on Goose Green Park. I only became aware of it when local residents contacted me. There was consultation about it back in July, where no issues were raised, but it is fair to say that it was not as well promoted as it should have been. The Tree Amigos event is in many ways the kind that the council should support: - the trees are sustainably grown - they offer craft workshops for children - it will accommodate Goose Green primary school?s Christmas Carol event on the 12th December - it helps to raise revenue for the council's important services, after almost a decade of brutal cuts However, I do not believe that it is well-suited for Goose Green Park. Above all, residents and traders have raised concerns that there are already local businesses who sell Christmas trees in the area and they risk losing business from this event appearing well after their business plans were set. As a result, we have agreed with the council that Tree Amigos will not be invited back to Goose Green Park in future years. In the meantime, I want to reassure everyone of the following: - The council will reimburse the licensing fees for the local tree sellers who may lose out from this decision - If there is any damage to the park's ground, Tree Amigos will be will be to cover the costs of any reinstatement that?s required. - The noisy generator has been replaced with a quieter more efficient model. I have cc?ed in council officers Aileen Cahill [[email protected]] and Charlie Simm [[email protected]] who have offered to answer any further questions you may have. I hope that this allays some of your concerns. Many apologies for the problems caused by this issue. Best wishes James

Hi all, Throughout the design process I have been keen to hear the views of residents and I have ensured that the housing team have listened too. As a result of feedback the designs were altered to respond to concerns about privacy and light. Let's be clear what density means: it refers to the number of people housed in a given footprint. Higher density can mean very tall buildings, inappropriate for a suburban setting, but it does not need to. In this case, the new council homes are going to be roughly the same height as the existing buildings. The higher density is a response to the dire need for council homes. The council does not own much land that it can build on, particularly not in this part of the borough. So when we have some we want to make the best use of it! We wanted to focus on family homes, the lower density option would have been to go for flats for couples or single people. I cannot wait to welcome four families into their new council homes. Decent council housing has the potential to transform lives. Best wishes James

Hi ed_pete The council is doing an assessment of the library for where racks can be installed. What this space! Best wishes James

Hi all September's Goose Green Newsletter is up and available here: https://www.jamesmcash.com/blog/goose-green-councillor-newsletter-september-2019 Best wishes James

Hi all I am sorry about the ongoing issues with the diversions. We were not given proper warning of this whatsoever. It is clear that the diversion route and corresponding signage was not properly thought-through. My colleague Cllr Charlie Smith is leading on this so do get in touch with him if there continues to be issues ([email protected]) Great idea ed_pete - I will try to get a cycle rack installed by the library. Best wishes James

Hi all Thanks a lot for all the great comments. Really useful and interesting. I am by no means an expert on these matters so I have been passing your comments onto the council's Ecological Officer to find out more. When there is a good amount of space then leaving the area to naturally 'rewild' is really effective. But in an urban area where the green areas are smaller, this is more of a challenge. The beautiful flowers tend to be edged out by more 'thuggish' plants like thistle. These are less aesthetically pleasing, and they do not have the same ecological impact. For an example of this, have a look at the 'wild flower' garden in Goose Green park - it is totally overrun. So if we move forward with this I am keen to ensure that the project has money put aside for maintenance. I don't want this to happen again. Best wishes James

Dear all A resident recently contacted me about wild flowers. As you may be aware, in addition to the visual benefits, wild flowers have a significant environmental impact in supporting pollinators like bees and butterflies. We can make a small contribution to averting ecological disaster. I would like to introduce more flowers - either wild or from bulbs - into the local area. I already have a few ideas for potential locations but I would be keen to hear more. I am talking about existing grassy areas - not spaces for raised beds. They do not need to be large though: a few square metres can have an impact. What do you think? Would you like to see more flowers in East Dulwich? And do you have any ideas for where they could go? Best wishes James

Hi Mrs D I have arranged for a zebra crossing to be installed at the junction. It needs to go through a statutory consultation before it can be implemented but we hope that this will just be a formality. Best wishes James

Hi all Just a quick note to say that we councillors are aware of this situation and are doing what we can to deal with it. We agree that it is a serious issue. Sunglasses - apologies for the lack of response. Being a councillor is not a full time role - I am also a teacher. This means that it will often take a couple of days to respond to emails, particularly at busy times like for instance the start of term! Best wishes James

Hi all Just a quick note to say that we councillors are aware of this situation and are doing what we can to deal with it. We agree that it is a serious issue. Sunglasses - apologies for the lack of response. Being a councillor is not a full time role - I am also a teacher. This means that it will often take a couple of days to respond to emails, particularly at busy times like for instance the start of term! Best wishes James

Hi all, Hope everyone is enjoying the summer! Flooding - ThamesWater has not been in touch with me at all. The only info I have seen is that which I shared above (and again here: https://www.southwark.gov.uk/environment/flood-risk-management/notice-of-proposed-flood-alleviation-works-on-peckham-rye-common) Builders should not leave things on the road for longer than necessary. I don't know the exact regs but I can happily look into it for you. Email me with your name and address, and the location of the problem. Has the hire car been abandoned? Again, send me details and I will look into it. Best wishes, James

Dear all Sorry for delayed response, I have been away. Mrs D - I am looking into seeing if the scheme can be amended to become a controlled crossing. I will keep you posted. 73jem - if you have not already (it is not always obvious from people?s EDF usernames!) please email me about this. Include your name and address so that I can properly follow up on it and make sure this problem does not occur. AylwardS - Is this the information you were looking for? https://www.southwark.gov.uk/environment/flood-risk-management/notice-of-proposed-flood-alleviation-works-on-peckham-rye-common It may have been put there since your post on here. Best wishes James

Hi all The council's proposals are roughly in line with what we local councillors suggested as a compromise option (outlined here: https://www.jamesmcash.com/blog/controlled-parking-in-east-dulwich). However there's a couple of issues outstanding which I want to look into further. The first is the times of operation. There was a clear majority in the 'Grove Vale' area for an all day CPZ but a majority for a partial CPZ in the 'Peckham West' area. I'm keen to work out how we can reconcile this. The second is about the boundary on Melbourne Grove. As it stands, the road is split in two at East Dulwich Grove but it seems like there is strong support from residents in the section south of East Dulwich Grove but north of Ashbourne Grove or Chesterfield Grove for it to be extended slightly. I'm looking into how the numbers stack up on this. If you live in the proposed area, or in this section of Melbourne Grove then I'd be happy to hear from you by email: [email protected] I've been scouring through Das Capital but it seems that Marx is silent on these issues. Best wishes James

Hi Mrs D The work is initially to build out the corners to reduce the crossing width for pedestrians, and then later on to add a raised table to further slow down vehicles. Best wishes James

Dear all Thanks all for comments. Just to be clear, you do not need to sign into anything to access the newsletter: you just give us your email and it will be sent straight to your inbox. I will also duplicate it on my website, and link to it on here too. The newsletter is just an option for whomever finds this more convenient. And thanks for fixing my link Admin :)

Dear all Cllrs Victoria Olisa, Charlie Smith and I have started an online newsletter. It will be monthly and it will include brief updates about what we three councillors have been doing on your behalf, and general notices about the council which we think particularly relevant. You can sign up here: https://www.jamesmcash.com/newsletter (The form is embedded on my website here. For some reason the Forum will not let me link to it directly) (I've sorted the link - Admin) Best wishes James

Dear all Abe_froeman I am not sure. But if it is inconveniencing you then I would be happy to look into getting yours removed asap. Email me with your address etc. Cella I?m really sorry to hear you?ve had a negative experience with this. Can you forward the email you sent to me and I will then chase it up and make sure you get an adequate response. TheArtfulDogger When you say that the document ?talks about? making garden waste collections free do you mean this line? ?We will consult on the provision of free garden waste collections for households with gardens and seek views on the impacts and costs for local authorities so these can be taken into account in assessment of new burdens.? It seems to suggest that following consultation with local authorities they might consider providing additional funding to cover the cost of providing the service for free. Were this to happen I am sure that the council would change its policy. The introduction of the charge is a result of the terrible cuts to local authorities from central government. Best wishes James

Dear all Most people should have received their garden waste bin and sticker by now but I understand that some are still to be delivered. This should not affect your collections. But if you are having any trouble then please email me. In other news, my fellow councillors and I have written to Heidi Alexander, Deputy Mayor of London for Transport, asking her to reverse the cut to the number 12 bus. Full letter here: https://www.jamesmcash.com/blog/open-letter-to-heidi-alexander-on-the-number-12-bus Best wishes James

Hi all You can continue to use old bags but once the new system is fully in place you will need to arrange a collection. Best wishes James

Dear singalto Aha I see. If it's not there by the end of the week then please drop me an email and I'll chase it up. Best wishes James