VikkiM

This Weds they'll be an open meeting at the cafe on Peckham Rye Common about the improvement (and possible expansion) of facilities on the Common (and possibly also in the Park). ?200K of funding has been secured to build a new One O'Clock Club. Hopefully a further ?200K will be secured in the coming weeks to ensure the best possible facilities are built. Further funding is available for a natural play facility which will include a water play area. Although funding has not yet been secured for new changing room facilities both on the Common and at Homestall Road these are also being planned. If you have any thoughts about where these facilities would be best located, ideas of what they might look like, what they should provide and how to keep the development as sympathetic to the surroundings as possible, then attend the meeting on Weds - I'll post the time as soon as I've confirmed it. I met with the council officers in charge of the project and the local architects last Weds alongside Friends of Peckham Rye Park, the One O'Clock Club and the various sports clubs. There isn't a huge amount to report at this stage except to say get involved this Wednesday and hopefully the initial drawings, expected in about three weeks time, will reflect the meeting last week and all the comments made on Wednesday. Bit more info on www.peckhamryelabour.blogspot.com and more here (see pages 41 and 42)

I'm really curious about juliap point 2 above as it crossed my mind as I left the meeting on the 12 Oct. Will try to look into this - though others may already know or be on the case? At the meeting on 12 Oct, St. Johns and St. Clements was listed as a possibility for a temporary bulge and St Anthony's and St Mary Madalene were both listed as potential places for permenant bulges, though they would require extension to do this.

To be equally honest, sat at home with loads of ?great? survey results but not coming up with the campaigns and policies that will mean people vote Labour next May strikes me as pretty pointless. But, as both Gavin and I have stressed, the survey is just one thing. Those who have filled it in ? thank you. It?s genuinely useful. Those that don?t but have left comments here ? that?s really helpful too. Peckhamboy - you?ve certainly set us a challenge to respond without political point scoring? I think I?ll fail but I?ll try to do my best. - I?ve always thought that if don?t back yourself, you can?t expect others to believe in you either. I?ve got involved with a variety of community issues, campaigns and groups because I honestly think that a Labour run council will be better for Southwark. I don?t doubt that others will disagree. But I?ve put myself up for election because I want to make a difference, not for personal gain. - On this basis, I wholeheartedly believe that the local Labour party, and its candidates, must be confident and convinced that, were we to control the purse strings, we would do it better and that our priorities and spending would reflect our values of equality, fairness for all, solidarity with others in our community and a radical desire to make change happen rather than just accepting and protecting the status quo. So what we spend money on might change ? I personally believe that would count as better use. - On a more practical note we need to make sure that council tax collection improves and we welcome the decision by the Lib Dems and Tories to bring council tax collection back ?in-house?. This is something that Southwark Labour councillors argued for back in February 2008 because the private contractor used to collect council tax for Southwark was losing such large amounts of money in uncollected council tax. - Again, on a specific policy, bringing Southwark?s homes up to Decent Homes standard was always going to be a challenge ? I wouldn?t want to suggest otherwise. However, I believe the ?700million short fall in the council budget need not have spiralled to such high levels had the council acted on it earlier ? Labour councillors? calls for a cross-party (non-political-points-scoring!) group to solve these funding problems were sadly knocked back. Finally, those recycling stats can be found here - http://www.defra.gov.uk/evidence/statistics/environment/wastats/archive/mwb200708a.xls You need table 3, column 3. As a comparison recycling rates in Lambeth have doubled in recent years, they have tetra pak recycling and single bag collection. I lived in Lewisham for many years and thought that the larger bins, which didn?t require you to separate stuff out, were easier to use. This system was independently mentioned to me by several residents on the doorsteps last night. However, it?s really interesting to hear a cross-section of views and experiences. Victoria.

I don't think we're going to agree on the survey ;-) However, I would completely agree that it's not the only way to listen to people's views and get a hold on what's important to them. Peckham Rose - why not get things started by using this topic to let us know what's important to you? I do and will get involved with other topics on this site - I'm not expecting that you'll just come to me, I know that I need to come to you. I've posted blog and contact details on here previously but the best email is peckhamryelabour@hotmail.com or you can ring me on 07867782964 (not too late in the evening is best!) I'll be knocking on doors around Therapia and Marmora Roads tonight (obviously it's more likely than not that you don't live here!) and I'll be at the Peckham Rye Common central area meeting tomorrow night or, as you can see from the blog, we all tend to be at a variety of community forums and meetings where we're very happy to talk to people. In fact we actively want to talk to people! Finally, as mentioned above, the current councillors can be contacted by email, phone and post and perhaps most importantly, you can talk to them face-to-face at their regular surgeries. Victoria.

Very happy to play! I love the area I live in and really want to make sure that me, my family, and my neighbours get the services and resources that we need. Labour has indeed been in power nationally since 1997 but I think it?s important to note that just as we should all hold them responsible for shortcomings nationally, locally, the Lib Dems and Tories must also be be held to account. Peckham Rose ? it sounds like you are on the left and you've lost faith in the Labour Party at national level. I think your wrong to do that for a number of reasons, but I can understand your frustration. I've even experienced it myself. But this questionnaire (and, indeed, our decision to stand as Labour candidates) is a genuine attempt to engage with people locally and find out what their priorities are. It is easy to be cynical and dismiss people as self-serving, but, believe it or not, myself, Renata and Gavin are people who live here and who genuinely want to improve our area. The survey will help us to campaign to do that.

Hi iamyamyam There are indeed 3 Labour councillors representing Peckham Rye ward. Their contact and surgery details can be found here. I'm one of the Labour candidates for the local elections that will be held next May. But on your other point, yes, sadly there are lots of things to sort out! The current councillors continue to do all they can to raise the many issues and concerns with the Lib Dem-Tory executive which currently runs Southwark Council. On a case-by-case basis many things do get sorted out on a daily basis. Obviously, on many of the larger policy areas and decisions, a minority of Labour councillors tend to be continuously outvoted by the majority of Lib Dem and Tory councillors. It's a bit of a battle of attrition but I do think local Labour councillors, and Labour campaigners like ourselves, are determined to keep speaking up for those being ignored in our area, often the most vulnerable. Should Labour win control of the council next May, we'll have a lot more policy levers which we can use to 'sort things out' as you put it. Victoria.

Hi Peckham Rose Am really sorry that you feel that way. That absolutely isn't the intention as it strikes me that would be of no use to either those that filled it in nor us. I'm not sure how it can be biased if it has lots of comment boxes allowing people to write whatever they like? Sure, it's a survey by Labour candidates, but that doesn't make it irretrievably biased as you suggest. I'm slightly bemused as to why you feel so strongly about people filling in a survey to be honest! Anyway, lots of people seem to be filling it in so am glad that some are finding it a good forum for telling us what's important for them. Victoria.

Dear all, Over the next week residents in Peckham Rye ward (which covers some of East Dulwich) will receive a letter from me and the other Labour candidates, Gavin Edwards and Renata Hamvas, giving you a bit more information about us and setting out the issues that we think are crucial to Peckham Rye. But we?re not only interested in telling you about ourselves, we?re also seeking your views on council services and asking what issues you think are most important. So to help with this we?ve enclosed a survey with the letter. But for those of you who would prefer to take the survey online you can do so by clicking here. Many reading this blog will no doubt live in ?East Dulwich? ward rather than Peckham Rye but local issues, such as the primary school places shortage, don?t work according to strict political boundaries so all views are very welcome! For those of you still recovering from the last fortnight?s online local news drought, with the closure of the EDF, there?s loads of updates on our blog including ? Nunhead Community Centre, Southwark Caribb FC, Peckham Rye Station developments, Nunhead and Peckham Community Council, Peckham Rye Common toilets, Ivydale Road and South Nunhead traffic calming, bus fares and primary school places. Take a look. Victoria.

With thanks to the Forest Hill Society for highlighting this - You can meet Southern Managers on the London Bridge Station concourse this Thursday 15 October from 7.30am-9.30am. A chance to tell them about the impact that South London Line cuts will have on your commute and to show your concern at the cuts. Southeastern are running a similar session at their information stand at Charing Cross station again on 15 October between 8.00am and 10.00am. Victoria Peckham Rye Labour

Hello, update below that summerises some of the key (but by no means all!) points made at tonight's OSC meeting which Gavin, Renata and myself attended and spoke at. 1. We?re not sure that the council explanation was fully adequate. It should certainly have picked up the fact that there was a problem sooner i.e. before the allocations went out. The council is blaming some of the problems on late applications, but in fact there were only 45 late applications across the whole of the south of the borough. The main issue seems to be that there were too few staff in the admissions team - they have significantly fewer officers in Southwark than in Lewisham for example. Sadly, the council made the decision to have such a small team and it simply wasn?t able to provide the service that most local parents felt they needed. Three additional staff are now being recruited to the team ? two will cover primary admissions and the third will have a communications role. From all the comments made at the meeting, it seems that this should go a long way to resolving many concerns that people had this year. We do hope that the council keeps its promise on this one and that the new staff arrive imminently. Additionally, although we won?t get one uniform application form for all parents in London until next year (for Sept 2011 starters onwards) the Council did agree to work more closely with Lambeth and Lewisham to help free up places earlier in the application process. 2. There was a very lengthy discussion about whether we can be sure that the current ?bulge? in population will revert back to around current levels in approximately 2018/2019. We?re not sure that the council can be any surer about this than they currently are but the committee did note that further investigation of all available figures was needed. 3. There were lots of comments from parents about how confusing the current admissions system is and how this exacerbates problems. Hopefully an increased admissions team will help. Gavin suggested hosting one or several ?schools fayres? at which parents could have face-to-face chats with teachers, find out more about local schools and receive lots of help with negotiating the admissions process. 4. In terms of parents having all the information they need about applying this year and being aware of which schools might have additional ?bulge classes? the suggestion is that this is demand-led. This seemed to be supported by most people present. This would mean that rather than telling parents where additional classes might be, which might encourage second-guessing of where they are most likely to get a place and inadvertently add to some schools being over or under subscribed, seven or eight schools (within the East Dulwich, Nunhead, Peckham Rye and Camberwell area) would be lined-up to take additional classes but only those with the demand for places would end up with the extra classes come next September. The council is also confident that offers of places can be made in March which is much better than the May date previously stated. 5. The current admission rules add to the likelihood of children ending up at a school some distance away from home. Me, along with a couple of others in the room, suggested looking again at these rules as a way of alleviating the current problems. The current system allocates first to children where it is their nearest community school and only after that to children who have another school closer to them. This means that if you live just a little bit too far from your nearest school and you don't get in there, then you stand very little chance with the 2nd, 3rd and 4th nearest (due to this rule) and instead you may be sent to an undersubscribed school a considerable distance away. We don?t know whether there is scope to change this ? tell us what you think. 6. The general consensus was that a new school would not solve the current problems and is also unrealistic. The GLA officer projections for the area are for a few years of baby boom with demand falling back to previous levels in about five years time. It would take nearly that long to build a new school and cost ?10-20m. There also doesn?t seem to be a site where it could be located. The work the council did very recently to find a suitable location for Harris Boys seems to pretty much confirms this final point. So demand-led bulge classes plus a better and bigger admissions department are the proposed solutions. Do get in touch via peckhamryelabour@hotmail.com or Peckham Rye Labour Victoria.

Hello, I?m Victoria Mills and just last week I was selected as one of the Labour candidates for Peckham Rye ward for the next elections. I live in the ward, on Ivydale Road, and am really keen to prove to you that councillors can do an important job for our area. I think councillors who speak up for their local community do get some important stuff done ? for example Cllr Fiona Colley?s works tirelessly and has helped make sure that tonight?s OSC meeting will look into Primary School places. I?m really sorry that Don Quixote thinks otherwise but after attending Nunhead and Peckham Rye Community Council meetings, knocking on lots of doors and listening to residents? concerns and also spending a lot of time getting frustrated about a myriad of different local things, I decided that trying to represent my local area on the council would be the best way to try to make a difference. So here goes! I think most people on this forum want to live in a good area with the best possible services and facilities so let?s get our voices heard rather than talking down one of the ways we might be able to do this ? through our local representatives. Please do contact me and my fellow candidates Gavin Edwards and Renata Hamvas on peckhamryelabour@hotmail.com if you think there are things we could be doing, post on here, pm me or check out our blog Peckham Rye Labour Equally, I?ll make sure that I?m active on this forum And we'll all be at the primary schools meeting tonight. Please do come and bother us!