lpool

What dear Tessa failed to mention is that Southern lease the station from Network Rail and is therefore directly responsible for its up-keep (and is part of its franchise obligations), as would TfL if they ended up running the South London Metro services. The land behind the fence would still remain with Network Rail unless TfL decided to buy it.

A band you will never have heard of - Panama Kings Saw them play a showcase gig in February - ended up giving them a lift back to digs afterwards. Touted as Belfast's biggest new band. Headlining The Windmill in Brixton on Saturday. I predict they will be massive.

My conclusion on this is that Alicia is just about to put a low offer in on a house by Goose Green - hoping that the sellers will be panicked into selling. So what other newcomers to the area would send house prices plummeting - aside from Alicia?

Came across this link elsewhere making reference to the Oglander Pub. May be old news for some.

Buggy Buggy Buggy Buggy Buggy Bugger

We had a bloke turn up today saying he was from the Telegraph and that they were doing an article on houses turning front gardens into driveways as the council was wanting to stop this practice. He wanted to take a picture from the upstairs bedroom window of our front. My wife declined the request. Sounds dodgy (even if he did have a camera with him) as he could just as easily take a picture from ground level. Anyone else had someone saying they are from the Telegraph.

Must agree the picture looks very impressive. I wonder how they will deal with the builder's yard at the back. The delivery lorries start very early and I seem to remember the owners of the garden centre saying that they had no control over the extent to which lorries could access the road (which is private), nor did they have to pay towards the pot-holes they created. It can get very noisy with reverse beeps going all day so hope the flats have good double glazing.

I guess much depends on the ability of the planning inspector to set terms and conditions. The requirement to either sound proof or relocate the aircon units within a specified timescale would probably be the ideal position, and should Cafe Nero fail to complete then they would be required to cease trading until such time the work was completed. This ignores the option of them simply switching them off though. I suspect they are correct in saying they don't need them - they don't have a working kitchen so I expect it is not a building regulation requirement. Ultimately though they probably risk losing trade if they try to operate with no form of air conditioning as it's the kind of shop that could get very hot when jammed full with the buggy brigade - although they could always try using internal ceiling fans. But at least the neighbour noise would be abated if the aircons were permanently switched off. Personally I prefer going to Le Petit Chou but my wife prefers the seats at Cafe Nero, and it is one of the few places in the area that does a gluten free cake.

Of course there is the separate issue of whether constituents want Cafe Nero or not - judging by its popularity I would suggest a fair number do (and yes there are also some who clearly do not). I think it is right to be support any action that will ensure the noise problem is resolved, but I think SimonM is correct in his comments about the risk of prejudice from the outset. It is important that elected councillors try to remain impartial and look to reflect the views of their constituents. Sometimes personal views can cloud judgements and result in a failure to get appropriate changes agreed. For me the focus at this stage should be on resolving the air conditioning noise - especially if having an A3 licence is easier to justify now that there are additional retail shops on the block.

Looks like a win win situation for the garden centre. A multi-million pound development and pressumably a long term lease agreement with Southwark for the library. Finding suitable tenants next to ED station is not as easy as Lordship Lane so a very clever move. Given that this was originally sold as a benefit to the community I would be interested to hear details of the lease agreement for the library. Is it a peppercorn rent of say ?1 a year (in which case can be seen as a community benefit), or will it be a commercial rent (in which case no direct benefit to the community)? I've also queried with James Barber whether the full funding of the library for all the new services planned has also been approved at this stage.

Not forgetting that there is already a much bigger library in East Dulwich the other end of Lordship Lane. Re the West Dulwich Garden Centre, never been there but I believe at least one former ED garden centre person works there these days.

We spoke to the owners over Christmas about this - who I should add were absolutely charming. They were planning to close for a short period of time in January so that the water issue could finally be sorted. Hopefully this is the case now although it seems a bit earlier than I thought they had said. They have really struggled for several months - and I think as mentioned earlier, because of the lack of co-operation of neighbour the water fiasco has rolled on.

"Just curious. Had a small indepedent coffee shop done the same thing, would you be opposed to it? Asked another way, is your affection for the law equal toward 'big bad chain' and 'local independent'?" Wondered when someone might ask this question. Friends of mine have a coffee shop - all 1 of them so I guess classifies as "independent". They ended up applying retrospectively for planning permission after failing to ensure that they had the correct approvals for selling food. They were new to the game so did not understand the requirements at the time - so in this respect different to Cafe Nero who clearly would know it was potentially breaking the law. That said, I am in favour of the it staying - no other cafe in the area touches it in terms of being able to sit down in comfy chairs and not be hemmed in at tables - and they do gluten free cakes. I've lived in the area for a long time and would hate to see a return to the old Lordship Lane which I think has rightly been described eslewhere as resembling a ghost town at one stage.

I could be wrong but from memory of my own experience of parking my motorbike many years ago it commits some form of highway offence as the vehicle had to travel across the pavement to the designated area. So unless it was parachuted in an astute police officer could probably book it.

We recently used Roberts and Denny's who have been recommended by others on this site. They did an excellent job, packing, dismantling, putting back together again, and price wise were very competitive. They are quite a big, local firm and cover the whole of Europe if required.

We've just bought a new house in East Dulwich but the purchase nearly fell through because of being unable to find anyone prepared to insure the property. Typical victorian house with long term movement and some internal cracks in plaster. Finally found an insurer who was prepared to accept survey comments and confirm in writing as part of the policy that it was aware of previous movement. Getting this agreed makes any future claim easier as not being aware of all the facts is a major get-out clause for insurers these days.