Goose Green councillors - how can we help?

[Abe_froeman]

Hi James

I've noticed an erroneous road sign that is no doubt diverting cars through Goose Green ward unnecessarily causing additional congestion and pollution in our community.

It's here: https://goo.gl/maps/4fedfTcdAVukkFr97

There is no way to get to Dulwich by turning left there and driving for 1.5 miles. Please can you arrange for the sign to be corrected, either by updating the distance or the direction of traffic in light of all the closed roads.

Many thanks

[EDulwich_4]

Really great to hear that something might finally be done about traffic on Matham Grove and Zenoria/Oxonian Street. I agree whole heartedly with everyone saying that there are issues with EDG, particularly the junction with LL, that need resolving and should be resolved, but at present Matham Grove and Zenoria, which are narrow residential streets, are taking a disproportionate level of traffic for streets of their size.

[Abe_froeman]

Of course Matham Grove is because unless yo want to go out by the South Circular there is no other way to drive from the west of Lordship Lane to get to east dulwich

[Rockets]

Which of course was highlighted to the councillors by many on this forum at the time that these closures were mooted well before Covid - funny how so many of us could see it but the councillors couldn't.....

[jamesmcash]

Dear all,

I hope everyone is well and staying safe during the national lockdown. I have to say, it doesn't feel all that different to me but perhaps that's just because I'm a teacher!

All the council's covid information is available here: https://www.southwark.gov.uk/health-and-wellbeing/public-health/for-the-public/coronavirus This covers public health, housing, financial support for business and residents, and lots else.

And now to respond to the thread!

Lordship Lane / East Dulwich Grove junction

My view is that this junction plays a major role in creating congestion on EDG and LL, and there have been complaints regarding pedestrian safety which predate the pandemic by far.

I want to see the junction addressed and I'm keen to investigate traffic lights. However, until we know what is happening with the LTNs we cannot make decisions on the junction.

Data collection, monitoring and evaluation

I've had a number of questions about when we will know the future of the LTNs, what process will decide it, and what data will be considered. These are all very reasonable questions but I am afraid I do not have the answer for them. On my blog (https://www.jamesmcash.com/blog/faqs-on-goose-green-ltn-measures) I explained what I would like to see but I do not get to call the shots unilaterally. I know that council officers and cabinet members are working hard to agree a framework but I do not yet know when this will be finished. This is not for want of trying - I pester the cabinet about it on a weekly basis at least

Matham Grove and Zenoria/Oxonian Street

My view is that the traffic on these streets has been a problem for a while and it merits attention, regardless of what happens on Melbourne Grove etc. However, it will clearly need to be considered alongside the discussion on the LTNs given how closely connected they are.

New LTNs

The only proposed LTNs coming up are the measures on Peckham Rye. As I said earlier in the thread, I have told the council that I do not believe these should go ahead until all their issues are ironed out. This is a view shared with other councillors too. The current position is that they are on hold.

CGS application 1316166: Implement measures to reduce rat-running between East Dulwich Grove & Grove Vale (CGS or Highways)

This application was indeed from the Vale Residents Association. It would have funded a scoping exercise to see what could be done to address the high speeds on Melbourne Grove and parallel roads. This was before we had any idea of covid.

The LTN measures in place were not funded from this pot of money. Rather, they come from TfL funding to improve social distancing.

Parking on Melbourne Grove

It was always my view that businesses should not lose parking spaces in Melbourne Grove. The council is undertaking a parking assessment of the road to look at how the parking situation can be improved. I have suggested that we coordinate a small visit comprising me, a council officer, a local business and a resident to look at the parking spaces and see how we can improve the situation. I have spoken with residents and traders and both groups are keen. It is now just a case of getting the meeting arranged (providing it is possible with covid regulations)

Incorrect sign on Peckham Rye

Thanks Abe_froeman. I will look into this.

Unanswered questions

Rockets - I have done my best to answer your questions, or to explain why I cannot answer them if I cannot. I asked you a question too. It's very simple: do you live in Goose Green?

"Thanks for all your hard work, James."

Thanks Sue that's very kind of you to say!

Stay safe everyone!

Best wishes

James

[Rockets]

Cllr McAsh,

You are so school-master like with the way you DEMAND a response to your question..did you go to private school per chance.....;-) For the record I didn't - before you lambast me for being part of the problem! ;-)

Why would where I live in East Dulwich be of interest to you? Seeing as you are so determined to find out I can confirm that I have lived within the Goose Green ward (if that is what you meant) but now live outside it but well within the area of SE22 being affected by the closures - does that narrow it down enough for you - are you planning to send a Marxist intervention team to come and try and pull me back to the far-left!!! ;-)

Whilst I have your attention and answered your question I am sure you will return the compliment and answer a couple of mine:

Lordship Lane / East Dulwich Grove junction

When will we know what is happening with the LTNs - we have had statements from the council that they are in for at least six months and no longer than 18 months. Do we need to wait 18 months for any action at that junction? That junction is even more dangerous now the LTNs have gone in - why do we have to wait until we know what is happening with the LTNs - we cannot wait forever and just hope no-one gets injured. Traffic lights would be a great solution but people have been saying that for years.

Data collection, monitoring and evaluation

Why don't you or the council know? Why can't the council provide any clarity on this? It's been 5 months since the first LTNs went in and monitoring is supposed to be part of the process. What are we suppose to conclude form this? In previous OHS programmes like the original DV "improvements" the council monitored traffic movements and NO2 readings at the junction - why is the council now saying such NO2 readings are no longer reliable? Why is it Dulwich Village got NO2 monitoring for OHS and yet the council can't provide the same for the residents of Lordship Lane or EDG who are living with the displacement from the closures in DV? Does the council think DV is somehow more worthy of the investment?

Parking on Melbourne Grove

Shops are losing more access to the parking spaces with the school street that is going to be operating morning and afternoon on that road. Do you now think that to help the traders it should be one or the other? Both seems especially damaging for the traders on that street.

[jamesmcash]

Hi Rockets

Let me respond to your post.

That junction (Lordship Lane and East Dulwich Grove) is even more dangerous now the LTNs have gone in - why do we have to wait until we know what is happening with the LTNs

Simply because what happens on one road affects the others near it. Some currently argue that the LTNs have completely and permanently transformed the behaviour of traffic on East Dulwich Grove. That seems to be your view too. If this is the case then the question of whether or not the LTNs stay in their current form is paramount to working out what needs to happen at the junction. We need measures which are appropriate for the traffic on those roads and without knowing the future of the LTNs we cannot properly predict this.

There is a staff capacity issue here too: council officers are currently very busy with the LTNs.

When will we know what is happening with the LTNs

I answered this yesterday:

I've had a number of questions about when we will know the future of the LTNs, what process will decide it, and what data will be considered. These are all very reasonable questions but I am afraid I do not have the answer for them. On my blog (https://www.jamesmcash.com/blog/faqs-on-goose-green-ltn-measures) I explained what I would like to see but I do not get to call the shots unilaterally. I know that council officers and cabinet members are working hard to agree a framework but I do not yet know when this will be finished. This is not for want of trying - I pester the cabinet about it on a weekly basis at least

Why don't you or the council know?

I explained this in the previous post, quoted above. I agree that it's frustrating that I do not know - I wish I did too. It's not that I haven't bothered to find out the decision, or that I have not put forward my view. It is simply that the decision has not yet been made. The council received a lot of criticism that the last set of decisions were rushed. This time, everyone wants to make sure we get it right. I will continue to push for a decision to be made, and publicised, as soon as possible.

why is the council now saying such NO2 readings are no longer reliable?

I do not know what this refers to. It may relate to the poor quality of our baseline data for the current schemes.

Why is it Dulwich Village got NO2 monitoring for OHS and yet the council can't provide the same for the residents of Lordship Lane or EDG who are living with the displacement from the closures in DV?

'Our Healthy Streets' ran for a much longer period of time and was not rushed in the way that the LTNs were. This is because the LTNs were emergency measures and there was a narrow window of funding availability. In normal circumstances the council would consult more widely, and have better monitoring in place - as it did with OHS.

Parking on Melbourne Grove

As I said yesterday, I am looking to bring residents and traders together to discuss the parking situation. In general, most people in both groups have been supportive of school streets but we'll be able to discuss the issue fully then.

"Why would where I live in East Dulwich be of interest to you?"

I suspect your suggestion that I am privately educated (untrue) and your bizarre comments about a "Marxist intervention team" are a distraction from the fact that you know perfectly well why I am interested.

I represent the people of Goose Green, not all of East Dulwich. You've just clarified that this does not include you. Other councillors are responsible for representing you.

As a general rule, councillors are only supposed to respond to queries from their constituents. There are some exceptions, for instance when the councillor is on the Cabinet or holds a committee role which is relevant to a particular issue, but that's the general rule. This makes sense. It means that everyone is equally represented.

I can see that you have a keen interest in the work of the council and that this generates detailed questions and some strong opinions. This is all great, and it's important that the council listens to them. However, they should be addressed to the councillors who represents your ward, not to me.

I want to do everything I can to represent my constituents but my time is limited. Your posts are frequent, lengthy and cover a range of topics. The time I spend responding to you is time that I cannot spend supporting the people whom I am elected to represent. This does not seem at all fair.

As you can see, I've answered the questions in your last post. But from now on, if you have any comments or queries please would you direct them to your own councillors.

It's nothing personal. You seem like a nice person and your comments are often quite witty. But it is right that I focus my limited time on my own constituents. Aside from anything else, it is council protocol.

Best wishes,

James

[richard tudor]

Does seem like you ask too many questions that he really does not want to answer.

Rockets you do seem to ask questions that others should be asking but prefer not to ask. You seem to have your finger on the pulse.

[malumbu]

Hey rockets, a bit of advice, that I learned the hard way. Do write courteous letters/e-mails. They can be firm, grumpy, whatever but don't use sarcasm, passive aggressiveness, make assumptions or snide insults. You'll find it works a lot better. If you have to use humour do it in a nice way.

I was bought up in a family that wrote both nice letters and complaints to organisations. Generally getting a good reply. I remember using the phrase "its a whitewash" to some issue I had, and immediately the organisation shut up shop and I had to write an apology to get any further.

This applies to all.

Happy to rewrite your complaint in a more constructive way.

I remember some planning row that went on up the road from SE22. I was ranting at a neighbour that he should join in. "why, the council have other important things to get on with". And as above councillors will have a whole portfolio of issues.

[first mate]

I think Rockets is doing just fine and so will many others.

[Rockets]

Cllr McAsh - you have, on many occasions, come on here to court opinion from the community beyond your own ward and you have been more than happy to do that when it suits you. It cannot then become a surprise when that community asks questions back to you.

And let me remind you of your opening post on this forum......

I'm James McAsh. I'm one of the three newly elected Labour councillors for Goose Green ward, along with Victoria Olisa and Charlie Smith.

I wanted to introduce myself to the East Dulwich Forum community, and to thank everyone who voted in yesterday's local elections. I know I speak for Victoria and Charlie as well when I say that it is a true honour and privilege to have your trust placed in us.

Regardless of whom you support politically, or whether you vote at all, we three Labour Councillors for Goose Green are keen to do whatever we can to help.

You represent the council in the ward that is the heart of our community and you are part of a council team that is making decisions within that ward that affect and impact everyone - not just those members who live within the boundaries of your ward. Your decisions resonate much further than the boundaries of your ward and Lordship Lane is the focal point for the whole community.

I knew exactly why you were asking me where I lived because I knew you wanted an out from having to answer the questions. I was very surprised you were willing to play that card as the optics of doing that, for an elected official, are very bad. And I joked about it because you demanding to know where I lived on two occasions is very odd and could easily be construed as somewhat menacing. (You will be glad to hear, however, that I have a very thick skin so did not interpret it that way but you knew that anyway ;-))

You have to be commended because you are one of the only councillors who bothers to try and engage with the community. But it appears your engagement now only goes so far, that's fine and that's your personal decision, but at a time when the council is being accused of only listening to those who it agrees with you have to admit that your retrenching will add more fuel to that fire.

Are we to presume you will only now engage with anyone from your ward and should we request all posters clearly mark their notes with their home addresses?

On your responses to my questions it is clear the council has no idea what it is doing. It rushed through the LTNs and now has no answers to any of the questions people are asking it - you have failed in consulting with local businesses and are now trying to stick plasters on deep wounds that the council inflicted on the business community. The council has made a complete pig's ear of this and appears it has no idea how to get itself, or the community, out of it. It makes a lot of us wonder what on earth the council is doing.

If I was advising the council I would say the council has now reached the point where it has to throw its hands in the air and admit - everyone, we messed this up, sorry - how can we work together to fix it. I am hoping Cllr Williams realises that and makes the decision for you all before any more damage is done.

I do really wish you all the best. I feel for you as your constituents and the businesses in the Lordship Lane area are the ones who are taking the brunt of negative fallout from the DV closures and you are the face of the council in the ward. I am sure, deep in your heart, that it annoys the hell out of you that the super rich in Dulwich Village are benefiting from these closures whilst everyone else lives with the fallout and the social injustice that is causing from the displacement.

[heartblock]

The thing is James, I live on EDG and I witness the terrible idling traffic every morning at school rush hour. I witness cycles using the pavement and young children walking past idling cars at the level of car exhausts breathing in high levels of particulates, NO2 and other poisons.

I also know how these reduce lung growth in children and exacerbate asthma. We can all moan about who is rude, who is inappropriate etc. The fact is that as my councillor you are not standing up for my health or of anyone who lives on EDG, as it does not fit the narrative of a ?lobby? funded by Southwark council.

By all means reduce traffic and pollution across the borough, but shame on all Labour councillors for ignoring the neighbourhoods with the highest percentage of inequality in the borough.

[Abe_froeman]

James if you really only want to deal with Goose Green Ward then this whole thread should be in the Lounge.

You've posted this on the East Dulwich Forum in the ED issues thread. If you want to restrict discussion to a local part of ED for local people then you should be doing that in the Lounge!

[northernmonkey]

I don't think thats fair at all - this was a 'goose green councillors thread' - Goose Green ward being a ward almost entirely in East Dulwich so therefore very relevant for the forum and for many people.

Rather than attacking James for not being able to spend all his time dealing with questions from someone who lives in a different ward, which feels a fair position to take in a representative democracy (when emailing Helen Hayes as our elected MP you have to provide your address to get a response to ensure she is only dealing with constituents matters), to the extent that you think there should be a thread for the Dulwich Hill councillors too then thats surely something to bring up with them, though given how people speak to each other on such an anonymous forum I really don't understand why they would do.

Abe_froeman Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> James if you really only want to deal with Goose

> Green Ward then this whole thread should be in the

> Lounge.

>

> You've posted this on the East Dulwich Forum in

> the ED issues thread. If you want to restrict

> discussion to a local part of ED for local people

> then you should be doing that in the Lounge!

[undergran]

And don?t forget Dulwich Wood as we too are affected and one of our councillors is cabinet member with this as a responsibility.

[Administrator]

Please stop the aggressive nature that this thread is taking. The councillors don't have to be on the forum, they do it voluntarily.

This aggressive questioning will stifle reasonable fair discussion between the average

poster and the councillors.

Please act reasonably and consider others in the community who aren't looking for a heated debate.

[malumbu]

There are many here who feel that they could do a better job than their elected representatives. You are very happy to voice your concerns in some detail. Then the answer is easy, stand at the next local authority elections. Protest parties can be successful (as we found out during Brexit). 20 years ago a number of councillors got in at Greenwich on the return Charlton Athletic to the Valley campaign. You'll get some celebrity and other support - Farage, Clarkson and the like https://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2020/nov/11/farages-anti-cyclist-article-shows-car-users-fear-loss-of-control

Meanwhile further tips on putting together persuasive correspondence: https://www.quotes.net/show-quote/95216

[Administrator]

Appreciate your intent malumbu but please can we keep this on topic... "Goose Green councillors - how can we help?"

[first mate]

Malumbu, please give it a break. You have made accusations of passive aggressive behaviour, so why not follow your own advice?

It is disingenuous to suggest that if you disagree with council led events that really you should not voice concern but instead wait to stand for election. It does at times feel as though there is a concerted effort by those closely involved with council supported agendas to shut down debate.

There is a perceived issue with consultation with the council, where many feel the approach is partial and undemocratic. The forum is one place where frustrations and views can be aired/vented and councillors challenged. Of course, councillors would prefer us to contact them via private email or via a council ?consultation? exercise, but there are doubts over scrutiny and oversight.

Some posters do not live directly in the area represented by the councillor who chose to come on this forum, but then neither do you, yet you still feel you have the right to comment and participate? If I have understood, you say you live in Lewisham? Apologies if that is not the case.

I think most in politics accept vigorous challenge and debate as par for the course. I do not feel the nature of certain posts has been ?aggressive?; they have been tenacious and at times indicated intense frustration.

Sorry Admin, just seen your response above. Feel free to remove my post if you consider it unhelpful.

[ab29]

If malumbu lives in Lewisham why he is commenting on the "Goose Green councillors - how can we help?" thread on Dulwich forum?

[jamesmcash]

Hi everyone,

The council is hosting two community meetings this Friday to discuss the LTNs.

Full details and registration here: https://eastdulwichstreetspace.commonplace.is/news/2020/11/16/east-dulwich-community-meetings-27th-november

Best wishes

James

[Siduhe]

Thanks James, is it right that these meetings are only to discuss the ED LTN, not the Court Lane/DV changes?

[northernmonkey]

The Commonplace link is specifically for the East Dulwich changes and not the Court Lane / Calton Ave, other Dulwich village changes.

I imagine there will be further engagement on those too but haven't seen anything yet, but this one is purely for the East Dulwich station area changes.

[Rockets]

Given the DV closures went in way before the ED closures it is interesting that this one goes first. Does anyone know why?

[legalalien]

Perhaps the goose green ward councillors asked for it?