Dulwich Community Council - Have Your Say Here!

[rch]

Hi first mate... I'm assuming you meant to post your comments to the Council Assembly thread, as the next Ass has a youth theme??

Also, I haven't forgotten to come back to the police station/Dulwich Hospital discussion, am still catching up with casework, a councillor's work is never done!

[rch]

Just to let all of you know that the new Police Borough Commander will be attending the next Dulwich Community Council meeting on November 27th, to introduce himself and address all the concerns that have evolved from the last Borough Commander attending the last DCC meeting on Sept 18th.

The meeting will take place (beginning at 7pm) at JAGS (James Allen's Girls' School) on East Dulwich Grove in the Dining Hall (which is off the car park next to EDG) and the Borough Commander is scheduled for 8.30pm for half an hour, in order to enable us to devote the whole first half of the meeting to Youth Matters and also to allow residents who work to be able to get there in time for this item.

The minutes for the Sept DCC (including a summary of the former BC's presentation) are here:-

http://moderngov.southwark.gov.uk/documents/g4315/Printed%20minutes%20Tuesday%2018-Sep-2012%2019.00%20Dulwich%20Community%20Council.pdf?T=1

Those of you who follow the local newspapers are aware that there has been a lot of activity since that last meeting, including the appointment of the new Borough Commander.

The 12 councillors from Village ward, College ward, East Dulwich ward, and Peckham Rye ward (who, together, represent a total of 50,000 local residents) made a joint representation in a letter to Deputy Mayor Stephen Greenhalgh to retain a police base in the East Dulwich area, in addition to the existing police base on Seeley Drive in College ward, when the East Dulwich Police Station shuts down. This was backed up by representations by all of the local MPs in Southwark and all the relevant GLA members as well.

However, we have still not had any reply or even an acknowledgement from the Deputy Mayor, or the Police Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner who I also copied into the correspondence. So, I'm delighted that the new Borough Commander has agreed to attend this next meeting and look forward to launching Round 2 of our campaign to keep local police based in Dulwich.

[rch]

Aside from the appearance of the new Police Borough Commander, the entire rest of the meeting will be devoted to Youth Matters, including a presentation from senior council officers on the issue of school places and bulge classes, with time to discuss the possibility of building a new primary school on the Dulwich Hospital site or other local suitable location.

Both the Borough Commander and the School Places presentation are scheduled to take place in the second half of the meeting, beginning at 8.30pm, in order to ringfence the first half of the meeting, from 7pm-8.20pm for matters entirely relevant to young people, made by young people where possible.

Items in the first half include:-

The Millwall Dulwich Friday Night Football program (including a guest appearance from Zampa the Lion)

The Redthread Youth Club and Youth Services in Dulwich

The Dulwich Youth Community Council

Radio King Online

Safer Routes to School (who led the Save the Lollipop Campaign last year)

Southwark Council Apprentice Scheme

A deputation from the Youth Learning Network

A performance from JAGS' Gospel Choir

The second half is comprised of the introduction of the new Borough Commander, Chief Superintendent John Sutherland, and then the presentation of the current situation regarding school places and bulge classes with an open discussion on whether a new school should be built.

This is a genuine attempt to open up the floor to the views of young people in Dulwich, so all are welcome. From memory, I don't think anything like this has been attempted before, so it should be interesting to see how it turns out!

[intexasatthe moment]

While I applaud the idea of trying to involve younger people in decision making in Southwark I'm a bit dubious about what is outlined above .

Any CC I've attended has been really pushed for time ( though maybe those were the planning ones which perhaps are different ? ) and I wonder if there's sufficient time for everything listed in the first half of the meeting to be included .

And ( sorry if I'm being unduly curmudgeonly ) but I can't see the relevance of Zampa the lion , Radio King ,or JAGS choir to a CC .

[rch]

Over the years young people have told me that their biggest concern is that they have nowhere to go at night. The Friday Night Youth Club along with the Millwall Football sessions attracts up to 200 youths between them over approx 5 wards on a Friday night, who would normally have nowhere else to go and the young people who attend these clubs have asked to be able to come and speak about how important this is to them. If we could afford to do more than one session a week, then we would. The youths attending the Millwall sessions have been in the program for 6 years now... the program has not only kept them off the street, but several of the youths have coaching certificates now and are now earning a living in this way. Zampa is just coming along for show, he doesn't speak (!). The Football team gave a presentation to the DCC over a year ago to thank us for the CGS funding and half the audience was in tears by the end of it and gave several hundred pounds in donations to the program.

This is what the young people have said they want to do, so I'm listening. We contacted all the schools and asked for input. They each have 5 minutes within an hour and a half time frame, so it should work even if they go over time. The choir will be singing in the background as we arrive, so they won't take up any time at all.

The police and school places discussion is set for the second half of the meeting, as I'm assuming that the young people will want to leave during the break, but they can stay if they are interested.

[rch]

Just to remind anyone who is interested that the new Police Borough Commander, Chief Superintendent John Sutherland, will be attending the Dulwich Community Council tonight at 8.30pm in the JAGS School Dining Hall off East Dulwich Grove.

We are going to launch Phase Two of our campaign to retain a police base in the East Dulwich area regardless of what happens to the existing police station, so we need all the support we can get from the community.

[LondonMix]

Someone mentioned that they received a leaflet concerning the development of a new primary school on the Dulwich Hospital site. Has this been 100% confirmed? Are there any details you can share regarding timing and size of the school?

Also what are the plans for the old police station? Has anything definite been agreed on that?

Many thanks,

LM

[rch]

The next Dulwich Community Council meeting will take place next week on Wednesday evening, January 30th, at Christ Church, Barry Road.

Given the interest expressed about planning applications in general, along with the future of the ED Police Station, the Dulwich Community Hospital site, and the possibility of a new school in the area, Southwark's Director of Planning, Simon Bevan, has agreed to come here to explain all the processes and answer questions about how we can achieve our aims as a community.

This ties in with the launch of the consultation of the Dulwich Supplementary Planning Document, which will determine the parameters of development in the Dulwich area over the next five years. Therefore it's extremely important that residents are aware of how to respond to this consultation. For instance, if the community genuinely wants to investigate a Park & Ride facility on the Dulwich Hospital site, the Dulwich SPD is the document to incorporate this request into.

We've also asked Simon to explain the basic process of how to object (or support) a local planning application, so that there is no question of how to get your voice heard.

Furthermore, there is an exciting array of brand new national legislation which devolves power into the community. We can identify which public buildings that we can list on an asset register and create a project bank of items that we want to use public funding and development income for, such as a new police station, a new park, library improvements, even selected highway improvements.

In addition to the Director of Planning, we've got legal officers and other high-profile experts available for the whole evening to address our concerns.

So, hopefully many of you will be able to take advantage of this unique opportunity to have direct contact with senior council officers to express your views.

The meeting starts at 7pm, but the main presentations begin at 7.25pm and the officers have agreed to stay until 9.30pm.

Here is a link to the full agenda:-

http://moderngov.southwark.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=176&MId=4317