11th May Goose Green community meeting: supporting our local high streets

[jamesmcash]

Hello all,

As you know, this has been a difficult year for local businesses. Our data suggests that 70% of businesses lost over 75% of their revenue in the early months of the pandemic. The council has tried to help plug the gap, issuing over ?12.5million in1500 grants to businesses in the SE22 postcode but we know that in many cases this has not been enough to make up for lost trade.

Now, as restrictions begin to be lifted we want to do everything we can to make our high streets as vibrant and attractive as possible. One business suggested that we host a community meeting with businesses and local residents to discuss how we ? as a council and as a community ? can support our local businesses. So that?s what we?re doing!

Please join us on Tuesday 11 May for an online ward meeting.

The theme is:

Local High Streets

Let?s come together to discuss:

- Supporting our local businesses

- Making our high streets as vibrant and attractive as they can be

- Bringing the East Dulwich community together after a tough year

The meeting starts at 6pm ? 7:30pm and will take place via Zoom.

Pre-registration is required to attend this meeting. Simply visit:

https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYpd-2rrTguH9eHKxmW_zvfCfZ0hv4brgxj and enter your name and email address. You will then receive a confirmation email with the meeting link and passcode.

If you have any issues with this, please contact Fitzroy Lewis on [email protected]

We want this meeting to be useful for you. So please let us know in advance if you have ideas that you want to discuss - especially if you are from a local business yourself!

Best wishes,

James

[rachp]

Assuming this conversation goes in the direction of positive initiatives, this is quite inspiring from our neighbours in Gipsy Hill https://gipsyhillfriends.org/. I wonder how much appetite there is for something like this in ED?

[jamesmcash]

Those planters look really nice. Yes this is exactly the kind of positive initiative that we want to discuss.

Cheers

James

[heartblock]

I was really sad to see the community garden on ED Grove dug up...as we were promised it would be replaced....any news?

[Sue]

heartblock Wrote:

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

> I was really sad to see the community garden on ED

> Grove dug up...as we were promised it would be

> replaced....any news?

Oh no! The community garden outside what was the hospital?

With herbs and medicinal plants?

:(

[first mate]

Yes and replaced with...wait for it...car parking.

[alice]

so to summarize:

A garden turned into carparking

simultaneously

carparking is turned into a parklet

[heartblock]

I know Sue...and we were promised by Southwark it would stay....while Calton gets parklets while having acres in Dulwich Park, ED Grove gets its only public garden removed. It was lovely for the bees 🐝 as well.

[first mate]

On that site there are also charging stations for electric cars....why?

[legalalien]

I have a vague recollection that there?s something in the planning rules that say that if you?re going to have a car park, you have to provide electric charging points / possibly at least a stated proportion of parks with electric charging points.

irst mate Wrote:

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

> On that site there are also charging stations for

> electric cars....why?

[first mate]

Thanks LL. That makes sense. It is more the irony of the whole thing, as summed up by Alice. It is a farce and given promises that were apparently made to preserve the community garden shows you cannot trust this council.

[nxjen]

What?s the council got to do with the community garden?

[first mate]

You don't think they would have had any input at all into how that land was used? Yes, I know it is/was NHS owned but they do not operate in a complete vacuum.

[nxjen]

Yes they would have had input during the planning process but ultimately it was not within their powers to keep the Community Garden.

[first mate]

How can you be certain of that? Conditions can be put on developments.

[nxjen]

Which can be appealed, an expensive process for the council. When the land was given over for a community garden to be created, it was only as a temporary measure pending the completion of final plans. How can you be certain that the Council could have prevented its destruction? Don?t get me wrong, I?d rather see a garden than a car park.

[heartblock]

We were told by Southwark Council in the plans, it was part of the agreement for the development, the garden would be moved to the health centre site.

[monica]

Hi James

Its a shame the businesses you speak of in Dulwich were not told about the meeting. So far the council have hardly done anything to support the local businesses. The non essential shops and businesses around Dulwich received a pittance of a grant, which hardly covered the rents and the overheads. Now the council want to help us help the community of Dulwich. Iv emailed Fitzroy regarding the meeting and have had no response.

The shops on Northcross Rd are losing trade due to the "smart idea of turning the stalls towards the road, to ensure social distancing". No social distancing in the market today, it was crowded, where were the community wardens today? Residents are complaining re the over crowding in the market, yet the "good people at southwark council" deny over crowding is occuring.

I took a video of the market today, I have sent it to all the relevant peeps and have posted it on twitter.

Southwark council are reckless.

Shall we continue James? Do you know how much Southwark council received in revenue for the fines imposed around the village, due to the road closures? over 2 million pounds in revenue. We applied for freedom of information re the fines, are you surprised no.

Now you want to support the high street when the market inspectors are wrecking people's living.

Ridiculous

[jamesmcash]

Hi Monica,

The invitation for the meeting went out to everyone on Fitzroy's email list. This is made up of everyone who has attended another ward or community council meeting. He didn't discriminate between residents and businesses, he just sent it to everyone on the list.

But of course, there are people who may want to come to this meeting who have not been to one before. That's why I put it on here. I also sent out a further email to email addresses for local businesses that I had saved, and asked them to forward onto other businesses. Sorry you didn't get it. I've just forwarded it to you now. I'm sure Fitzroy will respond to you soon. He wasn't working on Friday and he doesn't work weekends.

Is this the video you mean?

I spent some time at the market today and spoke with some of the local businesses and the market traders. Everyone was positive about the measures that had been put in today. I'm looking into further ways we can make the market work for everyone. Happy to discuss further with you.

Best wishes,

James

[rachp]

Hi James, one simple way that Lordship Lane and and the surrounding areas could be made more attractive is to have better waste management routines. Most of the litter on LL is caused by bags of household waste left on the street for too long or not secured properly (which ends up attracting litter, and/or being ripped open on the street), plus insufficient bins/infrequent and badly timed emptying (which means rubbish blows out/is pulled out or people pile rubbish on floor next to full bin). I would describe all this as avoidable litter as a few simple tweaks to routines would make a big difference and I don't think they would have big resource implications. Simple things like each patch on the commercial area of LL having a bin, daily emptying, emptying the bins during predictably busy periods (e.g. North Cross road street food market- LL bins are all spilling onto the floor by Sunday morning) would all make a difference. And a consistent rubbish collection service on the lane for people who live above the shops (some appear to have rubbish collected daily, others have it done once a week, which doesn't seem fair and results in bags sitting there for days, sometimes right next to outdoor cafe seating e.g. Spinach.

[Nigello]

I agree with rachp and add that a general tidy up (pulling down banners on railings that are half-attached, filling in trip hazards on pavements, cleaning shutters and paintwork, cleaning green BT/Virgin cabinets and phone boxes, etcc.) is much needed. The latter two could be achieved by a simple letter to the local BR/Virgin managers from a council official reminding them it?s their responsibility to keep their property clean when it?s on a public highway and seen by hundreds daily. It just takes a tiny bit if effort and imagination.

[monica]

Hi James

Thank you for the reply. Im sure the shop keepers on NorthCross Rd would like to chat with you re the market and how best to address the issues around the market forward. Unfortunately the market inspectors are determined to focus all their energy into the market and not the shop keepers.

We also look forward to hearing how the revenue from the fines from the village road closures will be re-invested for the community of Dulwich.

[Earl Aelfheah]

The pavement widening outside the cheese shop / fishmongers on LL could be made permanent and tidied up. It?s a bit ugly right now.

[northernmonkey]

I agree that the pavement widening should either be made permanent or removed - the barriers don't look great so finding a better long term solution is key.

Also agree with comments on waste management being something that would make a major difference to Lordship Lane and Melbourne Grove - there is often waste strewn everywhere on MG in particular because foxes get to the bin bags before the collections do.

Graffiti is a problem - more so on the Melbourne Grove / Grove Vale shops than Lordship Lane but as this is something businesses can get the council to remove I think that this is something they could be more proactive on. Agree with all Nigello's points re a general tidy up!

Turning the stalls round for the market has been great - and it should have always been like that rather than the shambles of half the stalls facing the pavement and then the ones on the other side facing the back of other stalls. Having it so people can browse through the market in open air is much better rather than being cramped onto the pavements - pavements which I believe the businesses on there are sensibly using for tables and chairs where possible to provide outdoor seating!

[Nigello]

A really simple way of helping stop birds and foxes get into the refuse sacks that litter pickers place on the streets is to make sure they are always put on top of the nearest litter bin. It really helps but not all pickers put them on top, even if a bin is nearby.