former East Dulwich councillor - how can I help?

[Zenoria]

Hello Mr Barber,

Same old me, same old question - any news on the plans for ED Warehouse on Zenoria St?

Thank you!

Friya

[tiddles]

This would be a disaster all round - to dramatically reduce parking all round - I do not wish my neighbours to suffer because of my pre-existing dropped kerb (and we often allow neighbours to park across our drive plus of course any visitors or tradesmen visiting local homes).

Either the council need to rethink their wording (i.e. the double yellows apply to road crossing points and its a misunderstanding) or the wind up department is thinking how they can annoy as many local people as possible with the added bonus of a parking ticket bonanza.

I look forward to James' feedback.

[intexasatthe moment]

Can you get his email address and email him ? I'd be inclined to refer him to DS.132 2.2

"2.2 Vehicle Crossing or road junction

a. If combined vehicle movements in and out of an access to private land in any hour are estimated to

be

i. ≤ 6 commercial vehicles movements and/or

ii. ≤12 vehicles movements of any kind

then the access should be designed as a Vehicle Crossing in accordance with the requirements in

this standard. "

and say that the requirements in DS123 apply to vehicle crossings where there are 6 commercial vehicle movements or 12 vehicle movements of any kind per hour .

And could he quote or reference the document and paragraph which details requirements for a crossover to a domestic dwelling with parking for one ( or two ) cars .

This must be so frustrating for you .

[Otta]

BrandNewGuy Wrote:

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> a. people parking across the dropped kerb space with the agreement of the resident;

I have to say I'm a bit surprised people can apply for a new drop kerb outside their house (assuming they can?) because being a resident doesn't give you ownership of pavement / highway, so why should you have the authority to give permission to park/not park outside your house anyway?

Whole thing seems weird to me I have to say.

[Penguin68]

(1) - The council charge a fair amount to institute a dropped curb and (2) many houses can park more than 1 car, so one car's space lost to street parking (through the dropped curb) may increase the parking opportunity (or reduce parking stress) by double. I can park 4 off street - and regularly park 3 - so my dropped curb has had a net benefit (assuming I/ my household would still have the cars, which I would) of 2-3 road-side parking spaces.

[intexasatthe moment]

Otta- the dropped curb allows the householder vehicular access over the footpath . It doesn't bestow ownership of any roadway or pavement .

I believe that there is some legal weight to the argument that one shouldn't park across a dropped curb and block the exit of a car/s parked on the drive/forecourt . But none to parking across a dropped curb where there is no car on the forecourt .

I imagine that BrandNewGuy was referring to the former situation .

[Otta]

Easy tigers, I'm not having a go at anyone here, but as I'm not a driver I didn't know you could pay to have a drop kerb put outside your gaff. I've come at it (professionally) from a purely disability standpoint in the past, so hadn't realised.

I had always assumed that it was illegal to park in front of a drive whether there was a car theree or not, but I guess not?

I'm not sure I'd agree with people saying "I'm home, my car is in the drive, so I giver permission for my guests to park in front of my drop kerb", because that is having cake and eating.

[susiq]

Are you aware, council houses in Southwark are being repaired by the company Saltash, and as I have heard from several sources, scaffolding is erected, job done, then scaffolding is left up as long as possible so that the council pay well over the top for "storing" this scaffolding outside their properties, no one from the council checks to see why, how long or if its even needed for the amount of time charged, this scaffolding is a real pain, leaves the properties open for burglaries and is unsightly, unwanted and unneeded, try getting a response from the council on this and you will be told the person you need is not available/person you need is on holiday/leave/away from their desk/don't know who you need to speak to/don't know anyfing about it. meanwhile the charges are racking up. Is anyone watching?

[lesalden]

This scaffolding scam with the council has been going on for years.

When I paid for scaffolding it was a fixed price for the first month and then a weekly charge until you told them it was no longer wanted.

Good luck to the councillors if they can crack this one.

It could be something to do with the trouser leg brigade!

[intexasatthe moment]

So we're no further forward regarding the question of double yellow lines in relation to people applying for a dropped curb ?

[James Barber]

Hi LS1234,

Can you please PM or even better email me the name of the Southwark Officer who told you this?

Hi ITATM,

Yes, sounds daft - on the case once LS1234 gives me a name.

[intexasatthe moment]

Do you really need a name to confirm or deny this alleged new policy ?

I don't always catch someone's name or forget to ask . I would think the person LS1234 spoke to has made a mistake .

But this such an important issue ,surely the focus should be on clarifying it ,not identifying one individual .

Surely someone at Southwark can be found who can say " Yes it's the policy to require yellow double lines across and extending 2 metres to either side over all new crossovers allowing access for householders to park on their forecourt ." Or no it isn't .

[LS1234]

James - have emailed you a copy of the Southwark letter stating all of this info. Look forward to hearing what you can do to help! Thanks.

[James Barber]

Southwark Council is looking for residents to volunteer as mystery shoppers who are willing to fairly assess an record information about using Southwark Council services.

If you're interested either call the team on 020 7525 4838 or email [email protected]

And please do let me know how you get on.

[intexasatthe moment]

Any progress on clarifying the issue of yellow lines over new dropped cubs ?

[intexasatthe moment]

Or even curbs !

[James Barber]

It kerb or kerbs but we all knew what was meant.

[intexasatthe moment]

Kerbs or not - who should I contact at Southwark to get this issue of double yellow lines over neighbouring properties clarified ? Obviously you're having no success ,maybe I could get an answer out of the powers that be .

[LS1234]

Hi James. Have you any idea how we fight this new rule on dropped kurbs? Thanks.

[Alan Medic]

Hello James

please clarify if there is a different (unwritten) rule regarding parking regulations in the Borough for vehicles delivering/working on behalf of a business and Joe Soap who gets a ticket by wardens who seem to park illegally just so they can give Joe a ticket and seem to ignore the former?

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

James, not sure if this is in your remit but have the street cleaners/robot operators gone on strike? Lordship Lane hasn't been cleaned for a week now.

Once upon a time, not so long ago, it was very ably serviced every day by the lovely Jenny or delightful Wesley, now nada. Not even the mechanical contraption has been around.

To my knowledge business rates and domestic council tax haven't been reduced, so why has the standard of service?

[intexasatthe moment]

" Hi James. Have you any idea how we fight this new rule on dropped kurbs? Thanks. " what LS1234 said .

[RobMiller]

Peckhamgatecrasher Wrote:

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> To my knowledge business rates and domestic

> council tax haven't been reduced, so why has the

> standard of service?

I don't have specific information about our local street cleaning, but as someone who works in local government (but not Southwark) I thought it would be worth giving an explanation of why it probably looks like local services are getting worse when the money we each pay in tax doesn't seem to have fallen.

Council finance is complex. Council Tax is only part of the money councils have to spend on local services, and business rates aren't actually kept by councils - the money goes to Central Government who then redistribute it according to a defined formula.

Over the last few years Council tax income for councils has fallen in real terms (e.g. Southwark's has been frozen for five years now: http://www.southwark.gov.uk/news/article/1156/southwark_council_agrees_council_tax_freeze). Government allocations to councils have also been dramatically reduced, and this is in the context of significantly increased demand, particularly for social care services to vulnerable children and adults. This infographic from Sutton Council is fairly effective at describing the difficulties their council faces: http://www.suttonsfuture.org/?page_id=107, and the position will be similar for other councils - including Southwark.

The cuts councils need to manage over the next four years are as severe as those over the last four years, so while it's obviously important that councils don't stop looking for more efficient ways of running services, including using shared services where that can save money, it's inevitable that services which local residents care about will be stopped or severely reduced. This article from the Local Government Association describes the pressure councils are under: http://www.local.gov.uk/media-releases/-/journal_content/56/10180/6172733/NEWS.

[intexasatthe moment]

Thanks Rob for taking time to post .

Confirms what I suspected .

[Ant]

Hi James,

For the last three weeks my small brown bin has been thrown into my flower bed after being emptied rather than being placed back with the other bins. It's not a very big problem, I know, but still not really acceptable behaviour. I've tried looking for a complaints form on the council website but haven't found it. Are you able to have a quick word with someone?