former East Dulwich councillor - how can I help?

[James Barber]

Southwark Cyclists pointed out the following mapping area on the Southwark Website. Useful to view by different layers of details:

http://maps.southwark.gov.uk/connect/southwark.jsp

Regards james.

[James Barber]

Apologies for the length of this post but rather complicated answer.

A while back some I was about whether Southwark?s recycling plans moving from its current partial separation to commingling is such a good idea. Council officers and fellow councillors have been really patient to explain the full logic of why this was deciding.

Some East Dulwich residents suggested material should be separated at the kerbside, citing high quality valuable product and WRAP and EU recommendations that prefer kerbside separation. However this has around 10% less recycling and severely restricts the opportunities to add additional materials to the collection. Southwark?s current "kerbside separated" scheme already has a high amount of co-mingling. Paper collection was originally for white paper only but now also collects a mix of white and coloured paper, plus card and cardboard. Seven years ago glass had three containers at bring sites for the three colours of glass, we now mix them. Cans and plastics - consists of 2 types of can (steel and aluminium) and up to 15 types of plastic. This mix (of cans and plastics) already has to go to a Materials Recovery Facility. To operate true separated recycling, we would need vehicles with 24 compartments to operate the current collection, or 25 compartments to add tetrapaks!

Mixed recycling services are considered a better approach than source separated collections in inner city, urban areas, such as Southwark. Mixed collections are more prevalent across London's inner-city councils as they are operationally more efficient, allowing faster loading which helps where on-street parking and heavy traffic prevail. They also allow safer rear loading as opposed to side loading. Mixed collection services are more convenient for residents to use and easier to communicate to short-term residents and those for whom English may not be the first language.

For all these reasons Southwark Council is moving to borough-wide mixed recycling services during 2011, ahead of the opening of the new Integrated Waste Management Facility that is planned for Old Kent Road and due to become operational during 2011.

Mixed collections will reach East Dulwich during the summer and allow even more different types of items to be recycled.

Let me know if you?d like to know anything else about recycling.

[Siduhe]

JBARBER Wrote:

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> Mixed collections will reach East Dulwich during

> the summer and allow even more different types of

> items to be recycled.

>

> Let me know if you?d like to know anything else

> about recycling.

James, I'd be interested to know if any of these planned new types of recycling are going to include kitchen waste collections (the new waste site will have an MBT, I understand but presumably that won't be up and running for a while yet). Having tried and dramatically failed with kitchentop composting, that's the one service that would seriously cut down on the amount of waste I send to landfill.

[James Barber]

Hi siduhe,

The contract with Veolia states kitchen waste must be universally collected no later than 2015. But they get performance bonuses for collecting more recycling than the target. My understanding is that once the new Integrated Waste Management Facility is built finishing 2011/12 Veolia will have the capacity. So realistically Veolia will need to start collecting kitchen waste during financial year 2012/13 gradually phasing it in over the following two years. Normally East Dulwich and the Dulwich area generally, with so many street properties, is used to test these things.

In the mean time we've had a great 3 month trial in East Dulwich where we've used our Cleaner, Greener, Safer pot of money to enable local businesses Palmerston, Franklins, Blue Mountain Cafe, Sema Thai, Pretty Tradditonal, Vintage Pretty, Mon Petit Chou and Suzanne James to send food waste for composting. Hopefully, they'll keep using the commercial composting service into the future.

[skidmarks]

JBARBER Wrote:

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> I'm not sure replacing countdown displays at East

> Dulwich bus stops with SMS texts messages has been

> thought through. What's the one thing Police tell

> you not to do - flash your mobiles around. What's

> the one thing TfL are now telling us to do at bus

> stops - flash your mobiles around. Also, paying

> 20p to find out what the buses are doing because

> you cant rely on the timetables isn't custoemr

> focused.

>

> My day job is in Telecomms and IT. London has

> 19,000 bus stops. To connect then up via digitial

> radios or broadband would be a drop in the ocean

> compared to the current bus subsidies. To remotely

> control street lights costs ?40 per street light

> and ?5,000 for the controller. Add a desplay

> costing ?200 ea including installation and you're

> looking at ?5m including project management

> costs.

>

> As I said I'll find the details I've been sent and

> add them onto this thread.

Don?t forget the power supply, not all bus stops have power. If you assume half of all bus stops do not and with EDF currently charging ?500 per connection with no trenching, you can double that figure you?ve quoted. Then you?ve got on-going maintenance of the infrastructure and electricity bills. It would be quite a whack out of TfL budget which would probably be better spent on providing more buses on infrequent routes than giving an electricity company lots of money.

Not flashing your mobiles at bus stops aside. Lots of people have internet access on them now so you will be able to access the real time information for free.

[Laurie Eggleston]

@skidmarks but remember many bus users are elderly and aren't comfortable using the technology (my mum wouldn't have a clue!), and many on Southwark on low incomes and can't afford posh smart-phones. So while the new services will be great for those that want to use them, they can't totally replace the traditional displays. We need both!

[James Barber]

Melbourne Grove parking chaos.

For many years pavement car parking has been allowed on Melbourne Grove (between Grove Vale and East Dulwich Grove), this stems from it being a previous no.37 bus route and ongoing rat run.

With the complete renewal of the pavements it has been an intention for pavement car parking to end and car parking only be allowed on the road. Soon the road will be renewed and sinusoidal humps installed making Melborune Grove a less appealing rat run. Allowing pavement parking on the new paving slabs will see it wear out very quickly. Also, the pavement is blocked for people with pushchairs, etc.

On Friday council officers told the parking ticket contractor to enforce this change. Unfortunately this was before the residents had been told or all the signs allowing this were removed and this instruction did not follow Southwark's normal procedures.

I was immediately alerted to this by an understandably angry group of residents. I visited the site and the residents told me exactly what they thought and they were right. I apologised that they'd been issued parknig tickets and promised to get things sorted out.

I now have confirmation that all issued parking tickets will be cancelled. The one remaining sign allowing pavement parking will be removed today. Today the attached letter explaining what happened and apologising will be delivered by council officers to all residents. From 1 March any pavement car parking on this part of Melbourne Grove will be given a and warned that from 8 March parking tickets will be issued if they park on the pavement.

If any Melbourne Grove resident or visitor has an problems or concerns please do contact me.

[KalamityKel]

Just out of curiousity really... will neighbouring roads be informed too? Only that many neighbouring streets also use Melbourne Grove to park from time to time. :)

[James Barber]

Hi KalamityKel,

Hmm. Good question. I'd guess only Derwent Grove, some of East Dulwich Grove and Grove Vale would park there.

As a precaution I'll request that for some of the latter two and the all of Derwent Grove that letters be delivered.

I can't imagine residents in Tell Grove or Elsie Road would park on Melbourne Grove.

I guess also seeing no other car parking on the pavement will give strong visual clues.

People commuter parking if they were away next week would'nt get a warning before a fine but agian I'm hopeful the visual clues would be enough.

[Loz]

James,

Having just driven down Melbourne Grove - is there any thought to making it one-way? I can see gridlock occurring now.

[James Barber]

Hi Loz,

No thoughts to making it one-way. The residents have'nt asked for this.

It's a residential street used as a rat run. On one-way streets vehicles travel faster as they don't have to think of what might be coming the other way.

My first thoughts would be passing points if it gets really jammed. The advice I've received is it would settle down and people would spread their routes out.

Equally travelling down Mebourne Grove is currently more attractive than other routes as the humps have'nt gone in yet.

Let's wait and see how things settle down.

[Spartacus]

Hi James,

On teh 1st of Feb, the following question was asked, but I can't find a reply from you

chichirara Wrote:

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> Heello RBARBER could you give me an update on the

> Barry Van Hire situation they are still parked all

> around Barry Road and running their business

> Regards

Tonight I found out that Dulwich Van Hire are now co-locating into Barries off license, next door to their current premises.

The vans are, and have been causing issues in residental roads aroudn the barry road / upland road junction for a number of months now, and it does put a strain on the parkign spaces available.

Can you update us on the current situation, what is being done to relive the pressure and how on earth the owner of the busienss got permission to build on his old site without consideration to what knock on effect it would have on the residential area once his business was forced to 'effectively' trade from the street.

Many thanks in advance

S

[James Barber]

Hi Spartacus,

Apologies for not posting a response.

I've been told they are going to colocate with the garage place and be scaled back to 8 vans.

I'll chase enforcement officers to double check their understanding. If your correct the propreitors have not been fully frank with officers.

[James Barber]

At last a Police force has engaged professional mathematicians. The LAPD are working with University of California. They?ve come up with two equations that could explain crime hotspots into two types.

If I?ve understood correctly:

?supercritical? - small spikes in crime rates pass a critical threshold and create a local crime wave.

?subcritical? - when a particular factor such as a drug den causes a large spike in crime.

They state that the equations suggest that rigorous policing could completely eliminate subcritical hotspots but simply displace supercritical crime.

So the key would be keeping below supercritical thresholds and quickly dealing with subcritical factors.

Any local mathematicians available for pro bono work?

[dukesdenver]

Hi James,

Do you know if/when the potholes at the pedestrian crossing on Lordship Lane at the junction with Townley Road are due to be repaired? There's a biggish hole in the middle of each carriageway.

Thanks.

[James Barber]

Hi dukesdenver,

I know this is counter intuitive but Townley Road is in Village ward so I'm afraid I don't.

I'm sure if you contact Village ward councillor [email protected] she'd be happy to find out for you.

[James Barber]

I've had a query about the efficacy of car clubs replacing private vehicles.

Will dedicated car club spaces casue more problems than they help resolve?

The most recent data published on this is from carplus whose data states that ?one car club car replaces around 23 private cars? http://www.carclubs.org.uk/22/benefits/benefits.html

TfL identified in 2008 that car club members reduced ?car use by an average 36 per cent and that almost a fifth of members sell a car either immediately before or after joining? http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/corporate/car-club-strategy.pdf

In my mind it's quite clear that car club spaces will make East Dulwich even better.

We're due 14 in the very near future.

[Huguenot]

What a fantastic initiative.

Is this referring to guys like Streetcar, or is this a public service?

[dukesdenver]

JBARBER Wrote:

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> Hi dukesdenver,

> I know this is counter intuitive but Townley Road

> is in Village ward so I'm afraid I don't.

> I'm sure if you contact Village ward councillor

> [email protected] she'd be

> happy to find out for you.

Sorry if my description was unclear, James, but the crossing is on Lordship Lane. It's the one at the bottom of the hill. Is that still Village?

[intexasatthe moment]

Hi James - not really expecting you to understand my concerns on this but - 20mph consultation showed part of Barry Rd as already having a restriction - on stretch going north from junction with Underhill. I couldn't recall any speed signs here so queried it .

Response confirmed that no 20mph limit is currently in place .

The whole length of Barry Road is 30mph limit at present. The proposal includes introducing a 20mph speed limit on Barry Road from its junction with Lordship Lane to its junction with Underhill/Whateley Road .I do apologise for the confusion on the drawing.

This seems odd ;I personally think Barry Rd should stay at 30mph ,but if there is to be a change ( and we all know that consultations aren't about acting on views expressed ) why change only a section of this road?

And if you read the documentation sent you will be under the impression that the proposed change is to rectify a situation where Barry Rd is part 20mph and part 30 mph - you won't realise that in fact it's introducing this scenario.

You're driving along at 30mph and when you reach the Underhill junction you suddenly switch to 20mph ? ( or vice versa ) .

Can you make sense of this part of the proposal ? ( I know you've said that you've spent hours discussing this .)

Incidentally I thought that Barry Rd looked as though it had a relatively low level of accidents,when compared to other roads , on the map that you posted .

I could well be wrong - I found it hard to read ,so you may need to correct me .

[James Barber]

Hi intexasthe moment,

I was also concerned that the plans for the 20mph speed limit area appears to wrongly show part of Barry Road as already 20mph. As I've said we've spent many hours getting to the point of 20mph strategy but I didn't proof read the letter or final map. I wish I had.

When I asked for Barry Road to be a trial site for averaging speed cameras two reasons were given by traffic police that the trial could'nt take place on Barry Road. 1st some bits at the northern end 40mph, 2nd that testing it would involve high speed cars circa 100mph and the Police did'nt have the resourcs to stand at everyone gates ensuring H&S.

So I'm frustrated to now hear view that all Barry Road is 30mph. I'll have to walk it to check for myself.

As you've mentioned I've previously posted a map of Southwark roads with crash sites marked with red dots. The highest number of crashes were shown along places such as Lordship Lane and other big through routes with reasons to cross the road such as shops. However. it did also show the proposed part of Barry Road as having more crashes that busier through routes. I suspect this is in part as lots of families cross to get to and from a local school where a tight bend is located (junction with Etherow) and where current 30mph speed limit causes problems.

For these reasons I hope residents do choose to go for 20mph speed limit that includes the southern end of Barry Road.

[James Barber]

Heber School/Road.

Local elections will take place on Thursday 6 May. Despite media speculation whether Gordon Browne will call an election earlier or later I don't think he's decisive enough to go earlier. So a double national and local election on Thursday 6 May seems certain.

Heber School is one of the polling stations for East Dulwich.

On the basis of a double election, after the polling stations close at 10pm all voting boxes for College, East Dulwich and Village wards will be taken to Heber School and verified. This means checking voters haven't placed national voting cards in the local elections box and vice versa. It also means checking that the same number of voting cards handed to voters are in the voting boxes. Once verified they'll be resealed and national election boxes sent over to Lambeth for counting and local election boxes sent to the Peckham Academy for counting from 1pm that Friday.

BUT it does mean that Heber School and Road will have considerable toing and froing from around 10pm to my guess around midnight.

I've asked the election officers to write to Heber Road residents to tell them this. I'm not expecting huge disturbances but it seems at the very least polite to explain the unusual goings on that will be taking place.

[intexasatthe moment]

James - re 20 mph limits

Thanks for reply .

But I don't really follow - understand you are frustrated at police not agreeing to trial average speed cameras.

- don't understand much of the reasoning from police - has to involve trial runs of cars going at 100mph ? Presume this restricts average speed cameras to non residential roads ,maybe only motorways ? Northern end of Barry Rd has 40mph speed ? Which bit is that ? Gosh it's hard to know what the speed limits are on roads !

- don't understand why you are frustrated that Barry Rd currently has 30mph restriction throughout ?

You haven't helped me at all in my struggle to understand why it might be sensible to have, as proposed, these two different speed limits on Barry Rd .Is the section to the south of Underhill Rd different in character from the bit to the north ?

[James Barber]

Hi intexasthe moment,

The southern end of Barry Road looks the same but subtely different in having a school adjacent to it.

It also has a bend in it which appears to also contribute to crashes.

[intexasatthe moment]

Thanks James .

Sorry for not taking this into account .

I thought the bend and the bendy buses exiting Etherow St slowed traffic down - but first to admit I'm no expert .

I'm still not comvinced that it's sensible to have 2 different speed restrictions on this road.