former East Dulwich councillor - how can I help?

[James Barber]

Hi Trump,

I'm sorry you've been so easilly misled by some press reports of the Lib Dem policy of one time Earned Citizenship.

When the conservatives ran the country they effectively introduced an amnesty for anyone who'd been in the UK for over 14 years - policy to stop chasing them. Labour didn't change this. It's now believed around 1 million people fall into that category. The Lib Dems are saying lets all stop pretending they don't exist. IF they can speak/read/write good english, have not been in trouble with the law, are willing to do community service then they should be considered for Earned Citizenship. Many wont meet the criteria. Whoever doesn't meet this criteria should be dealt with rather than ignored.

To help deal with this we believe everyone entering and leaving the country should be recorded. Ridiculous that we don't know when people over stay visas as virtually no recording of people leaving.

Currently three different bodies accountable for policing our borders. We want clear accountability and one border force.

Clear choice tomorrow. Conservatives and Labour who have created the current shambles jointly over the last 30 years or Liberal Democrats with a clear programe to resolve this historic mess.

[Administrator]

Sorry, some posts removed for being off topic.

[SteveT]

Off topic, in the gossip column, the mind boggles.

[James Barber]

Now the local elections are over hopefully we can all get back to some normality. if you have any East Dulwich or council issues or ideas do please let me know.

Several issues came up during the last few weeks of the election campaign.

People living close to East Dulwich station asked about car parking. Seemed more interest than before.

Local businesses and residents asked about a crossing outside Somerfield/Coop. Former mixed views with two coming out against in the South London Press, latter keen to be able to easily cross the road.

[intexasatthe moment]

James would you know whether Southwark's overall change to Labour is likely to change planning regs currently in draft form?

Thinking of Dulwich Supplementary Planning doc ,due to be adopted Nov 2011 ?

[James Barber]

Hi intexasatthe moment,

I'm sure Labour will have views of what they think Dulwich should be into the future - especially with two College ward councillors.

But the Dulwich Community Council has 4 Lib Dems, 3 Tories and 2 Labour councillors. The current constitution which they could change would required the Dulwich Commumity Council to have its say on this document, as would the main planning Committee. So Some checks and balances.

When the lib Dems were making these documents happen we always looked for consensus so that they lasted and developers were clear that they had a more than four years in them ie. would last over several adminstrations.

[James Barber]

Primary school admissions announced today.

They will see 84% of applications getting 1st choice and 94% getting choices 1-4. See attached.

(Lambeth achieved 75%, Lewisham 90% getting choices 1-5).

This is a huge success and testament to the great leadership shown by Cllr Nick Stanton and the hard work by council officers.

The process of placing bulge classes with demand, although adding some days to the process, has allowed this. I hope this process it followed in subsequent years under the new Labour administration to ensure this level of success is sustained.

However, if you have any problems with your admissions results please do get in touch with me ASAP so I can help.

Tomorrow I hope to have the break down for East Dulwich.

[prdarling]

James Barber

Despite my bitching and moaning on previous threads about releasing the school admission results in line with the rest of London, I am actually grateful that you didn't release until yesterday as I would have just had an extra week of tears, not sleeping and being desperate with worry after finding out my child didn't get a place at the school 400m from his home but did in fact get a place several miles away, in the opposite direction from his brother's nursery which is going to be physically impossible for me to get to unless I leave my job or take my son out of nursery - neither of which are options.

Only 1 night's lost sleep so far rather than 10...jolly good stuff

[Fuschia]

James I have posted a question in the family room about why the admissions bookelt sems to have incorrect and incomplete info about last year's admissions and asking for the same info for this year (no of places taken by siblings, no of places taken as closest community school with distance, etc

People have also said they have been allocated schools they didn't choose, two miles away, I presume this is incorrect as the statutory distance for infants is one mile isn't it? I presume all children have been allocated a school within 1 mile?

[MissM]

James

Thanks for the quick response to the email I sent you about this!

James Barber Wrote:

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> Rubbish on Cyrena road removed.

> A household was visited this morning very early

> that has dumped such items before.

> Fingers crossed they'll now start using the bulk

> rubbish collection when they need it and generally

> be more considered in how they dispose of their

> rubbish.

[toast]

Edited to write 'JamesBarber wrote'

> They will see 84% of applications getting 1st

> choice and 94% getting choices 1-4. See attached.

> (Lambeth achieved 75%, Lewisham 90% getting

> choices 1-5).

> This is a huge success and testament to the great

> leadership shown by Cllr Nick Stanton and the hard

> work by council officers.

This is more likely due to families putting down a 'banker', school as last resort as they are more aware of the shortage. There seems to be an obsession with first choice, how many got 4th choice?

[James Barber]

Hi fuschia,

The statutory limit is 2 miles.

A Lib Dem run Southwark Council has always striven and worked to a 1 mile maximum.

Five families in East Dulwich had allocations given to them that were not one of their 4 preferences. During the 'shake down' period it is expected that they will end up with one of their preferences.

Hope that helps?

Hi toast,

I'd really prefer to leave the allocations team dealing with parental queries and casework than analysing the percentage that received 2nd, 3rd and 4th preferences. Could I ask you to remind me in four weeks time when I'd hope they'd be freer.

Hi prdarling,

Please contact me via PM and lets see if I can help.

[James Barber]

The latest crime stats by ward are available from the Metropolitan Police. See attached.

It shows East Dulwich is the safest ward in Southwark. The 108th out of all 624 wards in London - so well and truly top quartile - but for the 243 inner London ward East Dulwich is the joint 7th safest ward.

I?m delighted that all the effort my ward councillor colleagues and I and resources we?ve allocated and put into crime prevention along with the dedication and expertise of the East Dulwich Police Safer Neighbourhood Team have paid even more dividends.

But how can we reduce crime further through prevention?

[Smiler]

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

> I'd really prefer to leave the allocations team

> dealing with parental queries and casework than

> analysing the percentage that received 2nd, 3rd

> and 4th preferences. Could I ask you to remind me

> in four weeks time when I'd hope they'd be freer.

James, yes, obviously parental enquiries are the top priority, but surely this should be easily available information?

[James Barber]

Hi Smiler,

It could/should be but I'd prefer to ask after 21 May deadline when I can be sure this query wont get in the way of helping parents. The easy thing to do would be ping such a query in but lets hold back until 22 May when we can be sure we're not getting in the way.

[Gimme]

What period are the crime stats for? The previous X months? Or the previous year?

James Barber Wrote:

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

> The latest crime stats by ward are available from

> the Metropolitan Police. See attached.

>

> It shows East Dulwich is the safest ward in

> Southwark. The 108th out of all 624 wards in

> London - so well and truly top quartile - but for

> the 243 inner London ward East Dulwich is the

> joint 7th safest ward.

>

> I?m delighted that all the effort my ward

> councillor colleagues and I and resources we?ve

> allocated and put into crime prevention along with

> the dedication and expertise of the East Dulwich

> Police Safer Neighbourhood Team have paid even

> more dividends.

>

> But how can we reduce crime further through

> prevention?

[dc]

Gimme Wrote:

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

> What period are the crime stats for? The previous X months? Or the previous year?

March 2010

[James Barber]

12 month period ending 31 March 2010. Met produce this rolling 12 months figure every month.

[Scootagal]

Hi James

We are thinking of buying an ex-local authority flat in the Lordship Lane Estate. I've been doing some research and have come across a lot of rather scary articles about residents of council blocks receiving bills of around ?20,000-50,000 for major works required to their blocks.

This is slightly off-putting to say the least...

Are you aware of any upcoming 'major works' required in the estate? The costs seem ridiculous considering you only own a small part of the block - it wouldn't cost ?20,000 to re-window my current flat for example which is bigger than the one we're looking to purchase.

I have noticed on the google maps street view of the estate that there were some major refurbishments and upgrades happening when the pictures were taken - but I don't know when this was - does this mean that the estate has had its fair share of big bills?

Your advice very gratefully received!

:)

[northlondoner]

Aaaargh! Once again the council have left their bin bags out overnight at junction of Hindmans and Uplands Rd and once again the foxes have torn them apart dragging vile decaying trash up and down the road. Same story further down Nothcross Rd. I've just returned from Rwanda and this morning our little part of ED looks incomparably more filthy than the streets of Kigali.

If I left my rubbish bags out on a street-corner overnight, I would rightly be accused of flytipping, no? Seems a bit much that the council is indulging in this.

I've lost count of the times I have spoken to the council about this - only to find I would be better off addressing the foxes.

What on earth is being done to rectify the situation?

[Nero]

It was the same in the Goodrich/Friern/Dunstan's/Barry area, but since I posted on here to the Cllr the bags have been put on top of the bins, foxing the foxes. James - could you get the streetcleaners to do this borough-wide? Perhaps it's only the ones who do the beat near to me who are doing it.

[dc]

James Barber Wrote:

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> 12 month period ending 31 March 2010. Met produce this rolling 12 months figure every month.

The figures referred to in the spreadsheet you attached were for one months's figures = 59 notifiable offences in East Dulwich ward. That isn't the rolling annual figure for East Dulwich it's for March 2010 alone. Still low though.

Interesting stuff here: Crime Mapping (using the 'text view' tab to the top right makes it easier to navigate and you can access more data more easily).

It looks like the numbers may not have caught up entirely as it shows ED with 80 offences and ranked fifth highest in Southwark behind inter alia neighbouring South Camberwell, Peckham Rye and College wards. I think that is for the February 2010 figure (80 offences) though, not the March one (59 offences).

[James Barber]

Hi dc,

From memory that was 59 offences per 1,000 thousand population.

Hi Scootagal,

Lordship Lane estate is in Village ward. Unfortunately national legislation doesn't legally allow councils to run 'sinking' funds as private blocks of flats do to smooth out such extremely lumpy renewal bills. Simon Hughes tried to geta private members bill through parliament but failed. I'll ask the Dulwich area housing manager what plans he has. If you privately email me at [email protected] with the name of block etc I can then directly feedback to you.

Hi northlonder, Nero,

Bags on tope of bins does seem sensible. Not entirely fox proof but certainly better.

I'll make another effort as leaving the bags out overnight must be infuriating for the cleaners to see al their hard work undone and more work created.

[DJKillaQueen]

Hi Scootagal,

All council owned and leasehold propoerties in Southwark are subject to the decent homes standard and so a programme of imporvements has been rolled out including new windows and doors. Leaseholders are required to have the new windows but not the new doors but as I recollect that estate has already had that work done.

However as a leaseholder, you would be liable to share the cost of any work be it decorative or structural to the exterior and communal parts of the buildings. And yes the costs can be prohibitive for some leaseholders. Some structural repairs are extremely expensive and can not be forseen and it's just one of those aspects of buying leasehold that you neeed to be aware of.

Southwark does have a leaseholders organisation that work to make sure that leasehold fees are reasonable and fair and as a prospective leaseholder it would be worth your while getting in touch with them to see what the ongoing costs have been to that estate. They would also know of any work in the pipeline.

Hope that helps.

[Nero]

Cllr, Cd you tell me why Dunstans Road this week and CP Road the other week are being ripped up once again, this time to replace - not install - sleeping policemen? Was there a fault with the first lot? If not, then what was wrong with just waiting a bit to put them in, rather than laying down temporary ones? It seems wasteful of time, effort and expense.