Rubbish on Mitcham Lane

There has been a build-up of rubbish on Mitcham Lane recently by Streatham Green and the bus stop opposite the Green.

We have asked for Lambeth Council to make regular checks and keep the area clean, as well as investigate where the rubbish is coming from and take appropriate action.

Cleaning up Stanthorpe Road and adding a few planters!

I've been meaning to post some pictures of what some residents did recently on Stanthorpe Road.

A few weeks ago, on a rather wet Saturday, residents from the Stanthorpe Triangle got together with a little help from the Council to build some planters and paint the area where Gleneldon Mews meet Stanthorpe Road.

This is the area to the side of The Hideaway and Streatham Business Centre.

There was a very good turnout from local residents with around a dozen people taking part.

The planters were made out of old decking and other bits of wood. Fortunately one of the residents was a joiner, which proved particularly useful.

The planters were then painted and soil was then put in...

Flowers were planted...

And the end result was pretty good!

We also used old paint which had been donated to paint a couple of the walls in the area.

It was great to see so many local people coming together to make the area better.

Getting ramp access on Stanthorpe Road at junctions of Ashlake Road and Bournevale Road

We have Lambeth Council for ramp access to be put in on Stanthorpe Road at the junctions with Ashlake Road and Bournevale Road.

It is currently impossible for a wheelchair user to travel along the north pavement of Stanthorpe Road because of the raised curbs at these junctions. They also present a hazard for older people and those with mobility impairments, as well as difficulties for those with buggies, prams of mobility scooters.

For other examples of where we have done this see these links here:

End of Riggindale Road

Outside Wellfield Road Community Centre

Thirlmere Road ramp access

Ramps on Tooting Bec Gardens

Pavement widening at the bottom of Tooting Bec Gardens/ Garrad's Road

Or more on our accessible Streatham campaign here.

Another collision at junction of Mitcham Lane and Ambleside Avenue

There was another collision at the junction of Mitcham Lane and Ambleside Avenue in the early hours of Monday morning (thanks to a resident on Mitcham Lane who sent this picture).

This is the junction that Transport for London have agreed to review and make changes to, following a local campaign.

We will pass these pictures onto TfL, and urge them to push ahead with the review as a priority.

Dumped sofa bed at top of Bournevale Road

There is a dumped sofa bed at the top of Bournevale Road. We have asked the Council to remove it.

Question to the London Mayor regarding The Glebe

Following the presentation of the petition to Lambeth Council about proposed demolition of The Glebe Sheltered Housing, Green London Assembly Member Darren Johnson has tabled the following question to the London Mayor, Boris Johnson. It will help raise awareness of the issue, but also try to begin to move the debate towards finding alternatives to Lambeth Council's proposals.

Darren Johnson

Will you write to the London Borough of Lambeth urging them not to evict 60 residents - some of whom are terminally ill – from The Glebe sheltered housing in Streatham, splitting the residents up and moving them away from the local area? Will you also explore how your housing budget can be used to support Lambeth in bringing its sheltered housing up to the Decent Homes standard, and to provide new extra care facilities without affecting residents of existing sheltered housing?

I also met with Glebe residents again this morning to discuss the next steps in the campaign.

Progress at 'grot spot' on Mitcham Lane outside Keen's Close

We are pleased to report that we have now got some shrubs planted outside Keen's Close on Mitcham Lane (opposite St Leonard's School).

We have been working for the last year on getting the 'grot spot' sorted out.

You can see the history here, but in a nutshell, it has become an area for regular fly tipping.

Old beds, boards, rubbish bags and household waste was being left there and even spilling out onto the pavement.

Lambeth Council said it was not their responsibility as the land belongs to L Q group, which manages the Close. We spoke to residents there, and they asked if we could help sort the area out.

So we got in touch with L Q Group last year, and they agreed to clear the area regularly, and pay for some shrubs to be planted to deter fly tippers and also improve the look of the area. We are pleased to report that LQ Group planted the shrubs there over the weekend.

This is something they agreed to do last year, but they wanted to wait until after the winter to ensure that the shrubs had the best chance of survival.

We will keep monitoring the area and hope that it does the trick!

Getting graffiti removed at the corner of Woodbourne Avenue and Ockley Road

We have asked the council to remove this graffiti at the corner of Ockley Road and Woodbourne Avenue. We'll check back next week to make sure that it has been done.

Missing sign on Woodbourne Avenue

We have asked for a missing street sign to be replaced for Woodbourne Avenue, where it meets Garrad's Road.

[Update 25th June 2013: Lambeth Council have been in contact and agreed to replace the road sign.]

Glebe petition presented to Lambeth Council

We went with Mollie and Barbara - two residents from The Glebe sheltered housing on Prentis Road - to Lambeth Town Hall yesterday to hand over the petition to stop the Glebe being knocked down and redeveloped as extra care housing.

We also met with Council leader Lib Peck for an hour, and discussed the resident's concerns.

The petition now has over 1,600 signatures, and the campaign has now grown and become Lambeth wide. You can see the latest report on the front page of today's South London Press (Streatham edition).

For background to the campaign, you can see this blog and and press coverage here.

The campaign is ongoing and you can still sign the online petition here.

No plans for expansion of school places at St Leonard's Primary School

The headteacher of St Leonard's School has said that claims there are plans to expand places at the Church of England Primary are "wildly inaccurate, highly speculative and based on no substance whatsoever."

His comments, which came in a letter to parents yesterday, was a response to claims made by Lib Dem councillors who claimed credit for securing extra places at the school.

"We have lobbied the Government to fund expanding them (local schools) And it's good news" wrote Lib Dem Councillor Roger Geiss in the latest Lib Dem newsletter to local residents. "Extra places are planned St Leonards soon."

But Simon Jackson, the headteacher of St Leonards yesterday sent the following letter by email to parents entitled 'Expansion Misinformation':

"You may have received some literature delivered to your home which states that 'extra places are planned at St Leonard’s soon'.

"I would just like to make the very clear point that no such decision has been taken; no formal talks have been held between the school’s governing body, the local authority and the diocesan board of education. As such, this statement is wildly inaccurate, highly speculative and based on no substance whatsoever. I can also confirm that the person who has been quoted as making this statement has not spoken with anybody connected with the leadership of our school.

"St Leonard’s has been placed on a list of schools that could be expanded, along with many other schools for a few years now. This does not necessarily mean that expansion is definite. I can assure you that consideration would only be given to such a project if it was in the interest of our school, its pupils and their families, and we are nowhere near being in possession of any facts which could help us establish a position at this time.

"Naturally, if I did have definite information concerning the future of our school, I would share this with you at the appropriate time. As such, I am deeply disappointed that such a statement has been released, and have made this point very clearly to the appropriate persons within Lambeth Council. Therefore, unless you receive information directly from the school, either through the Governing Body or through me personally, please treat all “information” with the scepticism it deserves."

Kind regards,

Mr Simon Jackson

Headteacher

Graffiti at junction of Natal Road and Ellora Road

We have been keeping an eye on the graffiti at the corner of Natal Road and Ellora Road. We reported this back in April and asked the council to remove it.



This was done. But some more has now appeared close by..



We have asked the council to remove this too.