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DULWICH SOCIETY ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING - 30 April 2018
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORTS for the year 2017
The Gallery has launched an architectural competition for a temporary pavilion to be built in the grounds in 2019. The closing date for initial expressions of interest is Monday 9 April. For more info see www.londonfestivalofarchitecture.org or www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk
Local MP Helen Hayes hand delivered a letter to Moya Green, Royal mail CEO - the text is as follows:
As you will know, last year, Royal Mail announced plans to close the East Dulwich SE 22 and West Norwood SE 27 delivery offices in the Dulwich and Westwood constituency. These proposed closures would have significant and highly detrimental consequences for residents in both postcode areas. Residents in SE 22 would have to travel to the Peckham delivery office, which is in an inaccessible location with no on-street parking. Residents from some parts of SE22 would have to catch two buses. Residents in SE 27 will be required to travel even further, to the Penge delivery office, catching two buses on a journey which often takes an hour in each direction.
Read more: PO Sorting Office closures in East Dulwich and West Norwood
The Society’s Licensing Group attended the Local consultation meeting on 20th February: A brief summary of their report:
- About 20-30 attendees but Chairman failed to ask attendees to identify themselves when asking questions. An attendance list, giving contact details, was circulated.
- The meeting was chaired by the ‘We Are the Fair’ (WATF) who had two colleagues with him.
- Towards the end of the meeting, Councillor Johnson Situ, Cabinet Member for Business, Culture and Regeneration, struggled to answer questions from the floor , mainly about Southwark's decision -making process and lack of consultation. He agreed to report back and circulate his findings to the attendees before the next Stakeholders’ meeting.
- Throughout the meeting WATF and Southwark were repeatedly criticised about location of the event and the lack of consultation with local community and amenity societies before the location was agreed.
The Council is continuing to seek feedback on the new road layout. The link can be found here. You will also find a report summarising the outcomes of site visits and road safety audits carried out so far - this includes recent responses to safety concerns from TfL. This report will be continually updated as further monitoring is undertaken. There is also an updated design drawing showing further changes to signage and road markings at Dulwich Village to address some of the initial concerns. The link to the online form is here.
The Mayor’s office has been consulting on a planned Ultra Low Emission Zone in central London. Starting from 8 April 2019, this will apparently replace the T-Charge with an even tighter emission standard for older less efficient cars and diesels. The South Circular is the boundary. See: tfl.gov.uk/airquality-consultation
Visit to the Beth Chatto Gardens and RHS Garden Hyde Hall
Tuesday 19th June 2017. Coach from Dulwich Picture Gallery, College Road - 8.15am for 8.30 departure; back around 6.15pm. Non-members welcome.
The Beth Chatto Gardens, near Colchester, were started by Beth Chatto in 1960. She took an overgrown wasteland of brambles, parched gravel and boggy ditches, and transformed it by using plants adapted by nature to thrive in different conditions. The informal gardens which have been developed here are now an inspiration to gardeners and plant lovers all over the world.
Today the Beth Chatto Gardens comprise the Gravel Garden, the Scree Garden, the Water Garden, the Woodland Garden and the Reservoir Garden. The planting in each garden reflects Beth Chatto’s dictum - “the right plant in the right place”.
RHS Garden Hyde Hall, near Chelmsford, sits prominently on a hilltop with sweeping views across the rolling Essex countryside, taking full advantage of its 360-degree views. At the centre of the gardens there are intensely cultivated planting schemes that slowly begin to soften and blend out into the surrounding landscape.
The result is an eclectic mix of horticulture from traditional rose gardens and herbaceous borders to vegetable gardens and large sweeping borders of grasses and meadowland.
We will arrive at The Beth Chatto Gardens at around 10.45am where we will be given the Gardener’s Tour. After taking lunch there we will move on to RHS Garden Hyde Hall. Both gardens have extensive plant sales. We should arrive back in Dulwich Village around 6.15pm.
Tickets (including admissions and tour) are £30 each and may be purchased on the Eventbrite website (www.eventbrite.co.uk - search “Dulwich Society”) or by sending a cheque (payable to The Dulwich Society) and stamped addressed envelope to Will Anderson at 141 Rosendale Road, London SE21 8HE.
Non-members are welcome. Enquiries to Will Anderson
The Society responded both to Steer Davies Gleave’s original presentation at the Dulwich Community Council on 1 November 2017 and to their subsequent Dulwich Traffic Management Study where consultation closed on 24th January.
The Society has not been able to poll its membership on the proposals but has relied on its Traffic and Transport group to put its response together Subject to this, our comments on original presentation and the detailed proposals are as follows:
Following the well-attended public meeting (over 350 people were there) on 18 January to protest against Lambeth Council’s plans for two major music festivals in Brockwell Park, the Council has decided not to go ahead with the largest event, ‘Lovebox’. However, there is still no final decision on the other smaller event ‘Field Day/The Mighty Hoopla’. Most of the residents at the meeting opposed the plans because of the impact they would have both on the park itself and the surrounding residential area
Despite detailed objections from the Society the Council agreed to go ahead with this large event in Peckham Rye Park in June. There had been some confusion over public consultation and neither the Society nor the London Wildlife Trust had been approached. The Society’s Trees and Wildlife committees had raised serious concerns about the impact particularly on the woodland areas.
The junction works still require further resurfacing and road safety signage installation. This should be done this month. The Council have also set up a new website to provide information about monitoring and evaluation of the works. It contains the monitoring programme, targets and key locations/focus, as well as FAQs on the scheme. Residents are invited to fill in an online form which will give Council officers feedback about their experience of the new road layout. The link to the online form is here.
The Boundary Commission for England has recently published its second version of proposals for new constituency boundaries based on a brief to reduce the total number from 650 to 600. This would see Dulwich and West Norwood split into four different constituencies. Gipsy Hill and Knights Hill would become the northern most wards in a new Norwood and Thornton Heath constituency. Herne Hill and Thurlow Park would become the north-easterly wards in a new highly elongated Streatham and Brixton South constituency, while College, East Dulwich and Village would become part of a new Dulwich and Sydenham constituency. Lastly, Coldharbour would become the most south-easterly ward in a new Brixton and Vauxhall constituency.