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Saturday 12th January. Time: 2.30pm.
The meeting’s aim is to discuss how to move forward and make our area a better place to live. Local MP Helen Hayes, Southwark Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport Management, & Air Quality, Richard Livingstone, plus Village Ward Councillors and an expert on the health effects of traffic related air pollution will be speaking. The Agenda is:
- National & London Context
- Southwark Council’s current policies
- Potential Dulwich impacts - CPZs & low Traffic Neighbourhoods
- Health effects of traffic related air pollution
- School streets initiative at Bessemer Grange
- Questions
- Next Steps
Time: 2.30pm. Saturday 12th January
Getting Around Dulwich - Towards a healthier, safer & more active future
Location: Methodist Hall, Half Moon Lane
Potential delays to works at College Road & Dulwich Common junction. TfL are funding and managing these works and they will apparently involve completely shutting College Road (north) for two weeks, together with a series of short-term overnight closure of the South Circular. It now appears that TfL are waiting on the completion of the planned Thames water works at the junction of Lordship Lane & Dulwich Common before starting. TfL won’t allow that section of Lordship Lane to be dug up at the same time as College Road (north) is shut because of the potential major traffic disruption. Our Councillors are extremely frustrated with Thames Water about their delayed works but no date for them to start has yet been confirmed.
The Proud Sow is open and trading. There are no further updates on ‘Simply Fresh’ (though its licence has been granted), or the rumoured Yoga Studio going in the former Park Motors building. The Sari Project, currently in the former Audi Showroom, will remain until April.. The Estate tells us that it is actively looking for tenants but that the empty units will need refitting first. As always there are rumours as to potential occupiers - including a make-up shop and a national coffee shop chain. On the plus side, Hotpod Yoga will be opening their fifth studio in London in one of the new units in the Croxted Road shops and there is a sign in the window about an alcohol licence application for the Dulwich Bazaar restaurant next to Tescos.
The club returned to its Champion Hill ground on Boxing Day with a match against Eastbourne. The team won 2-1 in front of a large home crowd of over. There are also reports that Dulwich Hamlet’s landlord, Meadow, will submit a planning application for a new stadium shortly. In a statement issued just before Christmas the developer said that the revised proposal will have capacity for 4,000 fans and include 230 new homes, without impinging on any Metropolitan Open Land. The council has also now agreed a new lease for the AstroTurf pitch on Greendale.
West Dulwich is one of 22 South-eastern stations nominated for step-free access. The Department for Transport will consider the nominations it has received from operators across the country, together with individual submissions from stakeholders and passengers, before making a final decision on which stations will receive funding under the scheme.
At Denmark Hill, a new passenger one-way system has been launched to reduce the level of congestion at the station. The new system will require passengers to access the platform by the old footbridge, and exit the platform by the new footbridge. Network Rail are looking at plans to build a second station entrance on Windsor Walk but this won’t be open until 2020 at the earliest.
The Society has set up a public meeting for 12 January to review the ‘holistic’ traffic report prepared as part of the Village junction works and also to talk about the potential impact of the new controlled parking zones coming out for consultation – these are in Croxted Road (West Dulwich) and in Dog Kennel Hill & Lordship Lane (East Dulwich). Local councillors and the cabinet member for environment, transport planning and air quality will be joining us.
If residents want to be considered for CPZs, they should email
The ‘Proud Sow’ has finally started fitting out works, hopefully it will be open for Christmas. There is no further information on ‘Simply Fresh’ who are taking over the former Shepherds unit. As far as we know, the former ‘Park Garage’ is still under offer as a yoga studio, as is the former ‘Audi Showroom’ unit but we don’t know as what. The relocation of Harvey and Wheeler has also been delayed following construction delays.
In West Dulwich, there has been no progress on the new Eastern Mediterranean restaurant, ‘Peckham Bazaar’, nor has there yet been any fitting out in the new chemist shop which had been expected to open shortly.
The spike in youth on youth robbery in the last few weeks continues. The use of force has increased and masks/balaclavas are now being used. Although the local Safer Neigbourhood Teams are doing their best in adjusting shifts etc – some wards are currnently under-strength and we have now learnt that, at this time, there are no designated school’s officers in any of the Dulwich wards.
Local MP Helen Hayes has met the local police Inspector to discuss the issue, and she will then be meeting local schools. She is also planning to attend the next meeting of the Dulwich Village Safer Neighbourhoods ward panel on 21 November, to update residents on this issue. Burglary & car crime also remain concerns.
An agreement has been reached after the conclusion of successful talks between Dulwich Hamlet Football Club, Southwark Council and Meadow Partners that will see the club return to Champion Hill. Fixtures should start in 4-6 weeks.
The Grafton Dance Centre in Village Way is looking for local support for a Southwark blue plaque to commemorate Bob Burgess and Doreen Freemen, one of the leading ball-room dance partnerships of the 1950 and 60s, and who ran a dance school at the site from 1972-2001. Voting is at
Ms Moyà Greene
Chief Executive
Royal Mail Group plc
100 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0HQ
20th September 2018
Dear Ms Greene
Urgent Royal Mail service failure, SE22 postcode area
I am writing to you on behalf of thousands of my constituents living in the SE 22 postcode area who are suffering as a consequence Of serious service failures by Royal Mail.
As you will be aware, in the face of fierce opposition from the local community, you recently closed the SE22 delivery office on Silvester Road, requiring customers from SE22 to travel to Highshore Road in Peckham in order to collect parcels and registered post. SE22 deliveries are also now being made from Highshore Road. The closure has resulted in serious service failures for SE22 customers, including very long queues at Highshore Road, with some customers having to wait as long as an hour - and many giving up on the attempt; and staff shortages resulting in the Highshore Road office failing to open on time. In addition, my constituents across the SE22 postcode area are reporting that deliveries have become erratic and infrequent and. Have received reports that local managers have told commercial customers that delivery delays are a result of staff shortages.
Concerns about the impact that closing the SE22 delivery office would have on Royal Mail services were raised with you on many occasions prior to the closure, including repeated calls for Royal Mail to establish a replacement collection facility in the SE22 area. These calls were ignored, and it appears that your organisation has utterly filed to put in place arrangements to ensure the continuation of reliable high-quality service for SE22 customers following the closure. Staff at the Highshore Road report that no additional staff have been allocated to the collection desks from the former SE22 office to service the additional workload from a whole postcode area.
The current service failures are critical, and cannot be allowed to continue. Please could you provide urgent confirmation of the immediate steps you are taking to address the staff shortages and service failures at Highshore Road and across the SE22 postcode area. Further, I ask once again, that you reconsider the request that I have made on many occasions for a new collection facility to be established in the SE22 area to ensure that my constituents do not have to face long journeys and lengthy queues to collect their post. I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely
Helen Hayes MP
As promised earlier this year, TfL are finally carrying out a public consulting on this junction with the aim of improving pedestrian safety - there are currently no pedestrian crossings or pedestrian phasing on the traffic lights. Comments are to be made by 25th October. For more information go to: consultations.tfl.gov.uk/..