Follow us on Twitter @DulwichSociety
The Dulwich Society has reviewed the Council's recently published report on its plans for the implementation of temporary emergency measures in Dulwich Village and Melbourne Grove and is supportive of them as a means to improve social distancing to directly mitigate Covid-19. These are part of a Southwark-wide programme financed by public funding, and part of a national response to the Covid-19 pandemic which can be found at moderngov.southwark.gov.uk/.. We also note that the proposals reflect much of what has recently been consulted on in the Council’s ‘Healthy Streets Initiative’ and that the measures proposed could have a beneficial impact on promoting active travel and reducing air pollution.
There may be unintended consequences and some areas will be positively or adversely affected more than others. It is essential that the measures are seen as being flexible and easily reversible and/or extendible if need be, and that the Council responds positively to residents' experiences of the schemes in operation. The Dulwich Society expects the full impact on the surrounding area will be properly evaluated and that the changes should not, at the end of the period, de facto stay unaltered or unimproved as a permanent change without a full public consultation.
Members are encouraged to give feedback to
The health centre houses a range of health and community services, including a GP surgery, mental health and children’s services, blood testing, kidney dialysis, physiotherapy and some other hospital clinics. Patients who were registered at the Melbourne Grove Medical Practice and the Hambleden Medical Practice will now be registered at the health centre.
Greg Hands MP for Chelsea, has set up a petition and is asking for support to ban all night flights while the current Covid-19 situation remains. Plane Hell Action is firmly behind this initiative and if you are affected see: www.greghands.com/..
If you have any suggestions for nominations for next year please email the Southwark Heritage Association at
The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) is conducting a very short Noise Attitudes Survey to find out how aircraft noise affects people in the London areas, it closes on 1 June. A previous article on this website highlighted how residents in Dulwich and surrounding areas live under the flight paths of both London City and Heathrow airport – both of which are planning large expansions. Currently, of course, aircraft noise is much reduced, but the reality is it will return when the economy recovers. If you would like to respond and complete the survey on your experience of reduced flights in and out of the airport, the survey can be found here: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/T4G18I/. It is anonymous, but responders are asked for the first part of their postcodes to allow CPRE to identify the approximate location of those responding. CPRE are also looking for short (30-60 second) video clips of people enjoying the peace and quiet offered by the current situation. Please send your clips to
The Society hopes that all its members and their families are keeping well. Meetings of the Society’s sub committees are cancelled for the time being but monitoring continues on local planning and alcohol licence applications, traffic consultations, and licence applications to the Dulwich Estate. The Society participated in an online ‘Zoom’ conference hosted by the London Forum about local councils’ approach to public participation and consultation in planning during the lock down. The Society also attended Southwark’s first virtual planning sub-committee. The Council intends to run future planning committees virtually until further notice. See our Twitter feeds for more info: @dulwichsociety / @dulwichhistory / @dulwichgarden
Many local convenience stores, food shops, butchers, bakeries, post offices and chemists remain open for business. A new website, https://dulwichdelivers.com/ has been set up by a number of local shops to take orders and deliver to your door. It includes several restaurants, butchers, local craft beer producers, a children’s shoe shop, a book shop, a stationery & toy shop, a picture framer, gift shops and clothes shops.
For info on mutual aid support contact ‘Covid-19 Mutual Aid Herne Hill and Dulwich Village’ on
The Society’s Executive Committee has agreed to make donations of £500 each to the Norwood & Brixton Foodbank and the Central Southwark Community Hub, which are experiencing very high demand in the current Covid-19 crisis.
The Estate has moved to remote working, stopped or reduced some of its services in line with public health guidance, and has contacted local businesses and traders who have been affected. There is a Q & A section for queries on its website www.thedulwichestate.org.uk or contact the switchboard on 020 8299 1000. The Estate is also keen to move from relying on the post to sending information by email. You can update your contact details on their website or at www.thedulwichestate.org.uk/paperless-campaign
Our local MP has become Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office in the appointments recently announced by Sir Keir Starmer, the new Leader of the Labour Party.
The Society heard at the Consultative Committee on 5th March that London City Airport has dropped its plans to end the weekend break from the noise and to bring in more early morning & late evening flights. It still may want to seek to lift the current annual cap on flights but not any time soon. It intends to publish its final Master Plan before the end of the month but has no immediate plans to put in a planning application to lift the cap. Whether, and when they do it, will depend on the sort of growth the airport is experiencing.
Thanks are due to local MPs in Forest Hill and Dulwich plus several local Councillors who all totally understood and supported our argument and have ensured that Lewisham, Forest Hill and Dulwich residents have been properly represented.
We’ll never know what swung it. The public campaign must have helped - the mass postcard campaign from Heathrow Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise (HACAN), the demo last month at the London offices of the airport’s owners, and the mass anti expansion campaign at Bristol (same owners). Behind the scenes lobbying at the GLA with Sadiq Khan’s advisors, plus assistance from quite a few MPs (and many Councils) influenced a wave of anti expansion responses to the consultation from individuals. Executives from their Canadian investor owners were also lobbied, as was the local planning authority, Newham.
Obviously the air industry is in disarray right now - so, having flown their expansion kite, it's not a bad time for them to put expansion plans on a shelf for a while, whilst appearing to have listened to feedback. We will press on with the upcoming launch to MPs in Westminster of an independent economic report that will closely examine the economic claims that City made in their draft plan.
Where it leaves us is where we were when City launched the expansive draft plan last summer. That is with noisy overlapping flight paths over SE London with Heathrow, and City still having permission to increase flight movements over the present day level within existing planning permissions. The line that we took last year is still a good one - that no expansion should be even considered until such time as the overlapping flight paths over London have been satisfactorily resolved.
So with the immediate threat of new Heathrow and City expansion at least delayed for a couple of years, local focus moves to ensuring that the Airspace Modernisation (= sort out the flight paths) project, delivery due 2025/26, is properly reviewed. This involves close cooperation between the two airports, with a view to improving the double/simultaneous over flights of SE London, and increasing the altitude of planes from both before their final approaches. The Forest Hill Society supported by the Dulwich Society is engaged with periodic stakeholder workshops at both airports pushing them to work together and not lose focus on SE London as they push their two projects along.