RCDT / Kennington Vauxhall Alliance

I'm afraid I've been very busy with work over the past few weeks, so you won't have seen many updates. However, I've been sent the following:

Under the banner of "Kennington Vauxhall Alliance", the RCDT is apparently seeking new members. They've produced a rather snazzy leaflet, which you can print out and send back to them. Basically, they want to build their membership so that they become representative of the Kennington/Vauxhall area, but with a particular focus on the section between the Thames on one side and Kennington Road / Kennington Lane on the other.

You might be interested in this organisation if you want a voice in the future of the former Lilian Baylis or the future of the Beaufoy Institute. They'll also focus on transport issues, planning matters particularly as they relate to the river section of the area and look into the proposed public transport around Vauxhall Cross. My email suggests that they are not interested in encroaching on the work of either Kennington Association or the Kennington Oval Vauxhall forum, but they would like to gain membership from anybody who lives around the former Lilian Baylis or the Beaufoy Institute.

More TFL cycle scheme pod / bay placements for SE11 and SE1

Further to my previous post on the TFL cycle scheme and initial cycle pod/bay placements, there have been some additional requests:

1. 09/01864/FUL 12/06/2009 Pavement Opposite 1-12 Adam Court, Kennington Lane London Installation on pedestrian footway of cycle hire docking station for the Transport for London Cycle Hire Scheme containing a maximum of 35 docking points for scheme bicycles plus a terminal to secure and release scheme bicycles and to provide registration and payment facilities and wayfinding mapping.

2. 09/01766/FUL 05/06/2009 Outside Former Lilian Baylis School, Lollard Street London Installation on pedestrian footway of cycle hire docking station for the Transport for London cycle hire scheme comprising a maximum of 25 docking points for scheme bicycles plus a terminal to secure and release scheme bcycles and to provide registration and payment facilities and wayfinding mapping.

3. 09/01765/RG4 05/06/2009 Outside 1-28 Tresco House, Sancroft Street London Installation on the pedestrian footway and vehicle carriageway of cycle hire docking station for the Transport for London Cycle Hire Scheme comprising a maximum of 29 docking points for scheme bicycles plus a terminal to secure and release bicycles and to provide registration and payment facilities and wayfinding mapping.

4. 09/01755/RG4 05/06/2009 Opposite Prince Consort House, Albert Embankment London Installation on pedestrian footway of cycle hire docking station for the Transport for London Cycle Hire Scheme comprising a maximum of 24 docking points for scheme bicycles plus a terminal to secure and release bicycles and to provide registration and payment facilities and wayfinding mapping.

I don't see a problem with any of these. The Albert Embankment cycles will be useful for tourists and handy for getting to and from the Albert Embankment, which is somewhat off the tube map and not well connected via the rest of SE11 by bus (there is a Black Prince Road bus route, but that's the only route which takes SE11 residents to the Albert Embankment). The Sancroft street bays are quite central, and a much better suggestion than Windmill Row.

I'm not sure what to make of the ones by the former Lilian Baylis cycle placement (the second half of Lollard St is rather quiet due to being a no through road), but no doubt local residents might comment on the position. I suppose the new bikes could be used by church members, rather than parking in local roads, if the former Lilian Baylis is purchased by the ANC!

Dog snatching, Kennington fete, a new SE11 blog and former Lilian Baylis...

OK, I admit it, I went on holiday for a week, away from SE11 to paddle in the seas of the South West. And I didn't log on to a computer or blog or touch Twitter for any of that time! Obviously, it has been a busy week for SE11 lurkers... Here is a quick summary, for regular readers who failed to notice local things over the past week:

1. The Metropolitan Police conducted a puppy/dog grab from a residence in Renfrew Road, Kennington, where they discovered 6 pit bull puppies and 2 dangerous adult dogs. Kennington Association news blog have a link to the Evening Standard item here. It seems that the police seized about 20 dogs overall, but implies that these were from various South London addresses, rather than one address... Even still, I wouldn't be surprised if the neighbours complained about the noise from 8 dogs!

2. Kennington fete. I hope everybody had a lovely day and enjoyed the weather at Kennington fete in Cleaver Square. I really wish I hadn't missed that, but hopefully there will be another next year. Twitter user El_Nacnud has some photos, of the type that I would have taken had I been there. Please leave some comments with more links.

3. In less than the blink of an eye, somebody has formed another SE11 blog! There's always room for more local bloggers, and the new blog can be found at SE11life.com It comes from the keyboard of the esteemed MayorWatch blog and is written by Martin Hoscik (I'm presuming he is also quite local).

4. And for really dull hyperlocal news, (only relevant to 34082342 commuters, after all), there are some Twittery rumours floating around that lift number 2 at Kennington tube has broken (only about 2 weeks after the six month refurb). I notice that somebody finally had the presence of mind to stick a piece of paper over the sign that says that the stairs are to be used "only in an emergency".

Anything else??? Oh yes.

I'm not too sure what happened at the Special Council Meeting earlier in the week, re. all of the leaseholder issues. More info would be appreciated so please leave a comment re. the council's handling of the matter... What is due to happen next?

It appears that Viva Vauxhall had their meeting and have come out as opposed to the Bondway tower (there's a surprise!), but there's more here about that with further contact details if you want to be involved.

A certain amount of friction appears to have been generated re. the former Lilian Baylis site between ward councillors, various local resident groups and other interested parties. I'm not at liberty to paste every piece of correspondence I receive, but I am particularly interested in hearing from anybody at Lambeth Council who might be able to comment more fully on the future of the site, rather than issuing rather wishy washy leaflets without consultation dates or any mention of governance. I think the initial community consultation on the future of the site was rather weak (perhaps it was conducted at a time when residents were less vociferous), but we're now mid-recession, so perhaps the possibilities for ongoing usage might have changed. I rather get the impression that the discussions are behind closed doors, and there is no longer any room for community input, but watch this space...

Ongoing Lambeth leaseholder debacle

I've been leaked a copy of an email which was sent to Cllr Steve Reed (leader of Lambeth Council) and Derrick Anderson (Chief Executive of Lambeth Council), which I'm going to paste in full below:

I understand from Chris Lee's email response to me late last week that Lambeth Living stand by their estimates as Lambeth has been informed by their vendor, Lambeth Living, that all the estimates are correct and that, and I quote from Cathy Deplissis from Friday news piece, "Lambeth Living has a legal obligation to bill for service charges and Leaseholders have the legal obligation to pay thiose charges",

May I take this opportunity to remind you that those charges have to be "reasonable" and represent value for money otherwise they will not stand up in Leasholder Valauation Tribunal cases and again, this will be costly for Lambeth and will not help the organisations achieve the balanced budget by March 31st.

I am extremely disappointed that given the initial findings of the Audit Commission on the lack of response to Leaseholders' queries and request for information/evidence of charges etc, that we are still in this position and there seems to be no signs of progress to meet across the table to discuss this major issue.

I know that for political reasons, distancing oneself from the shambles of the ALMO might seem like a good idea, however, I cannot see how this will serve the longevity of any officer or Councillor as the fact remains that our Landlord is not ble to manage their property management contractor.

I can only say that after requesting this meeting, and Cllr. Pecks further follow up which has been ignored, that I will now have to email the residents who have again, given up their own time to work out their charges etc and sent copies to me so that I could have a discussion with you both, only to be let down again. I will aslo be sending this to the other Leaseholders that I have contact with as I have promised them that I will do what I can. and this failure is simply not for my lack of trying.

I am very disappointed that there are around 10,000 household in Lambeth being ignored and expected to pay for these hike in charges and the response is to pass this around and not to meet with us.

I will also be sending information to as many leaseholders as I can to inform them of their rights, under law, to hold Lambeth to account for these charges.

Yours in utter frustration and disappointment,

Steve Rice

It appears to me that Steve Rice is doing a fantastic public service for all Lambeth leaseholders. Remember, the inflated leaseholder bills are an issue across the whole Borough, and are not exclusive to SE11.

If progress on the issue (in the form of public meetings, and so on) is not forthcoming, then I will continue to publicise that fact in a way that makes it known to as many people as possible.