LGBT Community Safety Questionnaire

The police are currently doing some work in trying to find out what LGBT residents, workers and visitors to Lambeth are looking for from the police on the issue of community safety.  Working on the basis that SE11 is the pinkest area outside of Soho (sadly, I don't have stats), I'm hoping this will reach a fair few LGBT people in the vicinity.

If you're LGBT, consider filling in a questionnaire (it's very short) and letting the police know whether you feel consulted and included, and how they might improve, if necessary.

Click here for questionnaire.

Accusations - response to criticism re LGBT hustings

I've received an accusation by a commentator who has called themselves "Fed up with Fib Dems" who states:

"I am very disappointed that the operator of this blog allowed an anonymous post to be written which was so blatantly from a Lib Dem. The LGBT business forum meeting was a disgrace - the organiser, who is on Lib Dem leaflets, deliberately told Mark the wrong time."

The commentator is referring to this post here. I did make clear on the guest post that was posted that I would be happy to receive guest responses from other commentators at the LGBT hustings. Nobody has emailed me with an alternative version of events, so I have no other material to offer. The commentator made no mention of their own political affiliation within the guest post and I can't quite see what marks the guest out as a Lib Dem (rather than Tory, English Democrat, Green or non-affiliated).

I will be conducting investigations into the allegations that a "wrong time" was sent deliberately to Mark Harrison. That is a serious allegation. The poster which was sent to me and other local blogs stated the time quite clearly here. However, I will need to investigate what private correspondence was sent to the speakers from the organiser, so it would be useful to see any emails or letters sent to Mark Harrison (and to confirm that he thinks he was misled).

In addition the commentator states:
"And the idea that Lambeth Council can ignore a bid from a church group is ridiculous - imagine the uproar if they refused to deal with Muslims, or the Catholic Church, both of which have aborrent views on gay people."

Obviously, I think this discussion should stay on the post upon which it started. There are a whole variety of different viewpoints on the matter of the former Lilian Baylis site and I've covered the topic in the past myself. I understand that the whole point of hustings is to hear the views of various candidates, so I will leave all commentators here to argue about the points of the debate. My only remark is that it might be more straightforward if people were to use established login names, rather than continue to refer to themselves as "anonymous".

The commentator also states:
"As for the last post, that is just pathetic. Mark has been attending Penwith Manor TRA meetings for months, not just during the byelection campaign - as he has for all estates. Unlike John Roberts, who only rediscovered his 'passion' for the area after being selected as the Lib Dem candidate...

Spare me future Lib Dem bleatings please 3 wheeled one."

In an attempt to demonstrate that this blog really attempts to be non-partisan, I've turned this comment into a post of its own. Personally, I have no idea how one could objectively compare Mark Harrison and John Robert's commitments in the area since they've both good good track records locally, but I did try by requesting answers from the candidates on a set of questions. Both Labour and Lib Dem candidates have done a considerable amount of work on different committees. However, if you remember, I did address all 5 candidates on the matter of their previous work in the area on question 2, here. Here are the two answers that the political candidates provided:

Question 2:
What, if any, organisation(s) have you been involved with which demonstrate your commitment to the area, and how long have you lived/worked locally?

Mark Harrison:
* I've lived on the Ethelred Estate for nearly five years.

* I serve on the Ethelred TMO Board; The Kennington, Oval and Vauxhall Forum Board; and The Friends of Vauxhall Spring Gardens Board.

* I am a member of the Kennington Association and attend Safer Neighbouhood Team meetings.

* I attend other residents meetings like those of the Vauxhall Five, Vauxhall Gardens and Penwith Manor.

* With neighbours I am working to investigate setting up a community garden on Lambeth Walk.

*As Labour Action Team Member for the past two years I have helped arrange several community events, including a meeting on guns and gangs with the SE1 United Youth Group, and community coffee mornings for people to meet their neighbours and councillors.

John Roberts:
* I have lived locally on the Ethelred Estate (just off Black Prince Road) for over 15 years and have been involved with a wide range of local organisations, including:

- Vauxhall City Farm – I chaired the Trustees body for 7 years and helped save it from closure 2 years ago.
- Friends of Spring Gardens – I am a member and helped the campaign to save the open space when there were plans to build on it.
- Ethelred Estate Tenant Management Organisation – I have been a resident member of this right from the start in 1999.

* I have been a member of KOV forum since the start and a member of Kennington Association.

* I regularly support the local fetes in the area and you can generally see me in the kitchen making the tea and sandwiches.

* Last year I volunteered for the Ethiopian millennium celebrations at Kennington Park and spent the day in the children’s lost and found tent. It was a great day - and fortunately only a few children were lost.

* As a first aider I also help out and volunteer to support other fun days and art events including the Vauxhall festival where you could see me wearing my first aid tabard.

* Friends of Durning Library – I supported the fight to keep this open when the Labour run council wanted to close it down.

* As a former member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, for four and half years I channelled 200k worth of funding through the community police fund to numerous local projects, to help support people make a difference to their local community. We funded SE1 united, a local youth group, to develop the leadership programme, black and lgbt history month as well as inter faith football and other sports activities. I was the person that secured funding for cctv at the LGBT clubs in and around spring gardens and at Vauxhall city farm. My tackling crime track record is well known through out the council and police. I also worked with local police to get funding for extra police officers here in Princes ward, after a strong of violent attacks and rise in crime. I also got funding for a mobile police station after a rise in attacks in the Spring Gardens area..

* My team and I have already reported dozens of local cases of graffiti, dumped rubbish and vandalism to the council – if they are not tackled, it all adds up to making the area feel neglected and unloved.

Guest post: attendee at John Bull Centre Hustings

For the first time, I have agreed to publish a guest post at the Lurking about SE11 blog.

Obviously, I have to publish a disclaimer, since the views presented are not my own, although I have received verification that the guest poster was present at the hustings and is not one of the candidates standing for election.

If any other participants were present at the John Bull Community Centre hustings, and wish to make a counter guest post, I will publish it (so long as it's not defamatory).

------

Dear SE11'ers

I was at the LGBGT candidate hustings last night and was utterly shocked at the response the Labour candidate gave in response to the question "would he support the use of the old Lilian Baylis site by the the All Nations Church given their teachings on homosexuality as a sin?" In a long winded response, he said that he did support them having the use of the site.

I find it incredible that an openly gay, prospective local goverment Councillor in one of the districts in the UK with a high concentration of LGBGT residents, is in support of such and organisation and has been actively helping them to secure their place on the site.

I hope that the LGBGT community will come out in force and let their elected representatives know that these organsiations have no place in multi-cultural Lambeth and should not be given the use or option of purchasing public spaces for propogating messages of intolerance of any sector of the community, let alone such a huge proportion of the Vauxhall residents.

Your truly
Concerned SE11

Possible stabbing in Black Prince Road and questions about networking

Very occasionally, I wonder whether there's some form of news blackout that operates within the SE11 area. It's very difficult to find out certain pieces of information that it might be within the public interest to have made public.

A commentator yesterday remarked "I heard that there was a stabbing on black prince road on Friday 22nd May...any news?". My feeling is that this is probably not the case and nothing happened. Stabbings tend to generate a lot of hits here, with people searching for information. But the rumour of a stabbing must be grounded in something, most probably some sort of disturbance. It would be useful if there was a Lambeth police feed in which information was shared to alert residents to be on guard or remain watchful if anything was particularly amiss.

I understand that the issue of dangerous dogs was raised at Tuesday's hustings, dogs apparently being the "preferred" weapon of choice for those engaged in anti-social behaviour. However, I've not seen news reported anywhere on fights with dogs between youths. I heard that there have been a rise in burglaries on one local estate, but once again, no news.

My feeling is that the SE11 community is still not sufficiently networked. We have many civic organistions for linking people together, but many of them have significant overlap in committed members, and sporadic communication with those people who are not online. There's a low level of computer use/technological know how in both poorer and older communities locally (I saw a map of this that I might do a blog post about). The question is, how is this best overcome? I'm pleased with the contribution to this blog from regular commentators and anonymous lurkers, but my feeling is that there is still more local knowledge and resources to be shared.

In the meantime, don't forget the LGBT / gay hustings, which is on tonight at 7.30pm at the John Bull Community Centre. If you didn't make it to the last set of general hustings, I'm sure you'd be welcome to show up here, even if you've not got specifically LGBT questions to ask.

Hustings - LGBT - Please circulate

I was sent this re. LGBT hustings for Prince's Ward. Please circulate:


The text says:

Thursday 28th May
7:00 – 8:30pm

The John Bull LGBT Centre
64 Tyres Street
Vauxhall
SE11 5NL

0333 700 1232 (John Bull)

Former Lilian Baylis site and difficult hustings questions

I promised yesterday that I'd post about the former Lilian Baylis site and political parties. The history of the topic is now tedious and long. The reason it's so important in the local election is that there is both considerable support in favour, and considerable consternation against the All Nations Church (ANC) bid to own the former Lilian Baylis site. Nobody is talking much about that because nobody knows exactly how many ANC constituents there are in Princes ward (to gain votes from if one supports the proposals), or exactly how many LGBT votes one would lose in Prices ward by supporting the ANC ownership possibility. So it's a bit of a problem for the local candidates.

There are a number of questions that I suggest the public ask at potential hustings:
1. Do you support the bid of the ANC to own and act as lead partner at the former Lilian Baylis site?

This is the key question. Labour (so far) appear to be supporting this end, and are thus likely to garner the support of the ANC when it comes to winning votes, but are they doing so by sacrificing the LGBT populace opinion? On the other hand, would the Lib Dems, Conservative or Green party really be able to do any better?

2. How would you respond to the fears of the local LGBT community who are concerned about a public asset landing in the hands of an organisation that (whilst currently respectful towards them) might struggle to hold that homosexuality is a sin, at the same time as welcoming LGBT meetings at a public space?

3. Do you consider it better for the site to be held in trust with a local organisation or for it to be owned by a group, such as the ANC, outright?

4. What form of oversight would you like to see put in place to ensure that a former council building remained in inclusive community use?


5. At a time when council house rents are rising (and housing is scarce), is it possible for the site to be partially sold off for public use, at the same time as redeveloped for ANC, Ethelred and SAZ use?

See below for a very potted history. I'm just quoting some of the main bits that I've found, but I'll elaborate if any commentator says I've forgotten anything major.

1. In January 2005, the Lilian Baylis School moved to a new building.

2. The Lambeth Council Unitary Development Plan (proposed by the Lib Dem council in 2005, but published by Labour unchanged in 2007) says of the former LB site: "(b) Appropriate proposals for the Grade II listed Lilian Baylis school and its grounds would be supported... to enable redevelopment of the site for a mix of uses, including a mixed tenure housing scheme, community and leisure uses."

Labour welcomed the idea, in 2007 (proposed by the Lib Dems), that the site might be used for (amongst other things), housing. There were some older proposals for the site under the Lib Dems (which did support demolition of it), but these were not approved by the Lib Dem Council of the time and the above Lib Dem proposal went through unchanged by Labour.

3. Lambeth Council community consultation published by external agency in February 2006. Unfortunately, response rate was only about 17% and local people wanted the site to be used for leisure, housing (public, not private) and community purposes.

4. On 16th March 2006, the RCDT reported breakthroughs made at the Area Committee meeting by the then local Lib Dems who argued in favour of:
"a. Keeping part of the Lilian Baylis site for community and sports facilities for local people
b. Keeping a gymnasium if possible- and all potential purchasers to consider keeping the gym
c. Money from the sale of the site to go to new recreation centre and swimming pool in North Lambeth
d. Further consultation with local people about what’s on offer and what’s best for the community
e. A local project board, including residents and local groups, to oversee community provision on the site"

5. The "breakthrough" terminology used by the RCDT was disputed by Labour's Sam Townend (the naughty one) , who argued that an Area Committee can't make decisions, that the statements were ambiguous, that there was no "breakthrough" and the RCDT was being party political. The RCDT then requested a statement from Sam about the Labour position (this is made in March 2006, and involves two councillors still in position in 2009):

"‘We are committed to retaining and enhancing the current community, leisure and sporting uses of the site and adding to it educational and other social uses of the site by and for local people. Importantly the retention for the use by the community of the three gyms and sports hall. We want to see an expansion of the uses of the site by local people including potentially by Ethelred nursery..., use of the education facilities...... and the Sports Action Zone, and the large number of other local community organisations... We won’t allow the loss of the open playing spaces if at all possible. This does not mean that the site necessarily has to remain or entirely remain in the ownership of the Council. My preference would be for ownership to be transferred to a Community Trust, run and managed by local people. This obviously depends on if there is sufficient interest and commitment from people to carry out this work.... We would also like to see Ethelred TMO residents play a role in such a Trust as the site is in the middle of their estate."

6. Elections were held in May 2006. All three Lib Dem councillors were voted out. 3 new Labour councillors were voted in. Until May 2006, Lambeth Council (Lib Dems / Conservatives) apparently wanted to sell off the former Lilian Baylis School site on Lollard St. However, it does appear (above) that despite wanting to sell it off, they also wanted to retain it for use by local people.

7. On 17th March 2008, the Lambeth Council (Labour) agreed: "that All Nations Centre be placed ‘at the centre of any development at Old Lilian Baylis as a lead partner with security of tenure on an appropriate part of the site consistent with their needs.’" Quite an important statement, but nothing is said about ownership.

8. The Council (Labour) declared in January 2009 that it has chosen 3 "partners". These are: All Nations Church, Ethelred Nursery and Sports Action Zone (SAZ). It's leaflet is sketchy. It does not mention any issues related to ownership, governance or oversight. It does not mention relations with local community organisations. It has lost sight of many of the original organisations that might once have been involved. Are the Ethelred TMO still involved?

I made a mistake here in thinking that Mark Harrison (Labour) was attempting to save the site from the Council's plan in January 2009 and do something new (that was my error), but he has asserted here that he is campaigning in support of ongoing Labour council plans, and is concerned that, "The Lib Dems have recently been heard to be talking about selling off the site and abandoning the negotiations to set up a community trust to buy the site.". I've asked for clarification on that point, and I doubt we'll know any more until the Lib Dems answer their questions.

It's all rather unfair on Mark because he's the only one publically proposing any substantive policy so it looks as though I'm picking on him, which I don't intend to do.

Phewww.... sheer exhaustion has set in... Quite frankly, I'm surprised that four years have passed (part Lib Dem control, part Labour control), and that nothing appears to have happened. The current Council has proceeded with their campaign despite only a 16% community response to their consultation.

Have any readers got far enough to make any comments?

Lambeth Council - "Check the label" campaign

In case you thought that the SE11 youths of Lambeth were a singular mass of menace and nuisance, 24dash reports that Lambeth Council have launched a campaign (named "check the label") to tell you otherwise. That means that if you see any scary looking people on posters, you can read the text next to their faces and be reassured that they just look scary, but are in fact fine, upstanding citizens. So that's alright then!

Less than 3% of Lambeth youth is (apparently) involved in crime (those would be the ones they've caught), so our local youth need Lambeth Council's backing to improve their image. I still wonder why these aspiring youth need to look as menacing as they appear to in the photographs. I'm presuming that all of this local area blogging is turning me into a social conservative, and that I've aged before my time, but really! Why aren't there any young smiling people? And more importantly, where are the black women with the "aspiring" labels on them? It may be that the selection of four photographs on the Young Lambeth website is not representative of the entire campaign and I know that one can't seek to represent everybody, but I think it's a question worth asking.

I didn't know about the existence of the Young Lambeth website until today, but it seems like a new initiative. Let's hope it doesn't go the sad sorry way of the Lambeth LGBT forum which doesn't seem to have had its meeting dates updated since 2007, has a defunct "discussion board" forum, a distinct lack of information in the Police Update Board section amd no up and coming events. What is our council tax being spent on?

This is terrible, I seem to be becoming the resident whinger of SE11.

John Bull Centre: This year's best kept secret

I was delighted to read recently that a new centre for the LGBT community was due to open in Vauxhall, SE11. The scene has long been dominated by clubs under railway arches, and to be honest, the "L", "B" and "T" provision in the area might be said to be, errr, non-existent. Still, in these days of post-Thatcherist politics, everything is led by the market, so one just has to wait for queer minorities to make some money...

The John Bull Centre is to be opened on Tyre Street (in the old pub of the same name), after having received funding from a local entrepreneur, Adrian Flack, who has also decided that the scene lacks a heart, and wanted to put something in place. Flack is quoted in the Pink Paper as saying:

“We have a gay village, but it doesn’t have a heart. Yes, I could’ve opened the place as another club, but there’s a definite need for a focus for our community. Since the press release yesterday, the response has been amazing.“ The opening of the centre will provide the LGBTV and TG with a dedicated community
centre in Vauxhall.”

The press-release, which I discovered here, notes that the centre was due to open on 8th November, and the coffee shop on the 1st December.

After my initial delight, I peered more deeply into the ways in which the centre was to fund itself. Unfortunately, it seems that for a large portion of the time it will be open, it's going to exist as another club. The John Bull Centre website suggests that during the following times, it will host the Play Pit club:

Thursday: 9:00pm - 2:00am
Friday/Saturday: 9:00pm - 3:00am
Sunday: 3:00pm - midnight

I suppose that some form of club promotion was to be expected, but I was vaguely hoping that the community space might be more accessible in the evenings for LGBT people who don't have any interest in clubbing. On the plus side, it does have a coffee shop:

Monday - Friday: 8:00am - 5:00pm
Saturday: 12:00 noon - 5:00pm

It would be really good to hear some comments from anybody that has actually dropped by. Disco Damaged has a review from the Play Pit clubbing point of view of the opening night, but I'd like to hear comments from anybody that visited in a broader social capacity.

Lurking about in a generally gay way

On the map above, you'll already be able to see quite a number of LGBT friendly pubs and clubs in SE11. Kennington, but more particularly Vauxhall, is known for its queer vibe, and provision of suitably pink venues. Consequently, we are (apparently) the largest gay (although I doubt lesbian) residential area in London, outside of Soho. I have been inclined to term the whole area "the gaybourhood". However, it appears that Vauxhall and Kennington might just have some competition:

A new site has just sprung up here:

Gay Camberwell.com, and even more excitingly, they're spicing up November by launching a whole month of gay fun and frolics.

Have a look at the site, and you'll see jazz evenings, viewings at the Red Gate Gallery, a Transgender film festival (cunningly hosted in Brixton, and borrowed for the Camberwell events series), a launch party, a special theatre trip, and a new lovely, lively literary book group held in The Castle, for luscious, lovely, literary lesbian (and gay :)) people!

Also, they have a blog: Gay Camberwell Blog, but it's not as good as the SE11 blog so you won't all visit them to the exclusion of my lovely blog here, but you can pop across for a quick visit, if you like.

Another interesting piece of gay news for this area from the Pink Paper, who report that lots of gay clubs have had to move from the West End, due to the soaring rents. A quick snippet...

"From December 2008 the city will have 3 clearly defined gay villages, which is no bad thing.

[There will be] Soho for the Tourists and mainstream, Vauxhall for the late night sweaty dance clubs and The East End for the arty, studenty, wacky, weird and cutting edge stuff."