Doing the Lambeth Walk 2010 style

I'm still failing to get excited about the up and coming election. I will try harder, I promise.  In the meantime, there are still large sections of people in the Lambeth community that have been let down and are continually neglected by politicians of all stripes. One such abandoned section of SE11 is Lambeth Walk. It's a location I'm quite interested in, partly because I think it has huge potential to be reinvigorated as a community hub. It just needs some care and attention, and a little investment.

There are still some small shops and businesses on Lambeth Walk, but the area is really a shell of what I imagine it might once have been in the 1930s. I'd love to see a vibrant street market returned to it. Anyhow, I'm not the only one who thinks it has suffered. Hot off the press, I've found a local musician, Ecarlo who is working on a 2010 version of the Lambeth Walk, and you can watch the "behind the scenes" of his recent shoot.  (It looks to me as though it might have been recorded in one of the Vauxhall arches... Let me know if you  recognise the studio.):



In case you can't view the video, at at about 2 mins 44 seconds, Ecarlos gives his take on the Lambeth Walk:

"Let me give you a brief history. I'm from Lambeth Walk which is the Kennington area... It has a rich history. Back in like the 1930s, there was the song called The Lambeth Walk that came out which was sung by the Cockneys, and basically it was really like a big movement, but over the years, like obviously, Lambeth Walk has kinda been demolished a bit where there was like a market place and where there was loadsa stuff going on from dancing down to shopping and what not. So basically what I decided to do was bring it back 2010 style, give it that new energy and kinda reintroduce it to the world and maybe they'll remember it. So me being from Lambeth, I thought it was my duty to do that. At the same time, I thought it was a good way to introduce myself and let them know what I'm about".

Red Lion pub to become Old Grey Lion and more on new Tesco

It seems as though there are some rather slow changes afoot on the northern section of Kennington Park Road. Perhaps this is spurred by the road's proximity to the long-awaited Elephant and Castle social-engineering project regeneration.

I mentioned yesterday that I'd heard a rumour about a proposed new Tesco on Kennington Park Road. I was getting confused, and thinking that this referred to the store opposite to the tube at 62 Kennington Park Road. That's the current site of Payless Food & Wine, who appear to be thriving as a result of not quite living up their name. However, upon further investigation and a helpful tip from a reader, it seems that the shop that has closed/is closing is actually at 38-40 Kennington Park Road (Right Price Food & Wine). I've walked past the site, and it hardly strikes me as large enough for a Tesco, even a Metro-sized one, but perhaps it goes back further than I remember.

Even more intriguing is a pub related piece of news that I learned of only in the past few days. Apparently the adequate, large, but somewhat characterless Red Lion pub (42 Kennington Park Road) is to become The Old Grey Lion! It has been purchased by Antic-Ltd who have it listed on their site here. No more info. about that refurbishment at present, but you'll read it here first (hopefully)!

Confusingly, there is another pub, named The Mansion House (46-48 Kennington Park Road) to the South of the Red Lion/Old Grey Lion that has been closed and derelict for some time. I'd like to know what's happening with that, because in the current climate, I doubt the road can sustain two pubs next door to one another! And just because I like to highlight small and under-publicised services in SE11, you might also be interested to know that to the right of Priceright / proposed Tesco is a small gateway that leads through to an organisation named Shaka Services who work mainly with London's African, Carribean and Asian population to provide sexual health / AIDS / social care, housing and immigration services. As far as I know, they're still operative, but I can't find any recent information confirming their status. 38-40 Kennington Park Road is also listed as a needle-exchange. I hope the rumoured Tesco proposal won't jeopardise such vital services.

Tesco expanding their empire in Kennington?

Somebody on Twitter has passed on a rumour that there is a Tesco opening on Kennington Park Road, near Kennington tube station. It's apparently in the place of a 24 hour supermarket that has closed down (although last time I checked, the 24 hour supermarket was still operative).

Does anybody have any more info?

Kennington Black Mobb SE11 and other local gangs

Ever heard of Kennington Black Mobb SE11?  Or, Cripset SW8?  Or, 031 Bloods?  Thought not.  And Google won't give you many clues either.  Apparently, they're all gangs that are relatively local to the area that this blog covers, although only the Kennington Black Mobb SE11 are actually based within the postcode.

Thanks to Londonist for the Twitter heads up on somebody who claims to have accurately mapped all of the gangs in London.  Lambeth, apparently, have around 24 gangs (which includes all of the subsets) and you can view them on a Google map here.  Southwark, by comparison, appear to only have about 9, also mapped here. 

In general, I wonder whether this kind of mapping will result in the creation of additional gangs?  Will this information actually generate fear and cause people to stay at home? Will this data mean we keep pathologising / criminalising the young people in our communities?  Rapid online communication exists for good and for ill.  But what's remarkable is how little of the internet appears to be marked by gangs in the same way.  It might be argued that perhaps I don't look at the correct forums, or I miss the markers.  Recent emails/Twitters from local bloggers have led me to think that local gang members probably just comment on existing sites, rather than creating their own online sites...  But, I'm still led to wonder whether there is something important about physical territory that allows it to be claimed in a way that virtual territory cannot be?  Do we risk spending so much time online or performing "virtual" activities that we actually contribute to social unrest and stratification by refusing real-life flesh and blood meeting?

What has happened to the idea that it take a village to raise a child, and how does that apply to inner-city London?  Certainly, the people that created the maps attracted the attention of a writer in the Telegraph, but if the tabloids pick it up, will they attempt to use the information to scaremonger?  For generations now, young people, often (but not universally) men, have formed close friendships and bonded together to create an identity by choosing to wear particular clothing, adopting a languge and "marking" an area.  At what point does this become a problem?  Is this something related to class or race?  Are local gangs split along classist or racist lines? To what extent do we criminalise local young people by referring to their form of assocation as "gang membership"?  When young people at university create these kind of bonds, we call them "university societies" or fraternities/sororities.  Now, I accept that most members of university societies are not going out and wreaking havoc on a neighbourhood, and causing trouble...  But, really, how much is crime a badge of gang membership?  Do we have turf wars on our hands, or are we just labelling people for the sake of it?  Does having a gang near to where you live affect you negatively, or do you know the members as neighbours?

Rather than just criminalising young people, or writing them off as "gangs", I'd really like to know what the community could do on behalf of local youths, what kind of facilities they need, how they can be kept safe, whether they feel excluded or marginalised from mainstream education, and their reasons for belonging to gangs.  I'm well aware of local civic organisations eg. Vauxhall Society, Kennington Association, and of TRAs. but I have questions about how much these organisations can represent the entire local community.   It's easy for educated and connected people to form organisations, but are they made inclusive?  How do we meet one another?  Do we have spaces in which we could all meet together, and talk about being neighbours?  Are you a member of a gang?  Do you read local blogs?

I'm endlessly googled by readers, desperate to find out whether Kennington is dangerous.  I have no idea!  It doesn't feel dangerous to me.  The longer I live here, in general, the safer I feel.  But that's possibly because I'm not likely to be targeted by gang members...

Ongoing former Lilian Baylis saga

This morning's offering comes to you via Jason Cobb's Onion Bag blog over here, where he is querying Lambeth Council's ongoing commitment to Leisure.  I've weighed in on the argument with some hefty comments because I'm fed up with Lambeth Council's ongoing suggestion that it was their idea not to sell the site when they simply adopted the Lib Dem UDP, which, by then, reflected the fact that the site should be used for leisure.  To top the matter off, Labour then nearly sold off the site to the ANC, who are not primarily a leisure organisation.

For the record, I'm not a Lib Dem (I'm not really an anything), but I get very cross when the historical record is misrepresented and mis-interpreted.  And I'm even crosser that Cllr Steve Reed is using the much despised Doon Street Tower as an example of Labour pro-activity.  Check out this post on London-se1 for the community disquiet caused by the fact that Labour thought it was fine to provide 0% community housing in that development, in exchange for a swimming pool!  For what it's worth, whilst I'm angered by Cllr Steve Reed's responses, I do think he should receive credit for his online participation because so many councillors still fail to interact well with their constituents.

I would appreciate it if readers could weigh in over there.  I know that the comments are rather long, tedious and rather dull, but the turning cogs of local democracy are often found in the detail.  It's very important that the Council are held accountable up to and after the local elections.

Good estate agents in SE11?

I received a query last week from one reader about good estate agents in the SE11 area.  I know that we're desperately trendy (Ha! Ha!) and everybody wants to live in Kennington, Oval and Vauxhall (well, once they work out that they can't afford to rent in Borough), so I'm guessing that some of my readers must have used estate agents to buy/rent their properties.  Judging from the piles of agents on the "High Street"(!), who appear to have resisted going bust in these economically challenging times, there are plenty to choose from...

I do realise that in making this request, I'm opening myself up to Estate Agent spam, but can anybody (unrelated, please) recommend an estate agent that they've had a good experience with for either letting/renting or selling/buying in the area.

The White Hart pub - explanation for renaming

Being well-connected online sometimes pays off.  Shortly after the post I made yesterday, I was followed on Twitter by somebody who owns a group of pubs, amongst them, The White Hart.

Here is a slightly cut down version of why there is a proposed name change for The White Hart and why the White Hart is planning to close and re-open as The Tommyfield:
* The White Hart is a very large modern space on a very busy junction. The primary argument for retaining the name would be that it is a wonderful old pub, and changing it's name would be like ripping its soul out. However, it's not felt that this is a strong argument re. The White Hart due to the fact that the pub's original interior has not been retained.

* In order for a pub to thrive, it needs a very distinct identity, in order to differentiate itself from the multitude of pubs in the area and draw people from further afield. "The White Hart" is apparently the fourth most popular pub name in the country. The owners think it makes sense for a pub to have a unique name to mark it out. A name change is recognised not to make a pub better, but it's one change among many that can galvanise a business. The White Hart will change on a multitude of fronts, and a new name is the single most direct way of communicating this change.

* The pub is in need of more significant refurbishment than originally anticipated and considerable income needs to be generated to facilitate this. Unfortunately, turnover at The White Hart has been in decline for several years (partly due to its own shortcomings. Consquently, the owners have had to take a "hard-nosed commercial view on the issue". Pubs have come under enormous pressure in recent years: the smoking ban, ever-increasing duty on alcohol, big business rate rises, escalating cost of good quality meat & fish, rising minimum wage etc etc. All of this squeezes profit margin and forces the focus to be on creating the most appealing pub possible.

The question for local SE11 residents, of course, is whether what makes a pub appealing to the general public is the same as what makes it appealing to them?

Cllr Mark Harrison has commented on the previous post on the issue of extending licencing hours that, 'The Doghouse and the Little Apple both have 1am licences on Fridays and Saturdays. People who want to object [to the extension of hours] will need to demonstrate that problems will result from the extension. Objections from the immediate neighbours of the White Hart will carry the most weight.'

On a related note... Please do check out a wonderful photo blog here, as somebody has painstakingly photographed a number of open (and closed) pubs in the Kennington and North Lambeth area, in what should prove a useful historical record (if pub closures continue at such a steady rate).

Bondway - Ongoing pollution, and student accommodation turned down

Whilst there is focus on the topic of Bondway and the Bondway Tower, I should also note three other points of interest for readers in the area:

1.  Back in January 2010, Markvauxhall mentioned on Twitter that an application had been put in for Student accommodation in Vauxhall.  I didn't think it was contentious, since the night time revellers already cause lots of noise and I thought students couldn't make it worse. The proposed building was quite low-rise but it seems to have been rejected on the grounds of:

* It being unknown whether intensification would have an impact on existing residential development
* Failure to provide mixed dwellings
* Failure to provide affordable housing (a bit of a joke for the poor residents who might have to live alongside the students!!)
* The residence not being near to the University it would serve (contrary to Council's UDP)

2.  Air quality results at the Bondway monitoring station seem to be significantly worse than for other parts of London for at least some portions of the day.  That's rather concerning, considering all of the new residential development that is likely to commence in the area and the increase in traffic likely to take place. 

The folks at London air have more details (I obtained the graph from them), and I confess that I've no idea what exactly PM10 Particulate is, but I hope it's not /really/ bad for humans because we seem to have a freak peak of it on the 23rd(ish) of March.

3.  A new Pret-A-Manger has spawned at the bottom of Aquarius House (the affordable section of St George Wharf) and appears to be opening soon in SE11.  That's two new sandwich places in the space of as many weeks (remember Deep Blue is new too).

The White Hart pub, Kennington seeks to extend licensing hours

Thanks to SE11 Action Team (Labour blog) for publicising the fact that The White Hart pub, in Kennington, SE11 is seeking to change its name to The Tommyfield and extend its opening hours on Friday and Saturday nights from midnight to 1am.

From what I can gather, this is generating some consternation from the fine upstanding people of Cleaver Square, and other locals, who do not support extended licensing due to the fact that the pub is in a residential area.  If you want to support or object, you must do so by 19th April. 

Whilst we're on the matter, I dislike the industrial sized dustbins that seem to congregate outside the pub, turning the corner between Cleaver Street and Kennington Lane into a pinch point at which pedestrians and cyclists struggle past one another in an uncouth manner (but I can't really see anywhere else they can go).

For advice on how to comment on the licensing proposals, see Lambeth Council's advice for residents and local businesses.  You'll need to email, write, telephone or fax :

Email: licensing@lambeth.gov.uk
Address: Licensing, 2 Herne Hill Road, London, SE24 0AU
By telephone - 020 7926 6108
By fax - 020 7926 6130.

Quite why the attractive name, "The White Hart" is to be changed to "The Tommyfield" is beyond me. It seems that the name "White Hart" has some kind of historical significance for the area, evidenced by the fact that it was also the name of a pub in 35 Belvedere Road, Lambeth (but maybe that's just coincidence). See here.

Additionally, there's a map here showing The White Hart Fields between 1792 and 1799 (presumably prior to residential expansion). But then perhaps we should not maintain an emotional attachment to such changeable names, for it appears that in the early 17th century, the White Hart Fields were previously known as both "eight acres" and "Coney Warren" .

I actually think "Coney Warren" would make a great pub name (think cozy, fire-lit, local and friendly), but perhaps not for the type of establishment that The Tommyfield seeks to become!  In the meantime, do pop into The Black Prince.

Bondway Tower - Council Refused Planning Permission

Stockwell News has already commented and I'm rather behind the times with this one, but contrary to the permission granted to Vauxhall Sky Gardens last week, the revised Bondway planning permission application was refused by Lambeth Planning Committee.

Various community groups turned up to make representation on some of the following grounds:

* Density (building would be more densely populated than allowed in the London Plan)

* Building is too wide and too tall, and thus detrimental to the public realm

* Not enough employment use floorspace is provided for (as specified in the Lambeth Plan), considering that the building would be within the Vauxhall Key Industrial and Business Area

* The development is located within an area of public open space deficiency, identified in the Lambeth Plan. The Lambeth Section 106 report asks that enhanced contributions to park/open space projects from commercial and residential developments in these opportunity areas. Unfortunately, no contributions were sought.

* Lambeth schools are unable to accommodate the demands placed upon them by population growth

* No parking is provided for the block, which would mean the friends and family of visitors would try to park locally, exacerbating a difficult parking situation in Vauxhall. (This is a no win situation... if parking is provided, people complain about traffic and extra pollution).

* Overcrowding and gate closure at Vauxhall underground station.

* The building's huge shadow (due to its size) would cast a shadow on surrounding residential areas after 3pm - 4pm, and I doubt the current residents are happy about that.

Guess who was still recommending that the building be granted planning permission? That would be Lambeth Council Officers.

It seems, somehow, that Lambeth Councillors suffer from what I might label an "impotence to influence" that nonetheless allows for an ongoing expansion of the Lambeth empire. The views of local Councillors have no more weight than those of the local community. In any case, the Council know that, if there is no local objection (or local objection is not organised), the officers will just go ahead and recommend any new building, however inappropriate. The Councillors get to look good and say things like "we consulted the local community, and then we opposed the development", in the knowledge that the officers will recommend and the Borough will grow anyway. It matters not whether Labour or the Lib Dems are in power because the officers don't change, and the Borough's empire expands indefinitely. Fortunately, Lambeth Planning Committee, although presumably heavily influenced by the officers report, do still act independently (as in this example), but this won't be the last of this one....

Apparently, the developer only sent one spokesman along to the meeting, who declined to respond to the above criticisms, made by members of the public. Additionally, the Planning Committee were somewhat concerned that the officers still recommended acceptance, despite the Planning Committee's advice about what needed to be changed.

I get the impression that this one will be back on the table at some point with minor modifications re. open space and density (which will result in the reduction of public housing), and the whole thing will kick off again. Watch this space.

[I'm aware that some objections were made by David Boardman, of Kennington Association Planning Forum, and Michael Ball of Waterloo Development Group, and I'm sure that the Vauxhall Society must have made their views known.  However, I'd appreciate additional comments about others present so that I can give credit to those who put considerable effort into preparing and turning up for these meetings.  Also, if anybody spoke in favour of the building, it would be good to add that info. for the record and for balance.]

Oval and Kennington Job Fair - Sunday 21st March

 

Oval and Kennington Job Fair

11am – 3pm

Sunday 21st March 2010

Oval House Theatre café

52-54 Kennington Oval

London SE11 5SW

The job fair is for everyone and will include info and advice on volunteering, employment, job vacancies, training and specialist support.

Please pass on to anyone you think might benefit.

Call 020 7926 8096 for further information.

Kennington Gardens Society Spring Show 20th March

Spring is in the air.  I smelt it this morning, even despite London's fetid and filthy air, and the fact that the Nitrogen levels on Brixton Road are rather scary.

That means it's time for Kennington Gardens Society Spring Show, at St Anselm's Church Hall, Kennington, SE11 on Saturday.  Entry is 50p, and the show opens from 14:30.  There will be plants for sale, plants for viewing, tea, cakes and a raffle.

36 storey Vauxhall Sky Gardens - permission granted despite failed consultation

Do you remember hearing about Vauxhall Sky Gardens, the 36 storey tower, planned for the heart of Vauxhall?  You might remember that the developer actually succeeded in gaining planning permission for it, but then went back to the drawing board to amend the design.  Viva Vauxhall blogged about the new plans in January 2010, but since then I've heard nothing further from any source on the matter...  Normally, I'd expect to hear about planning permission applications through a variety of local channels, and often an eagle-eyed person will spot it on the Lambeth Planning Database.  Not this time.

Today I received an email from the Chair of Kennington Association Planning Forum who only learned, by accident, last week, that Lambeth Council  were re-hearing the application last night!  In addition, both the Kennington Association and the Vauxhall Society were listed in the officers' report to councillors as having been formally consulted.   Both organisations claim not to have been formally consulted.  Are the officers lying to the councillors, or have two organisations made administrative errors?

Anyway.  Guess what?  The amended building proposal was approved.

It was approved despite the fact that representations were made at the meeting, as follows:

1.  The density of the development was wholly excessive (three and a half times higher than the Mayor's upper limit for areas of this sort).  [Do the Council have a duty to listen to the Mayor?  Boris... are you watching, or is it ok for them to do as they please because this is South London?]

2.  The Section 106 contribution for public open space, calculated by Lambeth's current formula, geared to historic levels of Lambeth (under) investment in open space and parks, was wholly inadequate to generate the extra 1.6 hectare per 1000 new residents aspired to by the Lambeth Supplementary Planning Document.  [Do the Council have a duty to listen to observe their own guidelines?  Clearly not.]

3. Neither Kennington Association nor Vauxhall Society had been consulted, contrary to what the Councillors were told in the officers' report.

The Chair of KA Planning Forum asked me to write that excellent representations were made against the Vauxhall Sky Gardens by Michael Ball of Waterloo Community Development Group, who focused on density, overall design and the failure of the employment generating floorspace, and Cllr Rob Banks of Oval ward (Lib Dem) who focused on a failure to provide local amenities.

So much for consultation and the democratic process.  I mean, really, why bother?  The Council is not going to listen to local residents views.  Why should they?  The councillors are powerless against their own planning committees.  And it seems the planning committees just do as they please.

Perhaps the Kennington Association Planning Forum and the Vauxhall Society will try to appeal the permission on the grounds that they were not formally consulted.  I don't know whether that's even possible.

Obviously, now that this building has been granted permission, Bondway is more likely to be given permission within the next week, on precedent.

According to Skyscaper News, on Vauxhall Sky Gardens, (hardly an unbiased source),

"One reason the council will have given planning permission to the original design was because it was a good quality building. It seems however that planning law allows the developer to use that permission to set a precedent for height in the area and then propose something else that keeps within the previous building envelope that would perhaps, have never originally been allowed.

This way they have defused the issue of height preventing it from being attacked on those grounds. It should be interesting to see if this approach is successful and, in time, if Lambeth Council approve the new application."

So, it appears that Lambeth Council have approved the new application.  I wonder whether the officers noted that Vauxhall Station is over crowded, and that approval of additional tall buildings in the area is going to place heavy strain on the Underground capacity in the area.  I wonder if anybody noted that there is no funding in place for any Northern line Extension.  Probably not.  Lambeth Council don't care about infrastucture, only housing targets.  And the Mayor doesn't care about finding money for South London transport infrastructure, because it's only South London, afterall.

The developers can do whatever they please in Vauxhall and Nine Elms because the Council will never listen to local residents pleas to be more reasonable.  Most people recognise that there is room in Vauxhall for regeneration and development, of course there is.  But surely local people should have some say about what that development might look like?  Obviously not.

We're screwed. 

And I'm meant to remain politically neutral...

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.

More on Carl Beatson Asiedu's death from Independent

There's an interesting piece from the Independent today, giving further information about the murder of Carl Beatson Asiedu, who was killed back in August in Goding Street.  I briefly mentioned the incident at the time,  here and here. The article is written by a journalist who went behind the scenes to understand how police work on murder cases.  It's not clear when it was written, but must be fairly recent because it refers to the police watching the Winter Olympics.

I had no idea that police would still be actively working on the case, but progress seems to be being made.  One of the men that police suspect killed Carl has apparently fled to Nigeria, from where there has never been a successful extradition.