Cleaver Square Fete 2010 - photos

Yesterday was  an exciting day in Kennington Village (as it was introduced at Cleaver Square fete).  (This, after all, is Old North Surrey dahling, and not South London).  Anyhow, what with the frivolities of the Cleaver Square Fete and the celebration of Portugal Day in Kennington Park (photos will go up tomorrow), it was hard to know where to go (or what to eat) first, but help was at hand:

You can't beat a good Kennington cupcake:

Apologies to the headless people, but I was focusing on the cakes:

Manning the tombola...

Did I mention that I love cake...?  

The raspberry sponges at the bottom were incredible:

I counted three cake stalls.  Yum.

(The Punch and Judy show was very good, and the adults seemed to enjoy it just as much as the children). 

That's the way to do it...

Oh, Mr Punch.  Didn't they warn you never to smile at a crocodile?

Too late.  Mr Punch was eaten for lunch :-(

Beautiful fabrics on sale, and a lovely smile:

Kate Hoey, MP, opened the fete in a rather special summer boater.   

A summer fete is just not a summer fete without a pensive looking vicar.  In the event, it didn't rain.

Special thanks should go to Winkworth, who sponsored the fete to the tune of £4000 and ran the raffle.  

Well Done chaps. 

Kate Hoey is proud to have been re-elected to serve the residents of the constituency, and here she is again, enjoying herself in style.

Kennington Tandoori (KT) cooked up some superb chicken biryani:

We were entertained by a variety of acts.  Firstly, a little light jazz...

Followed by some popular tunes...

And topped-off by this rather powerful opera singer!

The Kennington Association had a little help from their friends, the Kennington Bookshop, who kindly donated unsaleable stock, to raise money for local projects.  

This lead to a rush, as the SE11 literati mafia stormed in.  

The Kennington Association were not the only people present in spiffing outfits...

You'd never, in a million years, guess that this photo was taken in inner-city London, would you?

Another general crowd shot that demonstrates how well attended this event was...  The organisers did a fantastic job, as usual...

You guessed right.  It's another cake stall!

These chaps (working for Tomorrow's People, a charity that enables young people to find worthwhile employment) are usually present, come rain or shine, outside St Anselm's Church on a Saturday, selling flowers and plants.  Business looked brisk today...

The only summer fete in England that can boast real French lobster!

Workers and volunteers from the Parish of North Lambeth, enjoying the fete and furthering consultation on the St Anselm's project (more on that this week...)

A bee-autiful mosaic, and some Lambeth honey:

The worker bees, keeping bee-sy at the Fete...

A fantastic day that attracts people from Kennington and beyond.  It's fair to say that a good time was had by all.  (However, if you happen to see yourself (or somebody you know) in one of the photographs, and wish me to remove it, please drop me an email.)

Lassco Cafe - Fabulous fun and a few other Vauxhall bits and pieces

On the advice of @PSDInteriors, (see his design review here), I decided to visit Brunswick House Cafe today.  Brunswick House Lassco is a Georgian townhouse in the middle of the gyratory system in Vauxhall (to the west of St George Wharf).  You've probably driven past it, and wondered what it was.  Whilst it's slightly outside of SE11, it's one of my favourite haunts.  When I first discovered the house, in the depths of winter, with the fires burning, I thought it was a quirky private collector's museum (it is, really).  A brief enquiry revealed that Lassco is actually an antique salvage company, selling everything from copper baths to Bakelite radios, and doorknobs to stained glass.  The house is huge, spans several floors and has a properly kitted out ballroom, study and dining room, amongst other rooms.   It was rescued from squatters several years ago, and is slowly being refurbished.  I imagine that when it stood in 3 acres of parkland, it was the talk of the town. Now it looks out over the gyratory, it's slightly harder to pretend that you're part of the landed gentry, but fascinating to visit nonetheless.  Imagine my excitement when I heard that they had opened a cafe.  Apparently, it has been open for a month now, but I failed to spot that...

Consequently, I paid a visit at the first opportunity and discovered a veritable storehouse.  The cafe is based in one very large room in the house, offers an outside seating area (slightly loud, on account of Wandsworth road, but very full nonetheless), and seems to sprawl backwards inside the house, offering additional rooms for expansion, depending on the number of customers.  The best part is that all of the furniture is for sale, so you could find yourself eating at a salvaged table on a stool or a chair, looking on to an exquisite mirror or a veritable array of old-fashioned clocks.

On account of time, we (I took the other SE11_lurker too) only had a bite to eat, but the coffee and hot chocolate (made with bitter cocoa) were excellent.  They offer a full range of Portuguese snacks, including those inimitable custard tarts and muffins, as well as more traditional fare, such as banana bread and croissants.  I ordered a croissant, which duly arrived with a delicious rhubarb and ginger compote.  They also offer a variety of flavours of home-made ice-cream.  Prices are slightly on the steep side for some items, but this is "up and coming Vauxhall" and the venue is probably not a place for common folk to meet.  We felt that £4.80 was slightly too much for tomatoes on toast, but it did look very nice!  On the other hand, drinks and snacks etc. seemed reasonable (at least according to London prices).  Expect to be surrounded by slightly bohemian types with out-of-town houses, large enough to store antiques (and their accompanying large purses!).

Take a look at the menu below, and note that Afternoon Tea & Brunch are available on Saturdays only, and Breakfast and Lunch from Tuesday - Friday.  Although... as we were leaving, I noticed that somebody was scribbling on a blackboard that suggested that the cafe would be open seven days a week, so perhaps they're experiencing phenomenal success.  The staff were friendly and helpful, so they deserve it.  We'll certainly be returning to sample some more of their wares in a week or so, and I recommend it to readers...

In other news, I'm afraid I cannot recommend Aqua Riverside Brasseries (inside the St George Wharf complex).  The service we experienced was abysmal, and we had the misfortune to be served by a waitress who had an entirely "don't give a toss" attitude to all of the customers.  The white coffee we ordered was undrinkable, and a request for milk was met with a shrug of the shoulders, and a repeat request five minutes later.  Perhaps others have had more luck, but that's one we'll not re-visit. 

On the way back, we passed a new cafe (with a highly unmemorable name) at 351 Kennington Lane (next to The Eagle).  In previous incarnations, the shop was a mini supermarket, a tattoo parlour and a deli.  It seems to have been closed for over a year.  I hope the new lease lasts a little longer, as that part of Vauxhall always looks rather subdued and abandoned.  If anybody has the name of the cafe to hand, or has been to sample the food (we were rather full by that stage, having munched our way through the Oval market and on to Vauxhall), can they leave a comment?

Motorcycle crash at junction of Fentiman Road / South Lambeth Road

There was an accident, involving a motorcycle and a car on the junction between Fentiman Road and South Lambeth Road (SW8), just outside Vauxhall Park, at about 18:00 yesterday evening.  It must have been quite serious as it resulted in a a two-way road closure on South Lambeth Road.  I hope all involved are ok.  Does anybody have further info?

Kennington hero arrests drug dealer, US Embassy info. and art/photography (general update)

The top story this morning concerns a local chap, Charlie Skinner, who contacted the police to inform them about a local drug dealer who'd moved in next door.  Instead of keeping a log, as the police advised, he bravely(?) posed as a drug dealer, entered the flat next door, fought of two of the drug dealers' "henchmen" and performed a citizens' arrest, putting the drug-dealer in a headlock until the police arrived.  Unsurprisingly, police found crystal meth (a popular drug in Vauxhall) in the flat  (This all took place on March 13th, so it perhaps has escaped Daily Mail coverage on account of the impending court case.)  The drug dealer was jailed for six years on Monday.  Various Tweeters have been asking "where" in Kennington this took place.  My best guess is that it was somewhere close to Kennington Park, but I'd rather not say more on account of the family's safety.  I really can't decide whether the chap in question was very brave, or somewhat mad, but he achieved the desired effect somewhat more quickly than the "keep a log" suggestions from the police.  Only, umm, don't try this at home, unless you're a "south London boy" who can "look after yourself" or you might y'know, be stabbed or shot or something!  There's an additional report in The Evening Standard.

The US State department showed off plans for their embassy in Battersea to a crowd of US architects late last week.  There's an excellent article about it here.  What hasn't been noted prior to now is that the State Department were tasked with finding the "smallest site, that met our needs, that we could afford."  Shows that they must really love the idea of being based in Vauxhall, eh? :)  Apparently, the building is designed to show off the three American virtues of transparency, openness and equality, except that, erm, it has to be utterly impenetrable.  Difficult to do, unless you're allowed to build your own moat, I suppose!  What's not clear, when they speak about "public realm" and the park outside the building is whether they mean "Vauxhall public" or "the American public that happen to work inside the building".  I like the idea of a new park over there, but not sure I want to be relaxing with friends under the watchful eye of the machine-gun toting police.

If you're interested in art, there's an exhibition by Lisa Yuskavage in the Greengrassi/Corvi Mori art gallery (1a Kempsford Road, SE11) which feature slightly odd images of the female form/psyche with a better review here.  Additionally, the Camera Club in Bowden Street are digging Politicians from the 1970s out of their archives (7th June - 25th June).  More info about the exhibition is on the Kennington Association blog.

An evening with Chief Superintendent Nick Ephgrave - KOV Meeting Part 1

Today's offering is divided into two parts, on account of the fact that last night's Kennington, Oval, Vauxhall forum meeting was very long.

The first section of the meeting was an introduction and Q&A section with Nick Ephgrave, who is the Chief Superintendent for the Borough of Lambeth and who has been in place now for nearly a year.

Ephgrave's 3 aims for the Lambeth Police force are:
1.  Reduce crime and disorder
2.  Build public confidence in policing service
3.  Make sure the police working environment is healthy and effective.

There were 3 issues, concerning north Lambeth citizens, that had been drawn to the Chief superintendent's attention.  These were sirens, gang involvement and dangerous dogs.  The chair added the visibility of Safer Neighbourhood Teams (henceforth known as SNTs) in Oval/Vauxhall to the list, and Ephgrave promised to look into trying to base the team further south (as opposed to Waterloo, where they're currently based).

Sirens:
Q:  A woman suggested that directional sirens for police cars have been produced, but the manufacturer said they'd not been tested by any police authority.  Apparently, as they have to be mounted outside of a vehicle, a Home Office official felt their use would affect fleet re-sale value, and that was the end of the matter.  The question asker suggested that, since directional sirens are used in reversing vehicles, on vehicles at the Olympic site and on Heathrow buggies, that the police might consider their use.

A: NE was very sympathetic and said he wouldn't want to live next door to a police station.  He promised to go and look at the police's position on directional sirens, but noted that it would be a central, rather than a Lambeth decision.  Ephgrave also noted that there had been 10 serious collisions this year and officers had to make a personal choice about when to use sirens to avoid accidents.  Finally, he said that there are a number of different units that might need to pass through SE11 to reach their destination; the bomb squad and armed response unit to name a few, and so it's likely that the trunk roads here might experience more noise than other areas.  (That's hardly a comfort to those of us that live here, but it's an interesting observation).

Police Communication:
Q:  A man asked Ephgrave what he was doing about enabling the police to talk to one another, and whether there were issues with intelligence not being shared.  It transpired that the mugging incident which I blogged about in Hotspur Street had been preceded by two nights of disturbances on Vauxhall Gardens Estate.  When the man had telephoned the SNTs on the Monday after the weekend, they knew nothing of any of the events.

A:  NE responded that the Borough had so much police activity that they needed 3 radio channels, so not everybody knew everything that went on in the area.  Despite that, the units are all briefed before they go out, but not everybody's experience is perfect.

Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs):
Q:  (This was more of a ramble than a question, but one man was concerned that two passing female PCSOs were talking to one another, instead of stopping a crazed/drugged man, when he'd asked them to intervene.  He wanted to know why the PCSOs didn't stop to talk to people like him (probably because they'd be stuck all afternoon) and finally he concluded that the PCSOs were making themselves look stupid on account of the fact that the grammar on their leaflets was not very good.  Said chap then volunteered to check their material before it hit the press.  (Anybody listening might have thought that we Lambeth was free from significant criminal elements, and that the most serious crime in the area concerned apostrophe misappropriation).

A: NE responded by admitting that he was a strong fan of police offiers patrolling alone (so that they didn't chat, and would be fully cognisant of their surroundings), and that he too was also an apostrophe freak (he didn't quite put it like that).

Incident response times:
Q:  One man said that he lived on Vauxhall Gardens Estate and that he and his neighbours had experience a number of violent incidents where the response times from police amounted to about 20 minutes (long after perpetrators had fled).  He also thought that people didn't report crime on account of the fact that they were scared, or thought that nothing would be done about it.

A: NE said that there was a police commitment to a 12 minute response time, which included the time taken to make the phone call, by which the police should be on the site of the crime.  That target is hit about 85% of the time.  People can report crime online, by phone or to their local SNT, if they're too scared to report it any other way.

Resourcing:
Q: One person noted that they'd asked for more resources at night, but had been told by police that it could not be done.

A: NE said 3pm-6pm, and 12pm-2am were crime peaks in which police resources were focused on the places that they felt incidents might take place.  He added that he felt that there are resourcing issues.

Police response to crime:
Q: One man noted that he couldn't get hold of the SNT and that they didn't respond to messages.  In the last few months, he'd experienced a knifing, a car jacking and the mugging of a close relative and that he'd still received no response, to the point that he felt that there was no point in reporting crime.

A: NE said that robbery was a huge priority for him (as well as statistics, and gangs) and that he was disappointed that the police response did not happen in the incidents described by the man.  He said that he'd take the man's details (which he did) to look into the matter.

Dangerous dogs:
Q:  One woman described her situation in which she has a particularly gentle dog, and she felt that she was safer to walk alone, on the basis that this didn't attract dangerous dogs.  This particular individual felt that the dangerous dog problem had diminished somewhat, but wondered whether it was possible to attach ASBOs to persistent offenders.

A: NE said that 20 dogs had been seized in the last operation.  Some of them had been microchipped, but had to be given back, on the basis that they weren't prohibited breeds.  One condition that is sometimes applied is that the dog must be made to wear a muzzle in public.  The superintendent advised trying to get information about dogs and their owners eg. a name/address, if possible, as it's not possible to report rumours to the police.  ("I saw a nasty dog in Kennington Park and it looked as though it would eat my puppy" is not acceptable, but "The man that lives at 3 Smith Street, SE11, has a dog that looks dangerous" is information that can be acted upon).  At that point, things became farcical with the woman asking if it were possible to issue ASBOs to children with large dogs, when the dogs weren't badly behaving and the children were in control of them.  NE erred on the side of, erm, human freedom, and pointed out that this would probably constitute harassment!
Gang crime:
Q: One local estate secretary said that they'd experienced a spate of gun crimes recently, and what could NE do?

A: NE launched into an answer about gun crime, and how it was up on the basis of commercial armed robberies, before it became apparent that the chap had actually asked about /gang/ crime.  NE said that there was an operation in progress to disrupt gang crime using online material and use of ASBOs, which could be issued, even if it could not be proven that somebody had committed a crime.  ASBOs can have conditions of association and place attached to them, which can disrupt people from meeting together.  A number of guns had been recovered from people posing on Youtube with their guns, and a lot of work was co-ordinated by the intelligence unit, working mostly in Tulse Hill and Brixton.  Finally, the police are trying to work with children on the cusp of primary/secondary school about the consequences of gang membership by the age of 30 (killing somebody, being killed or in prison for an offence).  NE added, "Ultimately, the solution lies within the communities themselves.  I worry about the future of young people in this borough because I don't have the answer."

Community solutions:
Q: On a related note, one woman asked, what exactly the community could do to prevent crime in the area(something readers will know is close to my own heart), and whether NE could cite any effective community initiatives that had been put in place elsewhere?

A:  NE mentioned a pastor who ran a youth group had found a way of connecting with young gang members, and suggested that faith might be an answer.  There's also Kid's Company, for those who are in Southwark.  Finally, he suggested that Lambeth Council's program, Young and Safe, working with high risk people, offering them a way out of a criminal lifestyle was quite effective.  When it was pointed out that Lambeth Council's program wasn't really a community initiative, NE said that it did have a number of 3rd parties associated with it, but ultimately commented, "I will have to go and think about that.  I don't know what the answer is."  (Perhaps it's not a police priority to think up community initiatives, but his answer is indicative that perhaps the police and the community could still work more closely together.)

Police stations:
Q: One man, who identified himself with a local planning forum, pointed out that there's a ring of police stations in Lambeth, with a hole in the middle where Vauxhall falls, and pointed out that there was perhaps an opportunity (with the new developments being erected) to get the police a space in Vauxhall.

A: NE felt that the place for PCSOs is on the streets, and not in buildings.  On a related note, he made it clear that he was not aware that a "Welwyn Garden City" sized development (a reference to the Nine Elms Development plan) would lead to any further police resouces.  (Something that I'd imagine will have to be part of the masterplan).

Police harassment:
Q:  One woman felt that there's a lot of persistent youth crime in the area, but that a number of youth receive unjustified harassment from the police, who will disperse them, even when they've done nothing wrong.  The woman lived on China Walk Estate, and noted that there's nothing there for boys (who hang around together, having been to primary school together), to do.  4 or 5 times in one day, she had noticed the police "persecuting" young boys for hanging around together.  She suggested that it would be more productive to find the boys something to do eg. music/sport.  (This then descended into a bit of a battle about BME representation at the KOV meeting, and how she felt that the BME Community was not really present (which was true). 

A:  NE didn't really get a chance to get a word in edgeways.  It was pointed out by the Chair that everybody was welcome to attend KOV meetings, since they are open to the public.  A BME individual stood up and said that she had been pushing for BME representation for a long time in Vauxhall, but that people could not be forced to come to meetings, and that much local community action in her group involved the same 5 old people (quite true, for a lot of organisations, really).  (It seems to me that there's room for a larger debate about how to encourage wider community participation, but I'm fast coming to the belief that this is a London-wide problem, and not really a Lambeth problem.  If anything, North Lambeth seems to be oddly community-minded (what with all of the tenants' associations, and community organisations), but it is true that many public meetings lack racial balance, being predominatly attended by retired, upper middle-class white people.  (I wonder if this is due to the times meetings are held, lack of childcare provision and more class than race driven, but I'd be curious to know what others think).

Equal opportunities for all in SE11 - proposed Beaufoy Academy jeopardised?

Lambeth Labour believe in equal opportunities for all.  At least, that is Cllr Pete Robbins' view on local education.  Clearly, equal opps for all in education do not extend as far as equal opps for all citizens to participate in local democracy.  Perhaps that's not such a bad thing, since it's unclear whether the co-operative council movement would result in the further privatisation of services, as the council sought to further sub-contract works in an attempt to minimise costs.  Of course, there is a chance that the co-operative council idea might offer an opportunity for genuine democratic participation by local citizens.  But, at this rate, we'll never know.  Local politics, according to Lambeth Labour, should be left to the politicians, or, better still, the businesses that consult with Lambeth's corporate policy team.

I can't think of any political party that doesn't believe in the idea of equal opportunities for all.  The question, of course, is quite how one achieves that aim.  The Conservatives have attempted this in a small number of counties by retaining grammar schools.  A grammar school education offers a way to university, and beyond, for all those who could pass the 11+ exam (and, of course, could afford to live in the catchment area).  The argument against grammar schools is that they deplete the talent pool, leaving comprehensive schools to teach everybody else.  A more recent Labour policy to promote equal opportunities for all has seen an attempt to turn certain failing schools into "academies" with specialisms.  According to Wikipedia, the academy idea was sponsored by Tony Blair, all the way back in 2000.  Academies have traditionally been publicly funded (although, with a private commercial backer), but outside of Local Education Authority control.  And, of course, they've face the same accusations of selection as grammar schools.  Apparently, they're allowed to set their own admissions policies, although "most" academies follow local authority guidelines.  The Conservatives also like academies, and indeed, at the local Princes/Oval by-election hustings, the Conservative candidate, Michael Poole-Wilson enthusiastically backed the idea of third-party run schools.  Most recently, academy schools have received the backing of the Cons/Lib-Dem coalition, with the suggestion that schools should apply for Academy status, if they think they could benefit from greater independence.

Why is this of any relevance to SE11?  Of what possible import could academies have on our little part of London?  Sometimes it's useful to be able to take a little step back.  We'll go back, for the sake of argument, to the 23rd March 2010.  I'm sure it was around that date that Cllr McGlone was suggesting that the Beaufoy site might be used to establish a new Academy for 14-19 year olds.  The Council was supposed to be "exploring with potential sponsors an Academy-based model" for the Beaufoy that might even have been named the "Beaufoy Vocational Academy".  The proposed sponsor (Kunshapsskolan) run their schools in a manner that is "state-funded, free of charge and non-selective", but at the end of the day, they're still a company, and they'd still be a sponsor (and they don't escape the Academy model).  So why would Lambeth Labour call for schools not to opt out of local authority control, at the same time as looking to build an Academy (with private sponsorship) in their own backyard?  Has there been a change of heart, or did the talks with the sponsor fall through?

Surely, what's of importance to local tax-payers, parents and residents is that the Beaufoy site be put to use.  By all means, build an academy, a comprehensive, an adult-education centre or a learning based-facility, but why not see if Kids Company (or some other charity) could use the space whilst we wait?  I'm pretty sure they'd have some great ideas for it, and it would benefit the most vulnerable children in our neighbourhood by giving them the use of a beautiful building.  The former Lilian Baylis has meanwhile use, but I often wander past the car-park area of the Beaufoy and think it could be put to use very well as a couple of basketball/netball/tennis courts (at the very least).

Whilst we wait, I've installed a ticker at the top of the blog, which counts the length of time since the Beaufoy Institute has been put to any proper use.

Clarification:  Cllr Robbins has posted a long response, over at Onionbag, claiming that Lambeth-"key partner" Academies are different from the government's proposals that schools should seek Academy status in order to gain control over their spending.  I'm unclear about the difference since I thought that all Academies were (to some degree) privately funded, whether "key partners" with their local authorities or not.  All moves to build Academies are moves towards privatisation.

Further clarification: Cllr Steve Reed has said that academies no longer need private sponsorship (although, see above, as the Beaufoy looks to be going in this direction anyway).  If that's the case, I'm not entirely sure I see the Lambeth Labour objection to schools seeking Academy status, and choosing to go it alone, without the local authority.

North London vs South London knife crime. Not all young people in South London are bad Boris.

I was just leaving work yesterday when the Tweets started to come in thick and fast.  Boris was in Vauxhall with a tonne of policefolk.  Of course, I assumed that they were just publicly clamping down on fare-dodging on the the 436 (known as the "free bus"), or maybe doing their border control thing, stopping the South Londoners going North.  But actually, Boris was busy worrying about half-term and the wild youth of Lambeth.

Perhaps I'm wrong in my assertion that Boris has no love for South London.  After all, he wouldn't visit if he didn't consider us once in a while.  One might assume that he'd need to visit Vauxhall to think about, you know, town centre planning, or a regeneration consultation or to look at the tall buildings he opposes and talk about sensible architectural policy and social housing.  Wrong.  Boris just visits dirty, bad, scary South London to test out his new knife arches.   These are knife arches that  have not been proven to reduce deaths through knife crime, or indeed been shown to improve community/youth relations.  Indeed, if you were a part of the majority of young people (the ones that don't carry knives and work/study hard), would you feel like a welcome member of society, when you were forced by police to walk through a knife arch?  Something tells me that many youths are not going to be as happy about it as the pretty-boy model used for the illustration.  And why should they be?

In the same way that Mr Onionbag protested when his patch in Oval was used to film the Bill, on the basis  that we already have a high police presence, I wish to question why Vauxhall was chosen for the BoJo knife arch demonstration.  Does the Vauxhall area need further adverse publicity?  I decided to conduct a little analysis on the 2006 and 2007 figures for knife crime, to try to determine whether it's worse in South London than in North, to see whether we really needed swarms of police testing knife arches in Vauxhall today.  The results are quite surprising.

Knife crime incidents that resulted in death (2006)
North London - (18 boroughs with some incident) and 49 total deaths = 2.72 deaths per borough.
South London - (10 boroughs with some incident) and 27 total deaths = 2.7 deaths per borough

Knife crime incidents that resulted in death (2007)
North London - (16 boroughs with some incident) and 46 total deaths = 2.875 deaths per borough
South London - (09 boroughs with some incident) and 26 total deaths = 2.89 deaths per borough

These figures are so close and seem to demonstrate that the knife crime deaths are very evenly balanced across the capital year-on-year.  If you were to add into the mix the number of boroughs where no knife crime took place (which I've not done), I believe that South London would show a lower ratio of knife crime deaths than North London in both years, but only by a small amount.

Consequently, I went back to the number crunching and analysed the figures for the number of people suffering serious injury as a result of being stabbed, in the hope that I'd yield a significant difference between North and South London.   These are slightly better figures since all boroughs had at least one incident each year, so all boroughs are taken into account in these results.

Incidents that resulted in serious injury due to stabbing (2006)
North London - (19 total boroughs) and 233 injuries = 12.2 injuries per borough.
South London - (13 total boroughs) and 151 injuries = 11.61 injuries per borough.

Incidents that resulted in serious injury due to stabbing (2007)
North London - (19 total boroughs) and 215 injuries = 11.21 injuries per borough.
South London - (13 total boroughs) and 139 injuries = 10.69 injuries per borough

These figures clearly show that South London is somewhat safer to lurk about in, although the southern most boroughs in South London do take up some of the slack, with Richmond etc. being extra-safe.

It seems that all of the figures are still too high.  One death is one too many.  But I'm not convinced about the effectiveness of knife arches for resolving what are essentially deep-rooted social issues concerning schooling, parenting and policing.  Personally, I think the 100 London table-tennis tables idea, gimmicky though it is, will do more to encourage neighbours to talk to one another than knife arches.  Once upon a time, Londoners used to say that careless talk might cost lives.  Today, perhaps it is a failure to talk that costs lives.

In the meantime, next time you want to do a knife arch demonstration, would it be ok to do it north of the River, where there is proportionately more knife crime across the boroughs, please Boris?

Diary dates: Kennington and Vauxhall summer fetes, fairs, garden shows and auctions

The summer season is about to begin here in South London (or Old North Surrey, if you prefer).  That means Pimms, scones and more tea vicar, in some rather attractive squares and gardens. 

I particularly recommend the North Lambeth Parish fete because the parish has been given permission by the Arcbishop of Canterbury to hold it in the Palace grounds, which are beautiful and not usually open to the public.

Kennington Gardens Society Summer Show - Saturday June 12th - 09:30 - 15:30
Roots & Shoots, Walnut Tree Walk, SE11 (Plant/flower entry fee at £0.50 per entry with cap of £3)

Albert Square and St Stephen's Association Summer Fete - Saturday June 12th
Albert Square (A bit out of SE11, but is always well attended).

Cleaver Square Fete - Sunday June 13th - 12:30 - 16:00
Cleaver Square

Open Garden Squares at Roots and Shoots - Sunday June 13th
Roots and Shoots, Walnut Tree Walk, SE11
(Entry £7.50 in advance and £9 on the weekend to see all of the open garden venues)

Portugal Day - Sunday June 13th - 11:00 - 17:00
Kennington Park

Friends of Vauxhall Park Summer Fair - Sunday June 20th - 14:00 - 17:00
Vauxhall Park

North Lambeth Parish Fete - Saturday June 26th - 14:00 - 17:00
Lambeth Palace Garden (Entry £3.00, concessions £2, families £5)

Kennington Association Bazaar - Saturday 17th July - 11:00 - 13:00
St Anselm's Church Hall

Lambeth Country Show - Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th July - 11:00 - 19:00
Brockwell Park

Kennington Association Charity Art Auction - Thursday 16th Sept (early viewing on Wednesday 15th Sept)
City & Guilds of London Art School

Unconfirmed cycle and motorcycle accidents today in Kennington

The stats. and Twitter are indicating that there have been one or maybe two traffic accidents in Kennington today after 9am.

It seems that there was one accident involving a cyclist at the junction of Kennington Park Road and Kennington Lane on Newington Butts.

It now looks as though there might have been a different accident involving a motorcycle near the junction at Kennington tube station.

These two separate reports might of course have been conflated.  I hope that nobody is badly hurt.  Does anybody have any more info?  I'm very concerned, with the imminent implementation of the CS7 cycle superhighway, that TFL examine the incidence of traffic/cycle accidents around rush hour, and maybe consider some traffic calming measures.

I didn't report it, but there was also a cyclist death (Everton Smith, 48) on Vauxhall Bridge Road (the north side) on 22nd May.  If you were unfortunate enough to be passing through the area (a 436 bus was nearby), please contact the police as they're looking for witnesses.

Quick pub update: Tommyfield + Old Red Lion

The Tommyfield pub finally launched itself last Friday and is now officially open for business. In case I didn't get to the bottom of it, the pub has been named after the first British Fish and Chip shop, which opened in Oldham (so not really very SE11-related). I was going to go along to the launch, but it looked /so/ crowded from the outside on the launch night, and I am very shy (tee hee), so I haven't yet been in. They're still serving British food, although at apparently more reasonable prices. London Appetizer has visited and listed some rather delicious sounding fare. Asparagus with fried duck egg and toast, rabbit confit and Eton mess all make my list of "must tries", but that would set me back £25. It's not cheap, but is reasonably well-priced by London standards. Keith Barker has written a cheeky not-quite-review, mentioning our Kylie Appreciation Society!! I shall try and eat there soon and post a review once I've done so. Visit their website for more on their food, and drink offerings.

On to the next pub-refurbishment... The Old Red Lion now has a banner up outside, proudly proclaiming that it's re-opening on 11 June. They have a website, but the pub is still listed as "coming soon" in a somewhat tantalising manner. In the meantime, you can observe on Twitter their mounting minute by minute excitement as they count down days until launch! I'd like to know whether they'll be serving food, and what their "niche" market is... No more info. to report as yet.

Vauxhall Island Site consultation debrief (the short, ahem, version)

First off, I think it's fair to say that the representatives of Kylun Ltd did a good job on the consultation, held today, about the Vauxhall Island Site.  You'll often hear me moan about lack of consultation or poor consultation, but if other developers were to imitate their method (provide lots of spokespeople, hand out comment forms, ask for suggestions and initiate conversations), there'd be considerably less cause for complaint.  I still feel that more could be done by Lambeth Council in terms of master planning, but don't we all?  The consultation wasn't all perfect and plain sailing of course (it rarely is), but I'll come to that...  Holding the exhibition at Vauxhall City Farm seemed to work well, and when I attended during the afternoon, the room was absolutely packed, demonstrating plenty of local interest in the proposed development.  Also, the people who attended appeared to be from diverse sectors of the community, which indicates good dissemination of information (it might just have been a sunny day, of course). Additionally  (a huge plus point), Kylun ensured that the architect was on site to be questioned, and there were more than enough other staff to answer questions too.

I think that most residents are agreed that Vauxhall would benefit from investment.  Most residents would likely agree that there is space in Vauxhall for new residential/commercial/industrial development.  I want to make it really clear to my detractors that I'm not against development and investment, I just think that development does not always mean very tall towers.  I believe that many local residents offer most resistance on the matters of housing type, style and building height.  I spoke to one resident, present in the area for 40 years, who felt that existing Council tenants were being squeezed out of the area, since much of the new residential provision was "affordable" housing, and not Council housing.  Another attendee just disliked tall buildings, noting that existing residents in and around Vauxhall were being encroached upon (eg. loss of light), or having their space diminished (eg. heavier wear and tear on Vauxhall Park, and no supply of additional green space).

But if we're pragmatic (and I rather think we have little choice), we must acknowledge that there is no Lambeth Council masterplan and we must make the best of a bad job.  Lambeth Council simply assess each building on its merit, without weighing up any other developments in the pipeline.  There is no real town planning, just advisory documents.  Even our MP, Kate Hoey seems powerless to do anything, based on her recent comment, "Whilst I don't like tower blocks there is unfortunately a tendency for these to be supported".   Erm, isn't the MP meant to be able to resist their support, based on correspondence from residents?  If Vauxhall centre isn't to become entirely market-driven and haphazard, we either need pressure put on Boris or pressure put on Cllr Steve Reed to form a plan for Vauxhall.  Surely that's why our MP exists?  Anyhow, since she doesn't appear to have weighed in, it falls to us as residents to argue for as much sensible building (fair room sizes, shorter buildings) and investment (parks, transport, facilities) as possible.  It's in Lambeth Council's interests to keep granting permission, and about the only people that might feasibly be able to insist on a sensible volume of development are TFL.

I've taken photos of all of the display boards (for people who couldn't attend) and for the historical record.  (You'd be surprised how many hits I'm still getting for the 8 Albert Embankment Exhibition page). Kylun have now provided me with the original Vauxhall Island Site pdf, so feel free to download that instead of looking at my bad photos!

1.  Regenerating Vauxhall Cross
Kylun Ltd are backed by oil money which (according to a company spokeswoman) does not mean that they have infinite resources, but presumably does mean that they're free to proceed in the knowledge that the money isn't going to disappear!  It's just as well, since they're setting themselves a bold task of "creating a new heart for Vauxhall".  Kylun's architect argued that this building is in the centre of all of the proposed new development for Vauxhall.  You might think that, as such, it would be the tallest building of them all, but that's where some post-recession, post-Livingstone pragmatism comes in.  (If you're interested, the tallest Vauxhall building (so far) prize goes to the St George Wharf Tower, at 181 metres). The original Vauxhall Island Site proposals (never validated by the council) had the building at 180 metres.  Vauxhall Sky Gardens, which has been permitted by Lambeth, is 120 metres tall.   The GLA's planning policy states that a building of 150 metres on such a site would lead to minimal impact on world heritage (aka the Palace of Westminster).  The Bondway proposal was 150 metres tall, but was refused (likely on other grounds).  In developer terms, that means that there's between 120 metres and 150 metres with which to gamble.  As such, the Vauxhall Island Site proposal is playing it safe with a cool 140 metre proposal.  They have consulted with the Mayor's office.  So much for Boris disliking tall buildings.  I suppose he'd argue that he managed to shave 40 metres off the top, but that's not really something to boast about.  If you want a comparison to know how the finished product would look, the Strata Tower in Elephant and Castle (including wind turbines) weighs in at 147 metres tall.  I like the way that the second tower (which I haven't mentioned as it's a bit smaller) is hidden, in the picture, behind the first.

2.  A background to the site.
I think we'd all agree that the site has lain empty and derelict, and that the current advertising hoardings are unsightly.  Quite why anybody would choose to live in the middle of the interchange is beyond me, but perhaps by the time the building is finished, the Vauxhall gyratory will have been removed in line with TFL's new vision for the future (rather embarrassing when Vauxhall's gyratory is barely 5 years old).  Were that to happen, and considering the landscaping that Kylun have in mind (see below) it might potentially be a much more pleasant place to live.  Certainly, I can't see most people objecting to further retail development in the area, since the current shops (on Kennington Lane, Albert Embankment and South Lambeth Road) simply don't create a particularly effective centre.

3.  The proposal

My favourite line on the above board has to be the one in which they effectively say that their 41 storeys is "elegant" compared with the 50 storeys of St George Wharf :-).  It's developer speak for "they were allowed to build even higher, so let's be reasonable because our building is a whole 9 storeys shorter" :-)   I like the idea of a glass canopy, linking the two buildings, as I think that's quite a positive way to protect us from the elements when passing through Vauxhall towards public transport.  More importantly, they are to be "open, public space", something that many developers don't seem to value.  That's good news, at least.  I also highly applaud the "improved pedestrian routes" to other parts of Vauxhall and Nine Elms, but it's difficult to know how this might be achieved, bearing in mind the gyratory (subways or bridges, perhaps).

One criticism here is that at today's consultation, the public were asked to comment on paper about the "affordable" housing section of the scheme.  Unfortunately (you can see from Board 3), it wasn't clear how much of the scheme would actually be affordable housing, thus making it rather difficult to submit comments.  When I pointed to the missing data, I was told that they wanted to hear how important the public felt affordable housing to be.  I asked if they'd re-consult once they'd decided on percentages, but I got the impression that they will not.  It all depends what people have written on the comment forms (it seems).  Although, one fellow Twitterer was given a "30% affordable, but not in writing" response, which I didn't get.  I suppose that's a fair gamble, given economic hard times.  The same perceptive chap has also pointed out that the promised "sky bar" doesn't quite make the sky, on account of being at the 10th floor level.  Nevermind.  Note also the refusal of Lambeth Council parking permits to new residents and the complete absence of parking for any other than disabled drivers (this may or may not be a good thing, depending on your point of view).

4.  Improvements to the ground level environment

Let's face it, anything that is done on this stretch to amend ground level environment has to be an improvement on what's present at the moment.  It's not exactly a site upon which local people go and have picnics!  There's  another mention of the canopy, but no actual details (other than that) about what sort of ground level improvements would be made.  Kylun have tried to take into account residents concerns re. wind tunnel effects by streamlining the towers, but I've no idea whether that really will prevent wind tunnels.

5.  A vibrant mix of uses

Quite oddly, the poster says that "employment-generating space is a key aspect of Kylun's proposals", and yet retail/office space is certainly nowhere near a dominant part of the scheme.  I think that's a good thing, as office space hardly seems lacking at Vauxhall, but I don't understand why they've said it's "key".  I tend to think that additional shops will lead people to spend longer in Vauxhall area, so expanding retail space ought to benefit existing local restaurants and businesses.

In terms of recreation and local space, Kylun are looking to work with Spring Gardens, soon to be re-named Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens which suggests that they're not doing anything with Vauxhall Park, but then they mention the possibility of contributions to improve Vauxhall Park nearer to the bottom of the poster.  In my view, Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens would benefit from investment.  There are also some mystery community benefits on the way, but these are not stated, although there are a few ideas eg. extra funding for Vauxhall City Farm, funding for public art both inside/outside the building, and new links to cycle routes in the area.  Anything that could be done on the Vauxhall interchange to make life easier for cyclists would be close to miraculous!  Maybe a cycle route across the island site, allowing cyclists to bypass the gyratory would be worth focusing on.

6.  Delivering jobs and employment

I'm rather sceptical of the ability of new buildings to "deliver jobs".  New buildings tend to deliver empty office space, but actually, this proposal has only a small amount of commercial space, so that's not really a concern. The major job provider, I imagine, will be the hotel in one of the blocks.  Other than the budget Comfort Inn, there aren't any others, so it makes sense to be the first off the ground.

On this drawing, I want to look more carefully at the building make-up (click the photo to enlarge, and then zoom in).  One of the Kylun members of staff stated as follows:  In the building on the left (the shorter), the area marked in orange will be a children's ball park, and an unknown space (awaiting community input).  The blue marking near the bottom will be offices (over three floors).  The green marking is "some residential mixture" which I initially assumed would be the affordable housing, but the member of staff wouldn't commit.  At the top of the same building, the purple marking represents the top four floors, which will be private residential housing.  The penthouse has been replaced with a kind of open, shared garden space for residents.     

In the tower on the right, the entire upper section of the building (marked in pink) will be private residential housing.  Just under that on the 14th floor is the skybar (open to the public).  Below that (marked in purple) is the hotel.  The larger purple ground floor space represents the hotel bar/entrance, and on the first floor, there is the hotel restaurant.  The larger pink ground floor space represents retail space, and the larger pink first floor space will be an ordinary restaurant.

One particularly impressive point to note is that Kylun are setting up a Community Liaison Forum, once planning permission has been secured, a community news letter and a 24 hour phone number so that contractors can be contacted.  These are great ideas which positively predispose me to recommend this building over others eg. Bondway.  I think that some of the residents awaiting the completion of Strata (aka The Ladyshave, at Elephant and Castle) might have wished for a community news letter or even a website, letting them know how the building was progressing.

7.  Community amenities and a blank canvass
This one was quite fun.  The community were allowed to suggest lots of ideas for the empty space on the third floor.  I tried to suggest that the space (or some other space in the building) be used to house a public residential swimming pool, but my suggestion did not go down too well.  Apparently, there's not room in the development, and the very large underground purple space on the diagram is going to be used for servicing the hotel, and not a pool.  I don't know if you can read the suggestions on the post-its, but they were listed; cinema, public library, performance space, cafe, gym, discussion area for local groups, climbing wall, art exhibition, community centre, job centre, swimming pool (x 3), squash courts, artist studios, performance space.  My personal favourite (other than swimming pool) is job centre.  Can you imagine?  Lots of nice posh flats, and a huge job centre, visited by the great unwashed.  Yeah right!  One member of staff was very keen on a ball pool for children and this is listed as "soft play area" in the helpful suggestions.  Umm, you'll notice that the helpful suggestions don't include swimming pool either.

8.  Vauxhall Island site in context
I'm happy that they've done the modelling of the building(s) by taking South London views into consideration.  Considering that we've an ugly great 140 metre tower coming our way, I think I'd have to say that it's more attractive than some eg. Bondway /and/ St George Wharf Tower.  I know that's not saying much, but it doesn't look any worse than the Elephant's Strata, I don't think.  Their "independent study" modelling indicates that the scheme doesn't raise issues in terms of light on residents or parks, and the overshadowing effect on the parks is "minimal".  Vauxhall Park is unaffected and Spring Gardens is only affected on the south-west corner from September to March.  Fair enough, I suppose, and credit to them for ensuring that the parks aren't badly affected.

Due to some well placed trees, the building will hardly be noticeable from Fentiman Road.    Compared with St George Wharf, it rises up quite majestically over Spring Gardens.  I wish we knew what other buildings will appear as it's hard to put it into perspective.  Unfortunately, from Bonnington Square, it looks quite scary.   In fact, if I lived in Bonnington Square, I'd object,but not sure what good it would do.

9.  Vauxhall Island site in context continued...
This board is one that often gets trotted out in various guises.  It's all about how particular buildings will look (often accompanied by strange angles) from north of the river.  As if we should care about north of the river.... Anyway.  I digress.  I shan't be too mean on account of the fact that Kylun have dedicated lots of time to modelling the impact south of the river.  Compared with Millbank Tower, it's barely visible from Parliament Square, which is the view that concerns most people.  I'm not keen on the view from Millbank Road, but then we can't see Vauxhall Sky Gardens or St George Wharf or the proposed Bondway on the modelled photo either, and I suppose those would give the towers some more proportion.

10.  A sustainable, energy-efficient development
Sadly, it doesn't have the turbines (so the service charges should be less), but they are planning on solar photovoltaic electricity generation.

11.  Next steps
Plans will be submitted to Lambeth this summer.  If they like it, (and there aren't any other major oil spills) ;), the first residents could move in around 2015.  Feel free to phone Kylun with questions on: 0845 543 8968 or email vauxhallconsultation@camarguepr.com

I couldn't resist taking a photo of that cheeky chappy, David Boardman, taking photos of the model.  He's the Kennington Association's planning forum chair, and he speaks, quite naturally in terms of hectares per thousand people about green space, density, transport etc. in the way that you and I might discuss buying milk at the local supermarket!

On the model, the two Vauxhall Island towers are in brown.  The white monstrosity at the front is the St George Wharf Tower.  In the background, behind the brown towers, you can just see what I think is the proposed Bondway development.

I know that I'm forever banging on about transport, and I did raise this point at the consultation when I asked what Kylun would have to contribute to the pot to improve transport infrastructure eg. the new Northern line.  It seems, that that little point is up to TFL.  In the meantime, Kylun are in discussuion with TFL (see board 3) about "opening a new entrance to Vauxhall Underground Station".  Is it me, or is Vauxhall underground station going to be a huge warren of "extensions" and "entrances" that act as holding pens for a huge number of frustrated commuters, unable to move, due to the Victoria Line being at capacity?

Police incident in Kennington on Black Prince Road / Hotspur Street

I've had an email from a Kennington Park Square resident, wanting to find out if anybody has more info. concerning the following disturbance:

At about 9:30pm last night (22nd May), there was a police incident on Hotspur Street between Aragon Court (the new Kennington Park Square development) and Manley House.  At least two police vans, three police cars, one ambulance and about twenty or so police officers were present.  The word on the street is that one of the Kennington Park Square residents was mugged outside of the Black Prince pub (but this is speculation).  Due to the number of police called, that there is further speculation about whether a weapon was involved.  Much of the police activity centred on the balconies of Manley House, with a considerable number of police officers restraining a youth, amidst a crowd of onlookers.

Despite the size of the incident, apparently very few of the Kennington Park Square inhabitants were aware of the disturbance (it was a warm night, so I suspect that many people were still out and about).  The resident who emailed is concerned about the close proximity of their home to a suspected mugging, and further concerned that it happened so near to such a busy pub.  Do any blog readers know what took place?  Did anybody witness any trouble yesterday night?  Does anybody know whether the victim is ok?  Please contact the Met Police with further info. on 0300 123 1212, if you observed anything, but feel free to leave a comment here too.

With the advent of summer and the arrival of this warm spell, it seems likely that many SE11 locals will walk back to their homes late at night and it's known that warm weather correlates with gang / criminal activity in Lambeth.  I'd urge all local residents to be extra vigilant and contact the police if worried.  In general, the fear of crime tends to frighten people more than it ought, considering that the number of violent crimes that take place are quite low. That knowledge obviously doesn't stop us being afraid, especially if one happens to witness an incident or its aftermath, but we may all need to do more to build a stronger community locally.  I suspect that this is very definitely the case where a brand new set of homes, designed and priced for young professionals is placed back to back with a building on an estate that has already hit the headlines due to previous crime.   

If anybody has any ideas on how locals might encourage cohesion between different members of the community, now would be a good idea to share them.  I posted on this matter last time there was an attack on Glasshouse Walk, and I strongly believe that if we're able to meet together and get to know one another, the levels of crime will decrease.  My belief is backed up by a 2006 Home Office study, which states, 

"A sense of community rather than a sense of attachment is the most important predictor of lower levels of crime. This is good news for areas with high population turnover, particularly because this sense of community is not only linked with lower levels of violent crime (the type of crime most often linked with social control), but also with other types of neighbourhood level crime such as burglary from dwelling, theft of and from motor vehicles and the overarching ‘all reported crime’ measure."  

I'm not sure how to go about increasing our "sense of community", but maybe readers will have some ideas...

Battersea tube, Vauxhall Waitrose and the CS7 superhighway

There is lots of road digging underway around the junction of Kennington Park Road and Kennington Road.  Indeed, a new sign has appeared on Kennington Park Road, alerting us to the fact that the CS7 cycle superhighway (err, paint splodge) is imminent.  Also, there are lots of strange containers on the island outside Oval tube station.  However, it's not clear whether the digging and containers relates to the cycle superhighway or the ongoing Victorian water mains replacements, or just the eternal road digging that TFL, BT, Thames Water and British Gas (or whoever) like to inflict upon us.  The CS7 start has been "imminent" for some time but it seems that perhaps the CS7 TFL schedule is running slightly late (do take a look at the start dates for some idea of when your section was meant to be begin).  I'm expecting to exit Kennington tube any day now and see the CS7 in its full glory and blueness.  Of course, it's not in the slightest bit safe.  Stockwell News reported (and has videos) of a barely avoided collision on a "test" part of the route, and it will only be time before a cyclist assumes they're safer on the blue road, and is involved in a fatal accident.  I don't write those words lightly, but I think the creation of the Superhighways are rather rash ideas when they do not give cyclists the room they need to co-exist with buses and cars on trunk routes.

Speaking of the tube, there are rather a number of different stories flying around at the moment.  Whilst I was away, one Tweeter asked whether the proposed Northern line closures had disappeared on account of Boris' dissolution of the Private Finance Initiative with Tubelines.  It's really quite an astonishing story, and will result in TfL basically buying out Tubelines.  Apparently, London Assembly member Caroline Pidegon thinks it's good news and Boriswatch hasn't said anything about it, being more concerned with the vanity factor of Boris' new routemaster so I'm concluding that perhaps users won't suffer the closures after all.  On that note, I've been wondering when the 453 bendy bus to Lewisham is due to be de-commissioned and replaced with something less bendy, but I don't really want to draw attention to it. Its replacement (unless it were replaced with something uber-frequent) would never have the capacity.  It's currently a seriously stuffed bus, and it would be bad for passengers were it replaced with something smaller.  (So cyclists on this South London route must suffer).  Also, I suspect the fact remains that Boris has no love for South London so he's not particularly interested in transport down here.  Don't move to Peckham or Camberwell if you can help it, since the tube isn't coming any time soon.

But, some remedial measures will need to be introduced due to solve over-crowding.  In an under-reported article, I note that Boris has approved the suggestion that the Northern line be split at Kennington to impreove service on the Charing Cross branch.  It will mean that all South bound Charing Cross trains terminte at Kennington (although a lot of them currently seem to do so).  London Travelwatch have said "It's not the perfect solution".  Oh dear.  And that of course begs the question about whether the station will need to be closed to enable those works to be carried out!  Inevitably, the answer is "yes", so if we don't lose out on account of Tubelines closing the station, we risk losing out through the increased line capacity.  Perhaps it won't need to be closed to make the amendments, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

If Kennington travellers avoid disruption for the above reasons, it will be a miracle. I hardly think, however, that they can avoid future closure were the Battersea section of the Northern line to be built!  And, apparently, consultation from Treasury Holdings about the Battersea tube extension began yesterday.   Check out the full Battersea tube consultation leaflet here.  Don't get too excited.  It seems that they're consulting on a number of routes, route 1 looks as though it's a direct route to Battersea Power Station (possibly via Oval).  This involves less hassle, and is most likely to be the cheapest.  But, oh dear...  What about the proposed stop at Nine Elms?  That's Route 2.  It might cost a bit more to build a new tube station, but if we don't petition hard, Vauxhall is going to be packed (see below).  However, do look carefully, route 2 involves a South Nine Elms stop (on top of Sainsburys car park), which doesn't look to be so near the embassy.  Can't see it getting off the ground.  Route 3 is interesting, and one I hadn't considered.  It would connect Kennington to Vauxhall and then send Vauxhall on to Battersea, and Vauxhall would act as a hub.  But think of the congestion already at Vauxhall.  Wouldn't it make things worse?  And finally, there's route 4, which might be known as the US Embassy Express, which would link Kennington to Nine Elms North and then to Battersea.  This will probably be favoured by the Embassy themselves, who will have to cough up some of the cash.  Anyhow, this is just the consultation stage.  Remember what happened to the Cross River Tram, despite all of the consultation...

On a related note, Lambeth Council seem to have finally produced a document which concludes by stating what we all knew...  The Victoria line is at capacity.  Well, duh! But it's still ok to build the Nine Elms development (which will have the same population as Welwyn Garden City) on account of the fact that we could extend the concourse at Vauxhall. The document actually says, "The proposed works to Vauxhall Station, seek to reduce station congestion and improve public realm around the station by bringing the arch to the south of the station (former car rental office) into use as an extension to the existing concourse."  There are two slight problems.  The building that might be intended for the concourse extension is currently mooted to be the site of a new supermarket.  Perhaps it could be both.  But if the Waitrose rumours are true, I can't see the Waitrose shoppers loving to share their shop with the over-spill from Vauxhall tube station.  And, secondly, note that extending the capacity at Vauxhall Station doesn't actually increase the capacity of the Victoria line.  So there's not really any net gain, other than creating a holding pen for travellers.

How do we know about the supermarket? Mr OBB and his new posh neighbourhood watch club, were visited by the unassuming Clive Fraser of Lambeth Planning.  I'm not sure what Clive did in a previous life, but it must have been something really bad, since he's the chap that Lambeth Council send out to be their "public face of planning".  He's terribly nice.  But being terribly nice does not prevent more tall buildings appearing at Vauxhall when the transport infrastructure is currently at capacity.  I hope we'll see an improved  Vauxhall planning strategy that does more than just endorse the previous Mayor's contention that Vauxhall is a place for tall buildings (not that Boris has objected) from Lambeth Council.  We really need a sensible town plan for Vauxhall (rather than just a Supplementary Planning Document) so that we can review the developers' applications all at once, rather than one at a time.  How many more tall buildings are to be permitted before Vauxhall tube has to be made entry only in the morning, at peak periods?