Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea (VNEB) Exhibition - Part 2 of 5 - Lambeth Council

This is Part 2 of a series of posts detailing the photos taken of all display boards at the Vauxhall Nine Elms and Battersea (VNEB) consultation held on 2nd and 3rd October 2010.  This post details the plans displayed by Lambeth Council.  The opportunity area that falls within the geographical region of Lambeth is much smaller than the area that falls within Wandsworth.


You'll see from this map (the purple line indicates the Lambeth/Wandsworth boundary) that all of the developments at Vauxhall fall within Lambeth.  The yellow line indicates the Opportunity Area boundary, so you'll see that the Lambeth VNEB Opportunity area reaches all of the way up to Lambeth Road and includes the entirety of the Albert Embankment.  The Lambeth area also includes the Nine Elms Sainsburys, but does not not include the New Covent Garden flower market:

(Image taken and bodged   from  Streetmap)  

I'm afraid that the following Lambeth Planning images don't include anything that we don't already know about, but they're here for posterity.  I apologise for the slightly odd reflective effect, but somebody from Lambeth is obviously using up the lamination budget:

First up, St George's Tower / Vauxhall Tower.  Vauxhall will be stuck with the ugliest, tallest tower in London at 50 storeys/180 metres (even taller than Strata / The Ladyshave).  Never mind.  As somebody pointed out, the stamp duty paid by residents will fund plenty of Section 106 developments and projects for local people.  The tower represents regeneration, which is generally a good idea in Vauxhall.  Unfortunately, their swimming pool won't be open for public use:

Next up, we have the proposed Vauxhall Island site.  For more on the consultation/plans on that, see over here.  It's 41 storeys/140 metres high, and I can't see these iconic towers being turned down by Lambeth.  I'm not sure when the decision on this is due. The towers have a much more attractive shape than the Vauxhall Tower above and the Vauxhall Island site is just a barren wasteland of advertising hoardings at present.  The exciting thing about the Vauxhall Island site is improvements made to the surrounding area in terms of shops, restaurants and pedestrian access:

Vauxhall Sky Gardens was approved when nobody was looking at the beginning of 2010.  It's only 36 storeys, so I'm sure nobody will notice it:

81 Black Prince Road would fit in quite nicely if it were nearer to the Vauxhall cluster of towers.  It's going to look rather odd rising up to 77 metres (23 storeys) at the end of Black Prince Road, which is mostly low rise housing.  I'm not sure whether I photographed the consultation documents (I've wised up over time), but the view from Kennington Cross is horrific.  I'm not keen on the design at all, but I suppose it's a matter of taste:

Nobody really liked the Bondway Tower, except the Lambeth Council Officers.  Here are some of the reasons why local residents didn't want the Bondway.  Despite the Council's refusal, the developer appealed, and a huge public enquiry was held.  I was going to write a series on the Bondway appeal, but I didn't get any further than a post summarising the opening arguments.  I might continue, if anybody expresses interest, but some of this material is mightily dull to plough through.  We should hear a decision from the Planning Inspectorate by December 2010, or January 2011, and I'm guessing that this one might end up being heard by the Secretary of State:

Here's the one I was missing earlier.   It's 20 Albert Embankment and it already has planning permission. I think it might look rather strange, being so tall, neighbouring the other buildings.   At least part of it will be a hotel.  Another hotel:

I commend the enhanced links between Vauxhall and the river, and improvements to Spring Gardens.  I'm hoping that it will mean the abolition of the gyratory and improved cyclist and pedestrian accessibility.  Here's the overall concept plan:

I am amused that the Development Management Development Plan Document (it can't really be called that!), which will be used to assess planning applications, will emerge in early 2011.  I can't imagine that there will be many planning applications for buildings in the Vauxhall part of VNEB left to submit by that time!  I look forward to the site allocations document that will advise where new schools, mosques and health centres might be placed.  That document will also emerge in early 2011:

Finally, here's a quick overview of the "new heart for Vauxhall" that the Council has planned:

So, what's missing...?  We don't yet know what's planned for the Sainsburys site (you'll have to wait for the disappointing 4th part of the series for that, but there's no significant information in the public domain yet). I'm not sure whether there are towers planned for the Market Gardens residential section (it's technically in Wandsworth), but it looked like it from the 3D model, and those will have some impact on Vauxhall.  I imagine that the Texaco garage plans (38 - 46 Albert Embankment) will rear their head again (more info on the old application here).  We're waiting for revised Fire Station at 8 Albert Embankment to be submitted.  1 - 9 Bondway (the new Travelodge) wasn't on display, but it's either considered too small or too new.  There probably wasn't time to laminate it before the ink had dried!  Also, the "new heart for Vauxhall" board above seems to indicate that development will take place on Vauxhall Walk, and the "South East Regeneration Arc".  I'm not sure we've seen submissions for either of these yet, so I imagine that there must be more developers still to consult in Lambeth.

VNEB exhibition Part 1 of 5 - Ballymore can be found here, if you find planning matters thrilling and exciting :-)

Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea (VNEB) Exhibition - Part 1 of 5 - Ballymore

This is Part 1 of a series of posts detailing the photos taken of all display boards at the Vauxhall Nine Elms and Battersea (VNEB) consultation held on 2nd and 3rd October 2010.  This post details the plans on display by Ballymore.  (Yes, this is well outside SE11 territory, but as far as I know, there's nobody else blogging about this part of the world).

Ballymore appear to be developing approx. 15 acres around Ponton Road. The road lies in the heart of the proposed VNEB area.  It falls under the remit of Wandsworth Council, so we've not mentioned it before, but whatever is done with this land is likely to be viewable from parts of Lambeth.  I believe Ponton Road is going to be moved (just shifted along slightly) when the new US Embassy is built:

This plan shows (see the red dotted line) the size of the huge area owned by Ballymore, even once the Embassy Quarter (now sold to the US government) is taken into account.  Note that Ballymore also own Kirtling Street (further down Nine Elms Lane):

I shall reiterate (as I'm tired of doing) that whilst Vauxhall is a fine transport interchange, the tube station is at capacity during peak times.  Note that the Ballymore plans do not mention the proposed new Northern Line underground station:

I commend the idea of improving the railway viaducts and wouldn't contradict the notion that Nine Elms suffers from being "placeless", on account of its industrial use.  I've certainly never met anybody that claims to live in Nine Elms!  I would query where the current industry on this (and the surrounding sites) will move to, since the industrial capacity of the entire new VNEB site will be significantly reduced, despite significant demand for light industrial land:

This double spread plan illustrates part of the difficulty I had in considering the site as a whole.  The area is so large (and there are so many different developers) that it's very difficult to imagine how it will look on one plan.  Without more labels, one has to guess at what the buildings are.  The 3D models (which were present on the day), are more useful for imagining how the eventual new town will look:

I've not commented much on the new US embassy, but I think it's interesting that the embassy is being used as a catalyst for the revival of Nine Elms.  In Mayfair, the US Embassy is hated by the neighbours and is known for being particularly inhospitable (guns pointed through car windows and giant ugly tank traps all over the place), but the new location is being used to transform the way the US government build embassies, which shows some promise.

You can see that item "2" on this plan (you'll have to zoom in) is already ear marked for a supermarket.  I expect now to hear cries of "is is going to be a Waitrose?"!  More exciting is number "8", the proposed new pedestrian bridge over to Pimlico.  Not sure anybody has spoken about funding yet though! I'm intrigued about "17" and how Nine Elms Lane might be a tamed cycling route.  It would be very useful to see a proper cycle plan developed for the entire area.  

I never managed to wade through the last VNEB document (it was about 200 pages long), but I remember that one of the criticisms made at the time was a lack of green space.  I'm not sure that's yet been addressed, but I like the idea of a green park in front of the embassy (the green banks are the well hidden and environmentally friendly tank traps).  When I spoke to the US representative at the Vauxhall Civic Society AGM 2010, he seemed to think that the park would be open to the public.  Some kind of provision has been made for organised sports (see the next board).  I have visions of the moat being used as a boating lake, but I suspect that's going one step too far:

I like the look of this.  My favourite part of the US Embassy discussion (which took place at the Vauxhall Society AGM) is when somebody asked where the protests would take place.  The US embassy had thought about this carefully and pointed out that whilst it would be up to the police, there was plenty of room for protests on the new plaza:

It was difficult to photograph this 3D model, in which somebody must have had to lovingly and laboriously place drawing pins, but I wanted to show absolutely everything present at the exhibition, so here it is:  

This one's even more exciting.  I believe the embassy is due to be about 10 floors high, with one basement level, (that they're admitting to).  If this model is accurate, it looks as though the rest of the development, with the exception of one or two towers will be medium and high rise, but I didn't see any mention of heights on the preceding boards:

VNEB Exhibition - Part 2 of 5 - Lambeth Council
VNEB Exhibition - Part 3 of 5 - Tideway Wharf
VNEB Exhibition - Part 4 of 5 - Sainsbury's Towers

Keeping it real - the reason for the tube strike at Kennington

At the moment, we don't know which tube lines will run or at what times because nobody knows how many staff will strike tomorrow.  Tube strikes are always a nuisance for Londoners.  Listen to the chatter of the ordinary working folk on the buses tomorrow.  They won't see why the train drivers need more money.  There's always somebody who argues that strikes are called to early, and never as a last resort.  Somebody else will argue that they're only paid when they go into work, and that they don't have the luxury of striking.  The current tube strike is not about money though, it's about jobs.  TfL currently employ 4 full time staff at Kennington station.  If the TfL cuts go ahead, only 1 full-time member of staff will be employed at the station, and they'll only staff the ticket office for 3 and a quarter hours each day (during the morning).  If you want to speak to a member of ticket office staff (if the machines break, or you need a season ticket), you'll have to go to the underground ticket office at Elephant and Castle or Oval.  Perhaps you can't see a good reason for retaining so many staff members with the current degree of computerisation.  I'd tend to argue that staff members who know the station are more important for emergencies (eg. fire or terrorist attacks), but then London's only on "severe" threat for a terror alert, so the risk is slight, right?  Arguments can be made in several directions.

One of the members of staff that will lose his job is Paul.  Say "hello" to Paul if you see him at Kennington.  I only know him by sight.  The strikes (in my view) are unlikely to prevent the job losses, so he probably won't be around for much longer as his job (as with the other 2 full time Kennington staff members) is on the line.   I'm not sure I can make a convincing argument about why one particular member of staff should be retained so I'm just putting one name to a face.  When you're on the rammed buses or can't find a Boris Bike tomorrow, don't moan about the strikers, just ask whether you'd be willing to justify the redundancy of an ordinary man named Paul.

When they came for the communists...

Riverside Community Development Trust and Lady Margaret Hall Settlement (LMHS) to form joint board

I know that Lurking about SE11 can sometimes appear rather whingy, so I've decided to share some interesting local news.  The RCDT (Riverside Community Development Trust) and LMHS (Lady Margaret Hall Settlement) have formed a joint committee for the running of their operations.  This looks to be a positive development as it allows them to share buildings, resources and expertise.  Whilst the two organisations will remain separate on paper, they will share the same board members.  The LMHS appear to have rewritten their website, and in a nod of gratitude towards our forebears, (as with the Vauxhall Civic Society website), we'll receive additional access to history and imagery from the LMHS archives in the months to come.

So, what are they up to at the moment?  20 Newburn Street has been leased to Real World UK for the provision of free computer training.  This is a an important project, and (for those with long memories) is how the centre was used when it first opened back in 2003.  I'm a firm believer in digital literacy because without being online, a great many people in our society are simply cut off from information about services (benefits information, train/tube times, community initiatives, bus route changes, holiday deals, money saving deals, council services etc).  The aim of this project is to open the world of employment and training to people who are not confident using the internet or computers.  Once I find out a little more about when they'll be up and running, I'll post the times of the free classes here.

I fear that we're about to enter a challenging time in the UK's history, but I hope we've developed local friendships that might see us through.  We've the Kennington Oval Vauxhall forum to form an umbrella which should feed views from all local organisations to Lambeth Council.  There's the new Vauxhall Civic Society (who cover the entire Vauxhall constituency down to Brixton and Clapham), the stalwart Kennington Association (open to anybody who might claim to living anywhere near Kennington), the combined RCDT/LMHS, more friends groups than you could wave a stick at eg. Friends of Kennington Cross, Friends of Kennington Park etc.  I've counted 11 local "friends of" groups.  See if you can identify anybody that I've missed (I've updated a "friends of" post made in September 2008).  Additionally, there's the Kennington Gardens Society (now with a new section on their site so that you can ask them questions), the Onion Shed folk, intent on greening North Lambeth, the Kennington People on Bikes (KPOB) keeping an eye out on cycling and safety in the area...  What more could we want? 

I have a theory that people committed to the community attract more people committed to the community.  That we've so many local groups demonstrates the commitment of south east Londoners to look out for one another.  Such networking and community spirit will be essential over the next few years (and are arguably at the root of maintaining anything that might be described as "civic" society). There is (as far as I know) nothing in the rest of the London blogosphere comparable with the network forged by bloggers in South East London.  Last night's Battle of the Blogs being one such demonstration).  The world will look considerably different after PE (Public Expenditure?  Physical Education? Punishing England?) Day on the 20th October.  That's the day the government will outline their cuts. I think we'll need all of our community groups (and more) to coalesce to ensure that the vulnerable on all of our patches still receive some semblance of service.  If the Big Society / Co-Op vision ever comes to fruition, we'll need our friends and neighbours more than ever, because I don't see the State popping in to visit us when we're sick or ensure that our bins are emptied regularly or that we maintain a commitment to recycling and re-use.

Kennington, Oval and Vauxhall are all great areas to move to if you're looking to be involved locally, be that in committee work, gardening, bike projects or Tai Chi.  I often complain that central London can be an isolating place, but the people that runs the committees, hold the meetings and get their hands dirty all help to build the links we need to make us a community and not just another Zone 2 location.

Proposals for a new Vauxhall hotel at 1-9 Bondway and 4-6 South Lambeth Place

The excerpt from the plan above has been cut and paste from Lambeth Planning Database under the section for Application 10/03151/FUL, "Indicative Facade Section - Bondway".  Copyright Dexter Moren Associates.

My good bloggy commentator, Transport Mark, pointed to a planning application submitted in mid-September for a new 148 bedroom Travelodge in Vauxhall.  (It's 10/03151/FUL in the Lambeth Planning case the link doesn't work).  The first submission was invalid for some reason, but now it's definitely back on the table and residents have until the October 20th 2010 to respond.  Salmon Developments Plc own the land, and you can see a vague sketch of how they think the hotel might look on their site here.  Although Salmon plc have suggested the hotel will contain 155 beds, permission has been sought for only 148.

The application has been submitted for a 6 storey (and additional lower ground) building which would comprise a hotel with bar/restaurant, along with a variety of commercial units (retail, financial services, restaurants/cafes and drinking establishments) as well as a "roof level plant".  (I'm presuming that's some form of machinery).  It sounds as though they've hedged their bets somewhat, hoping for a complete range of planning permission for different types of establishment, but it looks the type of application that could be amended were they unable to find a particular type of tenant.  The hotel makes a change from the high rise proposals, which is good.  I imagine they'll have to replace what's currently in place, so it doesn't make sense to build up. I vaguely wonder whether there's a risk of over-hotelling, considering the level of hotel building currently taking place in Waterloo, but no doubt these companies know what they're doing!

There's currently a budget Comfort Inn hotel in Vauxhall, but it's some distance from the tube down South Lambeth Road.  There's a Park Plaza at 18 Albert Embankment (quite close to Lambeth Palace).  Lambeth Council granted planning permission for a new 168 bedroom hotel at the Oval (eventually, once the area was deemed "safe").  A hotel will form approx. half of the lower portion of one of the Vauxhall Island Site buildings (see here).  And I've this vague feeling that we had another hotel proposal suggested for Vauxhall, but I can't remember where, and I've searched my archives with no success.  Anyhow, none of the proposed hotels are huge, so there's probably no reason that the hotels can't happily co-exist.

I can't think of any reason not to support this application, although I'm wondering whether the proposal includes the land currently occupied by the Big Issue offices.  I don't think I'd be thrilled to stay in a hotel opposite Vauxhall bus station, (maybe they'll open up the South Lambeth Place side too), but I think retail units opposite the bus station would perform well and improve the area no end, and you can't beat the transport links!

Accident on Kennington Park Road near Kennington Park Place

An accident occurred at approximately 6:30am this morning causing commuter chaos in Kennington.  The accident occurred on Kennington Park Road (the A3) at the junction between Ravensdon Street and Kennington Park Place and appears to have been between two cars (a mini-style vehicle and a range-rover style vehicle).  The collision looks to have been head-on and one witness reports seeing ten men removing the roof of the smaller vehicle to rescue one man from the wreckage.  The injured man was reportedly not unconscious at the time of rescue, so we're hoping there have been no fatalities.  The smaller car looked to have been entirely decimated, and large amounts of plastic/metal debris are strewn across the road and pavement.

Large sections of Kennington Park Road were closed off (between Braganza Street and Kennington Road), causing the surrounding roads to be flooded with traffic.  The police expected the road to be closed for a couple of hours whilst the aftermath of the accident was cleared, and I noted about 15 police personnel at the scene. 

Quite a few people seem to have googled the incident this morning looking for more details, as is always the case when there's a road accident.  If you have more details eg. you witnessed the accident, or you know the outcome of any of the people involved in the accident, and wish to confirm their condition, feel free to leave a comment.

How Cllr Steve Reed let down local children and Kate Hoey or The Triangle (ongoing saga), Part 3 or

So, you'll know (if you've kept up with the Triangle Playground saga) that the Triangle Adventure Playground is a community playground, whose removal is desired by Archbishop Tension School because they wish to use the land to expand their premises. Lambeth Council seem to have made it their goal to evict the Triangle Association from the playground (see Part 1 here) in anticipation of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) expansion at Archbishop Tenison.  Unfortunately, many BSF projects have since fallen through (ConDem cuts) and so the school expansion can't take place, but the Council still wish to evict the Triangle Adventure Playground.  Why?

In part 2 of the saga, I explained that of the six school expansion options drawn up by Atkins architects for Lambeth Council, the Council had opted for the only plan which involved the removal of the Triangle Adventure Playground.  The playground site did not need to be used to expand the school, as the 5 alternative options attest. The playground is a much loved play space and resource for local young people, desperately needed, I'd argue, in an area with high levels of urban deprivation where there isn't much room for creative, adventurous play.  (It needs also to be made clear that much of Archbishop Tenison's intake is drawn from the borough of Southwark, so whilst it's a good local secondary school, it doesn't /necessarily/ benefit its Lambeth neighbours).  Again, I'm not convinced we've got to the bottom of the matter of why Lambeth Council chose option 6, the playground removal option.

Today we are going to move on to part 3 of the saga.  This was the very interesting piece of news that I mentioned on Twitter last week.  I agreed to allow the South London Press to print it first, so you can go and read the full article (it's not behind their pay wall) just here.  But it boils down to the fact that local children from the Triangle Playground went with their parents and Kate Hoey MP to present a petition to Cllr Steve Reed (the leader of Lambeth Council) against closing their playground.  And Cllr Reed failed to show up.  So the children (who had received permission to leave school early) stood on the steps of the Town Hall with their parents to present their petition.  And yet no Council leader appeared in order to receive it.  Shame on him.  It was Steve Reed's office that had specified the time of the meeting and he gave no explanation or apology for his absence whilst he left everybody waiting for half an hour.  Kate Hoey was kind enough to tell the SLP that she didn't see it as a snub to her, considering the children and their parents to have been the ones snubbed, but make of that what you will.

Feel free to try and defend the name of the good Councillors of Lambeth (and we do have some), but letting down local children who've been let out of school early to meet with you is unacceptable behaviour.  If Mr Cobb is right that Cllr Reed is climbing the greasy pole to stand as the next Labour MP for Vauxhall, his failure to receive something as simple as a petition from the community should be highlighted on account of what it says about him as a politician.  The odd thing (no surprises there) is the slant given to the whole matter by the South Lambeth Press.  No mention there of the lovely leader's absence.  Oh, no, October's Lambeth Life (p3) just reports; "Parents and children from the Triangle Adventure Playground have been collecting signatures for the petition and handed it over to the Council Deputy Leader Jackie Meldrum last month."  Wonder why that might have been, then!  Lambeth Life even has the temerity to argue that there's another adventure playground in Kennington Park, with no mention of  their proposed reduction in the size of the One O'Clock club or closure of Kennington park's Children's Centre.  This is where accusations of Lambeth Life "propaganda sheet" rightly abound, (and I'm no fan of supporting the SLP's sex ad rag either).  Thank goodness for local blogs :-) :-)

But Lambeth Life seem to assume that the Triangle Adventure Playground has actually closed.  Cllr Pete Robbins says "We appreciate that this is a much-loved play area, so it was a difficult decision to close it.".  I was unaware that the Triangle had closed (there'll be protests before that happens, no doubt).  But more importantly, I don't understand why the Council are claiming that the Triangle Playground has closed all the time they do not have any money to expand Archbishop Tenison School.  There is no longer any BSF money, so there's no reason to evict the playground.  There was and is no "difficult choice" to be made in light of the fact that the school simply cannot expand at present.  But the Lambeth Life article also seems to invent a kind of double speak.  In Cllr Robbin's mind, the Triangle has closed, since "it /was/" a difficult decision to close it", but Lambeth Life's anonymous columnist maintains it's still open, after all, "A spokesman said there were no immediate plans to close the playground down...".  So what's it to be?

We still have no explanation from  Lambeth about why they can't use any of the other 5 designs by Atkins that do not require the eviction of the Triangle Playground.  Answers on a postcard, please.
 

Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea Consultation and Thames Tideway Tunnel Consultation

Remember that if the Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea (VNEB) development goes ahead, even in outline form, it's reckoned that over the next 20 years, a town with the population equivalent to that of Welwyn Garden City would spring up between Battersea Power Station and our own beloved Vauxhall (or VoHo, as we're now supposed to call it, darlings).  That's a sizable increase in population that will affect services and infrastructure for those living on the edge of the area.  If you live in SE11, SE1 or SW8 , you might be interested in attending the largest event yet (in Wandsworth), where Wandsworth Economic Development Office will present a number of boards laying out the proposals in more detail.  The poster (above) says that the Embassy Quarter, Battersea Power Station, New Covent Garden Market and others will all be present on the day (which has never happened before).  We might even find out what would happen to the Nine Elms Sainsburys.  I'm told that a 3D model won't be present at the exhibition, but that the boards will include details of the VNEB development at the Lambeth end, in Vauxhall.  (It would be useful to actually have a consultation in Vauxhall, but considering that the development is mostly taking place in Wandsworth, I imagine that's too much to ask).  It's a much needed regeneration for Vauxhall and Nine Elms, but I'd recommend careful scrutiny, and I'm still not convinced that locals are aware of the size of what's to come.

I've spoken to the chaps at the Development Office who've also confirmed that a number of Lambeth Councillors and Lambeth planning officers should be present.  This is a chance to ask questions about whether Vauxhall Underground Station has the capacity to carry all of the extra residents at peak time, and also to ask who would be funding the proposed Northern line extension.  If nobody can be found to fund the extension, you might like to ask whether alternative modes of public transport have been considered.  The organisers have asked for people to register for the event, but I think it's still possible to show up on one of the days.

In my last post, I mentioned the Thames Tideway Tunnel and suggested why I think local residents should not oppose it.  However, I didn't give details of where the consultation will take place.  I really don't know how many readers attend local consultations.  I do, but then I'm a bit strange :). 

One commentator pointed out that the nearest events are in Covent Garden, Bermondsey or Battersea, which is not really useful for Lambeth residents.  To be fair, there are are two preferred sites around Battersea, so I can see a good reason for consulting over there, but I don't see why Bermondsey (which only has one site, the same as Vauxhall) was chosen.  Still, I'm sure there's no conspiracy, is there? :-)

The Battersea public exhibition will take place from Thursday 7th October - Saturday 9th October (10:30 - 20:00 Thurs and Frim and 10:30 - 17:00 on Saturday) at Battersea Arts Centre, Lavender Hill, Battersea, SW11 5TN.

The Southwark/Bermondsey public exhibition will take place from Monday 11th October - Tuesday 12th October (10:30 - 20:00) at Berodmund Community Centre (Main Hall), 177 Abbey Street, Bermonsey, SE1 2AN

Feel free to peruse the list of other Thames Tideway consultation events if you can't make these two...  And thank you to the person that pointed out that the Tideway Tunnel would not be necessary if human sewage was trated at point of generation in each household, and everybody dug holes in their gardens and installed the necessary plumbing.  There's a risk that that would take considerably more effort than building the tunnel itself! :-)

What is the Tideway Tunnel, and how does it affect Vauxhall?

The Tideway Tunnel is a new sewer project proposed by Thames Water to replace the old Victorian sewerage system, which is at capacity.  At present, when there's heavy rain, the existing sewers are entirely filled up (with rain water and sewage), causing the Combined Sewerage Outlets (a type of over-flow tunnel) to discharge sewage into the River Thames. 

The Tideway Tunnel would be an alternative tunnel, used to redirect sewage away from the Thames to Beckton Sewage Works in East London and it would run under the Thames.  In the event that the Tideway Tunnel was built, the Combined Sewerage Outlets (CSOs) would remain in place, but due to the extra capacity granted by the new tunnel, they'd very rarely cause sewerage to leak into the Thames (or, that's the hope, in any case).

Thames Water claim that, at present, 39 million cubic metres of untreated sewerage overflows into the Thames each year (remember, lots more goes in once it's been treated).  Any idea how much that is?  I tried to calculate it in 2 litre coke bottles, and 4 gallon water bottles, but the figure was too large to comprehend.  The best I can translate it into is Olympic Swimming Pools.  So, 15,798 Olympic Swimming Pools worth of untreated sewerage hit the Thames each year.  Eww.  That sounds like a very large figure, but then one has to work out how much water actually flows through the Thames each year to decide if it's as a bad as it sounds.  I'd be interested to hear from anybody that knows.  The EU are not too pleased by the volume of untreated human waste entering the Thames, so the European Commission are taking the UK to court on account of threat to human life and adverse effects on marine environment in the river.  London residents may well have very little choice in approving the Tideway Tunnel plan to improve the health of the river.

Anyhow, on account of all of this, Thames Water are holding a huge London-wide consultation on whether or not to build the new sewerage Tunnel.  The reason it concernes Vauxhall is because Thames Water wish to use Vauxhall as a site for permanent strctures required by the Tunnel and we have two local Combined Sewerage Outlets nearby (clevererly labelled "Clapham" and "Brixton") .  (This fact is slightly confusing because when viewed on this Thames Water map, these CSOs are actually both already located in Vauxhall!  Who knew we had two sewage discharge pipes in our locality?  It's probably not mentioned on the marketing brouchure for Vauxhall Tower :o) ).  The proposal is that a new structure be built at Vauxhall to connect both of these CSOs to the main tunnel.  It wouldn't need to use any existing land because Thames Water are cleverly hoping (at least in three of the sites under consideration) to extend the river wall!

Thames Water have chosen four sites on which they'd like to construct, site 1 (in front of St George Wharf flats on the foreshore), site 2 (in front of MI6 on the foreshore), site 4, the preferred site (outside of 89 Albert Embankment, to the side of Tintagel House) and site 3 (this one would cover the communal gardens and car park of a block of flats in Claylands Road!!).  Site 3 would be an appalling choice, since it takes away a communal garden, and it's miles from the river!  St George's residents and MI6 likely wouldn't approve the other two options, so I'd agree with the proposal document that the favoured site (in front of offices) is preferable.

Take a look at their map:

The Vauxhall site is the only one within the Borough of Lambeth, that would be used for the proposed new tunnel.  Obviously, were it only Lambeth or Southwark that would be affected by the project, nobody would worry too much.  However, multiple sites of work for the Tideway Tunnel have been proposed for boroughs such as Wandsworth, Hammersmith and Richmond, and they're none too happy.  The Guardian's Dave Hill weighed in again today with comments in his roundup, Metropolitan Lines, pointing out that the leader of Hammersmith & Fulham's Council had become especially perturbed by the proposals.  The Councillor's view is that, since only 18 people have been made ill from drinking the water over the last 15 months (we presume they capsized in canoes, rather than willingly drank the water), there's probably not much need to act.  A somewhat short sighted view one might think, if the sewage problem is due to get worse as London's population increases!  But then I might suggest residents protest if I thought the new structure would emit neasty smells!  Since we've already got two CSO outlets at Vauxhall that nobody knew about, I'm not sure whether the proposals will make any difference.

Thames Water point out that if they do use their preferred site (outside of 89 Albert Embankment, to the side of Tintagel House), there will still be an impact on the Albert Embankment Conservation Area and some disruption on the Thames Path during construction.  Construction would take place for three years, after which the site would be vacated as far as possible, although some permanent structures would be installed.  These include a 10 metre tall ventilation column and a small box with electrical equipment in it.  There will be another round of consultation, so hopefully we'll learn more about how the new structures would look if the proposal ever reaches the second round!
There's a document here, Albert Embankment Foreshore, which contains additional information from Thames Water about the building work on the Albert Embankment, as it would affect Vauxhall and shows a visualiation of the small ventilation column and surrounding area.

Kennington Park Children's Centre (or, When "consultation" risks being lip service)

(All pictures of Kennington Park Children's center (above) attributable to and copyright 2010 Google Streetview)

On 22nd July, I attended a meeting with Kennington parents at which Kate Hoey, Cllr Peter Robbins and Cllr Mark Harrison  (among others) were present, to discuss primary school provision in the area.  At least twenty minutes of the meeting were dedicated to discussing Kennington Park Children's Centre (a Lambeth day care centre for those aged from 6 months to 5 years old), which is useful since the issue of its potential closure is still under dispute.

One parent at that meeting spoke up to say (roughly, as my notes aren't perfect), "I'm a mother of a child who attends Kennington Park Children's centre..  There is a proposal to move the Children's Centre to Henry Fawcett Primary School.  How will that impact on what you're able to do for the rest of the school?  Will the space be sufficient?  It seems to me that if the school is so under pressure then to add to that might not be the right thing to do."

Claire Nuttall (Associate Head Teacher) of Henry Fawcett answered by saying, "At the moment, it's not... it is a consultation.". 

But more tellingly, somebody from Lambeth Council said as follows.  (I'd be delighted if Cllr Robbins or Cllr Harrison were able to tell me the name of the speaker, as what follows is a shorterned transcript of their remarks (my highlighting)).:

"We are proposing to move Kennington Park Children's Centre to Henry Fawcett School and we are consulting on that over the next couple of months.  We've got a number of meetings with parents next week.  Children's centres... are hugely succesful and... we've got 30 in Lambeth and... we've had a history in Lambeth with having children's centres placed in schools.  We've got 5 in the voluntary sector in Lambeth and 5 in place with nursery schools.  The other 20 are in primary schools.  The advantage is that the school can work with families and children from a young age.  Head teachers who have a children's centre say they find it hugely advantageous to do that.  They get to know parents and work with families and they work with issues and problems the families have.  It's a universal access service which is a huge advantage of children's centres.  If families do have special needs, they can be targeted with additional services." 

"We don't know what will happen in the future, but we hope we'll be able to maintain a children's centre service.  We've found having children's centres in schools provides a strong leadership for the children's centre, so a head teacher will know clearly what they want to happen with the school and provides leadership for the children's centre as well. On the whole, that model has worked very well in Lambeth.  It's difficult for a head teacher to manage a children's centre which is off site because the staff are at arm's length and I think clearly it's better to have that flow of children and activities... within the building and outdoors.  There is the space at Henry Fawcett and we're hoping that we'll have some capital...  We've earmarked some capital to put into the building, and the ground floor of the Henry Fawcett School provides a lot more space than there is at the Kennington Park children centre.  It's not quite as much outdoor space, but is perhaps a better quality outdoor space / learning environment for the children, but that's a proposal.  We've got 4 meetings next week with parents where we want to hear your views on that and we know that parents who use the childrens centres have some concerns about is, so we'll be consulting you over the next couple of months about whether you want that move to happen, but also, we think there's a very strong case for it and if it goes ahead, we can then start consulting on plans, and what the plans look like and what services would be delivered in the children's centre.

Kate Hoey:  "When you say consulting, are you going to listen to what they say?"

Lambeth Council person: Yes, of course we're going to listen to what people say..."

Hoey: "You haven't made your mind up in advance?"

Lambeth Council person:  No, we haven't. We haven't. But there are strong financial worries as well.  Within the children centre model, the health and family support is funded separately, but the childcare has to pay for itself.  The childcare is not subsidised.  We can't use the children's centre funding to provide cheap childcare places and that particular aspect of it is not working well at Kennington Park Children's Centre and we've talked with Claire and the Chair of govenors at Henry Fawcett School and produced an improved model for childcare to work at the school site because, to be frank, we can't afford to have a childcare business which is losing money.  It's just not possible in our current financial climate. 

Claire Nuttall (Associate Head at Henry Wafcett):  "Just to answer your specific question as far as Henry Fawcett School goes if [the Children's Centre] came and the impact that would be on it...  The Children's Centre was a part of Henry Fawcett School until a year ago.  When we took on the school [after it entered special measures], because it was on a different site, we went to the LA and said "we can't manage it there" because we couldn't see it every day.  We had to walk across the park and we weren't able to effectively manage it.  At the time we said, "unless it's on our site, we can't manage it" and the LA took it back... I think it would be very positive for the parents to be able to access the kind of extended provision that we get because it would provide a real hub for the parents... There are health visitors and groups for the parents to come to.  We already have our own version because we think it's important, so we run a Reading Cafe for weekender(?) drop in.  It would be positive. It wouldn't take away from our resources or our capacity because it's separate and it has its own manager.  But it's under the overall leadership of the school, so the impact, I think, would be positive."

Council person: , "what we do want to do over the next couple of months is talk to parents across the area as a whole, not just the current users of the children's centre".

---

Anyhow, today I received an email, addressed to Princes Ward councillors, Kate Hoey, and a number of other folk, suggesting that there are plans afoot to close the Kennington Park Children's Centre.  You'll note from the above dialogue that the consultation was somewhat farcical, even from that first meeting.  I've highlighted in red that funding appears to have been earmarked to move the Centre, even prior to the consultation about whether to move it or not.  When pressed by Kate Hoey about whether the consultation was genuine, the speaker was forced to concede that "there are strong financial worries".  I'm not too sure whether there's much point in Lambeth Council pretending to consult, if they're just going to close something anyway, but perhaps it has to happen for statutory reasons.

It appears that staff and parents have come up with a number of ideas about how to make the Children's Centre profitable eg. by using it for other events, such as yoga/gym/creches etc. but the correspondent who has written to me has suggested that Lambeth Council has been running down the building on purpose, in order to reduce intake and undermine staff morale.  That's a harsh criticism indeed, and (being that I have no children and even little experience in day care centres), I can't back it up.  I'm sure that Lambeth would dispute that claim!  There don't seem to be enough people to fight for all of the services that we're going to need to preserve, but there appear to be at least 137 people who want to save Kennington Park Children's Centre.  There's a Facebook group here (which seems to be open to all), where they've advertised all of the consultation meetings.  Discussions on there seem to be quite active, so I'd advise you to join if you're interested in retaining the centre on its current site.  137 people can be wrong, but they represent a significant body of concern, and from the meeting I attended above, I was already concerned (as was Kate Hoey from her remarks) about the legitimacy of any such consultation.  I'm not at all surprised that Lambeth are leaning in the direction of closure, since they've already allocated the budget!!

The Associate Head Teacher of Henry Fawcett was enthusiastic (at the above meeting) about having the children's centre on the Henry Fawcett site.  Cynically, I presume it means that the school would receive more money.  But positively, it improves the educational life cycle of children if the school get to know them from their earliest years.  (Early intervention is also a significant help in reducing likelihood of delinquency in later life).  All I'd add is that the Henry Fawcett school is landlocked between two roads.  I doubt that the space they could provide the Day Centre is equivalent to the amount (and quality) of the space they've currently got, based in the middle of Kennington Park. 

I say that, despite being deeply impressed by the quality of the presentation from Claire Nuttall (Associate Head of Henry Fawcett) at the Kennington Parents meeting.  I'm not too sure that continuing to refer to Henry Fawcett as a school that has "just emerged from special measures" is productive.  Two members of staff were present from the school at the meeting on 22nd July, and they spoke very positively about wishing to remain under council monitoring so as to improve their school even further.  I'm not saying it's perfect, but if I were a parent, I'd have been the first to visit the place.  My guess is that they'll achieve a "good" Ofsted rating very quickly if their level of enthusiasm and commitment was anything to go by.  By contrast, no member of staff from Vauxhall Primary was present at the meeting at all.

But, I've been lurking in this area for some time now, and I've a wider remit than merely young people and education.  I'm just the tiniest tad suspicious that the real reason for relocating the Kennington Park Children's centre is because of the St Agnes redevelopment to take place in the park. The park land on which the centre is based could be sold off for considerable profit by Lambeth.  And once again, there's a risk that the Kennington Park Children's Centre would be lost from the public domain, just as Bolton Crescent (Southwark) and St Agnes are redeveloped with family housing, causing an inevitably increased intake at the local Henry Fawcett, Crampton Street and St John the Divine Primary schools (not to mention the others further into Kennington) and an increased need for daycare places.  I'm concerned about reducing the footprint of a school at a time when Lambeth parents are fighting like crazy for places in the south ot the borough (and the ones in the north are showing rumblings of discontent).  How great is the benefit of a children's centre on the site of a school, if that reduces the size of a landlocked site for current primary school students?

Cottington Community Garden open day on 25th September

Cottington Community Garden are holding an open day on 25th September from 11am - 4pm on Cottington Estate, Opal Street (just off of Kennington Lane).  There will be a cake stall, a fire engine and a raffle.  There will also be a chance to try grass head making and lavender bag creation and you'll be able to meet some of Lambeth's Master Gardeners.  Apparently, there are still some spaces available for table top sales, so people are welcome to sell crafts or old bits & bobs, but check first (call 07912 883 970).

Also, you can take a look at their Project Dirt site, which gives more information about their members, and what they're growing.  It sounds like a good way to improve your urban gardening skills or continue cultivating your green fingers.  I didn't know that the Cottington Estate had a community garden, so it was obviously a reasonably well kept secret!

See Rosie Boycott's Evening Standard article on the Gardens here...

New Pier at St George Wharf Vauxhall and new shops in Kennington Road / Kennington Park Road

(Image taken from Lambeth Planning database and Copyright 2010 Beckett Rankine on behalf of St George).

Heads up to Vauxhall Society for mentioning a new pier at St George Wharf, Vauxhall.  Due to the vagaries of the Lambeth Council planning system, I don't get an auto alert for every new development / shrub pruning etc. taking place in SE11.  It's particularly difficult when this Lambeth patch is split into Princes, Oval and Bishops wards, and sometimes developments of local interest to residents are proposed for the Albert Embankment or down even as far as Vassall ward.  Parts of SE11 are even under the remit of Southwark Council, so tracking it all is tricky.  Consequently, I missed (and I'm sorry I did so) the planning application for a taxi pier at St George Wharf.  It's presumably another transport method to serve the new tower, but it should provide a fantastic service for local residents too.  It turns Vauxhall into a mega 5 pronged transport hub (train station, tube station, bus station, Boris Bike station and river service station).  I'm a huge supporter of the idea, and would have promoted it thoroughly here had I happened to notice it earlier (the consultation is now over).  Anyhow, take a look at the application on the Lambeth Planning database here here - 10/02300/FUL.

As you may remember from my "whatever happened to Vauxhall pier?"  post several months ago, I could never understand why this wasn't built when the main section of St George Wharf was constructed, but I'm delighted to see it might arrive (depending on outcome of Lambeth Planning Committee).  It appears that would be partly located on St George Wharf land, but only the edge.  The rest of it floats in the Thames:

In other news, a new Londis shop (if the banner is anything to go by) is to be opened at 228 Kennington Park Road and somebody has applied (10/02931/ADV) to put an illuminated sign outside of 220 Kennington Park Road (which has been a very sad and sorry looking empty laundrette for some time).  I need to check I've got this in the correct order as I'm not 100% sure that the Londis sign isn't in 220 Kennington Park Road.  Can anybody confirm? 

236 Kennington Park Road (the old Corine's Cafe) was meant to be turning into a chiropractic practice, but I've not seen any sign of it yet.

I noticed a man (on Sunday) busy refurbishing what was formerly Supreme Motorbikes at 113 Kennington Road next to the Grand Union bar.  I received an email from a reader to say that the unit will be taken over by Chas Bikes, a firm that is currently based at Great Suffolk Street in SE1 and which has been providing service there for 20 years.  If the testimonies on his website are anything to go by, he'll be a fantastic asset to the area for local bikers.

And finally, as one Tweeter noticed, the Kennington Road tattoo parlour (Tattoo end) has opened (after a ridiculous debarcle, involving somebody objecting and pretending to be Gary Phillips, the Lilian Baylis head teacher, reported by the SLP).   The tattoo parlour should fit in just nicely with the estate agents, but be careful not to go to the wrong place after visiting a local pub.  It might be difficult to get the "For sale" tattoo removed in a falling London housing market :-)

The Pope came to Vauxhall... and all I got was this rather extraordinary video footage

The footage above was shot from a wall about 3 metres from where Pope Benedict chose to greet the crowd.  Whether you're a devotee, a protester, or something in between, there's no denying that this is an unrepeatable local event.  Most of the people in the crowd appeared to be locals, and there weren't vast numbers, so it wasn't that difficult to get close.

Somehow, I believe Kate Hoey managed to get in on the act too (I didn't see her there), but I'm not sure whether she managed a direct audience with the Pope.  We'll know soon, no doubt :)  Edit:  I've also managed to find the text of the Pope's short speech at St Peter's here on the Vatican Radio site, which was spoken inside the care home.

I was surprised that there wasn't more opposition, but I think there was another protest taking place at 10 Downing Street, which left only about 20 protestors at Vauxhall.  I wrote another post on the Pope's visit over here.

An assortment of other photos too:

The Triangle continued. Why are Lambeth Council seeking to evict the playground in the face of alternative options?

In early August I wrote an article, The Triangle playground vs. Archbishop Tenison School, on Lambeth Council's refusal to renew the playground's lease, despite the fact that Archbishiop Tenison has had its Building Future Schools project scrapped by the ConLib government.  In that article, I mentioned that the Triangle Playground have set up a petition that readers could sign to support the playground, but I noted that I couldn't understand why the Triangle Association thought the Council wanted to turn the site into a car park, when the Council had denied their intentions in this FOI request.  I have now obtained a little more information to make sense of the issues.

In the meantime, there have been further developments.  Clare Casey of the SLP has covered the story pithily.  The SLP noted on 26th August that Jim Clancey was summonsed to court in August and asked to return in October this year.  According to Casey's article, Lambeth Council are "determined to press ahead with plans" and Cllr Robbins has added his view to the mix, 'It’s sad that the pupils at Archbishop Tenison’s do not have enough space to play in.'.  I can't understand why, if the school expansion has not yet taken place, the pupils don't have the space to play in.  Does that mean that the school has increased its intake without first ensuring that they had enough space?  The Evening Standard picked up the story a week or so ago in a paragraph here, so it seems an apposite time to explore the the matter further.

In July 2008, when Lambeth Council were considering how they might expand Archbishop Tenison, they had architects (Atkins) draw up a number of documents to show what the expansion might look like.  (All of the drawings are shown below).  As you can see, out of 6 options (including the control option), only the final version of the drawing requires the swallowing up of the ground upon which the Triangle playground sits.  So the question is why the Council opted for that version and not one of the others...  Why did Lambeth Council choose option 6?

I've received information that suggests that one of the incumbent Oval ward councillors (one who is said to have close ties with Cllr Steve Reed), has not responded to any of the letters sent on the issue of the Triangle playground.  Is there anybody on the Council prepared to stand up and defend the borough's playgrounds?  The One O'Clock club in Kennington faces losing land, the Triangle faces eviction and Lollard Street Adventure Playground have had to set up a Friends group to ensure that it is well supported.  In the meantime, I'd be particularly pleased to hear from anybody that could point me to a report on when the Ethelred Youth Centre was last inspected?  Who owns the lease on that piece of land?

Perhaps somebody (councillor or otherwise) could shed some light here on why the BFS (Building Future Schools) team chose option 6 when there were 5 other perfectly good options for the school expansion?  Perhaps I'm wrong.  If the Council do not intend to turn the Triangle playground into a car park, as they remarked here, then why exactly is the Triangle land needed for the expansion of the school?  I think there are probably more questions than answers on this particular matter.

The Pope is visiting Vauxhall... and then he'll be off again

The Pope is visiting Vauxhall, twice.  Firstly, he'll be off to see Archbishop Rowan (he of the fluffy eyebrows) at Lambeth Palace, just outside of SE11.   Technically, Lambeth Palace isn’t Vauxhall (unless you work for TFL Cycle Hire), but never mind.  It is anticipated that the Pope will make conciliatory ecumenical efforts (perhaps in an effort to appease the Anglican flock) with talk of a shared brother, Cardinal Newman.  No doubt a public statement will be made, and then he'll be off again.  A few days later, the Pope will visit a St Peter's care home for elderly people in Meadow Road, where he's likely to say some prayers, greet the faithful and hold a private meeting.  A comment on the Stockwell News blog indicates that it will be difficult even to sneak a peek at the pope, as the roads leading to the home will be closed.  And then he'll be off again.

Unbeknownst to many, much of the organisation for the ecumenical visit at Lambeth Palace will be undertaken by members of the Anglican Community of the Holy Name.  The Lambeth branch of the community comprises two  nuns, who have been based in a cottage within the grounds of Lambeth Palace since 1994.  When they’re not preparing for Papal visits, their other work is simple; leading prayer, looking after church fabric and pastoral care for staff at Lambeth Palace.  It sounds very routine, and in many respects underwhelming, but those that live as nuns or monks bear witness through their lives of simplicity.  Time spent in prayer, they would argue, is not an escape from the world, but a manner of drawing close to God in order to better embrace one’s neighbour.  The virtue of peace is practiced through the avoidance of distraction and the continual stilling of one’s heart.  A people willing to advocate and practice peace in such a manner are becoming fewer, and thus I consider their presence more necessary.

I'm afraid I'm still unable to work out exactly how many Roman Catholic nuns work at Meadow Road elderly people's care home.  I saw a few of them when I visited Vauxhall Park Fete, but their exact number remains a mystery.  Their order’s web page doesn’t say; neither do the papal visit documents.  Perhaps it will remain a mystery even to the Pope, as the old joke goes.  Maybe numbers don't matter that much.  The Roman Catholics have been on site since 1863 (probably not the exact same nuns) and their work is also simple, but difficult.  Anybody that has borne the presence of those with dementia for long periods of time will know the toll it can exact upon the human spirit, but also, I suppose, the joy that might be received through giving the gift of time to others.

It's easy, far too easy really, to name the horrendous and despicable child sex abuse of the Roman Catholic hierarchy and to talk about the church's failure to promote condom use in countries riven by AIDS.  It is also important to declare those truths and not muffle the voices of the victims.  It is not difficult to consider instances of misogyny in the church or to bring to mind people who cannot conceive that "gay" is a label that many human beings rejoice in.  Am I offering a defence of gross exploitation or acts of uncharity?  No.  There can and should be no defence of injury to others.  I'm as stumped as the next person upon being asked to prove there is a God, to argue how evil can exist in the presence of said God, or to prove that the generic good of religion outweighs the generic bad.  The best I'll probably ever manage is to point at a healthy order of nuns who give up their lives to serve the needy and undeserving in the face of a sometimes obdurant hierarchy and a similarly baffled world.

In the meantime, there has been some Tweeting about the Pope's visit to Vauxhall, the sacred beating gay heart of London.  There's obvious potential for protests at the presence of somebody that many people consider has worked against the dignity of human beings and who does not deserve a civic State welcome.  The broadsheets have taken sides, pitting the Anne Widdecombes of the world against the Polly Toynbees, and they’ve granted Johann Hari column inches to do his thing.   The British will (and should) always value the freedom to speak truthfully.  Free and open speech has been conducted in the newspapers and the votes have been cast.  The "nays" seem to have won on this occasion, if the number of unsold tickets Papal visit tickets is correct.  Maybe numbers don't matter that much after all.  In any case, who is counting?  I don’t suppose the Pope is.  He’s just visiting Vauxhall, and then he’ll be off again.

But when the Popemobile (will it be sponsored by Barclays, we wonder?) has been retired to its garage, when the jet departs and the faithful return to their dioceses around the country, who will be repairing the fabric of beautiful church buildings?  And who will be holding the hand of an elderly person who hasn't got long to live?  And who will have a faith that's strong enough to maintain that human beings have dignity, even when they're drooling and incontinent and scared?  Maybe it will be the secular humanists and the agnostics and the "don't knows".  I'm pretty certain that it won't be the State, not after the October public sector jobs cuts.  The Pope is visiting Vauxhall, and then he'll be off again.  So it won't be him.

If I had to choose who'd see me off in my last days, it probably wouldn't be Anne Widdecombe or Johann Hari or the Pope, for that matter.  I'd hope to be accompanied by my friends.  I'd want to walk with the people who'd kept some semblance of faith when the Pope had departed, and Monday morning had arrived again, as it inevitably does.  And next week, when Monday morning comes around again, when the Pope and protesters have left, when we cycle the rosary beaded blue tarmac of Kennington Park Road and we’re left with the unpaid papal bill, the elderly will still need all the friends they can find.  After all, the Pope is visiting Vauxhall... and then he'll be off again.