Jean Vanier at Meadow Road, Vauxhall Society Remembrance Night, Cinema Museum celebrate Spain NOW and Kennington Gardens Scoiety AGM

You'll notice I've added a calendar to the right hand side of site.  Do email me if you wish to submit or publicise an event in SE11 (or on the borders).  At the moment, I'm just adding events as I happen to spot them from Twitter or receive emails from people etc. but I'd like to list a good selection of plays, concerts, community events, classes, quiz nights etc.
I wanted to write a quick post re. interesting events that will be taking place in the area.  Most of them are local and either very cheap, or require only a donation, so beat those autumn blues and meet some of the fantastic community members in Kennington, Oval and Vauxhall.

Firstly, the Cinema Museum, (as part of Spain NOW! 2010), is hosting a film and music night on Friday 5th November from 7pm - 12pm.  The Cinema Museum is at 2 Dugard Way, SE11 4TH.  The event is free, but a donation to The Cinema Museum is encouraged.  It's a bit difficult to tell what the event will involve, despite having read the poster a few times.  (I'm obviously getting old, as I've no idea what a "participatory interactive happening" might involve!)  More info here.

Secondly, the Kennington Gardens Society AGM is taking place on Thursday 11th November 2010 at 7.30pm at Roots and Shoots, Walnut Tree Walk, SE11.  It will be followed by a talk by Lizzie Moore on Christmas Floral Decorations (£2 fee).  Refreshments available.

Thirdly, and also on Thursday 11th November 2010, but at 7pm, the Vauxhall Civic Society are holding a Remembrance Evening for Armistice Day at Brunswick House, (Lassco), 30 Wandsworth Road, Vauxhall, SW8 2LG.  It's free, but donations to the Vauxhall Civic Society are welcome.  Feel free to bring along, and read a favourite remembrance poem, and you'll also hear poems and stories related to Vauxhall from  Naomi Lourie Klein (the famous author of Stockwell News), Philippa Owen and Ross Davies (local authors). Refreshments available.

Finally, on Wednesday 24 November, at 19:15, Jean Vanier is visiting Lambeth to deliver a talk entitled 'To be human is to be vulnerable".  Jean Vanier is the founder of the L'Arche communities in which people with learning disabilities and those that assist them create homes together to share their gifts.  There are a remarkable 137 communities, and he's a remarkable man.  There's a L'Arche community in West Norwood (perhaps why he's visiting locally) and he'll deliver his lecture at the Residence of the Little Sisters of the Poor, Meadow Road, SW8 1QH (the same venue as September's Papal visit).  The event is run by Westminster Cathedral's Young Friends, and I've been asked to note that the talk is principally aimed at young people.  More info here.

Lilian Baylis Technology School Careers Fair

Lilian Baylis Technology School are holding a careers fair on 2 December.  Their headteacher, Gary Phillips wishes to disseminate the email below to local people:

My name is Gary Phillips and I am Head of Lilian Baylis Technology School. I am writing to invite you and/or your organisation to host a stall at our Careers Fair on Thursday 2 December from 17:00 - 19.30.

Most of our students do not come from graduate and/or professional families so events such as our Careers Fair are vital in inspiring and nourishing ambition. We run the event in the gym with each organisation hosting a stall where they engage with the students and families about the opportunities their organisation offers and/or what is required to work with the organisation.

If you are able to attend or need any further details please let Gina Mensah know on 0207 091 9500 or gina.mensah@lilianbaylis.com

I'm sure the school would appreciate a positive response from local businesses and organisations, as there is a growing commercial community throughout Kennington and Vauxhall, so do feel free to spread the request far and wide.

Refurbishment of Vauxhall station and surrounds (KOV meeting write up - Part 1)

Paula Haustead, a representative from Network Rail (first on the agenda) spoke about the improvements due to be made to Vauxhall Station. There were accompanying slides, which I requested on the night, and which should eventually be added to the text below. I felt that Ms Haustead spoke clearly, was informative and handled the Kennington Menace quite well (see below).

Network Rail consider that the main entrance to Vauxhall station, facing the bus station is fairly dark, and are looking to make improvements to the way that the station is perceived in the local area and to make it more accessible. (All good news. I had no idea that any of this was due). The refurbishment of Vauxhall Station falls into four separate Network Rail programme categories.

The National Stations Improvement Programme (NSIP) project is money that the Department of Transport have given to Network Rail nationally for improving small and medium sized stations. Vauxhall has been identified as an appropriate station to receive funding, and the programme will be delivered by Network Rail, but undertaken as a partnership project in conjunction with South East trains. Network Rail are looking at putting in a new station concourse, and they're also looking at realigning the stair access into the London Underground station. The Network Rail commercial property division hope to refurbish the arches adjacent to the station at the same time, and put in a restaurant or a supermarket (that's where the Waitrose rumours enter the picture).

In terms of external work, the arches at the front of the station will be smartened and improved. A new glazed canopy will join up the exit from Vauxhall Underground station and Vauxhall Rail Station, providing a dry route between the two. The station canopies covering all of the platforms are in a pretty poor state of repair, and Network Rail intend to do renewals work to those at the same time as lift work. Improved drainage will also be undertaken. Station power (which there are issues with at the moment) should be improved by the installation of a new sub station.

Internally, the existing stair access from Vauxhall Station to the railway platforms is very steep, and some resurfacing of the steps has taken place recently. However, the plan is to put lifts into Vauxhall Station.  The arch adjacent to the ticket hall contains a brick structure (I've not noticed it), which is an existing lift shaft. Several old lift shafts at Vauxhall are capped at platform level, but will need to be rebuilt as part of the project since they're currently too small. The shafts are now only visible from the top of platforms 7 and 8. The lifts have been out of use since postal access was required at Vauxhall! (Does anybody know when that might have ceased?). Network Rail are also hoping to break through the arches and open two new areas within the station, installing an additional ticket barrier (I think, although hopefully the plans will clear up this matter) so that passengers can circulate through two brand new areas into the station. In terms of their Access for All project, Network Rail are looking to put four new lift shafts up to each of the railway platforms. (There are no plans for a lift down to Vauxhall tube station, but I imagine that that would be a matter for TFL). Network Rail will also put tactile strips on all of the platforms so that people who are blind or visually impaired can more easily identify the platform edge.

The whole project is only in outline design at the moment, and will enter detailed design in January 2011, but Network Rail have already been talking with Lambeth about Planning. Permission is already secured for the lift project, but a full planning application will be submitted so that local people will be able to comment on the National Stations Improvement Programme, the canopy area and the adjacent commercial lets. Some elements of the funding have yet to be secured, but Network Rail are working closely with Lambeth to resolve the matter. Funding is in place for all elements except for the National Stations Improvement Programme. However, work for both Vauxhall and Earlsfield stations is being tendered for at the moment, which should improve efficiences and reduce costs. The two projects together will cost approx. £20 million. (It's a shame they couldn't do Waterloo as well, but no doubt it will take a lot of money to bring those old Eurostar platforms back into use, and that's another political battle). The contract is a "design and build" contract, which means that certain elements will be designed by the contractor once they've come on board. The aim is to complete all of the works by October 2012, although certain elements will be delivered earlier.

Some of the funding for the improvements at Vauxhall will be brought in through Section 106 and European funding. Clive Fraser (beleaguered Lambeth Planning Officer) confirmed that some of the Section 106 money was banked, and the rest should be banked during the lifetime of the project. Practicalities for releasing money are being discussed at present.

Now, on to question time... One audience member asked a sensible question about whether access to Vauxhall Station from the South Lambeth Road (Oval) side would be improved, on account of the entrance tunnel being closed quite frequently. Ms Haustead responded reasonably that Network Rail do not control when the access is open or closed, but that it is the job of the train operating company, and acknowledged that the entrance is sometimes closed on account of it being used less frequently. Fine? Well, not really, but if it's up to the train company to resolve, there's not a great deal that Network Rail can do. Did I mention that the Kennington and Vauxhall Menace were out in full force? Another person felt that it was highly "highly unsatisfactory" to say that improved access from South London Road was not possible when Network Rail are supposed to be improving access. Ms Haustead noted that the entrance from the south side would not be changed at all and confirmed that as it's physically and structurally intact, but that the rest is not up to them. The point about having to walk the long way around was repeated ad nauseum, and Network Rail were told that they /have/ to look at this point (despite it not being their responsibility)!

An anwer to one question revealed that the facade of the building will be cleaned and repairs made. Another question, regarding Access for All, yielded information that (as well as the lifts), a second wide-aisle gate will be installed in a new gate line, which will be added to the station. At the moment, disabled people are unable to access the station, so one person asked whether that part of the work might be delivered first. Unfortunately, there appears to be some kind of issue re. delivery of the refurbishment work because the arch in which the lifts will be installed has to be used as a work site, so to make the project move more quickly, the commercial arches might be started sooner, not for commercial gain, but because they, along with the canopies, can be accessed more easily. Platform extensions will eventually be looked at, but not during this project.

Cllr Jane Edbrooke (Oval Ward, Labour) spoke up to ask about planning and highlight that there's a plan to place a supermarket at the bottom of the Bondway tower (if that ever gets the go-ahead), and asked for joined up thinking on that point. Another audience member asked about whether secure cycle parking would be delivered, but Network Rail say they are unable to expand the parking on account of lack of space.

I think we can conclude that the refurbishment and renewal plans for Vauxhall Station are not momentous, but are somewhat overdue. It had never occurred to me that wheelchair users were unable to use the station at all (a naive ableist oversight), and consequently, I hope that accessibility will be a priority issue. Quite frankly, I welcome any changes that might improve the main body of the station, so commercial units and increased waiting space is a welcome development.  Now we just have to wait for the removal of the Vauxhall interchange :-)

There were numerous items on the agenda at the 2 hour KOV meeting, so expect more posts on Co-Op Council and future of former Lilian Baylis etc.

Sainsburys Nine Elms - Part 4 of 5 from Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea Exhibition VNEB

I'm sorry that this has been delayed, but it took quite a while to upload all of the photos from the VNEB exhibition at the beginning of October.  Click on the following to see the other posts on the VNEB exhibition, Part 1 (Ballymore sections, around the new US embassy), Part 2 (Lambeth Council segment) and Part 3 (Tideway Wharf).

(Oh, and do feel free to browse the exhibition photos below, but I written a fuller and more recent debrief, after the Nine Elms Sainsbury's Tower plans were shown at an exhibition in November 2010.).

Tradescant Road blog has already mentioned the Nine Elms Sainsbury's plans shown below, but I wanted to add them for posterity.

This board gives no information about the size or scale of the development, only shows the site of building, which, predictably, is the site upon which Sainsbury's currently resides:

This board informs us that the entire site will be made more friendly for pedestrians and cyclists, potentially opening up other parts of the Opportunity Area.  It will be interesting to see how (and if) they'll connect Wandsworth Road and Nine Elms Road.  Notice that they suggest that the whole area might be improved by "a new landmark building"!  (I'm quite in favour of improving this site, but I just find it amusing that they think a new building would improve the area when it's clearly their intention to build whether it would or not!!)  See the bottom of this article for some early thoughts about the proposal.  There's a hint that a new park, open or green space might be put in place, with access to the public:  

The following two boards give no more information about what is proposed.  Quite disappointing, considering the information provided by the other developers:

Anyhow, you might be intrigued to know that our local Councillors have been given early access to the Sainsburys plans.  Consequently, we know from Cllr Mark Harrison's hints on Twitter that the proposal is likely to include three towers.  The tallest tower will come in at around 35 storeys, and Sainsbury's will be exhibiting outside their store some time soon.  Evidence here:

Kennington Park Children's Centre to close

Lambeth Council published a report on 22/10/2010 that was made public yesterday(ish), announcing that the Kennington Park Children's Centre (on its current site in the park) is to close for three reasons:

1.  Henry Fawcett School is judged to be in a position to provide leadership and support for the Centre if it's located on the school site.  (The report indicates that a national policy may be introduced requiring Local Authorities that are managing Children's Centres to outsource them to third party organisations).

2.  The new location (at Henry Fawcett School) is judged to be more accessible for catchment area (across Oval ward) families.  The report oulines the fact that the new site should "increase access by community groups that are currently underrepresented", but it doesn't say what it means by that.  [Are we talking about people who live in the south of Oval who wouldn't cross the park, or people of under-represented races, or underrepresented income?  I hate it when underrepresentation is raised, but it's not outlined what is meant by that word.]  Moving the site, in any case, puts it nearer to where most of the users of the site live.

3.  Long term sustainability for the Children's Centre will be secured.

To be fair, the report accurately records that "current users" would prefer the Centre to remain in the park, whilst non-users would prefer the site to move to Henry Fawcett.  The results of the questionnaires are quite mixed.  48% of responses would prefer that the centre stay on site, 41% want it moved and the rest were undecided.  I suspect that the decision had already been made on the basis of finance, and perhaps in the current climate, we should be relieved to retain a Children's Centre in Oval ward.  (For my last post on this matter, see "When consultation risks being lip service".)

The report outlines the fact that the Children's Centre received a budget of £304,170 (2009-2010), funding management, administration, teaching, outreach and the creche, but also notes that maintenance and running costs are high and have to be sustained through that budget.  The difficulty is that when a Children's Centre is located on a school site, the costs are shared, whereas in a stand alone site, costs fall entirely on the Centre itself.  £200,000 of income (2009-2010) was also sourced from elsewhere.  The report is not clear on where the £200,000 came from.  The entire cost of the Children's Centre was (2009-2010) £591,500, leaving a deficit of £87,500, which actually, doesn't sound to me as though it's a massive deficit that couldn't have been covered in other ways, but if the Council need the site for the PRU (see below), I can see why the Children's Centre would have to move.  (Interestingly, there's a slight risk that lots of dissenting parents will not continue to use the Children's Centre on the new site, which could leave the Council with a deficit for the next few years, but they're balancing that against capital cost savings).

There are a number of interesting statistics within the report eg. Oval Ward is one of 20% most deprived national wards and a third of users of current Children's Centre users are actually from Southwark.  Services available to those on ward boundaries often suffer and I'm not sure whether Lambeth will be able to be so partisan when the proposals for the Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham partnership are put together, but since there's a nearby Children's Centre in Southwark, I can see the rationale for the move.

The major loss appears to me to be a lack of childcare for children between 0 and 2.  This will not be offered at Henry Fawcett, but instead through "associate childminders".  I'm not too clear on what an associate childminder is, so would be grateful for comments.  The report is quite clear that the capital money to be spent on amending the school could have been used on renovating the Children's Centre, but the timeframe is not sufficient to complete a feasibility study and carry out the works, and the Council also estimates that additional repairs would be necessary.

I was wondering what would happen to the Kennington Park Children's Centre site, but apparently, it would house (if money is forthcoming, which it probably won't be now the cuts have been announced) the Primary Pupil Referral Unit (PRU).

The new Henry Fawcett site should come into use between March and April 2011.  I can't say that I'm entirely surprised, but if the PRU funding doesn't come through, it will leave the Kennington Park Children's Centre empty.  That would add it to a fast growing list of "empty" buildings; the former Lilian Baylis is in meanwhile use, the Beaufoy Insitute is empty and the Olive School (I believe) is empty .  Proposals for the former Lilian Baylis will be heard at the KOV meeting on Monday 1st November (see calendar), but it won't happen that quickly. I heard on the grapevine that the Olive School is temporarily being used as a PRU, but I'm not sure whether a new tenant has been found.  Would be grateful for comments on that too, so I can update.

20 Albert Embankment - tiny planning permission amendment

A request (10/03287/FUL) for a tiny amendment to the planning permission for 20 Albert Embankment has been submitted to Lambeth Council along the following lines:

"The planning conditions as currently worded require the submission and approval of the relevant details to/by the local planning authority "prior to the commencement of building works". The variations seek to substitute the words "Prior to the commencement of building works" with either the words "Prior to the commencement of the relevant works" or "Prior to the commencement of works above ground" (as appropriate) to allow for a staggered submission of details."

I don't know enough about planning law to know why this type of amendment would be required.  I suppose it all hangs on why the building details can't be submitted prior to works? I'm not sure why details would need submitted in a staggered manner?  Is it a stalling tactic?  Do Newlands Enterprises Ltd wish to hold until the market recovers or do they want to wait to hear from Lambeth about one part of the building before submitting the details for the next?  Questions, questions...

The closed Kennington Park Astroturf pitches and why it's taking so long...

Further to my article earlier this week on why everything (including the Astroturf court) in Kennington Park appears to be closed, I've sourced some extra info. from the Friends of Kennington Park.

Kennington Park's astroturf pitch was installed in 2006 with a 15 year warranty.  Under the warranty, the seams were fixed in 2008 and 2009.  Issues with the seams were again discovered in August this year, and the manufacturers were called to examine the pitch, after which the installers argued that the seam issues fell outside of the warranty.  Naturally, Lambeth Council argued the opposite view, but the court was closed whilst an investigation upon whom the responsibility should fall was undertaken.  The Council were unable to speed up the repairs by asking another company to look at the issue in view of the fact that it would have invalidated the warranty.  After further meetings and inspections, the manufacturer agreed to make the necessary repairs.  Work was due to commence on the 12th October, but I noticed at the weekend that it appeared to be delayed due to bad weather.  Do any of my readers use the pitch, and has anybody seen any works taking place?

The teams using the pitches have been offered refunds or credits, and from the information above, it appears that the Council have been acting in the best interest of the public.  The question is why the discussions and meetings have taken so long, but I suppose, given the context of a £200,000 pitch at stake, and the technical report requested, that 2 months isn't a great deal of time to resolve the matter.  If the pitch closure continues into a third month, I imagine that more questions will need to be asked.

Advanced notice - KOV Co-op Council Discussion & Thames Tunnel Consultation and

This is just a quick post giving advanced notice of three community gatherings.

Firstly, in view of the announcements of the Government's Spending Review, and the speculation that Lambeth Council will lose £70 million, some notion of Labour's Co-operative Council will soon become a reality in Lambeth.  Local public sector job cuts are likely (but we probably won't know the detail for a few months) and whether you call it Big Society or Co-operative Council, the result will be fewer services spread over the same (or greater) number of people.  According to Local London, considerations about pooling services such as road repairs, social care, rubbish collection, libaries and adult education between Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark Councils are under way.  I've no idea what any of this might look like, but there will be opportunites to ask questions at the next KOV meeting on 1 November at 6:30 for 7pm.  The venue is to be the Vauxhall Gardens Community Centre, 100 Vauxhall Walk, SE11 5EL.  Also announced at the KOV meeting with be "interesting news" about the future of the former Lilian Baylis school site (not sure how that will fare with all of the cuts) and apparently, some discussion of improvements planned for Vauxhall overground station.  It seems to be a rather full agenda so expect the meeting to run late.

Secondly, thanks to the good Cllr Harrison, a consultation will take place re. the Vauxhall Thames Tideway Tunnel ventiliation shaft etc. on the Albert Embankment in Vauxhall.  The consultation will be held on 6th November from 10am-4pm at Park Plaza Hotel, 18 Albert Embankment.  For more information about the tunnel, see my article "What is the Tideway Tunnel is, and how does it affect Vauxhall?".

Lastly, thanks to a commentator earlier in the week, some of you might be interested to know that former MP and local resident, Chris Mullin will be speaking at the Durning Library on Thursday 21st (tomorrow) at 6.45pm.  £2 is requested as a donation for refreshments.  The Times' Rod Liddle noted that Mullin's recently published diaries (A View from The Foothills) were "The most valuable set of diaries to emanate from the now interred corpse of new Labour; the most revelatory and also…the most entertaining."  Make of that what you will.

Lambeth High Street Recreation Ground proposals (consultation today)

There's a consultation today, until 8pm, about some proposals for the renovation of Lambeth High Street Recreation Ground in 2011. Apologies for failing to mention it before now. The consultation is taking place today from 8am to 8pm at 125 Lambeth Walk.

Also, a new Friends of Lambeth Rec Group seems to have popped up for the park and that website contains some interesting information eg. plans to change the name of the park to "Old Paradise Gardens" and gives you an opportunity to become a "Friend".

If you're curious, the park is boundaried by Old Paradise Street, Lambeth High Street and Whitgift Street.

I'll try and pop along tonight and display the plans here tomorrow.

Kennington Park Astroturf and Flower Garden closed. Midnight path under threat.

What on earth is happening in Kennington Park?  A few weeks ago, I received a tip-off that the Astro turf pitch had been closed.  I'm not sure about the date of its exact closure, but by process of deduction, I think it has been closed for about 2 months now.  A park-ranger/sports coach that I spoke to on site (last Saturday) said that the pitch had been closed due to the hockey players complaining that the pitch was not flat.  The anonymous email I received claims that the pitch has been closed for health and safety reasons on account of a "stretching" of the pitch (opposite the tennis courts).

If you go and view the pitches when they're open, you'll see that they're in almost constant use.  I'd guess that up to 1000 people use them each day (taking into account day and evening use).  According to the Friends of Kennington Park, there's been some sort of dispute between Lambeth Council and GLL over an expired warranty which has caused a delay in fixing the pitch.  Repairs are due to take place any day now, but according to Lambeth Council, they require dry weather.  A 2 month closure is unacceptable, but that's not the park's only closed facility...

The Old English flower garden is also closed.  The photo above shows the wire fence that has been erected not only around the entrance, but around the entire garden!  I discovered this particular piece of news at the memorial for the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Kennington air-raid shelter.  The flower garden contains several benches, dedicated to people who died in the blast and people who've died more recently, but nobody has been able to go and view any of them.  The flower garden, like the park, is meant to be open to the public.  Unfortunately, it was closed in May 2010.  It then opened once or twice in June, but has been closed for the rest of the summer and remains closed.  The local rumour mill (I can't guarantee accuracy) puts this down to being a dispute between the general police, and (guess who?), the Oval Safer Neighbourhood Team.  The SNT, apparently, consider the Flower Garden to be dangerous.  Personally, I've never had a problem with either the squirrels or the drinkers in the flower garden.  I always say "live and let live",  but it seems that maybe the police are closing everything they deem poses any risk.

I was going to suggest a public insurrection to reclaim our common land (the Flower Garden), but it seems that the Common Land of Kennington Common was abolished in 1852 (how dare they?) when the Common became a Park for public recreation and apparently, "extinguished all rights of common".  But let's not let the detail prevent us from gathering to free the Flower Garden!  Who is interested in a bit of late night wire cutting?  And whilst on that  topic of the Oval SNT, and their activities, I'd  just like to remind you of the generally unpublicised threat to Midnight Walk.  When I went to speak to the police at the informal consultation, they maintained that most of the people they'd spoken to on the night of 13th October 2010 (it was just ticks on a clipboard), were in favour of closing the Midnight Path.  I'd generally keep quiet if I felt that such a view represented public opinion.  I'm not sure that it does.  Thanks to the commentator, Mark, I've been told that Kate Hoey had to step in to prevent the path's closure back in 2002.  The problem back then was that men who used the park at night (when it was closed) were sometimes mugged, and since they were not meant to be in the park in the first place, they claimed that muggings had taken place on the Midnight Path.  Is this what's happening on this occasion?  Can anybody who has been mugged on this path provide any additional information?

The Friends of Kennington Park Facebook page notes the following:

"The path has been a public right of way since 1899. It is not part of the park, but used by many people living in Lambeth and Southwark at all hours.

The Friends' committee have urged Lambeth and the Police to consult widely, particularly with Residents' and Tenants' Associations and ward councillors. If there are only a few objections, the closure can be sanctioned by Lambeth officials; if there are many, the issue has to be heard in court."

I imagine that the "public right of way" legislation trumps the Kennington Common Inclosure Act of 1852.  If a public right of way has been granted, then it can't easily be removed.  Consider emailing the Oval Safer Neighbourhoods team or Hannah Wadey, the Lambeth Community Safety Officer to left them know your views about the proposed closure of the Midnight Path.

I'm not sure how many Kennington Anarchists would be interested in using bolt cutters to gain entry to the flower garden under the cover of night, so I suppose it might be better to resort to a more democratic means of dealing with the issue.  If you'd like to see the Astroturf re-opened, and nothing happens (or is happening) on that front, or you'd like access to the Flower Gardens, or you'd like to prevent the Midnight Path being closed, do feel free to contact your local Oval Ward Councillors:  Cllr Ishbel Brown (Lib Dem), Cllr Jane Edbrooke (Labour) and Cllr Jack Hopkins (Labour).

70th Anniversary of Kennington Park air-raid shelter disaster - photos from Kennington Park

Today, about 60 people gathered in Kennington Park for a memorial ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the deaths of 104 Londoners at an air raid shelter during the Blitz.

During the second world war, many Londoners did not have gardens and due to the fact that authorities closed nearby Underground stations eg. Oval, were forced to seek shelter in communal trench shelters.  The trench shelters were considered unsafe on account of their structure, as nearby reverberations could cause the sides to cave in.  That's exactly what happened on October 16th 1940 when a 15lb bomb fell directly on the shelter in Kennington Park.  The estimated death toll was 104, but only 48 bodies were recovered.  The rest are still lying beneath the park.

The massive death toll at Kennington Park is widely considered to have been hushed up by the authorities, on account of damaging Londoner's morale and alerting the Axis' pilots to the presence of additional civilians.  It wasn't until 2003 that the specific event in Kennington Park (which saw the highest number of casualties in Lambeth during WW2) received its own memorial.

For more info (and the sources from where I drew the above), take a look at a Friends of Kennington Park guide named  "Kennington's Forgotton Tragedy" authored by Rob Pateman, this recent BBC article, also by Rob Pateman and a further article on the WW2 Today website.

Gordon Johnston, Chair of the Friends of Kennington Park, introduced the order of ceremony and the Mayor.  The words on the memorial are by Maya Angelou:

Cllr Catherine Bowman, representing Southwark Council helped to plant a memorial rose bush:

Pauline Harrison, a relative of two victims of the air-raid shelter, and representing the relatives of those who died in the blast, also planted a rosebush:

A representative from the Friends of Kennington Park planted a rose bush:

And finally, local children from Archbishop Sumner Primary school planted a rose bush:

With that, the evocative bugles sounded, and coincidentally a bi-plane flew over Kennington Park, and we remembered those that will not grow old and whom the years will not condemn:

Oval SNT police consultation on closing Kennington Park Midnight path at night

Apologies for the late notice, but I only discovered this afternoon (through @KenParkFriends on Twitter) that the Oval SNT will be conducting a consultation from 5.30pm TONIGHT (Wednesday 13th October) about closing the Midnight path through Kennington Park at night.  The midnight park connects Kennington residents in Lambeth with Kennington residents in Southwark and is a quick and useful cut through.  It always looks well used to me, especially at weekends.

This evening, the police will ask anybody that walks through the park whether they use the path at night, whether they feel safe when using the path and if they don't feel safe, whether they would like the path to be closed at night.

Apparently, 21 robberies have taken place recently (may have been over the last year, but I missed that crucial piece of info), and 80% of them have taken place when the park has been closed, and the majority of people that have been robbed have been men.

This is just the start of the consultation, and residents on both the Brandon Estate and the other side of the park are due to be consulted on the matter.  My view (since you asked) is that it's better not to use the path if you don't feel safe, and I'd argue against its closure.  Feel free to go to the consultation this evening and make your own views known. 

I wish I'd heard about this earlier, as it's of interest to local people.  I still can't figure out where it's been publicised up to this point.

New London Cycle Hire in Vauxhall Street nearly finished. Are new docking stations too close together?

Further to the planning permission application back in August, to place new docking stations on Vauxhall St and Oval Way, I can confirm that the Vauxhall Street dock is nearly finished.  Following a tip-off from somebody on the Boris Bike forums, I heard that works had begun.

It was a bit dark when I visited last night, as you can see: 

Now that I've seen the placement of the dock (just off of Kennington Lane), which I've plotted on the map below (the top blue marker), I'm surprised at the choice of an additional site for Oval Way (ringed in red). 

I forgot to check Oval Way yesterday to see whether the docking station there has been started, but I'll check tonight.  My view is that there will be three docking stations too close to one another (considering that some areas have none).  The docking station close to Kennington Tesco (blue market on the right), the new Vauxhall Road one (blue market on the left) and the proposed station on Oval Way are not near enough to Vauxhall Station to be any use as overflow points and I'm not sure why they've been clustered there. 

My feeling is that it would be to put a station on the island (near to the over-active fountain) just outside of Oval Station.  There's nothing else there and it would put the dock on a Cycle Superhighway as well.  I think TFL are being silly about site placement, just trying to cram in their 400 docks to achieve the agreed quota.  I really can't see that there's demand for both Vauxhall Road and Oval Way docks so close to one another.  Of course, it should make it easier to find somewhere to park in Kennington (without having to wander all of the way to the Lollard Street stop), but the spacing is unimaginative.  The real need is for more spaces around Vauxhall Station and further south in London.  My suggestion for the use of the Oval fountain site is on account of it being  a "main road" route.  Oval Way is unnecessary, given the station placed so far down Vauxhall Road.

What do others think?

Change of use due to expire on 216 Kennington Road, preventing possible Tesco arrival

The new Tesco planned for Kennington Park Road has been developed relatively quickly, and permission has been requested to install air conditioning, fridges and lighting.  All of the posts on the matter can be found under the 38-40 Kennington Park Road tag.  I'd guess that the Tesco will be up and running before the end of 2010.

But today, it's heads up to Sean Creighton (known locally for his useful and detailed newsletters) from RCDT/LMHS who has informed us that the original planning permission (obtained back in 2007) to change 216 Kennington Road from D2 (assembly and leisure usage) to A2/B1a (services and business use) has nearly expired.  The original 2007 application is  07/01817/FUL. (It's due to expire on 17/1/2011).  The use of this building as a supermarket (allegedly Tesco) has been contentious from the start, on account of the fact that it was originally set aside under Section 106 for community use, but was missed off the Council's list, and the usage expired.  One interesting point that I've heard reiterated by several locals is that there were a number of nearby community organisations who hoped to use the building.  Whenever anybody telephoned the agents (I tried myself on several occasions), the caller is always told that a tenant has been found and the building is "being held".  Nothing much has happened in the intervening three years, other than numerous alterations of planning applications re. times of shopping delivery by lorry and the numbers of flats that may be built.

If local people from a variety of organistions were to object to the 216 Kennington Road Tesco being re-granted a change of use, and the Council were to agree (tricky, since they granted the permission above ), then there's a chance that local organisations might get a look in again.  The new application for change of use can be found under 10/03318/FUL on the Lambeth Planning database.

I used to be rather vociferously against the use of the site for a Tesco on account of the fact it was intended for community use.  More lately I've pondered that it would be better to be occupied than for it to remain empty.  But sitting on an empty building for three years and failing to develop it means that an organised community campaign (on the basis the building was always intended for the community, and Lambeth Council messed up) might well release the building for locals again.  The key question of course, is whether any local organisation has the money to lease it?

Photos from Roots and Shoots Apple Day 2010 - Autumn is here

The changing of the seasons is easily missed in a large metropolis such as London.  In Kennington, during autumn, the leaves take the same course from the trees as they do in the countryside.  It just seems easier to miss the seasons it if you spend three quarters of your week cooped up in an office (as I do).  But Roots and Shoots Apple day always makes me feel as though autumn has arrived properly...  Except, of course, that today was so warm, that you might have missed the autumnal cheer had it not been for the apples.  This post forms the second part of a belated series started in 2009 on "Reasons I love SE11".  Apple Day really is a great opportunity to meet local people, and do something a little bit different.

Whilst we're on the topic of apples (and cider), you should all go and take a look at Sid Boggle's post on beer in Kennington.  That, of course, was a failed attempt at word association, just to promote his blog post about Kennington beers, but do take a look any way as I think he'd appreciate comments from local piss-heads (erm, beer appreciators etc).

In the meantime, I want to share with you the miles of wonderful apples I saw today.  I bought one of the "Pitmaston Pineapple" variety, but I'm afraid I lack the developed sense of taste possessed by wine appreciators (and apple describers too).  It was delicious, but just tasted  like apple :

A bathing falcon and a cat.  No, it's an owl.  Or maybe it's a cat.  Today I learned that any owl with yellow eyes is diurnal (awake during the day), although the eyes on this one are hard to see on account of the fluff:

The falcon mid-launch.  We were treated to a fantastic display of falcon flight and owl handling.  The falcon was considerably better behaved:

The apple trees pictured (top) are dwarf trees that only grow to 6 feet, and are thus possibly suitable for a balcony (my main growing arena).   The dwarf variety labelled "Cellini" is apparently local to Vauxhall:

Naturally, I could neither resist the lure of the barbecue nor the apple juice.  The fuzziness of the barbecue is due to the smoke from the sausages.  The leaves on the wall were as lovely as they appear:

The woman in charge of the corn dolly instruction was great, and the children looked to be having fun.  Example corn dollies can be seen in the photo just below.  The chap at the bottom was at Roots and Shoots representing Solar Aid, a charity that is working to enable local entrepreneurs in the developing world to build and sell solar powered products under a franchise named SunnyMoney.  Their solar products eg. lights and phone chargers should reduce CO2 emissions and benefit the people who buy and sell them (they're much safer than kerosene lamps).  

I'm guessing that the solar people were present on account of the fact that the electricity in Roots and Shoots is generated, in part, from solar panels.  I also had a chat with a guy representing SolarCentury, a company that install solar panels and photovoltaic cells on private houses and on behalf of Housing Association.  If you install photovoltaic cells on your roof, they'll take between 7 and 12 years to pay for themselves.  They will last at 100% capacity for about 25 years, but will continue on at 80% until they eventually decay and need to be replaced.

You can't beat locally sourced food.  As you'll likely be aware, I can never resist photographing cupcakes.  The food from Arfa's kitchen was absolutely delicious.  If you see Arfa around, I recommend sampling her chicken curry:

Apple day always offers an opportunity to purchase bulbs and seeds.  I didn't buy any tulips, but I'm hoping for a crop of Lambeth-produced daffodils and crocuses in spring, and the Lambeth Horticultural Society (with whom the Kennington Gardens Society is affiliated) were very helpful in giving instructions about how to plant and look after the bulbs:

That's all folks, until next year...