Southwark Businesses Owed £39M

Reviewing Southwark’s draft 13/14 accounts (page 138) they show a financial provision estimating that Southwark businesses with appeals against the Business Rates (NNDR) are expected to win £39M !

30% of this will come from Southwark Council and 70% from the Great London Authority and the Government. This is a result of the pickle of the Business Rates review in 2005.

The backlog created by appeal in 2005 is taking a very long time to resolve. Amazingly businesses typically have been waiting 8-9 years for their appeal with the Valuation Office Agency to be decided. It really is not clear when this huge backlog damaging Southwark businesses will be cleared.

Think how many extra jobs could be created if those businesses had that money sooner rather than later.

So at Southwark Councils Audit & Governance committee on Monday evening I asked, and the committee agreed, that we invite the VOA to attend our next meeting in September to explain how they will fix this and what Southwark Council can do to help resolve this.

106 Lordship Lane

Lots of building work had been taking place at 106 Lordship Lane. Residents were concerned that another attempt was being to turn it into a restaurant but on the sly.

So I and my ward colleague Cllr Rosie Shimell called-on the planning application to be decided by a Planning Committee to ensure the best possible scrutiny.

So it was a pleasant surprise to be on that Planning Committee.

It was even more of a pleasure to hear from both the objectors and proposers of the scheme. The proposer clearly felt bad about the fear that had been caused and agreed to obscured glass at the new rear windows and doors. The residents appears pleased that this had been agreed.

Fingers crossed this all works out well. I thought everyone at the Planning Committee had been really focused on getting the best possible result for all concerned.

My first Planning Committee attendance since being re elected and it was a real pleasure.

Energy Price Myth?

During the last year lots of people have expressed outrage at energy price rises. A competition investigation has just been announced.

Weirdly according to the UK’s Office for National Statistics energy costs absorb 5.4% of average UK household budget in 1982 but nu 2003 just 2.1%. More recently this has risen to 3%. That this is still 29% lower than our mainland European neighbours.

 

East Dulwich New Cinema

I am delighted that the Picturehouse Cinema group have obtained planning permission to open a new cinema in East Dulwich at 116a Lordship Lane – the former St.Thomas Moore Church Hall. And hopefully by Christmas!

Having a local cinema will make going to the cinema much easier. It will mean me and my family will go to the cinema much more often.

This is fantastic news for East Dulwich.

A few have expressed disquiet about this group not paying the London Living Wage. I agree they should pay this and moving towards doing that have made a large wage increase offer of 21.5% towards this. I hope they complete this by the opening.

Will you use this new cinema when it opens?

Ring Road Money Pit

I was horrified to read that Boris Johnson has asked TfL to work up plans for a £30bn ring road tunnelled under London.

Apart from the traffic generation and extra air pollution it would cause £30bn is a colossal amount of money.

We could build roughly 6 complete new underground lines in London for this sum. Such a huge expansion in tube lines would bring huge benefit to all Londoners not just the tiny minority that drive in central London.

Or we could build 300 new tram lines across London. A revolution in public transport.

Or we could make every street and road in London utterly cycle friendly and still have many billions of pounds left over.

How would you solve London transport problems with £30bn?

New Powers To Control Betting Shops

Communities across the country have understandably been concerned and annoyed at the proliferation of betting shops since Tessa Jowell MP reversed the burden of proof required to open new betting shops. Instead of betting shops having to prove they wouldn’t cause harm communities had to prove they would cause harm to shop them. The flood gates opened.

So Lib Dem ministers have worked to give new powers to councils to halt this terrible trend. Sadly their isn’t enough parliamentary time for a new gaming act so instead planning rules have been changed.

Betting shops fall in the same planning category as a bank or estate agent and can open without the need for a planning application hen a premises becomes vacant. The new rules mean that councils will have the power to scrutinise and refuse such betting shops where they have grounds to do so. Hurray!

Do you think we have too many betting shops?

New East Dulwich Cinema

East Dulwich Lib Dems are very excited that at last the planning application from the PictureHouse cinema group has been submitted to convert the former St.Thomas Moore Hall at 116A Lordship Lane into a cinema.

Council planning officers are ready for your comments whether supporting or objecting. The details of the planning application can be seen here.

Please send your thoughts to planning.applications@southwark.gov.uk and copy me at cllrjamesbarber@gmail.com with subject line 14/AP/1101

We think a cinema will be a great new asset to the area. So much so that over the last few years we’ve talked to five different cinema groups trying to attract one to the area. But as with any change it needs to be planned with care to minimise any negative impact.

Please do tell us what you think. And please ask your friends and family to also tell Planning Officers what they think.

Lordship Lane Challenge

We need to find ways of making Lordship Lane an even better place to shop, socialise and serve the local community.

As Lib Dem East Dulwich councillors we’ve ensured much improved pedestrian facilities – making it 20mph, two signalled crossings, an extra zebra crossing at Goose Green, raising side roads to make Lordship Lane level, hanging baskets.

We’ve talked to five cinema providers and we’re delighted the Picturehouse Cinema are working to make a cinema happen by Christmas.

We’ve improved North Cross Road and the market.

What next? The junction of Lordship lane and North Cross Road will be revamped during the summer with money we’ve allocated from our devolved capital budget. This should solve an crash hot spot and make the market more inviting.

We also need to:

– Lordship Lane pavements improved. This will mean helping small businesses with the pavement they control. Currently they look terrible.

– Free wifi which will be free if done on a Southwark wide basis.

– Legible London signage to make it clearer where everything is and draw people from East Dulwich station along to our high street (via Grove Vale).

– Town Centre loyalty card.

– Season banners on lampposts.

What do you think we need to work on to make Lordship Lane better?

Southwark Supertram Progress

For several years I’ve been working on how to bring a tram route initially and then network to Southwark.

When Ken Livingstone was Mayor of London he said he supported them but only gave enough money to keep a project team employed who never got to build anything. When Boris Johnson became London Mayor he canned that team and the pretence of TfL tram in southwark was over.

So how to make this happen privately?

Talking to investment banks one key requirement is certainty that their investment would have a chance to produce a secure return. The greater the security the cheaper money can be borrowed at.  But building track on public roads could allow other to duplicate routes.

So the planning advice we’ve received has really helped nail this. First when the Lib Dems led Southwark Council we ensured the Core Strategy stated it was pro trams.

Second, any tram network using the public highway would need planning permission. It would deal with where plant is located, designed, etc. With granted planning permission subsequent applications would have to show how they would integrate with existing schemes and tracks. It doesn’t give a monopoly but this does give more certainty that practically investment will be more secure.

The advice wording is “But any application will be judged on its practical merits. IF a planning application is granted and results in a tram being built and running, then any subsequent planning application for a tram may not be practical due to that prior granted tram planning application”.

A useful step forward.

Not Sitting Pretty Traditional

Terrible news that at Planning Sub-Committee B the planning application that will drive green grocer Pretty Traditional out of North Cross Road was granted planning permission.

As Lib Dem East Dulwich ward councillors Cllr Jonathan Mitchell, Rosie Shimell and myself insisted this planning permission was called-in.

I argued that the plans were an overdevelopment of the site, would cause noise for neighbours with a first floor terrace, and have access problems.

Sadly the committee discounted these issues and granted planning permission. This allows the site owner to terminate the lease kicking out Pretty Traditional.

So we now need to find another site while Chris looks at how to enforce the verbal contract allowing him to stay.

For this to happen the day medical advice tells us to eat more fruit and veg and see’s this the last green grocer in such peril is appalling.