1 April – I kid you not – the tax allowance goes up yet again. This is another Lib Dem election pledge being delivered.
It means since 2010 over 9,760 Southwark income tax payers no longer pay any income tax.
It means 115,400 Southwark residents now pay less income tax.
In total this coming year this means £69,240,000 yes £69M extra money staying with Southwark residents. Typically £600 less income tax per resident.
The Post Office has 373 Crown Post Office branches. It’s decided to transfer 70 to retail partners.
One of the 70 is our one on Lordship Lane.
They have stressed to me that this is not about closing our post office on Lordship Lane but rather replacing it. But obviously this will cause great concern and will require a 6 week public consultation.
My experience of such Post Office replacements has been very positive but that is no guarantee it will work well on Lordship Lane.
A Post Office spokesperson stated “We are confident that our plans will mean that customers continue to benefit from a Post Office in their locality delivering service of the highest quality. Partnering with a complementary, respected retailer will also provide for long term viability and sustainability of the branches in question.”
What do you think to this change?
Southwark Labour have been charging more rent than they need. They’ve stated away £6.5M into a war chest. They’re now deciding how to spend this money in the last full financial year before the next local election.
This money should either not have been charged to generally our poorest residents OR it should have been used to make improvements before.
But we do have local housing issues that can be brought forward.
We’ve suggested our priorities for East Dulwich council properties are:
1. Safety issues such as electric wiring
2. Security – tenanted properties are the target of burglary and tenants are the least likely to be able to afford contents insurance – solid secure front and back doors, excellent two locks on each entrance door – Banham quality, Manchester and London bars on all doors, doors have bolts into frame, good windows locks.
3. Loft insulation – much done but we need to ensure all properties have the maximum possible.
4. Cavity wall insulation – ensure all done and well – removing debris from cavity before installing.
5. Modern double or better triple glazing – most of our external decoration need on council street properties is around ancient sash windows. So apart from reducing energy poverty this solves much of the decoration regime that has never existed. It can also make the homes more secure if done well. Such glazing should match the buildings age so sash double or triple glazing for Victorian street properties for example. Triple rather than double due to the extra energy savings.
6. External decoration.
The administration has also suggested replacing Halliwell Court entry phone. It isn’t a great system but no worse than others. The issue is the ground floor flats. So we’ve separately asked for clear signs of how to reach them by walking a short distance around the block. A nice simple cheap solution.
What do you think the council housing in East Dulwich needs most?
The plans for Southwark highway and street lighting maintenance have been issued pending a cabinet councillor decision:
http://moderngov.southwark.gov.uk/mgIssueHistoryHome.aspx?IId=50000667&Opt=0
For East Dulwich it’s proposed to:
– Barry Road resurface between Lordship Lane and Goodrich Road 22m costing £32,460
– Peckham Rye resurface and renew pavement between Barry Road and East Dulwich Road 400m costing £89,931
– Landcroft Road resurface 400m costs £57,912 – this appears to have been rolled over from this financial year with no explanation.
– Silvester Road resurfaced between Landcroft Road and Crystal Palace Road 200m costing £70,671
– Goodrich Road resurfaced between Landcroft Road and Hillcourt 418m costing £91,375
– Worlingham footway renewed 280m costing £12,930
– Dunstans and Goodrich Road replace defective lamp posts
– Install Pigeon mesh at various bridges across the borough to control pigeon mess.
Do you think this makes sense for East Dulwich and Southwark – let us know what you think?
The Coalition Government has just announced £400M of support for electric car charging points between now and April 2015.
For East Dulwich it means that any resident who orders an electric car 75% of the installation cost of providing a public charging point will be paid for by the government. The remaining 25% by the council. The cost per charging point is typically £2,400.
In East Dulwich ward we, as ward councillors, would look to find this money from somewhere. Either Cleaner, Greener, Safer capital or revenue funding streams.
So let us know if you order an electric vehicle and we will try and ensure you can have a charging point on the public highway as close to your home as practical.
143 of the 174 English and Welsh Highway Authorities have signed up to an initiative t0 make all roadworks details available online through one website:
You can set-up email alerts to warn of roadworks. View online road works Southwark plans. What the main utilities are working on.
So if you see roadworks you can zero in on the location on a map and see who’s doing it and why.
Try it out.
The London Borough of Wandsworth is commissioning a study by Arup of options for a rail link between Waterloo, Clapham Junction and Heathrow Airport.
Such a rail link would be great for Southwark residents whether they live in the north of the borough not so far from Waterloo or equally near the East London Line 2 which means residents with one train change could use such a new rail route to Heathrow.
Importantly it would take just four years once given the go ahead to open. Exactly the sort of infrastructure project thE London but especially London needs.
Wandsworth also agree there is a strong demand for better rail links to Heathrow from south London and that this will be strengthened by the redevelopment of Nine Elms and the relocation if the US Embassy to the area from central London.
BAA’s former plans for a £673m direct link between Heathrow and London Waterloo – known as Airtrack – were canned in 2011. The airport were unable to resolve concerns about the impact or more trains on level crossing delays in Surrey. This must be solvable. Egham with a cut and cover track would actually make the current situation better.
The new three-month study, expected to cost around £25,000, will examine options and come up with a preferred scheme.
As a Southwark Lib Dem I say well done Wandsworth.
The Coop supermarket on Lordship Lane has applied to sell alcohol and open generally 23/7.
This is a direct consequence of MP Tessa Jowell licensing laws pushed through in 2003.
We think this would be a disaster for Lordship Lane, exacerbate the night time economy problems the areas around Lordship Lane are already suffering and boost binge drinking.
We’ve formally objected to this application. If you also support our objection that this will make the atmosphere of Lordship Lane worse then contact the licensing department via Licensing@southwark.gov.uk and copy us your local East Dulwich councillors james.barber@southwark.gov.uk.
In carrying out its licensing functions the council must promote the four licensing objectives set out in the Licensing Act 2003 (2003 Act). They are:
Any objections need to explain how the Coop opening 23/7 and selling alcohol 6am to 11pm would be against any of these objectives.
Today parents will hear about secondary school place applications – online today or via 1st class post tomorrow.
For the whole of Southwark 58.7% of parents have received their first choice. A smidgen up on last years 55.9%. But this represents the fifth worst performance in the whole country.
Overall for London 71%, Lambeth and Lewisham managed 66%, Merton 65% and Wansworth 56%.
Overall 6.9% of Southwark parents were allocated a school they hadn’t chosen, down a little from last years 8%.
But it’s likely that across London more families obtained their first choice – last year 66% across London leaving Southwark some distance behind.
We’re trying to find out this data specifically for East Dulwich.
Any of 6 stated preferences – Southwark parents and carers had 93% success obtaining one of their up to 6 stated preferences whereas the average for London last year (we don’t yet have this years) was 95% with 88% offered one of their top 3 choices. So Southwark still has a long way to g o and with a pending secondary school places crisis is likely to get considerably worse. That’s why we think our area needs another excellent secondary school.
If you didn’t get the school you wanted a large number of places aren’t accepted and become free so a lot of shuffling of places is still to come so please don’t despair. Parents can go on waiting lists for schools they’d prefer a lot of movement usually occurs between now and September.
If you need support you can either contact the Councils School Preference Advisor Liam White liam.white@southwark.gov.uk they’ll also be drop-in sessions TBA.
OR if you need any help or support around secondary admissions (or any other issue) please either call or email me or one of my colleagues:
James Barber james.barber@southwark.gov.uk 07900 227366
Jonathan Mitchell jonathan.mitchell@southwark.gov.uk 07903 967911
Rosie Shimell Rosie.Shimell@southwark.gov.uk 020 7525 3488
We’re available for home visits and have reserved time over this weekend and next week specifically for this.
Southwark is often said to be the most historic London borough. Part of this evidence in the Tower Subway. It was the world’s first ever tube railway in 1869.
Today English Heritage decided not to award it Grade II listing.
See the report why: report_165456
The tower subway has historical significance as one of the earliest tunnels to be dug using the tunnel shield method. Marc and Isambard Brunel pioneered the use of a tunnelling shield in the digging of the Thames Tunnel between Wapping and Rotherhithe (now part of the London Overground Network) and Peter Barlow and James Greathead significantly improved on this work in constructing an iron shield that was circular in cross section (the Brunel’s shield was rectangular) that laid the foundations for the tunnel boring machines that are used today. The Tower Subway is also significant in being the first to use a segmental cast-iron lining, a system still in common use today. The Tower Subway is thus London’s second oldest tunnel beneath the River Thames and pre-dates the next oldest – the City and South London Railway (now the Northern Line) – by some 14 years. Tunnel’s are not normally listed (the Thames Tunnel, at grade II*, is a rare exception) the historic significance of the Tower Subway suggests that it would make a worthy candidate for listing.
It was built in less than one year in 1869 which is a great example of how great an engineer Peter Barlow was designing his shield etc and how James Greathead delivered the project. It originally had a mini tube train which failed commercially. Once this subway train was removed in 1870 it became a 1/2 penny toll foot tunnel and was hugely successful in getting one million people a year from Tooley Street to outside the Tower of London. But this commercially died when Tower Bridge was opened as a free way of crossing the River Thames in 1894.
The tunnel was then bought by the London Hydraulic Power Company housing high pressured water pipes, later Thames Water pipes and more recently fibre optic cables for Cable&Wireless Worldwide.
Is it safe for the future?