Get to know your neighbour day was a great success! It was organised by SyTRA, all local residents who have voluntered their time to make our homes a better place to live.
Go to the home page to find out more
The SyTRA have drafted a letter toAdam Barrett from Lewisham Homes.
Check the Lewisham Homes section for more inromation
Forest Hill Assembly - Monday 21st June 2010, 19.30 - 21.00, Sydenham School, Dartmouth Road
The Forest Hill Assembly is a forum which allows residents to have an active say over issues relating Forest Hill town, shops, priorities and funding. It was a good chance to network with other residents, and the turnout was quite good (50-70 people). We also got a chance to meet Cllr Feakes and his team and brain storm the funding priorities for Forest Hill in the next financial year.
Some of the issues concerning most that came were:
Youth Involvement: not currently enough, problems of young people hanging around with nothing to do
Shops in Forest Hill: some are poor quality, empty shops. Some really good ideas came out of this, namely, that empty shops could perhaps have local art displayed in the windows, maybe one shop could be opened up to act as a 'hub' for residents. Information about local events, residents associations, projects etc could be posted here. Local businesses would be encouraged to play a part with sponsorship and mutual benefits. It was agreed that Forest Hill, with new links to east London, has a real opportunity to improve with the help of local business.
It was agreed that targeted marketing of Forest Hill to local businesses could promote growth.
Poor condition of roads (pot holes, road works, traffic calming etc) was also a shared concern.
There is reportedly about £35K available for these projects. The forum was an opportunity to give suggestions about where this money could be spent.
SyTRA meeting - Tuesday 22nd June, 19.00 - 21.00, Sydenham Hill Community Centre
The meeting was again another chance to quiz Lewisham Homes staff on the status of repairs. Alex Slattery and Matt Gill were in attendance to answer questions.
We voted in Andrew as the new SyTRA vice chair, and me (Matt Misik) as local Area Panel rep.
Affairs with Lewisham Homes are winding down as we prepare for the L&Q stock transfer. Grant Blowers from L&Q was also available at the meeting to answer questions on the transfer.
Minutes to follow...
London & Quadrant Shadow Board Meeting - Wednesday 23rd June 2010, 19.30 - 21.00, Dartmouth Close
Not attended. Grant Blowers was kind enough to mail me a massive pack of documents discussed at the meeting. When I get a chance I'll scan in and paraphrase all the main points. I'm rather busy with work and personal projects at the moment so this may take some time!
The newest update to recent jobs reported to Lewisham Homes (21.06.10) is posted here
Positive response from Councillor Alex Feakes
Alex stated:
"I've escalated the problems on the estate with the Head of Housing at the town hall. I hope that with this additional focus we will yield some better results from the managers of the estate."
I also got hold of the document produced by his committee, the scrutiny report: The Council's Obligations to Leaseholders. It's available (as pdf) here.
4 contractors spotted fixing lights at Silbury House on 16th June 2010
Some recent work carried out by Lewisham Homes
Check out photos of my recent trip to Lewisham Park estate to see what L&Q have in store for our homes
May edition of SyTRA newsletter
May edition of London and Quadrant newsletter (draft)
Lewisham Homes Bill: detailed breakdown of charges
[FILE] The Council's Obligations to Leaseholders
[FILE] Estate walk around (Sydenham Hill Estate) report_16.06.10
[FILE] Heads of department meeting agenda 15.06.10
I attend the following meetings (when I can) and list some of the newest info here:
Anti Social Behaviour Team forum (last meeting 22/04/10)
Leasehold Special Interest Group (last meeting: 20/05/10)
L&Q Shadow board (last meeting 19/05/10)
Items of interest to date:
Leasehold Special Interest Group (last meeting: 20/05/10) - Leaseholder frustration at 'fictional' charges and poor standards from Lewisham Homes. Minutes are incomplete! Lewisham Homes commonly over-charging by large amounts.
L&Q Shadow board (last meeting 19/05/10) - Info from L&Q on Neighbourhood Services [Officers] (NSO's). Email me for more info. Meeting arranged with Stephen Couzens (Operations Development Officer for Lewisham Council) to see blocks at Lewisham Park on Monday 24th May, an L&Q project which is complete. I'll upload photos next week.
General feelings of optimism.
Are there any other meetings I can attend to help our local area? Post your suggestions here. I'll attend if I'm free and if the topic is relevant (specifically to Sydeham Hill Estate).
Matt
LondonTown.com
- the number one internet site for London
I attended the Anti Social Behaviour Team forum on the 22nd April at the Calabash Day Centre in Catford.
ReplyDeleteThere was a pretty good turnout of residents and nice refreshments put on by the organisers. However, the overall feeling was one of bemusement at the actual function and purpose of ASBT.
Most of the residents didn't know who there were of what they did, had not had successful dealings with them nor had any issues of ASBs being dealt with effectively.
Currently, if you try to use the ASB online reporting form you get a duff link. Their page has nothing else on it. Not a surprise that none of us knew about them!
Oh well, they took our comments with them and I guess that'll be it for now.
If you have a complaint about ASBs the best thing to do is to phone ASBT on 020 8314 9736 and report the issue, at which time you will be sent a diary to record information about the perpetrators actions. I’m not too sure what will happen after that!
I’m not an expert, but it seems to me that antisocial people don’t give a toss due to a lack of respect for their area and the other inhabitants. If we could make ALL the locals feel respect for their surroundings maybe they would cease being antisocial? I don’t know, bottom line is that some people are just gits and there’s no cure...
Not a lot happens after you've filled in your incident diary if our experience on Crossfields is anything to go by. First of all, they may lose your diary evidence. Secondly, they build up a case over a year and then have no powers to deal with the problem when it comes to eviction...
ReplyDeleteIf the surroundings are nice, people will show more respect for their environment and neighbours...it's what should be meant by 'sustainability'...Shit environment = shit behaviour!