Redevelopment plans launched for New Covent Garden market

Bordering onto the Oval area, plans have been launched for the re-development of the New Covent Garden Flower Market - details here. What do you think? Let us know!

What's your vision for Vauxhall?

There have been 2 new developments regarding the Vauxhall area's future from the Mayor of London and Lambeth Council.

1. The first was at last week's meeting of Lambeth Council when Cllr Andrew Sawdon raised concerns over the council's future plans for the area (known as a Local Development Framework). In particular, Andrew raised concerns about the need for enough local services (eg schools and decent transport links) to be in place and planned for before permission is given for more development. His proposal was voted down by Labour. You can see the council's draft planning document here - and comments need to be with the council by 14th December to
planningpolicy@lambeth.gov.uk

You can see the report from the Council's consultants here, which is critical on the current plans for Vauxhall, saying that the Labour Council's area plan is "less convincing than the Waterloo policy in terms of enabling essential infrastructure to keep pace with growth: it may improve access to jobs and housing - but there is little detail on other essential infrastructure such as schools, health facilities and services, water and sewerage. If the policy results in greater road travel, particularly private car use it could worsen existing congestion and contribute to air quality and climate change problems....it also fails to address the issue of retrofitting - how the bulk of the areas existing buildings will reduce their impact on carbon emissions".

2. The second was a report in yesterday's Evening Standard that highlighted the proposal for a new "wobbly bridge" linking Vauxhall with Pimlico, as just one of many different ideas for the area. A 12 week public consultation has now started for the Vauxhall and Nine Elms area, and you can have your say here

Keep us in touch with what you think - or comment below!

Any ideas for electric car charging points?

We have just had the following email from the Council's Transport Policy Manager asking people for good ideas for charging points for electric vehicles. Three are going in across Lambeth - and there is funding for more.

Anybody got any good suggestions? Let us know or contact Dawn Haines from Lambeth Council on the email below.

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Dear Councillors,

As you may be aware the Mayor of London recently launched an Electric Vehicle Plan to encourage the use of electric vehicles in London. In line with this Lambeth have been given funding to implement electric vehicle charging points in the borough. We are very close to launching three of these in the next two months in Pulross Road, Upper Ground and Belvedere Road.

Transport for London have now provided us with additional funding to add further points in Lambeth. We are now looking at finding new locations to put these on the highway. Each charging point requires the conversion of one car park bay. Mindful that we are competing with car clubs, cycle hire sites and other schemes we are trying to locate these in areas where there will be high use. However the infancy of electric vehicles means that it is difficult to judge where these will be.

Therefore, if you have any suggestions for potential sites, or have received any requests from residents or businesses about electric vehicles please let me know.

Regards,

Dawn Haines, Transport Policy Manager
email: dhaines@lambeth.gov.uk

Fountain Farce

People who enjoy using Vauxhall Park will have noticed that the fountain has again been turned off. A question to last night's council meeting by Cllr Andrew Sawdon asked how much the council saved by turning off the fountains and how much will be incurred by the council to turn them back on again. It seems the council saved £14,000 by turning them off - but are having to pay £25,000 to get them switched back on again!

Not much of a saving if you ask us...

Crime map for Oval ward released

The Met Police have released the latest crime mapping for Oval Ward.

Although the total number of reported crimes is down slightly, some areas of the ward are seeing an increase in burglary and anti-social behaviour:
http://maps.police.uk/view/metropolitan/lambeth/lambeth-1/oval/

And a look at the detailed map for the ward, broken into sub-areas, shows that while part of the Oval area has an average number of crimes for Lambeth, other parts are above average:
http://maps.met.police.uk/index.php?areacode=00AYGK
(Note: you may need to zoom in and scroll down)

What is the point of an anti-social behaviour "hotline" if information is not made use of?

Last night saw a further application by the "Fire" nightclub at Vauxhall to move into neighbouring railway arches - and was granted on condition that there would be no increase in the total number of people allowed in the club.

Residents, supported by Oval ward councillors, voiced concerns that it will still mean that the average attendance per night would increase, and given that problems were persisting with anti social behaviour (including a violent incident this month) around the club there is a risk that anti-social behaviour will also rise.

We learned yesterday evening that complaints phoned through about noise and disturbance around the club by residents to the Labour council's new anti-social behaviour hotline seem to have gone nowhere - and certainly had not been passed onto the Council's licensing team so that they could be passed on to the licensing committee last night.

We are chasing up why complaints were not passed on and if not - then what exactly is the point of the new anti-social behaviour number?

Once again, residents and councillors stated that they did not object to the other local nightclubs in Vauxhall, but felt that Fire specifically was continuing to cause problems for them which they wanted to ensure the committee was aware of.

Lambeth forgets to pay its electricity bill!

We stepped in after the council started installing new lighting on the paths going through St Marks churchyard opposite the tube without consulting the church.

The old lights had been switched off before the new columns were due to be installed (but that turned out to be because, after various re-organisations, the council has not paid the electricity bills!)

The Oval area gets busy at night, and it is not safe to have poorly lit pathways.

After Councillor Andrew Sawdon convened a meeting of the councill lighting engineers, the parks manager and the church, it has been agreed that the council will sort out the outstanding electricity bills; and the new lights will come on in the next few weeks. There will be "heritage" lanterns on the new columns more in keeping with the setting than the previous 1960s globes.

Designing out crime

When Lambeth Council put up new street signs, they think having all of them at knee height is the best place to put them.



Problem with this is that in some locations it encourages graffiti and vandalism, meaning they need to get replaced more often. But if you secure them higher up - on nearby buildings - it can save the council money in the long run - and it "designs out" crime as they are too high to be easily vandalised.



We have persuaded the council to put up 2 signs at the Kibworth Street/Dorset Road junction on the walls of the nearby buildings. The previous locations for these were at knee height and too easily vandalised (we had to get them repaired twice)

Meet your local police team

The local Police team for Oval Ward are holding a series of street briefings and advice surgeries over the next month:

Wed 30th Sept, 7pm - 8pm, o/s Tescos, Kennington Lane

Wednesday 7th Oct,12.30pm - 1.30pm, o/s the 1 o’clock club, Vauxhall Park

Monday 12th Oct, 4pm - 5pm, o/s Childrens playground, Wyvil Estate

Tuesday 20th Oct, 6.30pm - 7.30pm, Coney Way community centre

Saturday 24th Oct, 1pm - 2pm, Café in the park, Kennington Park

Sunday 25th Oct, 1pm - 2pm, o/s Sainsburys, Wandsworth Road

Lib Dem Councillor stops Housing Sell-Off!

Labour run - Lambeth have been caught red-handed after trying to flog off two flats which were earmarked for a Housing Association to rent out to needy people.

The Labour council proposed to sell off at auction two one bed flats on the Oval's Ashmole Estate - in Stoddart House and Bannerman House, claiming that the cost of refurbishment was too high.

But residents on the estate voted to transfer the ownership of the estate to the Metropolitan Housing Association just a month ago - who would have brought these flats back into use as rented social housing.

We believe that it is incredibly cheeky of Labour run Lambeth to try to sneak off with the sale of two affordable rented flats when the means exist to bring them back into use. Either that or they have been incompetent and forgot the estate was due to transfer.


Cllr Rob Banks put in an objection, pointing out that these flats could indeed be retained as social housing rather than yet more flats being sold off. Lambeth have now replied saying that they will not after all put these flats up for auction, so it is good to see that common sense has prevailed. But we cannot believe these were proposed for sale in the first place.

US embassy and New Covent Garden Market plans develop

Two new developments that border onto Oval Ward have both taken a step further.

New Covent Garden Market Authority have announced plans to re-develop the market site and build housing at the Vauxhall end of the site where it edges onto Lambeth. Plans are expected to go to neighbouring Wandsworth council in November.

And Wandsworth Council have given outline planning permission for the plans for the US embassy - and have passed them onto the Mayor of London for his comments.

More details can be found here.

A symbol of Lambeth Labour's failure

An unknown vandal has made their anger clear after an empty council house in the Oval's Ashmole Estate was daubed with slogans saying "Empty - why?"; "People can live here" and "Rats live here - why?" .

While of course such vandalism is never acceptable, the anger at empty family sized homes is understandable. As local Lib Dem Councillors, we reported this empty house to the council 18 months ago and were told they could not afford the repair. Yet Labour's solution is to leave this house empty while spending tens of thousands of pounds on expensive outside consultants.

Labour have failed to represent hard working families in need of homes such as this. We have asked for this graffiti to be cleaned off and pest control to be put in place, but the real crime is that Lambeth Labour Councillors have sat on their hands while this property - and others - just fall further into decay and thousands linger on the waiting lists. This house is a symbol of Labour failure.

While the Ashmole Estate is due to transfer from Lambeth Council ownership to Metropolitan Housing Association, this is may not finally happen until early next year. The council should take action now.

Battersea Power Station

Just along the river, the Guardian recently had an update regarding Battersea Power Station and its future - more details here.

We will post if we hear of any further developments.

World's Oldest Man lived on Heyford Avenue

Thanks to local blogsites Tradescant Road and South Lambeth and Stockwell News for putting up the information that Henry Allingham, who was the world's oldest man, once lived in Oval ward at No. 21 Heyford Avenue.

More information on the respective blogsites.

Evening Standard article on the planned 42 storey tower at Bondway

The excellent Viva Vauxhall blogsite has posted an article from the Evening Standard regarding the proposed 42 storey tower at Bondway.

We understand that the outline plans will be discussed by Lambeth's planning committee by mid-October (this will allow them to discuss the general principles of the development) and the final plans are intended to go before the committee for a decision either later on in October or in November.

Most local residents who have been contacting us over this are concerned over the height and impact of the development and we remain concerned that in addition to the adverse impact on existing residents, the development will not adequately serve the needs of the area.

Lib Dems knock Labour for six over parking scams at The Oval!

We were all delighted that England won the Ashes back at The Oval. But Lambeth Labour have been 'caught out' over their claims that the council's parking policy is fair.

Lib Dem Councillor Andrew Sawdon has revealed that the Labour council continued to enforce a parking ban around The Oval on the Monday - the day AFTER The Ashes had been won.

Of course, had the Test continued for another day the parking ban would have been needed. But Labour run Lambeth should have lifted the parking suspension first thing on Monday morning once they had news of the England victory. It's not as though the news was a secret!

Instead they tried to fine local residents with legitimate parking permits who reasonably thought the parking ban had been suspended. The South London Press has the full story.

Lib Dem Cllr Faye Gray is also taking up the case of an Ashmole Estate resident who has been unfairly given a parking fine when the resident parked on double yellow lines that had been painted over by the council on the Ashmole Estate because the yellow lines were no longer needed.

And Cllr Rob Banks got the council to lift the parking suspension on Fentiman Road recently when the Thames Water works were finished a week earlier than planned. One thing is for sure - the Labour Council's policy on parking is not fair and Lib Dem Councillors are standing up for local residents.

Wilcox Road regeneratio

We got graffiti on the wall of Davidson Gardens cleaned up and we continue to work with local people on long term regeneration plans for Wilcox Road.

The dome rubbish shed opposite the library will go, but the cobbles on Wilcox Road will stay. Maybe there will even be a street market again!

We are to meet with local residents to discuss concerns about making sure there is enough disabled parking in the area.

And nearby on the Mawbey Brough Estate, we continue to work with residents to regenerate derelict play areas.

Oliver House lift

Leaseholders and tenants on the Wyvil and Mawbey Brough estates continue to be hit by the Labour Council’s sky-high charges and rent increases.

Lib Dem Councillors are backing all estate residents to get a fair deal from the council. We have also been taking the council to task over the Oliver House lift on the Wyvil Estate breaking down all the time - we hope it will now be fixed properly!

Fly-tipping on Palfrey Place

We have been chasing up the council to take action to stop fly-tippers dumping rubbish on Palfrey Place, between Dorset Road and Richborne Terrace.

We understand that the fly-tippers have now been identified and given a formal warning; further action can follow if the fly-tipping continues.

We checked yesterday and all the rubbish had been picked up. But let us know if you see the problem is continuing!

The picture above is one of the times fly-tippers used the pavement as their personal litter bin, taken last month.

When will the Thames Walkway be finished?

Local Lib Dem Councillors are worried about the lack of progress in completing the riverside walkway going along St Georges Wharf from Vauxhall Bridge. We raised this with council planners and were told the walkway cannot be done until the completion of St Georges’ 50 storey tower.

The St George Tower has still not started 2 years after it got planning permission from former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott. St George have now said they will not be starting on the tower before they finish the block by Vauxhall Bridge.