New US embassy website

Following our previous post on the news that the US embassy are developing plans for their new site at Nine Elms, we see that they have set up a website giving more details, and a map of the plans can be found here.

As before, we have concerns over traffic and the ability of the local transport system to cope - Vauxhall tube station is very busy at the moment! But we will keep an eye on the plans as they develop.

The website gives you the chance to comment on this application.

Oval Cricket Ground - public enquiry date and floodlight testing

We have been told that the result of the public enquiry into the proposed hotel at the Oval Cricket Ground will be available around the first week in June.

Also, Surrey County Cricket Club are testing the new floodlights at the Oval Cricket Ground on the evenings of April 29th and 30th.

The plan is to test both the level of lighting on the pitch and to check that no lights are shining into people's homes.

Local councillors continue to raise the concerns of residents on match days to do with noise and anti-social behaviour. If you do have any problems with noise on those days you can always let us know or contact Surrey County Cricket Club's line on 020 7820 5656.

Bonnington Square Lighting

We have been supporting Viva Vauxhall residents in their campaign to get EDF, who are responsible for connecting up Lambeth's street lights to the grid, to get the new lighting in Bonnington Square working. Some lights were installed in January but are still not linked up to the mains!

We have had the following reply from EDF:

Further to my email last Friday evening, I have now had a reply back from our Head of Customer Operations who tells me that there has been a long outstanding Open-Circuit Fault at this location.

Customers in the surrounding area will be notified shortly that a supply interruption is necessary so that repairs can be carried out safely.

I can confirm that these works have been programmed for Thursday 30th April 2009.

Again, please feel free to contact me at any time.

Kind regards


Ian Anderson
Customer Relationship Manager

Big Lottery Fund: People's Millions - 2009 Competition

The 2009 People's Millions competition will give communities throughout the UK the opportunity to win local public support and share in £3.5 million of Lottery funding.

Grants of up to £50,000 will be provided for projects that transform local environments and offer opportunities or facilities for people to take part and enjoy their local area. This will include initiatives focusing on buildings, amenities, public and green spaces and natural habitats.

Voluntary and community groups, social enterprises, local authorities, schools and health organisations are invited to apply.

Head-to-head competitions will take place in each of the 15 ITV regions later in the year, when the public will be able to cast their vote for the projects they want to win. There will be a total of 69 winning projects this year. Additionally, a further 15 bonus awards will be made for the runners-up who score the highest in each region.

The deadline for receipt of entries is 15 May 2009.

Contact the Big Lottery Fund website for more details:

http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/prog_peoples_millions.htm?regioncode=-uk&status=theProg

Planning - have your say!

There is a chance to comment on Lambeth's planning policies and how they will affect you in future. You can find out more details at either of the links below:

http://tinyurl.com/dedhp3

http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/Services/HousingPlanning/Planning/PlanningPolicy/LocalDevelopmentFrameworkPublicConsultation.htm

And keep us informed about what you think! The closing date is May 18th.

Extra bus on the 133

A local resident contacted Oval's Lib Dem Councillors via Oval News regarding capacity and overcrowding on the No. 133 bus going into the City from the Oval area.

Lib Dem parliamentary campaigner and London Assembly member Caroline Pidgeon took this up for us and the good news is that there will be an additional bus on this route going into the City each morning and back down to the Oval and then onto Streatham in the evening. This will come into effect when the contract is renewed in January.

While it will of course not solve all problems with overcrowding on these bus routes we hope it will help.

The gas man cometh...and churns up a green open space

Lambeth council has admitted to us that contractors working on the gas mains on the Ashmole Estate did not seek the council's permission before parking their vans on the Triangle open space (next to Trigon and Claylands Road).

The council have said that they will be contacting the contractors responsible, to seek reinstatement costs, including re-seeding.

Bolney Meadow Estate coffee morning and surgery

We held a coffee morning and surgery on the Bolney Meadow Estate to hear the views of tenants and leaseholders on Saturday.

Most people are saying that the estate is cleaner than it used to be before its transfer from Lambeth, but there are still plenty of other concerns that people have that we can help with as local councillors - for instance, crime and anti-social behaviour. We will pass the comments made onto the police, and we have also picked up one or two other bits of casework like getting a street sign on Kibworth St replaced.

Thanks to those people who had the time to come along and speak with us.

Egg-cellent!

The annual Easter Egg hunt at Vauxhall Park is always a popular fixture for children and families and this year was no different!

It was great to see so many taking part at the event held last Saturday, and we were glad to see that the rain held off for most of the event.

Congratulations to the Friends of Vauxhall Park for their hard work in organising the event.