2 Minor Successes

Possibly another contender for 'not the most exciting blog post in the world ever', but bear with me; anyone who has ever been a local councillor and experienced at first hand how excruciatingly slow a process it can sometimes be to get things done, may appreciate this.

Minor success Number One: New bench by bus stop at top of Adelaide Avenue!

We finally have a new bench by the bus stop at the top of Adelaide Avenue. First reported that the previous one was broken in the Summer of last year. Eventually got a response saying that it was going to be replaced. I queried why it had to be replaced and not simply repaired, but never got a response to that. I noticed when I cycled past today that it had finally been replaced. A good quality new bench, though arguably we need to be repairing things more, rather than automatically replacing broken things. Does look better quality than the previous one though. Sadly some silly so and so has already tagged it, but I've reported that to lovelewisham, so hopefully it will be cleaned off this week, along with yet more tagging on the bus shelter.

Minor Success Number Two - unauthorised advertising board in the middle of the pavement on Brockley Road finally removed!

I have been exchanging e-mails with council officers for some time about the state of the bit of Brockley Road opposite St Andrew's Church (where Brockley Kitchen is). There are horrendously bent, railings, lots of pot holes, lots of commerical refuse bins creating an eyesore, constant illegal on pavement parking in front of the barbers, an unauthorised advertising board in front of Brockley Kitchen and a disused post box that has been there since the post office closed years ago. Generally, the area has a feeling of neglect and excessive street clutter about it.

Anyway, after being told several times by officers that there was no unauthorised advertising hoarding and me insisting that there was and sending photographic evidence to prove it, the Council wrote to the advertising company and gave them 28 days to remove and it has finally gone. Lloyd from Brockley Kitchen is delighted and talking about being able to put some tables and chairs on his forecourt in the summer .

I'm still working on the other issues along there, but at least that's one thing ticked off the list. The railings are apparently going to be replaced (highways won't even consider removing them apparently), the pot hole may or may not be filled in (it's a slightly grey area whose land it is), the post box is apparently on Crackerjack's land (so I guess I need to take that up with Royal Mail directly) and parking are apparently clamping down on illegal parking on the pavement, although when I asked how many tickets had been issued, the answer came back 'none', so there is still room for improvement there.

We have allocated a small part of our localities fund for improvements to this bit of Brockley Road, but I'm still trying to get the things that should be done anyway sorted first, before we think about any frills.