Local funding, Ladywell Fields and betting shops

These are the main agenda items for the next Ladywell Assembly, which is going to take place on Tuesday, 23 June from 7-9pm at Prendergast School, in the new science block on Adelaide Avenue, SE4 1JL. The Assembly is open to anyone who lives, works or studies in the ward, so please come along and have your say!

Tomorrow the Assembly is going to decide on allocating part of the Mayor's Fund (£50k available for the ward) to local activities and improvement projects which have come out of round table discussions at previous assemblies and have been costed and worked up in more detail. Four proposals will be presented - three on youth provision and one to fund urban design work to develop plans to improve Ladywell Road. The Assembly is going to vote on which and how many of those projects should be taken forward with formal applications to be submitted to Mayor & Cabinet for final approval. A second round of proposals is planned for the September Assembly.

This will be followed by a presentation of plans for Ladywell Fields. Following the successful transformation of the north field thanks to EU funding (the QUERCUS project), an application for national funds to undertake work in the middle and south fields has also been successful. Initial consultation with stakeholders and public exhibitions are currently under way and this will be an opportunity to find out more. Technically Ladywell Fields aren't in Ladywell ward (the railway line is the ward boundary with Lewisham Central), but they are very much part of the community and used and enjoyed by residents, and this presentation should be very interesting.

A proposal will be submitted to the Assembly urging the government to change national legislation in order to stop the proliferation of betting shops that has set in in particular since the new Gambling Act came into force in 2007. Ladywell and Brockley's recent experience of unsuccessfully opposing yet another betting shop in the area has been replicated not only across London but also up and down the country. The Sustainable Communities Act now enables local communities, groups and individuals to make proposals for a change in legislation that, if agreed, would give communities more power to shape things locally and live in a more sustainable way.

The meeting will be rounded off with community updates with news of what's happening in the area.