Gate designs for Hilly Fields Playground

I'm aware this is my third consecutive post about Hilly Fields, but it's all happening there at the moment, and these designs by Gordonbrock School pupils are too lovely not to post about.

They are for the gates for the playground on Hilly Fields and this Saturday, from 12.30-3pm, APT Studios in Creekside will have an exhibition of the designs.

This is part of the exciting playground works which will be taking place over the next few months. More details over at the Hilly Fields Users' Group website.

Hilly Fields to get investment in new cricket pitch

A project that I know has been in the pipeline for a few years now, to restore the cricket pitch on Hilly Fields, is finally set to come to fruition, with the announcement this week that funding totalling £600,000 has been secured from the Big Lottery, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the London Marathon Charitable Trust to regenerate the pitches both at Hilly Fields and in Mayow Park (Sydenham).

Congratulations are due to Peter Rankin from local social enterprise Envirowork Lewisham, who has played a key role in driving this project forward, together with Teachsport and officers from Lewisham's parks department. Former England cricket captain Mike Gatting has been involved and supportive of the project and has visited the site in Hilly Fields.

The pitch will be on part of the flat bit by Francis Drake Bowling Club, alongside Hilly Fields Crescent. I believe this is where a cricket pitch was originally located in the park, many years back.

This is great news, along with the new playground which should be going ahead shortly too.

Now, all we need to do is find some lovely grant-giving organisations to foot the bill for resurfacing the footpaths on Hilly Fields (six figure sum required) and we'll be sorted! (Easier said than done, I fear!)

RSPB Big Birdwatch on Hilly Fields

Visit Hilly Fields on Saturday 30th January to take part in the RSPB’s Big Birdwatch: the world’s largest bird survey. Bird-lovers will be congregating at 11am beside the park keeper’s office for two hours of surveillance. Last year, 20 different species were spotted.

No need to worry about restless children spoiling your view, either: there will also be various children’s activities going on as part of the event, including birdfeeder-making and drawing workshops.

For more information, visit Hilly Fields Users' Group website or email them.

Coming up this week . . .

Tomorrow night (Tuesday 19th Jan) there is a public meeting to discuss the planning application for a children's playground in Foxborough Gardens. The meeting is at 7pm in Ladywell Centre. The planning committee that will consider the application is on Thursday (21st), from 7.30pm, in the town hall.

Friends of Brockley & Ladywell Cemeteries have their next meeting on Wednesday (20th Jan), 7.30pm, in Brockley Grove depot, Brockley Grove (opposite Crofton Park Baptist Church). They will be reviewing the 'Up the Line' event that took place for Armistice Day, and planning future events. Their planned workday for this weekend had to be cancelled due to the weather.

Transition Brockley/Lewisham (it's mostly Brockley people but those from elsewhere are also welcome) are having their next meeting this Thursday (21st), 8pm onwards, at The Orchard Bar/Kitchen, Harefield Road.

And a bit further afield, this Sunday (24th) is Seedy Sunday, and South London Garden Organic have details of a seed swapping event in Dulwich.

Exciting activities in Ladywell

Eight projects in Ladywell ward are soon going to make a difference after the final go-ahead for the funding from the 2009/10 Locality Fund was given by the council last week:

· A second notice board cabinet for the Brockley and Ladywell cemeteries (£1,000), at the Brockley Road end to complement the one that went up at the Ladywell end in the autumn.
· Street trees for the stretch of Brockley Road between Ivy Road and Wickham Road (£1,900), in addition to the funding for street trees in Arabin and Braxfield Road – trees are scheduled to be planted in the spring.
· Bowling equipment for Hilly Fields bowling green (£500), which will enable the bowling club to extend their programme of free bowling coaching for residents of all ages.
· A plaque to commemorate the original Lady Well in Ladywell Road (£500).
· A contribution to the Brockley Max Festival in 2010 (£1,300); this year the focus of activities is going to be on younger and older people (under 25s and over 55s).
· Start-up funding for youth provision 'Vessel Works' (£1,900) for equipment to set up a production studio for music production, graphic design and video editing, to be based at Crofton Park Baptist Church.
· Printing costs for a Ladywell walking tour leaflet (£1,200) which will highlight the local natural history and the built environment and encourage residents and visitors to the area to find out more.
· Contribution to the Saturday School in Ladywell Centre in Dressington Avenue (£700); this takes place every Saturday during term-time from 10am-12pm for children aged 4-15.

Thanks are due to the 318 residents who participated in the online poll about the funding that was held in November – a very good turnout and strong support for improving the area in different ways.

You can find out more about those projects (and much more!) at the next Ladywell Assembly, which is going to take place in Prendergast School (lower site on Adelaide Avenue) on Saturday, 6 February from 1-3pm. This is going to be a social assembly with stalls from community groups and council services so you can drop in at any time and find out more about what is happening in the area. Refreshments are provided and there are probably going to be activities for children (tbc).

And finally, good news about the Youth Village project that received funding from the Mayor’s Fund. The Assembly allocated £1,000 (also from the Locality Fund) to upgrading the alarm system at the Ladywell Centre so that the sports hall could be accessed separately, in order to allow extended community use. This work has been completed and the Youth Village offering activities for 13-19 year olds is starting there now! Watch this space for further details.

Royal Mail and Posties on Bikes

There's an interesting petition on the Number 10 site at the moment, calling for Royal Mail to keep posties on bikes. The blurb with the petition reads:

"The sight of a postman pedalling down the street will become much rarer under plans by the Royal Mail to phase out thousands of bicycles and replace them with vans.

Environmental groups have queried why the Royal Mail would replace a sustainable form of transport with one that causes congestion and is dependent on fossil fuels. Bicycles have been used to deliver post since 1880 and the Royal Mail has more than 16,000, made by the British company Pashley."

I've signed it, as I agree with the general gist of it (ie 2 wheels no combustion engine good, 4 wheels lots of co2 bad), but I suspect the reality on the ground is a bit more complex and varies considerably around the country.

Yes bicycles are a green way to get around, and it is crazy for the Royal Mail to do away with them entirely and to foist changes on its workforce from above, but they are more practical in some situations than others.

In Lewisham, for example, most of the posties have electric trolleys, because the volume and weight of post is too great for them to carry comfortably on their shoulders, and the distances they cover fairly short compared perhaps to more rural or suburban areas, where bikes and vans might be more practical.

Musculoskeletal problems are the number one health issue for Royal Mail delivery staff, and reducing the weight delivery staff have to carry around is key to tackling this. The CWU have also been very concerned about the number of posties using private vehicles to get their deliveries to their delivery round due to the weight of the deliveries and a lack of Royal Mail vehicles. They are not covered by insurance when they do this.

Clearly we want the Royal Mail to be opting for the greenest, lowest carbon delivery method possible, but I wouldn't want to be on some kind of evangelical green mission to cut carbon, at the cost of ignoring health & safety issues for workers.

That said, as this CWU letter to the Guardian points out, there is a potential contradication between Royal Mail signing up to 10:10 (great), which commits it to reducing its carbon emissions by 10% in 2010, and introducing 24,000 extra vehicles to its fleet.

I think the Royal Mail needs to:

• agree changes with its workforce, who know their patches well.
• not adopt a one size fits all approach but look at it on an area by area, round by round basis
• acknowledge that there is still an important role for bicycles to play within their delivery fleet.
• invest in the most low-carbon and fuel efficient vehicle fleet they can (I'm told that BT are currently leading the field in this - anyone know if that's true?).
• ensure that any bicycles surplus to their requirements go to a good home and are not thrown on the scrap heap.
  

You can find the Royal Mail's CSR (Corporate and Social Responsibility Report) here. There's lots of promising-sounding stuff in it - they've already reduced their CO2 emissions by about 12% over the past few years, they are aiming to be the lowest carbon postal operator in Europe, but there's still plenty of scope for improvement/potential for them to go backwards.

If we're to cut our carbon emissions by the amount required to avoid runaway climate change (we may already have missed the boat there of course), we need companies with large vehicle fleets, such as Royal Mail and BT, to lead the way in getting the most sustainable vehicles available, which should then shift the whole market further in that direction.

However, it does also beg the question of what we do when oil prices shoot up and petrol becomes harder to come by, due to diminishing supplies? Go back to bikes, and just ban junk mail, perhaps?!

If there are by chance any posties out there reading this, I would love to hear your views!

What do you think of Lewisham's markets?

The Council's Sustainable Development Committee, which I chair, is undertaking a review of Lewisham's markets and would welcome feedback from local residents on what they think of them.

This week I have a series of meetings with market traders to get their input, and we will be holding a couple of stalls at markets to get customer feedback. There is also an online survey that you can complete on the Lewisham Council website.

We're keen to get feedback on both the street markets and farmers' markets - what you think works well, anything that you think is missing or could be done better, what would encourage you to use them more often etc.

Hilly Fields looking lovely

Just got back from a walk on Hilly Fields, which is looking absolutely lovely. Loads of people are out enjoying the snow, including lots of 'big children' off work and sledging. The photos were only taken on my phone, so nothing spectacular, but they give a flavour.

For info on what Lewisham is doing to try and minimise disruption to residents during the wintry weather, see the Council's website here.

Mattress recycling and clearer labelling on recycling bins: two good new initiatives from the Council's Environment Team

Lewisham's head of environment, Nigel Tyrell has a blog. He very wisely steers clear of politics but uses it to let people know about new initiatives within the team, developments on the lovelewisham site etc. It's well worth adding to your blogroll.

Earlier this week came the welcome announcement that Lewisham is going to start offering a free mattress collection and recycling service, in partnership with a new company, Matt-UK, which has set up near our Landmann's Way waste site. All you have to do is get a sticker from the local library, put it on the mattress and leave it out on the evenign before your normal waste day and it will be taken away. They estimate that they will be able to recycle about 97% of the materials and sell them on to be made into new products, while also avoiding waste going to landfill or (in Lewisham's case) incineration. Sounds like a great idea to me. The icing on the cake would be to have a market to sell on the recyclate in the UK, rather than Asia, but it looks like that isn't possible just yet.

The other good bit of news, which is something I know a number of councillors have flagged up before, is that bins are going to have stickers on them explaining what can/can't be recycled. The ones we had before looked great, but didn't have the necessary detail on them, so many people have been unsure about what can/can't go in their green bin. Hopefully this will help to reduce the recycling contamination rates, which are currently very high in certain parts of the borough and result in a lot of the recyclate collected being incinerated rather than recycled, because it has got food or garden waste mixed in with it. (Pat on the back for Brockley and Ladywell, which our waste officers said had the lowest level of contamination in green bins, when they carried out a waste analysis).

And of course, at the end of last year the battery recycling scheme started at Lewisham libraries and the Christmas tree recycling service is again being well used by residents locally, judging by the numbers of them piling up on the corners of Hilly Fields. You can find details of these and other recycling facilities on the waste and recycling page on the Council's website.

These are all good initiatives and I don't want to belittle the progress that has been made, but Lewisham still has a pretty low recycling rate compared to other boroughs and there is lots more we need to do. One of my bug bears at the moment are the things that you struggle to recycle if you don't have a car to take them to Landmanns Way. Things like broken electrical goods, which you shouldn't put in wheelie bins. Also, the garden waste scheme that ran over the summer, while better than nothing, wasn't much use for us gardeners without cars (and only about half the borough owns a car). I've lost track of the number of residents on the doorstep who've asked when they are getting their brown wheelie bins back (a garden waste collection pilot that took place a couple of years back). I've also got a whole stash of defunct low energy light bulbs in my cellar waiting for an opportunity to recycle them.

The other thing I'm keen to see some progress on is what happens to our collected paper, cardboard and glass. British paper mills won't take paper and cardboard that has been collected together with glass, as happens in Lewisham, so it is generally shipped abroad (China or Malaysia, if I recall correctly) where there is a market for it. Likewise, because the glass has been crushed and the colours mixed, it is unsuitable for reycling back into glass, so is used for aggregate for roads etc. Unfortunately any solution is likely to cost more and/or add an extra layer of complication into recycling for local residents, as it would either involve separate bins for paper and glass, separate recycling days (eg one week paper, one week glass), extra rubbish trucks on the roads collecting them separately or perhaps a return to the street corner recycling bins for glass.

Another thing that residents often ask about, is why tetrapaks and other juice cartons can't be collected in the green bins. Until now, the problem has been that because they are mixed materials (card, plastic and metal), the MRF (materials recycling facility) have been unable to separate them mechanically, as they do with the other types of recycling. I understand that we might be getting some good news about this in a few months, but in the meantime, juice cartons can still be taken to a number of reycling points in the borough, including New Cross Sainsbury and Lewisham Tesco.

What would be next on your shopping list to improve waste and recycling facilities in Lewisham?

Brookbank Road and Hilly Fields Crescent resurfacing works to start tomorrow

Highways have contacted us to let us know that the long-awaited resurfacing works on Brookbank Road are starting tomorrow (Tuesday 5th January), and Hilly Fields Crescent on 11th January. I'm told that just the section of Brookbank Road between Hilly Fields Crescent and Shell Road is being done, but all of Hilly Fields Crescent. I suspect this is because it is the section on the bus route, and it is the top half of Brookbank that is in the worst state.

Residents in those streets should have got a letter through their doors a few days ago asking them to move their cars. The 484 bus route will be diverted along Montague Avenue and Adelaide Avenue while the works take place.

Congratulations to Rev Barry Carter OBE!

A quick post to say happy new year and congratulations to Rev Barry Carter, from St Andrews Chuch, Brockley Road, who has been awarded an OBE in the New Year's honours list for services to the community in Brockley.

Although Barry theoretically retired a couple of months back, after 30 years at St Andrew's, he is still leading services until his successor is in position and with his wife Christine will still, I'm sure, be playing at active role in the church after that.

St Andrew's Centre is very much at the heart of the local community, with loads of events held there every week, from pensioner lunch clubs to mother and baby groups, and I suspect a sizeable chunk of its continued success is down to Barry's hard work over the years.

(hat tip to Nick from Brockley Central who beat me to it with this one)

No surgery on 26 December

The surgery at St Andrew's Church which would be scheduled to take place on 26 December (the fourth Saturday of the month) is not going to take place. The next surgery is on 9 January at Hilly Fields Medical Centre on Ladywell Road, the next surgery at St Andrew's is on 23 January, both from 11am - 12noon.

In case of emergencies over the festive period please call the council's switchboard on 020 8314 6000.

Hilly Fields Playground Plans - update

Rachel from Hilly Fields Users’ Group has posted an update on their website about how plans for the playground are progressing, and reports that if all goes well work should start on site at the end of January.

Transition Brockley - end of year update

I've just received the following end of year report from Transition Brockley. It's pretty impressive to see what they've already done in the first 8 months. Local people just getting on with things and preparing their community for a low carbon future, without waiting for politicians to get their act together.

After the depressing news from Copenhagen this weekend, in which the US and its cohorts effectively condemned the world to catastrophic climate change, there's a stark contrast and it's a small light in what otherwise makes for a rather gloomy state of global affairs right now!

SEASON'S GREETINGS TO ALL OUR TRANSITIONERS! !
End of year update for Transition Brockley/Lewisham.

We had our first meeting in April of this year and can report that we have:

* FILM SHOWINGS: hosted a couple of film events at St.Andrews Church in Brockley and Manor House Library in Lee showing the Power of Community and A Farm for the Future as well as couple of short films about Transition Towns Totnes and Brockley to highlight the importance of moving away from reliance on fossil fuels and how urban sustainable food-growing is possible;

* VISIONING: had people contributing many ideas about how they envision a future low-carbon and community friendly Brockley at film showings and the Flux event (see below);

* REDUCING CARBON FOOTPRINT: discussed our own small steps to reduce our carbon footprint and build our resilience to peak oil. Assisted by the 3 Tonne Handbook and the 10-10 campaign;

* COMMUNITY VEGETABLE PLOT: helped with the setting up of a vegetable garden at St Saviour's Church, one of the 2012 community food growing spaces to be created by the year 2012 under the Capital Growth scheme;

* FRENDSBURY GARDENS: supported this community garden with their successful application for funding to continue to be able to provide the facilities for giving courses in all aspects of sustainable growing and to increase its wildlife habitat;

* FLUX: held a very successful awareness raising and fun evening at the Brockley Social Club with a magician, live band, DJs, swopshop, wheel of fortune and other visioning activities on a transition theme. It was a real community event with all ages enjoying the fun! We look forward to the next one....;

* THE WAVE: taken part as TT Brockley / Lewisham (with banner!) in the Wave, climate change march on Saturday 5th December; and

* ORCHARD: supported an initiative of local Brockley residents with plans for an orchard in an overgrown plot behind their flats. The ground has been cleared, soil has been taken for testing, and, together with the London Orchard Project, they will be planting trees in the spring.

OTHER INITIATIVES:

* 9carrots: Various local businesses have joined the 9carrots scheme, whereby they pledge to put aside 10% of the money they take from 9carrots customers for an upgrade to make their business more energy efficient. The scheme really NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT, so do tell your friends and if you can, go along and spend with them and say you would like a 9carrots voucher. This will help them to achieve their target and also support our local businesses. Signed up so far are:

* The Shop On The Hill, 7a Harefield Road
* The Broca Food Market, 209-211 Mantle Road
* Mr Lawrence Wine Bar, 391 Brockley Road
* Royal Tandoori, 387 Brockley Road
* EXP Chinese Experience, 390 Brockley Road

If you know of any businesses who would like to join the scheme, feel free to sign them up (contact us for details).

* GLOBAL ACTION PLAN: We organised for GAP (an independent charity which advises business on energy saving measures) to visit a couple of local small businesses to discuss how they might make energy savings, and help them survive the current economic downturn. The visits were welcomed and the businesses have asked GAP to return to work with them in the new year.

* BEEKEEPING: With the invaluable help of our local beekeeper, Camilla, we have sparked off a substantial increase in the number of beehives being set up in the area, following two 'veils-on' sessions with buzzing bees and a film showing of The Mysterious Bee. There has been a huge interest in beekeeping in response to the worrying decline of the rural bee and the (by contrast) fortunate good health of the urban bee.

* PERMACULTURE COURSES: Courses (for individuals) in sustainable growing using permaculture principles are planned for the spring and being organised with Frendsbury Gardens. Negotiations are also under way for permaculture courses to be held for Lewisham's Envirowork, and Glendale, the council's parks and gardens maintenance team, have expressed interest.

* SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES ACT: The proposal Transition Brockley submitted to increase the Government fund for grants towards renewable energy installations (the Low Carbon Building Programme) has been shortlisted by the LGA for review by the Secretary of State, who will decide whether to recommend this proposal for acceptance by the Government.

* TRANSITION SYDENHAM: Alona from our group has started up a Transition Sydenham initiative with a meeting at the end of November. This group will focus on two garden-related topics: a) twinning underused gardens with gardeners who want a growing space, and b) community gardens for growing food. A meeting in January 2010 will plan in more detail what the group can do and the next steps to take.

Let us know if we've missed anything. We look forward to seeing you in the new year.

As we'd like to support local venues, our NEXT MEETING will be at the recently opened Orchard bar/kitchen, 5 Harefield Road, Brockley at 8.00pm, Thursday 21 January.

Happy Christmas!

Alex, Alona, Fran, Katie

If you aren't already on the Transition Lewisham e-mail list, you can sign up here.

Should Ladywell have a conservation area?

Lewisham Planning Department is consulting residents in Ladywell about whether or not a Ladywell Conservation Area should be introduced. The area between the leisure centre and the railway bridge is already part of St Mary's Conservation area, and the area from halfway up Adelaide Avenue comes under Brockley Conservation area, but the main streets in Ladywell, such as Algernon Road, Algiers Road, Veda Road, Embleton Road, Ermine Road and Ladywell Road are not currently in a conservation area. It is this area that is currently being consulted.

One of the main differences between living in a conservation area or not is that planning regulations for conservation areas are stricter, and you need permission for certain changes to your home that you might not need outside it, such as replacing windows and the intention behind this is to preserve the aesthetic and architectural character of the area.

I've included below a bit more information from officers about the proposals and you can also find the documents on the Council's website.

The proposals are supported by a conservation area appraisal that sets out the special interest of the area and explains why it may warrant designation, including recommendations for the future management of the area. These proposals are out to public consultation from now until 27 January 2010. Residents, businesses and stakeholders in the area should all have been sent an explanatory leaflet and a questionnaire asking for their views.

Officers will be available to explain the proposals on Saturday, 9th January between 12.00noon and 3pm at the Foyer of the Lewisham Library, 199-201 Lewisham High Street, Lewisham.

Background to the conservation area review:
Local Planning Authorities are required to identify from time to time which parts of their areas are of special architectural or historic interest, the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance.

Unitary development plan policy URB 15 says that the Council will periodically review its conservation areas programme, designate new Conservation Areas and extend existing ones as appropriate, and formulate and publish special guidance for their preservation, protection or enhancement.

The new Ladywell Conservation Area:
The core of the proposed Ladywell Conservation Area contains a late Victorian residential suburb which was developed by the local builder Samuel J. Jerrard. Through the 1880s and 1890s he built up long stretches of Vicars Hill and the newly laid out streets Algernon Road, Algiers Road, Ermine and Embleton Road. His houses are highly distinctive as a group and his development survives nearly complete. The conservation area also encompasses some good later infill development of the late 19th and early 20th century and the commercial core of Ladywell along Ladywell Road, which contains some of the oldest houses and pubs of the area.

Much of the special character of the proposed Ladywell Conservation Area lies in the historic detail of its buildings. The survey of the area has identified the incremental loss of architectural details and inappropriate alterations as a cause of the area’s loss of historic character. If designation as a Conservation Area is considered it is recommended to make an Article 4(2) direction at the same time to cover all the residential properties. This will mean that planning permission will be required before changes are made to features such as windows, doors, porches, rooflights, brickwork, front gardens and boundary walls.

We would be interested to hear local residents views on these proposals. To make sure your views count, do remember to return the form you get through your door, or you can complete the online version here.

Copenhagen - 1 day left to get the deal

Just got the latest e-mail update from Franny Armstrong and the Age of Stupid team. They are in Copenhagen and running a nightly TV show (The Stupid Show) for the duration of the talks. She sends pretty bleak news:

"With just one day to go here in Copenhagen, the deal is on target to commit us all to a 3.9 degree temperature rise, which would equate to something like:
- Africa uninhabitable
- Southern Europe a desert
- Australian agricultural system wiped out
- All coral reefs gone
- Most forests gone

The world leaders are now starting to arrive - 120 of them are expected, which would be their biggest-ever get-together - and have certainly got their work cut out if they're going to shift things to the extent that's needed to avoid disaster."

We need to commit to no more than a 2 degree temperature rise, and developing countries, including a number of small island nations most vulnerable to sea level rises, are calling for 1.5 degrees. It's primarily the developed countries that have created the CO2 and burned up the planet's resources, yet it will be the poorest countries that pay the highest price and suffer the harshest effects of climate change.

The widget above should provide updates on how the negotiations are progressing and the Green Party website is also being regularly updated with news. If you're aren't one of the 11m who has already signed Avaaz's petition to world leaders calling for a strong climate deal, then you can still do so here - I think they must have handed the first 11m or so in and started again, as it's now at 240,000.

Don't forget the Christmas Markets tomorrow!

A quick reminder about the Ladywell and Brockley Christmas markets tomorrow. The Ladywell one is outside Ladywell Station from 10am-4pm, while the Brockley one is on Coulgate Street from 12-6pm. Lots of food and crafts stalls, including my neighbour Eleanor's deli stall, which is part of her ongoing market research before (hopefully) setting up a shop in Ladywell. According to flyers in Ladywell Chippy, a new boutique/gift shop is also opening at 89 Ladywell Road tomorrow, though it looked some way from being ready when I walked passed earlier.

And don't forget that after the market the festive fun continues with LVIG's fundraising gig in Ladywell Tavern from 7pm onwards.

In other news:

• The surplus railguards on Ladywell Road and Algernon Road have been removed today/yesterday. Hurray! Ladywell Road and Algernon Road are already looking better. We may need a couple more bike racks now though, eg outside the pub.

• EDF Energy are cutting power to half the businesses on Ladywell Road this Sunday, in order to connect the new Oyster card machines at Ladywell Station. Despite having planned this work since the end of October when they applied to the Council for a street works permit, they only saw fit to notify their business customers on Ladywell Road earlier this week. They've indicated that the work should be completed by around 10am - if it's not, businesses face losing a day's trade on one of the busiest days of the year. If you're planning to go and buy your Christmas tree from Ladywell DIY on Sunday morning- take some cash as their credit card machine won't be working until the power is restored.

Ladywell ward councillors' advice surgery - tomorrow at 11am

Our next councillors' surgery is taking place tomorrow, 11am-12pm, at Hilly Fields Medical Centre, Adelaide Avenue. Do pop along if you've got any queries/problems about council-related services that you want to raise with us.

Planning Applications: Foxborough Gardens, Algernon Road, Kneller Road

3 new planning applications in the ward that I thought worth flagging up.

1) DC/09/71852/X: The provision of children's play equipment on the communal open space at 105-151 and 153-199 Foxborough Gardens SE4.

2) DC/09/72886/X: The continued use of land adjacent to 48 Kneller Road SE4, as storage land, for the parking of motorhome vehicles thereon as a security measure.

3) DC/09/72782/X: Redevelopment of land to the rear of 6-24 Algernon Road SE13, involving the demolition of existing buildings; the erection of 3 buildings between 2 and 4 storeys in height and accommodating 34 residential units; the provision of access and car parking, landscaping, amenity space and play space; and the erection of retaining walls.

The first is an application to build a new play area on the green in front of the tower blocks in Foxborough Gardens. This is one of the projects which was awarded funding as part of the Playbuilder scheme and which I blogged on back in February.

The second application for Kneller Road is something that was flagged up to me by Kneller Road residents concerned about on street parking and noise disturbance.

The third application is probably the largest housing development to come up in the ward in recent years, and is for housing on the mews to the rear of Algernon Road, where Mersh Brothers MOT Centre is currently.

If you click on the links above, it should take you to the application details online. Any comments should be sent to Lewisham Planning, 5th Floor Laurence House, 1 Catford Road, London, SE6 4SW, or they can be e-mailed to planning@lewisham.gov.uk. Don't forget to include the address and application number with your comments.

Foxberry Court bins - sorted!

We've been picking up a few extra bits and pieces of casework recently, while out speaking to residents. In Foxberry Road, residents complained that because the bins in Foxberry Court did not have lids, the rubbish was blowing down the road and foxes etc were getting into the bins. Happily, this was an easy one to solve and our waste officers acting promptly to get new lids fitted on the bins - thanks Paddy! If only all casework was resolved this easily . . .

The number to call to request new bin lids, report lost bins, fly-tipping, graffiti, or for pretty much anything else to do with the Council's Environment services is 020 8314 7171.