Agenda item

• Petition - Heygate Estate Access Route  

The chair informed the meeting that the community council had received an e-petition from the Heygate Leaseholders Action Group in respect of Heygate Estate Access Route. It had been signed by more than 250 people, and had therefore exceeded the threshold requried to be heard.

Adrian Glasspool, spokesperson for the group, outlined their case for re-opening the access route which had been blocked off by the council in early July. He questioned the council’s rationale for removing access, and said that there was now a higher crime rate than before the closure. The properties, some of which were still lived in, provided natural surveillance through overlooking. He said the council was also failing in its duty to provide a safe, alternative access route. He called for the community council to refer this matter back to officers, to propose that the access route be reopened to the public, that all interim uses be included in the masterplan and that any further access restrictions should be brought to community council. Responding to questions from councillors, Adrian Glasspool outlined the urban gardening activities which had been going on over the summer, and explained that blocking off only one side of the estate effectively created no-go areas.

Councillor Richard Livingstone, cabinet member for resources, finance and community safety, explained the reasoning behind the decision to close the access way. He said he understood the concerns of the petitioners, but that the decision had been taken following advice from the police, after violent crimes had taken place in the vicinity of the alleyway. He emphasised that the council wanted to make sure that regeneration activity did not play a part in any further tragedies, such as the cases of Damilola Taylor and Zainab Kalokoh. It was his understanding that there was no natural overlooking, as nobody lived above the alleyway. The police had advised the council that people committing crimes on the New Kent Road had also used the alleyway as a means to escape. Furthermore, there had been the case of someone trying to drag a woman behind one of the walls.

In response to a question from the floor, the chair asked Sgt Daley from East Walworth SNT to give details of the levels of criminality they had encountered. PS Daley responded that since residents had started being decanted from the estate, the police had closed about 80 crack houses. There had also been two rapes (one of which had taken place at 10.30am), three indecent assaults, a series of robberies and various drug offences in which the alleyway had been used by perpetrators.

Petitioners and councillors then discussed alternatives such as taking down some of the walls to create a more open space and CCTV. Councillor Livingstone said that he was happy to take the suggestion of taking down the walls back to officers, and said that his decision had only been based on safety concerns. Jon Abbot, Project Director, explained that temporary horticultural activities on Brandon Street, and cultural activities on other parts of the estate had been discussed with LendLease.

Note: at this point, Councillors Richard Livingstone and Patrick Diamond left the meeting.

Further questions were raised by attendees to be passed on to Councillor Livingstone:

1. Could the SNT which had been taken off the estate in 2009  be brought back? 
2. When would the Elephant and Castle shopping centre and train station be closed due to the high levels of crime they generated?
3. How had closing the alleyway made the area safer, as there was now only one way out?
4. Whether councillors had been informed by officers that the alleyway was going to be closed?

The chair said these questions would be responded to formally, and that he was pleased so many people had come to the community council to raise their concerns.

Resolved:

1. That the matter raised in the petition be referred to the relevant cabinet member.
2. That the community council ask the cabinet member to come back with a response to the petition, as a result of further dialogue with officers.