· “Support Choices” - Wendy Foreman, Senior Campaigns Officer
· Recycling / Waste collections
· Update about Burgess Park – Nadia Chowdari, Project Support Officer
· Community safety update – Safer Neighbourhoods Teams
· Civic Awards – Ken Hayes, Honorary Secretary, Southwark Civic Association
· Elephant and Castle update - Ciron Edwards, Lend Lease
Minutes:
Southwark Civic Awards
Ken Hayes, Honorary Chair of the Southwark Civic Association, spoke to the meeting about the Civic Awards. He explained that the Civic Association, which is independent of the council, had been in existence since 1995, with the first Civic Awards having been awarded in 1996. There were three levels of award: Letter of Commendation, Liberty of the Borough and “Of the Year” Award. He went on to say that this year, following the riots a new category of Citizenship Award for acts of Civic Responsibility had been created, for acts of civil responsibility during or after the disturbances. These awards were a source of enormous pride for those who received them, as they were being honoured by their fellow citizens. He invited people to submit their nominations for the awards on the forms which were available from all libraries or via the website. The deadline for nominations was until 31 January 2012. He reminded people that the awards were aimed at outstanding civic activity outside of people paid employment. More information was available at www.southwarkcivicassociation.org.
The meeting heard that for outstanding achievements as part of one’s profession there were other awards, for example the new year’s honours list. The chair thanked Ken Hayes for attending.
Support choices
Wendy Foreman, Senior Campaigns Officer, introduced the council’s new “Support Choice” resource to adult social care, which was designed to provide information about services in one single place. The resource had been user tested and was therefore easy to use. The advantage of the system being electronic was that updates could be made continuously, which ensured the information was always up-to-date. 60 providers were currently listed, but this number would further increase, as more information was being added. Wendy went on to explain that staff in the council’s libraries had been trained to help people navigate the resource, and were on-hand to help those people who did not access to the internet, or who felt they were not IT literate enough to use the system. Responding to questions Wendy said that the eligibility criteria for the various services could be found on the website.
More information at http://www.southwark.gov.uk/mysupportchoices.
Burgess Park
John Wade, Temp Parks & Open Spaces Manager, told the meeting that the opening of the park would be delayed until summer 2012. This was due to large oil tanks having been found at the Camberwell Road end of the park. These had to be made safe and removed. The car park and the play area would be opened earlier than the rest of the park – in March 2012. There was going to be a walk-about on 11 Feb 2012 at 10am. Places would be allocated on a first come, first serve basis.
Responding to questions, John said that officers had considered opening other parts of the park, but as the park was a building site, there were health and safety implications and this was not possible, however the car park and the play area would be opened in March. He invited people to contact Nadia Chowdari, Project Support Officer at Nadia.Chowdari@southwark.gov.uk.
Elephant and Castle Update
Ciron Edwards, from Soundings representing LendLease, fed back on the latest consultation activities. The leisure centre consultation was ongoing at the conservation hub, there would also be a new leaflet distributed to people in the area. On 9 Feb 2012, the community forum would take place at 182 Walworth Road opposite Amelia Street.
Responding to questions from the floor, Councillor Richard Livingstone said that the demolition of the Heygate Estate had been brought forward and that the council would be paid back the money from LendLease which the council had advanced, and that the money would be paid back with interest.
A question was also raised about whether LendLease had found a financier yet for the parts of the scheme which had not been given planning consent. Ciron said he would provide feedback on this.
Safer Neighbourhoods Team (SNT) Update
PS Daly from East Walworth SNT, and Vinny Gage from Newington and Faraday SNTs introduced Inspector Barton who was now responsible for the Safer Neighbourhoods teams in Southwark.
The meeting heard that the next ward meeting for East Walworth would take place on 22 February 2012 at 7pm at the Browning Community Centre; the ward meeting for Faraday SNT on 7 March at St Peter’s/Inspire in Liverpool Grove.
In terms of the activities and ward priorities for the different SNTs, these were:
East Walworth
· Operations targeting unlicensed premises
· Operation Reclaim targeting uninsured and/or untaxed cars
· Distribution of 10,000 crime prevention leaflets
· Olympics rotas drawn up – SNTs will work 4 out of 5 Saturdays, and 3 out of 5 Sundays
· A new newsletter would be published in March
Newington
· Ward priorities: anti-social behaviour on Walworth Road, and Penrose House, burglaries on Newington Estate
· Recently executed a warrant and shut down a cannabis factory
Faraday
· Ward priorities: anti-social behaviour around Tower Bridge and youth anti-social behaviour around Gayhurst
Responding to a question from members, Inspector Barton explained that anecdotally the crime situation around Elephant and Castle had improved and that the main problems were mobile phone thefts with bicycles. There was an active robbery squad, but officers also did a lot of work around preventing anti-social behaviour and anti-violence.
Responding to a question about the extension of the Northern Line from Kennington Underground Station, PS Gage said that his team had not been consulted directly, but that maybe one of his superiors had. He agreed that an extension of the line would probably increase the footfall at the station, and therefore potentially lead to more incidents, and necessitate increased patrols.
Recycling/Waste collections
The chair announced that Ian McGeough, from Veolia, was in attendance, who would be happy to speak to people about their queries regarding recycling and waste collections. Ian McGeough informed the meeting about the new processing and recycling facility on the Old Kent Road which featured the following main components:
The centre itself which sorted and recycled the waste, the recycling discovery centre for children at Key Stage 2, and a permanent exhibition/meeting space which community groups could use. He reminded the meeting that the facility at Manor Place was now closed. A question was raised about rescheduling collections for blue wheelie bins, Ian said he would speak to the resident in the break.
Walworth Society
The meeting heard that the Walworth Society aimed to give a voice to local people on the architecture in the area and that the society was concerned about the former Kennedy butcher’s shop which was the only listed shop front on Walworth Road.
Elephant Amenity Network
The network will meet on 28 January 2012 at 10.30am at the Conway Church on the New Kent Road to discuss the Elephant and Castle Opportunity Area supplementary planning document, and to draft an alternative plan.
Lorrimore Road shops
Councillor Patrick Diamond informed the meeting that a meeting was taking place on 24 January 2012 at 7pm in the TRA hall in Lorrimore Road to discuss the future of the derelict shops in Manor Place. The community was keen to ensure affordable housing and shops for the area.
The chair thanked all speakers for attending.