Agenda item

• Walworth Youth Community Council

• Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) feedback - Kate Johnson, Senior Planning Policy Officer

• Safer Neighbourhoods Teams feedback

• Elephant and Castle Leisure Centre - Matthew Rees, Senior Project Manager

Walworth Youth Community Council

Members of the Walworth Youth Community Council (WYCC) explained that the purpose of the Youth Community Council was to give young people from 13-19 a voice. Members of the WYCC had been working on a petition about betting shops and payday loan shops in Walworth Road, of which there were at least 17. This created a problem for the community, as the shops attracted people with multiple addiction problems and so turned Walworth Road into a no-go area at certain times of the day. Residents using cash-points were being harrassed for money, which could be very intimidating. Furthermore, in a community, in which many families struggled with poverty, an increase in the number of betting shops did not help. Because under-18s were not allowed to work in these kinds of establishments, they also decreased employment opportunities for local young people in the area. The WYCC had collected more than 250 signatures on their petition and had attracted national press coverage. They called on the council to look at a saturation policy for betting shops and payday loan shops in the Walworth area. Answering questions from the floor, the members of WYCC said that they would be meeting with Harriet Harman MP soon, and that they had not looked at the issue in conjunction with addiction services in the area. 

The chair suggested taking this issue to a future council assembly meeting, and asked whether there was general agreement for this from the floor, which there was.

Elephant and Castle Supplementary Planning Document (SPD)

Kate Johnson, Senior Planning Policy Officer, said that the feedback from the workshops held at the last Walworth Community Council had been used as part of the consultation process which was now closed. As a result of the consultation process amendments to the document had been made. The feedback from the workshops held at the Walworth Community Council was also included in the agenda packs for this meeting. The SPD was scheduled to be adopted by cabinet on 20 March 2012. All the information, including consultation responses were available from the SPD-website:

http://www.southwark.gov.uk/info/200151/supplementary_planning_documents_and_guidance/2040/elephant_and_castle_spd_oapf

She went on to say that the consultation responses would be made available on the website from 13 March 2012, and there would be a hardcopy available in the library on Walworth Road. She invited residents to give the planning policy team a call, if they had questions about the document. Responding to a question from the chair, Kate said she would find out which organisations and individuals had been written to, to advertise the consultation process. She went on to say that the methods of publicising the consultation and the event were also set out on the website. Kate went on to explain that officers appreciated that the time between the publication of the consultation report and the adoption by cabinet was short, which was why the summary report and the information had been put on the web. A question was raised about the quality of a map used by LendLease as part of their consultation. Kate said she would speak to the resident in question outside the meeting and pass the information on to LendLease.

ACTION: Provide feedback on which individuals and groups had been written to as part of the consultation around the Elephant and Castle SPD.

Safer Neighbourhoods Teams (SNT) feedback

PS Chris Daly, from East Walworth SNT gave apologies on behalf of PS Vinny Gage and said he would feedback on all three wards.

Activities and priorities of Faraday SNT had included rough sleepers on the Bradenham and Chiltern estates, drugs and prostitution on the Nelson Estate, squatters on the Gayhurst Estate, and the sale of stolen goods and trademark offences in a local pub. The next Faraday ward panel meeting would be on 9 May 2012, at Inspire in Liverpool Grove.

Activities and priorities for Newington SNT had included: drug dealing in Penrose House and Pasley Park, illegal DVD sellers and anti-social behaviour on Walworth Road, shutting down two crack houses, and the execution of a warrant on a DVD factory. The next ward panel would be on 21 March 2012, at Pasley TRA Hall.

The next ward panel for East Walworth would be in the nursery on Browning Street on 25 April at 7pm. Recent activities and priorities in East Walworth had included robberies and pick-pocketing in East Street, youth anti-social behaviour and criminal damage to motor vehicles. Plain clothes operations on East Street seem to have worked as a deterrence. The team had done outreach work with the youth groups from Victory Church and the Penbrook Youth group. All SNTs had taken part in a junior citizenship course delivered in schools, had addressed the two local gangs, and participated in London-wide operations to stop illegal scrap metal dealing.

PS Daly also informed the meeting that the police had a zero tolerance approach to anti-social behaviour. Parents and guardians were also being spoken to, to inform them of the fact that they may lose their council tenancy, if members of their family persisted in behaving anti-socially. He went on to say that the Safer Neighbourhoods Teams had received information about their Olympic duties, and told the meeting that the police would need to cover many events. Therefore, there would be fewer of them on the ground in the local area, during that time.

Responding to questions from the floor, PS Daly explained that the police had limited powers against squatters, if they were not in possession of a court order. He went on to say that councillors should speak to PS Gage about arrests on the Nelson Estate, and explained that the police had no powers regarding licensed premises legally dispensing methadone. The SNT were, however, aware of the problems around Congreve Street, and had used plain clothes officers to deal with some of the issues.

The chair expressed his gratitude to the police for risking their lives in the course of their duties.

Walworth Society

Jeremy Leach, from the Walworth Society, informed the meeting that the society was organising three walkabouts in each of the wards. These were aimed at taking stock of the buildings, local places and green spaces, which people wished to protect in light of the new powers for communities contained in the Localism Act. The walkabouts would be on: Saturday 31 March (East Walworth), Saturday 5 May (Newington) and Saturday 12 May (Faraday). 

Southwark Probation Service

Louis Ball, from the London Probation Trust, informed the meeting that community groups and institutions could benefit from free work by offenders under the community pay back scheme. PS Daly clarified that the offenders doing the work had all been risk assessed, and would be supervised by PCSOs and/or PCs while they carried out their work. Residents suggested that the probation service should contact the Southwark Pensioners’ Centre who were always in need of volunteers and unpaid helpers. Paul said he would leave some leaflets at the welcome desk.

Local history of public health

Councillor Catherine Bowman informed the meeting that films developed by the erstwhile Bermondsey council, as part of a public health and regeneration campaign from 1926 to 1950, were being shown at the Wellcome Collection, 205-301 Euston Road, in an exhibition entitled “Here comes good health”.

St Peter’s

Father Andrew informed the meeting that there would be a Community Celebration in Faraday Gardens next to St Peter’s in Liverpool Grove on the Jubilee Weekend - 2 June 2012. Councillor Lorraine Lauder, the Worshipful Mayor of Southwark, would be the patron of the event. On Saint Patrick’s Day, there would also be a fun evening fundraiser for the 2 June event.

East Walworth Green Links

The meeting heard that there was going to be a day of tree planting on 12 April 2012 from 10am-3pm in Tantum Street.