Lewisham's local priorities

What would you like Lewisham Council to prioritise, and do other people agree with you?

The Department for Communities & Local Government has just released the results of a national process to draw up priorities for each local authority for the next three years. These 'Local Area Agreements' are negotiated between the council, public sector organisations such as the NHS and the police, and central government. The idea is that councils will now use these priorities to guide their allocation of funding and focus their efforts.

The outcome for every council in the country can be viewed at the DCLG website; here are Lewisham's target priorities* ...

* = Many of these are couched as percentages; the idea is that over time the percentage changes, reflecting an improvement/deterioration.


% of people who believe people from different backgrounds get on well together in their local area

% of people who feel they can influence decisions in their locality

Environment for a thriving third sector

Adult participation in sport and active recreation

Serious violent crime rate

Serious acquisitive crime rate

Rate of proven re-offending by young offenders

Dealing with local concerns about anti-social behaviour and crime by the local council and police

Repeat incidents of domestic violence

Number of drug users recorded as being in effective treatment

Ethnic composition of offenders on Youth Justice System disposals

Services for disabled children

Obesity in primary school age children in Reception

Stability of placements of looked after children: length of placement

Achievement gap between pupils eligible for free school meals and their peers achieving the expected level at Key Stages 2 and 4

First time entrants to the Youth Justice System aged 10-17

Under 18 conception rate

Substance misuse by young people

16 to 18 year olds who are not in education training or employment (NEET)

All-age all cause mortality rate

Stopping smoking

Achieving independence for older people through rehabilitation / intermediate care

Carers receiving needs assessment or review and a specific carer's service or advice and information

Percentage of vulnerable people achieving independent living

Adults with learning disabilities in employment

Overall Employment rate (working-age)

Working age people claiming out of work benefits in the worst performing neighbourhoods

Number of affordable homes delivered (gross)

Number of households living in temporary accommodation

% non-decent council homes

Number of Level 1 qualifications in literacy (including ESOL) achieved

Percentage of small businesses in an area showing employment growth

Per capita reduction in CO2 emissions in the LA area

Residual household waste per household

Improved street and environmental cleanliness (levels of litter detritus graffiti and fly-posting)


The picture this paints probably isn't too far from the truth: an urban population with relatively low average incomes, lacking recreation opportunities, worrisome yoof, and high concern about crime. However it could be argued that the council has missed a trick here in focussing on the symptoms rather than the cause. There's only one employer-related priority here, and that focusses on small businesses. Where are the job creation measures which would help Lewisham's population to improve its lot? Who are the borough's major employers and what do they make of these priorities? What can we do to attract more sizeable firms?

Taking our Telegraph-reading hat off and putting our Brockley Central hat on, we note there's nothing in these priorities about transport. This is bad news for those who believe the Brockley Cross roundabout desperately needs to be re-worked. But what else does this mean for Brockley - what do BC readers think?

Street Fighter

In our recent interview with Cllr Alexander, we discussed planning enforcement on our main streets, using the case of Speedicars on Coulgate Street as an example. She promised to look in to the case and keep readers informed, which she has. Here's what she's found out, so far:

Following receipt of three separate complaints a letter was sent to the occupier of 6 Coulgate Road (trading as Speedicars) on 14th May explaining that an illuminated fascia sign and a new shop front, both recently installed would require consent. The premises lie within the Brockley Conservation Area.

A written response was received on 21st May from a Director of Speedicars indicating that, as he understood, the Council had previously granted permission for the shopfront and the sign is a like for like replacement.

The council wrote back on 29th May stating that records do not indicate that any permission was sought let alone approved. The relevant forms were enclosed with the council's response requesting that the necessary submissions be made by mid June.

On receipt of the letter the Director then telephoned asking for an extra 4 weeks to put together an application. The planners agreed to this.

This means we can expect a formal application in mid-July. Given that it seems a clear breach of planning rules, we struggle to imagine on what basis it would succeed, and we hope the Council team work with Speedicars to find a more appropriate solution.

We hope that the combination of the residents' protests and the fact it's on the Councillor's radar will have a Double Impact and that the lopsided plastic sign will receive its Death Warrant soon. But it has proved a Hard Target thus far.

With thanks to Luc Deveraux.

Brockley Open Studios - the agony and the ecstasy

If you want to feel bad about your crappy house, your unkempt garden and your unrewarding desk job, then Brockley Open Studios is the event for you. It is also one of the finest ways to spend a sunny afternoon:

Strolling around Brockley's beautiful, sun-dappled streets, popping in to any doorway with a poster outside, appraising their work, nosing around their amazing houses and gardens, chatting to the uniformly charming hosts and eating their crisps.

We had been aware that Brockley is an artistic community, largely because people kept telling us it was so. But we never really felt it. Today, we did. Some of the work is fantastic - all of it was pretty good (although we seem to be more generous in these matters than some). Biddy Bunzl could charge admission for her technicolour beachcomber house.

Monday is the last night of this year's event. If you've not been, go. You may hate yourself if you do, but you will hate yourself a lot more if you don't.

Click here for details.

...

Walking along Wickham Road, we bumped in to Brockley Sarah, who had a map of the event, with notes from the last two years' events. She's seen nearly every artist and we are hoping to persuade her to write a comprehensive review.

Cafe Orange, Telegraph Hill

Cafe Orange is due to close in November 2008, but in the mean time, please leave your comments and reviews of its current form here.

Lewisham Labour

How will Brockley's next generation of yummy mummies be catered for? Brockley Central went gonzo to find out...

Lewisham Hospital's Maternity Ward encapsulates much of what is good and bad about the NHS.

At first sight, it's fairly grim. On a pre-birth tour of the facilities with a host of mums, you could see smiles of first-timers drop as they inspected the rooms where they would have to undergo "the magic of childbirth". Despite being refurbished in 2003, the ward isn't pretty, the hospital is fraying at the edges and, currently, the delivery rooms overlook a building site, which means they're very noisy during the week. There's only one birthing pool, so your chances of getting in are slim.

However, the battle hardened labour-veterans, who knew the visceral truth of what lay in store, were more pragmatic.

When the reality is more Dante than Disney, you want to know: Are the rooms clean? Are the staff competent and properly resourced? Are there plenty of doctors on-hand? Is there somewhere comfortable for the dad to sit?

We're conscious that the childbirth experience is highly personal (and the greatest tragedies that have befallen our friends have happened is some of the most reputable hospitals) so we can't offer a definitive answer to any of these questions, except the last one, which is a resounding no.

In our own experience though, all of the staff were calm, professional and didn't patronise - the mother's wishes came first and the father was made to feel welcome, even when he sat in the wrong place.

The rooms are decent-enough; brighter and seemingly cleaner than the rooms to be found at Woolwich and Sidcup.

When we arrived, we were made to wait for over an hour before we could be seen, but it was clearly a very busy time for the staff who were coping with a glut of deliveries. From the point they finally got around to seeing us, we were well-attended to.

This standard of care followed us home, with regular visits from midwives, who were friendly and professional.

Bin and gone

Compare and contrast our cuddly new dumpsters with those they replaced. Artmongers (creators of New Cross' cow parade bins) have worked their magic again.

If the sight of the old wheelie bins isn't seared on your retina, click here to see what this scene used to be like.

It's smart little changes like redesigning and rearranging our bins that can make a huge difference to our daily lives.

Well done to everyone involved. More please!

Brockley Bites

Ladywell Assembly Meeting tonight

The Ladywell Assembly takes place tonight, from 7pm-9pm at St Andrew's Centre on Brockley Road.

Residents of Ladywell ward are encouraged to attend the public assembly and air their views about the key issues facing the area. The Brockley Assembly attracted a big turn-out and you can read about it here if you want to know what to expect.

Burned-down house rises from the ashes

The house on the corner of Upper Brockley Road and Geoffrey Road that burned down last year, killing one person, is now almost completely rebuilt. However, some residents have expressed concern that the addition of side windows, facing on to the site of the neighbouring MOT garage, could hamper plans to redevelop that site. Any new application for housing on the garage would be restricted by the need to avoid blocking the new windows.

Ecosium under new management

Well, not that new. But one of the partners in the Harefield Road restuarant has taken outright control, installing a new menu and focusing on the service problems that have blighted the business. Given that much of the criticism it received from Brockley Central readers pre-dates the takeover, it could be worth a reappraisal.

There's no such thing as virtual society

Who better than the harmonious folk of Brockley Central to take part in an experiment about online co-operation?

The Department of Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London is looking for volunteers to take part in a trial of a new online social game.

Whether you are into online gaming or not, this is a great excuse to play games whilst contributing to valuable university research. The game involves creating an online persona, or 'Familiar', for yourself and then creating and collaborating on various tasks with other players through your in-game character.All you need to do to take part in the trial is to play the game for 6-8 weeks, but this means you will need internet access.

All players taking part in the trial will be entered into a prize draw to win a £150 voucher redeemable at Currys.digital, PC World, or the Link, and after the trial has finished you will be asked to fill in some questionnaires. Goldsmiths is looking for 100 volunteers from all walks of life - you don't need to be an experienced gamer. If you are interested please contact Dr Elaine Beattie on 020 7919 7338 or email e.beattie@gold.ac.uk