Agenda and minutes

                Cllr Maja Hilton Chair of the Forest Hill Assembly welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced Cllr Peter Bernards and gave apologies for Cllr Upex.

meet the applicants who have a project idea to help make a difference in

Forest Hill.

            Meet the Applicants who have a project idea to help make a difference in Forest Hill:         

            1:         Project 1: Forest Hill Family Festival- £2300

The Parents’ Network, in partnership with Kelvin Grove & Eliot Bank Children’s Centre, will organise a weeklong series of local events that highlight Forest Hill’s family-friendly community. They will offer workshops and activities for parents to foster relationships, network through shared experiences, and gain expertise in child development and well-being. The Parents’ Network is working to transform Forest Hill into a close-knit community that resembles the metaphorical village we all know is needed to raise a healthy, happy child.

They will offer a range of workshops aimed at surfacing common issues parents face when raising children. Additionally, by conducting outreach to local traders and businesses, we will showcase the family friendly side of Forest Hill. Local traders may wish to offer discounts or taster sessions to promote their child-focused activities.

To do this affordably and efficiently, they will utilise local knowledge, expertise and resources. The events will take place over the course of a week and will feature weekend, weekday afternoon and sessions to accommodate and reach as many local residents as possible. Workshops and events will take place across a range of venues in the ward.

Project 2: Planting at Forest Hill station and town centre-£600

As in previous years members of the Forest Hill Society and its supporters will do planting work at Forest Hill station and in the town centre with members of the public who join them in watering, weeding and planting.   While they try to choose plants which regenerate annually not all succeed in this, and a lot is dependent on the weather.  Funds are therefore needed to replace missing or damaged plants, compost and other materials and renew where necessary.

Project 3: Mothers Springboard Programme- £2500

The project goal is to help local stay-at-home mothers, with little or no work experience, achieve a work-life balance by addressing all personal challenges that may act as a barrier in sustaining long-term employment whilst raising a family-often single-handedly.

The proposed project is a pilot programme which has been formulated as a consequence of the summer budget 2017, affecting lone parents the hardest. Cuts to Child tax credits for the 3rd and subsequent children means that mothers are required to go back to work and stay in long term employment.

Aims:

1. The Program aims to prepare mothers who are out of work for the world of work.
2. To develop connections between local mothers through social media, monthly meet ups and a buddy system so that they may support each other through and beyond the program.
3. To signpost to external organisations to address issues that may act as a barrier to employment.

Objectives:

The project will deliver tangible results where participants will gain skills and insight that will lead them to go on to either:

?     Part-time or Full-time Employment

?     Training in their chosen field

?     Further/Higher Education

?     Enterprise and Self Employment

?     Programs for further Preparation

Project 4:  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

After everyone visited each stall held by each project to find out what  they were about, all projects were voted in by a show of hands.

Cllr Sophie McGeevor presented;

 ‘Air Quality in Lewisham- What is happening and what can we do?’

             The UK picture:

             Legal Requirements

 The 2008 ambient air quality directive (2008/50/EC) sets legally

 binding limits for concentrations in outdoor air of major air pollutants

 that impact public health such as particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5)

 and nitrogen dioxide (NO2).

            The UK Government was taken to the European Supreme Court for

            non-compliance and ordered "that the Government must prepare and

            consult on new air quality plans for submission to the European

            Commission... no later than December 31 2015".

            New Air quality plan for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in UK was published in

            July 2017 after original plan in December 2015 was deemed by courts

            as insufficient.

As a council we are not satisfied that this plan provides enough resources of legislative action to address the scale of the problem we face

 What can we all do?

·         Sign up to the Mayor’s Air Quality Pledge

·         Walk or cycle instead of taking the car. Cycling or walking benefits your health and helps to improve air quality in London

·         Use public transport instead of driving to reduce your air pollution emissions

·         Talk to your friends and family about air quality. Encourage them to take action against air pollution too

·         Explore alternatives to owning a diesel car e.g. becoming a member of a car clubs, trading in your car for a petrol vehicle, or buying a vehicle run on hydrogen or electricity

IMPROVED AIR QUALITY REQUIRES US ALL TO MAKE RIGHT CHOICES

See full presentation for more information

                Brendan Cuddihy, Forest Hill

                Society gave the following presentation:

                Forest Hill and Sydenham Healthy Streets – a Liveable Neighbourhood

                What is a Liveable Neighbourhood?                       

  “Creating ‘Liveable Neighbourhoods’ to improve the public’s experience of walking, cycling and using public transport and to increase opportunities to use streets as public spaces and for play, and to encourage fewer trips by car.”

            - Proposal 1(a) of the Draft Mayor’s Transport Strategy

                What are we planning?

•    Community-led design through workshops and online engagement

•    A walking and cycling master plan for Forest Hill and Sydenham

•    A bid to TfL for up to £10 million funding to make this a reality over the next few years

Next steps:

•    Secure Lewisham Council backing

•    Submit bid to TfL

•    Learning from other London schemes

•    Community workshops to design masterplan

See full presentation for more information

Lewisham is bidding to become the first London Borough of Culture!   London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan has launched a competition for a £1m prize. 

Back the bid by adding your ideas to www.loveitlewisham.co.uk/tell-us-your-ideas/. 

If you use social media please show what you love about Lewisham’s culture by tagging #loveitlewisham and #mylocalculture. 

The Borough of Culture bid is about you, even if you don’t think ‘culture’ is something you ‘do’, you are part of Lewisham’s culture & heritage, you make Lewisham unique!

The results will be announced in February 2018.

Feedback forms - agenda items next meeting

Feedback forms – agenda items next meeting

Cllr Hilton highlighted the importance of completing the feedback forms and invited members to join the coordinating group which plans the assembly and discusses local issues and updates. If you would like to join contact maya.onyett@lewisham.gov.uk for further information.

·         Active consultations in Forest Hill

·         Upcoming Christmas activities

·         Changes to waste 2^nd October

·         Active consultations in Forest Hill, currently none outstanding

·         Upcoming Christmas activities- Saturday 2^nd December 2017-

Christmas Tree Lighting event- call out for any volunteers who

would like to help on the day; singers / entertainers/ general help

etc. Contact Maya Onyett maya.onyett@lewisham.gov.uk if you

would like to be involved.

·         Share your views on accessing Met Police services was brought to

the assembly’s attention. The consultation on the draft Public

Access and Engagement Strategy is available and closes on 6^th October.

Go to www.london.gov.uk.

·         Changes to waste happens on 2^nd October. For further information

visit the Lewisham council website, Rubbish and Recycling page.

                        Close

        Cllr Hilton thanked everyone for coming and welcomed anyone to

        contact the Forest Hill councillors if they have any concerns, or issues

        they want to raise.

Date of next meeting:  Saturday 2^nd December 2017- Christmas Tree Lighting event