Agenda and draft minutes

Cllr Colin Elliott welcomed everyone to the assembly and introduced Cllr Suzannah Clarke and Cllr Hilary Moore.

Paul Gale explained that The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) is a levy that local authorities can choose to charge on certain new development.  CIL must be spent on infrastructure to support the development of an area, such as for schools, hospitals, roads, open space, and leisure facilities. Lewisham has been collecting CIL since 2015:

2015/16: £1,440,463.66

2016/17: £4,487,774.86

2017/18: £3,359,091.04

The CIL Regulations enable the Council to set aside 15% of CIL receipts     (25% in areas with an adopted neighbourhood plan) to spend on priorities that should be agreed with the local community in areas where development is taking place (NCIL). Mayor & Cabinet agreed to allocate 25% of CIL to NCIL in all wards.

Agreed NCIL Process (Mayor & Cabinet 2019) for the borough is:

Stage 1: Priority setting workshop with ward assemblies (four year cycle)

Stage 2: ‘Open call’ for projects to all Lewisham residents (biennial or annual process)

Stage 3: Evaluate projects and publish long-list (biennial or annual process)

Stage 4: Develop ‘project bank’ by public vote (biennial or annual process)

Stage 5: Allocate and delivery through RCDB and M&C (annual process)

Stage 6: Monitoring, evaluation and reporting (annual process)

Chris then took the assembly through a presentation of the Grove Park NCIL a copy of which is available from paul.gale@lewisham.gov.uk

The current NCIL pot for Grove Park is £31,587.77

The five priorities as identified by Commonplace are:

• Transport and Streets
• Community Facilities
• Open/Green spaces
• Community safety
• Air Quality

The assembly was then split into small groups to discuss and agree these priorities with the option to add a further priority for Grove Park ward.

There was a general concern from attendees regarding the lack of youth facilities and a keenness to see some money from NCIL go towards supporting the Youth Club.

The assembly stated that it would be beneficial to have some costings for items such as Zebra Crossings and park play equipment etc. It also felt that information should be provided regarding existing plans for improvements coming from the council budget.

The assembly felt that communication needs to be improved and that a digital noticeboard in the town centre would be really useful.

A further observation was that Grove Park needs to have its own identity and its own brand.

There were lots of comments relating to reducing traffic and road safety particularly around schools.

Overall it was felt that the Commonplace priorities sufficiently covered the issues identified within Grove Park. Therefore the priorities will be:

• Transport and Streets
• Community Facilities
• Open/Green spaces
• Community safety
• Air Quality

Neighbourhood Forum – Stephen Kenny told the assembly that the Neighbourhood Plan has now been completed and it will go to a referundum. It is online grovepark.org.uk and at the Library. Because of delays by the Council the Forum has to be re-designated so please do sign-up or re-sign up.

Steven told the assembly that he was concerned about Grove Park Green Spaces, the GLA has designated the area as an area of strategic regeneration. This makes the plan even more important as it gives the Forum more control. We need to protect our assets and green spaces.

Steven told the assembly that Napier House has been excluded from Lewisham’s Local List despite it being submitted in November 2017, this is a massive site which the MOD will be selling in the future. It is vitally important to protect this asset. The Baring Hotel was not listed and we had to go to court to stop it being demolished, it is now listed as Grade 2.

Cllr Clarke, I have emailed the Council to ask about this and why this has not been adopted.

Community Roadwatch – Lewisham Safer Transport Team told the assembly that Community Roadwatch gives local residents the opportunity to work side by side with their local police teams, and use speed detection equipment to identify speeding vehicles in their communities. Warning letters will be issued where appropriate, and the information can help to inform the future activity of local police teams. If a second offence is detected the offender receives a second letter and if there is a third offence they may be prosecuted. We are always looking for volunteers to help us slow the traffic in the 20mph zones.

Pragnell Road, Coopers Lane School – A group of young children urged the attendees to take extra care in their vehicles on Pragnell Road approaching Coopers Lane School. People are driving on to pavements, doing 360 turns, parking on corners and crossings. There have been many potential accidents, the school supports us, the parents’ support us, but we need the community to support us.

Cllr Clarke – This needs community action, I have met with Council Officers and I have suggested that Pragnell Road be one-way, a wider pavement and double yellow lines along more of the road with more enforcement.

This really does need the support of the whole community, we also want a healthier neighbourhood scheme which can allow temporary road closures, but we need resident support regarding this.

Friends of Chinbrook Meadows – Cllr Moore urged the assembly to support the FOCM who do great work supporting the Meadows including community clean-ups and events and working with Glendale to improve the area.

There being no other business the assembly finished at 12.30pm, no declarations of interest were made at the meeting.