Agenda and draft minutes

Cllr Till welcomed everyone to the assembly meeting and introduced Cllr Susan Wise and Cllr John Paschoud.

Cllr Till explained that were we at Rockbourne Youth Centre as we wanted to ensure that the community were aware that, despite the cuts, Rockbourne is still open to young people two nights per week. The Councillors will be working with the service and the community to ensure that this increases as many are concerned bout the effects of the cuts.

Ben Kawuma and Elliot Wilson from Forest Hill School performed two songs to open the Assembly meeting.

Cllr Till thanked the young people for their contribution and told the assembly that in years to come they would remember where they had heard them first.

PC Baileytold the assembly that the Metropolitan Police are about to launch a new campaign focusing on tackling criminal damage. Figures  for Lewisham as a borough and Perry Vale in particular are below average, with hot spots being Sydenham Road and Bellingham.

There will be increased patrolling to identify incidents a but the public are being also being encouraged to report anything that they see:

•       ring 999 if you witness any criminal damage

•       ring 101 to report damage that has occurred

There are changes in the delivery expected of the team. Some duties have been returned to the Emergency Response Team which will allow the Safer Neighbourhoods Team to have more of a presence on patrol. There is also some extra personnel which will be shared with Forest Hill.

Crime figures for the ward are falling for example burglaries for April 15 and down 30% against the figure for April 14. Criminal damage is up slightly for the same month but this is a marginal rise.

The Local Assembly Fund awarded the Safer Neighbourhoods Team funding for crime prevention resources. These are

•       Personal alarms (some with lights)

•       Fake cans and candles that you can hide your valuables in.

If you would like any of these, you can contact the team by e-mail, phone or through the website (details below

e: perryvale.snt@met.police.uk 

t:  020 8721 2480

w: http://content.met.police.uk/team/lewisham/perryvale

PC Bailey added that Lewisham Homes security programme is still running for those who live in one of their properties. You can ring victim support who will be able to tall you if you are eligible for the service free of charge.

            t: 020 8698 4583

Questions were invited (NOTE: The Q & As throughout this document are not a verbatim record)

Q. What is criminal damage?

A. (PC Bailey)This covers a number of different acts including keying cars, graffiti, damage to property such breaking pots in gardens, damaging fences or gates.

Q. (Cllr Wise) Is fly tipping seen as criminal damage?

A. (PC Bailey) No, this does not count and needs to be reported to the Lewisham.

t:   020 8698 4583

w: http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/myservices/environment/street-cleaning/Pages/flytipping.aspx

You can also report any racist or offensive graffiti to this team at Lewisham so that is can be removed.

Please take photos of graffiti as there is a great deal of intelligence that the British Transport Police have gathered and photos can be used to help identify the perpetrators.

Cllr Till thanked PC Bailey for his update.

Dave Newman, Young Lewisham Project

Dave introduced the work of Young Lewisham Project (YLP) which opened 40 years ago and is on Kilmorie Road. They provide vocational education and activities to develop young people’s work and social skills.

Funding comes from a range of sources including Lewisham’s Main Grant s Programme. As there has been a cut in funding, YLP was not initially successful in being recommended for funding, however with the support of the Councillors, they appealed this decision and have been awarded interim funding for the next year. They will be working with Platform 1 and Friends of Rockbourne to secure funding beyond this and develop a viable service in the new financial climate.

Cllr Paschoud added that, at a higher level the Police Inspector met with the youth services to express their concern at the loss of service and the potential impact on crime and anti-social behaviour.      PC Bailey added that the concern is shared throughout the ranks.

Cllr Till said that 25 years ago the Rockbourne Centre was opened to give young people a place to go and provide activities to keep them occupied.

Cllr Wise added that it is not just a valuable facility for the ward but also for the borough.

Sasha Leacock, Forest Hill School

Sasha gave an update of the work that the students, Samuel Joseph, Edafese Ehrenede, Oliver Bennet and Reece Dodd had been undertaking with Emergency Exit Arts as part of the Young Citizen’s Programme. They have been learning research skills and developing their creative campaigning abilities in  preparation for the Fresh Foxtrot Fusion events that are planned as part of Lewisham People’s Day and the Sydenham Arts Festival. This is a 21^st century tea dance with a twist to encourage people of all ages to share their dances and engage in range of other activities including craft and spoken word.

The young people were unable to attend but had made a short film for the assembly. This can be viewed on the Perry Vale facebook page. It will also be uploaded to the Perry Vale Assembly page on the Lewisham Website.

Cllr Till thanked Sasha and Dave for their updates.

3.0             Ward Priorities Consultation                    

Sarah Lang,Development Officer, London Borough of Lewisham

At the beginning of the meeting all attendees were given four votes to select their top priorities. The votes were counted and the result were as follows

A round table consultation regarding the top five priorities was undertaken. The feedback will be used to produce an updated Action Plan for Perry Vale.

5.1       Chris Wise from Forest with a Big Hill explained that story telling is an ancient art that is culturally enriching. He distributed information on upcoming and planned storytelling events. They next event is on 7^th July as part of the Sydenham Arts Festival. Xanthe Gresham performs The Bag of Wonders at 8pm at the Golden Lion, Sydenham Road. Tickets £10 (£8 concs.). Chris emphasised that this event is suitable for age 12+.

There is also a family event planned for Saturday 17^th October told by Peter Chand, full details tbc. For more information visit www.forestwiththebighill.org and on the facebook page.

5.2       KlareWeedon gave an update on some of the activities that have been taking place at Dacres Wood Nature Reserve such as a bird walk and foraging events.

There is an open day on the last Saturday of every month. The next one will be  a Teddy Bear’s Picnic event taking place on Saturday 30^th May 12.00-3.00pm, full details of this and other events on the website www.dacreswood.org.uk  All events are free or very low cost.

6.0       Assembly fund 2015-16                                                   

Paul Gale, Local Assembly Manager,London Borough of Lewisham

Paul gave an overview of the Local Assembly Fund and called for community groups and those with good ideas for projects to consider applying for funding. The form and procedures have been reviewed to make the application process quicker. There is a section on the front which guides applicants on the priorities for funding.

This year the fund remains at £12, 500.

The timeline for funding is

Monday 1^st June                    Fund launched, application packs available from Sarah Lang on sarah.lang@lewisham.gov.uk or by phoning 020 8314 6306

Friday 31^st July                      Funding application closes.

Tuesday 1^st September        Short listing

Thursday 3^rd September      Applicants notified

Tuesday 6^th October             Market Place Event  and voting at Forest Hill School

There being no other business, the meeting closed at 9.00pm with no declarations of interest.