Minutes:
Cllr Curran referred the attendees to the briefing notes that were issued upon
arrival.
2.1 Planning issues
The Greyhound – The September Assembly meeting made a referral to the Mayor and Cabinet meeting on the 1st October. The Council's strategy for rebuilding the Greyhound Public House was then set out in a report to the following Mayor and Cabinet meeting on the 22nd October.
That report stated that, having taken legal advice, the Council would seek to enforce the provisions of the existing May 2010 planning consent. Schedule I0 of the legal agreement places an obligation, amongst others, on the Owner of the land to 'construct and complete the Restoration and Refurbishment Works, in accordance with details that have been approved by the Council.'
In October 2014, a S96a Non-Material Amendment application was formerly submitted to the Council to address alterations to the building that were not proposed within the 2010 consented scheme, including:
• The construction of a replacement roof;
• The retention of an enlarged basement;
• The omission of a rear elevation window;
• Amendment to the west elevation regarding the proposed sliding door and the omission of a ground floor window;
• Provision of replacement railings and door to the existing first floor balcony;
• The formation of a chimney to accommodate internal ventilation ducting;
• The provision of new timber openings;
• A rooflight to the rear slope;
• Stone plinths with replica greyhounds.
During the course of the application, site inspections were undertaken by Planning Officers with Building Control officers and the developers. The submission of further details were requested by officers in relation to window openings, the appearance of balcony railings, brickwork and re-pointing.
Amended plans were received on 22 December 2014 and 22 January 2015. On 10 February the S96a application was granted planning permission as officers were satisfied the revised plans demonstrated that the nature of the proposed alterations would not materially harm the appearance of the Greyhound building, the amenities of neighbouring occupiers or the character of the Cobbs Corner Conservation Area.
On 5 March the applicants submitted a formal Building Regulations application to the Council and engineers structural calculations followed on 7 March. On 11 March Building Control officers confirmed the details submitted were acceptable and the application was formally approved.
Whilst the Building Regulations application provided sufficient information to secure Building Control approval there were outstanding details required to satisfy planning requirements. Planning officers therefore requested further advice on 11 March from the applicants on how the lintels would be removed without damaging the brickwork and what tools would be used, confirmation of the proposed treatment to make the flank wall bricks appear more like the existing in terms of colour and, with regard to the rebuilding of the gables, in particular the bonding and pointing, confirmation that the new mortar mix would match the original in type, consistency and colour.
On 13th March the applicants advised that:
1. The lintels will be removed by carefully taking down the brickwork gables with the use of small hand tools only. These will then be re-constructed with lime mortar and cleaned down on completion.
2.We understand the desire to use a water/chemical based cleaning agent on the brickwork and will consult with a specialist masonry cleaning contractor once works have commenced on site.
3.In rebuilding the gables, we will use a lime mortar to match the original but do not necessarily see that the joints will be wider as we will use the original imperial sized bricks.
This response is considered to provide sufficient detail to sign off the Schedule 10 works.
The applicant has confirmed that they would require 3 to 4 week from receiving the final approval of the scheme of restoration and reinstatement works from the Council to be able to commence works on site. The building works once commenced would take up to 4 months to complete. It is considered reasonable to expect mobilisation to be achieved by the week beginning 13 April 2015.
The applicants still wish to pursue proposals for an external staircase to the rear of the Greyhound building leading down to the basement area and a single-storey conservatory to the side. Both additions would require full planning permission. Whist the principle of a conservatory was approved in the 2012 planning application, the provision of external stairs is a new proposal. This will need to be the subject of consultation and will require thorough assessment. The applicants have advised that the planning application will be submitted at ‘the earliest opportunity’ and that they do not intend to delay works from commencing on site whilst the application is considered.
Cllr Curran stated that the three Councillors will continue to monitor the situation very closely.
Enforcement issues – The Zanzibar
Zanzibar is now operating under the revised licence which amongst other conditions has to close at 2am. They are entitled to apply for Temporary Event Notices to operate later on an occasional basis but to date these have been objected to and not allowed. The Magistrates' Court has also upheld this decision upon appeal.
2.2 Highways issues
Station Approach - J B Riney's have completed the brick wall and the new toilet is on site awaiting Healthmatic to make the final connections ( electricity, water). The proposal is that JB Riney's will complete the footway works around the toilet in March and some snagging footway works to Sydenham Road. Contact officer for Sydenham Road Improvement Scheme is Tom Henry – any queries to: Highways@lewisham.gov.uk
Traffic Flow - TfL carried out some recent amendments to the signals at Kent House Road.
Cllr Curran stated that there is a further complication with the traffic island near to St Phillip Neri school as this means that traffic cannot get past cars that have stopped. Traffic Officers have stated that they will monitor this.
Sydenham Road East – Mayow Road to Kent House Road
Highway works in Sydenham Road (East) from Kent House Road junction will be complete in March .Contact officer is Tom Henry Highways@lewisham.gov.uk
A railing is proposed for the ramp to the Sydenham Centre and should be installed by May
Big Budget Challenge - Almost 4,000 people engaged with the Big Budget Challenge in a variety of ways. This is the biggest conversation that the Council has ever engaged in with its public.
We used the following ways of engaging people in Lewisham’s Big Budget Challenge:
• an online budget simulator
• discussions at local assemblies
• a quick survey through assemblies and online.
The areas of council spend that consistently attracted greater support were:
• crime reduction and safety
• refuse and street cleaning
• children and family services.
Areas where people thought spending could be reduced were reducing costs across the Council, particularly on senior management and external consultants, by sharing services and better procurement.
People were very keen that the Council pursued options to increase income and supported suggestions like using assets more commercially and increasing planning charges.
In terms of council tax, the most popular option was to continue the freeze. Of those who did opt for an increase in council tax, the most popular option was the maximum increase offered of 4%.
There were some significant differences between services that people regard as important to them individually and to their families compared with those they thought were most important to the community as a whole. Parks and open spaces were quoted popularly as important to individuals, whereas crime and safety and housing and education quoted more often as important to the community as a whole.
People found trying to balance the Council’s books a very difficult exercise.
The Big Budget Challenge has helped to raise awareness of the financial position the Council faces, the size of the challenge it faces and the sorts of decisions that the Mayor and councillors will need to take and the trade-offs that will be necessary.
The Big Budget Challenge outcomes were reported to Lewisham Council at its meeting on 26 November 2014. This report is available on the Council’s website by going to www.lewisham.gov.uk/bigbudgetchallenge
Balancing the books
The Council has been forced to make £40m savings in order to set a balanced budget for 2015/16.
This comes on top of savings of £93m that the Council has already made since 2010 and is likely to be followed by another £45m savings to balance the books in the next two years.
The reason for these savings is that the funding that the Council gets from central government is falling, while the population and demand for services from the Council continues to rise.
The Council has also chosen to freeze Council Tax once again this year, to offer some help to those struggling with the cost of living. The Council has now frozen council tax in five of the last six years. The result has been a real terms saving in the tax you have paid to the Council of almost 12%.
Where are savings coming from?
Savings will continue to come where possible by getting better deals on our contracts, by reducing management overheads and through joint working with others. Around 45% of new savings this year are linked to greater efficiency and effectiveness.
But because of the level of savings needed, there will inevitably be an impact on the level of service we are able to provide in some areas. No area of spending can be spared savings, as those who tried the Big Budget Challenge online simulator found out.
Nearly half the Council’s net budget is spent on adult social care and children’s social care. While councillors try and protect these very important and often life changing services as far as possible, some savings will have to come from here otherwise there would be very little money left for any other service at all.
Savings in these areas include:
Adult Care cost effective care packages: £2.68m will be saved by making sure that a consistent approach is taken in meeting care and support needs in the most cost effective way. This may result in some community based packages of care ending or being reduced where needs can be met in different and more cost effective ways.
Learning Disability care packages: We are looking at how we provide care to adults with learning disabilities and challenging the organisations who deliver this care to provide the most cost effective service. In addition we have consulted on extending the existing charging policy in adult social care to include adults with learning disabilities in supported accommodation.
Remodelling day centre services: The Council will be consulting on a review of all day service provision. This is to further promote choice in line with the requirements of personalisation ie service users having greater independence and choice over the service they receive. Savings of £1.3m are envisaged.
Access to childrens’ social care services: Savings of £5.5m over two years are proposed. These include measures to reduce the number of children’s social care assessments by directing those who do not need social care to the right services earlier, using the Government’s Troubled Families Grant to fund early intervention work, reducing more expensive residential placements and recruiting more of our own foster carers, including specialist carers. The Council will also be consulting on changes to children’s centres that would lower the costs of providing reception and administration, reduce the unit cost of working with each family by bringing all costs down to the level of the best performing centres and reducing the number of families to be worked with by a third.
Savings across other areas include:
Parks and Open Spaces service: £108,000 will be saved by reducing management costs.
Street cleaning: £400,000 will be saved by reducing the frequency of sweeping across the borough.
Voluntary and community grants: £1.5m will be saved from a budget of almost £6m. Though the level of cut is likely to lead to some
organisations closing and some loss of services no longer deemed to be a priority, the remaining grants budget will be able to provide a good range of VCS support ensuring that the sector is able to remain an active partner in meeting the needs of Lewisham residents.
Youth service: savings of £1.4m have been agreed. This includes a reduction in front line youth provision – two youth centres (Rockbourne and Ladywell) will no longer have council-run youth services in them. Alternatives are being put in place, including finding alternative youth provision through the voluntary sector to deliver services at Rockbourne, and to open the Ladywell Adventure Playground during some evenings. Other non-youth service provision at both sites will not be affected and will continue to run.
Cultural and community development: savings totalling £240,000 will be made in the arts and sports budgets and in leisure management. However the budget for the local assemblies will not be affected.
Full details are published on the Council’s website with the papers for the meeting of Mayor and Cabinet on 11 February 2015.
Street Trees for Sydenham
The Sydenham Assembly agreed to invest £4,800 in Street Trees for the following areas:
2 x trees in Longton Avenue
1 x tree in Longton Grove
2 x trees in Jews Walk
3 x trees in Queensthorpe
1 x tree in Bishopsthorpe
1 x tree in Dukesthorpe
9 x trees in Knighton Park Road
1 x tree in Fairlawn Park
Very soon we will begin the process of liaising with our tree officers and residents regarding preferred species and the timings for the planting of the trees.
We will continue to the update the assembly regarding the progress.
Cllr Curran reminded the assembly to continue to suggest locations where trees can be planted as this is something that can be funded again.