Agenda and draft minutes

Cllr Garth Siddorn welcomed everyone to the assembly and introduced Cllr Amanda De Ryk. He then apologised on behalf of Cllr Bonavia who was unable to make the meeting.

PC Gary Washington told the assembly that they are currently undergoing a re-shuffle and soon there will be an additional dedicated ward officer for Blackheath.

There have been some problems in the Village with Motorbikes and Quad Bikes, four people have been arrested for failing to stop. In London Bridge they have used tyre deflation devices resulting in 17 bikes immobilised so this is something we can look at if the issue persists.

There will be a heavy police presence for Blackheath Fireworks.

There is currently a man knocking doors stating his wife is ill and that he needs money to get to see her in hospital, this is a scam and he has been arrested for this before.

All officers are now being issued with cameras these are always recording and very useful to us for evidence.

Q Are you enforcing the new 20mph speed limit?

A As local officers we are not generally equipped to deal with speeding, but if it is persistent we can deal with it by taking the vehicle off the road and getting the speedometer calibrated. There is a Speed Gun at the Police Station and officers are being trained to use it, it needs calibrating and this is being done. Overall it is Traffic Officers who deal with speeding, albeit, their resources have been cut and their main priority has to be Road Traffic accidents.

Q Many people in roads such as Lee Terrace are driving over 20mph and in some cases over 30mph, is there anything you can do?

A We have stopped motorists in partnership with the Lewisham Road Safety Team, but we cannot take enforcement as we cannot say exactly how fast they are going.

Q Some patrol cars are clearly not driving 20mph, can you look at this?

A They should be driving at 20mph unless on an emergency, so I will take this back.

Q What about cyclists on the pavement?

A If I can I will ask them to get off the bike, but we can penalise them if you want me to look at this. I can also talk to the Safer Transport Team.

Cllr De Ryk – It may be worth talking to the Lewisham Cyclist Network and I can take this back

Lewisham Cyclists – We don’t condone this type of cycling but remember that sometimes it can be very dangerous for cyclists with a pavement becoming a refuge.

Cllr De Ryk – We can monitor this and ask PC Washington to come back with an update.

Q Can we be told which roads are 20mph and which are 30mph as it can be confusing?

A Generally the smaller roads are council roads and are 20mph, the main roads are TfL and are 30mph.

Cllr De Ryk other boroughs are now implementing 20mph limits, there is an issue with air quality in the cities and there is an aspiration to slow traffic down to create better traffic flow, this is the science behind the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

Cllr De Ryk told the assembly that there will be a public meeting in mid-November about the planning application and that the assembly will be advised of the date.

Doug Finlay and his team then updated the assembly in relation to the works and the following questions were asked:

Q Can you look into the phasing of the traffic lights from Molesworth Street and the new crossing, it is a really tricky crossing and people get stuck in the box junction?

A TfL are monitoring this and the timing is continually evolving.

Q For cyclists there is an odd cycle lane on the right hand side towards London which suddenly stops.

Lewisham Cyclists – We have made our views clear that this junction is dangerous and there are better junctions around than this. This will not encourage people to get on their bikes.

A Tfl are monitoring pedestrian movement, car movement and of course cycling movement. We have debated with them the siting of crossing points for pedestrians as they are real concern. The temporary barriers on the corners will have to come off at some point as TfL policy is not to have street furniture. Therefore although the work is 95% complete there are areas that we are still looking at and will continue to look at.

Several issues were raised at the Assembly that Lewisham Gateway could not immediately respond to and instead they promised to report back. Lewisham Gateway have now responded with the issues and answers below:

Q 380 Bus – Residents raised an issue about the 380 bus route going from Lewisham town centre towards Blackheath (and on to Belmarsh Prison). They were concerned that it no longer stops close to Lewisham Station and wanted to know if the stops could be changed.

 A The 380 bus from Lewisham Town Centre towards Blackheath (and Belmarsh) currently stops at Stop V (outside Lewisham Shopping Centre) and stop P (the Clock Tower), it then goes directly up to Lewisham Hill, without stopping near the stations. This arrangement is temporary. There are some final works taking place to the roads at present, which we’re hoping to complete before the end of the year. TfL will then be able to open up Bus Stop G, located on Lewisham Road, just north of Rennell Street.

This stop will be a very short walk from Lewisham’s stations. People coming from the DLR won’t have to cross any roads, and those coming from Lewisham station will only need to cross Station Road.

Q 89 Bus - A similar issue was raised about the route of the 89 bus, which currently doesn’t stop on our site.

A  When the final works to the roads are complete, TfL will be able to open up the new Bus Stop A, which is directly outside the DLR station, and the 89 will be stopping there.

There were a number of other issues around crossings (timings for pedestrian lights and kerbs in particular), light phasing and cycling  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

Cllr Siddorn explained that there is £12,500 Blackheath Assembly Fund available and that all of the projects are at the assembly to provide more details as to why they wish to benefit from the fund. There is enough money to fund all the projects so voting will be by a show of hands with a 51% in favour rule.

All attendees had been issued with a summary of the proposals which included a description of the project and a breakdown of costs.

The below projects were all at the assembly to speak about their projects.

•           Carers Lewisham - Honey Pot Adventure £2,000

•           Single Homeless Project (SHP) - Garden Project £1,828

•           Quaggy Development Trust - Over 60’s residential trip £2,000

•           Age Exchange - Creative Writing & Reminiscence £1,630

•           Age Exchange - Communities at play on Village Day £285

•           Blackheath Society Village Day 2016 - £2,000

The assembly unanimously agreed to fund all of the projects.

For more details about the proposal contact paul.gale@lewisham.gov.uk

Cllr Siddorn thanked the assembly for supporting all the projects and advised the meeting that the remaining £2,757 will be allocated at the next assembly on Tuesday 7 February.

Cllr De Ryk asked the assembly what they felt about St Margaret’s Crypt as an assembly venue as the last meeting at Parkside SE10 was very poorly attended. The assembly agreed that it was a good venue, but next time the set-up could be different with a horseshoe style.

Talbot Place – Thank you for filling in the consultation forms and at the last assembly we updated regarding this. We are slowly moving forward with the plans and local architect Ian Chalk has been kindly working on this. At the next meeting there will be a detailed update with Talbot Place as an agenda item. At present we are trying to talk to key stakeholders and to people who live near to the space.

Ian Chalk – We will table some ideas in the new year including some featuring re-provision and lots of other interesting ideas these will be topics of discussion which we can explore and take forward. Chalk outlines are being drawn outlining the space needed for different proposals, not the design for proposals themselves.

No declarations of interest were declared and the next assembly is on   Tuesday 7 February.