Agenda and minutes

Cllr Feakes, Chair of the Forest Hill Assembly welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced Cllr Peake and passed on Cllr Anne Affiku’s apologies for not being able to make the meeting.

Anne Coppendale from Community Connections told the meeting that this is a new project which has been going for around 4 months and is a new way of working with the community. The project has a number of partners including the Council and Age UK and consists of Facilitators and Engagement Officers. The idea is that the facilitators will get referrals from social services, GP’s, other organisations or even members of the public regarding someone that is in need, people can also refer themselves. Anyone who is over 18 can be referred to Community Connections and they cover all of Lewisham. The idea is that the facilitator will visit the vulnerable person and then ascertain the person’s needs. Once these are established the development worker will look at addressing these needs. This will encompass the needs of the whole person and this is where Community Connections is different, the officers will work with the person until they feel comfortable that the person will be ok. However, for this to work more effectively they need to know where these vulnerable people are, do they live in your street or on your estate? If you know anyone that needs help please do contact Community Connections as it can make a difference.

Tel:  020 8314 3244

Email: CommunityConnections@ageuklands.org.uk.

Project Blog: http://cclewisham.wordpress.com/

PC Michael Hill ,the designated ward officer for Forest Hill told the meeting that they are no longer classed as Safer Neighbourhood Teams and that they are now referred to as Local Police Teams (LPT) under the Local Policing Module (LPM). Under the Local Policing Module there is actually an increase in the number of officers as there is a pool of officers from the LPT that can work in this cluster. The coverage is also better as there are officers on duty from 7am to 11pm Monday to Friday and up to 2am on Saturday night. The number of officers within the Local Police Team will actually increase over the next few months as new officers have been recruited.

PC Hill stated that the ward priorities, as set by the Local Police Team Inspector, are burglary, anti social behaviour and drug related offences. The ward promises set by the ward panel are burglary, anti social behaviour and motor vehicle crime. Burglary is around 40% down this month and motor vehicle crime is around the same as last year. Overall, the number of recordable offences is down upon last year. PC Hill told the meeting that he has received complaints around street drinking outside Paddy Power and that as a result of this there have been some warnings and dispersal orders issued.

There is an issue within the borough at present regarding thefts of catalytic converters as these contain some quite expensive metals. There are marker kits for these, but in order to avoid this happening make sure that you do not part park on the pavement and that you have all four wheels on the road, this makes the Converter harder to steal.

Sydenham Police Station – PC Hill confirmed that this is now closed, however, the LPT do have to be out patrolling for 80% of their shift time, they are now based at 128 Catford Hill. If people wish to speak to the police there are now contact points 3 times a week, these take place on Wednesday and Thursdays night either at the Sainsbury’s on Bell Green or at Catford Hill Police Station between 7pm and 8pm,  there is also one between 2pm and 3pm on Saturday. You can report crimes at these contact points, deposit lost property, provide information and get some general police related advice.

Q I have heard that people are now jamming the signals of mobile car locking devices, for example when you press the button to lock the car it is not actually locking.

A Yes this is particularly prominent with BMW’s so you need to check that the car is locked, this is prominent with the high end modern BMWs.

Q Do you still do drop in surgeries at Forest Hill Library?

A Yes the next one is on the 19^th March, if you look at our website you can get all the details

Q I have heard of 2 incidents on London Road within the past 2  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Jade Fairfax from Healthwatch told the meeting that Healthwatch Lewisham has a primary role of gathering and representing the views of local people in relation to health and social care. This includes anything to do with GP’s, Hospitals, Residential Homes and any health and social care concern. Healthwatch is part of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 and there is one local Healthwatch for each local authority and any issue can be escalated to the CQC (Care Quality Commission). Healthwatch is completely independent and is seeking your views on health and social care, they then make recommendations based upon your views. Lewisham Healthwatch will visit residential homes, the Hospital Accident and Emergency Unit and local forums such as this to gauge people views and there is also work taking place with young people.

Q A few years ago we asked the Mayor to look at motor vehicle pollution in Honor Oak Road as it seems to be very high, can you look at this?

A We are purely a health and social care service but we can raise this as it does have an impact on health

Q What are you doing rectify the issue of there being no GP’s in Forest Hill ward?

A This is exactly the information we need and I will look at this

Q Are you going into schools as spitting is a real issue with young people?

A We can commission groups to go into schools and address this

Q You have mentioned language, but the problem is often the medical staff not being able to speak clear English

A I will take note of this

Q I was given crutches when I hurt my leg, but apparently the authority does not want them back and I am to throw them away, this seems absurd

A I will make a note of this

Jade then stated that she will leave some suggestion boxes at the local libraries so that people can leave other comments.

The Windmill and The Talma - Mary McKernan told the meeting that recently Forest Hill has lost a number of key buildings and at present there are two pubs under threat. The Windmill on Kirkdale could become a Sainsbury’s and they have applied to have the Windmill an asset of community value as this provides the right to bid as a community if it comes on the market. To get round this Sainsbury’s have applied for a short term lease. Mary stated that they are in the process of getting legal advice as to whether the asset of community value can be viewed as a material consideration. This goes to the Planning Committee on Thursday at 7pm at the Civic Suite in Catford.

Mary then told the meeting that one of Lewisham’s stated reasons for not needing the Windmill is that there is the Talma, however this is now closed and a developer has put in an application to put in a large number of flats in the building. This is a historic pub dating back to the 1840s so they will try to get this listed. The developers will require a change of use so this will be harder for them. Until the planning committee actually make their decision they will consider objections.

Community art & History project - Amy Lord told the meeting that this was started in Deptford in 2012 and she hopes to bring it to Forest Hill, but is dependent on Council funding. The project consisted of a series of hour long book shops where anyone can come into the premises and learn how to make a book, there are 5 different levels, dependent on craft skill. People are able to cut and paste local articles / archives into the book and it becomes a local history which can be shared. The feedback in Deptford was excellent and if this happens in Forest Hill a space will need to be found. The assembly then suggested that Amy looks at a few venues including Louise House, Stag and Bow and Kelvin Grove School.

For more information view:

http://www.amy-lord.com/the-takeaway-shop/

Albion Millennium Green – Bruno Roubicek told the meeting that this is situated adjacent to the railway line near here and it is open 24hrs every day and hosts many events. On 22^nd March there will be a ‘big dig day’ where they will be  planting lots of shrubs. This summer they will be putting on a reduced version of Romeo and Juliet. Bruno asked the attendees to come along and visit as it is volunteer run and needs your support. People can also become members of Friends of Albion Millennium Green and it only costs £6.

Henderson (known as H) introduced himself as a personal social development tutor working with various schools in the area. He stated that he loves Forest Hill but there is a disengagement in the area and he wants to know what he can do to bring the generations closer  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Councillor Feakes told the assembly that there is a great deal of work involved in organising the assembly meeting and that much of this is done by volunteers, if anyone is interested please do speak to us.

Special announcement– Councillor Feakes told the meeting that Councillor Philip Peake has been a ward councillor in Forest Hill for 9 years and this will be his last ward assembly as he is standing down. The assembly conveyed a big thank you to Philip for all his hard work over the years.

The meeting was closed at 8.45pm and Cllr Feake thanked Sydenham School and the Head Teacher Carolyn Unsted for hosting it. Details and information regarding the next assembly will be circulated nearer the time.       

No declarations of interest were made at the meeting.