Minutes:
3. Ward Councillor Update
3.1 Cllr Sorba thanks the officers for the presentation and the delivery of the programme, then handed over to Cllr Millbank and Cllr Bell for an update.
3.2 Cllr Millbank thanked the Council Officers and public sector staff for the extra work carried out within the community because of COVID during the last couple of years.
3.3 Due to the Public Health restrictions the local Councillors have not being able to hold face-to-face surgeries and after an initial period of not being able to go to the Town Hall, they have been there most of the time; the decision-making process happened through remote meetings.
3.4 The Councillors are very proud to represent Telegraph Hill for the community involvement; in the “Feed the Hill” initiative 1 in 8 residents got involved and it was a good example of the public sector and the community working together.
3.5 The casework has now increased because of the pressure of Covid on local families for issues around job loss, benefits, fuel poverty, cost of living increase, etc.
3.6 Unfortunately the fly tipping has increased during this time.
3.7 The three Councillors work as a team and work strategically to maximise the impact in the neighbourhood. Cllr Millbank is the lead on Community, supporting community groups to liaise, Cllr Bell leads on Housing and Cllr Sorba Leads on Environment.
3.8 Within the Council Cllr Millbank chairs the majority group which is the Labour group, Cllr Sorba is the chair of Children and Young People Select committee and Scrutiny Committee, Cllr Bell is the cabinet member for Housing, Planning and Regeneration.
3.9 The Councillors are still available to be contacted via email and phone calls; have been told to not go back still to face to face but they are out in the ward meeting people on the estates trying to respond to residents’ needs.
3.10 Cllr Bell provided an update on Housing. There are social housing developments, one on the Somerville Estate with 23 new Council Homes, Walsham Garages has now received permission for 5 new homes.
3.11 A planning application has been put forward for a new 3G artificial grass pitch on the Honor Oak estate, supported by the Football Foundation, the Ian Right Foundation and Lewisham Council that will be run by Turnham School and will be open with the support of the Millwall Community Trust.
3.12 There is an ongoing discussion with the developer to try to save the Montague Arms.
3.13 Cllr Sorba provided an update on Environment: locally there are 5 residents groups involved in roads and traffic.
3.14 One of our green objectives is to reduce journeys by private motor vehicles introducing staggered parking policy in 2 roads; we have introduced two “safer streets” programmes and there has been a tree planting initiative on the Honor Oak estate.
3.15 In regards of an issue concerning safety in the streets there has been a response from various agencies and the Cllrs were able to tour with the Metropolitan Police with street lighting running company and the CCTV providers to check this particular street in the ward, which had no incident reported, being a matter of concern was examined and checked out.
Q: A resident asked about litter, what mechanisms are in place and what could be done to address this.
A. Street sweeping continues every week to ten days and in the commercial areas the rubbish is collected daily. One issue is fly tipping, probably acerbated by the recycling centre being on restricted measures. The other is the park that attracted more visitors than usual during lockdown. Local people helped coming along to do litter picking and this helped a lot to maintain it; there were requests of organising litter picking days. Reporting to “Cleaner Lewisham” is very effective.
Q: Is there a shortage of street bin?
A. A number of bins have disappeared and it might be related to the funding cuts, however the Cllrs have made an enquiry to find out the reason.
Q: Enquiry on the impact of the heavier 484 bus on speed bumps making properties shake. This was raised with the Mayor’s office and the bus company.
A. TfL and Lewisham Highways investigated and liaised with the bus company;
the response was that is within the level. Bus drivers should also limit their speed when approaching speed bumps. This will be taken forward by the Cllrs.
3.16 Chair introduced the Mayor, Damien Egan.