I chaired a special meeting this week between students and bus drivers, to discuss the difficulties both groups face on public buses.
The students from Catford High, Bonus Pastor and Pendragon School, have been meeting each term for over a year, as part of the Youth Safer Neighbourhood Panel in the south of Lewisham. The purpose of the Panel, which is co-ordinated by the Whitefoot Safer Neighbourhood Team, is to give young people a chance share and discuss any concerns they have about crime and safety in the area.
One particular issue that has arisen is the trouble that sometimes occurs on buses, especially at the end of the school day when students from a number of local schools are all trying to get home at the same time. That is why we invited local bus drivers to attend the meeting this week to help find a solution together.
Bus travel can be very difficult for many young people. Some feel unsafe and threatened on the buses, and they can get incredibly crowded at the start and end of the school day. They can also be left waiting for a long time for a bus, which just makes things worse. What was so good about this meeting was that the young people began to realise that being a bus driver can also be a stressful job. It was great to see the students really engaging with the issue and coming up with constructive solutions, from having dedicated school buses to having more police on the buses. We all concluded that starting point for any solution is for everyone to be respectful and considerate.
Yesterday we had an emergency meeting for all Lewisham councillors to discuss, among other things, the housing crisis in Lewisham.
When the Labour Mayor was elected he promised to bring all Lewisham Council’s homes up to the government’s ‘decent homes’ standard – but with just four months left in office, only 3 out of 10 homes have reached this standard. Worse still, the Labour government recently withdrew £150 million of funding for the much-needed homes improvements, because Lewisham Homes (the organisation that runs the Council’s houses) only has a 1 star rating. To add insult to injury, according to press reports, the Government minister who made this decision – John Healey – made a profit of over £80,000 on the sale of his taxpayer-funded second home.
The Liberal Democrats have tried to have this issue discussed on two previous occasions, but each time Labour councillors have voted to put the matter to the back of the agenda, and then voted to close the meeting before it could be discussed.
As a local councillor, housing is the most common problem local residents ask me to help them with. For example, one mother I have been trying to help has had to sleep on the floor of a friends’ living room with her two young children for over four years! So for Labour to deliberately avoid discussion on this issue is an insult to every resident who is forced to live in a sub-standard property.
When I got up to speak, I tried to express my disgust at both the state of housing in the borough and the state of denial of the Labour party on this issue. But before I’d barely begun the Chair of the meeting told me to stop – I still haven’t worked out why – and then the Labour councillors voted to uphold his decision.
It’s pretty disgraceful for Labour to stiffle debate in this way, but when you know just how badly they’ve failed local residents, it’s hardly surprising.
This week we submitted a petition of over 200 signatures to London Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon, who is chair of the Transport Committee at City Hall. The petition calls for the Mayor of London, who is responsible for the junction, to take urgent measures to improve safety at the intersection.
Caroline Pidgeon, who is supporting the campaign, said, “I have repeatedly asked the Mayor to improve safety at this junction, but he has completely failed to respond. When I invited him to visit the crossing, he simply dismissed the suggestion. Ken Livingstone, Boris Johnson and Transport for London should be ashamed at their broken promises over this junction dating back years. Now more than ever we desperately need urgent action to prevent any further accidents.”
We have been campaigning to improve safety at this lethal junction for years. Time and again we’ve asked the Mayor of London to tackle this intersection, and time and again he’s ignored us. We were promised that pedestrians facilities would be improved back in 2004, but nothing has happened. I’m disgusted that pedestrians and motorists continue to be put at risk, while City Hall passes up excuse after excuse for inaction. This petition shows just how important the issue is to local residents and we’ll continue to fight until the London Mayor listens.
Thank you to everyone who joined our cycle ride to The Wave – surely one of the biggest environmental demonstrations in history. As many as 50,000 of us joined the march in central London to demand that world leaders dare to take the difficult steps which are needed to reduce emissions around the world.
Christmas is here… well it certainly is on Downham, where each year Sharon and Mick Ward put up an unforgettable display of Christmas lights. If you look carefully you can even see the snow! The display is to raise money for children with cystic fibrosis, and if you’d like to see it and donate, just pop along to Downderry Road in Downham – you can’t miss it!
There’s light at the end of the tunnel in our campaign to save the planned new Victoria to Bellingham line.
I attended a special meeting this week to discuss an ‘options study’ being carried out by Transport for London and London Travel Watch. The purpose of the study is to determine what can be done to mitigate the loss of the South London Line, which is due to close in 2012.
At the meeting, Transport for London announced that the Victoria to Bellingham line had made it onto a shortlist of options – thanks in no small part to our efforts in south Lewisham. I submitted a petition of over 350 signatures from local residents calling for the proposed Victoria to Bellingham line to be re-instated. There is as yet no funding ear-marked for such a line, but if we can successfully make the case for the Victoria to Bellingham line, we’ll be well-placed to demand that the money is found.
The end of the South London Line is a real setback for thousands of Londoners, but a line from Victoria to Bellingham would not only go some way to mitigating its loss, but would provide a much needed new service in an area of south London that currently has very poor rail links. We were assured that this would be taken into account when a final decision is made about the future of rail services in south London.
There are literally hundreds of great community projects in Lewisham, but one of the ones that impresses me the most is the North Downham Training Project. It does amazing work helping local residents gain news skills, qualifications, jobs, and most importantly confidence. I was lucky enough to hand out their certificates in the Town Hall last week.
A resident of Lee has asked me to look out for his lost kitten. As you can see, the kitten is very small and cute, so if you happen to see him around Millbank Way, in Lee, please get in touch with Andy on 020 8318 0228. Thank you!
A huge thank you to everyone who’s been helping knock on doors and listen to local people in Lewisham East. We’ve now visited over 25,000 homes in the constituency to find out what matters and to take action to change Lewisham for good. If you’d like to join in, just get in touch by clicking on the ‘Stay in Touch’ button to the right.
