The Herne Hill Society blog

Higher crime levels in Village Ward

We've heard from the Village Ward Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) that the police are warning of higher levels of burglaries and car crime in the Herne Hill area between Half Moon Lane and Herne Hill (i.e. on the Southwark side of Herne Hill, including the so-called North Dulwich Triangle).

There is a meeting of the Village Ward SNT next month, and the Herne Hill Society are hoping that one or two residents in the affected area (whether Herne Hill Society members or not) could attend this and perhaps report back to us what if anything needs to be done, so that we can issue the appropriate advice.

Please let Herne Hill Society Membership Secretary Eleanor Hayes know if you or a neighbour could attend this meeting. It will be held at St Barnabas Church (Calton Avenue, Dulwich) at
7:30 pm on 15 February. Village Ward Councillors will attend.

eleanorihayes@hotmail.com

MAD for Brockwell Park

Do you have an idea for a Music, Art or Drama event in Brockwell Park in 2012?

Do you want to help all of Brockwell Park’s local residents use and enjoy the park?

Do you want to involve local residents in your event and help them get the most out of the occasion? Brockwell Park Community Partners’ art and events group is looking for events to make up the MAD for Brockwell Park season in 2012.

MAD for Brockwell Park is non-commercial, not for profit, focussed on the local community, volunteer led and strongly supported by local organisations and businesses. The season has been built up over a number of years and 2011 saw over 7,000 people at 14 events.

Take a look at our website for an idea of last year’s season www.madforbrockwellpark.com read the notes in the attached form and, if you can offer what we are looking for, send us an application form!
 
Please post a signed copy to: Brockwell Park Community Partners, c/o Theresa Hoare, Brockwell Hall, Herne Hill, London. SE24 9BJ and email a copy to thoare@lambeth.gov.uk to arrive by 5:00pm on Friday 23 December 2011. Owing to the unprecedented number of event applications Lambeth have already received for 2012 you need to get your application in quickly!

Our new website goes live

We had been working on a new site - off and on - for about six months, but had to move a bit quicker than planned when our old site went down... permanently.

So, after several late nights and some frustration over 'domain mapping', we put the new Herne Hill Society website live earlier this week, in time for the Herne Hill Christmas Fayre. We hope you like it and find it useful.

So what is different about the site?

• 4 news stories and our Twitter feed appear on the home page
• More, larger and dynamic images appear throughout the site, which can also support video
• Some pages allow you to post your comments
• Enquiries are now directed to the appropriate committee member
• Links page is much more comprehensive
• It looks and works better!
• Our first ebook: Jeffrey Rumble’s A Brockwell Boy can be downloaded for free

Try it now.

See you tomorrow at the Herne Hill Christmas Fayre. We'll have a stall.

Walter Bor Media Awards

At the Walter Bor Media Awards last night, the Herne Hill Society was presented with a 'commended' award for the Short History of Herne Hill and a 'highly commended' award for Herne Hill magazine.

 
Particular thanks are due to Nick Baker, who redesigned our magazine last year and also designed and produced the book from John Brunton's text.
 
The winner of both the newsletter award AND the website award was the Sydenham Society - so our sincere congratulations go to them.

The Hackney Society won the book award.

Controlled Parking Zone

The saga continues for those living north of Herne Hill station, between Milkwood Road and Herne Hill.

Most of the roads still have uncontrolled parking and suffer from all-day commuters using the station and by parents using two local nursery schools. The situation has got worse since Southwark introduced an extension to the CPZ on their side of Herne Hill.

Lambeth carried out additional consultation in the affected area in the summer and the results were announced at a public meeting on 27 October. Only three roads in the area, out of 13 consulted, voted in favour of a CPZ and only one other road voted in favour of a CPZ if an adjacent road was included in a CPZ.

Council officers will propose that only those four roads (Heron Road, Poplar Walk, Rollscourt Avenue and Cosbycote Avenue) will be included in a CPZ and all the others roads which admittedly do suffer from  high-level of parking stress will continue to have uncontrolled parking.

A number of people at the meeting were unhappy with what they see as just a money-raising exercise and others in roads that will not get a CPZ are concerned that their roads will get even more difficult to park in. However, local councillors feel they cannot agree to include roads in a CPZ which have voted against it at least twice.

The formal decision has not yet been taken but it is expected that some time in spring or summer 2012, the CPZ will be in place and it will be interesting to see the impact on those roads which remain uncontrolled.

Proposal for the former Petrol Station site

Herne Hill's greatest eyesore is the former petrol station site at the foot of Herne Hill, next to Sainsbury's.

The current site owner, Goldcrest, says they 'are keen to work with local residents to develop and improve the neighbourhood'.

Would you like to see their proposals and have your say? Then come to the Herne Hill Baptist Church on Half Moon Lane on Wednesday 16 November, 14.00 - 20.00.

Goldcrest's brochure states that:

Our plan for this site is to develop student accommodation above retail space on what used to be the petrol station between Herne Hill and Milkwood Road.

Please do come to our exhibition to see what our plans include.

If you cannot make the exhibition, we’d still like to hear your views and answer any of your questions

Call: 0800 458 6976
Email:hernehill@yourshout.org
Text: 07797 806537

Welcome to Herne Hill?

This delightful photograph was taken by Robert Holden at 10.15 on the morning of Sunday 9 October 2011.

Of course this is not rubbish dropped by pedestrians. It was left by traders, who are under an obligation to make proper and adequate arrangements for the disposal of their rubbish.

Clearly this is not happening, and the result is that the centre of Herne Hill looks awful, especially at weekends when it should look its best.

Some years ago Lambeth Council wrote to all our traders to confirm in writing what arrangements each had made for rubbish disposal. They were required to provide a copy of their rubbish disposal contracts....

We shall let you know how our councillors respond. And if you have similar concerns, please join us in raising them.

Scott of South London?

This winter Lambeth council is looking for community-minded volunteers to help clear snow and ice from local streets and help keep the borough moving during periods of bad weather.

They say they are looking for individuals  to become Lambeth’s first snow wardens and make our pavements safer.

During the winter months our focus is on keeping public services and main transport routes running. We’re continuing with our usual winter maintenance service this year, but this still means that many quieter residential roads don’t get gritted. This is why we are offering you the opportunity to get involved and make a real difference in your local area.
 
We will give our snow wardens all the training and tools they will need, including;

• shovel
• hi-visibility jacket
• gloves
• grit bin
• a supply of grit!

We will provide community groups with additional equipment which can be shared amongst members.
 
Training sessions will be held during the weeks beginning 10 October and 24 October, with some sessions during the early evening and some during the day.

To find out more about the scheme, telephone 020 7926 0524

www.lambeth.gov.uk/snowwarden

Red Post - restored! And news on the former petrol station site

In a previous post we reported that our smart new red post (as in Red Post Hill) had been vandalised.

Fortunately the missing parts were found safe nearby, and have now been re-instated. Voila!

More good news: in case you missed the posters on the shuttering around the old petrol station at the bottom of Herne Hill (by Sainsbury's), Goldcrest Land has acquired the site. This has been an eyesore for so long that it's getting hard to recell what it looked like before.

It seems that Goldcrest are keen to talk to local communities. We are going to have a short exploratory discussion with them next month. It's likely that they will want to have an open meeting at the Herne Hill Forum before too long.

Lambeth Archives Open Day

Saturday 1 October is the date of this year's  Lambeth Archives Open Day.

Open Day is a free annual event which this year includes talks, films, workshops and an exhibition of original art and photographs around the theme 'Festival'.

Other attractions through the day include children's activities, local societies' stands and book stalls, and home-cooked refreshments.

Once again we'll have a stall and we look forward to meeting you. And if you've not yet got hold of a copy of A Short History of Herne Hill, this is a good time to purchase one (at only £3 )!

Lambeth Archives are based at the Minet Library,  52 Knatchbull Road, London SE5 9QY.

More about Lambeth Archives, the Minet Library and how to get there