Sydenham Assembly - 7pm Thursday 3 December

[Chris Best]

Everyone living in Sydenham ward should have receiving a letter (mine arrived on Monday) inviting them to the next Assembly meeting on Thursday 3 December- starting at 7pm at Our Lady & St. Philip Neri Church Hall, 208 Sydenham Road next to the library. If you haven't received a letter by Friday please let me know and I will chase up.

As we have completed the voting on the £50,000 for the Mayor’s Fund the Coordinating Group agreed that we should have ten round table discussions with a facilitator as follows:

Review of the top five priorities - Cllr Chris Best
Provision for older people - Cllr Marion Nisbet
Community Cohesion - Christine Thompson
Street drinking in Sydenham - Angela Hall
Setting up the Youth Forum - Melissa Knight
Sydenham Mosaic and Naborhood Centre - Valerie Kelly
Trading in Sydenham - Jenny Holland
Community Gardens - Alona Sheridan
Diversity in education - Paul Phoenix
Sydenham Summer 2010 Arts Programme - Pat Trembath

There will then be a two minute feedback from each table followed by a vote on whether to change name of the Naborhood Centre.

I will take information items including:

Sydenham Road proposals to TfL and Station Approach - Ian Plowright
Sydenham Train Timetable and PAYG Oyster Card - Barry Milton
Christmas event Friday 4 December - Jenny Holland
The Greyhound planning application - Pat Trembath

I know many of you will have a view on the above so why not come along to the meeting and join in the discussion face to face. If you can’t make the meeting please let me have your views.

Cllr Chris Best
Chair of the Sydenham Assembly

[Whiftoff]

Hi Chris

Assuming the funding is granted, do you know when the development work on the high street will commence?

[Chris Best]

I am expecting a report on the high street to be presented to Mayor and Cabinet very soon stating the positive feedback from the exhibition and then confirm the funding to Transport for London. Officers will submit the bid to TfL early in the new year and as soon as we receive the funding from TfL we will start work - hopefully by Easter as officers have been holding an ongoing discussion with TfL. Please come along to the Assembly meeting as Andy is going to give an update.

Chris

[Ronski]

I'm not going to be able to make the meeting due to work if anyone can post a report on what happened that'd be great!

[richpickings]

We didn't receive a letter up here in Kirkdale

[stuart]

Nor here I'm afraid. Lewisham stuff rarely makes it to this bit of LPG.

Stuart

[Robin Orton]

Ronski wrote

I'm not going to be able to make the meeting due to work if anyone can post a report on what happened that'd be great

Not much, really. The only excitement was about whether the name of the Naborhood Centre should be changed. Fierce resistance from those representing the people with learning disabilities who use the centre at present, who said that any change would unsettle the users. A card vote was taken on whether the name should stay as it is, or be changed to 'The Sydenham Centre', but we were not told the result.

The users' representatives, incidentally, are insistent that the name should be pronounced 'nayberhood.'

[simon]

As usual the voting wasn't handled particularlly well. People were given cards and asked to hand them in before the woman who represented the actual users of the Naborhood Centre gave her passionate defence of the staus quo.
The acoustics at the hall were abysmal.
Time pressures meant that there was no time for questions about what was discussed at the different tables. If you were interested in more than one thing you had to move about and pick things up as you went.
There seemed to be progress towards setting up a "Controlled Drinking Zone", presumably outside the Post Office, and setting up "Wet Zones", home park was suggested to the consternation of local residents!
I didn't really get to hear much more; must be going mutton in my old age.