Residents of Forest Hill Ward are cordially invited to the second Forest Hill Ward Meeting hosted by the ward councillors on Monday 30th April 2007, at 7.30pm, Christian Fellowship Centre on Honor Oak Road.
The Meeting is part of a regular series open meetings hosted by the ward councillors where issues of interest to local residents can be discussed.
At this meeting, we will be joined members of the Safer Neighbourhoods Team to discuss crime, personal safety and neighbourhood watch schemes, but any issue can be brought up for discussion and we will try and help where we can.
If you'll be unable to attend the meeting, but would like to make a contribution on these or other issues, please feel free to email me at cllr_alex.feakes at lewisham.gov.uk, remembering to include your postcode.
We look forward to seeing you there.
Forest Hill Ward Meeting - 30th April
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Alex Feakes
- Posts: 27
- Joined: 3 Apr 2005 15:59
- Location: Forest Hill
-
Alex Feakes
- Posts: 27
- Joined: 3 Apr 2005 15:59
- Location: Forest Hill
Forest Hill ward town meeting 30th April - summary
Forest Hill ward town meeting summary
The Forest Hill ward town meeting took place on Monday 30th April 2007 at the Christian Fellowship Centre on Honor Oak Road. The larger part of the evening centred on community safety and crime reduction.
PC Andy Renno from Forest Hill’s Safer Neighbourhoods Team outlined their work on Neighbourhood Watch schemes. The SNT are keen to get them running locally as they are a useful source of intelligence, reduce the fear of crime and can also reduce home and contents insurance! The local SNT are committed to making NW schemes work in Forest Hill and are keen to hear from people who would be interested in starting one: call the SNT on 020 8721 2723 if you are interested.
Dave Cass outlined the work of Lewisham’s Community Safety Team, which covers anti-social behaviour, drugs strategy, youth offending and managing the reparation / restorative justice scheme in the borough. Dave noted that crime in the borough had generally fallen in the past year, though robberies and muggings were up with young people in particular as victims and perpetrators.
The CST work with young people to change their behaviour and, where appropriate, ASBOs, Dispersal Orders and other tools were used. The key to successfully dealing with crime, however, was effective partnership working between the Council, Police and the community.
The meeting moved on to discuss other issues of interest in the ward
* Pedestrian crossing opposite WH Smiths
The was general agreement in the meeting that pedestrians get a raw deal when attempting to cross the South Circular from WH Smiths across to near the laundrette. Of particular concern was the visibility of pedestrians to traffic coming down London Road, and the timing of the ‘green man’.
* Localities Fund
It was agreed that the consultation on the 2006/7 Localities Fund would ideally had been more extensive. Nevertheless, there had been a leaflet drop asking for suggestions and a public meeting where suggestions were solicited and discussed, and the councillors had worked hard to bring in matching monies to make the £10k Localities Fund money go as far as possible.
* Traffic calming
Various questions about the road safety schemes were raised.
Road humps were used extensively because they were cheap and allowed 20mphs zones to be established (under TfL guidelines). The police regularly ticket drivers who go down Manor Mount the wrong way (though the meeting felt that this didn’t happen enough).
Rat-running down Ewelme and Benson Roads and the timing of traffic lights at the junction of Honor Oak Road and London Road were discussed. It was suggested that the problem lay in drivers trying to by-pass congestion on the South Circular, and that the counter intuitive solution might be to add further delay for the traffic joining the South Circular at Devonshire Road.
Traffic speeding down Kirkdale was also brought up and everyone agreed that some form of traffic calming near the junction with Thorpewood Avenue would be ideal.
* Town Centre
A discussion about the general state of the town centre included points about the street signs, street furniture and bins, greenery and planting beds. These are a complicated series of related issues, and the councillors reported that they had been taking up a lot of these points with the Town Centre teams and the Regeneration Department, and would soon be meeting with Southern and the Horniman as well.
* Post Office
It was noted that Royal Mail intended to move the Post Office into WH Smiths. After a brief discussion, the meeting agreed that this was unlikely to be desirable, but that the councillors would seek more information before taking further action.
The meeting closed at around 9.30pm, with the next meeting scheduled for early September.
The Forest Hill ward town meeting took place on Monday 30th April 2007 at the Christian Fellowship Centre on Honor Oak Road. The larger part of the evening centred on community safety and crime reduction.
PC Andy Renno from Forest Hill’s Safer Neighbourhoods Team outlined their work on Neighbourhood Watch schemes. The SNT are keen to get them running locally as they are a useful source of intelligence, reduce the fear of crime and can also reduce home and contents insurance! The local SNT are committed to making NW schemes work in Forest Hill and are keen to hear from people who would be interested in starting one: call the SNT on 020 8721 2723 if you are interested.
Dave Cass outlined the work of Lewisham’s Community Safety Team, which covers anti-social behaviour, drugs strategy, youth offending and managing the reparation / restorative justice scheme in the borough. Dave noted that crime in the borough had generally fallen in the past year, though robberies and muggings were up with young people in particular as victims and perpetrators.
The CST work with young people to change their behaviour and, where appropriate, ASBOs, Dispersal Orders and other tools were used. The key to successfully dealing with crime, however, was effective partnership working between the Council, Police and the community.
The meeting moved on to discuss other issues of interest in the ward
* Pedestrian crossing opposite WH Smiths
The was general agreement in the meeting that pedestrians get a raw deal when attempting to cross the South Circular from WH Smiths across to near the laundrette. Of particular concern was the visibility of pedestrians to traffic coming down London Road, and the timing of the ‘green man’.
* Localities Fund
It was agreed that the consultation on the 2006/7 Localities Fund would ideally had been more extensive. Nevertheless, there had been a leaflet drop asking for suggestions and a public meeting where suggestions were solicited and discussed, and the councillors had worked hard to bring in matching monies to make the £10k Localities Fund money go as far as possible.
* Traffic calming
Various questions about the road safety schemes were raised.
Road humps were used extensively because they were cheap and allowed 20mphs zones to be established (under TfL guidelines). The police regularly ticket drivers who go down Manor Mount the wrong way (though the meeting felt that this didn’t happen enough).
Rat-running down Ewelme and Benson Roads and the timing of traffic lights at the junction of Honor Oak Road and London Road were discussed. It was suggested that the problem lay in drivers trying to by-pass congestion on the South Circular, and that the counter intuitive solution might be to add further delay for the traffic joining the South Circular at Devonshire Road.
Traffic speeding down Kirkdale was also brought up and everyone agreed that some form of traffic calming near the junction with Thorpewood Avenue would be ideal.
* Town Centre
A discussion about the general state of the town centre included points about the street signs, street furniture and bins, greenery and planting beds. These are a complicated series of related issues, and the councillors reported that they had been taking up a lot of these points with the Town Centre teams and the Regeneration Department, and would soon be meeting with Southern and the Horniman as well.
* Post Office
It was noted that Royal Mail intended to move the Post Office into WH Smiths. After a brief discussion, the meeting agreed that this was unlikely to be desirable, but that the councillors would seek more information before taking further action.
The meeting closed at around 9.30pm, with the next meeting scheduled for early September.