Thurs 1st Sep 7pm – Urgent call for people to come to local meeting

MESSAGE FROM RESIDENTS IN AND NEAR DENMAN ROAD

Do you live on the Pelican Estate or in Grummant Rd, Denman Rd, Talfourd Rd, Talfourd Place, Lyndhurst Grove, Lyndhurst Way, Bellenden Rd or Camberwell Grove?  If so, your presence could make all the difference at a meeting next Thursday 1st Sep where Southwark Council are deciding on proposals which will fundamentally change the character of our neighbourhood.

TIME: 7pm
DATE: THURSDAY 1st SEPTEMBER, 2011
PLACE: Rye Lane Chapel, 59a Rye Lane, Peckham

see Council planning report:
http://moderngov.southwarksites.com/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=21744

Please come to support our request for the decision to be deferred to examine the alternative proposal.

Contact Denman residents for further info:  bmchattie12@googlemail.com 

******************************
Current Southwark Council proposals will mean:

A HUGE INCREASE IN TRAFFIC AND MORE PARKING PROBLEMS
Southwark Council propose relocating three of their main Children’s Services, including the Adolescent Service, to the quiet residential Pelican Estate in SE15, accessed largely via Denman and Talfourd Roads, Lyndhurst Grove and Lyndhurst Way. The plans involve relocating 162 staff – the equivalent to a major call centre. Staff would be travelling to and from the building throughout the day as they go on visits and service users and other professionals would be constantly visiting the
centre, many coming by car. But only 12 parking spaces would be provided.

We all recognise the important work done by the Children and Adolescent Services but is it really in their best interests or ours for this major public service to be located on a residential estate in a network of narrow residential streets, changing the character of the estate and the neighbourhood we all cherish and the community spirit we are so actively and successfully promoting? The additional traffic movement alone in Talfourd Place, Talfourd Road, Lyndhurst Grove, Lyndhurst Way, Denman Road, Camberwell Grove and Bellenden Road will have a detrimental impact on these streets and their communities, adding significantly to traffic volume, bottlenecks and jams,
parking stress, air and noise pollution.

A HARD TO ACCESS LOCATION FOR USERS OF THE CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENT SERVICES
Seen from a user’s perspective the network of residential streets around the Pelican Estate make it an unsuitable location for a public service. Acknowledged best practice states that services should be located centrally on or near major transport hubs, in buildings that are clear landmarks and designed with good reception and access areas. Southwark’s own local master plan acknowledges this.  The two buildings on the Pelican Estate, one a small residential building facing onto a narrow street, the other a single-storey building right in the middle of the Estate’s gardens and play area, do not qualify for this. Southwark Council has done no survey of its Children and Adolescent Service users to find out whether this proposed new location works for them.

INCREASED CRIME
It has been well documented that if local residential streets have high levels of people from outside the neighbourhood using them, the higher the crime levels in those streets.

INCREASED TRAFFIC AND PARKING FROM KENNEDY’S SAUSAGE FACTORY DEVELOPMENT WILL MAKE THINGS EVEN WORSE
Southwark Council has taken no account of the impact of the new apartments (40 or more) that the old Kennedy’s Sausage Factory conversion will create. Looking at the impact of relocating its Children and Adolescent Services in isolation is meaningless unless this other major development is factored in.

INCONSISTENT POLICY
Southwark Council should refuse the application for relocating its Children and Adolescent Services on the same grounds as it turned down an earlier application by a local voluntary group to create a very small school for vulnerable secondary school children at 56 Talfourd Road. This was refused – twice – on the grounds of the impact the extra traffic and parking pressure would place on local residents.

WE PROPOSE – AN ALTERNATIVE THAT WORKS FOR EVERYONE
Sunshine House on the main Peckham Road is a more suitable location – specifically designed for public access – and with young people and adolescents in mind –  it is on major bus routes, has parking, is under-utilised inside and states in its mission that it is for looked-after children as well as those with special needs.

Advertisement