Councillor Newsletter - September 2021

Cllrs James McAsh, Victoria Olisa and Charlie Smith

This is one of our regular newsletters. They are posted online and emailed out to Labour Party members and anyone who signs up here.

Next steps on Dulwich road changes

Since our last newsletter, the consultation on the Dulwich Streetspace project has closed. We do not yet have the results but we know that 7,542 people have responded. This is the biggest consultation that Southwark Council has ever carried out. In addition to the survey itself, the council hosted multiple online community meetings: three open to everyone and a number designed for specific groups like older people or those with a disability.

In the coming weeks the council will need to make a decision on what to do next. The schemes could stay as they are. They could be removed entirely. Or they could be amended and adjusted. We local councillors will have to look carefully at the consultation responses, the monitoring data on traffic and air quality, and our political commitments to tackling the climate emergency. We already know that the schemes led to significant reductions in traffic across the Dulwich area - and that these are greater than we would have had from covid alone. However we also know that some streets saw more traffic than before the scheme was implemented, so we must tackle this too.

As always, please do get in touch if you have any questions or comments about this.

Check out our Facebook page

We have restarted our long-dormant Goose Green Labour Councillors Facebook page. If you use Facebook, please “Like” it and invite your friends to do the same! We’ve been posting information about what we’re doing and what’s going on in the council and local area too.

Getting Southwark vaccinated – local walk-in centres

Covid is still rife across the borough. Thankfully, the vaccine is working do deaths are much lower than they would have been otherwise. But we still need to encourage more people to get their jabs.

Vaccination walk-in centres are continuing to operate across the borough in the coming weeks. The list of locations is updated regularly, so please check the website of the South East London CCG for the latest information. Second doses are only offered at least eight weeks after the first dose. You do not need proof of address, immigration status, or an NHS number for any of these clinics, though it’s helpful if you can provide proof of age if you look younger than 18.

Rewilding Southwark’s parks

In a bid to increase the biodiversity of our green spaces, Southwark has recently relaxed grass cutting across parks by 20% and let nature take hold. You may have noticed new areas of long grass, wildflowers and ‘managed messiness’ in our parks which create an environment for wildlife (including bees) to thrive. This approach is being championed by ecologists and gardeners alike and has the added benefit of reducing the council’s carbon footprint due to less fuel use and emissions. You can read more about the national shift towards rewilding and Southwark’s approach here.  

Southwark Stands Together – 1 year on

‘Anniversary’ isn’t quite the right word for this awful event, but May 25th marked one year since George Floyd was murdered and people around the world took to the streets in protest. In response to this the council launched Southwark Stands Together, a huge piece of work with the goal of eliminating racism and inequality in our borough. The Southwark Stands Together annual report has just been published, which sets out the actions we have taken so far. This includes agreeing anti-racist pledges (which are now deeply embedded into all our work) establishing a new Youth Independent Advisory Group to improve relationships with the police, undertaking a review of all our grants and taking action to make our council workforce more representative.

Freedom of the Borough for Jadon Sancho

Like everyone else we are immensely proud of the England team and how far they came in the Euros – as well as the work they have done off the pitch to challenge racism in football, support the Black Lives Matter movement and ensure children receive Free School Meals. We are particularly proud of Jadon Sancho, who was born in Camberwell and represented Southwark at the 2011 London Youth Games. In light of his incredible contribution to sport Mayor Barrie Hargrove announced his intention, if formally agreed, for Sancho to be awarded Freedom of the Borough, the highest civic award the council can give to an individual. A huge well done to Jadon and the rest of his teammates from Goose Green ward councillors.

Congratulations to our newly elected Southwark Youth Parliament!

Our young representatives have chosen Black Lives Matter, Knife Crime and Mental Health as their top 3 priorities. We can't wait to see their work on these important topics! More info here.

New council homes on existing estates

There is an ongoing debate in campaigning groups, the local press and on social media regarding the council’s approach to new council homes. Southwark has lost a large number of council homes over the past 40 years. This is primarily due to Thatcher’s “Right to Buy” policy - which sold off homes at low prices and prevented councils from using the revenue to build new ones - but partially due to the council selling or demolishing them. That said, Southwark still has the highest number of council homes in London and its commitment to build 11,000 new ones by 2043 is apparently the most ambitious in the country. It could not be more needed: over 15,000 families are on the housing waiting list because they’re homeless, over-crowded or living in unsuitable housing.

The major restriction to housebuilding is access to land. To deal with this, the council wants to build more homes on the land it already owns. In some cases this means replacing garages with flats, in others it means building additional storeys of “rooftop homes” on existing blocks, and in others still it means increasing the density on council estates, by building on green space. This is where it becomes controversial. Many of the downsides to the new homes programme are experienced by existing council tenants who lose access to their garage, have less green space and have to endure construction on their doorstep. The council can do various things to make this a better deal for existing tenants (providing replacement playing space, giving the current tenants the first rights to one of the new homes on the estate etc) but ultimately these are not problems that those who own a home and private garden have to face. On the other hand, the council has limited access to land (and money), and if we want to tackle the housing crisis and find homes for those who desperately need them, then we must use all the land we can.

This is not an issue in Goose Green, but we’d be interested to hear your views nonetheless. What do you think about this? How should we approach this issue?

James runs the London marathon for Southwark Day Centre for Asylum Seekers

James McAsh is running the London marathon to raise money for Southwark Day Centre for Asylum Seekers. Southwark News has covered the story here. And you can make a donation on his fundraising page.