Holmewood Neighbourhood Association

Founding Meeting Newsletter

Holmewood Neighbourhood Association
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HOLMEWOOD NEIGHBOURHOOD ASSOCIATION

 

Report on Founding Meeting on

 

Monday 19th June 1998  at  Friends Meeting House Redlands Way SW2

 

 

 

Stuart Dixon from the Lambeth Community Development Unit was introduced and complimented us on the initiative and the turnout.

 We are welcome to use their office facilities although we are not eligible for any council grants.  PC Darren Kirby our local beat officer was introduced.

 

Derek Hoare ran through the draft constitution item by item and it was passed with the following amendments.

2 a. to represent the interests of residents. (delete and users)

8    No two or more officers or Committee members shall be elected or co-opted from the same household.

9    The quorum for the committee is four including 2 of the 3 officers

The constitution was then unanimously passed.

 

The election of a committee then followed presided over by Stuart Dixon of Lambeth Community Development.

Chairperson                     Duncan Law

Secretary                        Marion Schumann

Treasurer                        (no nomination)

Committee members     

Kristin Stott, Derek Hoare, Sylvia Jones,

Lynn McCormack

 

The Duties of Committee Officers and Members was then discussed and the guideline document prepared by Derek was minuted.

 

The meeting then discussed some of the issues raised in the last newsletter, updating on developments. It was decided that the next meeting should deal with Traffic as a matter of priority and that there should be an Election Meeting at which we could meet all the candidates for election as our local ward councillors in the May Local Government Elections.

 

Roads & Traffic

 

Kristin Stott reported back that she has met with Maz Khan the Lambeth Transport Planning Officer responsible for our area. Residents concerns have been put to him in a bid to improve our position as 109th in a list of 190 traffic calming plans in the Borough. It was felt that the issue should be the subject of a special meeting at which all the issues are presented and solutions proposed. It was again noted that the Gardens are used as a race track by drivers and as a testing ground by Pinewood Motors. PC Kirby said he would raise this matter with Pinewood which he has since done. Duncan reported that on the previous Saturday night a stolen car had speeded into the lamppost at the top of Holmewood Road. PC Kirby said he would supply any relevant traffic figures for the special meeting.

 

Crime Prevention / Neighbourhood Watch

 

Everybody is warned to be on guard for suspicious callers masquerading as community/voluntary workers. There has been a spate of such callers in nearby estates recently. Please contact the police immediately if you are suspicious. Approximately 1 burglary a month is reported to the police in our area. PC Kirby is contactable on 0181 649 2061 and the Brixton Police Station number is 0171 326 1212. If it is a matter of urgency dial 999. A Crime Prevention officer is available to talk to residents and give an evaluation for the security of your property if required. Call Barry Thomas on 0181 649 2070.

 

Prostitution

 

Duncan informed the meeting of a letter sent by a local resident about prostitution in the area. The problem has been moved out of Streatham by police activity and out of Brixton by the CCTV cameras. Brixton has recently formed a vice squad and a number of arrests have already been made. They will respond to any complaint made by residents who see prostitutes plying their trade. It was agreed that kerb crawlers should also be reported.

 

Council Services

 

It was agreed that street cleaning had improved. Derek Hoare moved that the local councillors be written to asking that Holmewood Road be upgraded as soon as possible to the same level as the other three roads. Kristin Stott noted that her local street cleaner was being asked to take a pay cut. It was agreed to check on this situation and if appropriate to write to Team Lambeth objecting to this. Residents were asked by a partially sighted resident to keep bins and plastic refuse sacks off the road and pavement as this can cause accidents. For the same reason residents are asked to keep their hedges and roses trimmed. Some residents have hedge cutting equipment which could be lent under the skills/resources share scheme. If you need equipment urgently call Duncan who will try to arrange a loan. Any residents having problems or complaints to do with street cleansing should contact Keith Naish on 0171 926 0060. The same number applies for Bulky Waste removal.

 

Holmewood Gardens Maintenance

 

Derek Hoare mentioned that every playground in the Borough has something wrong with it. There is no money to rectify. It was agreed to publicise this issue to the local Councillors and to get a commitment from present and future councillors to do something about it. It was agreed to use the Noticeboard in the Gardens to publicise future meetings. Resident should use it for their own notices too but be sure to remove the notices when they were finished with.

 

Trees

Agreed to postpone discussion of this to another meeting.

 

Newsletter & Publicity

 

A Directory of Useful Addresses appears at the back of this newsletter. It will be updated as necessary. The newsletter may also be used to encourage you to take actions like contacting the council, writing letters..

 

Social Interaction

It was agreed to set up a Skills and Resources Register to facilitate sharing within the local community.

 

Liason

It was agreed to liaise with local schools, churches and community groups and to send them newsletters and invite them to meetings as appropriate.

 

 

Local Democracy

Agreed to invite local councillors to all general meetings. It was stressed that we must work with the councillors and the Borough as much as possible. It was agreed to invite all prospective councillors to a Pre-Election Meeting in March.

 

Social Events

If you have any ideas for social events please send them to Lynn at 37 Holmewood Gardens.

 

Future Meetings

The next Holmewood Neighbourhood Association meeting will take place on Tuesday 24 Feb at 8pm at the Friends' Meeting House in Redlands Way. The main item on the Agenda will be Traffic Calming Measures and Roads. The ward councillors will be invited to this meeting. Please come. Bring any ideas, information that you may have.

 

AOB Other Issues Raised

Maplestead Road. It was noted that there is a builder's yard in constant use with a skip permanently in the road outside. Rubbish overspills and had gone on people's cars. There are building works taking place on the site which may be workshops. Objections have already been raised by local residents with the Planning Department. It was agreed for the Committee to take this up and to consult with local residents who are affected. 

Meeting ended at 9.35pm

 

 

Roads & Traffic

 

Kristin has had an on site meeting with the Council officer responsible. He has taken note of a number of factors that were not taken into account when prioritising traffic calming projects in Lambeth and will report back to our meeting on 24th February.

 

Experience from other traffic hotspots in the borough shows us that we have to 'drive' the decision making to ensure that we get a solution appropriate to the problem (which after all we know better than anyone). The Council officer will then take back to the planning meetings the fruits of this manifestation of local democracy.

 

Please therefore bring your your problems, your knowledge and your ideas of possible solutions to the meeting and be part of improving the local environment. It may be necessary to design and carry out some simple traffic survey so that we have fugures to prove that people are using these roads as a 'rat-run' between Brixton Hill and both the South Circular and Tulse Hill.

 

Planning

 

A new application for the demolition of the Church Hall behind the United Reform Church has been received. Given that it is a listed building and in the conservation area it is unlikely to be passed. It will then almost certainly go to appeal (the developers won their planning permission before only by going to appeal). We must show that there is continued opposition to the destruction of this fine building. There are other plans in existence to develop this site whilst retaining the building. Duncan and Sylvia have contacted the planning department to register our opposition and Duncan has written to the records department to register the Association as an organisation that must be notified of any local planning applications and be part of any consultation process. A Petition has been prepared. Please sign and circulate among all local friends (and any architects you know). If you would like more copies to circulate yourself please call Duncan on 0181 678 6617.

 

Roupell Park Estate

Duncan has had two very amicable and productive meetings with the Geoff Brown and Paul Wright of the Roupell Park Tenants Management Committee. They passed our last newsletter around their recent committee meeting and a unanimous vote of support and encouragement was passed. They have offered us the use of their facilities for committee meetings, have donated a copy of the Lambeth Directory, would like to invite anyone interested to join their mother and toddlers group and are generally interested in cooperating in any way possible. Having toured the estate with Geoff  I was very impressed with the way things are being managed there now. They are planning a new playground and picnic area on the bit of waste ground beside their estate office.

 

They also informed me that Tom Franklin, one of our ward councillors and the chair of the Housing Committee, has a Surgery in the committee room of the Roupell Park Office at 1 Tanhurst House, Redlands Way between 7-9pm on the 2nd and 4th Fridays of each month.

 

Social Events

Lynn McCormack has produced a very go-ahead proposal for organising events in the Gardens and in local halls. She has plans for fund-raising. Anyone interested in helping organise these exciting events or if you have suggestions for events please get in touch with Lynn on 0181 674 3082. As she said, 'Social interaction generates the feeling of belonging, which in turn makes a person more caring and that is what being a neighbour is all about.'

 

Derek Hoare will give a short guided tree walk around the gardens. Alan Piper of the Brixton Society, who has written the history of Brixton, has agreed to come and address a meeting in September. He has pictures of the Gardens as they used to be and no doubt would be interested in any reminiscenses, documents or pictures you may have of how things used to be.

Among the suggestion for events put forward so far;  Fetes, International Evenings, Pot Luck Suppers, Dinner Dances, May Fair and Maypole dancing, Summer Barbeque, Market Days, Jumble Sales.  Any more ?

 

 

Newsletter

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