Forest Hill - 24th September, 7pm, Holy Trinity Church Hall, Trinity Path, Sydenham Park, SE26 4EA



Perry Vale - 2nd October, 7:30pm, Forest Hill School Dacres Road, SE23 2XN

Thanks Michael
Will be at Perry Vale meeting next Thursday. Seems strange FH ward held meeting in Sydenham.

The FH Ward includes part of SE26.

I apologise , I did not realise that amd it seems Perry Vale covers some parts of SE 26 past Mayow Park.

Forest Hill Local Assembly - Wednesday 25 March 2009 7.30pm-9.30pm
Living Springs International Church, 8-10 Devonshire Road, London SE23 3TJ (opposite the Hob)

http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/CouncilAndDem...lAssembly/

If you live in Forest Hill ward and have enjoyed the discussions on Pools and Louise House on this forum, come along, hear the options and express your views in person.

I've read elsewhere ( I think the poster at the station) that it starts at 7pm, not 7.30pm; can anyone confirm this for sure?

I have an email from the assembly coordinator stating that it starts at 7:30pm and this is also the time given on the council website.

Next Forest Hill Ward Assembly is this Thursday, 25th June at the Christian Fellowship Centre, Honor Oak (opposite Fairlawn)

Full details are on:
http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/CouncilAndDem...lAssembly/

This month we get to vote on projects to spend up to ?50,000 in the local area so don't miss it!

This meeting is for people living, working, or studying in the Forest Hill Ward, so between Honor Oak Park and Kirkdale to the west of the railway.

Seems sensible to bump this thread to sit alongside the Perry Vale and Crofton Park assemblies.

Three projects got funding this evening:
1. ?20k for Platform One for renovations work, funding will be matched (or possibly more) by Lewisham Council, together with funding from Connexions to add to the available funds.
2. ?4.3k for Rockbourne Youth Club to run two courses for DJ and Dancing for a one year period.
3. ?6k for the gym in Davids Road for boxing and other projects for youth.

Last night's meeting was quite interesting, but there were some procedural aspects which, as a former professional bureaucrat, I found rather irritating.

1. I thought that Cllr John Russell was given an impossible job in being apparently required both to chair the meeting and to present most of the business. Surely it would be better to have a separate chair (does it have to be a councillor?) to do things like watching the clock and explaining in advance the system under which the various projects are to be voted on?

2. Grouping people round tables for discussion is fine, but it only works if enough time is given for the groups to 'jell' and develop some sort of
internal dynamic. That wasn't the case last night.

3. Why did the nicely printed 'report back' forms given to each table have to be poster size? (Quite expensive to produce, I'd have thought). Surely these are only necessary if there is to be a formal 'flip chart' type report back at a plenary session, which there wasn't last night. Did the chair and the secretary (if that's what Sam Dias is) liaise about this in advance, I wonder?

4. Could the system for getting feedback about the meetings from attenders be reviewed? It's always difficult/impossible to write considered and constructive feedback on a paper evaluation form when one is under time pressure at the end of the meeting and the chairs are being tidied away. Why can't we be offered the option of an on-line evaluation form? This would at least prevent me having to bore SE23 Forum readers with this sort of stuff (in the hope that somebody important will read it.)

Ooops - I was planning to go this evening - seems I got my dates mixed up. Just as well I read se23!! (though some kind person could have posted a reminder yesterday....)

So much for the procedural stuff - what, if anything, actually got agreed?

I have been quite impressed with the variety of projects funded through the mayor's fund and the matched funding that has been raised from various organisations. This is exactly how the Mayor's fund should work - acting as seed funding.

One of the more controversial items that was passed by those present was ?1,000 for better communication of the work of the assembly and dates of meetings (mainly as a result of the council doing such a poor job and only providing very basic information to some houses through unreliable contractors). However, I am not sure why we are spending money when nobody officially posts the information on SE23.com which is read by considerably more people than attended the assembly last night.

It is time that councillors or councill officers made sure information is available on local forums. shzl400 proves that this is necessary and I am no longer prepared to post the dates and times here as I have done on previous occasions.

The next assembly is to be held on Monday 1 February 2010 at Living Springs International Church, 8-10 Devonshire Road, London SE23 3TJ. The meeting will start at 7.30pm

On the agenda will be

• Forest Hill Pools
• Horniman Triangle toilets
• Town centre improvements
• Street Clutter report
  

A reminder that this is tonight

Plans for the pools look good.
Nice to know there will be toilets in the Horniman Triangle by the summer.

There was an article in South London Press about the state of our high street.
the http://www.southlondon-today.co.uk/tn/Ne...20empty%27
Apparently we have a higher official vacancy rate than Deptford (17% of businesses closed as opposed to 12% in Deptford - although estimates in Forest Hill put our vacancy rate substantially higher than 17%). So guess where the majority of the anti-recession fund will go? - that's right Lewisham, Catford, and Deptford. Very little will be left to help Forest Hill - the high street with the highest number of vacancies.

It is high time that Lewisham council did something to improve our high street.

My first meeting - but I was very impressed with the organisation (and the refreshments which I think were provided by the new coffee shop opposite - and were a very good advert for it).

One thing that came to light was the absence at the meeting of our Town Centre Manager. Someone said she was not there for personal reasons, but I don't think there was an apology (unless I missed it at the beginning). People seemed to think that she was never there, which doesn't seem right to me.

One person spoke in her defence, citing her co-operation on a new farmers' (?) market, which apparently is imminent - no other details of this were given, but it sounds interesting.

It was great to hear of the ongoing plans for the pools - apparently work on demolishing the old pools behind the frontage should start in a few months. A very valid comment was made about the siting of the cafe terrace which it seems will be almost permanently in shade. The impression from the architect was that, unfortunate though it might be, the plans were pretty much set in stone (or white terracotta, which is the current cladding material - although this is under review). I think everyone is a bit scared of criticising the design and is concentrating more on keeping their fingers crossed! Nobody asked what the implications of a change in government might be, either.

Hello all

Next Forest Hill local assembly is to be held at Sydenham School on Monday 21st June. 7 for 7:30pm.

We'll be getting feedback on what's been happening, and begining to review our priorities for the next few years.

See you there.
Philip
============
Cllr Philip Peake
Forest Hill ward
http://upinforesthill.wordpress.com

Sorry, Sydenham School is where exactly?

Dartmouth Road, SE26 but in Forest Hill Ward