[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKoDqF2uioI[/youtube]

We are bidding for funding to improve the town centres of Forest Hill and Sydenham and Kirkdale Village. Please support this bid by 'liking' the video and show that the community supports improving our town centres.

This post was last modified: 31-03-2012 07:10 PM by michael.

I've just watched this - it is excellent.

I'm really impressed with the work of the whole team, and the idea of bringing Sydenham and Forest Hill together for the bid is brilliant.

I'm disappointed that the focus is towards Sydenham and the South, while Honor Oak, just as badly in need of high street regeneration, has been ignored.

They couldn't include every part of Lewisham in one bid, it would count against it. Surely it's up to the people in Honor Oak to do their own bid?

Could everyone that wants Forest Hill and Sydenham to win the Portas Pilot Bid like the youtube clip that Michael has posted.
Thank You

I think someone should explain what a Portas Pilot bid actually is.
Its coming up to Easter and could be confused with Pontius Pilate.

There you go, I do read widely after all.

shzl400,
you are right that Honor Oak could do with some investment (couldn't all high streets?), but this bid was for Town Centres, which includes Forest Hill and Sydenham, while Honor Oak is only regarded as a 'local parade' by Lewisham Council. There are about 8 town centres recognised by Lewisham and we are very pleased that Sydenham and Forest Hill were selected by Lewisham as their submission to the Portas bid.

Lessons that are learned in Forest Hill and Sydenham will be able to be applied to Honor Oak as well, even if there is not direct funding to make this happen. This is one of the reasons that I want the Forest Hill and Sydenham Neighbourhood Planning area to include Honor Oak as well. Cooperation between the town centres will benefit shops and residents in all the whole area.

Excellent video-I gave it the thumbs up.
I think everyone who reads this forum should vote.
Honor oak is only down the road so please dont not vote because you live there rather than forest hill or sydenham. If one area benefits then it shall have a knock on effect on surrounding areas-it can only be a good thing.
One of the things I love about the area is the wealth of independent businesses which are also actually interesting. places like stag and bow,
canvas and cream, st davids, from the forest. etc etc
god forbid we ever get a starbucks or a pizza express.

Roz you can get more info on the Forest Hill Society website. Hope this helps.

Nicely put together, hope we do well.

One pedant point though..."Kollier - In The Forest Cafe"?

It would be good to get a few hundred more 'likes' on the video. Click on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKoDqF2uioI to watch the video and, if you like it, click on 'like' below the video.

Have pm'd you this morning.

I like the idea of market stalls.
What are the possibilities of closing Dartmouth Rd on Saturdays, and having stalls all the way up to the library?

More for clothes, arts and crafts than food and drink, perhaps.

It would give a boost to the cafes and pubs; perhaps Havelock Wk could have regular exhibitions; Horniman's would no doubt cash in.

It would give the area a real buzz.

Nice idea, but closing Dartmouth Road would never happen.. it is a key bus corridor for 122, 176 and 197 - the 176 would be particularly problematic as it is one of TfL's bus priority routes - and they would not be even vaguely interested in diverting any of those routes.

However, what about the public space areas outside the Paddy Power/Sylvan Post and outside Heron House/job centre.. there could be opportunity there. Also, I think the landscaped boulevard along the front of the Dartmouth Estate (associated with the pools redevelopment) could provide a good opportunity for this, but i very much doubt it is wide enough to accommodate any market stalls.

We used to have an area for market stalls when I first moved into the area. There was a regular small farmer's market - I vaguely remember it being near where Century Yard is now, but I could be wrong.

@Michael - thanks for pointing out the difference between a town centre and a local parade - I'd not realised there was a distinction.

Unfortunately we were not successful this time in bidding for the Portas Pilot funding. We were up against stiff competition from around the country but we are looking forward to round two as we have already achieved much since submitting the bid (including the food market, revival of the Forest Hill Traders Association, and 2-3 new independent shops on Dartmouth Road).

You can read more about the activities relating to the bid at http://www.foresthillsociety.com/2012/05/knickers.html

http://www.foresthillsociety.com/2012/07...nding.html

The second round bid has been successful. Great news for Forest Hill!

Hearty congratulations to everyone involved in this successful bid.

I observe in this BBC article that more than 400 towns made applications and we were one of 15 areas that share in this latest scheme.

The amount of effort that has gone into the first and second round is much appreciated.

I particularly admire that although the first round bid wasn’t successful, the people behind the bid appear to have continued on undaunted and submitted this second bid that has come up trumps.

Excellent stuff!