This location has not been suitable, being a ten minute walk from West Norwood town centre. Local councillors have repeatedly pushed council officers to find a more central temporary home for the library.

We’re very pleased that council officers have agreed with local Labour councillors and West Norwood library will move to its new temporary home in the Old Library Centre on Knight’s Hill from Thursday 1st March. The library will be open Monday-Saturday.

Our absolute priority is to have the main building refurbished, repaired and reopened as soon as is practicable – and building surveys are being undertaken. In the meantime this is a positive step forward with the library service back in the heart of West Norwood where it belongs. More information is available on the council’s website.

We have always believed that the library shouldn’t be a political football and that the library committee is there to represent the local community, not political parties. When Gipsy Hill was represented by Tories, the Labour administration in Lambeth always stuck to the agreement and appointed them to the committee – a principle that Croydon Conservatives have ignored.

The Conservative administration in Croydon has now announced that it is pulling out of the library agreement with no public consultation and without the required 12 month notice period, withdrawing all funding and is seeking to appoint valuers so that they can prepare to sell the library building off. In contrast, Labour Lambeth is committed to the library, has funding in place for 2012-13 and has told the Tories in Croydon to “put the gun down”. 

Lambeth residents make up just 30% of library users whilst over 40% are from Croydon – despite this only Lambeth has committed funding for the library next year, but without Croydon’s funding the library faces closure. We’ve been working hard – at meetings at Lambeth Town Hall, at the library, and with the local community, including the public meeting at the Salvation Army Halls, to keep the pressure on the Conservatives not to close our library.

At Lambeth’s Full Council meeting on the 25th January, Cllr Matthew Bennett presented a petition with over 800 signatures from residents across Upper Norwood who are as worried as we are about the future of our library. He also proposed a motion, which was passed by councillors which states:

“Council notes with regret the decision of the Conservative Administration in Croydon to withdraw all funding from the Upper Norwood Joint Library and to withdraw, without the required twelve month notice period, from the Upper Norwood Joint Library Agreement following eighteen months in which they have sought to exclude local community representatives from the governance of the library.

“Council shares in the concerns of library users, staff and the wider Upper Norwood community at Croydon’s approach to the library. In contrast, Council notes that the Lambeth Libraries Commission and the subsequent Cabinet report clearly restated Lambeth’s commitment to the Upper Norwood Library.

“Council joins with the local community and ward councillors in backing the Lambeth’s Administration’s call for Croydon to return to the negotiating table with the necessary funding to secure a viable future for the Upper Norwood Library.”

We are continuing to work with local residents, the library campaign and our Labour colleagues in Croydon who are fighting to bring the Tories to their senses. The Upper Norwood Library is an excellent example of how good local libraries can be, how well they can serve their communities. We need to find a way to put the library on a secure footing, out of the hands of politicians and in the hands of the community, so that it has (at least) another 111 years ahead of it.

]]> http://gipsyhilllabour.org.uk/2012/02/03/467/feed/ 0 gipsyhilllabour Upper Norwood Library http://gipsyhilllabour.org.uk/2012/02/03/ranger-mansions-squat/ http://gipsyhilllabour.org.uk/2012/02/03/ranger-mansions-squat/#comments Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:24:18 +0000 gipsyhilllabour http://gipsyhilllabour.wordpress.com/?p=463 Continue reading →]]> Two weeks ago the issue of the squat at Ranger Mansions on Jasper Road, SE19 was raised on the Virtual Norwood website. The squat was holding regular raves at weekends which were carrying on into the morning and making life a misery for many residents in the immediate area. We contacted the local police safer neighbourhood team, and Lambeth council to raise this issue.

Thankfully we were told that the council had already started legal proceedings to evict the squatters and to secure the building. Two weeks ago we were informed by council officers that the squat should be cleared and the building made safe within a month. Residents living on Woodland, Jasper & Farquhar roads should have received a letter from us about the situation and the action that is being taken on the 24th January.

 Since then, we have been in regular contact with officers within the council’s housing and legal departments to ensure that this timetable doesn’t slip at all & Cllr Niranjan Francis was able to give a verbal update at the recent meeting of the Gipsy Hill Residents’ Association.  However, matters have moved on with another rave turning violent last weekend which ended with a shooting. Jasper road and the surrounding area off the triangle is heavily residential with a large number of families, this shouldn’t happen in a neighbourhood like this.

We have been advised that the timetable has not slipped; the council still intends to evict the squatters and secure the building over the next couple of weeks to ensure that this cannot happen again and the police are monitoring the situation closely. If anyone has any further concerns then please do contact us by phone, email or post. Our next surgery in the Upper Norwood area is at the library on Friday 10th February 4-5pm.

The number 3 bus is used primarily by residents in the West Dulwich part of the ward as it runs up South Croxted Road. Regular users tell us that the bus is often delayed, infrequent and sometimes so overcrowded that it’s impossible to board. At the same time, bus fares have soared ahead of inflation over the past four years under London’s Conservative mayor with a single bus fare rising by 50% from 90p to £1.35. The mayor has lost money by scrapping the congestion charge in Chelsea and wasted money on designing a new routemaster bus – fares have soared with no improvement in services for local residents. People are asking just what they’re paying for.

We’re working with Val Shawcross, Lambeth & Southwark’s member of the London assembly to put pressure on TfL to improve the service that residents in Gipsy Hill receive on the buses and Labour’s candidate for mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, has promised to cut fares by 7%, to freeze them in 2013 and to limit any future increases to the rate of inflation. You can find out more information on Ken’s Fare Deal here: http://www.kenlivingstone.com/faredeal 

However, we know that keeping people up to date on here about what we’re doing is vital so my delayed new year’s resolution is to make sure that this website is regularly updated from now on – and we’re sorry that at a time when so much is happening that this website has been out of date.

As ever – you can always contact us by post, email or phone if anything is of concern or come and see us at one of the four advice surgeries that we hold across the ward each month. We hold one in West Norwood, one in West Dulwich, one in Upper Norwood and one on the Berridge Road estate next to Gipsy Hill station so that we’re within easy walking distance at least once a month for everyone in the ward.

Best wishes,

Matthew, Jenny & Niranjan

We were pleased to back the campaign then along with Tessa Jowell MP and we’re very pleased to be backing the campaign again.

The Church who bought 25 Church Road have made another application and already many residents have already registered their objections with Bromley Council. The deadline to make your representation is between the 13th & the 21st September. Full details & a model objection which can be copied & pasted into an email are at the Picture Palace Campaign Website.

Following a Partnership Meeting at the council the following actions have been agreed to address this issue:

• The family in question is holding meetings with their housing associations and reminded of the consequences if this anti-social behaviour continues, this includes the housing association applying to a court for an eviction order.
• Anti-Social Behaviour Injunctions will be investigated as a means of excluding non-residents who have been causing trouble from the area.
• One of the council’s mobile CCTV vans has been deployed to the Woodland Road/Cawnpore Street area to gather evidence and to deter crime.
• Background checks are being carried out on individuals identified as possibly being involved in crime & ASB with a view to further action if necessary.
• An increase of police patrols in the area.

As the local councillors we hope that these measures will be successful in reducing the heightened levels of crime and ASB in our area. We are very conscious of trying to support our local police at a time when they have been (and continue to be) put under real pressure. If you have any further concerns about this then please don’t hesitate to contact any of your local councillors or the local police directly.

However, the builders have found asbestos within the library and this will delay the reopening whilst this asbestos is properly surveyed and assessed to make sure that the building is safe. Whilst the building is undergoing repairs the council has arranged for a library service to be available to West Norwood residents at the Lambeth Resource Centre at 1 Park Hall Road (a 5-10 minute walk along Robson Road or a couple of minutes on the 322 bus) the library service is available 10am-4pm Monday to Friday but as local councillors we are continuing to push for our library to be reopened as soon as possible.

The Friends of West Norwood Library have a facebook page with more information at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Friends-of-West-Norwood-Library-FoWNL/153384884734244

On 10th February 2011 Boris Johnson said London would have, ‘more uniformed fully warranted police officers than ever before.’ Yet figures published recently on the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) website completely contradict that claim. According to the MPA in just two years the number of police officers in London will fall to just 31,460 from 33,260 in 2010, a fall of 1800.

Yvette and Ken called on Boris Johnson to answer the following questions In a letter to the Conservative Mayor:

· How many police officers are individual boroughs set to lose?
· Have you set any cap on the number of police officers individual boroughs are set to lose or could some boroughs lose over 100 or 200 officers?
· You are cutting 300 sergeants from 600 safer neighbourhood teams. Which wards are set to lose a sergeant because of your decision?

Yvette and Ken held a meeting for Safer Neighbourhood panel members in Stonebridge, Brent to listen to views and concerns of residents. The Safer Neighbourhoods scheme was launched by Ken and the Metropolitan Police in Stonebridge in April 2004.

Yvette Cooper MP said:

“Boris Johnson is failing to stand up for Londoners who want more police officers on the streets, not 1,800 less.

“The Conservative Mayor and this Conservative government are putting the Metropolitan Police in an impossible position, and these cuts to police officers put at risk the huge progress made by the police and local communities in keeping our streets safer.

“Labour will put crime and policing at the centre of it’s 2012 London election campaign. Crime and safety is a key issue for Londoners. Whether you live in Redbridge or Richmond, residents want safe streets and that means keeping police on the streets.”

Ken Livingstone said:

“Boris Johnson began cutting the police even before this government was elected. These Conservative cuts will mean some of the most experienced and able officers losing their jobs including 300 of the 600 sergeants who manage local police teams.

“Right across London there is huge concern about the cuts to the number of frontline police officers including in Bromley where Boris Johnson is cutting 30 police officers.

“Conservative London MPs, Conservative London Assembly Member and Conservative London Councillors have a simple decision to make – they can stand alongside their Conservative Mayor Boris Johnson and defend his decision to cut 1800 police officers or they can join our campaign to protect frontline policing in the capital.”