Vauxhall Gyratory System and Bus Station update

Following a meeting at the Kennington, Oval & Vauxhall Forum we wanted to update you on plans for the Vauxhall Gyratory & Bus Station.

As far as Lambeth Labour councillors are concerned, all viable options for transforming the Vauxhall gyratory are open, and we are open to hearing people's ideas.

Currently TfL are testing options to see if they will work - the two previously circulated to KOV, and they are now exploring a third which introduces two way working and preserves the central bus station function.

There is still a huge amount of work to be done before the Autumn in working through these options and we welcome and will be seeking people's views in the meantime. And just to underline, TfL and Lambeth are committed to full and genuine consultation before any decision is made.

We aren't wedded to the creation of a high street exactly as sketched out in the Vauxhall Supplementary Development Plan. We are committed to creating a district centre for Vauxhall which ties together the area, and provides quality public space, shops and restaurants. As mentioned above, there will be further discussion with residents, businesses and commuters about their priorities and how best they see this happening prior to consultation that TfL and Lambeth will be undertaking the Autumn.  The exact form of the Vauxhall district centre will be determined by decisions which are made on the gyratory and the bus station.

Letter from Lib Peck about Vauxhall Bus Station

To the Chair of the Kennington, Oval & Vauxhall Forum

Dear Malcolm

I wanted to reassure you that the views expressed at last week’s meeting have been relayed to me, and I understand the concerns and priorities of your  members and others who attended the meeting.

I believe we share the same goals for  Vauxhall – to make it a thriving district centre and the gateway to Nine Elms  on the South Bank, underpinned by  excellent transport connections. This is the Council’s adopted planning policy. The question is, how is this achieved?

Transport for London,(TfL), is responsible for managing and maintaining the capacity on this strategic part of the road network in London, so the traffic interchange has to work, especially for buses. No changes can go forward at the expense of the transport interchange. There is considerable technical analysis underway to establish whether the gyratory can be made to work two way and to understand the consequences of achieving this, if this is what is ultimately agreed. The programme for this work was shared with KOV last week. There will be no final decisions in relation to this for several months.

TfL have advised the Council that the traffic modelling results, that will assess whether or not two way working is possible, will be available at the end of February. If it is possible, then we will look further at what that will mean for the design of the district centre and the interchange arrangements, including the bus station. As part of this process, we will be preparing a design framework for the district centre that takes the policy within the Vauxhall Supplementary Planning document to a more detailed level of implementation. Things are changing within the Vauxhall area, as we have seen from the new shops and restaurants that have come, now
that there is a wider awareness of the Council’s ambitions. This change will continue with the implementation of Vauxhall Square and other exciting developments that the Council has supported.

The workshop next week, (29th January), will provide a useful starting point for this conversation and will help shape future consultation. At the workshop we will be sharing the results of the traffic modelling thus far, what the volume of users by mode has been, and discussing the issues and opportunities that the district centre and two-way working present.

It is essential that full and meaningful consultation follows this first stage of technical investigation, and the council passed a motion to this effect at the beginning of last week. There is clearly a challenge to TfL, and  the Council, to demonstrate that any options or proposals will improve the existing situation, and not make it worse. However, I would also ask that you keep an open mind about the potential benefits that change might bring. These need to be articulated through the process so that everyone can come to a view.

Yours sincerely

Councillor Lib Peck
Leader, London Borough of Lambeth

Update from this week's KOV neighbourhood forum

Community groups and residents from across Kennington, Oval and Vauxhall were represented at Tuesday's KOV Forum meeting.

There was good news for residents of the Wincott Street area from the West London Mission charity, who own the St Luke's hostel at the corner with Gilbert Road.

Over the past six months the building has been the temporary home to a hostel from Waterloo, and West London Mission acknowledged and apologised for the fact that some of the very challenging residents have caused problems and behaved in an antisocial way. That hostel will be returning to Waterloo in two weeks' time. Over the next few months the West London Mission will be consulting on a future use for the building, which promises to be far less disruptive to residents. Their favoured option is a convalescence centre for homeless people recovering from operations - which should allow them to recover from hospital treatment properly and prevent readmissions to hospitals.

The majority of the meeting was devoted to a presentation on the Vauxhall Supplementary Planning Document - the key planning policy for the future of Vauxhall. The Council is currently consulting on the policy document - the deadline for representations is 26 November. The plan is that the policy should be in place by January, so it can guide planning applications for new developments which are racing forward as part of the VNEB regeneration. The latest version of the SPD received a pretty positive response from people at the meeting - in particular most residents are pleased that the Council has an ambitious plan to transform Vauxhall Cross from a inhospitable gyratory system into a thriving town centre which is pleasant for pedestrians and cyclists.

Belated KOV Forum update

The SE11 Lurker has been doing an excellent job writing very detailed updates from last week's KOV Forum, but we thought we had better summarise the main issues from what what was a packed meeting.

Network Rail explained their plans to renovate Vauxhall Railway Station, making it more accessible to people with disabilities and hinting at a possible supermarket in one of the arches.

Brian Dickens from the Sports Action Zone updated the meeting on the activities happening on the Old Lilian Baylis site, and the fact that SAZ have the prospect of accessing around £2M from Communitybuilders funding. The Council's cabinet will be considering a proposal to split the site, handing over ownership of the sports facilities to a trust which will be able to bid for these grants. The split would leave the listed school buildings in the Council's hands.

An officer from Lambeth Council spoke about the Cooperative Council programme. The Cooperative Council Commission is finishing its evidence gathering and will be writing its report about how cooperative principles migth be applied in practice to Lambeth Council. It will report in the New Year, 12 pilot schemes will begin in February, and the Council will formally respond in May.

There was an introduction to the idea of setting up a Business Improvement District for Vauxhall. Currently businesses in Vauxhall are being consulted on the proposal, which would see every business in the area paying a levy to fund additional works and services to make the area better for business. BIDs currently operate in Waterloo and Bankside, as well as many other places across the country.

Finally Councillor Mark Harrison updated the meeting on the Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea Opportunity Area. The area from Lambeth Bridge to Battersea Power Station has been designated an opportunity area for major development by the Mayor of London. 16000 homes and 25000 new jobs are earmarked for the area. The latest news is that a Strategy Board has been set up to coordinate the project, consisting of the Greater London Authority, Transport for London, Wandsworth Council, Lambeth Council and major Nine Elms landowners. A detailed study into the infrastructure needed by the development, and the amount of money that can be raised from developers, has concluded that the scheme is viable, including the proposal to extend the Northern line to Battersea. Mark asked the meeting how local community groups would want to engage with the new Strategy Board over the coming years.

Pictured: Vauxhall Gardens Community Centre, where the meeting took place.

Bid for a grant at the Vauxhall Expo

Does your organisation operate in Kennington, Oval or Vauxhall?
Can it do something really good for this community? Read on……

Two grants of £500 are available to help provide activities or services for the community.

The grants will be determined by people attending the event taking place at the Vauxhall Expo event on 11 September at Spring Gardens, SE11 5HL. From a short list of applications, local people will vote and decide which two projects receive the funding.

Closing date: noon on 4th September, 2010

Application form – email forumkov@gmail.com


Notes: By applying, you accept that grants will be decided by participants at the Vauxhall Expo at the Spring Gardens, Tyers St, London, SE11 5HL on the 11th of September 2010.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

When is the deadline for this application?
4th September 2010. We regret that any applications received after this deadline cannot be accepted.

Are there Grant Payment Conditions?
The Council is administering the scheme so their normal Conditions of Grant Aid apply. You must have a bank account or be supported by a larger organisation with a bank account. The project will be monitored to make sure the grant is properly spent and outcomes reported. The winning organisation therefore will have to provide more details before the payment can be made. All staff working with children or access to information about children must have enhanced CRB clearance.

Who can I contact for further information?
Please contact Frances Forrest at forumkov@gmail.com

How do I complete the application form?
We have sent information out via email and in the post. You can complete the form attached to the email on your computer and submit it back to forumkov@gmail.com or return a completed printed form to us in the post leaving enough time to meet the deadline of noon on4th of September, 2010.

What happens after I have sent in my application?
We will read all applications and short list those that will be invited to present at the Vauxhall Expo and the ‘judges’, your local community. We will contact short listed projects to talk about your project in more detail and help with preparations. The votes cast will be counted at the event and the two projects receiving the highest number of votes cast will be the successful recipients of the grant funding (2 x £500 grant).

What type of projects will be funded?

You must demonstrate how your work will benefit at least part of Kennington, Oval and Vauxhall.


What will not be funded?

We will not fund

• Political parties
• Promotion of religious beliefs
• Third party giving organisations
• Projects that have already started, or that cannot complete by 31 March 2011
• Applications will not be awarded to individuals, the private sector or any organisation that is not a properly constituted voluntary sector organisation.

After school providers must be registered with Ofsted.

Changing Vauxhall event - 11 September

Kennington, Oval & Vauxhall Forum, together with the Friends of Spring Gardens and Vauxhall City Farm, are organising a community fun day with entertainment, exhibitions demonstrations and a market place for voluntary and community organisations. We would like you to take part.

We are celebrating the change of name of Spring Gardens back to Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. But also we are celebrating Vauxhall City Farm Open day. The gardens are undergoing change – the new entrance from Kennington Lane is under construction.

HERE IS YOUR OPPORTUNITY

The theme for the event is Changing Vauxhall - how it has changed, how it might change, and how you would wish it to change. Changing the environment, health, housing, educational opportunities etc. Tell officers what you would do with the S.106 money from any developments.

The event will provide opportunities for:·
promoting local volunteering,·
networking and information sharing·

engaging with the community

There will also be grants of £500 to North Lambeth organisations, to be decided by public vote at the event.

If you would like to be involved by: ·
Taking a pitch·
Providing entertainment·
Applying for a grant·

Sponsoring the event·
Promoting the event to your members·

Family competitions...

then please let us know, ideally by 13th August. Please reply to Frances Forrest by email to forumkov@gmail.com

KOV meeting: 19 January

The Kennington, Oval and Vauxhall Forum is the umbrella group representing organisations and individuals in our area.

The next Forum meeting will be on Tuesday 19 January, at 7.00 for 7.30 start, at:

Montgomery Hall
58 Kennington Oval
SE11 5SW

The venue is on the Vauxhall side of the Oval House Theatre.

The main item will be:

Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea Opportunity Area Planning Framework - What could this mean for Vauxhall? What do you think?

Planning consultations

Three planning consultations are currently open for the area's residents.

An exhibition of proposals for the redevelopment of New Covent Garden Market at Nine Elms will take place between 4 and 7 November.

The Mayor of London's draft Planning Framework for Vauxhall is now available for consultation. The closing date for responses is 29 January. The KOV Forum will be hosting a public presentation on this, date to be announced shortly.

Finally, Lambeth Council is currently undertaking consultation on the Kennington conservation area. There will be a public meeting at 6pm on Monday 9 November, at Alford House, Aveline Street.

North Lambeth Expo a big success!

Today's North Lambeth Expo was a great success. Hundreds of visitors came to Waterloo Action Centre to find out more about the wealth of community actitivities taking place in Kennington, Vauxhall, Oval and Waterloo.

There was great news for Vauxhall Gardens Estate Residents' Association, who won a public vote for a £500 grant to enable them to buy chairs for the new Carmelita Centre on Vauxhall Walk.

Pictured: KOV Forum Chair Maureen Johnson, Lambeth Mayor Christopher Wellbelove, Cllr Mark Harrison, Cllr Rachel Heywood, Cllr Diana Braithwaite, and Cllr Lorna Campbell at the North Lambeth Expo.

Police raids to tackle dangerous dogs

Early morning raids across north Lambeth took place today as a large scale operation to tackle dangerous dogs was launched.

The operation, led by Lambeth Police and supported by the new MPS Status Dog Unit, the RSPCA and Lambeth Council, targeted individuals suspected of owning dangerous dogs, breeding prohibited breeds and organising dog fighting.

Officers seized 20 dogs, including a bitch and her six puppies, under the Dangerous Dogs Act. No arrests were made.

Inspector Allen Davis, from Lambeth borough, said:

"The operational activity by Lambeth Police is in response to huge community concerns relating to a minority of people, some of whom may be linked to gangs, who completely and utterly misuse potentially dangerous dogs in order to promote fear and intimidate others. We are fully committed to seizing dogs from such people and will be working with our partners in the Local Authority and RSPCA to promote responsible dog ownership."

Superintendent Clive Wakeley, who led the operation, said:

"The aim of the day was not only to seize dangerous dogs but target irresponsible dog owners and also to reassure the local community and show them that we are serious about making Lambeth a safer place."

The move follows the establishment of a specialist unit within the Met to tackle the problem. It followed representations from Labour London Assembly Member Val Shawcross, who was alerted to the serious problem in Kennington and Vauxhall at a meeting of the KOV Forum.

North Lambeth People’s Expo ‘People and Places’

A Community Event is being organised jointly by Waterloo Community Coalition (WaCoCo) and Kennington Oval and Vauxhall (KOV) Forum

At:
Waterloo Action Centre
14 Baylis Road
SE1 7AA

On:
10 October 2009
12-4.00 pm

All North Lambeth residents and organisations will be invited to attend. The organisers would like to know at this stage if you would like to take part. Their proposals include:

• A ‘market place’ of service provision in North Lambeth. We would like service providers from the voluntary, community and public sectors to display information and promote what they do
• Free refreshments
• Free entertainment
• Family activities
• Opportunities including demonstrations and cultural displays for everyone to get involved
• £500 grant will be available to two North Lambeth organisations, to be decided by public vote at the event
• Question Time session – involving key local representatives/providers

The theme for this event is People and Places. The event is designed to increase opportunities for people to find out more about their local services, put questions to providers and to find out how they can get more involved in this area.

The event will provide opportunities for:

• The promotion of local volunteering
• Networking and information sharing between services and agencies
• A valuable opportunity for engagement between the community and your service or organisation on current and future work
• Asking questions of key individuals – those providing services and community leaders.

The organisers would like you to be part of this exciting event, whether by:
• having a stall,
• providing a 15 minute entertainment slot,
• applying for a grant,
• promoting the event to your members/client or
• sponsoring the event.

Space is obviously limited, so please contact David Fisher at david.fisher@wcdg.org.uk by the 18th of September at the latest so as to let the organisers know how you would like to participate. Stalls will be allocated on the basis of relevance to the theme, relevance to the North Lambeth wide community and the overall contribution they will make to the visitors’ experience at the event. Please therefore provide us with some detail such as what you would like to have on
your stall and what entertainment you would like to provide.

Pictured: visitors at the last North Lambeth Expo, in January 2008.

All in a week's work for SE11 Labour

Last Saturday residents from the Ethelred and Whitgift estates met at Pory Hall for a coffee morning with councillors and Kate Hoey MP. It was a good chance for people to meet their neighbours and chat, discuss some of the problems both estates are facing, and an opportunity for Ethelred TMO board members to update councillors on efforts to get the Council to sort out the estate's CCTV and doors. There is some optimism that the new Lambeth Living Chief Executive is keen to sort the problem out, but there is a still disagreement about the service charge residents will be expected to pay.

On Monday the Vauxhall Gardens Estate Tenants and Residents Association met for the first time in a few months. Major works are underway across the estate, and there was concern that scaffolders are blocking streets and car parks, and that builders are not cleaning up after themselves properly. Mark Harrison offered Labour activists' assistance in taking round a petition against coaches parking on the streets around the estate at weekends, which has been causing a nuisance in the area for several years.

On Tuesday the Kennington, Oval and Vauxhall Forum held its quarterly public meeting at the Pedlars Acre Hall in Kennington. There was concern that pavements are being left in a poor state when street lighting is replaced. Complaints were raised against the lack of a review of the Kennington controlled parking sub zone, which Cllr Stephen Morgan promised to take up. There was an update on the Mayor of London's cycle hire scheme - Lambeth will be applying for planning permission for around 30 docking sites in the north of the Borough. John Kazantzis, Lambeth's Cabinet Member for Business, gave a overview of how Labour is trying to help small business in Lambeth through the recession. Finally, Stephen Morgan gave an update on plans for a craft school and museum on the Beaufoy Institute site in Black Prince Road, and plans for a community hub on the old Lilian Baylis School site. Both are progressing well, if slowly.

On the same evening Labour supporters joined members of the Portuguese community at the Casa Madeira restaurant on Albert Embankment for a fantastically-successful fundraising dinner. Leader of Lambeth Council Steve Reed, and London Assembly Member Val Shawcross both practised their Portuguese, to the pleasure and amusement of everybody there.

KOV updated on 'Future Kennington'

Councillor Lorna Campbell attended the quarterly meeting of the Kennington, Oval, and Vauxhall Forum on Tuesday.

The meeting was updated on the 'Future Kennington' programme - the Council's project to transform two sites in Prince's ward into new community facilities.

At the site of the old Lilian Baylis school, Lambeth Council, who owns the site, are working with the Sport Action Zone, Ethelred Nursery School and Children’s Centre and the All Nations Centre (ANC) to expand the sports and young persons focused services already operating from the site and to bring together on the site a range of community facilities. The overarching aim of the partnership is to create a community hub that is inter-generational and inclusive with activities based around sports, health, arts and culture, economic activity, community activities, education, childcare and the environment.

Complex negotiations are currently underway, by the partners ae hopeful that a decision by the Council on transferring the ownership of the land will be taken this March. Within the next week a project update will be circulated to all local households.

Across Black Prince Road at the Beaufoy Institute (pictured), work continues to develop the Studio School and Museum and Workshop proposal.

In September 2008 Lambeth and the Young Foundation jointly submitted a detailed proposal for a Studio School on the vacant part of the site. The proposal was developed with a wider consortium of partners, including the, the De Morgan Centre, Lady Margaret Hall Settlement and Kate Hoey MP.

The aim of the Lambeth Studio School is to provide a small-scale environment for some 300 students which will, in close partnership with local businesses, target a cohort of learners and nurture within them skills of enterprise and entrepreneurship. A potential lead business partner, Arora International Hotels, has been identified. A government decision as to whether the proposal should continue to be developed is expected by the end of January 2009.

The school proposal sits within a shared vision for the wide site to create an Arts and Crafts Museum, operated by the De Morgan Foundation, which will itself be a major educational resource, as well as associated Arts and Crafts artisans’ workshops offering a range of employment and apprenticeship opportunities.

Currently, the Council, working closely with the De Morgan Foundation, is undertaking detailed spatial feasibility work around the constraints of the site and buildings and looking at how the Museum and workshops might coexist with the proposed school. Work is also ongoing to seek to align the De Morgan proposal with the objects of the Beaufoy Charitable Trust, who own the historically and architecturally more significant 1905 part of the Beaufoy Institute building. This work to explore the viability of the project enables the De Morgan Foundation themselves to further develop the overall project business plan and necessary funding streams.

Labour Assembly member acts on dangerous dogs

Lambeth's Labour representative on the London Assembly, Val Shawcross, has pressed the London Mayor to act on the problem of aggressive dogs.

Val acted after hearing about serious problems with aggressive dogs in Kennington, raised at the KOV Forum meeting by local resident Alison Packer. In recent months both dogs and people have been attacked by aggressive dogs in parks in Kennington.

Val put forward a motion calling on the Mayor to work with the Metropolitan Police and London's borough councils to tackle the use of animals as weapons.

The Mayor agreed that action was needed. He revealed that the number of dogs seized by police this year has risen to 800, from only 180 in the year 2006/7. You can read more on the story in yesterday's Evening Standard.

Val has promised to keep up the pressure on the Mayor, the police, and the Council to deal with this growing problem, which is of concern to residents across Lambeth.