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Planning Our Future
Report on the public
meeting
with newly elected
Councillors
for the Kennington,
Oval and Vauxhall area
Held at St Anselm’s
Church Hall, Kennington Rd, 28 June 2006
Background
Following a meeting of the Kennington, Oval and Vauxhall Forum held in October, there was a discussion among a number of local activist residents and local organisations’ workers about the problems facing the area, the challenges and opportunities and the need for the community to have its own agenda to negotiate with Lambeth Council. Four organisations, Kennington Association, Kennington, Oval & Vauxhall Forum (KOV), Lady Margaret Hall Settlement, and Riverside Community Development Trust, agreed as a first step to organise a public meeting at which local people could put their views to the Councillors elected in May for the three wards which the KOV area is in: Bishop’s, Oval and Prince’s.
The meeting was well attended and a list of those who attended is appended and those who spoke are starred.
This report is not a verbatim report. Apart from comments by Jeffe Jeffers setting the scene and during an intervention during the meeting, responses by Councillors, and Maureen Johnston’s opening and closing remarks as Chair of the meeting, comments and views are not attributed to individuals. It is often the case that people’s oral contributions are not as coherent when written down as they sound when they are saying them. This report summarises the points made so that attention can be focussed on the comments and ideas, rather than on the personalities. It should be noted that an expression of ‘fact’ does not mean that what is said is correct. e.g. one person said that developers were responsible for deciding what their Section 106 money would be spent one, while someone else said it was the Council’s planners.
Chair’s Opening Remarks
Maureen Johnston welcomed the new Councillors who introduced themselves. She asked them what plans there were to set up the strategic objectives for the community since the current ones were under review. There was concern that consultation takes place piecemeal or within the strict ward boundaries. The area is long and narrow and bisected by main roads which often mark out dividing lines for consultation. Consequently parts of the community are consulted in isolation or appear to be ignored altogether. But residents, businesses and schools operate across these strict boundaries. By getting together we hope we may develop a strategy for the whole community. We need Section 106 gains to be reflected in our area. How do we prioritise projects to which the gains are put?
Setting the Scene – Jeffe Jeffers, Lady Margaret
Hall Settlement
· It is important to understand why we are where we are. The Settlement has been in the area for 110 years.
· In 1978 and 2004 it carried out surveys of the area. When read side by side it is striking how little has changed. There has been remarkable continuity bar the dramatic collapse of the local economy in skilled jobs. The area has been static for 30 years. Landlords have changed. The divide continues between the haves and have nots. What can be done to move the community on?
· Look at what is happening elsewhere. £23m for Brixton. Waterloo has a dynamic local economy. Kennington, Oval and Vauxhall is a deprived area between these two well resourced areas. The Chairman of Brixton Business Forum thinks it is our own fault. They know what they want in Brixton; we do not.
· How do we grasp the thistle and the opportunities? There are big sites providing opportunities for others e.g. Beaufoy to be used to decant a school from elsewhere; Lilian Baylis will be sold for new housing. The KOV area is a place to solve other people’s problems. Therefore their vision wins.
· Vision needs to be put into practice. New Councillors have been elected. One day we vote for them and then we kick them up and down the hill. The only way to change is to accept responsibility.
· When he witnessed a gang of 20 beating people up only he and one other person intervened. 30 other people stood and watched. We have got to accept responsibility in order to take control. There has to be responsibility to be committed and make things happen.
· A vision can be created through day to day partnership with Councillors and officers and local people accepting responsibility and commitment.
· The area has a vibrant community with talent. It is rich educationally. There are people resources.
· There is a Town Centre Manager but no Town Centre. How do we put a heart into the area?
· This is not a ‘Kick the Councillors’ meeting; they have only just been elected. We need to be positive not to go on about what has gone wrong but what we can get right.
Contributions from Those Taking Part
Failure of Investment
· There has been inward investment which has failed because it has not been managed properly. That is sad.
· What is needed is to have the courage to make things work and sustain the work. It’s about putting people in.
· Why should the Government give more money to this area?
· The new Councillors need to understand that to address the issues they have got to make sure that investment works.
Planning Developments
· There are several planning developments in the area, including tower block proposals.
· These are high value development schemes with Section 106 planning gain.
· We have got to say what schemes suit us not what suits addressing the problems of other areas.
Council Development Sites
· Council developments will bring in cash, e.g. Kerrin Point, Beaufoy Institute and Lillian Baylis.
· These sites are terrible scars on the area.
Mixed Residential
· The riverside area planning applications should provide mixed residential housing not ghettoes.
· There must be mixed private housing otherwise we will get huge ghettoes and longer consequences of less money and more trouble.
· There must be a mix of tenure on the Embankment.
· In 25 years Spring Gardens has seen no new development and no money has been invested. Getting money for improvements has been difficult.
· The Council officers say that it can only be done through Section 106 from new developments in the riverside area.
Section 106
· Section 106 is a bribe.
· Section 106 will provide a lot of money.
· Section 106 is allocated by the developers.
· This should be resisted.
· It is the Planners who decide on the Section 106 not the developers. e.g. in relation to Archbishop’s Park the Planners want new entrances paid for by Founders Place Section 106, but new entrances are not on the community consultation list
· There is no Section 106 due from any planning approvals given after objections have been rejected at appeal stage.
· We will have to live with the proposed buildings and seek to obtain Section 106 benefit from them.
· The Section 106 on the MI6 building went to Brixton. It is time to say enough is enough.
· Section 106 analysis shows that other local authorities have policies than ensure money goes to local facilities to cope with the extra population generated by extra population and for existing needs.
·
An area fund
should be created for Section 106 to be allocated into, as is being
done in
· We need the idea of a fund and decide how it is to be spent.
· We need to speak to each other a lot more.
What We Want and Need
· There is no real sense of what we really need.
· We need a shopping list, and information about what Section 106 money is coming up, and then match the two together to help create a stable enriched community.
· There has always been a shopping list.
· A strategy is needed led by local people supported by local political representatives and implemented by Council officers.
· The Council should listen and observe the local people’s mandate. It should say that it will do what local people want.
·
There is a need to
work together, to tell KOV Forum and the community about what is
being achieved in Brixton and
· Let’s get a vision together and move on it.
· The Council should provide a platform for local people.
·
There is no
coherent master plan for the area, including the Southwark side of
· How do we approach the Council for funds to find out what people want?
Effects on Ethelred Estate of Developments
· There are several developments that will affect Ethelred Estate: Lilian Baylis, Kerrin Point, Sugden House boiler site.
· There will be density effects of the proposed new housing for these sites.
· There is a need for honesty about what can be done. e.g. in terms of providing open space.
· The community was told that the new development on the Kerrin Point site would be 80 dwellings – now it is to be 200.
· It is important that when building new developments, the effect on the infrastructure is considered: e.g. youth, medical.
· The new development at Kerrin Point will put pressure on health and school facilities.
· Councillors need to take into account the infrastructure needs of new developments.
· There is a need for joined up approach to the opportunities. There needs to be real consultation, including with other agencies such as the police.
Sports and Lilian Baylis Site
· The Sports Action Zone (SAZ) activities at old Lilian Baylis are run on a shoe string.
· There have been threats from the Council that SAZ should leave or be charged for using the site.
· SAZ has had offers of funding for activities on the site e.g. from Nike, but its hands are tied over the lack of having a long-term future on the site.
· On 10 July Linford Christie and Campbell will run athletic events.
· There will be a summer holiday programme and community days for 8-85 year olds.
· There needs to be a plan and the tools to deliver this part of the programme.
· Kennington Association and Sports Action Zone have done a lot together.
· It was a matter of concern that Kennington Association was having to underwrite some of the Sports Action Zone activities.
· The Association had had to clean the toilets.
· £500 is needed to keep activities.
· A lot of money is available sport e.g. from Brit Oval. A relationship needs to be built with the Sports Development Officer.
· The Council should support more sports activities at Lilian Baylis. It should welcome the initiatives, publicise them more widely and get the kids off the streets.
Gentrification and Affordable Housing
· The developments on the Embankment are key to what the meeting should be talking about.
·
There has been
creeping gentrification.
· Hanover House was supposed to be affordable housing. The developer did not want opposition so it offered 30% affordable housing They were required to provide 35% but it is in the form of shared ownership.
· Social housing should be for local people. The former Leader of the Council had agreed with this.
· What is needed is affordable housing not at market rents but rents that people can afford.
Lambeth
· The decision of the new Administration to stop selling off street properties is welcome.
· The policy of stopping the sales has to remain in place so that the properties remain for local families.
· The sale of street properties had not stopped as there had been an auction in June.
Regeneration Funding
· There has to be an end to ‘the usual suspects’ being invited to be involved with their pet projects getting money.
· Everyone has to be listened to.
· There is a need to get rid of the parasites in the area and corruption in the system.
·
Important things
are happening in
· The playground is being moved and improved. A fitness trail will soon be installed.
· The aim is to make it a people’s park.
· There are proposals for building development in the Park.
·
Part of
·
A leisure centre
is proposed for the Park on
· It is crazy to build on park space when the Lilian Baylis site is available.
· The new Council will have to resolve this major planning issue.
·
We need a coherent
plan which takes account of
Traffic
· Traffic is a crucial issue because of the effect of the main roads through the area.
·
The facilities for
pedestrians are pathetic. e.g. there is no crossing to
· Oval Partnership is looking at the whole of the Oval Ward.
· It is trying to find out what has happened to the Section 106 money from the redevelopment of Brit Oval.
· This could be used to fund a feasibility for improved pedestrian facilities.
·
Are we going to
get a new tunnel on
Unitary Development Plan
· The Unitary Development Plan is the ultimate document governing planning development. There are major development opportunities identified in the UDP, but its requirements have been broken left, right and centre.
· What is the current status of the Unitary Development Plan?
· There is a need to get rid of the parasites in the area and corruption in the system.
Children and Education
· There is a lack of primary and secondary school places.
· There is an explosion of small children in the area.
· What is going to happen when they reach secondary school level?
·
The new
· There is little for children to do unless their parents have money.
· Kennington Sure Start has been fantastic but its funding is running out.
· There are lots of activities on the South Bank. Why does our area miss out?
· Mothers are bringing up children in difficult circumstances. Parents need support to help bring up their children well.
Redfearn Centre
· This was opened in September 2005 for training 16-19 years olds with learning difficulties. There are 30 places for them to learn life shills after leaving special schools.
· Government money has been withdrawn. A new source of funding is needed.
· There is a real need for such services but no plans for the future.
·
Some of those who
had hoped to go to the Redfearn from September live on
· There are several young people with learning difficulties living on the Etheldred Estate. They need life skills teaching.
· When the Centre opened Lady Margaret Hall Settlement had to pay for the part-time worker because there was no Council expenditure head set up.
· It is clear that the Council saw this is a pilot scheme but did not tell the Centre’s Steering Committee.
· Funding was supposed to come through the Learning & Skills Council for three years.
· How it got through the Private Finance Initiative rules on the funding basis is questionable.
· Someone has made the decision to withdraw the money.
· The Centre was also supposed to be for community education. There was no budget or development plan to do this.
· This is no way to do business.
Roots & Shoots
· Roots & Shoots provides education for people with special needs.
· It has also been faced with money problems.
· It receives money from Lambeth on a yearly basis.
· Educational programmes require sustainable funding – three year tranches of money to enable planning and offer a good service.
No Heart to Area
· There is no Town Centre because of the railway and road system.
· The heart of the area has been ripped out. There is a void in the area.
· There are huge opportunities at the Lilian Baylis site. It could be a trigger for regeneration.
· The Beaufoy is an annoying sire. It can provide a huge opportunity, like for the Settlement’s idea for employment opportunities.
Failure of Council Departments
· The problem with Council Departments is that they are like states in their own right and they do not communicate with each other which is to the detriment of the whole.
· There are assets in those Departments.
· There is a regeneration section in Housing and a separate Regeneration Department. This is dysfunctional thinking.
· The Councillors should get to grips with the way the Departments work.
· The Councillors will get better results if the Departments work together instead of dividing and ruling local communities.
Knowledge and Ideas
· There is a huge knowledge base in the area.
· There are many bright ideas for change.
· There are too many different groups with passions for particular issues, and no interchange of information. This perpetuates the lack of joined up thinking.
· RCDT has a role and helps to link groups to work together with the Council.
· But RCDT does not cover Oval.
· Kennington Oval and Vauxhall Forum covers the whole area.
· The Forum does not receive information from the Council which it can communicate to groups.
Other Points
· The area is a family orientated community but its character is changing with lots of flat shares by single people. This trend needs to be watched.
· An empty housing block has been squatted. Little seems to be happening with it.
Policing
· Policing Lambeth is a mammoth task.
·
By the end of the
year 630 wards in
· There are local safer neighbourhood policing panels including one for the area.
· About 80 people attended the first meeting in May and ten decided to take part in a second meeting to be held in September.
· It has representatives of tenants’ organisations inc. China Walk and business.
· There is an issue of how to get information out into the community.
· There are issues about the Panel’s role in community engagement and its relationship with the Community Police Consultative Group for Lambeth.
· Each Panel produces its own priorities. The Metropolitan Police suggests 3-5 priorities but these can be changed. The local panel has five priorities.
·
· There are issues in Bishop’s Ward relating to rough sleepers and drink and alcohol problems.
· It is a mystery how the Safer Neighbourhoods Panel got set up, who Chairs it and its priorities.
· The Panel’s top priorities are drugs and rough sleepers.
· The first two priorities should be drugs and burglary.
· The Panel must be more transparent.
Community Police Consultative Group for Lambeth
· The Group is holding a themed meeting on older people.
· It has already held one with young people and their experiences with the police.
· What they experienced was awful and it was important that the Borough Commander hear about this.
· A young people’s group has been set up to look at stop and search.
· The Group is represented on the Crime Reduction Partnership, but the latter needs to be more transparent.
· The Council structures are confusing. People don’t know about, or how to get involved in, the Crime Reduction Partnership, and there is little information available about it.
· The police structure is now so confusing that no one understands it.
Crime and Police Contact
· There are lots of small crime problems that do not make it into the statistics.
· People give up trying to report things to the police because of the time it takes to try and get through on the phone and internet.
· Police cars with sirens blaring often go in opposite directions – can this be effective?
· Lack of contact with the police is a problem.
· They are distant running around in fast cars with sirens going.
· Local police on bikes has been a huge success.
· Ethelred TMO has been to the Netcall centre in Lambeth. An improved service is being introduced which should enabled a 53- second response to calls form August.
· What needs to be done is to tackle what people see happening on the estates, the drug dealing and the fact that crime is committed to pay for drugs.
· There are major problems of drugs and homelessness.
· The police are not perfect.
· There is temptation to steal mobile phones.
· There is a community safety business anti-crime initiative. It will start in Streatham and Clapham. Business people are contributing funding.
· There will be sharing of information on drug dealing and shop lifting. A crime exclusion zone will be created. There will be a more proactive approach.
Youth Provision & Strategy
· The recent murder had led to youth provision in the area being looked at.
· Organisations and the community need to work together to get solutions
· Summer projects and employment are needed for young people.
· The RCDT discussion paper on youth strategy and provision available at the back of the meeting had been prepared by Tim Saunders (Alford House) and Sean Creighton (RCDT) as a contribution to discussion. It had been triggered by the ‘Happy Slapping’ murder case not by the recent murder, though it took that into account.
· Several of the boys who had taken part in the gang fight that led to the recent murder want to set up a football team. There is no money to do this. A pot of money is needed.
Transport
· There had been a parking consultation meeting a few weeks previously.
· People have not heard back from the Council on the short-term parking issues raised.
· We were told that side roads would be revised to see if free parking can be provided.
The Environment
· All new developments should have planting to make them green.
· There is scope for enormous improvement to the local environment.
· Phone masts are not good for people’s health. They are built too close to hospitals and schools.
Local Area Agreement
· Will the money available through the proposed Local Area Agreement be spent by the Area Committee, Town Centre or service providers?
Frustration with the Meeting
Jeffe Jeffers intervened in the discussion to say:
· that much of what had been discussed had been going through the past history of what had happened and moaning about things. That’s what we do best.
· The aim of the meeting was to work towards a bright vision for the future.
· If we want to change we have to develop away from moaning.
· There is a new Council. We want them to accept us as equal partners.
· Instead we are going down the same old road.
Councillor Lorna Campbell intervened during the meeting to say that:
· there are enough Forums at which people can sound off.
· local activists should get together and come up with 4/5 things to discuss and have a structured meeting with Councillors.
· some ideas are coming up through the meeting.
· the next meeting should be structured to come up with something tangible.
· local groups should come together to move things forward. We are not moving forward at this meeting.
Councillors’ Responses
Lilian Baylis Site. Councillor Steve Morgan said that the former Lilian Baylis school site had been a major election campaign issue.
· The first thing the new Council did was to stop the proposal to sell the site. The matter has been sent to the Chief Executive to look at what to do with the site – community use and sports, and to report back.
·
However, the
agreement on building the new
· As soon as the option paper is published the local Councillors will send it round to groups for comments.
Swimming Pool. A Councillor said that people in North Lambeth wanted a swimming pool.
Lessons from Lambeth Walk Open Space. Councillor Diana Braithwaite said that Friends of Lambeth Walk Open Space had united the wider area in order to save the space.
· It had been difficult.
· A lot of work had to be put in with Lambeth’s Environment section to get things done.
· Jonathan Meares, the North Lambeth Parks Officer, was very helpful.
· There is a difference between being an activist and a Councillor.
· The issue of long-term revenue funding maintenance of the Open Space is the next major issue.
Next Steps
Kennington , Oval and Vauxhall Forum (KOV)
Maureen, the Chair of Kennington, Oval & Vauxhall Forum, who was chairing the meeting explained about the Forum.
· KOV Forum covers the whole area.
· There were 80 people at the last meeting.
· Board meetings are held in between Forum meetings.
· Few people stood for the Board at the AGM. It is short of members from businesses, residents’ associations and estate groups.
· Tenants association involvement will bring in wider views.
· More involvement is needed from Bishop’s Ward.
· Businesses do not come to the Forum because they are stressed.
· Help can be provided to set up a business forum.
Closing Remarks
In closing the meeting Maureen Johnston:
· said that the next step could be to put forward a paper of ideas to be followed up.
· thanked everyone for attending
· hoped that a Vision document could be discussed in 6 months time.
Report compiled by Sean Creighton
Development & Management Worker
Riverside Community Development Trust
Tel: 020 7820 0555
APPENDIX: ATTENDEES AND SPEAKERS
Note not everyone signed in, and not everyone who spoke indicated their name.
Speakers whose names are known are asterisked*
Albrecht
Rev Angus Aagaard
Betty Agyeiwaa
Jane Akers Ethelred TMO
Tricia Anderson* Oval Partnership
Jane Atkinson
Robert Banks* Councillor
G Barrick
J Began
Tim Boxall
Diana Braithwaite* Councillor
Lorna Campbell* Councillor
PC Emma Cannon* Kennington Police Station
Cathy Coker
Sean Creighton* RCDT
J
Brian Dickens * Sports Action Zone
Gavin Dodsworth* ` Councillor
Rev Michael Faulkner
Muriel Fenner
Brenda Fraser Lighthouse Education Service
Faye Gray Councillor
Glenna Harvey
Liz Hanlon
Maureen Herring
Stephen Hoare*
Kim Holden
John Howard Lambeth Law Centre
James
Jeffe Jeffers* Lady Margaret Hall Settlement
Vincent Jibuike All Nations Centre
Jo
Maureen Johnston* Kennington, Oval & Vauxhall Forum
David Pilchard Jones
Takha Kidane
Mrs Yvonne Lattimore
Veronica Ledwith
Les
PC Bob Locker* Safer Neighbourhoods Prince’s Ward
Mrs Jean F McCarthy
Eamonn McMahon*
Diane May
Christine Meade Good Shepherd Charities for Children
Dr Rajive K Mitra
Rev Richard Moberley
Philip Moore*
Stephen Morgan* Councillor
Alison Muir* Ethelred TMO
Michelle Nadji
George Napthali
Sarah O’Connell*
Maxine Patel
Jane Pilkington
Christine Poynter
Cathy Preece Kennington Association
Somora Rattray Sports Action Zone
John Roberts* Metropolitan Police Authority
Barbara Rogers*
Ram S*
Andrew Sawdon Councillor
Betty Severn
Dina Shard
Celia Stothard
Anna Tapsell*
Mrs J Walsh
Matt Warner
Michael Wilds
Victor Zaal