campaign news
Loampit Vale plans revealed
The plans for the new Leisure Centre to replace Ladywell Pool are finally being made public and prior to submitting planning application the developers ask the public what do they think of the proposal.
Here's the link to the website for the development.
http://www.loampitvale.co.uk/index.html
As you can see by the picture the new centre will be a stand alone building rather than stuck in a windowless court-yard as in the plans for this development produced by the Council last year.
Maybe the work we did to bring the attention of the public to the particular wickedness of those architects' brainwaves helped to bring this dramatic change of design.
On the other hand it could also be that it became a stand alone building so that work on the pool can start earlier and maybe have it finished just before next Council elections. But maybe we're being suspicious.Still, the joy is limited to the provision of natural light and to the fact that the centre will also include a climbing wall.
Apart from that the plan is the same and as swimming goes the Council wants to build an 8 lanes pool of 25 metres plus a teaching pool.As we identified last year, this new centre will be delivered together with thousands of new flats, flats for new residents that will come to live at such convenient distance from this new pool that they will use it heavily.
The picture on the home page of the development's website speaks volumes, you can see the Loampit Vale development (800 flats), the Gateway development (further 800 flats) and you can also see on top of the illustration, to the left of what will be the new bus station the new blocks to be built at Thurston Road (we don't know the details of that development but it is of about the same scale). Other large developments, like the 500 new flats in nearby Conington road, are currently being built in the area.
But it doesn't end here, when last year the Council made its needs' assessment for the new leisure centre it did not only forget to account for these developments at such close vicinity, it also forgot to consider the additional usage derived from the vicinity of the transport interchange for trains, DLR and buses.
Ladywell Pool is well used and often even overcrowded, if it has to be replaced then one would expect the Council to deliver something of value for the whole community, not a lifestyle pool for the new development that cuts out many of the current swimmers as well as many of the potential swimmers of the future because of lack of capacity.
When 4 years ago the Council started promising a grand replacement for Ladywell Pool the Mayor had even declared in writing that they would have looked for reintroducing competitive diving. In fact they only looked for a way that let them get away without having to provide it, together with everything else that's not just the absolute minimum requirements.
Ladywell Pool with its 33 m 6 lanes pool provides exactly the same total length of swimming lanes than what planned at Loampit Vale. On the plus side for the new development the teaching pool will be a bit larger than that of Ladywell Pool and will have a movable floor, on the downside the deep end of the main pool will be a mere 2 m compared to the 3.8 m of Ladywell and this reduction of deep end means that the diving platform that where removed from Ladywell Pool some years ago to never come back again will never be back again in an even more definitive way, and together with the opportunity for diving also other activities only possible in deep water will disappear from Lewisham forever, like the scuba-diving club currently training at Ladywell.
But moving away from swimming this plan is also seriously lacking facilities for dry sports. There will be a gym and 2 fitness suits but much more could have been included, even just to replace a few community sport facilities that have been lost over the past few years and that the Council always maintained that they would have been replaced with this new leisure centre, more specifically there's no sports halls or squash court.
Anyway, what there is now is an opportunity to have your voice heard, the developers want to gather comments from the public prior to submitting the planning application, please use this opportunity to tell them that what they are planning is inadequate and they should provide what this community needs, not less.
...read more...Forest Hill Swimming Pools - a short documentary
Two years ago, as Forest Hill Pools was struggling for survival, the Friends of Forest Hill Pools produced this short documentary, a well crafted and very interesting document on local history as well as history of swimming pools in London.
Directed by James E. Melloy and presented by Steve Grindlay it documents the oldest working swimming pool in London.
The pools closed shortly after this documentary was made and as we upload it on the net we are at the eve of the Mayor of Lewiswham approving of its demolition and replacement with a modern one on the same site.
Private Eye exposes bogus consultation
Run to your local newsagent and get yourself a copy of Private Eye!
Once again the Rotten Boroughs column features a story about Ladywell Pool, this time it's the bogus consultation and the incredible conflict of interest of the consultant hired by Lewisham Council to deliver it.
You read it here first, now read it on Private Eye. ...read more...Bogus Consultation (non) results in front of the Mayor
The Bogus Consultation that Lewisham Council has so kindly performed for the amusement of all the lovers of local politicians' knee-jerk reactions and gimmicks has now finished and a report will go to Mayor and Cabinet next week Wednesday.
As this consultation was completely fake the report of the consultants cannot draw any conclusion, nevertheless officers ask the Mayor to note its (non) results and go ahead with building a replacement for Ladywell at Loampit Vale that is mostly in the interests of the developers of the residential blocks around Lewisham Station and that, unless substantially improved, will be a serious damage to access to sport and active recreation for the local community and the users of Ladywell Pool.
Here's an extract from the document summary for the Mayor to gracefully note:
The main focus for the consultation was the telephone survey which comprised a random sample of 605 residents living within a 2 km radius of the sites. This radius is the generally accepted catchment area for a leisure centre in a heavily populated conurbation. This part of the public consultation constitutes the primary element within the programme given that it was conducted within a statistically robust random sample of local residents. The other five elements of the consultation were all included to ensure that any issues connected with this decision process could be bought to the attention of the Council...
...opinions are very balanced and there is no clear winner...
...of the respondents, two thirds (66%) never use Ladywell and only 9% use it weekly or more often.
In fact, as the 605 respondents were randomly selected within a 2 km radius from either Loampit Vale and Ladywell and at 1.6 km north of Loampit Vale there is Wavelengths pool, by asking people living in Deptford if Ladywell Pool should either close and move neared to them or be demolished and rebuilt on site is anything but a way to understand what the local community thinks should be done.
The fact that the refurbishement of Ladywell was not included as an option on the basis of an advice that is just an hypocritical string of throw away comments makes this consultation a mere insult to the intelligence of the public and an expensive red herring - £20k of public money to hide the serious shortcomings of the proposed replacement for Ladywell and the complacency of this administration that is unable to move officers to produce a result that is in the interest of the local community.
Link to the Mayor and Cabinet report with the summary of the result.
Link to the appendix to the report (the consultantants' full report)
Consultant pulls rabbit out of hat - and it's a turkey
"The two main options were set out in the report to Mayor & Cabinet at their meeting on the 16th May. That is redevelopment of Ladywell to provide a new facility or Loampit Vale . However all the consultation surveys allowed other comments to be made and where these have included a preference for refurbishment, they will be included in the results. Our consultation specialists advise that the number of interviewees who expressed the preference for refurbishment would not have increased if a specific option had been included."
This is an extract (the bolding of part of the text is ours) from the letter that Mr John Wolfenden, the consultant in charge of the consultation on the Ladywell/Loampit option wrote to those that answered to the consultation asking for a third option, namely refurbish Ladywell Pool.
Mr John Wolfenden is an ubiquitous service provider for Lewisham Council, in fact a few months ago, at the last consultation on the pool issue he was introduced to the public as the project manager for the new pool at Loampit Vale.
As hopeful project manager Mr Wolfenden was of course the last person in the world to be put in charge of a consultation that could potentially make a dent in his personal interests. In fact the "demolish Ladywell and rebuild it on site" option proposed by the consultation as the only possible alternative to the pool at Loampit Vale has a substantial degree of volatility both in its funding as well as in its timing.
It is of course the rufurbish Ladywell option that would be a serious setback for Mr Wolfenden.
Again Lewisham Council has shown lack of judgement and has asked him to make the Council's case against the refurbishment.
Click here to read a full specimen letter from Mr Wolfenden with our comments on his considerations.
...read more...The third option
As the request for a third option grows we have produced this questionnaire that gives you everything that the questionnaire of the Council gives you plus the option that the Council so much didn't want to give you.
Download the questionnaire, fill it up and deliver it to either Lewisham Council or their independent consultants.
Click here to download the questionnaire (pdf 1.4Mb).
Once filled send your questionnaire to:
Accent
Chiswick Gate
598-608 Chiswick High Road
London
W4 5BR
...read more...
Can't believe it won't have windows!
As we inform the local community of the poor nature of the proposed Loampit Vale Leisure Centre some struggle to believe that the new pool will not have windows.
Well, this is for you, click here to see the architectural drawings of the centre.
Those that Lewisham Council forgets to show when consulting with the residents about about the proposal.
Public Meeting on Monday 25th June
PUBLIC MEETING
Monday 25th June, 7 to 9 pm
Ladywell Leisure Centre
Please attend this meeting to join in with your community and fight back against the distasteful tactics of the Town Hall Elíte.
ps: Please contact us to have a window poster delivered to you. Alternatively you can download the file here and print your own poster. ...read more...How to anwser the unanswerable consultation
Click here
and you will automatically create an email addressed to the people running the consultation on Ladywell Pool and send one copy to us, the Mayor and the local press.
By sending this email you will be able to express your opinion without having to fill this purposely deceitful online questionnaire that Lewisham Council would like you to fill.Here's a full Q&A page to give you an overview of the issue.
This is the crucial question that you should carefully avoid to answer:
Q26. With the above advantages and disadvantages of both locations in mind which of the two options are you most in favour of?
- Replace the existing Ladywell Leisure Centre with a new facility on the same site
- Build a new leisure centre at Loampit Vale
- No opinion/Don't know
Please note that the questionnaire is designed is such a way that if you don't answer to it you cannot proceed with the rest of the questionnaire.
Can this be answered? No, not at least if you disagree with both option one and two and contrary to option three you do have an opinion to put forward to the Council, our opinion for example is quite clear:
Please handle this questionnaire carefully, it is much safer to express your opinion through the email facility provided above.
Answering to the questionnaire would amount to endorse the appalling plan for the new pool at Loampit Vale that is extremely poor and it is not in the interest of this community.
Read here the full Q&A before proceeding. If you have further doubt, please contact us.
Last Friday 15th June we contacted the people running this awful consultation (link) on behalf of Lewisham Council and asked them to change the wording of this question to allow other opinions to be expressed.
At fist they agreed but told us that they needed to have the Council's agreement.
After 5 minutes the person we spoke with called us back and told us "I didn't call the Council because... we are an independent consultant! I went to read the Mayor and Cabinet papers and can confirm that there are only those two choices."
Cold callers mark the start of bogus consultation
The bogus consultation on the fake Ladywell/Loampit Vale option has officially started.
A Ladywell Pool swimmer and resident of Honor Oak sent us this email:
While at work today I had a telephone call from Lewisham Council about the proposed refurbishment of Ladywell Leisure Centre as opposed to the new development at Loampit Vale. The first question I was asked was whether I lived within 30 minutes walking distance. When I said no, I was told that I did not fit the criteria for the consultation. I live by Honor Oak Park Station so don't actually know exactly how long it would take me to walk to Ladywell Leisure Centre and also have spinal arthritis so walk slowly in any case. None of this was relevant to the canvasser, merely the fact I live more than 30 minutes walk from Ladywell LC precluded me from being involved in any consultation.
I do not understand this question being the first on the list, nor being relevant to the subject in the first place. I am a Lewisham Resident who uses the pool at least twice a week. Surely this means I am exactly the type of person who should be consulted on this issue? It is the type of facility to be redeveloped or built which is important.
I was also told that the redevelopment of Ladywell Leisure Centre would involve the facility being closed for at least two years. This was the opening line in introducing what the canvassing call would be about. Surely stating it would be closed for two years, thus implying there would be no facility at all for this time should those questioned prefer to keep Ladywell, is a very leading way to introduce a canvas poll to a cold call recipient!
After Mayor Bullock ruled out refurbishing Ladywell Pool saying that...he doesn't like the look of the building, Lewisham Council has started consulting asking residents if they want their pool demolished and rebuilt or moved somewhere else.
Remember, it is your right to say that you rather keep Ladywell and having it refurbished. The Council is obliged to register your preference, whether they want it or not.
Don't let the cold callers of the Council bully you in saying one or the other preference.
The Council's plan for the new pool is not good enough and it is not in the interests of the residents to accept it.
The main beneficiaries of the Council's proposal will be the developers building the thousands of new flats around the Town Centre.
A pool of that dimension in that place will effectively be a lifestyle pool for the residents of the new blocks - the developers will be able to sell the new flats at a premium because of a new pool in the development - the current residents and users of Ladywell Pool will loose much of the current access to their community pool.
We have desperately tried to convince Lewisham Council to improve their offer, we have not rejected a new pool to replace Ladywell on any principle but these proposal is in its substance an insult to us all.
Read this paper that we submitted some weeks ago to the Overview and Scrutiny Business Panel of Lewisham Council to know the details of our objection, the broken promises of the Council and their dodgy tactics.
Sadly, the Council only reacted with increased arrogance and has now devised this bogus consultation to attack Ladywell Pool denying altogether the option of refurbishing and retaining Ladywel Pool.
The building is basically sound - well built and has many attractive design features. The architecture of the '60s is currently underrated just as Art Deco was a few years back but later generations will thank us for preserving a fine example of a nearly vanished era. It's handy for the hospital and provides a valuable hydrotherapy resource which just would not work on any more distant site.
In its time Ladywell Baths was a flagship building for the borough attracting visitors (to swim and use the Turkish Bath) from all over South London - and with a little bit of attention to visitor's needs it could do so again.
It is not very energy efficient - but that could be improved, and the energy cost of pulling it down and rebuilding would easily outweigh a few energy losses even over hundreds of years.
The Terms of Reference of the Mayor's advice seems to be severely flawed. They are based on many false premises for example that "there is no separation between the two pools so differential water temperatures cannot be easily achieved" which is patently untrue. And that "the building does not meet current Disability Discrimination Act requirements" which is a clever bit of spin, since it is only technically deficient in a few minor matters like the lack of braille code on the lift's buttons which could be fixed by a home handyman.
Many of the defects that deter more people from making use of the excellent facilities are cultural rather than a matter of money. It's like the public space in a big block of council flats - no one 'owns it' and takes a bit of care. The staff are pretty good but they have been on short term contracts and are under constant pressure from their employer to save money.
All this could be changed with a new more imaginative management contract which encouraged modest investment in cosmetic improvements and rewarded increased visitor numbers. We also propose to establish an active group of friends of Ladywell baths for this community to take ownership of its assets.
The People's Baths could become more of an active and real community centre to improve not just the fitness of local people but their mental wellbeing too.
A bog standard pool in the basement of a block of flats just doesn't do.
...read more...Survey of diving boards
WE are trying to find out how many diving facilities have been lost in the last 25 years.......
If you can think of any London area pools that had diving boards but either now don't have them or are shut altogether could you let us know? We think that London has gone from nearly 50 in the late 70's to 7 now (not all with the diving facilities open to the public)
As on average diving boards can increase the number of young people using the pool for public swim by about 200% this is quite an issue!!
via London Pools Campaign ...read more...Diving pool specs
...public access to diving facilities in the London area has declined by approximately 90%. The stock of diving facilities has declined from over 45 pools with diving facilities to under 10, and many of the pools that have retained the diving facilities now have much more limited public access... ..In pools where diving boards are retained, and are available to the public for reasonable use, there is a greater number of children using the pool. While no research has been carried out to prove this, some individual cases will indicate the truth of this statement.
In Wales, the closure of the diving facilities at the Aberdare Pool has led to a 60% fall in revenue, and a change in the user profile. The people who have stopped going to the pool are the younger users, the children and youths, the very people that everyone is trying to get into pools. Its not that the pool is closed, the swimming area remains, it is the diving area and the water flumes that are not available. In Deptford, a disability swimming group is finding that teenagers are dropping out as the leisure pool that they use is ‘boring’, there is nothing interesting to do. Some of the children that have dropped out are interested in diving, but there are no public facilities now available locally. If there were they would use them. At present however they don’t do anything...
The above paragraph comes for the web-page of the Great Britain Diving Federation.
We all know that in London diving has become a sport at risk of extinction and whilst for some unexplicable reason Ladywell doesn't have its diving boards anymore one would have reasonably hoped that Lewisham Council would have taken the opportunity to re-introduce diving in the Borough with the new pool planned at Loampit Vale.
It was Mayor Bullock that 3 years ago, announcing the project for a new pool to replace Ladywell had written to all of us:
"we will look at incorporating a competition diving feature alongside the pools"
Instead look they did not. As the shameful Leisure Needs Analysis of Lewisham Council advised them:
"Provision of specialist deep water for diving is not considered to be a need"
It was a professional consultant to say that. You cannot possibly know better than them!
...read more...Stupid Consultation on the way!
Yesterday Mayor Bullock decided to spend £ 20k on a consultation to ask residents whether they want a new pool at Loampit Vale or Ladywell Pool to be demolished and rebuilt!
He also said that he doesn't want to consider refurbishing Ladywell because...he doesn't like it.
He rejected our request to commission a study to determine the pros and cons of the possible choices and allow the public to make an informed decision.
He agreed instead on the officers' request of reaffirming his intention of replacing the pool at Ladywell with Loampit Vale despite agreeing on spending £20k on a consultation about it.
So, they will be asking people to say whether they prefer to have a new pool at Ladywell or Loampit Vale, people will not be given the option to say if they want Ladywell Pool refurbished instead and there will not be objective information to decide what's best.
Any talk of upgrading the offer of the new pool to reach an offer adequate to the population served rather than a 'lifestyle' pool for the residents of the new blocks planned for the Town Centre is also carefully kept out of this "consultation" or any discussion at Council.
Yesterday Mayor Bullock also rejected all of the points submitted to him by the Area Forum but didn't give any explanation as to why. Only the last point of the list was not rejected straightaway, he said that he needs more time to think about it.
As we plan the details of our response to this provocation we have prepared new window posters. Good quality prints are on their way, in the meantime you can print your own, say it to Bullock with pride: I'm not stupid!
...read more...Open letter to Mayor Bullock
Dear Steve,
I just finished reading through item 3 and item 4 of the Mayor and Cabinet Agenda of 16th May and I have now decided to write you this open letter.
On 20th March the Area Forum, in accordance to the Constitution, asked you to express on some specific matters, now your officers advise you to only "note" the residents' views and proceed to item 4 for an account on the matter raised.
This is all the more unacceptable as item 4 contains various distortions and omissions, I here want to refer to the complete lack of any reference to the Leisure Needs Analysis (LNA) but that is by no mean the only problem of that report, only the grossest.
With the LNA last year the Council determined what to build at Loampit Vale to replace Ladywell Leisure Centre in a few years time - as this new report omits to mention this fact it now looks as the Council has decided to invest millions of pounds into a Sport and Leisure Centre without a study to determine what's needed to be built.
The Area Forum specifically asks you to recognize the poor quality of the LNA and to commission a fresh study on those matters.
If you disagree with the Area Forum's request you're of course free to reject it, but to 'note' and move on to a re-written history would only display contempt for the people of Lewisham and their constitutional rights.
Regards
Max Calò
For more details on the shortcomings of the Leisure Needs Assessment read our written submission to Overview and Scrutiny Business Panel of 26th March 2007 (link).
...read more...Extrarordinary Mayor and Cabinet Meeting for Leisure
Extraordinary measures for extraordinary times.
Tonight's Mayor and Cabinet meeting's Order of Business (link) lists as item No 7 Leisure provision: Loampit Vale & Ladywell - it also specifies that a report on the matter is not available yet.
But don't start to hold your breath now, fresh information tells us that the item has now been postponed to a special Mayor and Cabinet meeting provisionally arranged to take place on Wednesday 16th May at 3 pm.
As you may remember this item was placed on the Mayor's Agenda by the Area Forum for Lewisham Central, Lee Green and Blackheath on 20th March 2007 and should have been discussed at last Mayor and Cabinet meeting. That didn't take place after the Council's solicitor explained the Mayor that:
"it was inappropriate for a report on the Area Forum request to be considered prior to my response on behalf of the Council to a threat of judicial review proceedings"but also added that the report will be considered "at the earliest opportunity"
And that could now be on Wednesday 16th May. ...read more...
Area Forum on Monday 30th April
The Area Forum for Ladywell, Brockley and Crofton Park will take place this coming Monday 30th April at St Andrew's Church, corner of Brockley Road and Wickham Road. The meeting starts at 7.30 pm to end by 9.30 pm.
At least one proposal for the Mayor's Agenda will be put forward by Ladywell resident and fellow campaigner Julian Stone, here's the text:
"That the Area Forum power to submit Mayoral Agenda items be refined, publicised and then taken forward so 2008 sees these important democractic powers in full use throughout the year."
At this meeting every resident of Ladywell, Brockley and Crofton Park can submit items for inclusion in the Mayor and Cabinet Agenda. If you wish to do so, please email here your proposal.
It is not obligatory to email the proposal beforehand, you can still submit them at the meeting, but if you plan to do so them please remember to be there ahead of the meeting and to speak with the Chair of the meeting about including it in the meeting's Agenda. ...read more...Constitutional Petition rolls on
You can now sign online the petition in defence of the Constitutional right of the Area Forums to place items on the Mayor and Cabinet Agenda.
This petition was initially designed to run for a few days only, we have now come to realise that beyond this specific denial of constitutional rights that Lewisham Council is bringing forward in these days there is a much bigger picture and this realisation gives us a clear duty.
This petition will stay open for a few weeks to allow us a platform to inform and empower the people of Lewisham.
What has always been a prerogative of a very small group of people, that of producing all proposals on everything that the Council does, is in fact available to everyone and has been so for quite a while, only that we were not told.
Each resident of this Borough can write items of the Mayor and Cabinet Agenda. Provided that we convince our neighbours at the Area Forum that what we say makes sense these proposals will find their way on the Mayor's table and he'll have to decide on them. That's the law.
Sign this petition! Tell them that you now know what they didn't tell you.
You can also download a petition sheet to print and collect signatures of friends, family, collegues... If you do so then please contact us to arrange a delivery of the signatures.
...read more...Lewisham Council lied to all of us for years
For years Lewisham Council has carried out a systematic campaign of misinformation resulting in the complete denial of the Constitutional power given to each Area Forum of placing items on the Mayor and Cabinet Agenda. Evidence of this is provided by Lewisham Council's website . The page about Area Forums tells us that:
"The forums are not decision-making bodies, but are a way to ensure that the Council and other local service providers can talk and listen to the views of local people."
This is not true! Our Constitution gives the Area Forum one power that is similar to that of the Council but we have always been told the opposite. We have been dis-empowered by misinformation.
Our Constitution gives us the power to place items under the Mayor's nose for him to approve and if he doesn't want to do so he has to write down in detail why he doesn't want to and this at times can be a tricky thing to do, at least without building an inverted pyramid of piffle, and to do that in writing can be dangerous.
Could this be the reason why the Council is not allowing the item approved by the Area Forum for Lewisham Central, Lee Green and Blackheath on 20th March 2007 to be written down on tonight's Mayor and Cabinet Agenda and has replaced it with an oral update from the Head of Law?
Here's from the Constitution of the London Borough of Lewisham (page 120):
"Who can put items on the agenda for a meeting of the Executive"
(a) The Mayor
(b) Any member of the Executive
.
.
.
(f) Area forums
Now this power has been used and an item has been placed on the Mayor's Agenda. Only that now that the Agenda has been published the item is just not there. Somebody took it away.
This is unacceptable and tonight we'll be there at the Mayor and Cabinet meeting, to hear what the Mayor will hear from his solicitor. Possibly something that will please him and buy him some time. We'll take note and fight on.
...read more...Save Your Constitutional Rights!
"We the undersigned petition the Mayor to uphold the constitutional right granted to the Area Forum to place items on his Agenda"
Yet again, we are campaigning on the streets of Lewisham. This time we are using this visual implement to express in an effective way the situation that we face whilst dealing with the Bullock-led administration of Lewisham Council.
Thomas Paine, the political theorist behind the US constitution, set out the case for checks and balances on power - even and especially power given by an electoral mandate. The idea is that you need to give a lot of power to get things done but that you need a complex system of balances to stop that power being abused.
We have seen increasingly since their introduction that there are precious few checks and balances on the power of English elected mayors, at least between elections. This is why a few concerned citizens have to resort to judicial review to challenge a blatant abuse of the mayor's power.
So when we do find a less drastic mechanism - albeit an obscure and underutilised one - it is a matter of national importance if it is ignored or denied.
That is what has happened with the decision of the Area Forum to bring a matter of public concern for consideration by the Mayor and his advisors (link).
If the Mayor is allowed to utterly disregard the will of the people as expressed by the Area Forum by dismissing the issue raised without serious consideration then he will be flouting the British constitution and seriously undermining local democracy.
The argument that seems to coming out of the Town Hall is "so what, if there is a Constitution and it might prove difficult for us at one time or another? We run this game, we make the rules and if we don't like them, we ignore them".
A major test of democracy is being failed.
This is why with today we'll be campaigning around a toilet seat, to avoid that our rights are flushed away.
Sign our petition.
This morning we launch our petition outside the Town Hall, you may bump into us during this weekend as we collect signatures around the Town Centre.
Please contact us if you want to help collecting signatures around this issue.
The petition ends on Wednesday 18th April when we'll try to deliver our toilet seat to the Mayor of Lewisham.
GAGGED!!!
The Agenda for Mayor and Cabinet meeting of next Wednesday 18th April should have included an item about the new Leisure Centre.
In fact on 20th March the residents present at the Area Forum for Lewisham Central, Lee Green and Blackheath used the prerogative given to them by the Constitution of the London Borough of Lewisham to place items in the Mayor and Cabinet Agenda and expressed their democratic right by voting in favour of this unambiguous text.
The Mayor and Cabinet Agenda has now been published and is available to download from this link.
The Order of Business of the Agenda includes this item:
Matter referred by the Blackheath, Lee Green & Lewisham Central Area Forum - Oral Update by the Head of Law
That's all that the Agenda says about it.
There are no pages associated, there is no written report on the subject matter and the agenda does not even include the text voted by the Area Forum for the Mayor to consider.
The people of Lewisham has been gagged and a constitutional right is being denied!
This is an unacceptable behaviour. We asked an explanation to Lewisham Council but haven't received one yet.
This does not end here.
Update on Thursday 12th April:The Mayor is asked to agree that:
- the consultation on the Loampit Vale development carried out in October 2006 was inadequate and a new consultation should be undertaken;
- the Leisure Needs Assessment that underpinned the project for the new Leisure Centre has serious shortcomings and does not provide an adequate platform for the planning of the leisure facilities in the Borough;
- a new leisure needs assessment should be commissioned and that such assessment should consider a realistic forecast of increase in population, including the new developments at the Town Centre that are forecast by the change of UDP. It should also include those parts of the neighbouring London Borough of Greenwich falling into the catchment area as well as paying attention to the impact of the transport interchange;
- any detailed project for the new leisure centre be based on this new leisure needs assessment;
- a study of the impact of the re-location of the Leisure Centre from Ladywell to Loampit Vale should be carried out;
- a survey to assess the structural condition of the Ladywell Leisure Centre be conducted by an expert surveyor;
- the refurbishment of Ladywell Pool be costed and put to consultation as an option;
- the new leisure centre should not lose facilities compared to Ladywell Leisure Centre including a pool tank of equivalent or greater size than at Ladywell and the provision of an adequate deep end of the pool for the maintenance of scuba-diving training and the eventual re-introduction of competitive diving in the Borough;
The Order of Business of the Mayor's Agenda available on the Council's website has now changed to include the words Loampit Vale development.
This small change allows the public that may read the document to have a guess at what the matter referred to might be.
A welcome improvement in the right direction but still a long way away from the inclusion of the text voted by the Area Forum on 20th March.
Anything short than that would only be a breach of the Constitution of the London Borough of Lewisham.
...read more...
Area Forum sets Agenda Item for Mayor and Cabinet
At the Area Forum for Lewisham Central, Lee Green and Blackheath that took place yesterday Tuesday 20th March 2007 the residents attending the meeting took advantage of a little known prerogative granted to Area Forums by the Constitution of the London Borough of Lewisham, the right to place an item in the agenda of the Executive.
As far as we know this was also the first time ever that an Area Forum has made use of this prerogative.
The residents present at the Area Forum voted in favour of including the following in the Agenda for the next Mayor and Cabinet meeting:
The Mayor is asked to agree that:
- the consultation on the Loampit Vale development carried out in October 2006 was inadequate and a new consultation should be undertaken;
- the Leisure Needs Assessment that underpinned the project for the new Leisure Centre has serious shortcomings and does not provide an adequate platform for the planning of the leisure facilities in the Borough;
- a new leisure needs assessment should be commissioned and that such assessment should consider a realistic forecast of increase in population, including the new developments at the Town Centre that are forecast by the change of UDP. It should also include those parts of the neighbouring London Borough of Greenwich falling into the catchment area as well as paying attention to the impact of the transport interchange;
- any detailed project for the new leisure centre be based on this new leisure needs assessment;
- a study of the impact of the re-location of the Leisure Centre from Ladywell to Loampit Vale should be carried out;
- a survey to assess the structural condition of the Ladywell Leisure Centre be conducted by an expert surveyor;
- the refurbishment of Ladywell Pool be costed and put to consultation as an option;
- the new leisure centre should not lose facilities compared to Ladywell Leisure Centre including a pool tank of equivalent or greater size than at Ladywell and the provision of an adequate deep end of the pool for the maintenance of scuba-diving training and the eventual re-introduction of competitive diving in the Borough;
But the debate wasn't uncontroversial. One member of the public warned the assembly that they might be about to carry an illegal act and asked officers to consider stopping the vote from happening but fortunately this attempt of stopping democracy from expressing itself was unsuccessful.
The vote was carried and with 22 votes for and 1 vote against, the motion was approved.
It was later revealed that the lonesome opponent was none other that a former Labour Councillor and Leader of Lewisham Council between 1995 and 1998.
Is there anything better than a unanimous vote?
...read more...Judicial Review Looms for shy Council
From The News Shopper:
A council spokesman said: "The council does not accept it acted unlawfully in the way it conducted the survey regarding Loampit Vale.
"It will defend itself robustly if legal action is attempted which suggests otherwise."
Really? How?
Really? How?
Why didn't you do it last week?
Why didn't you do it last week?
These are the kind of questions that jump to one's mind reading this Council's spokesman's statement because it seems that the only way to have them answer to our questions is to drag them to court.
In their statement they even specify that the Council "will defend itself robustly if legal action is attempted which suggests otherwise."
It would have surely been better if at last week's Mayor and Cabinet meeting, when we spoke to explain the serious shortcomings of their job, the officers responsible for this shamble had decided to turn up and answer (or at least listen) to what we had to say.
In fact all of the top officers involved in the Mayor's decision to pursue the current plan for the Loampit Vale development (that include the new leisure centre) were absent from last week's Mayor and Cabinet meeting.
The Head of Regeneration, the officer that advises the Mayor on building schemes, was not there.
The Head of Community, the officer that advises the Mayor on Sport and Sport Facilities, was not there.
The Head of Law, the officer that advises the Mayor of the lawfulness of his decisions, was not there.
The Chief Executive, the top officer of the Council that oversees all activity of the London Borough of Lewisham, was not there.
Normally all of these officers would be present at Mayor and Cabinet meetings, they must be there to advise the Mayor, that's their job. Occasionally one of them may not be present and would be represented by a more junior officer, but for all of them to be absent at once is an extraordinary coincidence.
The fact that they all decided not to be there when we were due to speak and produce substantiated evidence of malpractice and poor advice to the Mayor is a coincidence that is very difficult to believe.
But maybe it wasn't a coincidence, maybe the absences have other explanations, shyness for example.
Whatever the case the result was that last week the Mayor did not have the advice that he needed to take his decision and the issues that we raised didn't get the answers that they deserved.
We simply cannot let this happen. This decision was not about a private development and their swimming pool, this is our leisure centre, to be built on land that the London Borough of Lewisham is selling indeed, but with the intention to provide housing as well as the replacement to the Ladywell Leisure Centre.
If to get this awfully poor plan changed we have to drag the Council to Court, well that will have to be it.
It will only have been because after finding major flaws in the works of the LBL and asking some serious questions we have been denied the answers.
...read more...Mayor approves without positive advice
Yesterday Wednesday 14th March, at the Mayor and Cabinet meeting, we explained Steve Bullock, the Mayor of Lewisham, the reasons why he should reconsider the specifications of the new pool that the Coucil wants to build to replace the Ladywell Leisure Centre.
In spite of the serious arguments clearly put in front on him and in spite of being unable to find any officers' advice telling him that we were wrong he decided to ignore our advice and approved the papers put in front of him.
Our argument was two-fold:
- the Leisure Needs assessment and the estimate of population growth used to calculate the size of the pool contain world-class errors and should be re-avaluated to consider the impact of various elements that had been left out, most noticeably the redevelopment of the Town Centre that will bring thousands of new residents on the doorstep of this new Leisure Centre and;
- the consultation for the new pool carried out by Lewisham Council was unlawful because it only presented the public with some of the options available. We also informed the Mayor that the consultation report that he had noted on 10th January contained a very serious misrepresentation as all of the consultation questionnaires submitted online did not make it into his report. Had they been included into the calculation the result would have been decidedly different.
The Mayor asked the officer from the legal department to advise him on this but unfortunately for him she was lost for words. Another officer reminded him that he had approved those papers on 10th January. That was a strong argument for Bullock.
On the specification of the pool the Mayor also needn't much convincing. Nobody could say anything about our argument so he pleaded with his officers "can anybody confirm that 25 m is the standard measure for Sports England?" he yelled. "Yes Mr Mayor" said one voice from the Community department "I can confirm that 25 m is the standard measure according to Sports England".
We had not argued on the length of the pool but that was enough for Bullock. He gave the nod.
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to save-localpools.
SIGN THIS PETITION
"Local Swimming Baths across England are facing closure because Local Authorities are cutting back funding. Local Swimming baths are essential to local Communities and local schools. In some areas Local Swimming Pools are the only Local Amenity that communities have. We want the Prime Minister to Save Our Local swimming Pools!"
Here in Lewisham the Bullock-led lot is again up to much the same scheme of swindling us of our swimming pool.
Only that they take their time, but they haven't given up on it. Once their quasi-private awful pool in a block of flats is built they'll get their hands on Ladywell and plaster it of cheap flats. They call it regeneration.
We are fighting back. Stay tuned. There'll soon be some action. Today sign this petition.
...read more...Bring Back Democracy
The first public meeting of the campaign that wants to replace the current system of the Directly Elected Executive Mayor with the alternative system of the Leader of the Council elected by the Council and accountable to it will take place at the Ladywell Leisure Centre on Monday 15th January at 8 pm. ...read more...
Mayor Bullock please say NO!
This Wednesday 10th January 2007 the Mayor of Lewisham will receive a report asking him to:
"- note the results of the public consultation.
- agree to continue the programme with a view to providing a new pool andleisure centre on the Loampit Vale site with a target opening date in 2010."
Unfortunately what he's asked to agree upon is the very sad plan that was presented to the public and the objections to said sadness are downplayed in the usual crafty way.
Proceeding with this plan would result in a lost opportunity to replace Ladywell with something of value and will strike a permanent damage to Sport and Active Recreation in our Borough.
We appeal to mayor Bullock to reject this plan and we ask you to support him in taking the brave step of saying 'no'.
Send an email of support to the Mayor from the link at the bottom of this page.In this series of short videos Max goes through the document and explains its shortcomings.
Chapter 1 - Overview of the document
What's so wrong with this document, why Mayor Bullock could seriously consider rejecting it and why you should support him to enable him to do so.
Chapter 2 - The appalling Consultation
In spite of only 200 answers received and an insulting set of questions that saw many people refusing to answer much of it officers see this shamble as "evidence of overwhelming support".
Chapter 3 - Poor Pool Specifications
A pool with no windows that is inferior to Ladywell. Why?
Chapter 4 - The Missing Sports Hall
What happened to the sports courts that were supposed to be there? They are there at paragraph 5.11 and they have disappeared without trace or eplanation at paragraph 5.19.
Chapter 5 - Final Appeal
Asking the Mayor to doubt his professional advisers and you to support him in taking a brave step and send the project back to the drawing board.
Here's links to some documents relevant to this post:
Report on Loampit Vale Pool to go to the Mayor this Wednesday.
Here's the plan of the development that includes the new pool.
Here's our critique of the botched Leisure Needs Analysis (links to the botched analysis itself from the page).
Our original post on the Consultation (more links from there).
Time to Celebrate
Victory Party!
Tonight Tuesday 5th December 2006
at the Rising Sun Pub,
120 Loampit Vale, SE13 7SN
8pm to 1am
Ladywell Pool Saved!
The Mayor of Lewisham Steve Bullock decided to keep Ladywell Pool open until the forecast replacement to be built at Lewisham Centre is actually delivered.
More details to follow soon. ...read more...
Mayor takes final decision on Ladywell Pool this Wednesday
This Wednesday 8th November the Mayor of Lewisham will decide whether to proceed with the controversial plan to close Ladywell Pool next September or to switch to the Lewisham Bridge Primary site.
Report Title Review of alternative sites for new school
Date: 8 November 2006
1 Summary
1.1 This report describes the further work carried out by officers and advisors, following the decision of the Mayor and Cabinet on September 27th 2006 to look further at the feasibility of an alternative site for the new secondary school. It sets out the risks and the advantages and disadvantages of the options and concludes that the arguments are finely balanced between staying with the existing preferred site (the Ladywell Leisure Centre in 2009) and moving to the Lewisham Bridge site option.
2 Purpose
2.1 To advise the Mayor and Cabinet of the further work carried out to evaluate the feasibility of additional sites for the new secondary school and the officer evaluation of the options. The report evaluates the educational, financial and site-related advantages and disadvantages of each of the options.
3 Recommendations
The Mayor is asked to agree:
Either
3.1 That the existing preferred site for the new school of the Ladywell Leisure Centre be confirmed,
Or
3.2 That Lewisham Bridge Primary School site be agreed as the new proposed location for the new secondary school in the BSF programme and
3.2.1 That officers begin the consultation process and, if appropriate, to secure all necessary statutory approvals for the new school and its federative arrangements.
3.2.2 That officers seek dispensation from the Secretary of State not to have to proceed with the competition requirements of the Education Act 2005 to allow minimal disruption to the BSF programme
All related documents are available to download from the Council's website from this link.
The Mayor and Cabinet meeting takes place on Wednesday 8th November at 6 pm at Catford Town Hall.
...read more...