Early Sunday morning and @BrockwellLido was bloody closed – again. After the run of five closures during the balmy days of June, I thought Fusion had finally understood how to manage an outdoor swimming pool.
Only yesterday and I was commenting to the lovely Lido Peter how the clear, blue waters of Lake Brockwell have returned, just in time for the season close at the end of September. Sunday morning however had the familiar “chemical imbalance” given as the reason for the lack of aquatic action.
Bugger.
To be fair to Fusion, all members have been offered a 10% discount on the joining fee for the 2011 season. Cynics might say that this serves only as an incentive to sign up yet again. What’s the point if you’re buggering off @BrockwellLido continues to suffer the same fate next summer?
Having dragged my backside down to Brockwell Park early on Sunday morning, the inconvenience for me was more of a personal and emotional disappointment.
Ah yes – about that pre-election promise of “free swimming for every resident…”
In the absence of any @BrockwellLido action, I returned down Railton Road and found myself staring into the abyss of Brixton Rec.
Blimey.
The queue at reception finally cleared after five minutes – this was 9am on a Sunday morning, after all. Ahead of me to be served was a young mother with three small kids. She asked for an adult swimming ticket, and three passes for the free swimming for her children.
“Sorry,” said the GLL receptionist. “Free swimming is no longer available.” A price was quoted, which didn’t leave much change out of a £20 note. Not surprisingly the young mother had to explain to her three small kids that swimming wasn’t going to happen today.
I paid my £3.50, and then walked past the petition on the wall set up by the Brixton Rec Users Group. It calls for @LambethLabour to reconsider its decision to slash free swimming for under 16′s and over 60′s. The election pledge of “free swimming for every resident” has long since been sacrificed.
I’m told that just over 2,000 signatures have so far been collected by local leisure users – quite an achievement. One thousand more are still required for the Rec Users Group to force the next Full Council meeting to actually take the petition seriously and debate the matter.
That Lambeth LifePower to the People twaddle of a headline is looking more false as the @LambethLabour cuts start to kick in.
With the disappointment of Brockwell behind me, and now ready to experience the delights of Brixton Rec on a Sunday morning, I showered and slipped into the pool. Five minutes later and I was finished.
It was simply impossible to undertake any form of exercise in a public pool that is rammed bumper to bumper with swimmers early on a Sunday morning. That’s what happens when the “success story” of leisure in Lambeth leads to only one pool that is actually open in the entire borough.
I’ll be back at the waters of Lake Brockwell come Monday morning. If the “chemical imbalance” is still lingering, I’ll have to admit defeat and accept that the buggers have won.
I have so far kept away from #brixvill, the Thursday night pop up events taking place at Granville ArcadeBrixton Village, and organised by the splendid folk of @spacemkrs. Nothing sinister – simply work commitments have clogged up the summer schedule.
But with an Evening Standard praise piece, and the clock counting down ever faster towards the Great Escape, I thought it was about time I took in the weekly highlight of Thursday Lates that has got so many locals buzzing about the bottom up regeneration of Brixton.
The basic idea is to extend the highly successful spacemakers pop up shop formula to a late night opening once a week. Since the start of the year, Brixton Village has had new life breathed into the empty units. Spacemakers has encouraged local businesses and event organisers to work alongside the more traditional traders.
With an art angle added into many of these ideas, it makes sense to open up the Arcade into the evening once a week, and to encourage diners to try out the many new restaurants. Weekly open meetings take place on a Tuesday across the road at the Dogstar. Anyone with an idea or theme for a future Thursday Late is invited to share his or her thoughts.
It all sounds incredibly altruistic, not to mention slightly idealistic -but it also works rather well. Thursday Lates has seen the coming together of old school Brixton, affluent young professionals and the Bright Yong Hipsters, all working and learning together to create something that is uniquely Brixton in outlook.
The old school Brixton boys provide the bass, the affluent young professionals pontificate over the fine food (in a picky, but appreciative manner.) The Bright Young Hipsters simply hang around and add a creative edge.
Meanwhile, @AnnaJCowen and I simply wandered up and down the diverse aisles, looking slightly out of place, but still not feeling left out. I like to think that there is some of the old school Brixton, the affluent young professionals and the Bright Young Hipsters contained within our collective coupling psyche.
The very existence of spacemakers at Brixton Village is a short-term proposition by choice. The business model (if there even is one) is directly related to the direction that the economy may, or may not take, over the coming months.
But by breathing life back into the area, spacemakers has helped to stimulate Brixton Market at a time when our friends from @lambeth_council seem intent on giving the traders a bloody kick in the teeth.
The decision to relocate the permanenttemporary Streatham Ice Rink to Pope’s Road Car Park could well wipe out all of the economic goodwill that spacemakers has helped to put in place.
A public meeting to keep the temporary ice pad out of the market is being held at 7pm next Tuesday at the nearby Karibu. If any sense of the co-operation and community that can be found at Thursday Lates is present at the meeting, then Pope’s Road just may well have a future in supporting the traders, once spacemakers feel that it is time to move out.
It’s surprising how much detail you can actually find by doing some little digging around yourself. Having established yesterday that the planning application for nine flats for Kelly’s along Clap’ham Road had been thrown out last month, the continued on / off saga of the proposed bonkers 5am booze and live bands licence took a further twist on Tuesday afternoon.
The truth lies somewhere in the middle – the bonkers 5am licence hasn’t been withdrawn as yet, but it is the understanding of the officers within the Licensing Department @lambeth_council that this will happen very soon.
So hurrah again.
I think.
I managed to speak with Ross Hill, a council officer working within Licensing. He recognised the confusion, as I re-told the story of how the local police believe that the licence has been withdrawn, whereas the local councillors think that it is still active.
Ross confirmed that this is all rumour, but he mentioned that the understanding within the Licensing Department is that the proposals will be formally withdrawn before they go to Committee.
The allocation of item agendas has already been filled for the next meeting on 31st August, which leaves the 8th September as the available remaining for the licence to be withdrawn ahead of the next meeting.
Ross confirmed that over forty representations against the licence have already been received. The sponsor of the licence has been able to view these, and it is believed that this evidence, along with a stern contribution from the local police, has led to a re-think.
Ah yes – about that re-think…
Kelly’s currently has a weekend licence until 2am. Although this is still rather late for a residential area, it is far more acceptable than the crazy nineteen hours of all day boozing that was planned.
I think most locals could live with a weekend only 2am licence, and then 11pm during weekdays. The conclusion from my chat with Ross however is that a new licence variation is being considered. By implication, this would suggest something slightly later than 2am is being lined up.
Not acceptable.
Ross also mentioned that the building was sold two years ago, along with the existing licence. He wasn’t able to name who the new owner is, but he said that they currently run other nightclubs along the busy commercial stretch of Wandsworth Road.
It seems our #hyperlocal little South London residential community is being confused by the owner for the night time economy patch elsewhere in the borough. Kelly’s should be a community pub, and not a nightclub for outsiders.
So yeah, it’s still very much a case of watch this space. Or even that space on the front door of Kelly’s where all formal licence variations have to be posted. If you objected to the licence then you should receive an email from the Licensing Department, *if* the original application is withdrawn.
Otherwise it looks like being Room 8 at Lambeth Town Hall on the evening of 8th September, to let the Licensing Committee know that a drinking den of a nightclub is clearly not acceptable within our residential community.
How to solve the problem that is Kelly’s along the Clap’ham Road?
*deep, deep sigh*
Consultation with the local community and cooperation to find a working solution for the site would be a good start.
Some digging around on the @lambeth_council planning database confirms that the yuppie flats application was actually rejected last month. Which makes the current bonkers 5am alcohol and live music licence for the site become all the more clearer now.
The timeline seems to suggest that the original plan was to convert the site into nine luxury flats, with a bar below. This was a separate application to the recent request that proposes to introduce nineteen hours a day of boozing into my local community.
I was broadly supportive of the flats development, as were many other locals living around here. The site has been officially empty for two summers now, crumbling around the edges and currently being squatted. It needs a long-term future.
The current owner (still trying to track down – any pointers?) now clearly wants a get rich quick scheme put in place. With the planning application refused, the timeline continued last month with the appearance of the illegal car wash.
This is no laughing matter – with no consultation with local residents, and with no contact with the council for a change of business premises, a Porto car wash appeared overnight within the garage of Kelly’s.
This was the most unsuccessful car wash in South London. It attracted zero customers. It did attract however friends of friends of friends, who all gathered outside the carwash and sat around on the street drinking beer all day.
With some help from our local councillors, the car wash was soon closed down. The handmade (and misspelled) sign still remains, as do the padlocks put in place by the Porto’s running the operation, who return periodically and dump off unknown packages.
Which brings us up to date with the Kelly’s timeline of mismanagement. No yuppie flats, no Porto car wash but a highly offensive licensing application for boozing and live music until five in the morning.
It is clear that the owner wants to make a fast buck out of the building, but not by bringing along the support of the local community on board. The consensus during our door knocking at the weekend is that locals want to find a use for the site. We would be happy for a local pub to return with a properly managed and socially responsible licence.
The complete lack of consultation with local people has given us zero confidence in Kelly’s actually being able to contribute anything to the local community. The twenty-four hour licensing laws were proposed to try an implement a relaxed continental cafe culture. What is currently planned at Kelly’s is the exact opposite of this policy. This is not a delicatessen but a drinking den.
The deadline has now passed for anyone wanting to comment on the application ahead of the meeting of the Lambeth Council Licensing Committee on 31st August. @janeinlondon / E Hants and @JackHopkins_Lab have very kindly set up an online petition to continue with the campaign.
This is a very really #hyperlocal issue, and it is genuinely a case of every extra signature gained will send out the message of mistrust that we have locally about the proposed licence.
This is a community, and not a nightclub site. Let’s keep it that way.
Streatham Hub – it’s the Lambeth planning hot potato that no one wants to take hold of. Especially so Tesco, the corporate paymaster.
The latest twist in the decade long running farce to build a new ice rink and leisure centre in SW16 took another spin this week. With @lambeth_council cabinet planning to place the permanenttemporary ice pad down the A23 at Pope’s Road, resistance has already started to organise.
The fine Friends of Brixton Market [disclosure: I am a member, along with a rather decent @LambethLabour councillor] voted on Tuesday to formally oppose the planning application for Pope’s Road.
With the council owned car park having been closed since December 2009 because of “structural difficulties,” traders have reported a loss of up to 30% in earnings. As one representative stated at the recent cabinet meeting, customers buy in bulk in Brixton. With nowhere to park, the trade moves out of the area.
There is a feeling of a double whammy by @lambeth-council, straight in the face of the Friends of Brixton Market. Not allowing customers to use cars to shop in the area is bad enough, but trade is then shifted out elsewhere – probably to Streatham, and probably towards the corporate paymaster that is Tesco, once the new store is built.
Meanwhile, back in SW16 and the hockey players and skaters of Streatham don’t want to make the reverse journey down to Brixton. Never the twain shall meet, or so it seems.
The decision by the Friends of Brixton Market to directly take on @lambeth_council is a repeat all over again of the highly successful campaign put in place by the Hands Off Our Common group.
Alarmed that a public space was going to be the permanenttemporary place for the ice pad, the group mobilised and campaigned, forcing cabinet to make an embarrassing U-turn. A similar show of resistance from local people will cause considerable embarrassment to a cabinet that has pretty much run out of ideas when it comes to the Streatham Question.
It is unlikely that any of the other twelve sites will now be considered. Brixton was the best of a bad bunch. Brockwell Park and Clap’ham Common will meet the same show of resistance from the respective Friends groups.
The tragedy of the situation is that local communities are being pitted against one another by a cabinet that has the answer sitting right on it’s SW16 doorstep. The possible site along Streatham High Road remains vacant. All that it requires is for the corporate paymaster to put its fingers in the pie and cough up a bit more.
With a demand for 40% more retail space from the original planning application, it seems that the you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours arrangement that has come to characterise Streatham Hub, isn’t quite as equal as both bed fellows like to portray.
How to solve a problem like Streatham Hub? Preferably by keeping local politicians and corporate paymasters out of the whole process. That was pretty much the conclusion come the end of @ChukaUmunna‘s first People’s Question Time, held in the Labour MP’s Streatham constituency on Thursday evening.
The Hub is a headline writer’s gift that keeps on giving. At any one time over the past ten years, stories of mismanagement have surfaced out of SW16.
The latest entry log states that @lambeth_council has now admitted that “plans will not move forward” for the temporary swimming pool in Streatham, and Tesco stating that “Lambeth Council has compromised in choosing Pope’s Road as a site for the temporary ice rink.”
Cripes.
The Hub saga story so far…
In a classic you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours scenario, the corporate superstore was granted planning permission in Streatham, in return for building a new leisure centre and a new ice rink. So far, so good.
The trouble is that this was almost ten years ago. The scheme is filled with as much uncertainty a decade later as it was back in the day. The timeline up until 2010 has included Tesco holding all the cards and threatening to walk away unless an increased floor space was granted, the closure (and failure to re-open) of Streatham Leisure Centre and the continued search for a temporary ice rink in Streatham.
Ah yes – about that StreathamBrixton temporary ice rink. It is the “continuity of ice” clause in the original planning document that led the good @ChukaUmunna to hold this current crisis meeting.
Essentially Tesco has to provide an ice pad at all times in Streatham. This was fine with the original agreement, which involved constructing the brand new rink on the Hub site, and then knocking down the old barn.
The corporate paymaster became impatient however, and wanted to bulldoze the site with one great big swing of the wrecking ball. Meanwhile @lambeth_council was left looking rather silly, searching around for a suitable site in an urban borough to place a whopping great big temporary ice pad.
The packed assembly hall at Dunraven School on Thursday night was unanimous in rejecting @lambeth_council’s current plan to shift Streatham Ice Rink down the A23 to Pope’s Road Car Park in Brixton.
“This is a highly emotive issue,” admitted @ChukaUmunna at the start of the People’s Question Time. “There is a perception in the community that residents have been held in the dark over recent months.”
Sandra Fryer, representing the council as the Divisional Director of Strategies and Partnerships stated:
“We have been working with Tesco since March on the location. Streatham Common had processing issues [eh?] – it would have taken us longer than we wanted to place the rink here. There were also technical issues. It wasn’t clear where the power source would come from.”
You would have hoped that before rubber-stamping the Streatham Common site back in March, cabinet would have had the foresight to address basic issues such as where the power for the ice pad was going to come from.
A solution is available, slightly closer to home than the Pope’s Road compromise.
“We also looked at a site on Streatham High Road,” admitted Fryer. “Tesco have a budget however, and weren’t able to progress with this option.”
And so it seems that Pope’s Road became the preferred location on account of @lambeth_council already owning the site. Two birds can be killed with one stone, by demolishing the structurally unsafe council car park, and then plonking the ice pad there instead.
The fear for the Streatham skating and hockey community however is that Pope’s Road becomes permanent, and the south end of the borough loses one of it’s most historic and cultural sites of interest forever.
Having skipped the previous Streatham Hub public meeting, it was decent for the corporate paymaster to turn up this time. Mike Kissman, the UK Corporate Affairs Manager for Tesco, told the meeting:
“Running an ice rink is not something that we have a great deal of experience in.”
Best learn on the job then, Mr Corporate Affairs Man. Tesco will be financing the temporary pad and is expected to either manage the facility itself, or put in place a management team that is capable of the job.
Questions then followed from the floor.
“The plans for Streatham Hub have chopped and changed so much, what guarantees can you give this meeting that this won’t happen again?”
Apt timing for the fashionably late arrival of Councillor Florence Nosegbe, the Cabinet Member for Culture, Sport and the Olympics:
“We own Pope’s Road – we can control the process. It will be easier for the council to move forward.”
Tesco’s Kissman added:
“Time is the issue for Tesco.”
You can bet it is. Every week that Tesco hasn’t got a superstore open in Streatham is a week where the competitors along the High Road are rubbing their hands and lining their tills. Plus it’s, ahem, a little late in the day for Tesco to be complaining about the Hub timeline after a decade of dithering.
A speaker from the floor came back to the location of the temporary rink, and picked up on the point why Pope’s Road has been chosen, rather than the High Road location:
“With annual profits recently revealed, plus with the planned increased of 20,000 extra floor space at Streatham, Tesco is not exactly light of wallet right now. Why can’t the company pay to finance the staging of the temporary rink along the High Road?”
This question achieved the loudest applause of the evening, if not the most adequate of answers:
“We have been through difficult times,” said Kissman. “We are still here. We are an organisation, and not a local authority.”
Which all rather begs the question who is actually controlling leisure in Lambeth? The local authority that is reliant upon the private capital to finance the schemes, or the private capital paymaster that won’t be accountable?
“We had a show of hands this week. If Streatham Ice Rink moves to Pope’s Road then my club will fold. This then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy – there is no demand for ice hockey in Streatham, and so there is no need to build a rink back in SW16.”
“Why won’t you work with other local councils?” asked another question. “If Lambeth Council actually spoke to the likes of the neighbouring Merton Council, you might actually find a site closer to home.”
Other observations from the floor centred on the Brixton location, with accusations that “the Lambeth cabinet is not visible in Streatham. Everything has to be Brixton based.”
The meeting then moved on to discuss dimensions – dimensions of the temporary ice pad and dimensions of possible parking space at Pope’s Road.
Councillor Nosegbe confirmed that the temporary pad will be 56m x 26m in dimension – a size smaller than a standard hockey pad, and a space that is unsuitable for figure skating, as the mother of a Streatham skater pointed out.
The @LambethLabour Councillor also confirmed that there is the “possibility” of parking for twenty spaces at Pope’s Road. The average hockey team benches twenty-five players.
Finally we came on to the Elephant in the Streatham meeting road – swimming.
Whereas ice time had a continuity clause in the Hub deal, swimming has historically not been treated to this privilege. This is probably because @lambeth_council wasn’t expecting to close Streatham Leisure Centre late last year, without an alternative plan in place.
Councillor Nosegbe said:
“I recognise that there has been an under-investment in the pool. We don’t have the funds for a temporary arrangement in Streatham. We won’t be going forward with this.”
A final question pondered: “What will happen at the cabinet meeting on Monday night?”
The implication within the question was whether or not Councillor Nosegbe would report back to her @LambethLabour friends on the strength of feeling against the Pope’s Road compromise that is currently being felt within Streatham.
The reality of course is that the @LambethLabour cabinet will have a friendly chit chat on Monday evening, and the temporary ice pad will be agreed to be put in place at Pope’s Road in under half an hour after the meeting has commenced.
The real question however is will the Pope’s Road rink ever actually open, and more importantly, will @ChukaUmunna still be holding his People’s Question Time in five, ten years time, still pondering the Streatham Hub question?
“This report sets out the progress since March and in particular recommends that the temporary ice rink to be located on the former car park site at Pope’s Road, Brixton.”
And so it would seem that the permanenttemporary ice pad at Streatham is making its way down Brixton Hill, and positioning itself on the derelict Pope’s Road car park after all. Hurrah for the continuity of ice clause, pity the poor sods trying to earn a living at Brixton Market.
The Pope’s Road compromise is probably the best outcome out of a no win situation. With all the power to run leisure in Streatham long since sold away to a corporate superstore, @LambethLabour has been left to *sell* the idea of the compromise to the Little People.
The relief will be that the temporary ice rink won’t be plonked on Streatham Common, as seemed to be the non-negotiable stance taken by cabinet, only as recently as March of this year.
The fear for the Streatham skaters and hockey players is that Pope’s Road will become permanent. Tesco will have no reason to finance a permanent pad back up in SW16, and a historic cultural facility will be lost in Streatham forever.
Pope’s Road makes ‘strategic sense’ [urgh] in being next door to Brixton Rec. Don’t rule out the bonkers idea of changing facilities for skaters and hockey players being placed in some shoebox of a corner tucked away at the back of the Rec.
Some issues still remain over the Pope’s Road rink. In true Rotten Borough style, concerns have been raised in the cabinet paper regarding, um, car-parking provision at the former car park.
See what they have done there?
“Linked to the above would be the ability for users, particularly families to be able to access some dedicated parking, pick up and drop off points and to access taxis to ensure safe and convenient access for users.”
Doh!
One step forward, two steps back.
Shifting a major part of the local economy in Streatham down to Brixton needn’t have been necessary if @LambethLabour had actually had the balls to stand up to Tesco in the first place. The original agreement was for Tesco to knock down the old SW16 barn first, build the brand new ice and leisure facilities, and only then on completion, planning permission would be granted for the superstore.
But Tesco soon took control of the timeline and changed the priority to retail, rather than community leisure facilities. This of course fits in perfectly with the private provision of all services that is favoured by the right wing @LambethLabour cabinet. The end result is the transference of power in Streatham from the local authority to a major corporate power.
But wait – what of the temporary dry sport [urgh] and *shhh* swimming facilities back up in Streatham? These too were promised back in March, as part of the political bending over backwards by @LambethLabour to keep Tesco on board.
The cabinet paper for July appears to mothball the idea of swimming returning to Streatham in a temporary capacity, stating:
“The March Cabinet report gave details of the provision a 25m x 12m six lane temporary swimming pool and associated facilities. The report also highlighted the considerable footprint such a pool and its housing would require. The only available sites in the Streatham area for such a facility is identical to those identified for the temporary ice rink and present all of the same difficulties and issues.
In addition there is no budget provision for the cost of purchase and or lease for such a facility and the net cost to the council would still require a subsidy of at least £14 per user. No further action has been taken pending a decision from Cabinet on if a further report detailing the financial implications is required and on whether and when public consultation should commence.”
This appears to be yet another classic @LambethLabour approach to totally overlooking the provision of swimming in the Rotten Borough.
Meanwhile, Tesco has the corporate cheek (and power) to demand a further increased floor space in return for financing the scheme. An extra 40% was rubber stamped by @LambethLabour to save face back in March. Now it seems that a further 20,000 square foot is required if the scheme is to progress:
“Tesco has developed proposals for an additional 20,000 sq ft of retail floor space to be contained within the approved store in the form of a mezzanine [urgh] floor. It is envisaged that this additional floor space will provide space for non-food retail goods.”
All of the above bumbling has led to the Streatham Hub timeline being delayed once again. The back slapping that took place at cabinet back in March concluded with a pledge for the new ice rink, swimming pool and dry sports facilities to be completed by Q4 2012.
The cabinet paper for July lets slip that Q3 2013 is now the current target. And so yeah – Streatham will remain without any sports facilities as the Olympics takes pride of place across town in 2012.
Cabinet will be rubber stamp the proposals at 7pm on 26th July in Room 8. Speaking rights for *ahem* citizens are extremely limited. If you want to have your say on the continued confusion surrounding Streatham Hub, then a better bet is to attend that nice @ChukaUmunna‘s People’s Question Time, taking place on 22nd July at Dunraven School.
