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Minutes of Annual General Meeting held in St. Michael's Church Hall on May 24th 2002
At the table: Anthony Gladstone-Thompson (Chair), Caroline Hirst (minutes), Simon Doff (Treasurer), Gill Wayne (Neighbourhood Watch), Christopher Chitty (Church Millennium Appeal).
Speakers from the floor: Maggie Wright (Summer Festival), Amanda Cornish (Concert & Open Gardens), Jean Orr (Church Flower Festival), Philip Mason (Insurance), David Tomlinson (CCTV and Somerville Hastings House site), John Davis (Lane leading to allotments), Robin Langton (Adventure Playground), Jo Fletcher (Friends of Slade Gardens), Peter Conradi (Stockwell Website)
There were approximately 50 members of the Residents' Association attending the meeting not including those at the table.
Anthony Gladstone- Thompson opened the meeting by welcoming everyone present.
Anthony said that although this is the 31st year of the organization we try not to look back, but forward.
Conservation, planning, environment, dealing with Lambeth Council, liaising with Neighbourhood Watch and social events are all under the remit of the Association. Even the organization's staunchest critics say how good SPRA is at social events!
Anthony pointed out that copies of the Memorandum of the Association were available. This is the formal document setting out what the Association is about.
Anthony continued by telling the meeting that SPRA is by no means the only group run by local residents for this community. Very committed neighbours run on-going groups ranging from the more serious such as Neighbourhood Watch to the more social Sunday Football in Slade Gardens, whilst other people take on short-term issues, such as monitoring major planning applications like Somerville Hastings House in Stockwell Park Crescent. This means that there are about eighty local people voluntarily giving their time and energy to the enhancement of the community in one way or the other. Then there is the annual Revolving Dinner Party, which raises ten times more money than SPRA does. This is distributed to local charities.
So although this is the AGM of SPRA, it is also an opportunity for other organizations in the area to report to neighbours on progress with the projects going on around them, or even to make us all aware of what is happening locally. SPRA' s own weakest point is the absence of someone to co-ordinate planning applications from the very minor to the major ones and also the very important pursuit of lighting our streets adequately with appropriate street lamps. Anthony appealed for any volunteers to help with any area covered by SPRA, but these two in particular (in vain at present!).
Anthony then asked Maggie Wright to start publicising the Summer Festival by speaking about the Street party to be held on June 22nd in Stockwell Park Crescent.
Street Party, Maggie Wright
Maggie began with an apt quotation looking back at a previous street party and then continued by giving us an idea of the things to expect at our Golden Jubilee Street party. Attractions include: the Pied Piper on stilts, bouncy castle, face painting; Dairy Crest have donated soft drinks; Sophie Dorber has organised a superb B-B-Q for the 22nd but needs helpers for making salads etc.. There will be aperitifs for helpers at 6.00 pm. Musicians will include Errol Lindon on the harmonica, a jazz band from the Royal College of Music and other performers.
Liz Aves and the Type Museum have created detailed flyers and the tickets. Flyers will be posted through everyone's door and tickets will cost ?7.50 for adults and ?3.50 for children. There will also be family tickets ?20.
Prizes from the raffle include a Magnum of Champagne.
As an aside Maggie told the meeting that Sophie had just introduced her to the Landor Road Bakery, which she says produces excellent organic bread!
Any volunteers for the street party please contact Maggie Wright on 7627 5683 or Sophie Dorber on 7733 6811.
Concert, Amanda Cornish: The summer festival will begin on Friday, 21st June with a concert in the Church. Performers will include soloists, flautists, pianists, violinists, cellists and of course the Stockwell Choir. Everyone is welcome with family and friends.
Open Gardens, Amanda Cornish: on Sunday 23rd June there will be 6 local gardens open to which everyone is welcome.
Flower festival, Jean Orr: Jean told us about a new event, the flower festival in the church, which will be held over the festival weekend. Anyone, man, woman or child is asked to contribute a floral something and also a monetary donation towards the Church Appeal. The church with its flower display will be open at the following times:
Friday, 21st June 6.30- 7.30 pm
Saturday, 22nd June 3.00- 4.00 pm
Sunday, 23rd June concurrently with the open gardens
Anyone wishing to be involved in the flower festival please contact Jean Orr on 7733 6771.
Insurance, Philip Mason: Philip feels that the Residents' Association needs to take out Public Liability Insurance to cover all its events and could encompass other groups in the area. For a year ?250.00 would cover up to ?5 million. The meeting agreed that Philip should organize this insurance.
Neighbourhood Watch, Gill Wayne
2002 has seen a major reconfiguration in the Neighbourhood Watch Area (NBW) in that the ward boundaries have changed so that:
P. C. Michael di Salvo based at Kennington Police Station covers Lorn Road, Groveway, and the odd numbered side of Stockwell Park Road whilst
P.C. Simon Hammett, currently based at Cavendish Road but moving to Clapham Police Station in Union Road in mid-June covers Stockwell Park Crescent, St. Michael's Road, St. Martin's Road, Burnley Road and the even numbered side of Stockwell Park Road.
Gill asked the meeting if people would like NBW split into the two separate wards but it was felt that this is not a good idea. The implications of there being two wards and two beat officers under NBW are mixed. Having two police stations involved could be a bonus. However there could also be confusion, particularly in Stockwell Park Road as to which police station should be involved in any incident! The already unreliable crime statistics will become even more unclear. To help keep an idea of what crime levels are and any changes Gill asks that any incident be reported to William and herself on wswayne@bun.com or by popping a note through their door with details such as time, place, crime, people involved and other relevant details.
Present concerns include street crimes such as mugging; vehicle crimes; burglary, drug-related incidents and lack of police visibility on the street. Commander Brian Paddick addressed these and other issues at an open meeting in December and explained that he was aware of the difficulties in Lambeth but from his end there are Home Office restrictions as well as chronic undermanning, although he felt that the officers he had were very courageous and committed to the job of making Lambeth a safer, less crime ridden area in which to live.
Future plans for NBW include the pursuit of CCTV cameras in strategic locations. Although improved street lighting would make a significant difference, as stated by beat officers at an NBW meeting in February 2002, this issue is not part of the NBW brief. During June there is to be a police operation 'Clean Sweep' around Stockwell.
Gill also gave thanks to David Tomlinson for his stalwart work in helping to organize the December meeting and finding out about CCTV installations.
For further information about NBW and its activities please contact William and Gill Wayne on 7274 5775 or wswayne@bun.com.
CCTV, David Tomlinson
David started by reminding us that six years ago this meeting decided not to pursue CCTV in the area, but he disagreed and decided to investigate the possibilities. This he has done recently partly under the umbrella of Neighbourhood Watch. Lambeth was recommended to have 70 permanent cameras at "hot spots" including four in this area. However due to financial constraints and other factors there will in effect only be eight cameras. There are to be two mobile camera sites here: on St. Michael's Road opposite St. Martin's Road and one on St. Michael's Road opposite Stockwell Park Crescent. These should be operational in June 2002. The present camera in St. Michael's Road is a Lambeth one on loan to the police. One of the cameras on Stockwell Park Estate will face down Stockwell Park Road. On the estate the crime is mostly around drug dealers, some of whom bring drugs in from Europe. David said that he is working on an initiative for people to install private CCTV cameras and if anyone is interested in joining him in this please would they contact him on 7733 5846.
Planning, Anthony Gladstone- Thompson
There have been three big planning applications this year with which the Association has been concerned.
The Bellway site, opposite Groveway: this is now history but residents' protests did lead to a scaling down of the development first proposed.
Goldcrest site on the Robsart- Stockwell Park Road corner: some changes are in the offing, i.e. there is a proposal to change four houses into eight maisonettes. Christopher Chitty thought that this had been agreed at a Council Planning Meeting last Monday 20th May, 2002.
Somerville Hastings House: A year ago there was a full-day enquiry about McAlpine's proposals for this site. David Tomlinson, a member of the Stockwell Park Residents Group, told the meeting that in October 2001 Wimpey took over McAlpine. Wimpey are not interested in the proposal for the site. The owner of the site therefore instructed Savills to
put the site up for sale with the plans. To do this planning permission has to be reapplied for, which for one reason and another has been a long-winded process. Now Savills and the owner cannot agree a reserve price before putting the site out to tender. So far there is no planning permission for an identical development to the McAlpine proposal. The Stockwell Park Residents Group feel they have achieved as much as they can at this stage. David has been reassured by Terry Bennett from Lambeth Planning that the group will get a chance to voice their opinion when the next time comes but at present this situation is stagnant.
Environment, John Davis
The Housing Department in Lambeth used to look after the lane leading up to the allotments which Hyde does not do. As a result there is a problem with drug users and ladies of the night in the lane. The care of the lane has now been transferred to Lambeth's Department of Environment as part of the allotments. As a result gates are to be erected into the lane to prevent free access by all and sundry.
Adventure playground, Robin Langton
The Friends of Slade Gardens have donated some trees for the adventure playground and there is to be a nature garden. Other facilities now include a kitchen where the children can cook. Goal posts that can be borrowed (!), basketball nets and a pool table have been donated by Sports for London and Sports for England. The structures are going to be rebuilt in Autumn 2002. The adventure playground is now here to stay.
The Friends of Slade Gardens, Jo Fletcher
There was a good day planting trees with Trees for London and most of these have survived. Other plans for Slade Gardens are on the back burner although there is money to be used as people wish. The four founders of the Friends need new members to help them with any future developments and ideas.
Church and church hall appeal, Christopher Chitty
In 1999 the estimated cost of repairing the church was ?97,500. This sum has now risen to ?133,000. At this stage there is a shortfall of only ?15,000 thanks to generous donations such as ?89,000 from the English Heritage Lottery Fund. There have been other donations from fund raisers such as SPRA (?500) and the Revolving Dinner party (?250). For full details of the amounts raised so far contact Christopher Chitty. Christopher did ask that if anyone wanted to make a donation they fill in a Gift Aid form, which adds 28p to every pound raised for this important work.
The church hall is also due to have some work done on it. Towards this the Stockwell Community fund has given ?5,000 and the Revolving Dinner Party ?1,500. The work will include resurfacing the floor, replacing windows, baby changing facilities, damp proofing and dealing with rot, a false wall being put at the back of the stage to create a storage space and a possible new kitchen.
Newsletter, Anthony Gladstone-Thompson
Anthony pointed out that part of the SPRA remit is communication about what is going on locally. An integral part of this is the biannual newsletter so professionally produced by Philip Mason and Charles de Freitas. Anthony proposed a vote of thanks for their hard work on this part of local life.
Stockwell Web site, Peter Conradi
The Stockwell Web site will have a variety of updates on local events, a register of useful infoffi1ation, and the newsletter.
A person from the floor asked if David Tomlinson's proposed private CCTVs could be linked to the site. This would probably be possible.
Accounts, Simon Doff
Simon asked if there were any questions arising out of the accounts copies of which had been left with agendas. There were none and Martin Kenyon proposed that the accounts be adopted and the meeting agreed.
Stockwell Partnership, Lucy Annan
Unfortunately Lucy was not able to attend the meeting in person to report to us on matters concerning the partnership, but she did send copies of a written report, which in summary said the following:
There is a Masterplan in which the priority is to create a "heart" for Stockwell based around Binfield Road. Consultation on this should begin in Autumn 2002. Another priority area is Wandsworth Road where the emphasis is on improving conditions for pedestrians and cyclists as well as the surrounding areas.
Recently the Stockwell Partnership commissioned a study to analyse how people move around the area and assess their views on crime. The aim is to improve safety by such initiatives as improved street lighting, which Lambeth acknowledges is very poor. To fund this there is a proposal to develop a Private Finance Initiative that would lever in the funds to upgrade all of the borough's lighting. For more details on this call Robin Aitken on 7926 2628. Other improvements may include the introduction of neighbourhood wardens.
The Type Museum has designed the new street nameplates and the third phase of their installation is nearly finished.
The Lambeth YMCA has secured ?850,000 for a Healthy Living Centre for five years. Stockwell Partnership meetings are held about every two to three months and are open to any resident. If you want to have a say in how your local area can be improved the next meeting is on 17th June, 2002 at 7pm in the Stockwell Community Centre behind the station.
Anthony ended the business of the meeting by asking for a mandate for the committee to continue as they are for the coming year. Michael Stott was pleased to agree to this mandate on behalf of the residents, indeed begging the Association to continue to its work.
Michael also proposed a vote of thanks to Anthony and the Committee, which was endorsed by the meeting.
The meeting was closed.
