The Rushey Green Local Assembly
Monday 25 October 2010
7-9pm
Rooms 1 and 2 Civic Suite
Catford Road SE6 4RU
Minutes of the Meeting
Welcome, introduction & format for the evening
Cllr John Muldoon (Chair) welcomed everybody and introduced the agenda
for the evening which was in the following format:
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Our Lewisham, Our Say
Break for refreshments
Rushey Green timebank
Assembly Update
Mayor’s Fund feedback
Community Updates
Our Lewisham, Our Say
Lewisham Council senior officers Liz Dart and Peter Gadson presented a
Power-point presentation outlining the Our Lewisham, Our Say consultation
exercise which was currently taking place throughout the Borough. The
Council is facing reductions of around £60 million over the next 3 years and
will need to fundamentally change the way in which it delivers services in the
future. The reasons why the Council needed to make savings were explained
at the meeting and Liz and Steve responded to a number of concerns from
residents.
There were questions concerning the future impact on spending and in
particular the proposed redevelopment of Catford Town Centre. Liz and Peter
were hopeful that the budget proposals will not have an adverse effect on the
Catford Town Centre redevelopment. However, there are likely to be further
cuts in 2011/12, 2012/13 and subsequent years and the impact on capital
programmes is unclear at present. The Council remains committed to the
redevelopment programme and will aim to secure maximum funding from
central government sources.
There were further questions asked about what the Council was doing to
improve efficiency savings as a means of reducing overall expenditure. Liz
and Peter explained that the Council had already made £27 million efficiency
savings in previous financial years and will continue to do so in the future.
There was a freeze in Council tax for the next 2 years and officers salaries
has also been frozen over the same period. Other potential savings are also
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being considered. The Our Lewisham, Our Say team will continue to consult
residents on their views and this will be a regular item at future meetings.
There was a final question concerning right to buy receipts as a potential
revenue stream. Peter answered this specific point. He explained that this
formed part of the Housing Revenue account which is ring fenced for Council
housing purposes only. In the past the Council achieved significant sums
through the sale of public sector properties which could be used to build or
improve other properties. However, there were fewer than 10 properties sold
in 2009/10 and the previous government had substantially reduced the
discounts. There were currently no plans by the coalition government to
change the discount rules and it is not expected that revenue will be
increased in the coming years.
The coordination group (chaired by Cllr Muldoon) had previously met and
decided that cleaning the borough, adult social care and supporting children
and families were important issues for Rushey Green. The meeting then
broke into groups to discuss these issues, results of which were sent to the
Mayor for consideration at the next Mayor and Cabinet meeting on 17
November.
Break for refreshments
Cllr Muldoon reconvened the meeting at 8:20pm following the refreshment
break. He began by expressing his disappointment at the lack of progress
relating to the no- cycling signs which were agreed at a previous assembly
meeting. It was also noted that a number of areas in Lewisham had ‘Welcome
signs’, most recently at Hither Green. Cllr Muldoon said that he would like to
see similar signs erected in Rushey Green and he will be asking council
officers to investigate this further.
The formal business of the meeting restarted with a presentation from the
Rushey Green timebank.
Rushey Green timebank
Sue Burbidge spoke briefly about the Rushey Green timebank community
gardens project. One of the purposes is to promote the benefits to health both
physically and mentally that can be gained from both the growing and planting
of vegetables and fruit. The plan to develop the land for community use has
been granted in principle by site Landowners, Leathersellers via Colfes
School. Groundwork London have visited the site and have expressed an
interest in establishing a partnership agreement. A site meeting has been
arranged with the Facilities Manager from Colfes on Friday 26 November
2010 to discuss boundaries and formal agreements.
Assembly Update
John O’Reilly was introduced to the meeting as the new local assemblies
coordinator for the Rushey Green ward. John began by thanking the
community, in particular the ward councillors and members of the coordination
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group, for making him feel welcome since taking up the post in August 2010.
In addition, John will manage the neighbouring wards of Ladywell and
Lewisham Central.
John’s immediate task will be reviewing the local ward priorities, a process
which was started by his predecessor Jason Fleming. Jason had gathered
approximately 80 priority review forms outlining resident’s top 5 priorities for
the assembly to address over the next 2 years. In addition, a number of local
organisations have been contacted for their views and these include the
Rushey Green timebank, Irish Centre and Lewisham Bowls Club. The
overwhelming view of the survey was that there needed to be much wider
priorities that addressed a number of issues under each heading. This would
enable the assembly to develop a robust action plan and decide who can best
contribute to the problem solving process. The new priorities for Rushey
Green were proposed as follows:
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Improving the built environment
Traffic
activities for younger people
anti-social behaviour and crime
activities for older people
A discussion of the new priorities followed and a vote was taken at the
meeting. It was decided by 22 votes to 6 to adopt the 5 new priorities listed
above. These will be in place for a period of 2 years.
Mayor’s Fund reports
In 2009 the Rushey Green assembly voted to give £50,000 of the Mayor’s
Fund to a number of local community organisations. These have been invited
back to identify how the money has been spent.
Lewisham Youth Village( Mohammed Ruhamani)
Muhammed reported that the Mayors Fund allocation of £10,000 assisted a
number of young people aged between 13 and 19 years of age. The services
are available Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays evenings and are supported
by Baseline. These included children excluded from main stream secondary
schools and this was useful in their emotional and physical development.
Activities include indoor/outdoor sports and arts and crafts activities.
Muhammed thanked all the organisations concerned and looked forward to
working closely with the assembly in the future.
Artefacts Edutainment (Yvonne Philip)
Yvonne thanked the assembly for the award of £5,000 which was used to
provide activities for young people over the easter holidays and summer half
term. The Irish Centre in Davenport Road was used to provide many of these
activities and the organisation also works closely with the AHOY centre.
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Artefacts has an excellent track record of providing activities for BME groups
and works with a variety of partners to achieve its objectives. For example,
they undertake a number of intergenerational activities in the Downham and
Whitefoot wards.
Youth Aid (Mary Dalyrmple)
Mary reported on the success of the young leaders opportunity which
received £3,500 of Mayors Funding. The organisation has been established
since 1992 with the motto of ‘learning by growing and doing’. Youth Aid which
is located in the Rushey Green area, are able to offer 10 fully funded (£350
per young person per year) places on the Young Leaders Programme. As a
result of attending the programme the young people will develop improved
motivational skills, engage in volunteering and by doing so increase their
choices for employment education or training.
Foundation for Life (Gifford Sutherland and Denzle Howell)
£10,000 was awarded for the purposes of an interactive empowerment
programme for young people who reside in the Rushey Green ward.
An invitation was extended to Gifford and Denzle which they accepted via email. They did not attend the assembly and no apology was received on their
behalf. Cllr Muldoon expressed disappointment on behalf of the assembly at
their non attendance at the meeting.
Community Updates
Cllr Peggy Fitzsimmons reported the success of the partnership to reduce the
number of street drinkers in the Rushey Green area. The Council has been
working closely with the Safer Neighbourhood Team and the NHS to identify
workable solutions, and all parties are congratulated for their continued
support for this initiative.
Cllr Fitzsimmons also spoke about the Positive Ageing Council which will
shortly be launched. This properly constituted body will be able to forward
issues of interest to older people directly to the Mayor and Cabinet. Residents
who are 60 years and over will be eligible to take part and there will be 2
representatives from each ward. This is an exciting new initiative aimed at
promoting the interests of older people in the Borough. Any interested people
were invited to speak with Cllr Fitzsimmons after the meeting.
There were 2 other community updates received as follows:
London and Quadrant is now the largest social landlord in the ward having
acquired a number of properties from Lewisham Council. They will be carrying
out a community audit and look forward to working with the assembly in the
future. Further information can be found by visiting www.lqgroup.org.uk
The Rushey Green timebank have recently celebrated their 10th anniversary
and have a drop in service on the last Wednesday of every month (between
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2pm and 4pm) in addition to a poetry group and parents and toddlers group.
Please visit www.rusheygreentimebank.org.uk for further information.
Closing comments and next steps
Cllr Muldoon (Chair) concluding proceedings by thanking all the presenters for
giving up their time to attend the meeting, in particular the organisations who
provided feedback on how the Mayors Fund was spent last year.
The next meeting of the Rushey Green assembly will take place on Saturday
15 January 2011 in Rooms 1 and 2 of the Civic Suite. The meeting will start at
1pm and finish no later than 3pm. There will be a report on the outcome of the
‘Our Lewisham, Our Say’ consultation exercise and the impact this will have
on the Councils budgetary position. There will also be further information
about the Mayor’s Fund for 2010/11. An invitation will be sent to all addresses
in the Rushey Green ward approximately seven working days prior to the
meeting.
There being no other business the meeting was closed shortly after 9pm
No declarations of interest were made at the meeting
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