It is with great sadness that we must record the death last weekend of Fiona Connell, Chair of Loughborough Estate Management Board. A memorial service was held at the Loughborough Centre on Sunday, and the cremation will be at 2 pm on Thursday 29 September at West Norwood Cemetery.
Although Fiona had suffered ill health for many years, her final illness was very sudden, and has been a deep shock to family, friends and colleagues.
Fiona was a superb Chair, having used good humour and skill to navigate through some difficult times. And the Coldharbour Councillors were also honoured to consider her a friend.
Monday, 19 September 2011
Tuesday, 6 September 2011
Saturday, 30 July 2011
Coldharbour Councillor Matt Parr spoke at Wednesday's Council Meeting on the Government's Education Bill:
"There are a couple of bills going through Parliament at the moment.
There is the Localism Bill which seeks to “stop and reverse the long established trend towards ever greater central control of the public sphere.”
And then there is the Education Bill. It seeks to give the Education Secretary (Michael Gove) around 50 new powers. For example he can:
seize land to set up new schools
revise local authority budgets
close schools on a whim
make up his own definition of what early education means
he can tell teachers how they should teach
he can tell local communities what kind of schools they must have
and he can tell children what subjects they should study (personally I rather enjoyed learning Latin but that was in the 1960s (very late) and time may just have moved on.)
So it seems that THIS is the CENTRALISM bill!
It's Local Authorities that are democratically accountable to their communities. Schools aren't, and single issue or special interest groups certainly aren't.
It's Local Government that can balance between competing needs, not simply listen to the loudest.
If the bill is passed, Free Schools can be approved with no requirement for groups setting them up to consult widely with the local population.
And of course there will be lots more Academies.
I didn't support all aspects of the Labour Government's Academies policy, but Labour's academies were focused on truly challenging inner-city areas where they would make the most difference to standards.
80% of our academies were in the most deprived half of the country, just 40% of Gove's are.
But a key risk of Gove's policy is admissions anarchy.
Local admissions forums will be abolished.
There will be no statutory requirement for academies to comply with the Admissions Code.
And the Code itself is being watered down.
It's good that academies' admissions policies are being brought under the Chief Schools' Adjudicator.
But the Adjudicator's powers are sadly being weakened anyway. Which is probably why he has resigned.
All this will increase selection and will be socially divisive.
Cllr Pete Robbins, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, has said that we will work within the new system and that is clearly right.
But we should look at proposals for academies or free schools and judge whether each school plans to operate in the wider interests of all children in the area, not just those that attend the school."
"There are a couple of bills going through Parliament at the moment.
There is the Localism Bill which seeks to “stop and reverse the long established trend towards ever greater central control of the public sphere.”
And then there is the Education Bill. It seeks to give the Education Secretary (Michael Gove) around 50 new powers. For example he can:
seize land to set up new schools
revise local authority budgets
close schools on a whim
make up his own definition of what early education means
he can tell teachers how they should teach
he can tell local communities what kind of schools they must have
and he can tell children what subjects they should study (personally I rather enjoyed learning Latin but that was in the 1960s (very late) and time may just have moved on.)
So it seems that THIS is the CENTRALISM bill!
It's Local Authorities that are democratically accountable to their communities. Schools aren't, and single issue or special interest groups certainly aren't.
It's Local Government that can balance between competing needs, not simply listen to the loudest.
If the bill is passed, Free Schools can be approved with no requirement for groups setting them up to consult widely with the local population.
And of course there will be lots more Academies.
I didn't support all aspects of the Labour Government's Academies policy, but Labour's academies were focused on truly challenging inner-city areas where they would make the most difference to standards.
80% of our academies were in the most deprived half of the country, just 40% of Gove's are.
But a key risk of Gove's policy is admissions anarchy.
Local admissions forums will be abolished.
There will be no statutory requirement for academies to comply with the Admissions Code.
And the Code itself is being watered down.
It's good that academies' admissions policies are being brought under the Chief Schools' Adjudicator.
But the Adjudicator's powers are sadly being weakened anyway. Which is probably why he has resigned.
All this will increase selection and will be socially divisive.
Cllr Pete Robbins, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, has said that we will work within the new system and that is clearly right.
But we should look at proposals for academies or free schools and judge whether each school plans to operate in the wider interests of all children in the area, not just those that attend the school."
Friday, 17 June 2011
Improved Pedestrian Crossing
Following a campaign by Labour Councillors, Lambeth Council are proposing to change the zebra crossing in Coldharbour Lane near Lowth Road to a raised one.
This will slow down the traffic.
If you have any views on this change you can make them known to TAddison@lambeth.gov.uk or on 020 7926 0324.
Friday, 12 March 2010
Windrush is open!
The beautiful new Windrush Square opened on 27th February as planned. 
And a good time was had by all!
Wednesday, 24 February 2010
SHUTTLE BUS CONFIRMED FOR COLDHARBOUR LANE
Following a community campaign led by the Labour Party, Transport for London have confirmed that there will shortly be a shuttle bus running between Camberwell and Brixton, providing bus coverage for the period of closure of Coldharbour Lane.
Big thanks to Veronica Ball and Loughborough Junction Action Group for getting all the signatures on a petition, to all who wrote letters, and to Val Shawcross AM for lobbying at City Hall.
TfL have confirmed they will amend the bus stop notices.
I’ve copied below a map to show the routing the shuttle bus will take, relative to other services in the area. The shuttle will be numbered the 545 and will run between Brixton Station and Camberwell Green (it will operate ‘Not in Service’ on the ‘loop’ on Brixton Hill and Effra Road , and will terminate at Brixton rail and tube station). The 545 runs between 0430 and 0030 daily (including at the weekend), at a frequency of a bus every 12 minutes. They’re using 10.2m single deck, dual door buses to operate the service. The shuttle will operate until the works are concluded and Coldhabour Lane becomes available for normal bus operations.
Big thanks to Veronica Ball and Loughborough Junction Action Group for getting all the signatures on a petition, to all who wrote letters, and to Val Shawcross AM for lobbying at City Hall.
TfL have confirmed they will amend the bus stop notices.
I’ve copied below a map to show the routing the shuttle bus will take, relative to other services in the area. The shuttle will be numbered the 545 and will run between Brixton Station and Camberwell Green (it will operate ‘Not in Service’ on the ‘loop’ on Brixton Hill and Effra Road , and will terminate at Brixton rail and tube station). The 545 runs between 0430 and 0030 daily (including at the weekend), at a frequency of a bus every 12 minutes. They’re using 10.2m single deck, dual door buses to operate the service. The shuttle will operate until the works are concluded and Coldhabour Lane becomes available for normal bus operations.
Monday, 1 February 2010
WINDRUSH SQUARE REOPENING
The new Brixton Central Square will be opened with a series of events during the weekend of 27-28 February. The new square joins together the previous Tate Gardens and Windrush Square as a pedestrianised open space.
Works to the square are part of a wider programme which has seen the gyratory system around St Matthews Church removed and Brixton Hill widened to accommodate more two-way traffic.
Local residents, businesses and organisations were asked to help choose a name for the new square and Windrush Square has emerged as the popular choice. The name commemorates the arrival of the Empire Windrush from Jamaica on 22 June 1948. The ship docked at Tilbury from the Caribbean carrying 492 immigrants and, for many, symbolises the beginnings of modern British multicultural society.
The redevelopment, which follows several years of consultation, has been designed with safety in mind and includes improved lighting, better sightlines and CCTV coverage.
Other design features include:
high quality landscaping and surfacing
sculpted granite seating
cycle stands
wider crossing points for safer access to the square
a new water feature
innovative feature lighting
21 new trees, to add to the existing London plane tree.
More detail about the design can be found at windrush square
The new Brixton Central Square will be opened with a series of events during the weekend of 27-28 February. The new square joins together the previous Tate Gardens and Windrush Square as a pedestrianised open space.
Works to the square are part of a wider programme which has seen the gyratory system around St Matthews Church removed and Brixton Hill widened to accommodate more two-way traffic.
Local residents, businesses and organisations were asked to help choose a name for the new square and Windrush Square has emerged as the popular choice. The name commemorates the arrival of the Empire Windrush from Jamaica on 22 June 1948. The ship docked at Tilbury from the Caribbean carrying 492 immigrants and, for many, symbolises the beginnings of modern British multicultural society.
The redevelopment, which follows several years of consultation, has been designed with safety in mind and includes improved lighting, better sightlines and CCTV coverage.
Other design features include:
high quality landscaping and surfacing
sculpted granite seating
cycle stands
wider crossing points for safer access to the square
a new water feature
innovative feature lighting
21 new trees, to add to the existing London plane tree.
More detail about the design can be found at windrush square
