Dulwich Road, black and white, again one with no tail.

More details here

Want to know what the house down the road sold for? Spot trends etc? 

Useful web site "House Prices" based on Land Registry data that has just been made available to the public.

Every prospective candidate standing in the May 6th local elections was asked the following:

The campaign for 20 mph speed limits for residential roads is supported by over 100 organisations in the public and voluntary sector. These include the Association of Directors of Public Health, Sustainable Development Commission, National Children’s Bureau, ROSPA, National Audit Office, National Heart Forum, Play England, Transport for London, BMA Public Health Committee and UK Public Health Commission. They recognise that this initiative has huge benefits to health and quality for life as well as road danger reduction, with only minimal effect of journey times.

The Dept for Transport has recently changed its guidelines and now advises that 20 mph should become the speed limit for all residential streets and other roads with high numbers of pedestrians and cyclists. It references the success achieved by doing so on an authority-wide basis without necessarily introducing physical calming.

Will you therefore be supporting the immediate implementation of such an initiative throughout the borough?

Their answers are as follows:

Herne Hill Ward (Lambeth):

Hamish Badenock (Con):

Anna Box (Con):

Carol Boucher (Lab):

Jim Dickson (Lab):

Leanne (Lab):

Jonathan Price (Lib Dem):

Bettie Morton (Con):

George Graham (Green): YES

John Hare (Green): YES

Louise Jordan (Green): YES

Thurlow Park Ward (Lambeth)

Irene Kim (Con):

John Whelan (Con):

Clare Whelan (Con)

Jeremy Baker (Lib Dem):

Shane Collins (Green):

Village Ward (Southwark):

David Bradbury (Con):

Michael Mitchell (Con):

Toby Eckersley (Con):

Robin Crookshank Hilton (Lib Dem):

John Hedley (Lib Dem):

Herne Hill Ward	Party	Vote
Hamish Badenock	Con
Anna Box	Con
Carol Boucher	Lab
Jim Dickson	Lab
Leanne	Lab
Jonathan Price	Lib Dem
Bettie Morton	Con
George Graham	Green
John Hare	Green
Louise Jordan	Green
Thurlow Park Ward
Irene Kim	Con
John Whelan	Con
Clare Whelan	Con
Jeremy Baker	Lib Dem
Shane Collins	Green
Village Ward (Southwark)
David Bradbury	Con
Michael Mitchell	Con

Meeting date: 25th June

Where? Herne Hill Baptist Church, Half Moon Lane (corner of Winterbrook Road).

When? 6.55 p.m.

Agenda:

EDUCATION

Executive member for children and young people from Lambeth, Paul McGlone on primary school places in Herne Hill. Representatives from Southwark admissions panel and education department - see below for some background comment.

VISION FOR HERNE HILL

The Environment Working Group on the plans for Railton Road and other projects.
The Dulwich Supplementary Planning Document and its guidance for Herne Hill.

SOAPBOX

Address the meeting yourself for 3 minutes on any issue.
Book your slot by emailing info@hernehillforum.org.uk

Herne Hill Schools - the numbers simply don't add up.

 

By Andrew Neather - local resident and journalist

 

The email wasn't a great surprise but it was still a big relief. We had expected our youngest daughter to get into Rosendale Primary School, like her two older siblings. But when we heard for sure last month, it felt a lot better than when we got our first school-place offer four years ago, for her elder sister. Then, we were first offered a place at a troubled Southwark school a long walk from our home: we were in despair.

 

This spring has seen similar dramas for parents across London: a third of the capital's parents failed to secure their first-preference choice of primary school. Southwark as a whole is better than average, with 80 per cent getting their first preference, and Lambeth worse -just over 55 per cent of Lambeth parents got their first choice.

And there is evidence that in Herne Hill, straddling both boroughs, the situation may be tougher. Southwark Council leader Nick Stanton concedes that "some schools in the Dulwich area are heavily over-subscribed".

Lambeth's councillor Paul McGlone, cabinet member for children and young people, admits that the problem of school places in the borough is "particularly acute".

 

Herne Hill parents are trapped in part by a problem that's generic to the capital: there simply aren't enough places in good schools. Herne Hill is affected by the chronic shortage of places in Lambeth especially. That is partly due to its then Labour council's disastrous policy of closing schools in1998-2002, amid chaotic financial mismanagement. But many local parents also feel that it's down to a distinct lack of sympathy on the part of some policy makers for our supposedly more affluent corner of the boroughs.

 

The scramble for places is clear at my children's school, Rosendale. Up until a few years ago, it was a pretty average kind of place. Yet over the past six years, a combination of better management and the changing demographic make-up of the area has driven up standards, culminating in a glowing Ofsted report last year. Both this year and last, it was the most over-subscribed primary school in Lambeth.

 

Unhappy with your school place offer? In the recent past, some Southwark and Lambeth councillors have dismissed parents' concerns as some sort of middle-class prejudice, suggesting that they should be happy for their children to attend distant, struggling schools. That's a piece of monstrous condescension, implying as it does that only middle-class parents care about getting their children into good schools. It's also an excuse for councils' own inability to drive up standards.

But now Lambeth's response to the places shortage is causing great anger among Rosendale parents. The council is demanding an extra class for this autumn's intake at the school - four-form entry in a school that already has more than 620 pupils. Parents are justifiably worried that such expansion will put at risk its success; all the research shows that on average schools do better when they stay small.

 

Lambeth bureaucrats, Rosendale's management and some governors have argued piously that it's wrong to deny children the opportunity to attend Rosendale. Yet this is crazy logic: it should be perfectly clear that nowhere near every child in south Lambeth can ever attend the school. And if, by expanding the school to an unmanageable size, we end up lowering standards, what kind of favours does that do for the children already there - above all those from poorer and minority ethnic backgrounds?

 

This desperate plan will not make the borough's schools more equal, nor is that its aim: it is simply a way of getting the council out of the hole it dug itself by closing schools. Now the borough is belatedly trying to build new primary school space at Kingswood School (Norwood) and Julian's School (Streatham), meantime plugging the gap by temporarily expanding Rosendale next school year, along with three other primaries in Streatham and Norwood.

But that will not solve Herne Hill's problem - least of all when other schools in the area either refuse to expand (such as St Jude's - despite its discriminatory pro-churchgoers admissions policy) or else face real space constraints to doing so (Dulwich Infants).

 

The bigger problem here stems from central government policy. New Labour has always made a lot of noise about parental choice. In Herne Hill, we can see just what a farce that is: after more than 12 years of such policies, we don't have any more choice than before, arguably even less. And at secondary level in both Lambeth and Southwark, there simply aren't enough places, full stop. Both boroughs are net exporters of secondary pupils; Lambeth has places for just 13 out of every 20 11 year-olds.

 

Lambeth's strategy is in line with the Government's policy of wanting successful schools to expand while failing ones are shut down. It's part of the Tories' plans for schools too. Yet to date the idea has been a flop. Few headteachers want to expand in this way - why take on extra work and risk their school's success? - and so the total number of places at successful schools has changed little. Until we get policies that unashamedly aim for more places and for schools with higher academic standards, places like Herne Hill are going to end up getting short changed.

The Peoples Vote

Vote on where the best Tea and Coffee is served in Herne Hill

Vote here

Who makes the best Tea in Herne Hill?

Who makes the best Coffee in Herne Hill?

Dear exhibitor

Welcome to your page on the local Herne Hill Forum web site. You are the co-editor of the page. That means the creation, update and maintenance on it is down to you. The site we use is based on Webjam - a relatively simple system that allows you to build web pages using simple building blocks "Lego" style. The module that contains this text is the Rich text module. It has a simnple built in editor that allow you to change Font and size. You can add in pictures by selecting the picture icon on the edit bar, video or links to other sites and pages. 

You can add or remove columns by clicking on the X next to the vertical dotted line.

To edit your page select the "edit site" option on the top left hand side. The menus change to show all the different modules available to you to add to your page. Play around as you wish.

If you get stuck then please e-mail us and we will help you out as best we can.

If you get a good response to your page then let us all know. We are keen to promote any business and service in the area.

 

Have fun and welcome on board!

 

The Herne Hill Forum Team.

 

Saturday, October 31^st

  1-5pm      The Hunt

5.30pm    Prize giving

6-9pm      Party in the tunnel - live music, street art, refreshments and more

 

THE HUNT

See your local area in an entirely different light. Go on a Hunt through Herne Hill with a specially produced map as your guide. At each intriguing location there’ll be clues to help you win a great prize. Returning hunters will also give us their ideas about how to improve Herne Hill and put these to local service providers. The best ideas will win even more prizes.

The Hunt is for everybody - adults and children. Individuals or groups, on foot or on bikes, are welcome. You can collect/return your map ANY TIME between 1-5pm  from the tunnel under HH station. But if you miss the prize giving your prize will go to someone else… Sorry.

Hunt time: 1hour 40 approx (on foot); 1hour (by bike)

 

FOCUS ON HERNE HILL

What does Herne Hill mean to you? Grab your camera, send us a picture that captures any aspect of our community and your photos could be part of an exciting street art project – and even win a prize. The best images will be part of an outdoor projection on the evening. Email your entries (as jpegs) to expo@hernehillforum.org.uk by October 30th, or contact a volunteer on the day (with your usb stick or download cable). 

PASSAGES/THE TUNNEL

Local artists gethan&myles, working with Herne Hill residents, have transformed the pedestrian tunnel under the station. In the past month 274 tunnel users were asked one simple question: ‘Where would you love to be right now?' Their answers became a cascade of painted words that brightens the length of the walkway – and reminds us all of the diverse aspirations, ages and backgrounds of the local community. The artwork is meant to be walked on; and, during the party, will hopefully be danced on. 

 

Have a fun day – and make a difference

 

ANY QUESTIONS?

FEEL FREE TO EMAIL US ON info@hernehillforum.org.uk

 

Welcome to the Herne Hill Forum e-Newsletter

Lots happening in the area, things to do, changes taking place.

Herne Hill Expo  - 31st October -

Centred on Herne Hill Station Pedestrian tunnel. Exciting and very different Art project, a hunt around the local area, prizes and live music. 

The Expo is a major event and is being organised by local residents and traders. We would really appreciate any help you could give either leading up to the day or on the day. It is going to be fun, different and exciting. Please drop us a line to info@hernehillforum.org.uk if you could offer some help.

Full details on the web site here.

Herne Hill Forum AGM

Its that time again. November 10th sees our AGM meeting taking place in the Baptist Church Hall, Half Moon Lane. So much has been going on since the last meeting - action on late night anti-social behaviour issues, schools places debate hotting up and as ever, the constant traffic in our streets amongst many other issues.

We will also be electing the officers and committee at the meeting. Positions for Chair, vice chair, secretary and treasurer as well as committee members will be voted on. The success of the Forum over the years is simply down to volunteers from the residents and traders stepping forwards and offering to do something, however small to help. Please don't just wonder if your knowledge and experience could help in any way, it would! Make your voice heard and volunteer to be part of the committee or one of the officers, after all, it looks great on the C.V. Just e-mail info@hernehillforum.org.uk for details.

Full details of the agenda and issues to be covered are on the web site click here.

Herne Hill Forum web site

The web site has played a major part in recording the issues of anti-social behaviour in the area. The local agencies such as the police and licensing team have been using the information posted to contribute to the overall plan to tackle the problems that have cropped up. It is really important that we keep on posting issues, however trivial they seem. Without the weight of evidence the authorities cannot take as effective action as they could if they had chapter and verse on the issues. So, get posting. The key telephone numbers that you need to know to report any issue are on the Forum web site - click here.

There are now sections on the web site relating to the new street eco-teams, traffic in our streets and changes that could be made, education and local school places provision as well as the myriad postings ranging from offering help, wanting a tennis partner, reviews of local bars to tracing peoples roots in the on-line forum.