Bakerlooisham

UPDATE: Replaced this image with my own, because the official image doesn’t use the right font.

Transport for London are consulting on extending the Bakerloo line as far as Lewisham, and possibly further. The consultation ends on Sunday, so if you think it’s a good idea (I do), please go and have your say before Sunday. The Labour party have also jumped on the bandwagon, and coined the catchy Bakerlooisham name, but think that starting work in 2023, and finishing it in the 2030’s is possibly a little tardy. You think?! I totally agree, but I wonder how many of these politically inspired petitions are really about hoovering up email addresses of potential voters whose viewpoints might align with Labour. I’ve signed a few in the past and seem to have been inadvertently subscribed to all manner of mailing lists… Anyhow, the TfL consultation page won’t have this problem. Links below:

• TfL’s consultation page (expires on Sunday)
• Labour Party’s petition to get the extension to go through Lewisham.
• BBC News article
• Campaigning website
• Heidi Alexander’s post (Local MP)
• Worth reading the comments on Brockley Central’s post, especially about Lewisham becoming an overcrowded hub station..

Finally, here’s a wonderful map, reimagining the tube map, so that South London had as many stops as North London currently does, and vice versa:

Good Hope Festival on the Heath – license in detail

As mentioned on Twitter, Lewisham council don’t currently put their license applications on public display. You have to request them. So I did… Here they are. These are not mine, but I believe there’s a strong public interest in them being seen by as many people as possible. If I’m ordered to take them down, I will.

Google doc links
Event management plan
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5QwxImIGsSNc2JJU01uRmtybk0/edit?usp=sharing

Festival site plan:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5QwxImIGsSNNndzRU9lY2kwOG8/edit?usp=sharing

License application:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5QwxImIGsSNR3dQOXUzUFFQdEk/edit?usp=sharing

Original files
Good Hope Festival Event Management plan

Good Hope Festival Lic App

Good Hope Festival Site Plan

Christmas tree recycling 2014

Just like last year, Greenwich council will collect your tree if you leave it out with your rubbish. Lewisham council want you to trudge over to your nearest park with your tree.

Greenwich Council:

If you would like us to collect your real Christmas tree you must remember to remove all decorations then leave it next to your green-top bin on your normal collection day. Make sure you leave your tree where it can be easily seen by the collection team.

Lewisham Council:

Take it to one of these designated places, or pay £15 to have the council collect it from your door. Note that the pins on the map are VERY approximate – please correct them if they’re in the wrong places.

As I said last year, I cannot understand why two councils differ so much over such a simple thing. We need a randomised controlled trial to work out the optimum way to dispose of Christmas trees. Hope Greenwich wins…

Photo: Close Enough by flickr user Greenzowie.

UPDATE: As James points out, anywhere to the right of this line is Greenwich, so perhaps we will see more Christmas trees next to the bins on the right hand side of this line…

Blackheath station updated

I can’t read architectural drawings. As several people have pointed out, there is no plan at all to stick a whopping great shutter over the front of Blackheath station. Instead the plan is to keep the external windows and entrance unchanged, but to reduce the size of the newsagents at the upper floor, and to shift the ticket office to the right, which will make more room for ticket machines, as well as revealing the windows on the other side overlooking the tracks. Above is a before and after animated gif, to show the changes more clearly (hopefully). Sorry… I’ll get my coat…

Rolling shutters – just what Blackheath station needs

UPDATE: There is no plan to stick a great big shutter over the front of Blackheath station. I got it wrong. See the comments below, and this updated post.

Following on from the News Hopper’s piece today about the station improvements, below are some images from the plans. You can see the full set of documents on the Lewisham planning portal.

I don’t know about you, but nothing says “this area is dodgy” like a roller shutter with graffiti on it. That appears to be what’s been approved for the station following renovation work (minus the graffiti to begin with).

A spot of colour in one of the planning documents:

Unusually, the track in the bay remains in situ, although it is now heavily overgrown
and otherwise obstructed. The area to the north (now a car-park) was formerly an
area of railway sidings, where commuter trains were stabled when not in use.

The bay platform used to come into its own when a circus was taking place on
Blackheath. Many of the animals would arrive in train vans. The circus would then
process through Blackheath Village on to the heath. There is a local legend that on
one occasion an elephant took exception to a passing bus — and the bus lost!

£420,000 of our money spent on tinkering with the station again. Bear in mind the lifts took nine months to be installed last time. Looking forward to the grand opening in 2035!

Artist’s impression of (badly photoshopped) Blackheath station with a shutter based on an image by Onnola on Flickr.

Digitally impaired

Last night, I slammed my left index finger in a car door. I’m left handed (of course). So I swore a bit, shouted at the long-suffering Mrs Bugle to get some ice, swore a bit more and went to bed.

The next morning it was still hurting, and had gone a bit purple. Most of the nail was black. So I phoned NHS Direct, who asked me to answer several questions using computerised voice recognition to determine which council I live in. Then they told me that the service was no longer available in my area, and told me to call 111 instead.

So I called 111, and spoke to a guy who got logged out of his system, then logged in again. He asked me a load of questions from a flow diagram, then told me I should go to my nearest A&E.

So I went, for the first time ever to Lewisham’s A&E department. And they were brilliant. All my details were entered at reception. They knew who my GP was, and updated my records. A nurse saw me after a 5 minute wait, then I was sent to get an x-ray. Look!

Apparently it’s got a tiny fracture at the top. Then I was sent to another nurse, who already had the x-ray up on her computer, then decided to cut a hole in the top of the fingernail, and drain some blood out of the finger (fun!). All the staff were friendly and helpful.

Then it was bandaged up, I was given some painkillers, plasters, and some anti-biotics, and now I’m at home typing with even less skill than usual.

I’m extremely glad that Jeremy Hunt hasn’t yet managed to close my nearest A&E department, or to downgrade it. He won’t bother closing hospitals in areas where there are lots of his voters, only in areas where there are lots of poor people, like Lewisham.

However, having lost this battle, he now wants to change the law, so that he can carry on screwing up our hospitals.

You need to sign this petition, and with a bit of luck, next time you slam your finger in a car door, you’ll have as good a level of service as I just did.

Lewisham Council is hiding library numbers

Gina writes:

“Calling all dedicated and hard-working volunteers in Lewisham’s so-called community libraries. Want to know how you’re doing? How many books you’re managing to lend? How visitor numbers are holding up?

Well, tough. As of October 2012, Lewisham council has decided to stop allowing access to the statistics which it used to publish on a quarterly basis, often before anyone even asked.

Now Lewisham tell us we can wait until the official government statistics agency, CIPFA, produces its report in December 2013 for the year ended last April. What they don’t tell us is that CIPFA only provides figures for the borough as a whole, not for individual libraries. So there will be no way of knowing – to give but one example – how many times Blackheath community library’s total of 13 books for teenagers made it off the shelves. Lewisham also fail to mention that CIPFA make a hefty charge for access to their publications.

Surely the council can have nothing to hide! Like, how are “community” libraries faring compared with the ones still being run by the local authority? Come on, Lewisham. You’ve handed over almost half your libraries to volunteers. Now let the people who are doing your work for you see how they’re doing.”

Lewisham Hospital downgrade ruled illegal

A very good point from Gina:

What? Not a word from the Bugle, the Blackheath Society or the Blackheath Village Residents’ Association in response to the fantastic ruling by the High Court that Jeremy Hunt was acting outside his powers when he announced the downgrading of Lewisham Hospital’s maternity and A&E departments??

The absence of comment from our local bloggers and websites could mean that not everyone is aware of a petition seeking to persuade Jeremy Hunt to accept the decision and not spend more taxpayers’ money appealing it.

This is the link:
http://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/accept-the-lewisham-hospital-decision

Local people have won a sensational battle, but the war goes on. Please sign the petition and forward it to absolutely everybody!

More on the story here:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/you-cant-slash-ae-services-at-lewisham-hospital-jeremy-hunt-overruled-by-high-court-8739320.html

Blackheath’s LibDem councillor defects to Labour

Amanda De Ryk, formerly the LibDem councillor for the Blackheath ward has resigned from the LibDems to join Labour. Press release is here, and her (very quiet) twitter account is @AmandadeRyk.

Lewisham council’s website listing local councillors hasn’t reflected the changes yet.

Eliot Pitstopped

Just got an email from the office of Sir Steve (Lewisham’s mayor). Looks like they won’t be building a children’s play area in Eliot Pits after all:

The Preliminary Ecological Appraisal report recently undertaken by The Ecology Consultancy for Eliot Pits has now been received.
The Council’s Ecological Regeneration Manager has reviewed the report and given that the proposal will likely have “significant ecological impact” has recommended that this option is not pursued.
I imagine that further details will be available soon, but given your concerns I am sending you this information at the earliest opportunity following Sir Steve’s request that you are kept fully updated.