Royal Mail are struggling with post deliveries in recent weeks as omicron means many staff are sick or isolating at home.
Residents have contacted councillors about missed postal deliveries. If you are having delayed post please send us [jmeldrum@lambeth.gov.uk] your postcode so we can identify the neighbourhoods with delivery problems and take up with Royal Mail.
The deadline for EU citizens living in the UK to apply for SETTLED STATUS is Wednesday 30th June Settled status gives EU citizens the right to continue living here as part of our community, work, study, access services and travel abroad.
The applications are FREE and are online: https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families. EU citizens must apply even if they have lived in the UK for many years and have permanent residence papers. Parents should apply on behalf of their children.
Please check with your EU friends, family members and neighbours, that whatever their age, years in the UK or country of birth – they have applied for Settled Status. We do not want to see another Windrush deportation scandal.
Thames Water started replacing water mains in the streets around Royal Circus SE27 from 25th January 2021 by closing Broxholm Road. Unfortunately the works at Broxholm Road took twice as long as planned. The road was finally due to be re-opened to through-traffic last weekend 23/5/21 after 4 months of closure.
Sections of Canterbury Grove have been closed since 15th February. The 315 bus is now diverted the long way round via Knights Hill, Crown Lane and Leigham Court Road whilst the section between Pyrmont Grove and Ivymount Road (pictured) remains closed till 20tH June.
In addition: St Julians Farm Road closed on 26th April for emergency works by Thames Water – with no date yet for completion. (pictured)
St.Julians Farm Road closure
Having three through-routes from Leigham Court Road to Knights Hill/Norwood Road closed at the same time is having a major impact on traffic at busy times.
Knollys Road, Glennie Road and Egremont Road have all been severely impacted. And there is increased traffic on Leaf Grove, Cheviot Road, Roxburgh Road and Lakeview Road.
Thames Water is a key utility company and is permitted to do what is required to invest in our local infrastructure. Your local councillors have requested the council only gives permission for one planned road closure at a time.
Please look out for a new letter, requested by your local councillors, from Thames Water outlining the changes to their plans. Their last letter was delivered in January and talked about a five month programme of works . Residents will be living with disruption for another few months at least – as clearly Thames Water will take much longer to finish.
Lambeth & Wandsworth are running an enhanced covid 19 testing programme to test everyone in the two boroughs.
West Norwood has a free drop-in covid 19 testing centre at Waylett Place car park SE27 9AA (next to Iceland) . The last session will be 9am to 3pm on Monday 26th April. These tests are for people with NO covid 19 symptoms.
For more information on covid19 testing services in Lambeth see:
Residents have asked councillors what can be done about the very slow broadband speeds they have that make accessing the internet difficult. Unfortunately there are pockets of homes which have Exchange Only Lines (EOL). These homes have a direct phone line to the nearest exchange and are not linked into the green cabinets in the streets. These lines have slow broadband speeds – under 5 mb/s and are currently not being upgraded to faster connections via cabinets or through fibre optic cables to the home.
Our local exchange is the Gipsy Hill Exchange in Park Hall Road. The further you are from the Exchange the slower your speeds!
If you know you have an EOL please get in touch with Cllr Jackie Meldrum at jmeldrum@lambeth.gov.uk . If we have more information on the location of EOLs hopefully we can find a solution to the slow broadband problem.
Openreach has been joined by Community Fibre and G.Network who are installing fibre optic cables in Lambeth’s streets. Fibre optic cables will enable much faster broadband connections to the internet for almost all homes that pay for that connection often known as ‘Full Fibre’ or ‘Ultrafast’ broadband. Virgin Media use their own cable system for broadband but you need to have access to their cable network on your street.
Lambeth council is developing a digital & broadband strategy for the whole borough including its housing estates.
More Thames Water road works will close the northbound lane of Leigham Vale – from Knollys Road to Stockbridge Rd – from Monday March 8th . If all goes well the works are expected to take three days.
These works join many more road or lane closures in West Norwood as Thames Water struggles to deal with leaks this winter.
Lambeth council is asking everyone, aged 16 or over, living or working in the area (pictured) between Norwood Rd and Leigham Court Rd & Valley Rd to get a Covid-19 test, whether they have been vaccinated or not. A variant first identified in South Africa has been detected in the local area. UK government data from various areas across the country shows that the variant is not currently spreading quickly and is being contained.
Tests ready to go out from the town hall
People in the area will receive full information on how to access the testing.
Developers have plans to demolish 90-96 Norwood High Street SE27 9NW and build a 4 & 5 storey block on the corner with Rothschild Street. The new build will have 10 one-bed flats, 1 two-bed flat and 4 three-bed flats. The ground floor will remain in commercial use – in keeping with the council’s plans for a Creative Business Cluster along Norwood High Street.
The scheme includes a playground and a new mature tree – shown to be 4 storeys high in the drawings. There is no off-site parking but 20 secure cycle parking spaces. Other sustainable features include green living roofs, bee hotel bricks and nesting boxes for swifts.
The flats are compact and there is no reference to affordable or social housing on or off-site.
To see more detail and comment online please quote planning ref 20/04374 at Lambeth Planning Portal.
The developers Design & Access statement includes a fascinating history of the area.
90-96 Norwood High St today
Since September 2020 the new planning class E replaces the old classes A1/2/3 & B1 for more information see here.
The developers of the derelict scrapyard at Windsor Grove SE27 9NT have submitted a very detailed Environmental Statement report to support their plans to demolish & rebuild a metal recycling facility on the site. The report concludes there will be no significant environmental effects from the development at Windsor Grove but the ecology/diversity will be improved and the sustainable transport will have health benefits.
Over 1,000 residents have already commented / objected to the plans. They were invited by a letter from the council [jpeg] to read & comment on the Environmental Statement by Monday 8th February 2021.
Many residents oppose the plans due to the increase in hazardous traffic. The large HGV lorries will be asked to take the route, pictured, and so avoid West Norwood town centre by driving through Crystal Palace or Streatham.
The consultant’s Environmental Statement report for the developers is hundreds of pages long. Volume 1 is the introduction and nearly 200 pages. There is a summary in Chapter 13 of Volume 1.
To read and comment on the developers Environmental Statement for Windsor Grove please input ref 20/01066 on the Lambeth Planning portal.
Thames Water are closing sections of Broxholm Road from January to March 2021 to install new water mains.
Their plan is to start by closing the section from Leigham Court Road to Glennie Road between the 25th January and 14th February. Residents in this section will have to park nearby whilst the road is closed. Due to delivery delays in Royal Mail post, Thames Water slipped the start date by one week to 25th January. See Thames Water letter [pdf] delivered to residents this week.
Over the next couple of months Broxholm Road will be closed to traffic in short sections, one section at a time.
These works are part of a programme of water mains replacements by Thames Water in most of the roads centred around Royal Circus.
Other local roads in the programme should be wide enough to allow for one lane to be kept open controlled by traffic lights.
Additional road works in the neighbourhood will cause more disruption.
Gas mains are being replaced , starting with Ullswater Road – see our post dated 10/1/21.
Leigham Court Road will be closed for two days at its junction with Streatham High Road on 3rd & 4th February. The 417 bus will be on long diversion via the main roads.
Your local councillors are discussing the details of the scheme with Lambeth Highways team and the utility companies. We will update you when more information is available. Please email Cllr Pickard with any queries or comments: jpickard@lambeth.gov.uk
Royal Mail are struggling with post deliveries in recent weeks as omicron means many staff are sick or isolating at home.
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