Tag Archives: Jane Pickard

January 18, 2010 · 10:00 am

Train Drivers end work to rule

photo of tulse hill station

Tulse Hill Station

After weeks of disruptions train drivers have accepted the revised pay offer from First Capital Connect who say trains should be back to normal ‘winter’ service from Monday 18th January.

Additional delays are due to the less reliable 20 year old Class 319s which have drive motors vulnerable to snow damage. First Capital Connect says ” We are looking at ways to accelerate the delivery of replacement components to repair the failed trains and a timetable has been developed which can be operated with a reduced fleet. This will provide customers with a more dependable service and allow us to carry out repairs to a number of trains at depots.”

As a result of this poor service users of Thameslink are calling for First Capital Connect to be stripped of the franchise on the e-petition here 

For latest Tulse Hill station timetables see  here 

Jane Pickard, Labour candidate for Knights Hill ward, and chair of Norwood Rail Users Group (NRUG) says ‘I personally support the petition as this dispute, which was so disruptive to passengers, can only be the result of poor management. NRUG is also trying to get Network Rail to change its plans to terminate our Thameslink service at Blackfriars in 2015.’ For more details contact : Jane.knightshill@hotmail.co.uk

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December 21, 2009 · 11:42 pm

Snow on hills of West Norwood

Norwood in snow

Jane Pickard and Mike Smith on Lakeview Road at top of Knights Hill on Saturday 19/12/09


Its colder on the top of the hills around West Norwood!  After Tuesday’s ( 15 Dec) snow fall most of the snow had melted in the centre of West Norwood by Saturday but once you get higher than  50 metres above sea level  the  snow and ice stayed much   longer on the roads and pavements.

Martin Sachs , who heads Lambeth’s Highways team, told residents at the Norwood Forum last week that in wintry weather his priority is to grit the busiest roads and those on hills  twice a day , using special gritter vehicles  – apart from red routes which are looked after by t he London Mayor’s Transport for London.  Traffic speeds up  the melting process on roads but gritting pavements is a slower manual process done by  staff who normally sweep the streets. Busy pavements outside shopping centres, schools and  hospitals have priority.  Salt  bins are left unlocked for residents to use.

Labour action team members Jane Pickard and Mike Smith have asked for Norwood’s  side streets to be gritted too. “Some streets are like an ice rink”  said Mike Smith on Saturday “and many older people are trapped in their homes until the pavements are made safe to walk on.”

More snow fell on Monday afternoon (21 Dec) causing chaos throughout London as traffic struggled with the icy roads. The resulting gridlock prevented gritters getting on the road quickly. Gritting will continue throughout the night.

Call Lambeth on 020 7926 9000 to report problem streets and pavements. For red routes call Transport for London 0845 305 1234 (24 hours a day)

For more details of Lambeth’s plans for winter weather see

http://tinyurl.com/yjq5njd

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Filed under Labour Candidates, Labour Councillors, Traffic, West Norwood

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December 13, 2009 · 11:58 pm

New pubs in West Norwood

Proposed pub site

Jane Pickard & Emmaus staff outside the proposed new pub

The derelict shop at 13-19  Knights Hill, between Emmaus and the new Ladbroke’s betting shop , applied for planning permission to become a bar-restaurant in summer 2008. The final decision will be made on Wednesday 16th December 2009 at Lambeth’s planning committee at 7pm  in Lambeth Town hall . For details of the committee papers see: http://tinyurl.com/yah4558

These meetings are open to the public who may speak in favour or against the proposals.

The shop has been derelict since it was last used as a Job Centre about 10 years ago.  The owners plan a pub similar to Westow House at 79 Westow Hill, The EDT in Lordship Lane and Jam Circus in Brockley Road. See their web site for details : http://www.antic-ltd.com.

And the  new owners of Southern Pride on Elder Road are applying  for a licence under the name of Scandals Bar & Club  http://www.clubscandals.co.uk/index.php.   For details of the licence see http://tinyurl.com/ycxxkd4
Closing date for public ‘representations’ is 28th December 2009.

We still wait to see what happens to The  Gipsy  Queen on Norwood High Street and The Rose & Crown on Crown Lane  which both remain closed.

If you comment on either of these developments please do copy in  Cllr Jackie Meldrum at jmeldrum@lambeth.gov.uk

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Filed under Labour Councillors, Leisure, Local Business, West Norwood

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December 6, 2009 · 3:50 pm

St Lukes Gardens & railings

St.Lukes

St Lukes Gardens & railings – a successful NAG project with NAG and the council

Norwood Action Group social Christmas drinks social evening

7.30pm on Tuesday 8th December at the  Kahvah café 251 Norwood Road.

Norwood Action Group (NAG)  provides a non-party political voice for residents on local issues as they bubble up. Because it meets monthly, NAG can be fast in reacting to events and is independent as it does not depend on funding from a public body. In this way, it differs from the Norwood Forum, which has the advantage of being bigger, able to reach more people with its support from Lambeth and meets several times a year to discuss more strategic local issues. NAG supports the forum, but believe both groups have a role to play.

Everyone is welcome to drop in on Tuesday and meet up with  NAG  members.

NAG started life in 1997 after a public meeting, held by the council to discuss parking ,which broadened into a series of demands for improvements to the town centre. Local people felt Norwood had suffered years of neglect.

In those first years, NAG was  instrumental in negotiating the half-hour parking places in the town centre, introducing Christmas lights and a Christmas tree after many years of seasonal gloom, supporting the campaign by West Norwood Community Development to rescue the Old Library from dereliction and refurbish it as a youth and community centre, and pressing the council to appoint a town centre manager. We ran a gardens competition for several years and had a significant input into the UDP – Lambeth’s long-term development plan for the area.

Later successes have included the refurbishment of the memorial garden in front of St Luke’s Church with the restoration of the railings (a project run jointly with the church) [see photo] ; a survey exploring possible improvements to the area around Tulse Hill station, which produced many ideas now on the council’s agenda, and the campaign to resist a nine-storey block of flats being built on the site of West Norwood Tennis Club. NAG was also instrumental in getting a pedestrian phase at the Norwood Road/York Hill traffic lights and persuading the council to establish a new committee, which is about to start life, to enable the community to have a say in the running of the Old Library.

Contact for more info:  jane.pickard@btinternet.com

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