Saturday 30th November sees the Corpus Christi Christmas Fair from 12 noon until 4pm.
Head on down to Trent Road for Santa’s Grotto, the toy stall, in the International Food Hall, live festive music, arts and crafts and beautiful Christmas wreaths, mulled wine and Irish Coffee, raffle and tombola, home produce and book stall.
Entry is £1 for adults, free for children.
Sainsbury’s have been granted planning permission for a training centre at the rear of their store on Brixton Hill at the corner of Lambert Road. This will comprise five training rooms and associated facilities for managers in the region.
The good news for local residents is that this will enhance cycle parking at the site and reduce unauthorised parking by shoppers at the store – something that councillors and residents have been calling for since the start of the year. Councillor Martin Tiedemann had made numerous complaints about the store not doing enough to prevent parking on the pavement and damage to the trees as well as the lack of cycling provision. Local resident Erin Gill created a petition calling for cycle parking at the store.
The proposals now are for six cycle stands on Lambert Road, which are intended for staff receiving training but will be able to be used by customers. Bollards will be placed along the edge of the private land to prevent parking to the side of the store. The development will be ‘car-free’ with a green travel plan to outline how Sainsbury’s will help its staff coming from further afield to use the excellent transport links in our area.
Cllr Martin Tiedemann commented, “I am pleased that Sainsbury’s and the Council took on board my concerns about parking on the pavement and the lack of cycle parking and will put measures in place. This will make for a more pleasant and safer environment for local residents and customers.”
In June this year, Cllr Martin Tiedemann approached Transport for London and our local Assembly Member, Val Shawcross, about the state of the surface of Brixton Hill. Major cracks and potholes had appeared that are particularly dangerous for cyclists. As a ‘red route’ Brixton Hill is the responsibility of Transport for London and the Mayor, and not Lambeth Council.
Cllr Tiedemann was pleased to receive a response from TfL following his representations confirming that Brixton Hill was to be resurfaced this year. They have now confirmed arrangements for this work. Continue reading
Lambeth College have made clear their commitment to continued learning provision from their site on Brixton Hill.
With plans shortly to be announced and consulted on, the statement from the College said that Phase 2 of the re-building of provision in the borough (following Phase 1 at Clapham) would see the following in Brixton from September 2015:
The statement said ‘We are committed to offering the people of Brixton and Lambeth a modern accessible new building on Brixton Hill that is fit for purpose and instrumental in helping to build careers for a whole new generation of learners from the borough of Lambeth and beyond.’
Brixton Hill’s councillors welcome the commitment to learning provision at the site and condemn the scaremongering and misinformation being spread locally for political purposes. Lambeth Council does not own or control the site – indeed it is not in public ownership at all as the College is an independent organisation. Nevertheless we will work with the College to make sure there’s full engagement by local residents and by College users and staff on the plans when they are announced and consultation on any new planning application for the site. Permission for a new building on the site has already been given in April 2009.
Local residents have two opportunities to donate blood at the Town Hall during December. The NHS is calling on people to donate blood during the festive period, which it describes as a “challenging time for blood stocks”.
The NHS said, “Donating doesn’t cost a penny and saves lives, meaning many more children and adults can spend precious time with their families over Christmas.”
Those with O Rh negative and B Rh negative blood types are especially in need, but donors are wanted from all blood groups.
The sessions are:
Tuesday 3rd December
13:30 – 16:00 & 17:00 – 19:00
Thursday 19th December
13:30 – 16:00 & 17:00 – 19:00
Brixton Blog are reporting that local police are appealing for help identifying a man who stole a bicycle and a bike wheel on Tuesday November 5 from the rear of the Town Hall.
The man’s image was captured on CCTV at 3.30pm. Anyone who recognises the person in the images is encouraged to contact PC Patzer on 0208 721 2623 or alternatively if you wish to remain anonymous you can call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
This follows a recent small spate of thefts of bicycle wheels from the stands outside the Town Hall on Brixton Hill and Acre Lane. We would urge cyclists to be particularly cautious in locking their bikes and both wheels in the area.
Transport for London are consulting on their plan to cut the 159 bus route short at its northern end, so that it will terminate at Marble Arch instead of Paddington. TfL say this measure would not affect bus frequency but would improve reliability, but there would no longer be a link all the way to Paddington Station by bus from Brixton Hill.
What do you think? TfL are asking for responses to their consultation or residents can contact Val Shawcross AM or councillors.
Earlier this week it was announced that 83% of participating businesses in Brixton had given the go-ahead to the Business Improvement District (BID). The new scheme will come into force on January 1 2014 with a budget of about £435,000 to spend, funded by an additional levy of 1.5% on all businesses with a rateable value above £5,000.
The BID covers central Brixton, coming up Brixton Hill as far as Blenheim Gardens and so incorporating the Town Hall parade and shops around the White Horse, as well as Acre Lane as far as Strathleven Road.
The BID will aim to make improvements to the area based on business consensus, working in partnership with the Council. We are pleased that the decision was taken to include smaller, independent businesses in the scheme so that Brixton BID is one of the very largest in the whole country and will not just be for the large chains but also be focused on addressing issues raised by Brixton businesses.
The BID will focus on marketing Brixton internally and externally, improving the environment and public realm and working together to improve business efficiencies and develop the skill-sets of local people.
At a marathon session last night, Lambeth Council’s Licensing Sub Committee voted to suspend the licence of Veranda Bar on Acre Lane for eight weeks and impose stringent new conditions. This followed a ‘serious incident’ in October and representations by the police and Brixton Hill’s councillors.
The review of Veranda’s licence came about because of a shooting incident at the venue on 19 October. The police expressed serious concerns about how Veranda’s management had failed to prevent the gun coming onto the premises and how they had reacted to the incident subsequently. The police representations can be read here.
Around the same time, Brixton Hill’s councillors had been meeting with residents of Porden Road about major issues concerning anti-social behaviour, public nuisance and concern for public safety, with Veranda’s late-night clientele bearing much of the responsibility and with an inadequate response from the venue. As a consequence Councillor Martin Tiedemann made a representation to the Sub-committee detailing some of these issues and with recommendations for how these could be dealt with on top of the police recommendations in direct response to the shooting. Continue reading
Brixton Hill councillor Martin Tiedemann has written for the Brixton Bugle newspaper about the important Latin American community in the area, a community that is often ‘invisible’ and lacks official recognition.
The article by Martin, who is himself of Latin American descent, is available to read here.
We Love Brixton Hill & Acre Lane 