11 February 2005

News Blackout?

There's been a certain amount of slackness with updating over the last few weeks, for which I apologise. Personal circumstances could mean further changes over the coming weeks. Having moved out of the borough I could be looking at moving jobs as well - so the future of the blog is uncertain. If you have a blogger account and want to be involved in this blog - let me know. You can have multiple people posting and it would be a shame to lose it, even though just a handful of people read it (thanks guys!) and the majority of hits are from odd searches! Goes without saying it's unpaid and only updated through love of Lewisham ;) Onwards...

Tour De Lewisham

The race will then travel through Bermondsey, Deptford, Greenwich and Erith before travelling in to Kent. Lewisham Mayor Steve Bullock said: "If it is true that the Tour de France is coming here it is fanatstic news for the people of Lewisham.".

Union hits out at job cut plan

Bosses at the pest control- to-hygiene firm Rentokil have confirmed 245 jobs will go at its largest site in Catford where Initial Hygiene employs the workers. Rentokil will close the linen and workwear operations on April 30 as part of a total 1,700 job cuts country-wide. The firm has pledged to do everything possible to get workers jobs within other parts of the company, but cannot confirm this until the consultation period with workers and customers is finished.

Council Tax set to rise

LEWISHAM: Mayor Steve Bullock wants to impose a council tax increase of 2.5 per cent in 2006/7. The increase would mean a bill of £967.70 a year for Band D properties in the borough. But the Greater London Authority's part of the council tax - the precept - is yet to be set, so this figure is likely to rise. Mr Bullock's decision will be put to a vote at full council on March 1.

Who’s the king of complaint castle?

COUNCILLORS are supposed to represent the interests of their constituents but some it seems do it more rigorously than others. Figures obtained by News Shopper under the Freedom of Information Act reveal hundreds of complaints have been made by the 54 Lewisham councillors on behalf of residents in the past three years. The man who has made the most moans about the conduct of the council is Lib Dem leader Councillor Mark Morris.

Delay blamed on communication

POOR communication has led to delays in building a £16m leisure centre, a report claims. In September Lewisham Council confirmed the Downham Lifestyles Centre will open in February next year nearly three years later than originally planned. Now an independent report has blamed the delay on a "lack of clarity in communication" between the council and its chosen Private Finance Initiative (PFI) bidder.

High-speed chase of drink-driver

A DRINK-driver led police on a high-speed chase when he took his mother's car for a spin. Inner London Crown Court was told how Gareth Clark forced two cars to swerve and pedestrians to flee as he careered around Forest Hill in a Renault car on November 16 last year. He was three times over the legal alcohol limit at the time. Clark, who was described as being an alcoholic since he was 15 by his defence lawyer Harry Drummond, finally stopped and was found lying in a garage doorway by police. Clark, aged 24, of Hennel Close, Dakers Road, Forest Hill, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, driving with excess alcohol, failing to stop and driving without insurance when he appeared before the court on January 25.

15 Leegate

On a recent stroll around Lee I passed the Leegate Centre. I noticed that where there had been three empty shops a gent's barbers had set up in one unit. The other two units were still empty and 15 Leegate stuck in my mind as it used to be the Abbey National. I'm pretty sure it's been empty for quite a few years and although Leegate isn't a busy centre I couldn't work out why it hadn't been used.

So I decided to check out how much the rent is. I contacted Baxter Philips who are the letting agency. They sent information to me, I'm not really interested in leasing it, but very nosey.

Seems that first off, the "in-going tenant to make a contribution of £500 towards the landlords legal fees in the granting of the new lease." Okay. Seems odd considering the landlord wants to encourage interest but I don't know what the norm is, so let's move on.

15 Leegate is classed as having A1 use - that's shop, hairdressers, travel agent, dry cleaners "etc". It's 1488 GF sq ft and 1488 FF sq ft - a total of 2976 sq ft. Rent is £200 a week.

So, how much am I looking at for my first year? I've not included the tenants legal fees.

£500 to Landlord
£10,400 Rent
£8,300 Local Authority Business Rates
=====
£19,200 Total

Now that's without paying any utility bills or staff wages or anything else you can think off. £800 short of £20,000 for your first year. Is there a passing trade to support any business to that amount?

I now understand why it's still empty.

02 February 2006

Report is a whitewash

EDUCATION campaigners say a council-commissioned report into the siting of a new school is a "whitewash". The New School Campaign has criticised the report into delays surrounding the plan to build a secondary school on the Ladywell Leisure Centre site. The campaigners are angry the scruitny committee report appears to clear Mayor Steve Bullock and his advisers of blame over the delays.

Excluded pupils’ second chance

Deptford charity Positive Mental Attitude has helped more than 300 excluded pupils get back into mainstream education. Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) was established in 1996 to meet the high demand of excluded pupils from black and minority ethnic backgrounds in Lewisham. The agency has established a track record of working with 311 young people in the past five years who do not access mainstream services and for whom there are few opportunities.

Borough’s news can be heard worldwide

A BUDDING broadcaster is doing his bit to spread the News Shopper gospel across the globe. Jon Jacob's weekly internet podcast carrying news and views from the borough has fans everywhere from the USA to Iran. Podcasts are audio or video files put on the Internet, which web users can subscribe to. To hear Mr Jacob's latest podcast, visit www.thoroughly-good.com

£5m cuts needed to stop increase

COUNCIL chiefs claim a proposed £5m package of cuts is needed to protect the borough's council tax payers. Two council committees have advised Mayor Steve Bullock council tax will have to rise without the savings package. And the Government has warned the council it could be capped if it increases the tax by more than five per cent.

Email Blunder

DEPUTY Mayor Gavin Moore was left red-faced after a confidential email was leaked to a packed council chamber. The email ordered Labour councillors to avoid speaking to a group who opposed a motion supporting its Building Schools for the Future programme. The email read: "It goes without saying but we need to ask you all not to have dialogue with the New School Campaign who are opposing the group motion to council tomorrow night."

31 January 2006

Trio accused of ‘shameful’ attendance

AN OPPOSITION councillor has criticised the poor attendence of a group of Labour councillors as "shameful". Downham councillor Mark Morris is disappointed councillors Heidi Nash, Ruth Watt and Sabina Padmore have failed to regularly attend council meetings since last April.

Cllr Nash, for Lewisham Central, has missed six out of eight full council meetings.

Cllr Padmore, for New Cross, missed five out of eight and Cllr Watt for Bellingham has missed half of the meetings.

And Cllr Padmore has missed all six Public Accounts Select Committee meetings between May and December last year.

Cllr Watt has missed all Adult Care and Health Select Committee meetings since June last year.

Trust veers towards red

A NEW report has revealed Lewisham Primary Care Trust's (PCT) finances are in poor health. The PCT has reported a £2.28m deficit, in the report penned by its director of finance and resources Tom Breen. Mr Breen admits the figures show the PCT is under "severe financial pressure".

Proposal to create new park for housing estate

A PLAN to create a new park for housing estate residents is set to be considered by planning bosses. The would see a new open space created between Cornmill Lane and Elmira Street, on the Sundermead Estate, Lewisham. The new park, which would be on Metropolitan Open Land, would include a children's play area, a cafe and ornamental gardens.

Jailed after drug bust holiday raid

A MAN whose house was raided by police while he holidayed in Greece has been jailed for possession of firearms, drugs and laundered money. Gary Alan Cheeseman, 31, of Drakefell Road, New Cross, was jailed at Woolwich Crown Court on Friday for seven years and six months. Cops found a semi-automatic pistol, seven rounds of live ammunition, a bullet-proof vest, a canister of CS gas, 19.2 kilos of cannabis resin and £31,143 in cash when they raided his home and the empty flat above on September 26.

Vomit virus hits school

PARENTS have been panicked by a vomiting and diarrhoea illness that has struck down their children. Health officials took swabs from the mouths of youngsters at Sandhurst Infant and Junior School, Catford, to find out the cause of the out-break. The problem has been ongoing for several weeks and 18 pupils were absent from one class on Wednesday.

Blackheath's Nick Ferrari - an interview

Nick Ferrari, who does not wish to state his age, is the breakfast presenter of LBC 97.3FM. In 2005 he broke the mould with a series of sell-out stage shows, re-enacting his LBC radio show for a live audience. The shows were so popular they will be restaged later this year to coincide with the April launch of his debut book, 'The World According to Nick Ferrari'. In addition to this, he has just been re-signed to LBC on a three-year contract. He lives in Blackheath with his wife and two children. Click link for full interview.

29 January 2006

I'm afraid that Transport For London's Camera network seems to be offline, so for the moment we have blue squares where cams of Deptford and Catford should be. Fingers crossed this will be sorted out soon.

MP makes exhibition trip

CULTURE minister David Lammy visited a museum to see an exhibition. Mr Lammy visited the Amazon to Caribbean, Early Peoples of the Rainforest exhibition at the Horniman Museum in London Road, Forest Hill. He was given a tour by Dr Hassan Arero, the first black curator to be appointed by a British museum.

Mayor defends Met chief’s allegation of media racism

The London mayor has defended comments made by the Metropolitan police commissioner, where he claimed that the media is institutionally racist due to the way murder cases are reported in the mainstream press. The comments made by Sir Ian Blair have caused a furore forcing him to apologise to the families of two girls murdered in Soham after he questioned why the story generated such a media frenzy compared with many other cases involving victims from ethnic groups.

During the meeting, the commissioner said the murders of those from ethnic communities will not generate the same amount of interest. “That death of the young lawyer was terrible, but an Asian man was dragged to his death, a woman was chopped up in Lewisham, a chap shot in the head in a Trident murder- they got a paragraph on page 97,” he said during the meeting.

Taking to the streets for pension protest

ELDERLY residents joined forces and travelled to the capital to campaign for a better deal. Around 60 pensioners from Lewisham, Greenwich and Bromley took part in a national pensioners' march in central London. The pensioners marched on Whitehall to try to convince the Government to agree to an increase in the state pension.

Laurence gets second chance

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen is having a second go at the £1 million jackpot on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? after a mix-up over the top question. Llwelyn-Bowen, who lives in Blackheath, was asked about the English translation of the US's Latin motto. But programme maker Celador later admitted the question was "ambiguous".

Two-year diary tells of gran's ‘atrocious’ treatment at hospital

HOSPITAL bosses have promised an "urgent investigation" into claims it subjected an elderly patient to "neglect" and "atrocious" treatment. Linda Holmes makes the claims in a damning two-year diary of her mother's treatment at Lewisham Hospital. In the diary Mrs Holmes says her 74-year-old mother Rose Matthews, who died last November, suffered due to a catalogue of errors.

No station upgrades due before Olympics

A deal announced with the East European Bank this month, will see £450million go towards setting up the new train line, including installing signalling systems and laying track. But passengers in Lewisham will have to wait before seeing any improvements to their stations on the line - New Cross, New Cross Gate, Sydenham, Brockley, Honor Oak Park and Forest Hill.

Massive facelift for Lewisham schools

AFTER a 'long and tortuous process', detailed plans for a massive rebuild and refurbishment of a borough's secondary schools have been agreed. IT HAS been hailed as a borough's largest schools spending project for half a century.

The investment in Lewisham is set to increase the number of school places by 870. Councillors at Wednesday's Mayor and cabinet committee agreed Lewisham's "strategic business case" for the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme. The document will now be submitted to the Government for approval.

Planners decide on pool

SWIMMING facilities in Lewisham will be boosted after the borough's decison-makers rubber-stamped plans for a new pool. A 25m six-lane pool is expected to open at the Wavelengths centre, Giffin Street, Deptford, by spring 2008. Plans for the facility, which is expected to cost around £4m, were finalised by Lewisham's cabinet at a meeting last Wednesday.

Playtime is over

PARENTS are frustrated at the decision to close a playground which was a "lifeline" for stressed shoppers. The play area at Lewisham Shopping Centre, Lewisham High Street, Lewisham, was closed in November because of safety concerns. But parents are angry. They say the playground was popular with children and took the hassle away from their shopping experience.

Shortage of teachers as schools debt soars to £120m

Ten most indebted primaries:

Fir Tree Primary School, Sandwell, £483,839; Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School, Lewisham, £394,313; The Furness Primary School, Brent, £372,667; Matthew Boulton Community Primary School, Birmingham, £337,088; Westwood Park Primary School, Bradford, £293,602; St Augustine's C of E Community School, Bradford, £288,449; Abbey Hey Primary School, Manchester, £287,775; Gascoigne Primary School, Barking and Dagenham, £260,585; The Westborough Primary School and Nursery, Southend-on-Sea, £259,781; Amherst Primary School, Hackney, £247,469.