Crime in Ward remains one of lowest in Borough
Mar 11th
Thornton Ward is continuing to see crime kept to a minimum thanks to the hard work of the Thornton Safer Neighborhood Team.
Crime within the ward is amongst the lowest within the borough, this is great news for our local community. The SNT continue to work with local residents, housing providers and tenants and residents associations to ensure our community remains a safe place to live.
The Safer Neighborhood initiative aims to bring policing closer to the community. Each Ward has a dedicated team of police officers and police community support officers, as well as a community panel of local residents and business representatives who help to set priorities for the team. Thornton Labour Councillor Michael Hipwell also sits on the safer neighborhood panel.
Councillors Lib Peck and Diana Morris and Labour council candidate Ed Davie joined the SNT on one of their regular street briefing sessions in the ward last week and heard how they are tackling the area’s issues.
Ed said: ‘We are lucky to have such a dedicated team who have helped make Thornton such a safe place to live. We will continue to support them unlike Conservative mayor Boris Johnson who is axing 500 London police officers and the Lib Dems who have consistently opposed Labour’s law and order policies.’
The team have played a key part in operations throughout the ward, including anti-social behavior and burglary prevention.
The team can be contacted by telephone on 0208 721 2622, or on their mobile phone 07920 233 840. You can also email the team, Thornton.SNT@met.police.uk
You can come along and meet the team at their next drop-in surgery or street briefing, find out the dates here
Facilities on Poynders Gardens Estate have ‘improved no end’ Lambeth council leader Steve Reed has said during his latest visit to Thornton.
Mar 11th
Councillor Reed met with local councillors Diana Morris and Lib Peck and Labour candidate Ed Davie to see for himself how the estate has been improved since Labour took control of the council in 2006.
Since then councillors Morris and Peck were instrumental in getting derelict land at the heart of the estate transformed into a colourful playground with local children choosing the equipment they wanted.
They also lobbied to get the community flat refurbished for use by local community groups and residents.
Further improvement works are now taking place with the Poynders Estate one of six areas benefiting from a Lambeth Council and Lambeth Living £3.5 million programme of environmental works.
The ‘Better Neighbourhoods’ programme will see roads and pavements resurfaced, trees planted, recycling facilities improved on estates and tired and outdated street signs and furniture replaced.
Councillor Reed said: ‘The Poynders Estate looks a lot smarter and the playgoround and community flat are clearly great and well-used facilities.’
Labour candidate Ed Davie said: ‘Poynders is a vibrant estate and now has some of the facilities it deserves. If I’m elected in May I will be looking to build on the improvements we have already seen on this and our other estates thanks to the hard work of local people and councillors and investment from the Labour council and government.’
New Youth Mayor for Lambeth
Mar 6th
10,000 young people cast their votes on 10th March to elect a new Youth Mayor for Lambeth. In an incredibly close election Darren Tenkorang from Bishop Thomas Grant School, in Streatham, was named Youth Mayor of Lambeth for 2010-11. The Runner-up was Sara Zouhir, who is a student at Lambeth Academy, and was named as the Deputy Youth Mayor.
As Youth Mayor of Lambeth Darren aims to “destroy the stereotype the youth have…by uniting the community”. As well as providing a link between young people and the media, members of the council and service providers Darren will be responsible for a budget of £25,000 which will be used to fund projects designed for and run by young people.
Last year the Youth Mayor of Lambeth funded, among others, a performing arts project organized by G.A.S youth group, a music video project organized by Child of Zion youth group and gave funding to improve the facilities at the V.Y.G youth club in Brixton (click here for full details).
If you are interested in applying for up to £3,000 of funding for a youth based project then details of how to apply can be found on the Youth Mayor Fund section of the Lambeth Youth Council website.
Congratulations to Darren and Zouhir and everyone who took part in the elections.
The election also voted for Stephanie Harb to be Lambeth’s Member of Youth Parliament.
Cabinet Minister visits The Weir Link
Mar 4th
Cabinet minister Tessa Jowell spoke glowingly about the Weir Link as an excellent example of a community led project supported by local councillors and Lambeth council.
The minister for London visited the Weir Link on Thursday 25 February along with the leader of the Council, Steve Reed.
Tessa was there to find out how the derelict laundry room was transformed into a great resource for local families and other residents.
Local Councillors Lib Peck and Diana Morris who both attended the event were delighted that the visit had gone so well. Lib added: “Every time I visit the Weir Link, I feel inspired by what it is achieving and feel honoured to have a played a small part in getting it up and running.”Conservative plans to cut £200 million from the Sure Start programme threaten centres like the Weir Link.
Patching to Atkins Road Potholes has begun
Mar 4th
Potholes in Atkins Road, made worse by the severe winter weather, have been patched after Labour’s candidate in Thornton drew them to the council’s attention.
Ed Davie contacted local Labour councillors Lib Peck and Diana Morris who in turn ensured that officials scheduled the road to be repaired.
Although some patching remains to be done and it is not the full resurfacing the councillors and candidate, not to mention residents, would like to see it has made the situation better.
Ed said, ‘It is good to see that the councillors and council took swift action after I raised this. There has been a positive response from residents but we would all like to see a longer term solution when resources are available.’
The council has so far patched 40% of roads in the ward with plans to repair the rest within the next couple of months.
Although some patching remains to be done and it is not the full resurfacing the councillors and candidate, not to mention residents, would like to see it has made the situation better.
Contact the team if you have any particular concerns that you would like resolving
What a load of Rubbish
Feb 25th
You may have recently heard rumours about the possibility of Lambeth Council siting a waste depot on Weir Road.
As your ward councillors, we are concerned that these rumours may have given our residents cause for anxiety. These rumours have been circulated, with no respect for the truth, by our political opponents. We can unequivocally say that there are no plans for a waste depot in the Weir Road area.
The rumours appear to be based on the fact that an initial trawl by officers of potential waste sites included all the industrial estates in the Borough. And this long list of industrial areas included the Zennor Road Industrial Estate at the Cavendish Road end of Weir Road. This was the same process that the previous Tory/LibDem administration went through when they were looking for potential waste sites.
The Council is still considering its options for a new Waste Management Strategy but Councillor Steve Reed, the Leader of the Council, has categorically denied that there is any intention of using the Zennor Road site. He wrote recently to a Thornton Ward resident saying “The Labour administration does not support proposals to put a waste depot on this site. We have told officers that we will not consider any such option now or in the future.”
As local Labour councillors, we are delighted that the rumours have been put to rest in such categorical terms. We are absolutely opposed to the siting of a waste depot in Zennor Road. We have lived in the local area for years; and our children go, and have gone, to Henry Cavendish school. We do not think Zennor Road is an appropriate site.
We are committed to improving the local area through such measures as the anti-speeding device on Weir Road and planned improvements to Cavendish Road. We pushed for these changes. A local depot would destroy all our efforts.
Lambeth Council Leader, Steve Reed, visits Thornton Ward
Feb 10th
Lambeth Council Leader Steve Reed has been out and about in Thornton talking to locals to find out their priorities ahead of May’s local election.
Councillor Reed, who represents neighbouring ward Brixton Hill, is a regular visitor to Thornton and stays in constant touch with local councillors Diana Morris and Lib Peck and Labour candidate Ed Davie.
Following his visit last weekend Cllr Reed told this website: “Speaking to people in Thornton on Sunday I was pleased to hear first hand that most residents think we are doing a good job – particularly as we’ve frozen council tax for the second year running whilst delivering things that matter like doubling our investment in youth services, building new schools and investing in our parks and open spaces.”
The leader is currently putting the finishing touches to Labour’s local manifesto having consulted widely on people’s priorities.
Thornton is marginally held by Labour – when the Liberal Democrats last won seats here they went straight into a coalition with the Conservatives who put up council tax 40% and slashed services.
Ed Davie said: ‘Steve is a real friend of Thornton and is often here to find out what matters to people and hear their concerns. We will be working with him to deliver their priorities like safer neighbourhoods with more activities for young people.’
Cavendish Road Update
Feb 4th
There appears to have been some confusion about the nature of the road works on Cavendish Road, so Councillor Lib Peck has written this brief guide:
- The pedestrian crossing by Sistova Road is moving a few metres to enable a cyclist path to be created
- Cyclists will be able to travel both ways down Hydethorpe Rd – it will remain one way for other traffic
- The four parking bays outside the shops will be free for 30mins
- There will be a new pedestrian crossing across Emmanuel Road near to Cavendish Road
- To slow down traffic along Cavendish Road the kerb has been built out in three places along the road – trees will be planted at these points.
- It is a joint borough scheme by Lambeth and Wandsworth Councils. But Wandsworth is project managing the works.
If you have any further queries then please contact your local Labour Action Team:
Cllr Lib Peck: Mob: 07985 630 944 or email lpeck@lambeth.gov.uk
Cllr Diana Morris: Tel: 020 8143 8831 or email dmmorris@lambeth.gov.uk
Ed Davie: Mob: 07876 192 645 or email edward.davie@yahoo.co.uk
Atkins Road
Feb 4th
Dear Resident,
Atkins Road
We were out talking to residents in your area at the weekend when I noticed the poor state of the tarmac on Atkins Road, obviously made worse by the cold weather. We know that potholes are a menace to all road users, but especially cyclists.
I drew this to Thornton Councillors, Lib Peck and Diana Morris’ attention, who will push council officials to get it resurfaced as soon as possible. We hope that there may be an opportunity to do something about the extremely high speed bumps at the same time.
There will be several other potholes that have sprung up as a result of the cold weather – do please let me know about others and the local councillors and I will raise them with Council Officers.
As a local campaigner and Labour Party Candidate for Thornton Ward in the Lambeth Local Election on May 6th, I am interested in any other concerns you might have about issues in the area. So feel free to email or call on the contacts below and I will investigate or pass them on to the councillors where appropriate.
Yours sincerely
Ed Davie
Mobile: 07876 192 645
Email: edward.davie@yahoo.co.uk
