Needless nannying

Posted on October 11, 2013 by Max

There’s clearly not much news about in the Thamesmead region right now, since this little tale has made the pages of Newsshopper: Thamesmead shopper finds ‘deadly’ bleach among wine and cider in Abbey Wood supermarket

The story can be summarised quickly: Supermarket misplaces stock. Man blows it out of proportion.

Through a tenuous tale of children who can recognise that the McDonalds logo is linked to burgers, the local has put in a complaint to Lidl, claiming that a deadly mistake could be made when a small child mistakes bleach for a drink because they saw it nearby some drinks – a potentially lethal mistake!

Jeez. Any kid taking bleach from the space under the sink to have a swig needs to remember that it was among the drinks in a supermarket, fail to recognise that those were mummy-and-daddy drinks, and learn how to open a child-proof lid. Plus not be put off by the smell or distracted by the wealth of other cleaning things that might be fun to play with rather than drinking something for spurious reasons… It’s simply not going to happen due to a supermarket misplacement. Yes, the supermarket staff made a dumb mistake, but it’s bad because nobody is going to find the bleach and it’s filling space that they could be stocking with low cost weird alcohol from Germany, not because little Timmy’s going to have his life cut short.

Lidl’s statement is balanced and gracious… and a complete waste of everybody’s time.

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A positive review of Thamesmead

Posted on October 7, 2013 by Max

Just spotted this blog post from some recent visitors to Thamesmead. There are some nice photographs accompanying it, too:

https://hollisart.wordpress.com/2013/10/06/thamesmead/

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Thamesmead South Regeneration Neighbourhood Group

Posted on October 7, 2013 by Max

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This picture shows the results of an icebreaker from the Thamesmead South Regeneration Neighbourhood Group (hereafter referred to as the Neighbourhood Group to save typing!). The quality isn’t fantastic, but it does the trick. We were each asked to stand up and tell everyone who we were and which were our favourite and least favourite parts of Thamesmead. Good is indicated with a green spot, bad with red.

… but perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself. The group gathered at a church on Yarnton Way and we were welcomed by Gallions and our hosts. The group contained a wide array of people – probably more than the 12-18 I expected – and Dan Hill took the floor. Dan explained that this was not a public meeting, but he assured me that nothing being discussed was secret as such. His audience, the group itself, contained all kinds of people, including Gallions own staff, head teachers, residents, churchgoers and the guy who runs The Link. The age range was from 15 year olds through to pensioners. The idea, as Dan put it, was to have some forum where ideas could be discussed and plans brought forward without the meeting being derailed by any one particular point which might overtake the agenda.

For me, it was good to meet new people from the area, and to hear stories from people about their encounters within Thamesmead. Of particular note was the headmaster of Bexley Business Academy who, it turns out, came from previously teaching at a grammar school in Rochester. He says the local children are very proud of what BBA has become and he enjoys the new role.

The evening involved the introduction, a break out session where we discussed how we felt the group should work and what it should try to acheive, and a big overview of the regeneration progress, plans and timeline. We were taken through some slides that I hope I’ll be able to put up here at some point, and given them in printed form to take away.

I won’t pretend that the evening wasn’t a big showcase for Gallions, or that the selected invitees were perhaps disposed to be more accommodating than some in the region might be, but in the end we’re all people with some investment in Thamesmead, be it by choice or accident, and we’re not going to sit by and let ridiculous plans go uncommented.

Essentially the role of the group is to:
Hear the plans.
Ask questions.
Spread the word.
Bring feedback from outside.

With that in mind, I hope readers will put forward their own views and I will do what I can to see them carried back and considered.

I’ll write another post soon about the places people liked and disliked in the exercise – I just need to work out where I left my notebook…

Also coming soon – a video I took of the building at the corner of Yarnton Road and Harrow Manor Way being demolished. It wobbles, it teeters, it falls down!

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Swanning around

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Max

The swans around Thamesmead north would appear to have become something of a menace. This short video shows a few people being harrassed by some of the wildlife along a cyclepath.

Meanwhile, a bigger write up with pictures was posted on The Thamesmead Grump another local blog that sprung up recently.

There have been write ups of invasive poisonous spiders in the local paper, I heard on Wednesday from people who’d been attacked by horses in the area, and now the birds are getting bolshy. With the wildlife encroaching you wouldn’t think we live in the London suburbs, would you?

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South Thamesmead Regeneration Neighbourhood Group

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Max

I’m just back from the church where the Gallions meeting with local residents and stakeholders took place. I had a good time meeting a lot of locals and I’ve got quite a few notes to type up, but that will need to wait until the weekend. Suffice to say, I’m glad I restarted the blog and I look forward to seeing the meetings continue. The ice-breaker was particularly fun to be involved in.

Hello to anyone who heads over as a result of the meeting!

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Parkview Hub

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Max

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The start of the Parkview Hub work. Due to end next spring. This is along Yarnton Way.

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South Thamesmead Neighbourhood Group

Posted on October 1, 2013 by Max

Something interesting happened to me yesterday. I was invited to join the South Thamesmead Neighbourhood Group, an invitation that I have happily accepted.

The group is being set up by Gallions and according to Lesley Edwards who invited me:

The group is being formed to support the South Thamesmead regeneration projects that are/and will be taking place in that area. The group will be made up of 12-18 people who will range from local residents, business people and Head teachers of schools. It is proposed the group meet quarterly and will provide a sounding board for issues relating to the regeneration and neighbourhood management in that area.

Now, I know that many local people oppose Gallions and would see this as siding with the enemy to some extent. They perhaps think that I’m an apologist for corrupt local officials and that I’m being pulled on-side to generate positive output.

This isn’t the case. I’m a reasonably neutral voice, saying what I see. I am fond of Thamesmead and its history. When I saw the buildings around Tavy Bridge being pulled down I did get a pang of brief upset. The history! The damage! What will the new look for the area be like? How will it serve the community? Can the glory days that the former residents remember ever be recaptured?

I’m not much of an optimist, truth be told, but I’m hoping the answer is yes. The conceptual pictures of the future for Thamesmead are largely positive. The people pulled in off the street to critique the regeneration plans were mostly enthused by the proposed new look while I was there on one of the open days last year. But I’m not going to happily sit by and nod where I see flaws, I’m kind of cynical about the likelihood of turning things around with a coat of paint and some smiling photos in the promotional material. I wasn’t keen to hear vague ideas of “traffic calming measures” along Yarnton Way for example. Yes things are needed at the Lakeside Medical end to make it easier to cross – and I am not convinced that pulling down the walkways above the roads is the best plan, but I do hope that the other end of Yarnton Way with its needlessly slow 30mph limit near the Wurth building won’t have such enforcements.

Anyway, there’s a meeting happening tomorrow and I’ll respect any limits put on sharing information discussed within but I hope that they won’t be draconian and I also hope to be able to report back with some useful and interesting news about the forthcoming proposals for the area.

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Meet the Guvnors!

Posted on October 1, 2013 by Max

An interesting letter dropped through my door last night, warning me that a film is being made in the local area. Residents were being warned that there may be some disruption while filming took place, but it shouldn’t run too late into the night except for one night.

The piece is called “Meet the Guvnor” and is made by Fulwell 73. A quick look around the internet dug up an interesting tweet and photograph:

https://twitter.com/Fulwell73/status/384223334566592513/photo/1

Meanwhile, the iconic backdrop to those scenes in A Clockwork Orange are turning into a pile of rubble.

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Just another abandoned blog?

Posted on September 19, 2013 by Max

It’s something like a year since my last update. I’ve dropped in from time to time to approve comments and delete spam, but the blog content has been worse than sparse and for that I apologise.

Where did it all go wrong? Well, after I wrote about the residents group I attracted a few comments from those involved and I also went along to the meeting at The Link to hear the plans and witness the protest. What I saw deserved a long and full report and I didn’t have time to do it justice. I put it off repeatedly, and then it just seemed like old news, and I had other pressing things to attend to and the blog languished, largely unloved.

I don’t want this to be one of those updates that promises that things will improve from now on and then sits as a final nail in the coffin of an ultimately dead writing outlet, there are too many about. But I’ve decided I will at least make an effort, and if things aren’t looking good in a couple of months, I’ll wrap it up honestly rather than leaving it lingering.

What I will say is that I have learnt a lot about the locals, despite not really getting to know any of them personally. The Thamesmead Residents blog updates regularly with complaints about how the area is not looked after. Some of the complaints are fair, others are, in my opinion, silly. What are people supposed to do about somebody parking their own car outside their own garages? And why the assumption that a park must contain closely cropped grass and no areas suitable for wildlife to flourish?  For the most part I don’t think Thamesmead stands out as an area that is particularly under-attended by the council or those in charge of maintenance (Gallions in our case). It’s by no means perfect, of course.

What I saw at The Link was far more moving, though. Residents who had been here since the start gave an impassioned speech about how back in the day the schools were great, the homes were desirable and the community was solid. Gallions were busy telling everyone about the great success a new school had seen and the lady speaking was trying to get across to them how that was how it used to be in the past and things had been allowed to deteriorate – she wasn’t happy to see them parading facts and figures as though they had brought new success to the area, and the people who weren’t ushered out of the room to talk to Mr Montgomery from Gallions were polite and evocative when they spoke and urged more investment in fixing the problems.

Alongside that, I discovered a Facebook group aimed at reminiscing about the area and it’s great to see people who moved away looking in to see what happened to the place, and far less great to see the continuing stories of how the area has deteriorated.

Gallions regeneration plans have gone ahead in full force and the area formerly known as Tavy Bridge is being pulled down. I’ve got a lot of photographs and a few snippets of video to share on that front. Along Yarnton Way some of the flats are seeing a facelift and the garages beneath them are about to become shop premises. At the end of Alsike Road the old carpark and garages that were boarded off for months on end have finally seen the end of the work and the grounds around the flats are much improved, and a new open car park is available.

Crossrail has started work in the area, buying up some gardens and going to town on fencing off areas for work. The carpark near the station is no longer in use and the train station platforms have been elongated. It’s definitely a time of change.

More later. Probably.

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Thamesmead Residents

Posted on November 13, 2012 by Max

I was alerted to a local residents group recently when I had a look at Twitter. Shortly afterwards I received a letter through my door inviting me to come and join a protest.

Thamesmead is interesting in that while we pay council tax, we are also subjected to charges from the local housing association. I was not particularly thrilled when I found this out, but apparently my deed of ownership on my house makes me liable for the charges. When I was first asked to pay I went through a lengthy process of establishing the correct amount as Gallions tried to charge me for time before I was in the property, but it’s been sorted and I’m close to paying the final installment of the arrears.

When I went to see details of the plans for regenerating south Thamesmead I was told a bit more about the background. I agree that it is bizarre that I pay Bexley Council for my council tax charges, and then have to pay somebody else for essentially the same upkeep. However a quirk of the way the area has been dealt with and changed hands makes this necessary. The local MP, Theresa Pearce, is doing some work to see what can be done – a reduction in council tax would be nice, but while my council tax bill covers refuse issues on roads 5 minutes walk from my house, if a paving slab outside my garden needs repairing, it’s Gallions who are called into action. I do wish they’d do a better job of clearing up broken glass instead of apparently putting all their effort into whitewashing graffiti art, but there you go.

While I do begrudge this double payment a little, I can afford it and I want the area to see good levels of upkeep, so I’m making the choice to pay up. People at Thamesmead Residents, however, are refusing to pay and encouraging others to do likewise. Tonight they plan a peaceful protest outside The Link where there is going to be a public meeting with Bexley Council and Gallions in attendance. The group are keen to point out that sometimes residents are charged different amounts, that charges were overturned in the 90s.

I applaud the group for standing up and making their voices heard, but I’m not sure there’s the outcry they believe there is. I notice that the minutes of their last meeting highlight a lack of attendance, and while their Twitter account follows hundreds, less than 70 people have followed them back. I wonder how many people will actually be picketting the meeting and waving a placard tonight. Similarly, I find it hard to take somebody seriously when they embody outrage and encourage me to fill in a questionnaire that repeatedly asks “Where you told” about the charges, and the stories they publish from other residents are barely comprehensible due to a poor grasp of grammar:

This is not a fair charge as i pay council tax the so called charge is incorporated within the rent which is paid for by housing benefit, for those on benefit, so as a home owner and a tax payer paying income tax,corporation tax.council tax, I am already paying. It,is their land not mine GHA do not contribute to the up keep of my land or freehold as I the freeholder am responsible for.

Call me a snob if you like, it wouldn’t be entirely misplaced, and I do have some sympathy, but I will be surprised if these protests achieve anything much. And if they do… well, then what? If I get a reduction in upkeep costs to on my council tax, surely I’ll see hikes elsewhere as I have no doubt Bexley is spending that money. If Gallions are banned from charging me then who is going to cover the cost of the people who fixed the pavement, or the man who drives a little sweeping machine and gets rid of the leaf-fall outside my property? Will anyone ever make the roads stop flooding whenever there’s rain? I’d love to stop paying for things, but I accept that it does appear to be necessary. Help for those on benefits should probably be considered, though.

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