Lambeth Council have begun installing seven new electrical vehicle charging points (EVCPs) across Myatt’s Fields as part of a programme that will see 116 installed throughout the borough.
Cllr Paul Gadsby and Cllr Annie Gallop, local Myatt’s Fields Councillors, said:
“We are delighted that more EVCPs are being installed in Myatt’s Fields, and more widely in the borough, as there is clearly rising demand for these charging points as more residents switch to electric vehicles. This also forms part of a growing, greener form of transport infrastructure in our area; following our lobbying, increasing numbers of cycle storage units are being installed.
“While these new installations are good news, we will continue to push for even more in the years ahead.”
The new points are being installed at these locations:
Vassall Road, outside number 102
Paulet Road, outside number 210
Akerman Road, outside number 48
Mostyn Road, outside number 7
Upstall Street, outside number 16
Burton Road, outside number 15
Normandy Road, near the blue plaque to Cherry Groce
Nineteen new council rent homes on the site of a former care home in Myatt’s Fields will be completed in the Spring, according to Lambeth Council.
The development on Cancell Road will include two four-storey buildings and five terraced two-storey houses, together with associated cycle parking and green landscaping. Besides the 19 new council homes for families on the borough’s housing waiting list, 12 homes are being built for private sale.
The Council will consult with the community about the names for the new blocks, which take the place of the vacant Patmos Lodge care home, shortly.
In addition, the contractor building the homes for Lambeth, Stack London, has teamed up with a training provider which offers employment courses, employment opportunities and careers advice to unemployed 16 to 24-year-olds. This is aimed at anyone who wants a career in the construction industry. If any resident would like any more information regarding this, please email rlo@stacklondon.co.uk
Local residents in Myatt’s Fields will have their opportunity to quiz their area’s local police team at this month’s Safer Neighbourhood Panel meeting.
The gathering is held regularly by local police officers to update the community on the most recent community safety issues in the area: it also provides a platform for residents to be able to put their questions and views to the frontline police team. The meeting is open to all local residents.
Details of the meeting for this month are:
Location: CHURCH MANOR ESTATE OFFICE, (Training Room) VASSALL ROAD, SW9
A range of restrictions has been imposed on the proposed controversial redevelopment of the Lilford Road Business Centre following lobbying by local residents and Myatt’s Fields’ Labour team.
The development is likely to bring new jobs to the area and create a fresh start for the dilapidated buildings at the business centre. There are also proposals to create new green landscaping around the site and install sustainable travel infrastructure for employees, like bike storage sheds.
But many residents were concerned that the original proposals would have allowed delivery vehicles to move to and from the site for more than 100 hours each week which could mean a huge increase in traffic in the heart of a residential area that Lambeth Council has acknowledged is a congestion and pollution hotspot.
The restrictions were imposed by the Council’s Planning Committee at its most recent meeting. Cllr Paul Gadsby told the committee:
“I want to focus my comments tonight on a real concern in the community about an increase in traffic from this application.
“The applicant is proposing a window of 16 hours every weekday when vehicles can move to and from the site: the Council’s transport assessment suggests that peak hour movements will increase by 60%, this will result in hundreds of extra vehicle movements to and from the site each month, perhaps thousands over the course of a year. And while the developer has ruled out pleasingly the use of takeaway deliver firms in response to the community’s concerns, it hasn’t ruled out grocery or other high intensity delivery outfits: this model being pushed by developers across London is causing chaos in other residential areas, like Lilford Road, where residents are subject to increased noise, congestion and pollution, especially from speeding motorbikes.
As a result of the campaign by the community and councillors, the committee approved the application but placed more than 30 conditions on the development to address the community’s concerns.
They included:
Tough monitoring procedures to ensure the applicant abides by the delivery hours approved by the committee.
A requirement for the developer to appoint a “community liaison officer” who would be on call to answer any concerns raised by local residents.
The conditions also confirmed that delivery hours would be limited to 7am to 11pm weekdays – down from the 24 hour delivery window originally proposed.
So called “dark kitchens” (takeway food outlets) would be barred from operating on the premises.
Responding to the outcome of the meeting, Cllr Gadsby said:
“Cllr Gallop and I want to thank local residents, MPs and community groups, including the Lilford Road Action Group and the Brixton Society, for the huge amount of effort they have put into improving these proposals.
“We did not get everything we wanted and would have liked to have seen further reductions in delivery times to and from the site, however, the plans have undergone a lot of change from the original proposals from the developers last year. This includes tougher traffic restrictions on the businesses using the site to rule out the very worst high delivery businesses which are unsuitable in a residential neighbourhood. We acknowledge that the developer has also listened to local residents, with a number of the changes made voluntarily by them following a lengthy period of discussion in the past six months.
“However, we will be watching the development as it progresses. The planning committee spent more than two hours debating the traffic points made by residents and councillors: it is now over to the developer and Lambeth’s Building Control Team to make sure the promises made at the committee are upheld, especially those relating to ensuring there no adverse effects on local roads and pollution from the site.”
Roaside parking spaces in Myatt’s Fields are set to be handed over to residents to be converted into an outdoor community area.
Local neighbourhoods are being asked for their ideas to make streets greener and cleaner as part of Lambeth council’s new ‘parklet’ programme, supported by the Big Shift development fund.
Parklets are car parking bays that are repurposed to become public spaces that can be enjoyed by everyone. Each Ward in the Borough will get one, including Myatt’s Fields.
Residents can submit their designs for their own local community parklet, which they would help to maintain. They could include creating new social spaces with tables and seating, extra cycle storage or new green space. Residents are also being asked to nominate areas where they would like to see a parklet.
Cllr Rezina Chowdhury, cabinet member for Sustainable Lambeth and Clean Air, said:
“Parklets are a great way to create spaces where people can meet, socialise, and make neighbourhoods more pleasant by increasing greenery.
“Parklets can play a huge role in bringing people together whether it’s to sit down and have a chat or work together to tend new community gardens.
“We want as many local people as possible to tell us why their areas could benefit from new public space.”
Local councillors Paul Gadsby and Annie Gallop said:
“Myatt’s Fields has a rich history of the community driving forward gardening, bio-diversity projects and green space improvements. Across our neighbourhood we have many parks, allotments, planters and gardens that are there because local people care and invest in them – with Myatt’s Fields Park being a particularly shining example.
“We encourage residents to come forward with ideas and suggestions for the parklet project: in 2021 we successfully lobbied the Council to refurbish the Cowley Road and Vassall Road junction with new cycle paths, green planters and level accessways. This is the kind of seemingly small scale transformation that can make a real difference to the local area. So, please get your ideas in to the Council!”
Find out more about the Community Parklet Scheme and submit your designs before the deadline on May 28.
Local residents will have an opportunity to raise any issues, opinions or concerns they have about community safety in Myatt’s Fields at a Safer Neighbourhood Team meeting in April.
The meeting, organised by the ward’s police team, is open to all residents and will review local anti-social behaviour, crime and community safety issues in our area.
April’s meeting will be held on Wednesday, 26 April, 7-8pm at the Myatt’s North Community Centre.
If you are unable to make the meeting and have a local community safety issue to raise, please feel free to contact your local councillors here.
Lambeth Council is encouraging residents to suggest locations for the new electrical vehicle charging points that are set to be rolled out across the borough in the next few years.
Myatt’s Fields is to get a share of a multi-million pound investment by Lambeth Borough Council aimed at boosting sustainable travel across our communities.
Called ‘The Big Shift’, it follows a campaign by councillors Annie Gallop and Paul Gadsby calling for action to address serious traffic-related issues, including rat-running and heavy congestion. The councillors welcomed the move and thanked the authority for taking notice of the many residents who supported their campaign.
Launching the new funding programme, Lambeth Council said:
“The climate crisis and the rising cost of living pose very real threats to the livelihoods of people who live and work in Lambeth today. If we are to meet those challenges head on and create a more equal borough for all of us, we all need to make changes in our lives – including in how we travel around Lambeth. That’s why we have launched The Big Shift – a £17.7 million investment which brings life to Lambeth Labour’s ambitious plan to cut air pollution, reduce road danger, support access and mobility, and help people choose public transport, walking, cycling, and scooting more often.
“Over the coming months we will announce new school streets, more protected cycle lanes, a huge increase in bike storage for residents, more electric vehicle charging points, community grants for local greening projects, investment into micromobility hubs, parklets and new walking routes, and seven new Low Traffic Neighbourhood schemes. We are also supporting local businesses to make the transition to making deliveries by e-cargo bike, in partnership with Peddle My Wheels.”
Myatt’s Fields is one of the target areas that will receive part of the investment: this followed a campaign by Cllrs Paul Gadsby and Annie Gallop which highlighted a variety of traffic problems in the community, including congestion on Loughborough Road, speeding around Myatt’s Fields Park and rat running along Patmos and Akerman Roads. Recently, councillors handed in a survey of more than 200 residents about these issues and organised a walkabout in the area for Cllr Rezina Chowdhury, Cabinet Member for Sustainable Lambeth and Clean Air, to see first-hand some of the worst hotspots and meet local residents. Lambeth Council’s research has identified parts of our ward as suffering from the worst traffic related problems in Lambeth.
Cllr Paul Gadsby and Cllr Annie Gallop said:
“It is really positive news to see that Lambeth has acknowledged the problems on our local roads: we are particularly grateful to Cllr Chowdhury for listening to residents who contributed to our recent surveys and for visiting Myatt’s Fields to meet residents who have to live with dangerous driving or heavy congestion on a daily basis.
“Lambeth Council has given us a pledge to work with local residents to find how best to use the new funding, with discussions beginning in the next financial year.”
More information about the “Big Shift” can be found here.
Local councillors have urged council tenants on the Lothian estate area (formerly the PACCA TMO area) to reject proposals from a for-profit company to take control of their homes.
The Greater London Authority (GLA) has approved an application by PACCA TMO Limited and Vision Homes (Lambeth) Ltd, a for-profit company, to conduct a ballot on the future ownership of the council properties on the Lothian Estate area. If they are successful in the ballot, the homes will be transferred out of the control of the local council and will be run by Vision Homes.
In a letter to council tenants, Lambeth’s Cabinet Member for Housing, Cllr Maria Kay, laid out the reasons why residents should be concerned about these proposals and vote no in the upcoming ballot: you can read her letter in full here.
Myatt’s Fields councillors Annie Gallop and Paul Gadsby have backed Cllr Kay’s comments, saying:
“These proposals have already caused a great deal of alarm in the community: we have received numerous communications from residents who are deeply concerned about how this has happened
“If successful, it will be the first time anywhere in the country where a for-profit company has taken control of council homes in this way. Vision Homes (Lambeth) Limited are a “for profit” company with no track record in owning or managing social housing. They will be able to charge residents more for their services and could pass on control of the housing, and the land on which it sits, to another organisation without a ballot.
“Although only council tenants are able to vote in this ballot, leaseholders in the area will have their lease transferred to the for-profit private company in the event of a “yes” vote”. We do think it is very unfair that leaseholders are unable to vote owing to the rules laid down by very badly drawn-up national legislation.
“We urge residents to make sure they vote No, in this important ballot: its outcome will have an impact on the daily lives of everyone in the Lothian estate area.”
A date for the ballot has yet to be set, but is likely to be in the next few months. Council tenant and leaseholder properties affected by these proposals are on the following streets:
Lothian Road (Dalkeith House, Silverburn House and Bathgate House)
Langton Road
Frederick Crescent
Myatt Road
Halsmere Road
Patmos Road
Tindall Street
Elliott Road
Cancell Road
If you worried or confused about this proposed takeover and want to know more, you can contact your local councillors Paul and Annie here – and give us your views on the proposals here.
Lambeth Council’s new Child Friendly Lambeth initiative will be holding a consultation event in Myatt’s Fields asking for young people’s views on what improvements and priorities they would like to see from their council.
In its mission statement, Child Friendly Lambeth states:
Lambeth are embarking on an ambitious three to five-year programme to be recognised as a UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK) Child Friendly Community.
This borough-wide partnership programme will see participation from the local authority, schools, community and faith groups, voluntary and community sector organisations, local businesses, police, health providers and commissioners.
The consultation event will be held 12:00 – 16:00, Wednesday 10th August 2022 at Myatt’s Fields South Basketball Court, London, SW9 6SN.
Myatt's Fields Labour 