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Author: Chair

Ground Breaking! Work on new Forest Hill pools starts officially

Lewisham Mayor Sir Steve Bullock, Cllr Chris Best Cabinet Member for Community Services and Mark Tant MD of Willmott Dixon Construction

The start of building work on the new Forest Hill pool site was officially marked on 21 February by a ground breaking ceremony carried out by the Lewisham Mayor, Clllr Chris Best and Mark Tant MD of the Willmott Dixon Construction Group.

Willmott Dixon has already commenced work on the new pool and leisure centre in Dartmouth Road at the beginning of January. For more details see:

http://www.sydenhamsociety.com/2010/12/builders-willmott-dixon-to-start-work-at-forest-hill-pool-in-january-swimming-by-september-2012/

Join the new Greyhound’s enewsletter group

The new Greyhound is all set to be opened in October under the ownership of the Antic Group. A competition is currently being run for a design to decorate the rear exterior wall of the pub. When the pub is opened the tiles which once graced the side entrance to the pub willl be incorporated into the interior of the pub itself and the two greyhounds which once stood on either side of the entrance to the pub will be reinstated.

If you want to join the  enewsletter mailing list for the Antic group, send an email to  fi@antic-ltd.com    A contact button will shortly appear on the Antic website for further information. www.antic-ltd.com

Whew that’s a relief! Kirkdale shop changes its name

Sydenham wags have been stunned by a local store’s sudden change of name. The brilliantly titled Sydenham Convenience in Kirkdale (whose name attracted a number of ribald comments from locals) has recently changed to The Best One store. So if you want to spend a penny in Kirkdale, you now know where to go!

Very, very small riot breaks out as Mayor approves cuts

Lewisham’s Mayor and Cabinet meeting on 17 February to approve £80m of cuts over four years began at 10am – a time recommended by police to avoid the scuffles and smoke bomb of the two previous cuts meetings. The earlier time and a strong police presence seemed to do the trick.

In what Mayor Steve Bullock called a “meeting in public” rather than ” a public meeting” those members of the public entering the Civic Suite were subjected to full body “pat-downs” and a search of belongings. The half a dozen or so protestors who did manage to get into the meeting had to resort to a few desultory shouts plus throwing a number of badly aimed paper planes towards the Cabinet table. After about an hour the protestors decided to leave.

In a meeting that lasted the best part of  five hours, the Mayor approved presentations by officers which will lead to £80m of cuts in the borough over the next four years.  Telllingly, the Mayor made a number of exceptions to the cuts on the basis of submissions made to him by individuals and groups who attended the meeting.

Lewisham Mayor asks community groups to run threatened libraries

At the Mayor & Cabinet meeting on Wednesday 17 February, Steve Bullock took the decision to close five threatened libraries at Sydenham, New Cross, Blackheath, Grove Park and Crofton Park. He instructed officers between now and the 28th May to seek detailed bids from groups wishing to run the affected libraries and report the outcome in due course to Mayor & Cabinet.

The Mayor’s decision needs to be approved by the full council meeting on the 1st March, although this may be regarded as a mere formality given the relative strength of the Labout group at Lewisham.

The four groups who have expressed initial interest in running Sydenham Library are: Exam Success Education Centre Limited; Eco Computer Systems; John Laing Integrated Services Ltd and SociaCapita Solutions.

For more details of the four bidders see http://www.sydenhamsociety.com/2011/02/officers-report-recommends-closure-of-five-lewisham-libraries-four-groups-apply-to-take-over-sydenham-library/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wonderfullycomplex/4271914513/sizes/z/in/photostream/

Lewisham Mayor’s February newsletter

Celebrating apprentices

I got a taste of the role of a sports coach apprentice, training pupils from Kelvin Grove Primary school in football skills, to mark the start of National Apprenticeship Week (7-11 February).

Later in the week 36 Lewisham apprentices graduated in a special ceremony held at the Town Hall. Their graduation was the culmination of two years of hard work on the job and in the classroom. Every one of them is an absolute inspiration to others, and a great advertisement for what young people in Lewisham can achieve.

 Go to Millwall’s website to see the apprentices (and me) in action.
 The search for Lewisham’s local leaders  

I’m delighted that the Council will again be teaming up with Operation Black Vote to run a second Civic Leadership Programme to nurture Lewisham’s future leaders. The project aims to increase Black and Minority Ethnic participation in all areas of civic and public life. This unique scheme gives individuals from under-represented parts of the community the opportunity to develop the skills that will enable them to take up key roles in public life. We’ve already seen some extremely talented individuals emerge from the scheme and I encourage others who also want to help build even stronger communities to get involved. 

Remembering Ron 

Last week I attended the funeral of Cllr Ron Stockbridge. Ron was a great servant to Lewisham and he will be missed by his many friends all across the borough. I feel Ron’s passing personally as he was one of the first councillors I got to know after being elected in 1982. 

Ron was someone to whom we younger councillors looked to leadership and inspiration. He was Leader of the Council from 1984-1985 during the most difficult year Lewisham has ever experienced as a council. The fact that he continued to serve his borough for so many years afterwards is testimony to Ron’s decency and commitment. His good humour and friendship will be sorely missed – it is hard to think of Lewisham without him.

 Budget update 

Mayor and Cabinet will meet on 17 February to consider final recommendations on the budget. Savings totalling some £8.8m will be considered by Mayor and Cabinet. More than half of these would be achieved by making the Council more efficient. The Council continues to protect services to the most vulnerable as much as possible – 6.5 per cent of savings come from services that protect children and 5.5 per cent come from services that care for adults and older people. Decisions on the budget continue to be informed by the results of consultation with the public (including Our Lewisham, Our Say) and with service users and stakeholders. Full Council will meet on 1 March to set the budget.

Lewisham Life to your inbox

 As part of our budget savings we are reducing the number of issues of the Lewisham Life magazine that we print. However, we will be transforming this enewsletter into the Lewisham Life monthly. 

Sir Steve Bullock, Mayor of Lewisham
More about the Mayor

Now you can join the Sydenham Society using PayPal, Visa or debit card

Joining the Sydenham Society has now been made easier. Just click on the Join Us for £6 per year button on the front page and take it from there.Don’t worry if you don’t have a PayPal account – PayPal allow you the option to pay by Visa or debit if you want. It’s only £6 pa for an individual (includes partner) or £5 pa if you are a senior citizen.

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