EQRA has long campaigned for better local bus services.  The 343 will take you to Elephant and London Bridge but you have no other choice from Southampton Way or Wells Way.  If you want to get into the City or West End, you have to change (and pay again if you don’t have a bus pass or Travelcard).  This area needs a better choice of local transport services!

If you haven’t already signed the petition, click here

Over the last 2 years EQRA has raised this problem on a number of occasions with TfL.  Disappointingly, TfL have responded that they are satisfied that capacity is adequate.

We have now compiled a video which might help to challenge TfL’s view.

Watch this video on YouTube.

If you find you are being left behind by the 63, or have any other problems with our local bus services, please complain to TfL – and keep complaining every time it happens as this will help maintain the pressure to sort the problem out.  TfL’s contact details are:

phone: 0845 300 7000 (Monday to Friday, 8am to  8pm)

web: www.tfl.gov.uk/contact

“Dear resident,

Following the serious disorder in the borough please be aware of the following updates as of 6pm Tuesday 9 August:

Many services have been affected. This includes all libraries, all leisure centres, waste and recycling collections, all one stop shops and some cash offices. We have been aiming to operate a full service as normal and will continue to do so.

The police are asking parents and guardians to know where there children are and for them to be at home this evening. Any spectators of criminal activity are also asked to go home as they were hampering police operations last night

The Met has issued safety information for business during this difficult time.

Cllr Peter John, Leader of the council has said: “Today I visited Peckham and listened to residents’ concerns over the violent disturbances yesterday evening. We are working with the police and other community groups to keep our borough as safe as possible, and I would like to praise the extraordinary efforts of the police, volunteers and local people who have demonstrated the strength in our community. The spirit of the people of this Borough will triumph over the disgraceful actions displayed by a mindless minority.”

A sincere thank you to everyone who generously offered to volunteer in the clean up. We are working hard to ensure business continues as usual and that our borough is as safe as possible.”

Everyone is welcome, although children should be accompanied by a parent or carer.  Why not join in?

Meet at the top of Surrey Canal Walk, in the section of the park between Trafalgar Avenue and Glengall Road (more-or-less behind the Galleria) at 1pm (until 3pm).

To download an information leaflet (.PDF format), click here

If you were at our AGM in January, you will have seen the presentation from Toby Maclean, who bought the long-derelict building in 2009.  Toby’s vision is to restore the building, adding an extension while opening a café on the ground floor.

Restoring the building, which is believed to have lain derelict since the 1980s, is not going to be a quick job but Toby hopes to have the café open in 2012.  We look forward to the opening party 

If you haven’t yet seen what is planned for 149 Southampton Way, take a look at the website:

http://www.149southamptonway.com/

Southwark Council are consulting on proposals to introduce a licensing system for sex establishments across the borough.

In brief, the proposals are that sex shops, sex cinemas and sex entertainment venues will be required to be licensed, but licences will not be granted for establishments:

•  in residential areas;
• near schools, parks or other facilities used by children;
• near community facilities or places of worship.

Licences will state the permitted opening hours – with no venue permitted to open on Sundays, Good Friday or Christmas Day.

Southwark’s draft policy will also specify how many venues of each type can be licensed in each council ward.

EQRA will be responding to the consultation.  We propose to support the council’s plans.  Respondents can also say how many venues of each type should be permitted in their ward.  We intend to say “none” of all three venue types in Peckham ward – not because we’re prudes (honest!) but because this is a residential area.

We will need to respond by the end of this week (sorry for the short notice) – please use the “leave a reply” link if you have any points which you would like us to take on board.

Residents can also respond individually to the consultation – it’s on the council’s website at:

http://www.southwark.gov.uk/info/200063/licences/282/licensing_update

The jobs fair, organised by Peckham Community Council, will offer:

• One to One support on finding and keeping a job
• Help with writing a CV
• Advice on training and skills development
• Information about further education and university courses
• Support with starting a business or enterprise
• Employers looking to recruit staff
• Opportunities for volunteering and participating in the Hour Bank scheme

The Jobs Fair will be followed by a meeting of Peckham Community Council from midday until 2pm.

TfL’s proposal is to increase the peak hour service from a bus every 6-7 minutes to a bus every 6 minutes, with one more extra journey in the morning peak.  That’s it – no other changes to frequency at any other time.

We have again stressed the lack of direct links from North Peckham to Central London; the need to pay two fares to get into town and the poor provision of public transport in this area.  We have nevertheless acknowledged that the 343 does provide a useful direct link for local residents who work in the London Bridge area.  We are taking the line that, rather than putting yet more buses on the 343, TfL should be putting a second bus route on along Southampton Way to offer a wider choice of destinations (including a link into town).

Many thanks to everyone who responded to our recent questionnaire – your feedback has helped to shape our submission.

Our full submission (a 1MB PDF file) can be downloaded here

Under TfL’s initial plans, there were no displays proposed for any stops in North Peckham, but EQRA made some recommendations via Southwark Council.  The total number of displays for each borough had already been decided, so we identified a couple of bus stops elsewhere which were planned to receive the displays but which we believe are less well-used than stops in this area.  Following discussions between the Council and TfL, two of our recommendations have been accepted.

We understand displays will be installed at Southampton Way (Sedgmoor Place bus stop) and Wells Way (Cottage Green bus stop) for buses towards Elephant & Castle and City Hall.  The programme for installation starts from Spring next year and won’t be finished until Summer 2012, so it could still be a year or more before the displays are actually fitted.  Nevertheless, we are assured they are on their way.

We would have liked to have seen displays fitted at the Southampton Way Estate stop too, as well as at the very heavily-used stop for routes 63 and 363 at St George’s Way, but haven’t managed to get these stops onto the list to be fitted.  We will try to keep these stops on TfL’s radar.

Please help us by filling in this survey – it should only take 2 minutes :