The Rushey Green Local Assembly
Monday 25 October2010
7-9pm
Rooms 1 and 2 Civic Suite
Catford Road SE64RU
Minutes of the Meeting
Welcome, introduction & format for the evening
Cllr John Muldoon (Chair) welcomed everybody and introduced the agenda for the evening which was in the following format:
- Our Lewisham, Our Say
- Break for refreshments
- Rushey Green timebank
- Assembly Update
- Mayor’s Fund feedback
- Community Updates
Our Lewisham, Our Say
Lewisham Council senior officers Liz Dart and Peter Gadson presented a Power-point presentation outlining the Our Lewisham, Our Say consultation exercise which was currently taking place throughout the Borough. The Council is facing reductions of around £60 million over the next 3 years and will need to fundamentally change the way in which it delivers services in the future. The reasons why the Council needed to make savings were explained at the meeting and Liz and Steve responded to a number of concerns from residents.
There were questions concerning the future impact on spending and in particular the proposed redevelopment of Catford Town Centre. Liz and Peter were hopeful that the budget proposals will not have an adverse effect on the Catford Town Centre redevelopment. However, there are likely to be further cuts in 2011/12, 2012/13 and subsequent years and the impact on capital programmes is unclear at present. The Council remains committed to the redevelopment programme and will aim to secure maximum funding from central government sources.
There were further questions asked about what the Council was doing to improve efficiency savings as a means of reducing overall expenditure. Liz and Peter explained that the Council had already made £27 million efficiency savings in previous financial years and will continue to do so in the future. There was a freeze in Council tax for the next 2 years and officers salaries has also been frozen over the same period. Other potential savings are also being considered. The Our Lewisham, Our Say team will continue to consult residents on their views and this will be a regular item at future meetings.
There was a final question concerning right to buy receipts as a potential revenue stream. Peter answered this specific point. He explained that this formed part of the Housing Revenue account which is ring fenced for Council housing purposes only. In the past the Council achieved significant sums through the sale of public sector properties which could be used to build or improve other properties. However, there were fewer than 10 properties sold in 2009/10 and the previous government had substantially reduced the discounts. There were currently no plans by the coalition government to change the discount rules and it is not expected that revenue will be increased in the coming years.
The coordination group (chaired by Cllr Muldoon) had previously met and decided that cleaning the borough, adult social care and supporting children and families were important issues for Rushey Green. The meeting then broke into groups to discuss these issues, results of which were sent to the Mayor for consideration at the next Mayor and Cabinet meeting on 17 November.
Break for refreshments
Cllr Muldoon reconvened the meeting at 8:20pmfollowing the refreshment break. He began by expressing his disappointment at the lack of progress relating to the no- cycling signs which were agreed at a previous assembly meeting. It was also noted that a number of areas in Lewisham had ‘Welcome signs’, most recently at Hither Green. Cllr Muldoon said that he would like to see similar signs erected in Rushey Green and he will be asking council officers to investigate this further.
The formal business of the meeting restarted with a presentation from the Rushey Green timebank.
Rushey Green timebank
Sue Burbidge spoke briefly about the Rushey Green timebank community gardens project. One of the purposes is to promote the benefits to health both physically and mentally that can be gained from both the growing and planting of vegetables and fruit. The plan to develop the land for community use has been granted in principle by site Landowners, Leathersellers via ColfesSchool. Groundwork London have visited the site and have expressed an interest in establishing a partnership agreement. A site meeting has been arranged with the Facilities Manager from Colfes on Friday 26 November 2010to discuss boundaries and formal agreements.
Assembly Update
John O’Reilly was introduced to the meeting as the new local assemblies coordinator for the Rushey Green ward. John began by thanking the community, in particular the ward councillors and members of the coordination group, for making him feel welcome since taking up the post in August 2010. In addition, John will manage the neighbouring wards of Ladywell and Lewisham Central.
John’s immediate task will be reviewing the local ward priorities, a process which was started by his predecessor Jason Fleming. Jason had gathered approximately 80 priority review forms outlining resident’s top 5 priorities for the assembly to address over the next 2 years. In addition, a number of local organisations have been contacted for their views and these include the Rushey Green timebank, Irish Centre and Lewisham Bowls Club. The overwhelming view of the survey was that there needed to be much wider priorities that addressed a number of issues under each heading. This would enable the assembly to develop a robust action plan and decide who can best contribute to the problem solving process. The new priorities for Rushey Green were proposed as follows:
- Improving the built environment
- Traffic
- activities for younger people
- anti-social behaviour and crime
- activities for older people
A discussion of the new priorities followed and a vote was taken at the meeting. It was decided by 22 votes to 6 to adopt the 5 new priorities listed above. These will be in place for a period of 2 years.
Mayor’s Fund reports
In 2009 the Rushey Green assembly voted to give £50,000 of the Mayor’s Fund to a number of local community organisations. These have been invited back to identify how the money has been spent.
LewishamYouthVillage( Mohammed Ruhamani)
Muhammed reported that the Mayors Fund allocation of £10,000 assisted a number of young people aged between 13 and 19 years of age. The services are available Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays evenings and are supported by Baseline. These included children excluded from main stream secondary schools and this was useful in their emotional and physical development. Activities include indoor/outdoor sports and arts and crafts activities. Muhammed thanked all the organisations concerned and looked forward to working closely with the assembly in the future.
Artefacts Edutainment (Yvonne Philip)
Yvonne thanked the assembly for the award of £5,000 which was used to provide activities for young people over the easter holidays and summer half term. The Irish Centre in Davenport Road was used to provide many of these activities and the organisation also works closely with the AHOY centre. Artefacts has an excellent track record of providing activities for BME groups and works with a variety of partners to achieve its objectives. For example, they undertake a number of intergenerational activities in the Downham and Whitefoot wards.
Youth Aid (Mary Dalyrmple)
Mary reported on the success of the young leaders opportunity which received £3,500 of Mayors Funding. The organisation has been established since 1992 with the motto of ‘learning by growing and doing’. Youth Aid which is located in the Rushey Green area, are able to offer 10 fully funded (£350 per young person per year) places on the Young Leaders Programme. As a result of attending the programme the young people will develop improved motivational skills, engage in volunteering and by doing so increase their choices for employment education or training.
Foundation for Life (Gifford Sutherland and Denzle Howell)
£10,000 was awarded for the purposes of an interactive empowerment programme for young people who reside in the Rushey Green ward.
An invitation was extended to Gifford and Denzle which they accepted via e-mail. They did not attend the assembly and no apology was received on their behalf. Cllr Muldoon expressed disappointment on behalf of the assembly at their non attendance at the meeting.
Community Updates
Cllr Peggy Fitzsimmons reported the success of the partnership to reduce the number of street drinkers in the Rushey Green area. The Council has been working closely with the Safer Neighbourhood Team and the NHS to identify workable solutions, and all parties are congratulated for their continued support for this initiative.
Cllr Fitzsimmons also spoke about the Positive Ageing Council which will shortly be launched. This properly constituted body will be able to forward issues of interest to older people directly to the Mayor and Cabinet. Residents who are 60 years and over will be eligible to take part and there will be 2 representatives from each ward. This is an exciting new initiative aimed at promoting the interests of older people in the Borough. Any interested people were invited to speak with Cllr Fitzsimmons after the meeting.
There were 2 other community updates received as follows:
London and Quadrant is now the largest social landlord in the ward having acquired a number of properties from Lewisham Council. They will be carrying out a community audit and look forward to working with the assembly in the future. Further information can be found by visiting
The Rushey Green timebank haverecently celebrated their 10th anniversary and have a drop in service on the last Wednesday of every month (between 2pm and 4pm) in addition to a poetry group and parents and toddlers group. Please visit for further information.
Closing comments and next steps
Cllr Muldoon (Chair) concluding proceedings by thanking all the presenters for giving up their time to attend the meeting, in particular the organisations who provided feedback on how the Mayors Fund was spent last year.
The next meeting of the Rushey Green assembly will take place on Saturday 15 January 2011 in Rooms 1 and 2 of the Civic Suite. The meeting will start at 1pm and finish no later than 3pm. There will be a report on the outcome of the ‘Our Lewisham, Our Say’ consultation exercise and the impact this will have on the Councils budgetary position. There will also be further information about the Mayor’s Fund for 2010/11. An invitation will be sent to all addresses in the Rushey Green ward approximately seven working days prior to the meeting.
There being no other business the meeting was closed shortly after 9pm
No declarations of interest were made at the meeting
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