Southern Gas takes a breaker to Deptford's new pavements

Remember all those weeks of inconvenience we suffered when the pavements just north of Douglas Way were being renovated? Well this morning it felt like a bit of a deja vu moment as I walked down the high street to find more bloody barriers blocking the pavements and some chap with a jack-hammer carelessly breaking up all the brand new paving stones outside the Vietnamese cafe.

Community garden planning meeting

Public engagement is rife in Deptford at the moment, where we are proving that we don't need expensive consultants or government quangos to encourage us to 'engage with local issues' and 'get involved' with improving our environment.

As well as the ongoing campaigning being carried out by Deptford is.. against plans for Convoy's Wharf, another group of local residents is holding a meeting next with the intention of establishing an organisation to set up and run a community garden on the land that Thames Water wants to use for a shaft for its Thames Tunnel project. The group has already been given a modest grant by the Evelyn Local Assembly to print publicity material, and is hoping the meeting will give more people the opportunity to get involved in the process of establishing and maintaining the garden.

Talking walls project

Right opposite where Peter Anderson's new mural is being painstakingly applied to the wall of Douglas Square, a contrasting mural was today having its finishing touches applied on the side of the Albany.

The Wharves gets planning permission

Lewisham council last week voted to approve a planning application for the redevelopment of the old scrapyards and industrial land bounded by Evelyn Street, Grove Street and Oxestalls Road down on the Pepys Estate.

The council's strategic planning committee granted outline planning permission for the whole site, and detailed planning permission for the first two phases, which are on the southern side of the site, covering plots 1-5 (shown in yellow and blue on this map). This link has the agenda for the meeting which includes a link to the committee report on the application.

Convoys Wharf: planning objections workshop

If you are considering writing a response to the Convoys Wharf planning application, but you just don't know where to start, you might be interested in a new group that has been set up called 'Deptford Is..'

Deptford station progress

Steelwork for the new station building has started going up over the last couple of days, and will no doubt soon give a good indication of the size, scale and location of the structure.

According to the original schedule, completion is due on 2 May 2012. No indication yet as to whether they are on target or not, but the work does seem to be progressing to the schedule they originally set out.

497 New Cross Road

A trip to the south end of Deptford High Street this morning revealed that building work on the site on New Cross Road, right next to the Little Crown pub, has moved on apace after having been stalled for years since Mr Video's old store was demolished. I noticed it as I gazed up at the beautiful blue sky.

Unfortunately what I saw was not beautiful at all - and I recommend those of a sensitive disposition to browse elsewhere right now.

Deptford open house

Don't forget it's open house weekend this weekend - the once a year opportunity to have a good snoop inside public and private buildings, and even homes, that are not usually open to the public.

In SE8 there are four properties open to the public, although tours of the Laban Centre (now labouring under the moniker of the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance) require booking so you've probably missed those.

Deptford community garden plan

The 'Don't dump on Deptford' group who are opposing Thames Water's proposal of using the green space next to St Paul's Church for construction of an access shaft have launched a plan to create a community garden on this bit of land.

They propose to build a community herb garden and orchard on the site, with the intention of beginning before the public meeting with Thames Water on the 15th November.

The organisers say:
"It is hoped that such an immediate and substantial voluntary effort from the community will demonstrate the strength of feeling about retaining this green space and will create a symbolic barrier to Thames Water's proposals. Crucially it will also provide an ongoing focus for the campaign, which might play out over a long period of time, with the garden continuing to raise awareness and galvanise support for protecting this open space.

It is also intended that the garden will go on to provide Deptford with a wonderful green facility long into the future, turning this often overlooked space into a valuable resource that is open to all to visit and to garden in. It is especially hoped that local schools will get involved and that it will become a place for young and old to share the satisfying activity of gardening, growing produce and supporting local wildlife."

With support from a local landscape architect Roundfield, they are putting together designs for use of the space and now are trying to raise funding and support.

On Saturday 17th September the local Evelyn Assembly will be allocating funding for the coming year. The Community Garden is asking for £500 to cover the cost of printing publicity flyers and to kick off a fund for plants and seeds. But they will need to gather enough votes to be selected to receive the funding as they are competing with many other causes. Anyone can support the bid, just turn up at the meeting tomorrow and cast your vote.

Date: Saturday 17th September
Time: 10.30am for registration. (No vote if arriving after 11am)
Location: 2000 Community Action Centre, 199-201 Grove St. SE8 3PG

The organisers are also planning to hold a public meeting at which they will explain their plans so far and invite ideas from local residents about the best way to develop the garden.

A date has not yet been set but if you are interested, keep an eye out on the local blogs and we'll keep you informed.

Twinkle Park events

Volunteers cleaned up Twinkle Park yesterday - with a few surprises by the looks of things! - in readiness for a series of events planned for the month ahead.

Twinkle Park, Borthwick Street,Events Deptford SE8 3HZ

Saturday September 17th
Twinkle Park: 11am – 4pm
Composting
How to build a functional composting system.
Help rebuild the Twinkle Park composting system
Led by Alan Scott, Complete Ecology Ltd & Twinkle Park Trust

Saturday September 24th
12 – 3pm: Pond Dipping & Pond Maintenance
Family day to pond dip, identify pond life.
Led by Alan Scott, Complete Ecology Ltd.

Thursday September 29th
Gardeners Question Time.
7 – 9pm Armada Hall, 21 McMillan St. Deptford SE8 3EZ
Bring your questions to a panel of experts
Alan Scott, Mara Crippa, Mick Bomfield

Saturday October 1st: 1 – 3pm
Twinkle Park & Charlotte Turner Gardens
I-spy walk led by Maralyn Bossick.
Meet 1pm in Twinkle Park

Saturday October 15th
11am – 1pm Greenwich River Walk
Meet: 11am Twinkle Park led by Maralyn Bossick

For further information contact:
Vicky 020 8691 3332 or Carol 020 8473 7006

Deptford lounge shines through

KayeJ recently left a comment on this post asking if there were any updates on the Deptford Lounge project, so this blingtastic photo is for you.

This was taken on one of those stormy days last week when late afternoon sunshine caught the shiny stuff on the front of the building. Kind of apocalyptic isn't it? And I'm afraid to report that the children of Tidemill School will not be moving to their new school this term, as originally planned.

I've included another picture to reassure those readers who no longer live here, and who recall Deptford fondly, that traffic fuckwittery still rules supreme on this particular stretch of road.

That's it for now. I'm leaving the 'ford for a week or so to breathe a bit of fresh air and walk on pavements free of chicken bones. See you soon.