NEWS FLASH Traffic calming consultation - have your say

A range of traffic calming measures have been proposed for the Fentiman Road area - including Albert Square, Wilkinson Street, Fentiman Road and Bolney Street. You should have received details and consultation papers by post, although not every household has received them. If you haven't received these papers, copies are available at Tate South Lambeth library and the Stockwell Partnership offices on South Lambeth Road. "The consultation paper is the scheme we have been working for, in collaboration with residents in and around Fentiman Road," says Neil Sanders, chair of the Albert Square and St Stephen's Association. "We have strongly supported the concept of the 'residential cell', which looks at the whole area between us and Fentiman Road, the South Lambeth Road and Clapham Road. "This is now a state-of-the-art scheme for the whole residential area, and will be executed with the best-quality materials." Neil says that the Lambeth Opportunity Fund-backed scheme "is the best we can get to reduce the volume of traffic through our area and slow down and control what remains. It has been agreed by the police and other emergency services, which is a most important achievement." Residents should feel free to make suggestions for improvements, he says, such as to counter the loss of several parking spaces. "I know that there are some people who see no need at all to interfere with the free flow of traffic past us. However, I for one am determined to live on a race-track no longer and will be voting in favour!" says Neil.
"Vote to kill the speed!"
The closing date for responses is Thursday 27 October.

Joanna unveils plaque to Arthur Rackham (June 05)

Local celebrity Joanna Lumley became 'Queen of the fairies' to unveil a plaque to well-known illustrator Arthur Rackham in Albert Square on 7 July. Local children in fairy costume fetched Joanna from her home nearby to unveil the plaque. She said she'd grown up with Rackham's illustrations, which had help develop a love of fairies as a child. Arthur Rackham (1867-1939) lived at number 27 from 1882 to 1885, and was a student at the Lambeth School of Art on Kennington Road. The Albert Square and St Stephen's Association funded the plaque, and Anne Stevenson Wright, Rackham's great-niece, and Robin Greer, president (Europe), Arthur Rackham Society, attended the ceremony. Current resident of number 27, Charles Glanville, said: 'We were very excited when we discovered that Arthur Rackham once lived here, particularly as my mother has a book of fairy stories illustrated and signed by him, which my sisters and I were read as children.' Association chair Neil Sanders opened the event with a minute's silence for the victims and families of that day's bomb attacks in London.

Neighbourhood watch (July 05)

This Association is also the neighbourhood watch committee for our conservation area. We are delighted that the Metropolitan Police have switched their emphasis back towards local initiatives and putting more officers on the beat. Our new home beat officer is PC Samantha Dyson. Her colleagues in the wider neighbourhood are PCs Clare Tonkins, Dave Bryant and Claire McNama. Watch this space for more about plans to revitalise our neighbourhood watch. Meanwhile, take the usual precautions - leave nothing of value visible in your car or in the windows of your house, and lock up when you go out. If you see someone who may be committing a crime, dial 999 at once. If you want to talk about something less immediate, call the home beat office on 020 8649 2512. For something in between, there is the Metropolitan Police operations centre on 020 7230 1212.

Street lights (July 05)

Lambeth Council intends that all the conservation areas in the borough will be re-lit over the next five years. We'd like to be first in the queue, so don't ignore lights that are not working - make sure the Council knows there is a problem. If a street light near you is not working, call the Streetscene number - 020 7926 9000 - to report it and ask them to give you a job number. Then, if it still isn't working in a week, phone again. You can also email to: streetcarecallcentre@lambeth.gov.uk

Aircraft noise (July 05)

The government has just published a consultation paper on night flights into Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted. The closing date for responses is 16 September, and it will set the rules for 2006-2012. You can get a copy from the Department of Transport (020 7944 8300; www.dft.gov.uk). As with previous stages of consultation, the paper is highly technical and the questions are set up so that it is very difficult to work out what would be best for us. You can also get a short summary from the HACAN website - www.hacan.org.uk A key point is that the proposals would increase the number of night flights into Heathrow. Please do send a response to the Department of Transport - email nr-stagetwo@dft.gsi.gov.uk - and maybe start it by saying something along the lines: 'We are regularly woken up by flights arriving into Heathrow from 4.20am. It is morally indefensible and must be economic nonsense to allow hundreds of thousands of Londoners to be woken up in the early hours of every morning for the convenience of a small number of travellers coming in jumbo jets from the Far East.' If you are willing to help in organising a local campaign on this subject, please contact Neil on: Neil@nsanders.demon.co.uk (020 7735 4706).

Traffic island will make junction safer (April 05)

Those of you who live near the junction of Aldebert and St Stephen's Terraces have probably noticed the increasing numbers of lorries doing U-turns in the junction, often at considerable speed and going straight over the pavements. Lambeth's Cycling Officer spotted the dangers to cyclists at this junction, and the Association has enthusiastically discussed with him his ideas for putting an island in the junction and drawing out the pavements to make the area safer for everyone. We will not lose any parking spaces. Work should start shortly.

New beat police (April 05)

Our new beat officers are Claire McNama and Rob Harrison. They can be contacted on 020 8649 2512.

Albert Square bench (April 05)

The bench which the Association gave to the Square is back in place after extensive refurbishment by local charity Roots and Shoots. We now have a maintenance contract with them.

Arthur Rackham plaque (April 05)

Many of you may have seen the recent exhibition at the Tate Library about Arthur Rackham's work and life in South Lambeth. The prime mover in commemorating our connection with this famous book illustrator is Olga Leapman, and the Association is pleased to be backing her idea for a more permanent memorial in the form of a plaque on the house where he lived in Albert Square. An application for listed building consent is at present with the Council: watch this space.

Thumbs down to Freemans site plans (April 05)

Following unanimous opposition from local residents' organisations (including ASSA) and local councillors, Lambeth Council has now resoundingly turned down the proposal for a massive, mixed development at the Freemans site on Clapham Road. It is suspected that Freemans will appeal to the Secretary of State. This will almost certainly involve a local enquiry, but not for about a year.

Royal Albert housing plans (April 05)

The Royal Albert pub has made planning applications to build homes in the back garden, and to convert the upper floors into flats, with a first floor extension. The plans are in the Tate Library, reference numbers: 05/00039/FUL; 04/03743/FUL/DC_TMI. Please let us have your views on these applications.