Minutes 9th November 2004

Attendance
Anne Orange. Jane Pickard. Julie Flavell. Chris Pointon. James Slattery-Kavanagh. Clover Williams. Richard Moore. Esia Harding. Rod Brown. Pat Fisher. Ann Ridley. Jeff Avis. Cameron Martyn.

Apologies for absence.
Bernie Bullbrook. Clr. John McConnell. Simon Berlin.

Ann Orange (Chair) opened the meeting and those present introduced themselves and welcomed new members Julie Flavell and Esia Harding and Cameron Martyn Projects Officer of London Borough of Lambeth.

The minutes of the October were read and accepted.

Matters Arising
Tree planting
Lambeth had agreed to allocate £ 500.000.00 and attempts would be made to determine the criteria.
Jeff Avis drew attention to what had been said by Clr John Whelan that some un-authorized tree planting had been carried out in the Borough, and that may account for some of the very low trees planted and their close proximity, such as in Lancaster Av.
St. Lukes Gardens
There have been no developments since the last meeting but Anne outlined the proposals and progress so far for the new members. The next meeting was due to take place on 18th November 2004
Julians Field
Jane Pickard, a member of residents committee, the St Julians Farm Field Association, set up to secure a future for the field, outlined the ongoing situation for new members. She said that there were no firm decisions on the future of the field because the committee was awaiting the outcome of negotiations that were meant to be taking place between the council and the Girls Public Day School Trust. The council officers concerned appeared not to have responded to requests from councillors to initiate these negotiations on a formal basis. Committee members had expressed concern about this. They planned to hold a public meeting in the New Year by which time it was hoped the negotiations would have progressed..
Tulse Hill Survey
Chris Pointon had brought his personal lap-top computer to the meeting and with help from Richard Moore, using the Lambeth Crime Prevention Panel's projector, gave a visual presentation with graphics and text of the results to accompany his commentary (details will shortly be going up on the NAG website). Considerable discussion followed , demonstrating the professionalism of Norwood Action Group before Martyn Cameron presented his Programme of Works for Tulse Hill Station and he will be supplied with a copy.
He firstly distributed copies of the Programme of Work and then went through it item by item and filling in the details. Many of the items reflected the accuracy of the survey and reinforced the necessity of the work, which will be carried out in two stages at a cost of between £54,000.00 and £59,000.00
During the ensuing discussion additional issues were raised such as the obscuring of the field of view of some C.C.T.V. cameras and the type of upgraded lighting that would be installed, particularly in the tunnel and near its exit where the contrast with the outside could be quite dramatic. Richard Moore suggested that John O'Connell of the Metropolitan Police was their expert on lighting and would be able to assist with he installation requirements. Also from the problem of addressing crime at and in the vicinity of the station Crime Prevention Officers had already been effectively involved.
Jeff Avis felt that the situation with disabled access should have been addressed long before this by all parties involved and believed it was their duty by law and questioned where additional funding could be sought.
He felt that it was not necessarily Registered Disabled people that were affected but many others with loss of mobility such as people who had joint replacements.
It was agreed that pressure be put on the Area Committee to pursue this with the utmost concern.

Rod Brown suggested that Norwood Action Group produce an interim report, which should be circulated as widely as possible.

Transport Forum meetings are held at the Town Hall and the next one, in January 2005, will be attended by members of N.A.G.

Any Other Business
Pat Fisher gave a report on the difficulties that had been experienced with the Xmas event in Norwood . It had now been established that money was availablefrom the Norwood Town Centre management, contrary to the original decision, and the event would now go ahead in the lower hall of the library. There is still likely to be a problem finding sufficient toys.

The next meeting will be on 14th December 2004 at Lancasters Wine Bar basement Norwood Road commencing at 7.30pm