Queen’s local representative

Stockwell skatepark facelift

Stockwell Skatepark, close to Brixton town centre, is to get a half million pound makeover to smooth worn-out and rough concrete surfaces and add modern skating features.

The park on Stockwell Road, which is free to use, opened in 1978 and attracts skateboarders, BMX bikers and other riders of all ages and abilities from a wide area.

Lambeth council, which owns the site, said it had worked closely with the Friends of Stockwell Skatepark (FOSS) and local residents on the refurbishment which is due to start on 4 April.

The council said the improvements will significantly improve the experience for all types of riders, with an improved flow around the park, a more inviting space for beginners, and refreshed seating.

Betongpark, one of Europe’s leading skatepark design and construction firms, will do the work. It is expected to take four months with re-opening scheduled for the end of July.

Brixton BMX Club, whose main track is in Brockwell Park, are also involved in the project.

Donatus Anyanwu, Lambeth council cabinet member for the voluntary sector and leisure, said: “Stockwell skatepark is really valued by both the council and the community, so I am delighted that this important improvement Rueben Goodyear at Stockwell skatepark Photo Wig Worland

project will soon start.

“Engaging with the community has been central to this project and I thank everyone who has been involved for giving up their time so willingly, and their passion for the project.

“We have really worked hard to get this right, factoring in the needs of different users so the end result will be a really inclusive skatepark for all to enjoy.”

Other improvements will include a new family friendly and accessible viewing area.

To support community use, the London Marathon Trust has given £10,000 towards sessions for local schools, Lambeth residents and disabled users for when the park re-opens.

Some of this money also will go towards skateboarding courses, including specialist instructor training for people with disabilities.

Daphne Greca, from FOSS, a community association that works to protect and promote the Skatepark, who has campaigned for the refurbishment, said: “Stockwell skatepark is loved by so many people, and it’s such a valuable site for so many reasons,” she said.

“It boosts wellbeing, gives young people an exciting way of exercising – but, more than that, a community has built up around the park which is just brilliant.

“The park sits in the middle of an incredibly diverse, heavily built-up area where opportunities for free outdoor exercise and socialising in a safe space for our young people are in short supply. The park is currently run down, the surface is bumpy and its features are out of date.”

The project will be funded using contributions from developers for local projects worth £180,000, including £100,000 from Network Homes, a housing association that has built new flats next to the skatepark, £110,000 from the London Marathon Trust, and further funding from the council.

Daphne Greca: ‘Stockwell skatepark is loved by so many people, and it’s such a valuable site for so many reasons’

Council planning ‘bee roads’ to re-wild borough

Lambeth council has won £440,000 from the Greater London Authority (GLA) to create 10 miles of wildflower patches, rain gardens and new woodland to boost urban biodiversity.

The two-year series of rewilding projects across the borough – called “bee roads” by the council, will replace turf on selected roadsides, roundabouts and other under-used public spaces with native wildflower meadows.

This is intended to create “linear habitat” for butterflies, bumble bees and other pollinators.

The council said the project would also include the creation of rainwater ponds on housing estates, making new habitats for frogs, toads and newts and species such as dragonflies.

Its proposal was based on working with “local community champions” to create a network of re-wilded patches on formerly unused or underused land alongside major roads.

Council leader Claire Holland, who, launched a borough climate action plan on March 21, said the funding would transform many different parts of the borough, “making our public spaces more biodiverse and better for the wellbeing of our residents”.

The GLA grant is from its Green and Resilient Spaces Fund, part of the Mayor of London’s “green new deal”, which invests in projects that enhance resilience to climate change.

Several Lambeth parks already have wildflower meadows that help preserve native species of plants and wildlife, including butterflies and bumblebees. Thames Water is an active partner in the plans to create self-sustaining rain gardens that improve drainage and reduce flood risk.

On St Matthew’s Estate in Brixton the council plans to create a permanent and a seasonal pond by diverting rainwater from the roofs of people’s homes, as part of a new countryside walk – a natural screen from the busy Effra Road.

Outside La Retraite School in Clapham Park, the council plans to build out from the school entrance to help calm traffic and make the road safer – and plant the new public space as a wildlife habitat.

A rain garden with pavement planting is planned for the Tulse Hill Estate.

In the long term, the council plans to replace grass with five new roadside wildflower meadows and two areas of woodland .

More than 100 people have offered to volunteer with Lambeth Bee Roads. To be added to a general volunteering list for the project, email parks@lambeth.gov.uk, stating ‘Lambeth Bee Roads’ in the title.

Christopher Wellbelove in his role as Lambeth Mayor in Brixton

Former Lambeth Mayor appointed as Queen’s local representative

By Iona Cleave

Christopher Wellbelove, former Mayor of Lambeth, has been appointed Deputy Lieutenant for Greater London representing Lambeth.

Wellbelove held a seat on Lambeth council for 16 years, and is one of the few councillors to have served as Mayor of Lambeth twice.

In his new role, he will act as the Queen’s representative in Lambeth, assisting the Lord-Lieutenant, Sir Kenneth Olisa OBE, in serving London’s communities.

It is a position that recognises those who have long served their community through public life and through charitable or voluntary services.

“It’s a massive honour,” says Wellbelove. “The Lord-Lieutenant is very keen in making the lieutenancy more representative of the community and he picked me as someone who has long worked for Lambeth council and lives here.”

He hopes now to raise awareness of his role. “Organising royal visits to the borough is a key part, and so is making people aware of the Lieutenancy – what it is and what it can do for the local area.”

And, what does Brixton mean to the near Deputy-Lieutenant? “Brixton is the heart of Lambeth and a special place for the Royal Family,” explains Wellbelove.

“When it comes to royal visits, I will be really pressing to highlight the different community organisations and businesses in the area.”

Wellbelove is already well-known in the community for his commitment to supporting mental health services, including the Mosaic Clubhouse mental health charity on Effra Road in Brixton.

He will continue to support these charities in his new role, and hopes to look for ways to make connections between different community groups in the area and have their voices heard.

“I do regular reports for the Lord-Lieutenant and his office, and it would be useful for me to make sure that Brixton is well and truly in those people’s minds at all the time,” he says.

“As mayor I’ve met hundreds of people who work so hard in the community, and I want to make their cases and get more people like that put forward for awards.”

St. Martin’s Estate tenants (l-r) Janet, Grace, Dennis and David

Tenants launch water charges refund campaign

Tenants of the three housing associations that run the St. Martin’s Estate in Tulse Hill are campaigning over refunds for water charges that can amount to several hundred pounds.

They say the associations – Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing, Optivo and Notting Hill Genesis – are only refunding residents from 2004 rather than 2001. as tenants of Lambeth and other local councils have been.

The refunds arise from a national arrangement between Thames Water and social housing providers that was the subject of a High Court case following three years of campaigning on the issue by tenants.

St Martin’s campaigners have letters from the associations fobbing off their complaints without explanation after being sent from one department to another when querying refunds.

Tenants have also been told that the refunds will only be paid into their rent account and not by bank transfer or cash.

With the help of community organisers at High Trees Community Development Trust, they are taking collective action on the issue.

Optivo resident Janet Blake said: “When we owe the money, they’re practically breaking down our door. Now it’s the other way around and they just don’t care.”

Vanessa Simpson, also an Optivo resident, said: “This is a nice area and we all really get along. It’s a shame the housing association doesn’t do its job and help the people it’s supposed to. That’s why we have to make them.”

In March last year, Lambeth council announced that it had started legal action against the three St Martin’s housing associations over their failure to tackle serious damp conditions on the estate.

The announcement came after six years’ campaigning by tenants who had, again, been fobbed of and also blamed themselves for the damp because of their “lifestyle” and “behaviour”. A high-trees.org/community-action

Brixton prison ‘set up to fail’

Brixton prison and its inmates are being “set up to fail” by changes to the prison service caused by Covid, an independent report has warned.

Brixton is officially a resettlement prison, preparing people coming to the end of their sentence for release.

The annual report on the prison for the year ending in August 2021 by its independent board said that pressure on local prisons and changes to the flow of offenders through the prison system meant men were arriving at Brixton from local prisons without passing through training prisons, some very soon after being sentenced.

This, and Covid restrictions, meant that Brixton “could no longer function effectively as a resettlement prison”.

The process was “setting up both these prisoners and the prison to fail,” the report said.

The Prison Act 1952 requires every prison to be monitored by an independent board appointed by the government from members of the community in which the prison is situated.

Award for local MP

Local MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy has been named as the 2021 Newcomer MP of the Year by the diversity and inclusion charity Patchwork Foundation.

The Labour MP for Streatham, whose constituency includes parts of Brixton, was recognised for her work championing under-represented communities at the foundation’s awards ceremony in Westminster.

MPs are nominated for the awards by the public and winners are selected by independent judges.

Bell Ribeiro-Addy was recognised for her efforts to combat digital exclusion among children and to help them to continue their education through the pandemic, as well as her championing of refugee rights and inclusion in her constituency.

She said it was an honour to receive the award.

“It’s not been an easy time to come into the job, so I’d like to thank everyone in my team for their hard work and support, not to mention the wider Streatham community.”

Lifesaving defibrillator in Brixton McDonald’s

Brixton McDonald’s is now home to a potentially lifesaving community public access defibrillator.

Installed by franchisee Terry Eagle, it could help save a life if someone nearby suffers a cardiac arrest.

The unit is available to the public and all emergency services 24 hours a day.

All McDonald’s managers are trained in CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation).

Terry Eagle, who will be installing more defibrillators in the seven restaurants he owns across South London, said: “We’ve been considering installing a defibrillator for some time, and as the economy has reopened and the night life scene is back to being busy, we decided this should be installed.

“We hope it’s never used. However, if it is used and saves a life, it will be money well spent.

“Being a community hub, it’s already received a lot of positive attention and created awareness – no one could say where there is another one in the town.

“We want to ensure that our community can rely on us.”

Brixton McDonald’s staff with the defibrillator: (l-r)Melinda Lonyai, business manager; Norca Amparo, customer care; Zak Moshie, shift runner; Tatiana Leon Salguero, crew member; John Berry, customer experience leader

Brixton-Harlem festival planned for August

The Brixton Business Improvement District (BID) is working on a “Brixton X Harlem” festival in August this year as part of the twinning scheme between it and the 125th Street BID in New York.

The Harlem community’s 125th Street district is one of the most significant and important landmark streets in the city and carries the double name – Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

It is the home of the world-famous Apollo Theatre and the Hotel Theresa where Fidel Castro chose to stay in 1960, as did Malcolm X, and poets Langston Hughes and Allen Ginsberg. Today it is a hive of business activities and tourism.

Barbara Askins, president of the 125th Street BID, said, “Harlem and Brixton have similarly rich histories and are well positioned for important and positive change and growth.

“One of the main initiatives that we are both involved in is to begin framing a new streetscape.

“We are very excited by the possibilities offered through this new friendship which we helped broker, and all of its promise.”

New pastor for Brixton

Brixton Seventh-day Adventist Church recently welcomed their new minister, Pastor Richard Daly. He has been in full-time ministry for 27 years where he has pastored churches in Bristol, Gloucester and London.

He has a passion for working in the community and has served in local community initiatives and leadership projects.

He has extended his ministry outside of the church as a hospital, prison and university volunteer chaplain and served as an Olympic Games chaplain working with athletes.

Richard Daly is an avid reader and the author of 16 books. He is married to Maxine and together have three young adult boys. A For service times and more information about the Brixton Seventh-day Adventist Church, visit: brixtonsda.co.uk

Affordable workspace

Lambeth Council is inviting applications for affordable and supportive workspace projects for the second round of its £8 million Future Workspace Fund.

Organisations can apply for grant and loan funding for workspace projects that support growth in the council’s priority sectors – life sciences, low carbon and creative and digital – by safeguarding, enhancing or providing new affordable workspace.

The first round of the Future Workspace Fund committed £2 million to support four workspace providers to establish or grow themselves in Lambeth, including 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning on Railton Road.

The second phase will increase the number of diverse workspaces on offer, provide grants for feasibility projects and will assist Lambeth’s economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Local charity bids to break the bias

Brixton’s Baytree charity, which works alongside many families experiencing various difficulties and has a mission to support women and girls, is participating in the Big Give Women and Girls Match Fund campaign this year.

This aims to encourage young girls and women to #BreakTheBias of stereotyped gender expectations and turn their aspirations into reality. An important part of this campaign is that all donations are doubled by the fund A thebiggive.org.uk/s/

women-and-girls-match-fund

Stonewall award

The LGBTQ+ equality charity Stonewall has named Lambeth as a Stonewall Silver Employer for its commitment to LGBTQ+ inclusion at work. Stonewall’s Top 100 Employers list ranks the best LGBTQ+ inclusive workplaces.

New Gold, Silver and Bronze Stonewall Awards are part of its Bring Yourself to Work campaign, which highlights the importance of inclusive work environments.