Community efforts get Planters ready for Spring!

Volunteers came out on Sunday to get the Ladywell Village planters ready for Spring.  Many seem to think these are a Council responsibility, but they're not - these eight planters are stocked and maintained by you and I, the local community.  Yesterday the planter outside the tattoo shop - which was vandalised in February - was repaired, refilled and restocked.  The other planters were tidied up and a few other plants added.  Over the next few months the plants should thicken up and more will bloom.   Looking after the planters takes ongoing effort, however, and the lack of any easily accessible water supply is a problem, so our Ward Councillors have been enlisted to see if the Council might help find a solution.  In the meantime please do feel free to wander along with a watering can!
Robert Sheppard 

Sign LVIG's empty property petition

Please click on http://lewisham-consult.limehouse.co.uk/portal/petitions/ladywell_village_improvement_group to sign our petition which reads: " We, the undersigned, petition the Council to take urgent, concerted and robust action (i) to compel and encourage the owners of vacant/unoccupied retail and residential premises in Ladywell Village to bring these back into use; and (ii) where a letting isn't possible for any reason, to keep the premises in a reasonable state of repair, especially where visible from the public highway (e.g. the especially prominent and poorly maintained empty flats above Coral bookmakers). We seek this in order conclusively to reverse the decline of Ladywell Village as a local retail centre and to foster a greater sense of local pride in the area, which the Council only last year designated as a Conservation Area."

'The Ravensbourne Arms' to open this Summer

We hear that the Former 'Coach and Horses' at 323 Lewisham High Street (opposite St.Mary's Church) is to open this Summer as 'The Ravensbourne Arms'.  It seems it has been acquired and is being refurbished by the Antic Group (http://www.antic-ltd.com/) who run Jam Circus on Brockley Road.

Fi Collett, Antic's Events Manager, tells me "we are more than proud of the 6 Cask Marques that we currently hold and we hope to increase that to every pub in the group - but as I’m sure you are aware, they are not handed out lightly!  We stock 3-4 regular and guest ales and will soon be starting our own brewery so that we can also add our own stock to that list.  Children are more than welcome in our pubs until 8pm (although exact times vary - it is down to the manager) and we encourage young mums in the early afternoon with great coffee and light lunches.  I am afraid I don’t know yet if that will apply to the Ravensbourne Arms as we haven’t yet worked out the need for lunchtime opening in Lewisham!"

Sounds like good news all round.  Watch this space for info on opening date.

Empty Property and Playtower update for our 16 March meeting

There's still a nip in the air but the bulbs are coming out, so LVIG reckons Spring is here. The last few months have been busy ones in Ladywell so we've arranged for some exciting events and talks for March.  We very much hope you can join us at one (or both!) of the following:

A public meeting on Wednesday 16 March at the tank gallery - http://tankgallery.weebly.com/ - at the rear of the Ladywell Tavern from 7.30pm.  There's level/wheelchair access via Slagrove Place, to the side of the Tavern.  We'll be joined at the meeting by Lewisham Council's Empty Property Officer, Nick Long.  Empty properties are one of LVIG's key areas of interest and we are very much looking forward to hearing from Nick. We have also arranged for potential trustees of the Playtower to come and tell us the latest about their work - so all in, the meeting should be a really interesting one.

Our second event for March is one which has proved very popular and great fun in the past - we'll be donning our gardening gloves for a Community Planting Day to spruce up the planters. We are still in the midst of organising it but it will be held on Sunday 27 March and we'll have more details soon, but save the date in your diary.

Residents want CPZ extended

Local residents have urged the council to extend the Ladywell controlled parking zone to cover Embleton Road which they say is now suffering increased congestion. A petition calling on the council to reconsider the road’s exclusion from the local CPZ  implemented last year was presented to this week’s full council meeting. Residents who helped organise the petition said the road had been left “to bear the brunt of commuter parking” and was now heavily congested during weekdays. When the consultation on the CPZ was first undertaken residents voted not to be included. But some now say they did not realise the implications of being excluded from the parking zone and want the council to look at it again.

Ladywell Fields progress

Many of you are, doubtless, users of Ladywell Fields and will have been following with interest progress on the 'Parklands' improvements to Ladywell Fields, now scheduled for completion this April.  For recent photos (some of variable quality - apologies!), or to become a friend of Ladywell Fields on Facebook, see www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48838&id=100001380559134&l=7979cffe22.  A lot has been achieved in a short time and there's a lot of bare soil at present, but this should green-up naturally from now through to the Summer.
Robert Sheppard