Funding awarded for improvements in Dartmouth Road

The bid for £113,000 from the Mayor of London’s High Street Fund has been successful. The bid was submitted by SEE3, V22, and Lewisham Council with the support of the Forest Hill society.

The funding will help improve public space on Dartmouth Road and will help to develop a long-term cultural strategy. Plans include animating the underused spaces outside Forest Hill library, Louise House and Forest Hill pools, to ensure they are a key feature of the place.

V22 have also received Arts Council funding to renovate the old laundry at Louise House and the rear garden. The plan is that in a year from now there will be an integrated space around the library, Louise House and the pools that will provide a welcoming area for a range of events, markets and other community activities.

This grant adds to the £600,000 from Transport for London for pedestrian and road improvements from the library to the junction with the South Circular. The initial concept design work is now underway to see how the public realm can be improved with views being sought on areas such as parking arrangements.

More details from the South London Press.

Local History Talk - Wednesday 25th March

The Forest Hill Society has organised a Local history talk by Steve Grindlay following the publication of his new book ‘Sydenham & Forest Hill Through Time’.

The talk will take place on Wednesday 25th March, 7:30pm. At The Hob pub (opposite Forest Hill Station). Entry is free to members and non-members.

Steve is a great speaker and his talks are always illuminating and well attended. If you want to know anything about the history of Forest Hill you should come along.

Life is better in South London

Talk London have produced a survey of Londoners with over 3,600 people taking part. This paints a positive picture of many aspects of London Life, but particularly in South London.

They provide data divided by area of London and the results in South London stand out in a few areas. Below are a few of the areas where South London stands out. It shows that South Londoners like their local area more than other Londoners like their area - only Central Londoners come close to the 83% satisfaction rate. South London is more than 7 percentage points ahead as a pleasant place to live.

South Londoners feel safer walking in their local areas both during the day and at night, during the day this is up at 95%. They see the best relations between different ethnic and religious communities, and more generally they see local people working together to make the place better.

However, on the issue of roads South Londoners see less improvement and investment than other areas of London. 47% of South Londoners have seen no improvement in roads 'circling outer London' (there was not an options to say it has got worse) and only 10% have seen any reduction in congestion - less than any other part of London (again there was not an option to say it has got worse).

Question	Response	Central	East	South	West	North
How satisfied or dissatisfied are you with your local area as a place to live?	Very or Fairly satisfied:	82.1%	69.8%	82.7%	69.5%	72.5%
My local area is a pleasant place to live	Agree:	76.3%	69.1%	83.6%	70.3%	74.2%
There are good relations between different ethnic and religious communities in my local area	Agree:	51.7%	51.3%	57.1%	51.9%	55.5%
People in my local area work together to improve the neighbourhood	Agree:	37.0%	37.3%	41.6%	38.2%	37.7%
How safe do you feel walking alone in your local area during the day	Very or quite safe:	90.6%	91.4%	95.1%	88.6%	88.1%
How safe do you feel walking alone in your local area during the evening	Very or quite safe:	62.8%	55.2%	69.5%	55.7%	58.5%

Question	Response	Central	East	South	West	North
Thinking about how you get around London, have you noticed any improvement in roads, and if so how much? - Road routes circling outer London	not at all:	27.1%	36.5%	47.5%	41.4%	44.8%
Thinking about how you get around London, have you noticed any improvement in roads, and if so how much? - Road congestion	A lot or a little:	14.8%	14.2%	10.4%	15.6%	15.4%

All figures come from the London Datastore.