No sooner has The Co-Op announced the closure of its convenience store at the Blue in Southwark Park Road, than they have submitted a licensing application for a new store at 346 Rotherhithe Street (site of the Pizza Lounge / The Compass / The Three Compasses).
Author Archives: SE16.com
Tall buildings at Canada Water: council leader questioned
Watch Cllr Anood Al-Samerai (Southwark Lib Dem leader) question Cllr Peter John (Labour leader of the council) about the impact of tall buildings at Canada Water and elsewhere in the borough.
The video is from the Council Assembly meeting on 16 March.
David Cameron visits Harris Academy Bermondsey
Bermondsey might not be normally be associated with its love of Tory politicians, but prime minister David Cameron certainly received a rapturous response from Harris Academy Bermondsey pupils when he dropped in on Monday morning.
If Justin Bieber had visited the Bermondsey girls’ secondary school he would scarcely have caused more of a stir than the prime minister.
Pupils crowded round Mr Cameron during the mid-morning break and clamoured for autographs and selfies.
The PM’s visit was to launch a £12 million Government initiative to promote mentoring schemes in secondary schools.
Once the scheme is up and running, Downing Street claims that 25,000 young people a year who are at risk of under achieving or dropping out from education will receive extra support from “high-flying professionals”.
Harris Academy Bermondsey has run a mentoring scheme for its pupils for a decade. Employees from several Southwark-based firms – including News UK, PwC and the Financial Times – act as mentors to girls preparing for GCSE exams at the Southwark Park Road academy.
Harris Academy Bermondsey is part of the Harris Federation of schools founded by the Conservative peer Lord Harris of Peckham.
Sadiq Khan makes manifesto pledge to back Rotherhithe bridge
Labour mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan has published his manifesto – and it includes a pledge to support a bridge across the Thames between Rotherhithe and Canary Wharf.
Mr Khan says he will “work to break down some of the city’s physical barriers, such as by backing the Rotherhithe-Canary Wharf cycle and pedestrian bridge”.
Southwark Park community allotment to share in Tesco plastic bag windfall
The CGP community allotment in Southwark Park is to receive a grant from the Tesco ‘Bags of Help’ scheme – but shoppers will determine how much cash the garden receives
Tesco has allocated £30,000 to community projects in and around Southwark in the second round of its Bags of Help scheme, funded by the proceeds of the mandatory 5p charge for plastic carrier bags introduced in England last autumn.
The amount each project receives will depend on where it is ranked in a public vote against two others: £12,000 will be granted for first place, £10,000 for second and £8,000 for third.
Customers in Southwark stores will receive a token at the checkout and be asked to place it in the box of the project they favour the most.
The three contenders are:
- Melior Street Garden, SE1
- CGP Community Allotment in Southwark Park, SE16
- Somerville Kitchen Garden, Lee SE12
Voting continues until Sunday 6 March in the stores listed below.
Participating Tesco stores in Southwark
- Tesco Extra – Surrey Quays
- Tesco Superstore – Old Kent Road
- Tesco Metro – Tooley Street
- Tesco Metro – Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre
- Tesco Metro – Jamaica Road
- Tesco Express – Tower Bridge Road
- Tesco Express – The Cut
- Tesco Express – Borough Road
- Tesco Express – Great Suffolk Street
- Tesco Express – New Kent Road
- Tesco Express – Long Lane
- Tesco Express – Camberwell New Road
- Tesco Express – Peckham
- Tesco Express – East Dulwich
- Tesco Express – Queen’s Road Peckham
- Tesco Express – Southwark Park Road
- Tesco Express – Walworth Road
- Tesco Express – Camberwell
Southwark Park Road Day Centre to move to East Dulwich
Southwark Council has launched a consultation on proposals to close Southwark Park Road Day centre for elderly people with dementia and complex needs
Details at www.southwark.gov.uk/southwarkparkdaycentre.
The service will be moved to Fred Francis Day Centre in East Dulwich until the council’s new centre in Cator Street, Peckham, is ready in two years’ time.
1964 news clip of ships being loaded at Surrey Docks
The caption in the AP Television collection says: “Sacks of dry milk powder are loaded onto ship bound for Bombay as aid to Indian people suffering from famine. The ship is loaded at Surrey Docks.”
Ofsted boost for Compass free school
The Compass free school in Bermondsey has had a boost with a positive report from Ofsted.
Last July inspectors gave the secondary school a ‘requires improvement‘ rating – the second lowest possible grade.
In January, Ofsted inspector Madeleine Gerard carried out a monitoring visit to the school.
Her letter to headteacher Lauren Thorpe has just been made public.
Ms Gerard wrote:
You, senior leaders and members of the governing body have wasted no time in tackling issues for improvement. Working effectively together, you have put your energy into taking action to bring about improvements. You have a clear vision and coherent and strategic plans, which address the key priorities.
TfL warns of Canada Water crowds during 9-day East London line part-closure
TfL has warned that Canada Water Station is likely to be (even) busier than usual.
Rotherhithe broadband update from Southwark Council
It’s nearly two years since the last local elections. The Southwark Labour manifesto included a pledge to “bring superfast broadband to the Rotherhithe peninsula” and next week the Borough’s cabinet will receive a progress report.
In her foreword to the cabinet report, Cllr Fiona Colley writes:
This report provides Cabinet with an update on the work the council is doing to bring superfast broadband to the Rotherhithe peninsula.
Crucially a constructive working relationship has been established with BT Openreach, a major provider of broadband infrastructure, who is now offering a combination of solutions to improve broadband coverage in Rotherhithe.
BT has committed to the deployment of new green boxes, which bring fibre cables and improved connection speeds and will deliver superfast broadband to an additional 4,000 homes in Southwark, with a particular focus in Rotherhithe, by 31 March 2016.
BT and the council are also proposing to run a pilot in a number of council housing blocks in Rotherhithe where BT will install smaller, condensed versions of green boxes in the building. This is new technology and is known as Fibre to the Internal Cabinet (FTTIC). If successful we will look to expand this provision to more estates.
A Rotherhithe Broadband working party has been established which includes officers from the Planning and Highways departments as well as Housing & Modernisation. The group will manage liaison with BT Openreach (and potentially other broadband infrastructure providers) and push for speedy and complete deployment of fibre cabling in Rotherhithe and elsewhere in Southwark.
Overall good progress is being made in improving broadband services but we are still some distance from the 100% coverage that we are seeking and so our work continues.