Camberwell Business Network and Theatre Peckham invite all local businesses to attend the next FREE Business Brunch: Creative Approaches to Local Opportunities on Thursday 4 July, 10-11.30am.

This is a chance for businesses to come together to build relationships, develop networks, share best practice and exchange skills in the heart of the community. SE5 Forum for Camberwell will also present its latest projects to boost Camberwell’s identity and support the local economy.

If you’d like to attend, please contact Simone Watson, Head of Events, Theatre Peckham:
simone@theatrepeckham.co.uk or tel: 0207 708 5401.
Theatre Peckham, 221 Havil Street, SE5 7SD. 

This event is a partnership between SE5 Forum’s Camberwell Business Network and Theatre Peckham.

Camberwell Banners – support our Spacehive campaign!
www.spacehive.com/camberwell‐banners.

Support inspiring Camberwell lamppost banners from Denmark Hill station to Camberwell Green and get a free Travel Guide to Camberwell 2019 – the essential companion for those in search of the real SE5.

SE5 Forum, Camberwell Arts and Camberwell Society have got together to design new Camberwell Identity projects with the local community (banners, murals, floor vinyls at Denmark Hill, travel guide to Camberwell and more) to encourage visitors, boost the high street and celebrate the unique vibrancy of our area.

Now we’ve launched a fundraising campaign for one of our projects – Camberwell Banners – on Spacehive and we need your help! With your pledge, this can happen!

Thanks to all of you who’ve pledged so far. With your amazing generosity, we managed to get 150 people pledging by 18 June. This was the amount we needed to reach for the Mayor of London to consider matchfunding the project – we will find out soon if we’ve succeeded. Meanwhile, our Camberwell Banners campaign will keep running until 12 August, so keep those pledges coming in by sharing and tweeting about it.

Some of our favourite shops are closing in Camberwell ‐ Cruson grocers, GX gallery, and Pesh flowers. Yet 5 million patients use King’s College Hospital and more than 3 million pass through Denmark Hill Station every year. Camberwell Banners will install raised lamppost banners along Denmark Hill to lead visitors to the hospitals and station down the high street to discover the wonderful cafes, shops, restaurants, businesses, green spaces and galleries of Camberwell.
Go to: www.spacehive.com/camberwell‐banners & pledge from £2

Thanks also to those who gave feedback at our stall during the Camberwell Arts Festivals launch on our Camberwell Identity design ideas which will inform the final banners design.

Many thanks for your support.

The next free Camberwell Business Network (CBN) engagement and networking event – in association with SE5 Forum for Camberwell – takes place next Thursday 25 April 6-8pm at Theatre Peckham. ALL local businesses are invited to attend for FREE. 

The event (the second of three free events) is being facilitated by our CBN Engagement Officer Oli Polidore Perrins as part of his brief to create an active business network, support business growth in the area and create an improved retail experience for locals and visitors. 

Businesses will be able to hear presentations and get advice from councillors, brand experts and SE5 Forum representatives, as well as finding out more about the Camberwell Business Network.

SE5 Forum will also be giving a presentation on its current Camberwell Identity project, and how this will support local business. The CBN event will be chaired by our SE5 Forum board member and business lead Will Reeves.

Any business representative who would like to attend this exciting business event, please see details below on our business invite and contact Oli on: cbn@se5forum.org.uk

Camberwell Police Station closure. How safe do you feel? Southwark News wants your views. 

Local newspaper Southwark News has approached SE5 Forum to get local Camberwell residents’ views on the closure of Camberwell Police Station, with local teams no longer to be based there (in March).

The newspaper is keen to have your views on local community safety and policing.

If you’d like to give your views to Southwark News, you can reply to this email with your full name and any brief quotes you’re happy for Southwark News to use.

We will email this on to the newspaper (if you’re interested in passing on your phone number, too, you can – and the newspaper may contact you further).

DEADLINE: THIS MONDAY (morning at latest)

Many thanks for your contributions.

SE5 Forum’s board members and other volunteers are currently working hard together on initiatives to strengthen Camberwell’s identity – to help increase awareness and interest in the area and encourage improvements for residents, visitors and businesses. We are collecting people’s views on the area to inform our work.

SO we are reaching out to you, our community, to ask you for your thoughts and input!

We’d be very grateful if you could take a few minutes to fill in our short survey. This quick anonymous questionnaire asks you to tell us what you like/don’t like about Camberwell, what improvements you’d like to see, what facilities you use, etc.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO GO TO OUR ONLINE SURVEY.

OR PRINT OUT the survey and bring it to the SE5 Forum stall on Saturdays on Camberwell Green between 10am and 2pm.

If you would be interested in taking part in any future informal focus groups on Camberwell’s identity, or would like to just tell us more, please email: admin@se5forum.org.uk

MANY THANKS FOR YOUR HELP

SE5 Forum objects to TfL’s proposed bus changes

SE5 Forum’s transport working group has worked with local consultant Jane Bevis to create a strong, well-researched objection to TfL’s proposed bus routes changes. We, and many others, believe the changes in services will have a hugely negative effect on Camberwell’s transport links.

Our response was submitted to TfL’s consultation earlier this month.
You can read it here: TfL Bus Consultation (SE5 Forum)

Just some points in our response:
• As a result of the proposed changes Camberwell will have lost 3 direct cross-Thames connections, 171 between Elephant & Castle and Holborn; 45 between Elephant & Castle and King’s Cross; and 40 between Elephant & Castle and Aldgate.
Bus travel times to central London will be lengthened further by the removal of direct cross-Thames bus services and the need for interchange.
• Vulnerable and disabled people, wheelchair users, carers with pushchairs and the elderly are expected to disembark at Elephant & Castle where the 171 and 45 will terminate and the 40 will be re-routed.  TfL estimate this will affect 7,300 journeys per day.  This busy hub has few facilities (no toilets, few seats and limited bus shelters), is dangerously exposed to the cycle lane on the northbound side, and is already over-crowded as one of the most popular hopper fare interchanges.  8
• Repeated failures over 80 years to invest in Tube, rail and tram services connecting Camberwell with central London, means most residents are reliant on bus services.
• Overcrowding at Denmark Hill.
• No reopening of Camberwell train station.
• TfL is failing in its Public Sector Equality Duty in the way it has assessed its proposals and their impact on Camberwell residents.
• SE5 Forum objects in the strongest terms to TfL’s proposals to reduce and re-route direct cross-Thames bus services from Camberwell. They are based on flawed data and fail to recognise the significant socio-economic and equalities issues affecting Camberwell and its residents.

SE5 Forum has written to Southwark and Lambeth councillors and MPS, urging them to mobilise a campaign against these proposals by TfL; some already are. Some SE5 Forum members also lobbied Southwark Council and TfL at the Camberwell Community Council meeting last week. As a result, TfL is now willing to meet with us to discuss these bus route changes, and Peter John, leader of Southwark Council will meet to discuss how to move forward with the reopening of Camberwell train station.

Have your say on transport in Lambeth

Lambeth Council has launched its transport strategy and is asking the public to respond. As well as an online consultation, there will be a public event on the strategic direction of transport planning in the London Borough of Lambeth for the next 20 years. Borough transport policy officers will present their plans, and there will be opportunities for questions and discussion.

Time and location: Tuesday 27 November 2018, 17:00-19:30 (drop-in session)
Lambeth Town Hall, 1 Brixton Hill, London SW2 1RW

The event will focus on the content of the following two documents, which are currently in draft form:

Transport Strategy (see document)
The Transport Strategy is a document outlining the strategic direction of transport planning in Lambeth for the next 20 years. At the heart of the Strategy is the aim to ensure that the transport system is accessible to all, allows us to lead healthier lives, tackles inequality and cleans up our air.

Local Implementation Plan (see document)
The Local Implementation Plan (LIP) complements the Transport Strategy, providing additional detail. It provides a background to the borough including challenges and opportunities. It also contains a three-year programme of investment alongside local targets and indicators to enable the plan to be monitored.

To register, please visit the Eventbrite page here.
Eventbrite tickets are not mandatory, however entry will be prioritised to those with tickets in case the event is over-subscribed. Tickets also enable us to estimate the number of attendees so that we can book appropriate facilities.

Commenting online
If you are unable to attend, or if you wish to submit your comments online, you can complete the Transport Strategy Survey on Lambeth Council’s consultation page. Deadline: Monday 17 December.

Lift at Loughborough Junction train station

SE5 Forum has lent its support to Loughborough Junction Action Group’s funding application for a lift at Loughborough Junction train station to create equal access for everyone. The local community has long been concerned that Loughborough Junction is not accessible to people with disabilities and with buggies. The lift is needed on equalities grounds to enable access by the local community, particularly the elderly, disabled and parents with buggies as well as visitors to Kings College hospital.

SE5 Forum members recognised in Southwark Stars Awards 2018

SE5 Forum is pleased to announce that Mark Webb (below), long-term volunteer and Chair of the Camberwell Green Safer Neighbourhoods Team Ward Panel, has won the Keib Thomas Award for Active Citizen of  the Year from Community Southwark for his committed voluntary work on community safety, including accompanying the Met Police on local knife sweeps. Earlier this year, Mark raised £328.48 in a donation from The Co-Op in Camberwell towards metal detector equipment for knife sweeps. This was covered in Southwark News.

In addition, two of our board members Sophy Tayler and Craig Stansfield have received the 100 Hour volunteering award for their work for SE5 Forum and in particular their efforts towards the campaign to re-open the train station and create better, more sustainable transport links for Camberwell. Many thanks for all their voluntary contributions.

Community Southwark’s Southwark Stars gives the opportunity to celebrate those who take the time to volunteer to support others thus helping to make Southwark a better place. In addition to the Southwark Stars Awards event this year, Community Southwark is going to continue the celebration by displaying posters of nominees and winners, and their stories, at the Tate Exchange space for the weekend following the event. The award Ceremony will be held on Friday 16 November at Tate Exchange from 6pm to which successful nominees and a designated number of organisation and family representatives will be invited, too.

For more info on Southwark Stars, email: Volunteering@communitysouthwark.org or call 0207 358 7020  

https://twitter.com/SouthwarkCAN/status/1063508785833091075

Mark Webb, Keib Thomas Award for Active Citizen of  the Year:

A quick update about a setback for the campaign to reopen Camberwell station…

Just a year later than Sadiq Khan had promised, a preview of the business case for reopening Camberwell Train Station was presented by TfL to SE5 Forum’s campaign team: Priority Action for Camberwell Transport (PACT), Southwark Council Councillors and officers, and Helen Hayes MP.

The document delivered two main conclusions:

• If large numbers of Kent commuters have a slightly longer journey, that ‘disbenefit’ would outweigh the benefits that the station brings to local users of the new station
• TfL estimated that number of new homes (460) that could be linked to the development is ‘relatively modest’, which would not cover the costs of building a new station.

So what does this mean for the campaign? Read the latest update by Southwark CAN, which has been working together with SE5 Forum for Camberwell on the campaign:

More here: https://www.southwarkcan.org/camberwellstation

Read the newspiece on Southwark News: www.southwarknews.co.uk

The SE5 Forum for Camberwell would like to thank you for your ongoing support to make Camberwell a better place to live and work. If you’d like to become more involved in our Forum, or just find out more, read on…

Annual General Meeting (AGM): Camberwell Library, Wed 19 September 6.30-8.30pm: Save the Date!
We would like to invite members of our Forum and the public to attend our next AGM, which takes place at Camberwell Library on Wednesday 19 September from 6.30-8.30pm.

As well as conducting our usual AGM business, we have invited key speakers on our topic of air quality: Clean Air for Camberwell. We know this is an important issue for many of our supporters, and also ties in with our campaign to re-open Camberwell Train Station as part of a move for better, cleaner transport in the area. The session will be followed with a Question Time, and, of course, refreshments will be provided. Full details on the attached AGM Agenda.

Come and find out more about our activities, and share your views – we hope to see you there!

Invitation to new Board Members of the SE5 Forum for Camberwell
As we near the AGM, we are also inviting members of our Forum and the public to express interest in standing as a Board Member for the SE5 Forum for Camberwell.

To find out more: read our Invitation to new Board Members: AGM Invitation Board Members 2018, with an explanation of Board Member duties and how to put yourself forward. Please email: admin@se5forum.org.uk

You can also read our Chair’s Annual Report 2017-2018: AGM chairs report 2018
and the SE5 Forum’s new 3-year Strategy and Action plan, detailing our priority areas of Transport, Business & Identity in Camberwell – so you can find out more about what the SE5 Forum is up to at the moment.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Local MPs Harriet Harman and Helen Hayes have met with Rail Minister Jo Johnson to present our petition of thousands of signatures in support of reopening Camberwell Station and to ask for his support. Helen Hayes says this is “urgently needed to improve transport services for local residents, businesses & hospital”. Harriet Harman says: it is “urgent to reopen Camberwell Station”, and “strongly backed” by SE5 Forum, Kings College Hospital and the Maudsley NHS, the University of the Arts London (UAL) and the London Borough of Southwark.

Handing petition to ⁦@JoJohnsonUK⁩ transport minister. Urgent to reopen Camberwell Station. Strongly backed by @Kingscollegenhs @MaudsleyNHS @UAL @SE5Forum @lb_southwark @helenhayes_. pic.twitter.com/XwwVxjUfm7

— Harriet Harman (@HarrietHarman) June 20, 2018

Today @HarrietHarman & I met the Rail Minister @JoJohnsonUK to present a petition in support of reopening Camberwell station and to ask for his support – urgently needed to improve transport services for local residents, businesses & hospital #CamberwellStation pic.twitter.com/ZnZpfGAlRB

— Helen Hayes 💙🌹 (@helenhayes_) June 20, 2018

The presentation of the parliamentary petition took place at the Department for Transport on Wednesday 20 June – after hundreds of hours of volunteer effort to gather thousands of signatures supporting the reopening of Camberwell Station. 

SE5 Forum for Camberwell and campaign backers are delighted to have taken the message right to the top! Transport for London’s business case for Camberwell Station has yet to be published, so this is a chance for us all to shape the political agenda.

You can help by Tweeting your support. It would be great if any local residents keen to see the reopening of the station could retweet our MPs’ message: twitter.com/HarrietHarman

Tweet your support at:

@HarrietHarman
@helenhayes
@SE5Forum
@JoJohnsonUK 
#CamberwellStation