Newsletter January 2012 - Views from the hill

Roads most definitely not closed!

The plans were laid, the promises made – and then the snow fell! Well actually the gritting lorries had been pretty busy on the Estate before the snow fell thanks to the fact that following our representations to the Council we are now on an ‘exceptional’ gritting route.  That means that the roads on the Hill are treated if there is any doubt as to whether or not to grit, and the amount of grit spread on hills, including ours, is now more than elsewhere.

So when the snow finally fell in early February, all the roads on the Estate remained passable.  The first few vehicles to try out the snowy surfaces trampled the snow into the layers of salt so it melted really quickly.

Thanks Lewisham!  When the gritter driver stopped to say hello to me as he was driving down Ringmore Rise, and then said he was about to do Netherby Road, I really felt that the Council had been listening.
Andrew Reid
Traffic/transport sub-committee

Jubilee Street Party?

It has been suggested by some members that instead of our annual Summer Picnic we should organise a Diamond Jubilee Street Party this year, for monarchists and anti-royalists alike!  In addition to everyone bringing a dish to share and the Association providing the liquid refreshments, the plan is to ask the various talented musicians who live on the Estate to provide music, and for games for the children to be organised (apart from the traditional summer water pistol fight….).  Volunteers who can sew are already talking about coming together to make the bunting!

Rather than individual parties in each road (which could lead to divided loyalties for families and friends who live in different parts of the Estate), the proposal is to use the Triangle as a central focus for the area, and see if we can get permission to close off the parts of the roads immediately surrounding it.

Any comments or suggestions would be most welcome, so please let us know your ideas either via your road rep or by e-mail to
secretary@tewkesburylodge.org.uk.

Some of the ideas so far are:
A fancy dress parade for the children – kings and queens?
Music from the last six decades at various locations in and around the Triangle - guess the decade?
A scavenger hunt for families.

51 years of TELRA !

Fiftyone years ago, the Tewkesbury Lodge Estate Residents’ Association (TLERA) was formed by local residents to oppose the construction of a tower block of flats on the summit of the Hill, the site now occupied by Horniman School.  At the time of its formation, a large proportion of the residents were original occupiers of the many 1930’s houses built as the Tewkesbury Lodge Estate.  The area was pleasant, and the houses had lovely gardens and wonderful views over London.As a result of a well organised campaign by the Association, London County Council (LCC) refused planning permission for this development, but there then followed a series of further applications by various developers.  It was not until 1966 that the Education Authority finally acquired the site to build the school.  Soon after the first planning application for the Horniman Road site, came another high rise development proposal on the site of what was Honor Oak Station in Wood Vale.  Although not able to prevent flats being built, the Association was successful in getting the height of the blocks reduced from fifteen storeys to eight.

In 1960, local people thought the character of the Estate was clearly worth preserving, and this view has been passed on to their successors over the years, with preservation of the character of the area remaining a major objective of TLERA.  Following the early successes opposing undesirable planning developments, the Association’s objectives rapidly broadened to encompass the protection of both the built and the natural environment.  Since our formation, we have continued to take a keen interest in proposed developments in the area as well as other issues such as traffic management, crime and policing, and broader environmental issues such as re-cycling).  As one of the largest lobbying group in the Borough we have a long record of co-operative contact with Lewisham’s Planning and other Departments, the local Metropolitan Police team, and the Horniman Museum.  TLERA also organises highly successive social events for members and has a thriving gardening club.

An update on some of these activities are reported in this newsletter, and over the next few editions we will be focusing on some of the more recent key successes of the Association, including a successful four year campaign to stop an extensive development of the old reservoir site enclosed by Canonbie Road, Horniman Drive and Liphook Crescent, and another long running campaign to reduce electro-magnetic radiation (EMR) output from the high powered radio transmitters on the mast in Horniman Drive which culminated in an 80% reduction in EMR in the area in which we live, and our children go to school.

None of this would have been possible without individual members of the Committee taking up traffic, planning, policing, and other matters on behalf of members.  It also relies on the support of our members. With your help over the coming years, the Association can continue to maintain the community in which we live – perhaps for another 50 years?