Brixton news, rumours and general chat

[Smick]

Thames water have sent me bill for £327.91 for this year. Its a one bed flat.

All this talk of Thames Water has made me look up my online account. It says I am £205 in credit. Ordinarily, a company owing me £200 I didn't realise would be cause for howls of delight. With Thames Water, I'm now really concerned as it undoubtedly means I've done something wrong and actually owe them £205, or multiples of it. They will have forgotten to have put my previous payments towards my account or something. Bunch of bastards.

 

[discobastard]

All this talk of Thames Water has made me look up my online account. It says I am £205 in credit. Ordinarily, a company owing me £200 I didn't realise would be cause for howls of delight. With Thames Water, I'm now really concerned as it undoubtedly means I've done something wrong and actually owe them £205, or multiples of it. They will have forgotten to have put my previous payments towards my account or something. Bunch of bastards.

Are you on a water meter? If you're in credit you can get a refund.

https://www.thameswater.co.uk/-/media/Site-Content/Thames-Water/Help-and-Advice/Customer-Commitment/Codes-of-practice/Our-charges-your-bills.pdf

Ring 'em and find out. I'm in credit too.

 

[Gramsci]

All this talk of Thames Water has made me look up my online account. It says I am £205 in credit. Ordinarily, a company owing me £200 I didn't realise would be cause for howls of delight. With Thames Water, I'm now really concerned as it undoubtedly means I've done something wrong and actually owe them £205, or multiples of it. They will have forgotten to have put my previous payments towards my account or something. Bunch of bastards.

I'm a Council tenant so for years my water charges were part of my rent. Every year Council would notify me of my rent and service charges for the year.

I started to get threatening letters from Thames water about my address. I had to send them copy of my letter from the Council stating my water charges were paid as part of my rent to prove to them. Why I should have to send them personal info to get them off my back is annoying.

Thames water are money grubbing bastards. Trying to screw anyone for what they can get.

I'm all for taking them back into public ownership.

 

[Smick]

Are you on a water meter? If you're in credit you can get a refund.

https://www.thameswater.co.uk/-/media/Site-Content/Thames-Water/Help-and-Advice/Customer-Commitment/Codes-of-practice/Our-charges-your-bills.pdf

Ring 'em and find out. I'm in credit too.

Yes, I'm on a meter, but I'm sure that this credit is not reflective of how much I owe them. I've been on payment plans, threatened with court action etc in the past. Call centre agents have been unable to explain how bills have got so high. I'm not going to touch that credit.

My calls with them usually result in me saying "I've got a direct debit, just take whatever the water costs each month" and they say "Sorry, we assessed your water usage would be £38 per month but it's actually £54 a month so you've only paid £456 instead of £648. Please give us £192 this instance or else we'll call the bailiffs and fuck your credit record".

I bet that if I ask for my £200 back, I'll fritter it away, then Thames Water will pull another £200 bill out of the sky and I'll be left fuming.

And, no joke, I've just looked it up and I'm now £238 in credit. I pay £43 per month so if I was charged nothing at all, that would take almost six months to build up. I had previously been paying £80 per month. Then, having been moved to £22 per month I was £250 short last August and had to pay that over the phone. The only thing I know is that editor is in for a pain in the area now he deals with them directly.

Edit: Sorry to go on about this, but I have started looking into it a bit more. discobastard my bills went into credit in September 2019. There's something there in the summary which says Cancelled charges to allow issue of revised bill -£308.37. I end up £55 in credit. In my March 2020 bill I have a line of Transferred payment (credit) -£98.02. No idea what either of these represent, but am sure that if I go looking for the credit in my account, they will hammer me for credits that they shouldn't have given me.

Final edit: I phoned Thames Water, they told me that while I do have a credit balance, it will be used to pay for future bills so not to touch it. I pointed out that my credit balance had gone up from the one before last so she says she will put the amount I am paying down, as low as £5 if I want. This, I suspect, will lead me to go into arrears. It is all a shambles.

 

[editor]

Two updates:

Quarantined Sports Quiz raises funds for Brixton based food charity – every Weds 8pm

A bunch of Streatham residents have got together to create a weekly online sports quiz to raise money for Brixton-based charity, Compliments of the House, who are sourcing surplus and fresh food to…

www.brixtonbuzz.com

Lambeth Libraries announce more online teen groups, business courses and book related stuff for April 2020

Lambeth Libraries continues to offer plenty of online entertainment for kids and adults during the lockdown, and they’ve just announced a fresh batch of things to do until the end of this mon…

www.brixtonbuzz.com

 

[Mr paulee]

Doesn't say but it looks familiar!

Minet rd?
Angell town

 

[Casaubon]

So how does this work then? For over 25 years the water has been included in my rent. British Water (or whoever the fuck they are) tell the council they want to charge for it separately and - bam! - I'm handed a £330 annual bill with no reduction in rent.

I’m a Lambeth tenant, and until this month paid water charges to the council along with my rent.

A couple of years ago a court case in Southwark revealed that that council had been acting illegally by marking up water charges to tenants. Southwark was told to repay the overcharged amounts. To their credit, I think the council repaid the money fairly swiftly and efficiently.

It seems that Lambeth has been acting in a similarly illegal fashion, but as usual they tried to wriggle off the hook. Our estate manager took up the case, and at first Lambeth simply refused to return the money. To cut a long story short, our manager did a great job, and we’re getting the money refunded, with 8% interest.

I think this is the reason that we now all need to pay for our water separately.

I’ve just got £1120 (8% interest for 15 years!) back from the council, which is incredibly handy at the moment.

It’s definitely worth checking whether this might apply to you.

Thousands in line for water payouts

 

[editor]

Some local art

Brixton Art: the urban life paintings of Tom Cox

Brixton Buzz is delighted to showcase a selection of ‘urban life’ paintings from talented south Londoner Tom Cox, with scenes including Brixton Village (above), Atlantic Road and Statio…

www.brixtonbuzz.com

 

[snowy_again]

Why are Lambeth doing Olive Morris House when they say they’re only doing emergency repairs to their social housing stock; they just emailed me this

“Please be aware that for everyone’s safety we are now limiting repairs to your homes and buildings to only those classed as essential emergencies.

This is not only for your safety but the safety of council operatives to help minimise the transmission of COVID-19.
This list includes:
Emergency repairs include but are not limited to the following:

• Uncontainable leaks that are leading to flooding

• Blocked W.C (when this is the only toilet in the property)

• Total loss of electrics

• Backsurging drains leading to flooding and blockages

• Total Loss of heating or hot water

• Boarding up of broken windows

• Make safe repairs

I hope this was of assistance.
If you feel that your repair warrants an emergency response but is not on this list, please contact us on 0207 926 6000.”

I was chasing them as they’ve marked a security issue repair as having been completed by Mears when it clearly hadn’t been...

 

[editor]

This squirrel on Rush Common looked like it was squaring up with me for a punch-up!

 

[shakespearegirl]

View attachment 208602

This squirrel on Rush Common looked like it was squaring up with me for a punch-up!

if ever I’ve seen a squirrel guarding it’s crack this is it. looks like a mini kangaroo ready for fighting!

 

[lefteri]

You shoud have got a letter from Council about rent and charge for this year. Rent has increased but water charges have been removed.

I have applied for a payment card and monthly payments I can do at a paypoint. Its on the Thames Water website. I do it online.

Paying your bill | Help | Thames Water

Learn how to pay your bill quickly and easily, from setting up a direct debit, to paying with a debit or credit card, we'll explain all your options.

www.thameswater.co.uk

our water rates bill for the year is double what we were paying for water to the council - there may be some mass refusal to pay on this estate

 

[lefteri]

Thames water have sent me bill for £327.91 for this year. Its a one bed flat.

ours is £100 more than that, also for a one bed

 

[Gramsci]

our water rates bill for the year is double what we were paying for water to the council - there may be some mass refusal to pay on this estate

Ive got my monthly payment plan. I'm paying slightly less than I was when it was included in my rent.

 

[coldwaterswim]

 

[T & P]

View attachment 208602

This squirrel on Rush Common looked like it was squaring up with me for a punch-up!

Showing you its biceps and pectorals anyway. Giving you a chance to walk away

 

[editor]

View attachment 208888

Thank heavens! Another restaurant!

 

[coldwaterswim]

Thank heavens! Another restaurant!

I know, good old Hondo too

 

[BakeRecords]

View attachment 208888

Haven't yet looked through all 125 documents on the planning database, but from a quick glance, this looks like a monstrosity.

 

[CH1]

our water rates bill for the year is double what we were paying for water to the council - there may be some mass refusal to pay on this estate

Gramsci Smick
I just noticed this snippet of news in Wednesday's Evening Standard.
Our capitalist chancellor lent on banks and others to cancel their dividends (which actually might cause problems for pension funds with pensioners to pay). He seems to have omitted telling utilities not to pay bonuses and golden hellos!

 

[editor]

Brixton at midnight on a Saturday night.

 

[xsunnysuex]

Anyone got any idea why the indoor arcades are closed in Brixton market? Shutters down. Closed both sides of Atlantic Rd.

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

too difficult to social distance in there?

 

[lefteri]

too difficult to social distance in there?

no more than in a supermarket i would have thought

 

[editor]

More pics from Brixton on a Saturday night

Never Seen Brixton So Empty: Fifty photos from a Saturday night lockdown, 25th April 2020

Following on from our first feature a fortnight ago showing Brixton in lockdown on the weekend, we took another Saturday night walk around the empty streets of the town centre. This time, we encoun…

www.brixtonbuzz.com

 

[xsunnysuex]

too difficult to social distance in there?

It's strange. It's been open every day so far.

 

[editor]

I posted this here Brixton Village, Market Row, Pope's Road, Lost In Brixton and Hondo Enterprises' Brixton empire but it's worth sharing a bit more. Look at the fucking size of this monstrosity that's going to tower over Electric Avenue:

 

[urbanspaceman]

I posted this here Brixton Village, Market Row, Pope's Road, Lost In Brixton and Hondo Enterprises' Brixton empire but it's worth sharing a bit more. Look at the fucking size of this monstrosity that's going to tower over Electric Avenue:

Here's my comment on Brixton Buzz - what do Urbanites think ?

There is a golden opportunity here: make planning permission contingent upon Hondo including an Overground station in its plans. In other words unless Hondo funds an overground station (and perhaps also a “Catford Loop” interchange ?), planning permission is declined.

This change might even benefit Hondo: although the station would cost extra, it would improve the connectivity – thus value – of this project.

See this document for discussion of the long-discussed Brixton Overground nation:

https://www.lambeth.gov.uk/sites/default/files/ec-lambeth-overground-stations-study-report-2014.pdf

 

[Big Bertha]

Here's my comment on Brixton Buzz - what do Urbanites think ?

There is a golden opportunity here: make planning permission contingent upon Hondo including an Overground station in its plans. In other words unless Hondo funds an overground station (and perhaps also a “Catford Loop” interchange ?), planning permission is declined.

This change might even benefit Hondo: although the station would cost extra, it would improve the connectivity – thus value – of this project.

See this document for discussion of the long-discussed Brixton Overground nation:

https://www.lambeth.gov.uk/sites/default/files/ec-lambeth-overground-stations-study-report-2014.pdf

Sounds good

 

[editor]

Here's my comment on Brixton Buzz - what do Urbanites think ?

There is a golden opportunity here: make planning permission contingent upon Hondo including an Overground station in its plans. In other words unless Hondo funds an overground station (and perhaps also a “Catford Loop” interchange ?), planning permission is declined.

This change might even benefit Hondo: although the station would cost extra, it would improve the connectivity – thus value – of this project.

See this document for discussion of the long-discussed Brixton Overground nation:

https://www.lambeth.gov.uk/sites/default/files/ec-lambeth-overground-stations-study-report-2014.pdf

I'd love to see East Brixton reopen but I'm not sure if having this towering monstrosity is a price worth paying, not that it's likely to happen anyway. Hondo are here for the quick profit and Lambeth can't get enough of what they're dishing out.