Gramsci
Well-Known Member
Good question. I do not know. Will try to find out.
Brixton Rec - demolition proposed by council
- Thread starter indigolove
- Start date
Good question. I do not know. Will try to find out.
Gramsci
Well-Known Member
Yes it is exactly the same. Its a bit depressing after all the good words in the Brixton Masterplan and the "Cooperative Council" that this language is being used.
This is the Labour party doing this. I thought Ed Miliband was supposed to want the Labour party to connect to grass roots in communities. Ive now been to a couple of BRUG meetings. The people there are a cross section of the kind of people that a Labour party should be interested in. Instead people find themselves in opposition to the Labour machine in Lambeth. The bigger picture is what is the Labour party in Lambeth playing at ? Ed said New Labour was finished.
Just read this on Eds new advisor
Sally Prentice sold us down the river to Tesco over the ice-rink, she and Steve Reed are a noxious combination. With luck we'll get rid of Reed to Croydon, but we'll be stuck with Prentice. She's my councillor and Labour get in here whatever happens. She's the worst of nu-labour, believing that all local people want is more caring corporations to take their money. Anyway, she's got her cheese shop in the market.
Brixton Hatter
Home is south London mate
Really? Does she own Cannon & Cannon?
Brixton Hatter
Home is south London mate
Yes, good question. The guy from the Brixton Society made some very good points, including the fact that the draft SPD is a mess in planning terms because it's full of 'ifs', 'buts' and 'maybes' - you can't have a planning document which isn't absolutely clear on major decisions (like the Rec.) It also contradicts the Lambeth Core Strategy, which makes a mockery of the formal planning machinery if the SPD stays as it is.
Zoe from the Brixton Blog made a very good point that she had interviewed Lib Peck in the summer (June or July - before the public Future Brixton consultations) where she had mentioned the possibility of the Rec being replaced, which demonstrates that the idea was definitely around in Labour circles before the Council starting talking to (some) residents. If you consult residents and ask "do you want improved leisure facilities?" it's very unlikely that anyone would say 'no', so the council have pre-prepared consultation responses backing up their view that 'things need to be improved'. It's so obvious what is happening here. We must stop them.
Brixton Blog
Member
Just to expand on Brixton Hatter's point - I interviewed Lib on July 3 about 'Future Brixton' generally. I believe this was after the first workshop had happened but was certainly before most of the consultation. Bill and others said at the meeting on Wednesday that the Rec wasn't mentioned at workshops until the final workshop. I asked Cllr Peck if council officers had come up with specific models yet for Future Brixton and she said (from my transcription):
"In the workshops, we start off with the principles to kick start the discussion. The discussions that I've been involved with so far really highlight the importance of trying to improve linkages around the town centre...a recognition that the Rec as it is, isn't - and this is very much based on very early ideas - the Rec could definitely have things doing to it. If you're a family you're confronted by big stairs to get people into it."
And later asked on how the council would be able to fund any Future Brixton changes:
"A principle we’ve gone in with with the masterplan is that we would use some of the assets of our town centre to advance the aspirations articulated by the masterplan.For example, if there was a decision to buy the market area or an idea to completely rebuild the rec, we would have to find the resources within the assets that we’ve got to be able to fund something like that. We’d have to sell something else – we’d have to make sure that the plans stacked up financially without any external funding."
We'll be putting a news piece up to update on the situation after the BRUG meeting - I had to leave early unfortunately, so if you see any gaping holes in the report, do say, though I think I was there for the key part!
Brixton Hatter
Home is south London mate
Thanks for that - really helpful
gaijingirl
Well-Known Member
(not aimed at you in particular - just a general comment)
but that's simply not true - there's the much maligned ramp. The Rec is one of the more accessible leisure centres if you have a family.. try getting from the bus stop to Crystal Palace sports centre with a pram! Try taking kids to Clapham for a swim. The most annoying thing about Brixton Rec from a family point of view is there not being a loo on the same level as soft play.
brixtonscot
Well-Known Member
Does anybody know the views of GLL/Better management who run the Rec ?
And/or the Rec staff , particularly if they have any trade union representation or support which maybe could be utilised ?
And/or the Rec staff , particularly if they have any trade union representation or support which maybe could be utilised ?
Tbf if you haven't been there before, the Rec's ramp entrance is pretty easy to miss. Yes, there are signs in its general direction, but there isn't one at the actual opening.
gaijingirl
Well-Known Member
I've spoken to some Rec staff about it who had some interesting things to say, but I don't want to post anything online about that. It's a good point you raise though..
gaijingirl
Well-Known Member
... but if you're a cllr giving a interview on the viability of the Rec, you really ought to know that sort of information!
...and it is an easy problem to solve.
boohoo
No.
Crystal palace sports centre with a pram is a nightmare to get too!
I can see the building - just how do I get to it without meeting some steps! gaijingirl
Well-Known Member
Crystal palace sports centre with a pram is a nightmare to get too!
we had a complete meltdown with that this summer, and I know it quite well - it would be impossible in a wheelchair.
Brixton Blog
Member
as a child, the ramp was pretty much the most fun thing in the Rec to run up and down...
gaijingirl
Well-Known Member
as a child, the ramp was pretty much the most fun thing in the Rec to run up and down...
exactly this - my toddler LOVES racing me and the pram up and down there.. looking in at the other kids playing football etc.
Manter
Lunch Mob
Take a screenshot!
Frumious B.
Well-Known Member
Hooray! Is this a positive start to Lib Peck's term? Or just more smoke and mirrors from the Sally Prentice camp?
Gramsci
Well-Known Member
I wrote notes during meeting. Need to write them up.
The Rec staff look at BRUG noticeboard to see what is happening. I do not know if they have TU. At moment relationships between BRUG and GLL mage is cordial. GLL are stuck in the middle of this. So perhaps not good idea to try to make them take sides. Its between residents and Council.
From what I remember of meeting, without my notes, it was reported that the BRUG committee met GLL . GLL do not see any major maintenance issues that they cannot deal with in the future.
The issue of the lighting is being looked into by GLL. They are looking into redoing lighting outside.
The pool does not have serious leaks. The worst leaks were from the waste pipes/ internal plumbing. Not pool. These have been rectified when changing areas were refurbished. Sport London put up money for this.
Which leaves the issue of the Council saying that one of the problems with the Rec is the high maintenance costs in the future. This now appears to be an assertion.
GLL are staying agnostic on this issue. The Council have not said anything to them about it. All they are saying is that the Rec is well used and the money they bring is used for maintenance budget.
Gramsci
Well-Known Member
Its what they keep saying "no plans". All that means is that they are thinking about it. Or refuse to say. Its smoke and mirrors.
Brixton Hatter
Home is south London mate
Yes, that's my recollection too - that GLL were staying neutral on the issue. Although they (GLL) had said that they had a budget for maintenance and didn't see any problems with maintenance in the future.
Brixton Hatter
Home is south London mate
Interesting. Especially since the BRUG committee met with Lib Peck last night. But I won't believe anything until I see retention of the Rec formally written into the SPD which gets published for consultation in the new year.
No... she was the one who said , during the ice-rink "consultation", - and I paraphrase - that the market really needed a cheese-shop and not all these frightful ethnic shops that people needed parking for, especially as tesco has a ghetto section selling big bags of rice even cheaper... She was rightly abused for it.
Brixton Hatter
Home is south London mate
Ah, I see! Cheers
Fucking terrible comment from Sally Prentice. She's like the white Lee Japser!
colacubes
Mr Hot Cookie
Quite so. I was at the meeting where she said it and my jaw almost hit the floor.
Frumious B.
Well-Known Member
Possibly the worst insult ever devised!
It's right up there with "your mother was a hampster and your father smells of elderberries".
Frumious B.
Well-Known Member
This sort of thinking is so disgustingly undemocratic and destructive that anyone who supports it should have a lifetime ban from public service. Who the hell do these people think they are? Where do they get this manic appetite for flattening the best loved buildings in our community and turning Brixton into another Milton Keynes? Are they just frustrated urban planners? Failed architects? Power-crazed lunatics? Or crooks looking for backhanders from developers? Why can't they get their priorities right by building and repairing social housing? (And what have they done with the cash they got from forcing squatters out of the best housing stock in the borough and selling it to the private sector for flats we can't afford to live in?)
How did we end up entrusting our surroundings to these criminals, these vandals? A while back I read a big fat document about Future Brixton or something - I found it when reading up about the redevelopment of Windrush Square. It was quite hilarious - dripping with hatred of the railway lines which present such 'obstacles' to their plans to erase all the shops in the arches. We really ought to have a new annual party - Brixton Railway Day - when we toast the Victorian engineers who built us such solid defences against Loony Lambeth.
Manter
Lunch Mob
I completely agree. How are arches a bad thing? how are buildings (and people!) with personality a bad thing?
