24th April 2017

Present: David Curtis (Chair), Jon Dennison, Ghislaine Granger (Secretary), Luke Miller (Treasurer), Nicole Beedell, Robert Beaudin.

Apologies: Stephanie & Jim, Jim R, David N, Nicola C

1 – COMMUNITY FUND APPLICATION

Has been submitted, suggesting volunteering activities, walks, engagement with the community.

2 – LEASE ON STORE

The group now has the lease document. £10 rent + Electricity + water. Pavement leading to small entrance door should be finished in a few weeks.

3 – WALWORTH WALKS – WALK ELEPHANT

Conceived to connect parks with greens, fauna, flora and people. Dates of next walks distributed

(See links and detail overleaf)

The first visit will come to Nursery Row Park, and we can talk to representative on the day about improvements from Orb Street, crossings on Brandon Street leading to Walworth Road, etc… Suggestions welcome

4 – ORCHARD

In contact with Nicola Cheetham from Southwark Council, park representative, who liaises with Hill about any work they should be doing around new building.

Walk around the orchard – suggestion for path by Stead Street new building is to massage the soil from the hill into the slope to make it more of a natural declining slope, and plant shrubs and let trees already part of the orchard to grow organically. Bigger shrubs should be planted at both ends of the current ‘path’ to discourage people to enter. Nicola to talk to Guinness about doing some of this work. This is to discourage anti-social behaviour in that part of the park.

Along the fence / wall of Base 17 within the park: Hill / Guinness have committed to plant hedge all along, and keep it moist and alive for 3 years. Some of it has been done so far, Nicola to chase Guinness. Then the wild plants currently in front should be dug out, and wild meadow should be planted instead. Luke to see with Nicola if the council could do this.

Question on benches potentially being moved: any suggestions of best positions?

5 – EVENT 3RD JUNE

Funds received.

United St Saviour Charity received money from Walworth to organise some activities.

6 – PLAZA LATINA 6TH AUGUST

in search of volunteers pre, during and post

7 – ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

As well as re-landscaping the path behind orchard by base 17 side of building, it was discussed that the small group of repeating offenders are approached. Jackson, regular of the park, knows everyone in the park. Someone should talk to him to see if he can talk to others. It was also suggested to approach the Drug and Alcohol charity to engage with the group.

8 – OTHER

Pot of money should go to the Nursery Row Park group in 2019, and this money could be used to improve entrance of the park from East Street side.

9 – WORKDAY 29TH APRIL 11H – 13H

Weeding orchard – all welcome!

10 – NEXT MEETING

19th June – note, no meeting in May

Annex: Walk Elephant

Walk Elephant is a community initiative to improve walking routes across the Elephant and Castle. Working in partnership with Southwark Living Streets and the Walworth Society, this initiative seeks to build on the success of the East Walworth green links project which has created a high quality route from Victory Park through to Burgess Park.

Many think of the Elephant and Castle as a busy traffic junction but it is so much more. There are so many hidden gems and oases in the Elephant and Castle, and this project seeks to link them all together, to create safe and enjoyable walking routes which people can ramble through on their way to work, the shops or home.

Map

The first step in the project has been to create a map of all possible walking routes which connect across the Elephant and Castle as far as Kennington, Bankside, London Bridge and Burgess Park. Local resident and architect Tom Coward from practice AOC has drawn up a map which highlights where improvements and new green linkages can be made to improve the quality of the routes. The draft map can be downloaded from our websitehttp://www.2.southwark.gov.uk/downloads/download/4804/walk_elephant. You can write to us using the contact details below or you can add your comments to this online mapping tool called Commonplace.

Improvements might include new crossings, landscaping, tree planting or planters. We will learn the lessons from East Walworth to make the projects happen, and local residents and tenant organisations will be supported to seek funding from a variety of sources including the council’s cleaner greener safer programme, developer contributions and crowdfunding.

Why not join us to find out more?

We would like to hear your views about the draft map of walking routes, and your ideas for how we can improve walking routes across the Elephant and Castle over the coming years. We want to have fun in the process and have designed a series of events in early 2017 for you to come and discuss your ideas, and walk some of the local routes. We have selected a variety of dates and times before and after work and at the weekends and we hope one of these will work for you.

Event one: Wednesday 3 May 0800-1000

Walk: East Walworth Green Links

Meet: BMX track, Burgess Park

Community partners: Southwark Living Streets, Walworth Society, Friends of Nursery Row Park, Friends of Surrey Square, Friends of Victory Park, Grow Elephant, Carnaval Del Pueblo

Special highlight: Carnaval Del Pueblo Latin Hub

Drink after: The Tropics, Grow Elephant

Event two: Wednesday 10 May 1730-1930

Walk: Walworth Ladders

Meet: Pasley Park entrance at Manor Place

Community partners: Southwark Living Streets, Walworth Society, Hotel Elephant, Walworth Garden Farm

Special highlight: Walworth Garden

Drink after: Sidecar café, Hotel Elephant

Event three: Wednesday 17 May 0800-1000

Walk: Brook Drive to Bankside

Meet: Outside Castle Centre at 0800

Community partners: Better Bankside, Southwark Living Streets, Walworth Society, Friends of West Square, Lamlash Gardens, Peabody Blackfriars Estate, Bankside Open Spaces Trust, Lamlash Gardens

Special highlight: Lamlash Gardens

Drink after: Union Theatre Café

Event four: Wednesday 24 May 1730-1930

Walk: Bermondsey Street to Newington Causeway

Meet: Tanner Street Park on Bermondsey Street

Community partners: Team London Bridge, Southwark Living Streets, Walworth Society, Leathermarket JMB, Mercato Metropolitano

Special highlight: Symington House garden

Coffee after: Mercato Metropolitano

If you would like to come to any of these events please contact me using the details below and we will book you in. If you can’t make any of these events but would like to arrange a special site visit with your community group please get in touch with us. After these events the map will be updated but it is intended to be a tool which can easily be updated overtime and will not be set in stone. If you would like any more information about the imitative please get in touch

This is a partnership project which is being coordinated by the Walworth Society, Southwark Living Streets, local tenant organisations and the various council departments. The developers of all new projects in the town centre will also be consulted to make sure the walking routes connect seamlessly with their developments.

Don’t hesitate to contact us with any queries

Peter Wright, Southwark Living Streets

pj.wright1@ntlworld.com / 020 7657 2277

Jeremy Leach, Walworth Society

jeremyleach@posteo.net / 020 7701 6283

Dan Taylor, Southwark Council

Dan.Taylor@southwark.gov.uk / 020 7525 5450