Posted on

Ringway 2

Ringway 2 Proposed Route
Ringway 2 Proposed Route
A recent discussion over on plummy mummy’s website, has reawakened my interest in the incredible story of the long (and so far successful) struggle of the residents of south east london against the urban motorway planners that just will not go away: the creators of the dreaded ringway2/elrc/tgb historical trilogy of vastly unpopular road building schemes.

In an effort to win favour with the people, the proposal has actually been watered down each time; starting out from a bold 1960’s dream/nightmare of a three carriageway bypass running through oxleas wood, the blueprint was gradually scaled down, ending up with the most recent suggestion that through-traffic could simply drive down residential streets to access the so-called ‘local’ bridge that the tgb was supposedly going to be.

Well, thinking back to the state of play in the 1970’s, if you are curious which parts of the area would have been concreted over if ringway2 been built, there is a website that can demonstrate! A motorway enthusiast, who runs an online road directory has painstakingly researched the history of the London Ringways, and has produced an accurate map showing what the route would have been. [click on the image to zoom].

Posted on

Bluebells and Motorbikes

bluebells

Bluebells in Oxleas Wood

The bluebells on the easternmost edge of Oxleas wood are reaching their greatest flowering intensity around about now. This photo is a week old, so they be will a lot more vivid by now (although I did increase the saturation a bit to try and bring it up to date). I’m not sure why the bluebells are so happy in that part of the wood, but there are some sections where the whole forest floor is covered in a dense blanket of flowers, and it’s quite a sight to behold. The farm were doing some special walks as well which were advertised in the neighbourhood watch site, I didn’t go but I imagine they knew all the best bits to go to.

Actually this photo doesn’t really show the best view of the bluebells, mainly because it also also shows some recently laid motorbike tracks. It’s not certain whether off roaders will be persuaded to leave the woods alone, but this does remind me that the Friends of Shrewsbury Park are holding an event to safeguard the park against invading cars on the 30th of May:

Put up bunding. We want to stop cars getting into the Park, so will re-install the bunding the Water Board removed from the Garland Road entrance last year. Please bring spades/shovels, stout gloves and wear strong boots – Meet at the junction of the Green Chain Walk with Dothill.

ps – this site is now mobile friendly, which has the added benefit of being much faster to load.

Posted on

Dosey Doe

The first Woodlands Barn Dance of the year is coming up this Saturday, and has been added to the events list, here’s a bit of eynsham morris to get the mood going, although i gather that skinners rats are a full ceilidh group offering all styles of folk dances… The next event is on the 10th of July.

Brighton Camp, Eynsham by eshootershill

Sat May 15 2010 7:30 PM: Music by Skinner’s Rats; ploughman’s meal included, but please bring your own drinks and glasses. Tickets £10, available from the Farm office. These dances were very successful last year and sold out quickly so please book early to avoid disappointment. Tel: 020 8319 8900

Posted on

Election

The turnout for the local election was a fantastic 80.4% 67.7% (oh dear I just checked and the turnout figure appears to have been revised), almost double that of four years ago. The most interesting thing to come out of this is that decent voter turnout here appears to be very good for labour, and very bad for the tories, with a 7 point swing to labour (I’m not exactly sure if i calculated it right, but here goes):

lab = sum(total lab vote 2010/total vote 2010)-sum(total lab vote 2006/total vote 2006) = 5% positive
con = sum(total con vote 2010/total vote 2010)-sum(total con vote 2006/total vote 2006) = 9% negative
diff/2 = 7%

On the fringes, the greens got more votes (4%) than the bnp (3%) too, another reversal of national behaviour, so overall, and considering the extremely high turnout, it looks like the residents of Shooters Hill present a fairly socially progressive political outlook compared to the country as a whole.

The lib dem share went down by 3%, which leads me to speculate that the downturn in con/lib fortunes is probably not for want of trying (the tories look to have spent a small fortune on glossy leaflets) but rather the mobilisation of the left. Certainly it is possible that some of the green/liberal vote went to labour, although it’s curious to note that the local green got more votes than their parliamentary candidate for eltham, who only got 419 votes, losing his deposit… Considering that, it looks like shooters hill greens probably did vote tactically nationally but possibly not locally…

I haven’t really given much thought to the national election, but now that clive efford has successfully staved of the tories in their target seat #68 (based on the 68th smallest amount of swing needed – 4.1%), i’m looking forward to seeing what happens with his proposals for green flag paths and signs (and gym!) in eaglesfield park. simon emmett, who was very gracious in defeat, has announced that he will be watching labour in the proposed regeneration of swingate lane shops and in the opposition to the tetra mast (but not the other masts?) – i.e. can the emergency services have it moved somewhere else?

2010 Council Election for Shooters Hill Ward (turnout 80.4% 67.7%)
Name Party Results
Phillip Jonathan BECKER Green Party 659
Mo BURGESS Conservative 1,881
Richard John CHANDLER Conservative 1,628
Simon EMMETT Conservative 1,777
Edward OTTERY Liberal Democrats 1,210
Harry Drummond POTTER Liberal Democrats 939
Jagir Kaur SEKHON Labour 2,917 – ELECTED
Barry Ian TAYLOR Labour 3,093 – ELECTED
Danny Lee THORPE Labour 2,788 – ELECTED
Steven Thomas TOOLE Liberal Democrats 1,009
Eddie Herbert WHITE British National Party 513

For comparison, here’s the details from last time:

2006 Council Election for Shooters Hill Ward (turnout 42%)
Name Party Results
Linda Susan Cunningham Conservative 1409
Sylvia Gladys Derrick-Reeve Liberal Democrat 796
Elizabeth Patricia Drury Conservative 1393
Denise Hyland Labour 1527 – ELECTED
John Kelly Labour 1589 – ELECTED
Edward Ottery Liberal Democrats 736
Simon Lester Tee Conservative 1326
Danny Thorpe Labour 1540 – ELECTED
Michael Westcombe Liberal Democrats 660
Posted on

Denial of Service

Apologies for the lack of website lately, for some reason the site experienced more traffic in one day (april the 20th), than it normally does in two months, which didn’t go down too well with the host. It was probably something to do with the post on Dickens, anyway the site trundles on.

Remember to vote next Thursday!