The Met Police have a short survey to get opinions on Stop and Search practices and a proposed ‘Stop and Search Charter’ between London’s communities and the Metropolitan Police Service. The survey is open until 19th March 2024. Have your say at https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/MetPoliceStopandSearchCharter/

Bromley Council are exploring ideas to develop affordable housing, workspace and public realm improvements on the site next to the Spa Leisure Centre

The site is situated between the Spa, the railway line and the Registry (old Capita) building. It is currently occupied by a car park and Lewis House, a living-support facility for disable people.

A public exhibition will be held at Beckenham Library from Saturday 24th February until Saturday 2nd March, where you can view the proposals.

Members of the project team will be at the exhibition in person to answer questions on the following dates:

Saturday 24th February, 9.30am – 12.30pm
Tuesday 27th February, 9.30am – 12.30pm
Wednesday 28th Febuary, 9.30am – 12.30pm

More detail can be found on Bromley Council’s website HERE, where you can also complete an online form to submit your views on the scheme.

The Big Lunch is coming to Bromley this summer to help people come together to celebrate their community, neighbourhood friendships and street friends.

The Big Lunch is an initiative which comes from Eden Project Communities, an organisation which fosters and values connection, community and neighbourly spirits.

Bromley Council is waiving all street closure fees for Big Lunches taking place on either Saturday 1^st June or Sunday 2^nd June 2024.

Closing date for applications is Monday 4^th March 2024.

For more details, see: Fees waived for street parties in support of Big Lunch – London Borough of Bromley

Bromley Council is currently consulting on the council’s budget for 2024-2025.

The council has projected a net budget of £267 million for 2024/25.

Spending plans include:

• £94 million on adult social care providing services from care assessment to home care, from support for those with physical disabilities, to support for those with learning disabilities and those with mental health issues
• £69 million is for children and young people and includes safeguarding and social care, special educational needs services, behavioural support, early years, education and schools.
• £13 million on providing housing services
• £44 million is spent on the environment such as waste services, street cleaning, traffic, public protection, road safety and maintaining Bromley’s parks and green spaces
• £10 million for renewal and recreation covering services like our libraries, regenerating and managing our town centres, and our planning services
• £10 million is spent on concessionary fares (Freedom Passes)
• A large part of the council’s services are funded by specific government grants which includes, for example, funding for schools and housing benefits. The council has very limited influence on how this money is spent.

The 2024/25 local government settlement is the sixth one-year settlement in a row and this continues to hamper strategic financial planning, making it especially challenging to set a medium-term financial strategy. Further uncertainty remains as the fair funding review has been delayed until at least 2026/27.

More information available on the council website: https://www.bromley.gov.uk/council-democracy/council-budget-202425

Please share your thoughts by midday on Thursday 1 February by email to consultations​​​​​​​@bromley.gov.uk.

Thames Water will be closing High Street, Beckenham to Eastbound traffic (travelling towards Shortlands / Bromley) for two consecutive weekends from Saturday 20/01.

The traffic management is the same temporary one way system which was in place during the Beckenham Improvement works a few years ago: the road will be closed at the War Memorial, with traffic being diverted via Rectory Road into the opposite end of the High Street.

Traffic travelling Westbound on the High Street (towards Penge / Croydon Road) will be unaffected during the works. The High Street between Albemarle Road and Manor Road will remain open to two way traffic during the works.

The works are to install a new water connection into the Travelodge development at Kelsey House.

Bromley Council have asked Residents Associations like ours to help to raise awareness of changes being introduced to the way people vote. The Council advise:

The Elections Act has introduced, amongst other things, the requirement for people to produce certain types of photographic ID in order to vote at a polling station. Full details can be found on the Council’s webpage – www.bromley.gov.uk/VoterID.

Over the coming months further changes are due to take place, including changes to postal and proxy voting. These details can be found at www.bromley.gov.uk/ElectionsAct2022 and will be updated when details are confirmed.

New express stop bus services will be introduced between Bromley and Thamesmead, and Bromley and Croydon.

These new services would be part of the Superloop, a network of express routes which would circle London and connect outer London town centres, hospitals, schools and transport hubs. The Superloop is a key part of the Mayor’s commitment to improving the bus network in outer London.

The network of Superloop bus services is shown below.

Following public consultations on these routes, consultation reports were published on Tuesday 5th December:

SL3: Thamesmead to Bromley

SL5: Croydon to Bromley

Azelia Hall on Croydon Road was built in 1953 for the benefit of residents of the former borough of Beckenham.

In particular it provides a meeting and social centre for voluntary organisations catering for all age groups.

The hall is managed as a charitable trust with the object of making it available, at minimal cost, for use by ‘deserving groups’ located in the area. The trustees of the Azelia Hall Charity are considering amending the purpose of the charity to enable grants to be awarded to deserving groups. All of the current provision and facilities offered by Azelia Hall will continue.

They would be very interested to hear the opinions of local residents, existing users and potential users and beneficiaries regarding our proposal to enable the Azelia Hall charity to award grants from its surplus funds. Please complete this online survey.

Save the date: a drop in session to meet the trustees and share your opinions will take place on Wednesday 17th January between 10.00am and 12.00pm.

Community organisations can register interest in the Department of Health & Social Care’s £1 million Community Automated External Defibrillators Fund.

Community defibrillators can save lives by providing 24-hour access to a defibrillator to treat someone who is having a heart attack. Defibrillation is the only method of treating a heart attack, and for every minute that someone in cardiac arrest does not receive defibrillation, their chances of survival fall by 7-10%.

The fund aims to support 2000 new community defibrillators across England, and applicants will be required to raise ~£750 in match funding. CCARA will be registering and reaching out to local community groups and businesses to find a suitable location. Please contact us at hello@coperscope.org.uk if you are interested in hosting a defibrillator.

Bromley Council have asked Residents Associations like ours to help to raise awareness of changes being introduced to the way people vote. The Council advise:

The Elections Act has introduced, amongst other things, the requirement for people to produce certain types of photographic ID in order to vote at a polling station. Full details can be found on the Council’s webpage – www.bromley.gov.uk/VoterID.

Over the coming months further changes are due to take place, including changes to postal and proxy voting. These details can be found at www.bromley.gov.uk/ElectionsAct2022 and will be updated when details are confirmed.

Friends of Cator Park are fundraising to plant a ‘Tiny Forest’ of 600 trees in Cator Park, in response to the tree felling that took place nearby in June. CCARA have donated this great project, you can donate here.

Temporary traffic lights on Southend Rd, Beckenham due to emergency gas works for this week 9 Oct 23.

Local residents where appalled at the illegal tree felling of over 100 trees that took place by Cator Park earlier this year. The local Friends Group are raising funds for a new ‘Tiny Forest’. Can you help? 🌳🌳🌳

CCARA was recently awarded funding for an air quality monitor for Beckenham High Street through the Breathe London Community Programme.

Public awareness of air quality across London has increased a lot in the last few years, but we mostly rely on modelled data to estimate the extent of air pollution in the local area. Measuring air quality in Beckenham and making this information available to local residents, businesses and councillors will help to improve our understanding of how clean the air is, and how this varies over time.

More information will be provided in due course, once the location for the monitor has been selected.

Tfl (Transport for London) advise:

This consultation specifically covers the proposed section of the Superloop between Bromley North and Croydon Town Centre. The consultation will run from 21 July until 4 September, and we hope you will take time to review our consultation material and respond to our questionnaire. You can do this by either:

• Visiting our online consultation page at https://haveyoursay.tfl.gov.uk/sl5-superloop
• Emailing us at haveyoursay@tfl.gov.uk
• Writing to us at FREEPOST TFL HAVE YOUR SAY (SL5).

Please also feel free to contact me if you have any questions regarding our proposals, the consultation or to arrange a briefing on the proposed route.

What are we proposing?

We are proposing to introduce a new express bus service, the SL5, between Bromley and Croydon Town Centre. This new express service would be a more direct route than the existing 119-bus route. We are not proposing to change the frequency of the 119-bus route.

The SL5 would run with buses every 12 minutes Monday to Saturday and buses every 15 minutes on evenings and Sundays.

The new SL5 route would provide extra bus capacity in busy locations, encourage more sustainable journeys, allow for quicker journeys and more transport options to move between key transport and town centre locations in Bromley and Croydon. However, as part of our consultation we want your feedback on whether these are the right places for a new express route to operate.

Southeastern, and other operators, are confirming an extension to the consultation period on the future of ticket offices, originally announced on 5 July 2023. The consultation will now conclude on 1 September 2023. Southeastern is committed to providing information in a wider range of formats, to ensure the consultation is accessible and people and organisations responding to it can be as fully informed as possible.

https://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/ticketofficeconsultation

If you would like to comment on these proposals contact London Travel Watch – the independent transport watchdog for London, by 1 Sept 2023 using the details below:

Email: Southeastern.Consultation@Londontravelwatch.org.uk
Freepost: RTEH-XAGE-BYKZ, London TravelWatch, PO Box 5594, Southend-on-Sea, SS1 9PZ.
For more information about how to have your say visit londontravelwatch.org.uk

Bromley Council have asked Residents Associations like ours to help to raise awareness of changes being introduced to the way people vote. The Council advise:

The Elections Act has introduced, amongst other things, the requirement for people to produce certain types of photographic ID in order to vote at a polling station. Full details can be found on the Council’s webpage – www.bromley.gov.uk/VoterID.

Over the coming months further changes are due to take place, including changes to postal and proxy voting. These details can be found at www.bromley.gov.uk/ElectionsAct2022 and will be updated when details are confirmed.