Category: News

Beckenham Town Centre Working Group Meeting 12 April 2012

The Beckenham Town Working Group (set up by the Council to identify potential improvements for the town) on which the Copers Cope Area Residents’ Association met on Thursday 12th April, the following points were raised: 
  • The improvements in the condition of the Odeon car park were acknowledged.
  • Rear of the Miso Bar and the Slug and Lettuce was still very littered. This is being followed up.
  • Shops should not use solid shutters in conservation area. A design guide for shutters to be looked into. 
  • Shop front vinyls for empty shops cost £800 and cannot not be re-used. Landlords cannot be forced to install them.  Generally, take up of vinyls had been very disappointing, even with a 50% subsidy from the Council. It was suggested that efforts should be targeted at property agents, offering them advertising opportunities.
  • Estate Agents’ boards  and A-boards  are only allowed to remain in place for three weeks without planning permission. A tougher enforcement policy could reduce the number of boards.
  • Any proposal to join the two existing conservation areas in the town centre would require a business case and a six week consultation period before a final decision by the Development Control Committee.  Noted that traders would be wary of any proposal that might impose more burdens on business, and suggested that potential tenants might be put off by conservation area status.  
  • Appointment of design consultants in May to prepare a scheme and design guide for visual improvement of the High Street.
  • Town sign and car park signage to be scoped in the design project.
  • Installation of community noticeboards with local map.
  • Decluttering project (£15K), to remove unwanted street furniture, unnecessary poles/posts and barriers from the High Street.
  • Use of heritage style lamps and lighting to enhance attractive upper storeys of buildings and provide additional lighting for pedestrians.
  • Controlling access to alleyways, probably by gating, and improving security lighting and cleaning up the ‘back’ areas.
  • Improved street cleanliness and siting of bins. Heritage style bins throughout Beckenham to be scoped in design project.
  • Purchasing heritage Christmas lights, could this be looked at by the design consultants?
  • Looking into making whole High Street a free wi fi area.
  • Reinstating Beckenham Junction as a heritage station.
  • Repairing the High Street clocks.
  • Use of vacant properties as ‘pop up’ shops to be explored.
  • Working Group to visit Blackhealth Village.  Lordship Lane, Dulwich was suggested as an area the Working Group could look at. 
NEXT MEETINGS 
The next meetings would be on Thursday 24th May and Thursday 5th July, both 7.30pm at Beckenham Library and are open to the public. 

Controversial planning application in Bromley resubmitted

The Glades have resubmitted an application to build restaurants in Queens Gardens (behind the Glades, adjacent to Kentish Way). The application(s) have caused controversy as part of the land is in a conservation area, the new restaurant chains may  take trade away from the recently regenerated Bromley North area and a view that Bromley is currently too saturated with restaurants (what will happen to the site if the new restaurants are not profitable).
Further information can be found at the links below:
Any residents who wish to object to the planning application must do so before Thursday 24 May 2012.
You may object by email to planning@bromley.gov.uk  (Reference: 12/01339/FULL), however you must ensure that you provide your full name and address including your post code.  Failure to provide these details will mean your objection is not accepted.

“Pop Up” Shop – a first for Beckenham

New to Beckenham High Street – “Pop Up Fashion”, offering beautiful, new, inexpensive female fashions has opened where Debut menswear closed on 28th April.

It’s a genuine pop up shop – only open til August when it will be refurbished ready for its new tenant.
Well done Pop Up Fashion… it’s just what Copers Cope Resident’s Association have been championing for empty shops on our High Street! So much better than dreary empty premises. Come on Bromley Council and commercial landlords, follow this initiative and help us revitalise our High Street.

Beckenham’s Got Talent – Support AQUABATIQUE on Britain’s Got Talent

Britain’s Got Talent fan?  Did you know that the synchronised swimming act AQUABATIQUE  is from Beckenham?

Local girl Katie Freid is manager and co-founder of Aquabtique (normally know as Aquabatix).

Check out their audition for Britain’s Got Talent on YouTube.

Britain’s Got Talent Audition

Vote for AQUABTIQUE in the Semi Final on Thursday 10 May and send them through to the FINAL.

Good luck AQUABTIQUE!

Update on the Queen’s visit to Bromley on 15 May 2012

What is happening on 15 May….

  • 10.30am the Royal car will drive along Tweedy Road and Kentish Way to the Queens Gardens entrance.
  • Her Majesty and The Duke of Edinburgh will tour Bromley town centre and The Glades.
  • There will be giant TV screens streaming the visit in Market Square and the High Street.
  • During the morning (from 9 am) there will be music and entertainment in the town centre.
  • A Fashion exhibition in The Glades and Queens Gardens celebrating British fashion designers will be open to the public from noon.
  • There will be some road closures and traffic disruption.
  • A park and ride in vintage buses will operate from Norman Park between 6am and 6pm.
For further information please see the Diamond Jubilee Update newsletter below.

Diamond Jubilee Update

Bromley Police advise of letter scam

Letter scam that is doing the rounds at present:

A resident receives a letter from a male in China stating they have asked a friend in Europe to post them the letter. In the letter they state that someone with the same surname has come into their bank in China to discuss investing $10.5 million dollars which makes a hefty profit, but the person has passed away after an accident in mainland China and the resident is the next of kin and will be the beneficiary of the funds. The mail states that the resident does not have to have known the deceased and that they will split the money in half. They then ask to keep this between them and contact each other via email, phone or fax where it is assumed they then ask for bank details etc.

Please pass on to family etc to get the word out to as many people as possible.

St George’s Arts Festival – Baroque Concert 12 May

8 pm on Saturday 12 May at St George’s Church, Beckenham

Beckenham’s professional orchestra present:

St George’s Arts Festival SGCO Baroque Concert

  • Vivaldi – Spring & Summer from the 4 Seasons 
  • Handel – Queen of Sheba & Solomon Overture

Please see the flyer below for further information.

St George’s Arts Festival SGCO Baroque Concert May 2012

The St. George’s Chamber Orchestra (SGCO) was founded in 2004 as the new professional orchestra for the South East, established in order to give local music lovers the opportunity to hear orchestral concerts of the highest standard on their doorstep. All the SGCO’s members play regularly with the famous London orchestras such as the London Symphony, Philharmonia, BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras. Further information can be found on their website:

http://www.sgco.co.uk/

Beckenham Town Centre Manager

Nicola Musto, Beckenham’s Town Centre Manager for the past 7 years, has moved on from the role to another in the Council. We wish Nicola well.

Beckenham will not have a dedicated Town Centre Manager for a number of weeks until the position becomes formally vacant and a replacement Town Centre Manager is recruited. In the interim Martin Pinnell, Head of Town Centre Management & Business Support, is our contact in regard to town centre issues.

We hope that the Council will ensure that Beckenham continues to be resourced for a dedicated Town Centre Manager. We will keep you posted.


Tonight join in with “Ride Safe, Ride Bright”

Friday 20th April 2012 – Ride starts at 7.00 pm at Beckenham Green, Near St Georges Church.

Ride Safe, Ride Bright is a 5 mile cycling event to make people more aware of safety issues of Cycling at night, in particular encouraging all cyclists to be more contrastingly luminous and with good working and bright flashing lights on their bikes.

We hope you can join us on the ride.

Obituary – Nick Carter our Honorary Vice-President and long time committee member has sadly passed away.

Bromley-based international journalist and local community activist Nick Carter has died at his home in Beckenham, aged 83.

Nick Carter, with wife Daphne at his right hand, responds to toasts at their Diamond Wedding and 8oth birthday party.

Born Anthony Carter, in London, he worked on the Daily Sketch and provincial newspapers including The Northern Echo and the Sheffield Telegraph & Star before returning to London to join Reuters, the international news agency, in 1953 and live at Hayes.

There he served Reuters World Services as Manager and Deputy Editor, in a career that also included reporter, sub-editor, Audio Editor, Production Editor, South East Asia Deputy Manager, Operations Manager and News Products Manager. He also spent five years as a BBC World Service editor and producer of Radio Newsreel.

Trained as a radar engineer during National Service in the RAF, he played a major role in the introduction of computers into Reuters news services, including the use of linked computers in London and Hong Kong so the two centres could take it in turns to control the news flow. On his return from three years in Asia he moved from Hayes to Dulwich and then in 1980 to Rectory Road in Beckenham.

After an intensive bout of world travel following his retirement from Reuters in 1987 he joined the Copers Cope Area Residents’ Association Executive Committee in July 1988, later becoming editor of its widely-read newsletter The Express and, from 1994 to 2002, its Secretary.

In this role he represented it in a number of campaigns, like those to save and revive Beckenham Hospital as a modern medical centre with a Minor Injuries Unit and range of diagnostic facilities, though to his regret intermediate care beds were never set up in the top floor space originally urged for them.

He was also involved in CCARA campaigns to establish a Town Manager, restrain the granting of overnight alcohol licences, set up the Friends of Kelsey Park, instal Kent County Cricket Club on a threatened site in Copers Cope Road, and to renovate and put a Millenium plaque on the Victorian waterspout on the High Street atKelsey Square.

Retiring as Secretary and Editor, he served as vice-chairman till the age of 76, but returned for two years in his early 80s as honorary vice-President, to organise special meetings to find new volunteers to revive the association after a period of reduced activities.

He was married to Daphne, a former classmate at grammar school, with whom he celebrated their Diamond Wedding and 80th birthdays in 2008. She survives him, together with their daughters Cheryl and Beverley and five adult grandchildren.

Nick’s funeral will be held on Tuesday, 24th April at 3.00 pm at Beckenham Crematorium, Elmers End Road.

Spate of burglaries in Bromley – message from the Police

Burglars are very active in Bromley at this time. Please be aware of crime prevention measures you can take to secure your property. If you see anything suspicious in your neighbourhood inform the police.

1. PVC and aluminium doors should have multi-locking systems which must be activated by lifting the handle and then locking with a key. It is not secure if you only lift the handle.
2. Always engage your mortice lock on wooden doors. It is not secure if you only activate a yale lock. 
3. Do not leave any windows open either on the ground or upper floors.
4. Most burglars are looking for opportunities so lock gates to your garden and do not leave garages or sheds open.

Bromley Borough Police