Goose Green Newsletter - Summer 2020
This is one of our regular newsletters. They are posted online and emailed out to Labour Party members and anyone who signs up here.
This is our first Goose Green newsletter for a little while. They normally coincide with Labour Party branch meetings but these have not been running as normal since the lockdown began in March. However, we have written a number of other reports over this period, including:
A joint Dulwich Hill and Goose Green report from the beginning of the pandemic (sent to Labour Party members)
An article in SE22 magazine about the council and community response to the pandemic.
James’s summary of the past two years in post, written for local Labour Party members.
The council response to the crisis
The council acted swiftly and decisively in response to the pandemic. For example, the council has:
Proactively contacted over 20,000 residents who are shielding or otherwise vulnerable to check on their wellbeing, offer direct support, and help them access services they require.
Set up a helpline, and responded to over 1,400 calls asking for food or other support.
Delivered over 13,000 emergency food parcels.
Carried out over 600 door to door welfare checks with vulnerable residents who could not be reached by phone.
Helped community groups through over £500,000 of community support grants.
Provided over £1.1m of emergency financial support to residents struggling to pay for essentials.
Provided 16,000 residents with council tax relief, at a cost of £2.4m.
Provided businesses with almost £60m of business grants.
Housed 323 people who were either sleeping rough or at risk of having to sleep rough, and moved 187 of these people to a long term home.
Responded to an average of 138 people per day to help them with their housing problems.
The workers at Southwark Council deserve our deep admiration and gratitude for their amazing work.
The Government initially promised councils to cover the costs of responding to the crisis, but later backtracked on this promise, leaving many councils with huge funding gaps. In Southwark, this budget gap for 2021-22 currently between £13m and £47m. Although we don’t yet know how much more funding we will get from central government, their talk of ‘burden sharing’ strongly suggests that councils like Southwark will face a tough financial environment in the years to come.
The community in Goose Green
Despite the hardship of the past months, the community in Goose Green is strong. It has been heartening to see how so many people have acted selflessly and in the spirit of collectivism. Key amongst this has been the fantastic response from the Goose Green Mutual Aid group. We councillors have organised regular meetings to coordinate with the different mutual aid groups across Dulwich.
Changes to our streets
Lockdown has had a huge impact on our streets. As people spent more time at home our streets became emptier and safer. But as lockdown is lifted, and with reduced use of public transport, more people are taking to their cars to make local journeys.
We are keen to make sure that our streets are as safe as possible for all road users, and that we promote active travel wherever possible.
Already we have introduced a closure on Melbourne Grove between Tell Grove and Ashbourne Grove. We are now considering further measures on the streets between East Dulwich Grove and Grove Vale. We surveyed local residents . Read the results of this here.
Council Assembly
Southwark had its first ever online Council Assembly on July 15th. We discussed covid-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement. There were a number of fantastic contributions from community organisations, and two motions discussed and agreed by the meeting.
James spoke about how Conservatism has no answers for the pandemic. The government has let us down but ordinary people have given us hope. You can watch a short clip here.