Petition Tag - streatham

The Boundary Commission plan to abolish the current Streatham constituency, tearing Streatham itself into three parts in the process.

The Boundary Commission's own guidelines state that they will aim to preserve existing historical and geographical links when proposing changes to constituency boundaries.

Streatham is a vibrant town with a strong sense of identity, evidenced by a broad variety of clubs, events and organisations, from The Friends of Streatham Common and the historical Streatham Society, to the online community Streatham Pulse, the Streatham Redskins ice hockey team and the hugely successful annual Streatham Festival at which both local and global acts perform.

The uniqueness of Streatham has been recognised by Lambeth Council which has agreed a Streatham Town Masterplan Strategy to give overall direction to regeneration and development in the area.

It is no surprise that the current MP put significant emphasis on the fact that he was born and raised in Streatham at the last election and that undoubtedly contributed to his success in a tight campaign.

The existing Streatham constituency is only marginally larger than the upper size limit of 80,473 electors by just a few hundred people.

But rather than trim some of the wards from Brixton, Tulse Hill, or Clapham that are attached to the Streatham constituency, the Boundary Commission's proposals rip the existing constituency into four different constituencies, tearing Streatham itself into three in the process.

The proposal to bolt the Streatham South ward onto the Mitcham constituency shows a complete lack of understanding of the area. Streatham Common is the focus of the community's leisure activities and home to the Streatham Festival. The Mitcham MP, not to mention the residents of Mitcham and Morden themselves, will naturally be focused on their own needs and are unlikely to have any interest in or understanding of the needs of Streatham’s residents. Residents from Norwood or Norbury are more likely to use Streatham Common than those from Mitcham.

And to call one of the newly proposed constituencies 'Streatham and Tooting' is completely misleading considering that it will include less than half of Streatham town itself.

Streatham faces on-going issues, such as the Streatham Hub development, that require dedicated representation in Parliament. To make Streatham's issues the marginal concerns of three different MPs will seriously damage our community.

In a perfect world the existing historic constituency of Streatham would continue to exist in its current form. We do however understand the difficulties the Boundary Commission faces in trying to implement Parliament’s wishes to cut the number of MPs from 650 to 600, and to ensure that constituencies have a similar number of voters so that everyone’s vote counts equally. We are not protesting against that, just the implications of the way it is being proposed.

We feel strongly that a constituency with Streatham in its name should continue to exist and should include all four Streatham wards (St. Leonards, Streatham Hill, Streatham Wells and Streatham South), regardless of which other neighbouring wards are added to it to create a constituency that meets the Boundary Commission's criteria.

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Tesco PLC purchased the site where Streatham Ice Rink is currently situated in 2000. In June 2001 the retailer published plans to demolish the Ice Rink – these were abandoned following strong opposition from local user groups, community and voluntary organisations.

Revised proposals were approved by Lambeth Council in February 2003 with a Section 106 Agreement associated with the scheme - which has become known as the “Streatham Hub” - being concluded between the Council and Tesco in 2007.

The Streatham Hub development will provide a new ice rink complex, other leisure facilities, a new supermarket and affordable housing for the Streatham area. There will also be a new transport hub linking road and rail, all of which will help to revitalise the south of Streatham.

** Latest news **

Lambeth Council has now been working with Tesco for over half a decade to deliver the Streatham Hub scheme but final plans are still to be agreed. In September 2009 Tesco submitted new proposals to the Council, citing the “Credit Crunch” and economic downturn as the reasons necessitating a revision of the 2007 proposals.

A public meeting was organized and held on 8 October 2009 by local community group, Streatham Action, to update residents on the most recent developments. At that meeting both Lambeth Council and Tesco representatives restated their commitment to complete the scheme.

However, whilst Tesco – the owner of the ice rink – assured those present they were committed to the long term delivery of a new ice rink complex, they would not guarantee continuity of Streatham’s ice rink provision pending the completion of the scheme and the building of a new ice rink complex.

** Sign the “Keep Streatham Skating!” petition **

Streatham Ice Rink is one of very few permanent ice arenas in London and home to the famous Streatham Redskins ice hockey club. It is a major part of Streatham life and it is essential it is kept open pending the development and building of a Streatham’s new ice rink complex.

Tesco announced record breaking sales of more than £1bn a week and annual profits of more than £3bn in 2009, despite the impact of the global downturn. It has the resource to keep Streatham skating whilst it develops the Hub site, if it wants to. Tesco will be reporting back to local people – Tesco’s prospective supermarket customers - in December 2009 on the results of its talks with Lambeth Council on the retailer’s revised plans for the site.

To show your support to Keep Streatham Skating and show Tesco the strength of feeling about this issue in our community, please sign up to this petition.

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London Mayor Johnson said in passing at a Mayor’s Question Time event in February 2009 that he has ambitions to extend the Bakerloo line to Lewisham, however no official announcement was made nor further details given. Chuka Umunna, Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for Streatham has now (in July 2009) obtained confirmation from Transport for London (TfL) that Mayor Johnson and TfL are considering plans to extend the Bakerloo line southwards to Lewisham and an examination of the feasibility of such a scheme is at an advanced stage.

Mr Umunna and local residents in Streatham are demanding to know why an extension of the Bakerloo line to that area as an alternative has not also been considered as part of this study. They argue that Streatham is in greater need of improved transport links and that other areas such as Lewisham are already well served by various transport connections, including the extension of the Docklands Light Railway which opened in 1999.

Instead of Lewisham, Umunna and campaigners say that a southward Bakerloo line extension from Elephant & Castle, where the line currently terminates, could run through Camberwell and Brixton to Streatham and should be considered. Such an extension would have the added benefit of relieving congestion on the very busy Streatham High Road part of the A23 (Europe’s longest High Street) and on the Northern and Victoria lines in neighbouring Clapham and Brixton.

The Bakerloo line is only one of the options available for bringing the tube to Streatham. Currently, the Victoria line’s capacity constraints make it difficult to extend it beyond Brixton. But the planned Crossrail 2 scheme, running from Chelsea to Hackney, would considerably relieve congestion on the Victoria line, creating the potential for an extension southwards to Streatham from Brixton.

Commenting on the campaign, Mr Umunna said:

“I have lived here for most of my life and people have been talking about the desirability of having the tube in Streatham for as long as I can remember.

“This campaign is a long term project. Public finances are going to be tight for the next few years but we need to build up a head of steam behind this now so that when there is more money about, we are in a good position to demand it is used to finally bring the tube here.

Mr Umunna and campaigners argue that local businesses in Streatham would benefit from the area being linked to central London by the tube. Streatham's poor transport links have too often held the area back in the past. Bringing the tube to Streatham would dovetail with regeneration of the area, such as the Streatham Hub project and more people would be attracted to visit the area and its attractions, which include one of London's only ice rinks.

Commenting further, Mr Umunna said:

"This area would benefit hugely from a tube station. As well as obvious benefits for local residents, it would give a massive boost to the regeneration of Streatham and the local economy.

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