Penge and Cator Councillors

The application to convert the top two floors of the former Edginton’s shop in Green Lane to 9 flats was refused at the planning sub committee meeting on Thursday 21^st January.   The application to convert the Market Tavern in Maple Road was approved.   This will involve changes to the traditional looking frontage.  

PENGE FORUM nominates a member of the Borough’s Road Safety meeting.  They met this week.  Shirley Homewood tells me that Penge has some of the highest numbers of accidents in the borough.

Junctions with the most accidents

In the accident figures the junction at the Robin Hood [Croydon Road Penge/ Elmers End Road] was the worst junction in the Borough with a total of 16 accidents in the past three years. 2007--1  ;  2008--3    2009--12  No fatalities 5 serious

The Borough Engineer is going to look at this junction and report back to the next Road Safety meeting on the 16th March.

Second was the junction in Penge High Street with a total of 15 accidents   2007--3  2008--6  2009--6  1 serious

Roads with the most casualties 2007-2009

Penge High Street was 5th on the list of Roads with most casualties with  36 casualties   7 serious, 29 slight

2007--13,   2008--11,  2009--12

Readers may have noted the serious damage to one of the pillars at the entrance to Penge Rec. at the High Street end by the war memorial.   One of our regular correspondents reported it last Sunday.  He said it looked as if a vehicle of some sort may have collided with it from the park side,  The top plinth has shifted and needs attention. 

We may sure this was passed on to the relevant department at the council.  The Building Services department have assured us that the repairs will be carried out promptly. 

Perhaps Bromley residents are not quite as disengaged from politics as some surveys suggest.  Local elections are being held on May 6^th and a general elections is also due on the first half of the year.  Bromley residents have shown they are prepared.  The proportion of the borough’s residents registered to vote in 2010 elections is 97.38 per cent, the third highest response rate in London.

Carol Ling, the Council’s electoral services manager, said: “It is fantastic to see so many residents getting ready to exercise their democratic right to vote. And it’s still not too late to get on the electoral register thanks to our rolling registration process.”

The Council’s electoral register is updated monthly between January and September. This rolling registration process is regulated by a rigid timetable and there are deadlines for each month's alterations. So, if you hold back, you could be too late to be added in time to vote at an election.

Some people prefer to take a postal vote but you still need to be registered in the same way  

Further information about elections and voting can be found at www.bromley.gov.uk in the Council and democracy section, or email electoral@bromley.gov.uk, or call the helpline on 020 8313 4364.

There are two significant local planning applications at the councils plans sub-committee meeting, this Thursday. 

46 Green Lane is the old Edginton’s shop in Green Lane.   The owners have asked permission to retain the lower levels as shops and to convert the upper levels into 9 flats.   There was once a suggestion that the council would buy the building as a replacement library for Penge but this has not progressed.  We’re told that the council objects to the price being asked.

There is no planner's recommendation on this application.   There is some concern over losing a larger commercial site, though there must be a genuine doubt over whether we could attract a large retailer to the site who would want to use both floors.  Our major concern is that there are only 3 parking spaces associated with the site.   Parking in both Green Lane and in Cottingham Street, which provides the vehicle access to the site is already severely restricted.

The Market Tavern in Maple Road  is the other site up for decision this week.    At one stage we were pleased to hear that a Chinese Restaurant was planned for the site.   However, this has not materialised.   The current proposal is for the old frontage of the Market Tavern to be pulled out and replaced by a shop front for two individual shops. 

We did make an objection on the grounds of losing the traditional looking frontage but the planners feel the replacement is appropriate.    This was another building we asked the concil to consider for a Penge Community Centre.

We will report on the decisions at the end of the week.