As usual, my end of week post detailing a few bits and pieces I want to highlight or didn’t post about during the week.

Council surgery
I’ve been fascinated by the response to my post on council surgeries not least because I’ve still to have any feedback suggesting the current surgery system works. Given the medium I used to tackle the issue (a blog) it’s not surprising most people would agree surgeries are an anachronism – but I still didn’t expect total agreement.

Eccles Road meeting
The issues around Eccles Road rumble on (see here, here, here and here). I had a small meeting with some of the residents there on Tuesday. I didn’t give it a substantial post, since it was a fairly low key meeting and a lot of the issues remain unresolved.

The meeting covered a number of issues that had already been raised, but also the prospect of permanent road closure. This is an incredibly complex issue, since no road can be considered in isolation – any road closure will impact on other roads and in the case of Eccles Road we would have to consult with Transport for London.

However, the biggest factor will be the results of a traffic survey the council conducted in the road. We are still awaiting the analysis from our contractors which, when done, will give an indication whether traffic volumes and speed are at a level which will justify closure or other traffic measures.

Junior Citizen
I visited the council’s Junior Citizen scheme this week. The scheme exposes children to a series of safety scenarios, hopefully meaning that if they face those scenarios in real life they will be able to deal with the successfully. I’d love to be able to have taken some photos to show how good the scheme is – but it is difficult to do it any justice when you can’t get any children in the photo!

The scheme received accreditation from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents last year (in it’s 20th anniversary year) and was visited by officials from the Department of Children, Schools and Families while I was there who seemed impressed at what we are doing.

Lavender Hill
Because I’m a sucker for a photo I popped along to Lavender Hill to see some of their new planters. The idea came from traders, supported by the council’s Town Centre Improvement Scheme, to use planters to add colour and advertise their shops (rather than using standard A-boards). The effect when they are all out really is quite something.

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