People’s Question Time on the Streatham Hub
Have your say on the Streatham Hub redevelopment
During the election campaign, Chuka pledged to hold People’s Questions Time events if elected as MP. On Thursday July 15, the first of these events will take place, allowing local residents to have their say on the Streatham Hub redevelopment.
The public meeting will be held at Dunraven School, Leigham Court Road SW16 2QB on Thursday July 22 at 6.30pm. Officers of Lambeth Council and Tesco have been invited; the event offers them an platform to update residents of the scheme’s development.
Tesco purchased the site where Streatham Ice Rink is currently situated almost a decade ago. 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 development is set to provide new leisure facilities, a new supermarket and affordable housing for the Streatham area. There will also be a new transport hub linking road and rail. Lambeth Council has said that Tesco will not be allowed to open a supermarket until a new leisure centre and ice rink have been opened.
As part of the plan, the option of siting a temporary ice rink on Streatham Common while a new rink is built has been discussed and alternative sites have also been proposed. At a public meeting in October 2009, Tesco sparked anger by refusing to guarantee that it would be able to fulfill its original guarantee continuity of ice.
In March this year, the Streatham Hub agreement got the go-ahead: following pressure on Tesco by the campaign to ‘Keep Streatham Skating’, spearheaded by Chuka, Tesco agreed to take forward its redevelopment plans guaranteeing continuous ice rink provision.
In Parliament last week, Chuka met with representatives of umbrella group Hands Off Our Common, which includes the Streatham Society, Friends of Streatham Common, Sustainable Streatham and Streatham Action, and with groups representing users of Streatham Ice Rink including Skaters for the Hub, Streatham Ice Skating Action Group and Streatham Redskins.
And by holding the first People’s Question Time, Chuka is also ensuring that the community at large is fully consulted as part of this ongoing process. He will use future People’s Question Times to give the people of Streatham a forum for discussion of similarly important issues.
