Kate Tempest wins Ted Hughes prize

Well done Kate Tempest for winning the Ted Hughes award for innovation in poetry last night. The prize was awarded to her by Carol Ann Duffy in a ceremony at the Saville Club.The award was in recognition of her work Brand New Ancients, which relocates old gods to modern London. Brand New Ancients was co-commissioned ...

Deptford and the Waitrose effect

Deptford's been given the Standard's Homes & Property treatment this evening, albeit with the focus on New Capital Quay, which lies on the Greenwich side of the water.The imminent arrival of Waitrose (admittedly a rare thing in South East London) has forced the paper urgently to reappraise its view of the area, which we've been saying ...

Brockley police station to close, but Lewisham officer numbers up as Brockley faces police shake-up

The new London-wide Police and Crime Plan has confirmed that Brockley Police Station will shut as part of a closure programme for 60 police desks across the capital.Meanwhile, police numbers in the borough will rise by 2015,  although not by as much as originally indicated. The Mayor had originally claimed 54 new police positions would ...

Philly cheese … or …

According to research just published by Temple University, Philadelphia, in their publication Landscape and Urban Planning, there is some evidence to suggest that the presence of trees and green space helps to reduce the incidence of assaults and robberies. Another reason for celebrating our leafy corner of Lewisham! Read more here: http://grist.org/news/do-trees-fight-crime-in-philadelphia/

Halcyon days of … March 5th

Whilst we are all languishing in these dreary, icy days of late March, waiting for some sun and warmth, I thought I'd remind you of what's to come with these pictures of those long gone days of 5th March when we basked in ... 10 degrees, and the ornamental plums in Manor Avenue started to show ...

Brockley’s “Invisible House”

The architects behind a planned "invisible eco house" on the corner of Geoffrey Road and Manor Avenue have written about their design here. The Jak Studio team say:Last year Kevin and Mac approached us to look into the possibility of realising their dream to build upon a small plot of land with derelict garages they ...

Police Blitz Drug Dealers

As part of a London-wide operation against drug dealing and cannabis farms, Brockley SNT (@MPSBrockleySgt) has been active this morning in a series of raids that have seen two arrests and a quantity of class A and B drugs seized. [...]

Rogue Brockley landlord fined for stuffing property

Lewisham Council reports (via Cllr Foxcroft):An unlicensed landlord has been prosecuted by Lewisham Council for failing to comply with House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) regulations.The prosecution was brought against Mustafa Kemal Mustafa who did not apply for an HMO licence on a property in Millmark Grove, Brockley.An inspection of the property revealed at least ten ...

Terry Liddle (1948-2012): SE London Socialist & Secularist

There's a memorial event next month (20th April) at Conway Hall for Terry Liddle, the veteran SE London radical who died in November 2012.Terry grew up in Eltham, and lived for many years up until his death at 23 Sowerby Close on the Mottingham Estate. He died from a stroke at the age of 64 ...

Neighbourhood Policing Shake-Up

Lewisham Borough Commander Chief Superintendent Russell Nyman spoke to alternativeSE4 about how the Mayor’s Police and Crime Plan is set to change community policing in Lewisham. [...]