Update: Clapham Road Flood

I'm posting an update provided by Thames Water on the flooding in Clapham Road last night. Lambeth Councillors are keeping a close eye on developments and the Oval ward councillors (which is where the flood is located) are contacting residents.

Update from Thames Water on Clapham Road flooding

Picture: @LewisWhyld

As you will be aware, the A3 Clapham Road in Kennington is closed due to flooding after a high-pressured 30-inch Thames Water main burst across the carriageway at around 8.30pm yesterday evening.

The road remains closed both ways between Oval Station and Caldwell Street while engineers work to inspect and then repair the damage, although the flooding has not affected the underground station.

It is important to clarify early media and eye-witness reports that the flooding was “a torrent of sewage”. In fact, it was clean water which had turned murky after picking up mud and sand from the road.

By midnight, our teams had shut off the water supply to the broken pipe and water supplies had been restored to the vast majority of affected customers in the area.

The focus of the team now is to fix the broken water pipe as soon as possible and get the road back to normal. We’re really sorry to anyone who has been affected.

The water is believed to have flooded one basement flat, although the resident was not “evacuated” from their property, as was also suggested in the media.

We will now be working with the police and Lambeth Council to inspect the damage and carry out what is expected to be a complicated repair, with other utility pipes in the close vicinity of the broken main.

We will provide a further update this afternoon once we have a better idea about how long the repair will take. The Thames Water twitter account will be providing more updates: https://twitter.com/thameswater 

Save the Stockwell Post Office!

Stockwell Post Office could be closed if plans from Post Office bosses are approved. Your Stockwell Labour action team - Cllr Alex Bigham, Cllr Imogen Walker and Guilherme Rosa are completely opposed to the plans and are campaigning against them.

A consultation is happening which proposes “merging” our post office with the branch on Ferndale Road in Brixton. It would mean local residents being forced to travel all the way down Stockwell Road to Brixton – a round trip that could take up to 40 minutes on foot. For many elderly or disabled people, used to relying on a local service for their savings, stamps or bill payments, that could put the service out of reach. Anyone who uses Stockwell will know queues are common and that’s only likely to get worse if Ferndale Road has to cope with extra customers.   

We completely oppose these plans and we have started a campaign to get the Post Office to change its mind.

Please take a moment to sign our petition against the plans here: http://goo.gl/1QjyGU  

Please also spare two minutes to add your name to the petition overleaf. Encourage your friends and neighbours to do it too

If you are a customer of the Post Office, let them  what you think by filling out their online questionnaire at https://www.postofficeviews.co.uk/liveconsultation.php. You will need to enter the post office branch name "Stockwell".You can also share your view by post. Just put ‘FREEPOST – Your Comments’ on the envelope.

The consultation closes in March so we haven’t got much time. If it goes ahead the Stockwell Post Office could close in June. 

For the people who rely on it, the Post Office is not just a place to post mail. It’s a focal point for our community, a place to catch up with neighbours and find out the latest news. Stockwell Post Office is a vital community resource. Let’s do all we can together to save it.

Young man murdered outside Stockwell tube station – Appeal for information

As people may have seen or read on the media, a young man was murdered in a horrific attack on Friday evening outside Stockwell tube station.

The thoughts of the Stockwell councillors are with the young man’s family and friends at this time.

The police have provided further information about the incident. If anyone has any information about this murder, please contact the police urgently.

At approximately 5.30pm on Friday evening, police were called to an incident where around 20 men were fighting on a bus outside Stockwell tube station. Shortly after this a further call was made to police stating that a car had crashed into the rear of a bus at the location.

Police attended the scene and a young man was found in the car suffering from a stab wound. The man in question unfortunately died a short time later.

It is unclear at present whether the fight on the bus was linked to the victim or whether this was a separate incident. The investigation is ongoing.

In response to the incident, the police have six additional officers doing high visibility reassurance patrols in the area and they will be there all weekend as well as weapons sweeps of the surrounding estates.

If anybody has any further information in regards to the incident or if anybody is aware of any heightened community tensions in the area or has any intelligence to suggest there may be further disorder in the area, please contact the police or Crimestoppers urgently.

• Any anonymous information can be passed on to Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555111 or visiting https://crimestoppers-uk.org/

• Lambeth Police – please contact Police Sergeant Jon Madigan from Lambeth North Policing Team on 020 7091 5852 (On duty until 2300 Saturday, then 1300 – 2300 Sunday).

• Or contact the police at any time by calling 101.