CHINBROOK ACTION RESIDENTS TEAM Big Local Plan September 2017 2017-2019 (Plan Years 2 and 3)

CHINBROOK ACTION RESIDENTS TEAM Big Local Plan September 2017 2017-2019 (Plan Years 2 and 3) 1 | P a g e CHINBROOK ACTION RESIDENTS TEAM BIG LOCAL PLAN 1. Introduction 2. Chinbrook Context 3. Partnership 4. Vision and Priority Areas o Priority 1 : Health & Well-being o Priority 2 : Parks & Green Spaces o Priority 3 : Education, Training & Employment o Priority 4 : Community & Belonging o Priority 5 : Routes out of Poverty o Priority 6 : Community Investment 5. Consulting the Community 6. Plan for Years 2 & 3 7. Appendices 2 | P a g e Introduction from our Vice Chairs “Welcome to Chinbrook Big Local, we call ourselves Chinbrook Action Residents Team, or ChART for short. Together we are working to make Chinbrook an even better place for people to live, work and play. We are pleased to introduce our second plan. We worked hard as a steering group to take on board the comments and view of local residents to forge our next set of priorities. There was a strong sense of the need for everybody to work together to tackle the harsh economic climate that is facing many people up and down the country which is why we have added a new priority, Routes out of Poverty. Over the last year I feel ChART has really started to make an impact in the area, doing what we intended which is galvanising local community solidarity based on what local people say they need, helping them to come together to do so. We have moved from people saying “ChART? What’s that” to “ChART, What are you up to?” and it was great to get so much positive feedback about our projects from the consultation exercise we undertook during the summer. There is still a lot of work to build on our core partnership of local residents. We also have made brilliant links with other local key players such as the school, the local church and Lewisham Council but, with experience, we will be able to make these working relationships even stronger. And the awesome turnout of people from all sections of the community for the ‘Great Get Together’ and community clean up the week before really proved how local people DO want to contribute and be part of what’s going on in the area. So in Year 2 and 3 we will be able to build on this willingness, finding new ways to bring people out from behind their closed doors to work together to improve our community, support each other and have some fun along the way!” Anne Slater, Vice Chair 3 | P a g e “I have lived on the Chinbrook Estate for the last 27 years and still enjoy the area and all its beauty and quirkiness. I find it peaceful but also saddening that the poverty levels are so high. Through as part of ChART’s Steering Group I see a positive way to bring about change. We have a marvellous team of people who work hard to make changes. Please come along and join us, we'd love to meet you. Have a look at our website www.chartbiglocal.org.uk to see what has been happening and will continue to happen. If you see me in the street and know who I am, please stop me so we can chat about ChART and the world in general. Take care, Jacqui Cook, Vice Chair 4 | P a g e Chinbrook Context Chinbrook is a suburb in south east London; it is located 14 km (8.7 mi) southeast of Charing Cross and is in the southeast corner of the London Borough of Lewisham on its boundary with the London Borough of Bromley. Chinbrook lies between Grove Park and Mottingham, approximately half a mile east of Grove Park centre and is generally considered part of Grove Park. The Chinbrook Big Local area consists of 1,615 properties (likely to be between 4,000-5,000 residents); the majority of which are houses, the highest proportion of these houses are either social registered housing or owner occupied of a pre1930’s terraced cottage design. There are two main housing estates in the area. Grove Park Estate, to the southwest of the crossroads is a group of roads all with terraced houses, and some semi-detached houses between Marvels Lane and Chinbrook Meadows that was built by Lewisham council between 1926 and 1929. Chinbrook Estate, to the southeast of the crossroads is several small roads, has two high tower blocks plus many smaller terrace houses and flats and one community centre. It lies in the south east corner of the Grove Park ward but comes under SE9 not SE12 like most of Grove Park. It is surrounded by and has entrances on Marvels Lane, Dunkery Road, Grove Park Road and Mottingham Sports Ground. Chinbrook residents benefit from being sandwiched between two large parks, Mottingham Playing fields (known locally as ‘Foxes’) which borders the Mottingham Big Local area and Chinbrook Meadows. Mottingham Playing fields has a small children’s play area, caged basketball and football space and changing room facilities. It also has a stream which borders the woods that link to Elmstead Woods at the top of the neighbouring Chinbrook Meadows. The park has open access from a road that runs alongside it 24 hours a day. Chinbrook Meadows is one of Lewisham's public parks in the south of Chinbrook and Grove Park, the area was previously occupied by Chinbrook Farm, a dairy farm. The park was first formally opened to the public in 1929 and was then a children's play area of 8-acre (32,000 m2), on the edge of the recently built Grove Park Estate; London County Council purchased a further 23 acres (93,000 m2); and the larger area was opened to the public in June 1937. The majority of the park is maintained short grass with footpaths and lined with tall trees and bisected by the River Quaggy; the grass often has markings for football pitches, a cricket ground and other sports and is used by local schools for sports days. Chinbrook meadows also contains public toilets, a café, public concrete tennis courts, and a football pitch and basketball court in one. The parks and woods are part of the green chain walk linking green spaces throughout London. There are a number of small green spaces dotted within the catchment area as well. Despite what would appear to be a wealth of green spaces in this part of London the parks are most regularly used by dog walkers, some families and those hiring pitches and courts. Both parks benefit from committed local groups and associations committed to the improvement, care and increased use of the parks. This has been addressed over the past year with successful ChART walking groups, nature clubs, free yoga sessions and environmental conservation work sessions as well as a ChART presence at the local dog show. Chinbrook Meadows (which is the park most centrally within the Chinbrook Big Local area) has ‘Friends of Chinbrook Meadows’. 5 | P a g e They have been instrumental in gaining funding for new play, leisure and sports equipment and park furniture. In addition they have successfully hosted a number of events which have increased take up and use of the park over the years. The name Chinbrook is derived from "Chin Brook" which was an alternative name for the Quaggy River at the turn of the twentieth century. Data from Local Insights (see summary below) shows that the Chinbrook population has slightly more young people and older people than the London average. This data also shows that Chinbrook has somewhat less ethnic diversity than average for London, with the Black African and Black Caribbean communities the largest ethnic minority group in the area. There is a higher than average number of lone parent households in the area. There are also higher than average (for London) numbers of people in the area claiming incapacity benefits and working age workless benefit claimants and in particular, 16-24 year olds receiving workless benefits. The number of people claiming Disability Living Allowance is approximately twice as high in Chinbrook as the London average and the difference has been increasing over the last ten years. Similarly, the numbers of working age people claiming Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) benefits is twice the London average and the number of Housing Benefit claimants is also much higher than the London average. The proportion of children living in poverty in Chinbrook is 31%, which is higher than both London and England. The number of people on mental health related benefits is almost twice as high as the London average. Approximately 10% of people in the area are providing unpaid care. A person is a provider of unpaid care if they give any help or support to another person because of long-term physical or mental health or disability, or problems related to old age. There are higher than average numbers of children in the area providing unpaid care and numbers of people providing more than fifty hours of unpaid care per week. The numbers of people in social housing are higher than London averages (approximately 33% in Chinbrook). Crime figures overall are lower than average compared to London. Approximately 19% of the population describe themselves as having a limiting long- term illness. Lifestyle behaviours are risk factors which play a major part in an individual’s health outcomes and will have varying physical and psychological consequences. Chinbrook has lower numbers of people with healthy eating levels (consumption of five or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day among adults) and higher numbers of people who are smokers and children who are obese than average.

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