Cleaner Greener and Safer Applications

The deadline for Cleaner, Greener and Safer applications for Camberwell has now passed, so I thought it would be useful to give an update of a couple of those that Veronica and I have submitted for South Camberwell:-

1. A speed reader sign on Champion Hill. This remains a road where vehicles frequently travel over the 20 mph speed limit, so we thought it would be helpful if a sign which flashed vehicles speeds if they exceeded the limit could be installed. It might even slow some of them down!

2. A community notice board at the junction of Bromar Road and Grove Hill Road. This is currently a fairly barren area of paving, and could do with some focus or brightening up. The idea comes from one of the residents of Grove Hill Road who I was speaking to recently.
3. A mini-roundabout at the junction of Malfort, Ivanhoe and Avondale Rise. Last year residents contacted us with their concerns about this becoming an accident black spot, so hopefully we can use some of the CGS funding to reduce speeds and accident risks here.
4. Planting in the beds at the top of Grove Lane. This is a repeat of the application I submitted years ago and which resulted in the installation of statues of a wolf and sheep. Whilst the statues are charming - it is not what we asked for! So some planting to generally improve the condition of the beds would be welcome.


I hope that some, if not all, of these applications will be successful. I will post updates when I have any further news!

Camberwell Planning Meeting

Last night Camberwell Community Council met to consider a number of planning applications, two of which concerned South Camberwell. The longest application of the evening concerned an application by the Salvation Army to redevelop Springfield Lodge, at the tope of Grove Hill Road. Veronica and I have both been approached by residents who have concerns about this application, and so we were disqualified from sitting on the Planning Committee. However, we took advantage of our role as ward councillors to make representations to the Committee.

Whilst the redevelopment of the site is welcome, the particular design submitted was not, particularly as it would have an impact on the amount of sunlight, daylight and overshadowing received by neighbouring properties. It is regrettable when residents have to suffer any negative consequences from the redevelopment of any site, and I felt that it was an unacceptable loss of amenity for neighbouring properties in this case.

Despite our best efforts, and some forceful submissions, our colleagues on the Committee granted the application permission to proceed. This was a disappointing outcome, as I believe a reconsideration of the design by the Salvation Army could have overcome many of the current complaints. We will just have to hope that the impact will not be too negative.

The second application concerning South Camberwell was for the removal of a tree in Grove Park. This was fairly controversial as two years ago an unscrupulous developer removed a number of trees from a neighbouring plot in breach of a Tree Preservation Order. As a consequence of that act all applications concerning TPOs now come to Community Council. However, in this case the offending tree has been found to be the cause of some terrible subsidence, with cracks to a property increasing at the rate of 1.5mm a month.

Permission was given for the removal of the tree, so I now hope that the misery suffered by residents of the property in question soon comes to an end, and that the subsidence is 'fixed' as soon as possible.

Did you know...?

That LibDem/Tory Southwark has the worst Council Tax collection rate in London, and the third worst in the country, with just 93% of council tax collected each year.

That means that each year £7 million of council tax is not collected - £7 million which could be spent on front-line services; which could have been used to keep the Livesey Children's Museum open and reversed the 50% increases in Meals on Wheels imposed last year.

Since 2006 Labour in Southwark has been arguing that the council should get rid of its council tax collection contractors, Liberata, but until a few weeks ago we were told that we were wrong and that things would improve. Sadly it seems we were not wrong and very belatedly the administration has realised the extent of the problem.

At the same time the LibDem/Tory administration has overseen a £150 million move to new offices in Tooley Street, spending £5 million on new office chairs and £35,000 on televisions.

I'm not sure that they have got their priorities right!

Southwark's Awful Recycling Rate

Souhwark's recycling rate has fallen to the 6th lowest in the country - down two places on its' position last year - with just over 20% of our waste recycled. Compare this with Labour-run Greenwich where 42% of waste is recycled.

In 2006 the LibDems pledged to increase our borough's recycling rate to 30% by 2010. They will have failed massively to meet this target. The truth of the matter is that there are still corners of the borough where recycling is not available to households, or recycling centres are located far from residents' front doors.

Labour in Southwark is committed to making recycling easier - by more single bag recycling and by introducing recycling for tetrapak and food waste. This issue is too important for us to fail to meet achievable targets.

John Friary's Deselection

On Tuesday night my Camberwell colleague John Friary was deselected by his ward party, after having served 15 years as a Camberwell councillor. John lives on Camberwell Green and has lived and breathed Camberwell politics and issues during his time on the council. He is a member of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on the Council and has an unrivalled knowledge of the way in which the council works. He is also one of the nicest people I know.

So his deselection was a shock. He is loyal and hard-working, a real campaigner and a champion for Camberwell and all those who live there.

I hope that John's deselection last Tuesday will not bring an end to his involvement in Camberwell and his determination to make it a better place to live.

"Labour is the same as the BNP" - Transcript of what was said!

This is a transcript of what was said last night which has been prepared by Council officers:

"Wednesday November 4 2009


Extract from debate – Councillors Columba Blango and Adele Morris

Item 5 – Members’ Question Time: Question 16

Councillor Blango
Thank you very much for your answer, which I think is very appropriate and up to the point. On to the point; does it not go to show that, in private, the government’s agenda is not very different from that of the BNP? And; and, when it comes to multi-cultural and multi-racial boroughs like Southwark, is it not a double standard they are playing?

Mayor
Councillor Morris...

Councillor Blango
Yes, thank you.

Councillor Morris
Well, you know... I – I – yes, I’m inclined to agree with the – sorry, I – please forgive–

Mayor
Quiet – can the executive member give a reply, please.

Councillor Morris
Thank you Mr Mayor, and I’d like to thank Councillor Blango for his supplementary question. And, I would – I’d be inclined to agree with him, that it – I think it does show a misunderstanding – [am I not allowed to agree, am I not allowed to agree, Councillor Stanton?] It shows a complete lack of understanding of the way that real communities work, and in particular about the way myths are spread and the kind of hatred that that creates in boroughs like this, and absolutely I agree with him.

Mayor
Thank you Councillor Morris. (315)"

[My emphasis has been added]
I would repeat everything I have said in my entry below - this is crass and stupid politics from Cllrs Morris and Blango.

I have now written to the LibDem Leader Nick Clegg asking if he too agrees with these ludicrous comments and will await his reply with interest.

"Labour is the same as the BNP" - Outrageous Slur at Council Assembly

Cllr Columba Blango has always been semi-detached from reality, but in an extraordinary outburst last night he equated the aims and policy of Labour and the Labour Government on council housing with those of the BNP. What is more extraordinary is that his colleague Cllr Adele Morris, Executive Member for Citisenship, Equalities and Communities (responding to his question) agreed with him completely and even the Leader of the Council nodded his agreement!

Have the LibDems in Southwark taken leave of their senses? Do they know what the BNP policy is on council housing? I've looked it up on their website and can tell you that BNP policy is to make all benefits and social housing only available to British citizens and make the length of residency in an area the key criterion for council house allocation.

It is the sort of inward-looking and racist policy which you would expect from the BNP. But it is not the Government's policy and it is not Labour policy, which bases allocation of council housing on need. We are not an inward looking Party but recognise the challenges which we face in an ever inter-dependent world.

So for Cllrs Blango and Morris to equate Labour with the BNP was wrong, stupid and fundamentally insulting to every Labour member who places equality and the fight against racism as central to their core beliefs. For such an insult to come from Southwark's Executive member with responsibility for this area of work raises a serious question over her fitness to hold that post.

The BNP has always faced united opposition from the main political parties, so it is incredibly disappointing that the LibDems in Southwark have chosen to take this line. I am sure it will only give succour to the BNP. Maybe that is what they intended? I have no explanation for this insulting comparison.

I invited Cllr Stanton to distance himself from the remarks last night, but he would not do so. There was no apology or any contrition from the LibDems.

As soon as I have the transcript of the comments I will be writing to Nick Clegg asking if he agrees with his colleagues in Southwark. I hope he at least has the common sense to distance himself from remarks which were genuinely insulting.

Labour's Team for South Camberwell

On Saturday Labour members in South Camberwell met to choose our team for the local elections on May 6th next year. I am delighted that the ward selected Veronica, myself and Stephen Govier to be the candidates.

Veronica and I have been councillors in South Camberwell since 2002, and we hope that Stephen will join us as part of our campaigning team on the council. Stephen is the Chair of the East Dulwich Estate Regeneration Project Team and has been incredibly active on the Estate getting the best deal possible for its residents.

We were all out carrying out one of our mobile surgeries on Saturday afternoon along Coplestone Road, Hayes Grove, Oxenford and Everthorpe. We met many residents and picked up a huge amount of casework. A lot of residents were baffled about why new lighting installed in their streets had not yet been turned on, and why old lamp posts had been left.

Our mobile surgeries remain unique in Southwark, and are a good example of Labour councillors working hard throughout their 4 year term, and not just at election times! It is vital that we do not allow the Tories to run Southwark again after next May, and only a majority Labour Group can do that. So Veronica and I know how important it is that South Camberwell elects Labour councillors!

Council Tax Collection - the worst in London

Southwark has the worst Council Tax collection rate in London and the third worst in the country. This fact means that 7p in every £1 or £7 million of Council Tax goes uncollected every year. This is a truly appalling figure and is one of the reasons why I get angry when the LibDems and Tories who run Southwark start scaremongering about cuts from Whitehall. If they did their job properly we would have an extra £7 million a year to spend on front-line services - we could help people deal with the worst effects of poverty; we could improve our recycling and push forward with new green technologies; we could help our older residents and roll back some of the spiteful cuts made by the administration over the past 7 years.

We are in this sorry position because the LibDems and Tories have persisted with Liberata as the council's contractor, 2 years after we asked them to re-tender and find a better alternative. They arrogantly refused our proposal then and have been far too slow to respond to the deteriorating performance of Liberata since.

So the consequence is that we are now bound into a further 2 years of a contract with a company that knows it will lose that contract - with little or no incentive for them to improve. I just hope that our collection rates do not fall even lower in that period.

The LibDems are always anxious to try and blame anyone but themselves for things that happen in Southwark, but this is one result that is down to them. It is just a pity that all of the residents of the borough have to pay so highly for their incompetence.

Labour Party Conference 2009

Last week I was in Brighton for the Labour Party Conference. It certainly did not feel like a conference of a party which was lost and on the way out of government, but was alive with ideas and optimism. It was absolutely right to emphasise the fact that the Tories had no response to the economic crisis last year, and that the Government's response is recognised internationally as having been the right thing to do. I am sure that the electorate will weigh this up in due course, but it is a message which it is difficult to get past the media which has already collectively called the election for David Cameron. I thought the Sun's decision to back Cameron after Gordon Brown's speech was wholly unconvincing. I overheard the interview between the BBC and the Sun's Trevor Kavanagh - who appeared to be fairly lamely following his boss's orders. At the end of the day the decision of the Sun to back the Tories reflects the business interests of one businessman, Rupert Murdoch, and we should not attach too much weight to it.

I was also pleased that Gordon Brown set out a positive agenda for us to campaign on for the General Election. The aspiration of a National Care Service to complement our National Health Service seems to me to be a talismanic policy which should energise Labour voters and supporters. Our whole agenda of equality and opportunity represents so much which is the best of Britain.

Three days into the Tories "Austerity Conference" I think that there going to be a real choice for the electorate to make, and a real fight for Britain's future ahead.

Grove Park - Clarification!

A reader of the blog has commented on my post below and asked what "improvements" mean. Hopefully improvements in the context of the pavement in Grove Park means doing something about their extremely uneven condition and making them safer for pedestrians. Having visited Grove Park on numerous occasions and spoken with residents I know that this is a concern which is often expressed.

It Just Gets Better!

No sooner have I finished celebrating the good news about The Hamlet than I discover that Grove Park, another road which has suffered with a terrible carriageway and pavements, will get some major work done this year. Money has already been allocated for the carriageway works in this year's main Council budget, and now we have been able to allocate some further funding for at least some of the pavement to be improved this year from our Camberwell budget.

Veronica has been badgering officers for ages about Grove Park - so a big "well done" to her for getting such a great result.

This really does show that even though it might take time, councillors can make a real difference in their wards!

The Hamlet Will be Resurfaced!

Ring the bells and sound the trumpets! The Hamlet - untouched by new tarmac for over 40 years - is to be resurfaced!

After a prolonged campaign Veronica and I got our colleagues agreement to spend £80,000 on resurfacing the road. It has been a long haul, as it has been an issue raised throughout the 7 1/2 year period that I have been a councillor. But our persistence has paid off!

Working with the residents of The Hamlet we have got press coverage of the issue and it has been raised in Council Assembly a number of times.

The campaigning meant that in the last couple of months The Hamlet found itself on a list of roads in Camberwell which might be suitable for work - although officers did not give it a high priority. However, as other roads fell off the list The Hamlet rose to the top! And in a final selection we won for The Hamlet and South Camberwell! This is great news and I know that the residents are delighted.

This Weekend

Residents in South Camberwell might get fed up of seeing Veronica, myself and our colleagues this weekend, as we undertake our latest Mobile Surgery and have an Action Weekend in the ward at the same time!

For those we will be visiting on our mobile surgery you are welcome and encouraged to raise any issue that is concerning you concerning your area and council services.

But around other parts of the ward we will be asking residents questions about recycling and how we can make it easier. In Southwark we recycle just over 20% of our rubbish, but we need to see a major improvement and increase in that figure.

Some parts of the borough have single bag recycling - all your recycling material goes into one clear bag and is collected weekly. Would you like to see this in your street and for your home? Some people with single bag recycling on estates would like to see a collection point for the bags, rather than having to keep the bag until it is collected. So we will be asking about that as well.

Hopefully we will get a clear view of what residents of South Camberwell want and how we can improve our borough's low recycling rate.

Southwark Labour Conference 2009

Saturday saw the 3rd Annual Southwark Labour Conference, which we held in Bermondsey at the Beormund Centre. It was a terrific day with speeches from Harriet Harman MP, Ed Milliband MP, Cllr Steve Reed and Val Shawcross AM.

We also held two working group sessions which discussed policies for the local elections which will be taking place on the 6th of May next year.

The day was really well attended,and it was terrific that so many members wanted to contribute to the debate about ideas for making Southwark a better place to live.
Ed Milliband, the Environment Secretary, spoke about the need for us to make the case for wind farms - over 70% of the population think they are a good idea, but 'NIMBY'ism takes over when a planning application is submitted. Even on the Isle of Wight, where the Vesta Wind Turbine factory has recently closed, the Tory Council and Tory MP opposed the erection of wind turbines! So people have to be consistent in how they want us to generate power in future.

In Southwark the administration cannot portray itself as 'green' yet sell off our metropolitan open land and green spaces. We do have to preserve what little green space we have in our borough!
Harriet Harman has been a great supporter of our borough conferences - and I hope that we will be able to welcome her back next year when we celebrate the first 100 days of a Labour Council back in Southwark!

Springfield Lodge

The Salvation Army has proposals to rebuild Springfield Lodge on Grove Hill Road and last week held an Open Evening for local residents to look at the plans and make comments on the pending planning application.

There are undoubtedly some problems with the current plans - the size of the building will be substantially increased in order to house only one additional resident (35 instead of 34), and neighbouring properties will be overlooked and suffer a loss of daylight. These are all problems which I am sure can be resolved before the planning application is formally considered.

It was significant that all of the residents of the neighbouring properties who attended the Open Evening were extremely supportive of the work of Springfield Lodge which resettles young men aged between 16 and 21. It has been operating for over 20 years. So I hoep that the Salvation Army will take on board the comments of its neighbours so that Springfield Lodge can continue its vital work in 21st Century premises.

Malfort Road Traffic Calming

A new traffic calming table has been installed at the top of Malfort Road at the junction with Grove Hill Road. It looks like some "finishing-off" work still needs to be done, but with the installation of speed humps on the road it can be hoped that residents will see a decrease in traffic speeds by car drivers.

Although Veronica and I have continued to argue for a 'Home Zone' in this area, local campaigns which we have been involved with have already seen the diversion of the P13 onto its' new Pytchley Road route away from Malfort Road and the introduction of these new traffic calming measures. Small steps, but hopefully a big improvement in making this a safer and quieter road for residents.

John Denham's Response

On Monday my colleague Cllr Ian Wingfield and I wrote to John Denham MP, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, asking him to order a public inquiry into the fatal fire at Lakanal House a week ago.
Today we received his reply in which he assured us that he has not ruled out a full public inquiry into the fire. In his letter John Denham wrote that he is “keeping an open mind about the need for a public inquiry and can assure you I have not ruled this out as an option”.
The minister’s remarks follow similar calls for a public inquiry from Camberwell and Peckham MP Harriet Harman and the Fire Brigades Union and a unanimous motion from Southwark’s Council Assembly calling for a public inquiry on Wednesday.

The Secretary of State also wrote that he has issued national guidance on a new dedicated web page on the CLG website, including advice for residents, tenants and landlords, and details of local authorities’ and registered social landlords’ duties under the law.
So an encouraging response to our request.
The photo shows me laying flowers on behalf of the Labour Group at Lakanal on Wednesday.

Ondine Road House Conversions

Last night when I was talking to residents in Ondine Road, several raised with me their concerns that a number of properties in the road were being converted into three flats. At a Camberwell Community Council Planning meeting about 18 months ago I spoke against such a development and fortunately the planning committee threw out the application on the basis that the proposed room sizes were too small.

Unfortunately the applicants appealed to the Planning Inspectorate and were granted planning permission there. This has set a precedent in the road, and there are now a number of such developments taking place. Residents are rightly concerned that a road of single family houses is being turned into a road of flats and the essential character of the area is being changed.

There is always a tension between the need to make more homes in London and the need to preserve the character of an area. There also comes a point where a road reaches 'saturation point' and the area and amenities cannot take any more people or their cars! Therefore, the fact that a precedent has been set in Ondine Road does not mean that every other application will always succeed. The impact of any proposed development on the character and amenity of an area will always have to be considered.

But this development in Ondine Road does highlight one of the frustrations of being a local councillor. For good reasons an application was refused by elected councillors who know and understand an area well. For unknown reasons an unelected official in Bristol granted the application on appeal. Surely there must be grounds for saying that developments up to a certain level should have no right of appeal - so that there remains proper and accountable local control over the planning process.

Lakanal and Marie Curie Residents Meetings

Last night I popped into meetings for residents of Lakanal and Marie Curie following Friday's fire. Marie Curie is identical in design and structure to Lakanal, so the residents of that building are naturally anxious to know whether their block is safe.

The Lakanal meeting was packed and very emotional. People are clearly still traumatised about the events of Friday, and with no idea when they may be able to return to their homes or reclaim their possessions tempers were running fairly high. It was disappointing that the meeting was being held in a hall which was not big enough for the numbers who attended, and it was difficult to hear some of the questions and answers at times. There are many questions that need to be answered and I felt that many of the residents needed an urgent face-to-face interview with council officers, rather than trying to make themselves heard in a public meeting.

One of the questions which troubles me is whether we should be housing young families and older people above a certain level in tower blocks. The fact that three of the Lakanal victims were children raises a question over how easy it is to organise a family's escape from a fire.

I walked with Harriet Harman to the Marie Curie residents meeting which had been moved to the Town Hall. Reports from the meeting suggest that the fire service is still at something of a loss to explain why the fire spread as it did through Lakanal. The advice being given to residents of Marie Curie was to stay in their flats in the event of a fire and move to the balcony for rescue. But this is exactly the same advice that was being given to residents of Lakanal on Friday.

So some very serious and very worrying questions remain. I hope that the fire service and Council act with real urgency to address those questions - in hours and days rather than in weeks and months.