My Latchmere August Newsletter (#40)
July highlights
1. On July 4th I went to a Labour Party fund raiser at the Fish in a Tie restaurant in Falcon Road, 
where the guest speaker was Andy Burnham, Labour’s Shadow Health Minister. As you know I don’t make this newsletter a party political broadcast – far too boring – but I must say that Andy was on great form. He was interested to see the new Clapham Junction Health Centre, as he came to open the centre with me when it was in a couple of mobile caravans in the nearby car park just before the last election. By the way, if you haven’t been there, can I recommend the Fish in a Tie as one of the best, at very reasonable prices, restaurants in our ward.
Another thing Andy s
aw was the newly re-opened entrance to Clapham Junction station. Some of you complained about the length of time the work took but I think everyone will agree that the new entrance (pictured here) is a terrific improvement on what was there previously.
2. Last month I commented that the British economy was now officially in what is known as a “double-dip recession”. Unfortunately with both Government and Council pursuing a crazy deflationary policy there seems little prospect of pulling out of it and indeed I have heard some talk about a “triple-dip recession.” The result in Latchmere was yet another rise of 10 in the ward’s official unemployment numbers, with 330 men and 230 women unemployed.
3. The Planning Applications Committee on 18th July had one application of real local interest and that was the one about the re-development of Clapham Junction’s Peabody Estate at the top of St. John’s Hill. Local residents were very actively opposed to the application, including as it does a 12 storey block and 527 residential units. Their opposition was partly based on the traffic implications on Eckstein, Comyn and Severus Roads, partly on the sheer scale of the application and partly on the size of the 12 storey block. One of the problems about the height of the tallest block is, for me, that it is not only that high but that it is at the top of the hill and will, therefore, dominate everything on the south side of the railway lines. I joined, with senior Tory councillor Maurice Heaster in opposing the application but I am afraid the very many local residents in the public gallery were disappointed.
4. On 19th July we had the Latchmere Report Back Meeting at York Gardens Library, There was a large audience and the normal range of questions about housing, pavements, street cleaning and refuse collection but what made it unusual was the decision by the pressure group London Citizens to make it a “protest” against the Council’s cuts policies. This meant that what is usually a time for the local councillors to be asked and answer questions about the local ward, became a quizzing of Tory Council Leader, Ravi Govindia.
5. I am afraid that I did not attend the Poyntz Road/Knowsley Road Triangle Party on 7th July. I am afraid I chickened out when the heavens opened and rained on what for me is the best street party in the Borough.
My Programme for August
1. Well, to be honest what with personal holidays and the Olympics – I went down to Putney High Street to see the road race pas
s, not the greatest picture but there it is! – it doesn’t add up to much at all, but I will be interested to see exactly what is going to happen to the Borough’s Library services. On 21st August a Council Committee will be considering the next stage in the “contracting out” of the Borough’s boundaries. Anyone who knows me will know what I think about contracting out core services like Libraries but I am rather afraid that it does not look good for our service, which I expect to be contracted out to some multi-national services provider.
2. I am not back from holiday until 11th September and so next month’s newsletter will not be in the first week of the month!
Did you know?
Last month I mentioned that the Falcons used to be Wandsworth Council’s Livingstone Estate and that Peregrine House used to be called Burne-Jones Court, after the painter Edward Burne-Jones. Well to continue the parade, Griffon House, which of course was demolished to make way for the Imperial College student residencies was called Elgar Court.
Sir Edward William Elgar (2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was, of course, the famous English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. His best known works are the Enigma Variations, and most notably the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, both regulars at the Promenade Concerts. And for those of you who have forgotten Pomp & Circumstance then here it is on U-Tube www.youtube.com/watch?v=moL4MkJ-aLk
One of the most notable features about Elgar, pictured right, was that he was one of the first “classical” composers to take modern recording methods seriously. In a period from 1914-1925 he made several recordings but when in 1925 the microphone was invented he started a recording of all his works and hence has a fair claim to be the first composer to have had all his works recorded in his own lifetime.
Why the Council named the Livingstone blocks after artists like Burne-Jones and Elgar (with more to come), will be the subject of a later Newsletter.
Tony Belton
Tony Belton 