Councillor Tony Belton’s Battersea March, 2019, Newsletter (# 117)
- February started very sombrely
with Jim McKinney’s funeral. Jim was the vicar at Holy Trinity Church, Roehampton, and also the husband of my fellow Councillor Sue McKinney. Jim was a much-loved partner in this very, warm cheerful couple. His church, a very large one built when Roehampton was a very, quiet rural village, was absolutely packed with a congregation of some 800 people. I don’t think that I had ever before been to a vicar’s funeral: the bishop was there and maybe another 30 of the local clergy, and a very large cross-section of the Putney/Roehampton community. It was a moving event.
- The Council Meeting on 6th February set the scene for this month’s decision on Council Tax. The decision on Council Tax is actually a long-winded process putting together the current year’s accounts and therefore the current balances, with the plans from all the various committees, the amount of grants received from central government and the demands made upon the Council by Transport for London and the Metropolitan Police all combined with what current legislation allows Councils to do! It hardly makes for an exciting Council meeting! As I have said before, we really need to re-think the civic function of Council meetings. This atrophy must be bad for democracy!
- On 7th February, members of the Planning
Applications Committee visited Battersea Power Station and toured the building. It is difficult not to be impressed by the scale of the development or indeed the views over the London skyline, but it still feels a long way from completion. The Power Station company has reduced the percentage of affordable housing that was planned; I have hopes, however, that the level of affordable housing will be restored. I met the Chief Executive and he certainly stated that was an objective that he wished to achieve! I hope that I am not being gullible, when I say that I believe him, let’s see.
- On 7th February, I was happy to help Battersea M.P., Marsha de Cordova, host an event at the House of Commons for some of her new constituents and new Labour Party members. I know Marsha would be delighted to welcome you and/or your neighbours to the House – you don’t need to be a member of any political party, so please do let me know if you are interested.
- On 16th, my neighbour, Amy Merrigan – pictured here – invited us to a play that she was helping to produce. The play, called Bottled,
was staged at the Vaults, Leake Street, Waterloo and written by a young woman called Hayley Wareham. The location was stunning, in the old under-pass under the Waterloo railway tracks. Instead of the dark, dank walls I remember from some years back, graffiti artists have been left free to design the décor; for anyone who ever worked at County Hall, it will make an interesting trip! I wrote a glowing review of the play, which is about the impact of domestic violence, both physical and mental. The review is at https://tonybelton.wordpress.com/2019/02/19/bottled-a-play-by-hayley-wareham/
- Earlier that day, I was calling on a
constituent in Rowditch Lane and stopped to photograph these six new council houses. They are to be used to re-house tenants from the blocks on the Winstanley/York Road estate, which are due for demolition and reconstruction. The new houses are a welcome change from the semi-derelict, unused garages that were there before.
- You quite possibly know that Hillary Clinton got far more votes in the 2016 Presidential Election than Donald Trump but still, obviously, lost – actually 2,600,000 more votes. In fact, 2 American Presidential elections out of 5 this century were won by the less popular candidate – on both occasions Republicans; Trump in 2016 and George Bush in 2000. But did you also know that on two occasions since the Second World War the party that won most votes in British General Elections also lost the election? In February, 1974, the Tories won just a few more votes than Labour but very narrowly lost the election. In 1951, Labour won 4.5% more votes but got 7 fewer MPs than the Tories. How does this happen? It happens in both the British and American systems when individual constituencies are of unequal size or characteristics.
- You may well wonder what that’s got to do with Battersea or Wandsworth. Well twice in Wandsworth’s history, in 1986 and in 2018, Labour won more votes but got fewer councillors than the Tories. Fortunately, unlike the States, where the locally dominant party decides on constituency boundaries, we have an independent group appointed by Parliament called the Boundary Commissioners. So possibly the most important preparation Labour can take for the 2022 Borough Election is to put the best possible case to the Boundary Commissioners for ward boundary re-distribution – and that is what we are trying to do now! I am involved in a series of meetings, 3 last month, surrounded by maps and spreadsheets – great fun for nerds! The Tories, and Lib Dems and anyone else interested, are doing the same. All trying to put together the most convincing arguments they can find for the version of the boundaries that they prefer, whilst at the same time ensuring that the resulting constituencies are of approximately equal size. N.B at this stage we are considering Ward and not Parliamentary constituency boundaries.
- This just may be the last time I write this newsletter when we are all fully-fledged members of the EU community. No doubt we all have slightly different views on this matter but for my part, I think that we are about to inflict the greatest act of self-harm on ourselves perpetrated by any European nation, since … Since when? Well perhaps the civil wars of the old Yugoslavian states, or GB and France’s attack on Suez in 1956. The fact that it is being largely led by the Conservative and Unionist Party is itself ironic as just one of the end results could be the end of the United Kingdom as we know it, if not immediately then within a decade or so. I hope Brexit still may be averted.
My Programme for March
- On 1st March, I am playing chess for Surrey against Essex! Never thought six months ago, that I would be doing that. Mustn’t leave you with the wrong impression though – it’s at quite a low-level grading!
- On 5th March, I am visiting the Tideway Tunnel works in York Gardens. I think I am going down into the Tunnel along which much of London’s sewage will be flowing in a few years time.
- On 6th March, we have the Council Meeting, where there will be a critical debate on GB’s role in Europe.
- There will be a couple of further meetings about the electoral ward boundaries.
- On Thursday, 21st March, I will attend the Battersea Society AGM in St. Mary’s Church, where my partner, Prof Penny Corfield, will be giving an historical talk on the history of duelling. Several duels took place here in Battersea, including one notoriously involving the Prime Minister of the day!
- On 23rd March I will be on the big March campaigning for the UK to stay in the European Union. With luck we may still Remain.
- The Planning Applications Committee is on 27th March.
- At 11 pm on 29th March we are scheduled to be leaving the EU. I will be at a celebratory party, if we decide to stay, or a wake if we actually leave.
Do you know?
Last month, I asked whether anyone knew anything about the women commemorated in these names: Gladys Dimson Hall, the Yvonne Carr Centre, Joan Bartlett House, (Caroline) Ganley Court, (Nora) Clark-Lawrence Court, and Doris Emmerton Court. But not one person responded – where are all the feminists? Perhaps we are all exhausted with a year of celebrating the centenary of female suffrage. I know plenty about Dimson, Carr, Ganley and Clark-Lawrence but not Bartlett nor Emmerton. I would be genuinely interested if anyone does know about them.
Meanwhile, here is a question about a man who was connected with Battersea two hundred years ago. He was J Mallord Turner, the great artist. What are Battersea’s two connections with him?
Tony Belton
Tony Belton 