Councillor Tony Belton’s Battersea September, 2019, Newsletter (# 123)

1. August was, of course, a quiet month in Council terms, even if national politics was as turbulent as I can ever remember. So, I went to Lyme Regis for a couple of quiet days and visited my old friend Tony Tuck, who some of you may remember was a fellow Latchmere councillor in the early 90’s. He has a beach-hut on the famous Jurassic coast and, just to prove it, here is am ammonite set in a beach pebble – 150 million+ years old!
   

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2. I came back through Wilton, Wiltshire, where I was absolutely startled to see this baroque Tuscan church, set in a small eighteenth-century English town. It is a Grade 1 listed building, built as a replacement between 1841 and 1844 on the initiative of the Countess Pembroke. The church is enormous for such a small town and speaks volumes for the Countess’s wealth! A notable feature is the 105 feet (32 m) campanile, which, unlike the traditional English tower or steeple, stands separate from the building – Is this because Tuscany, unlike England, has destructive earthquakes?
   

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3. A week later, on 14^th August, Battersea MP, Marsha de Cordova, and I were invited by a new business called e-cargobikes to see for ourselves their operation of delivery systems for the Northcote Road Co-op. The service uses electric bicycles to provide a delivery service for customers. The bikes are, of course, person-powered but with ancillary electric motors – partly to cope with the many hills in south Battersea and, indeed, the weight of the deliveries. James Fitzgerald of e-cargobikes argues eloquently for the ecological and cost advantages of using this service rather than van deliveries, saving not only petrol, but also congestion charges, road tax, insurance, parking fees and fines, etc. James confidently asserts that a bicycle delivery service, operating short delivery runs from the Co-op to the immediate neighbourhood, can be competitive with van deliveries. If successful, it will also be far more environmentally friendly than using motor vans. The picture shows from the left, the Co-op store manager, me, Marsha, two cyclists, who by the way earn a minimum of £11.15 an hour (and which is well above the London Living Wage), and on the right, James Fitzgerald.
   

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4. Two days later, on 16^th August I went to the House of Commons to take part in a small celebratory party to note Victoria Rodney’s MBE award in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. Victoria runs a voluntary organisation, called the Mercy Foundation, from an office in Falcon Road. The party was hosted by the M.P. and the guests included the High Commissioner of Nigeria. Victoria originally came from Nigeria but has lived in the UK for many years.
   

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5. Victoria once told me that she was sitting at home, some years ago, wondering what she could do to improve the life chances of many of the least fortunate in our society. So, completely off her own bat, she set up the charity based in Falcon Road, which is called The Mercy Foundation. The charity aims to teach technical skills, personal confidence, and self- presentation. She was so committed to the idea that she mortgaged her home to raise capital and, since then, has lived and breathed the Foundation. She has persuaded people like me to teach basic English to Somali refugees, living on the nearby York Road estate; she has organised courses in computing, in childcare and in nursing. Two of the speakers, Samuel and Mohammed, at the party were ex-students, who had come back to “honour” Victoria for giving them the self-confidence and skills to run and own their own small businesses. If any reader wants to make a charitable contribution, but to a small organisation and not to one of the giants such as the National Trust or Oxfam, then you could do worse than donate to the Mercy Foundation! Please, contact me for details.
   

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6. On 13^th August, I played chess against my fellow Labour councillor (Bedford ward) Hector Denfield, at the Battersea Chess Club. I am going to have to up my game before I take him on again – I lost, but I felt a little better when he told me that only a couple of weeks earlier, he had come second in the 13^th Weald Chess Congress at East Grinstead. But I viewed this match simply as training for my game for the Battersea Pawnbrokers, again at the Battersea Chess Club on 20^th August. Unfortunately, I fared no better in that match either!
   

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7. The Planning Applications Committee took place on 22^nd August. The agenda was suitably uncontentious for mid-summer and none of the decisions were of any great significance except, of course, to the people and neighbours directly concerned.
   

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8. On 24^th I was off to Croatia for our annual holiday. It was a delight and we swam over half a mile (1 km) every day. So, despite having plenty of wine and good fish every evening, I managed to lose half a stone or about 3.5 kilos! Can I avoid putting it all back on? I sincerely hope so!
   

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9. I came home on 8^th September to discover that the world had gone bonkers. 21 senior Tories, including two former Chancellors of the Exchequer, and Winston Churchill’s grandson have been kicked out of the Tory Party. My partner, Penny, is having a whale of a time comparing the successive political crises with the events of the early seventeenth century, upon which she is an expert. She pointed out that Charles I also tried to prorogue Parliament, but in his case for an indefinite period, but in the end lost his head! I am not suggesting that we should do the same to dear old Queenie, but perhaps Johnson has already lost his head!
   

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10. Whilst I have been away, the new all-weather sports pitch at Falconbrook (Banana) Park has come on-stream. The plan was not universally popular with all residents but now that the pitch and changing rooms have been completed and the Park has been given some new landscaping treatment, I hope that the pitch and other facilities are well used and appreciated.
    

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11. The Boundary Commissioners announced that they had received a large number of suggestions for the new ward boundaries and indeed the various options have been published. They are all on the Commissioners website but for me perhaps the most interesting is the Tory Plan, which you can see as a PDF on the Commissioners website. They are very different from the Labour Party’s plans and demonstrate that there is, as some would say, more than one way to skin a cat. At the last review in 2002/3 the Commissioners final recommendations were almost identical to the Labour submission. Their decision will be published later this year for one last round of consultation.
    

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My Programme for September

1. I came back from Croatia on September 8^th, but it’s a gentle start to the new Municipal season with my first meeting a Labour Group Awayday on 15^th September. It’s pretty obvious, however, that whatever plans we may have to discuss local affairs are likely to be overtaken by a flurry of Brexit or General Election related activity!
2. The Planning Applications Committee, “the committee that never stops”, is on 17^th September.
3. On the 27^th I will be visiting Christ Church school’s Dream Garden. Christ Church is making a feature of outdoor learning, believing that outdoor lessons are good for both children and the environment.
   

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Do you know?

Last month I asked who knew that Battersea and Wandsworth Metropolitan Boroughs were two separate organisations? Judging by the very few responses I got, not many did; or not many cared very much; or, on the contrary, everyone knew and thought that the question was too trivial to bother with!

The answer was that the 1963 London Government Act abolished the 28 London Metropolitan Boroughs and Middlesex County Council and also annexed parts of Surrey, Kent and Essex into a new Greater London containing the current 32 London Boroughs. Harold Macmillan was the Prime Minister responsible, though the blame/credit is often ascribed to Keith Joseph, who had been the Secretary of State for Housing and Local Government. Wandsworth “began” in 1964 but, for the first year of its operation, Battersea and Wandsworth still existed as separate entities during an extended handover year.

This year the Prime Minister is trying to prorogue (to suspend) Parliament until 14^th October. That is one of the reasons for the current controversy. Do you know how long Charles I managed without Parliament before inviting it to sit again? And do you know how long Parliament took to try him for treason and have him executed? And do you know why, in the end, he invited the argumentative MPs back?