Councillor Tony Belton’s Battersea May 2021, Newsletter (# 143)
- Why is this newsletter so late in the month? Well, would you believe it? To keep well out of the way of breaking electoral law! The law says that anything, which could be construed as party political, and which is distributed in the build up to an election, MUST be counted as electoral expenditure and reported to the authorities. Now I wouldn’t actually go as far as to say that my newsletters are very party political but, unlike our Prime Minister, I am concerned about the legal niceties – hence the late publication of the newsletter. By the time you read this, of course, the election will be all over, which is why I am sending it now.
- I woke up on 6th April to the realisation that I am now 80 years old! I was not sure what I was going to do to mark the occasion. I had talked about parties for friends, family and politico friends, but that was before I realised how long Covid’s shadow was going to be. Actually, I did have a few phone calls and a number of Zoom parties with friends and family in various parts of London, Leamington, Winchester and Billericay. The big surprise, though, was a Zoom party organised for me by Labour colleagues in Battersea. I guess there were about 60 people there – a new and very, very pleasurable experience.
- Some of you will know that I am trying to find energy and time (or is it enthusiasm and drive?), to write a book about politics in Wandsworth, since 1964. The text is currently some 65,000 words long but I am only halfway through. Whilst researching for it, I have interviewed one or two of the main players and on 8th April I had a long chat with Martin Johnson, a Tory councillor for Northcote
from 1974-2018. During his long career, Martin was the number one (either as Chair or Cabinet Member), at various times, in charge of Wandsworth’s council houses, planning and roads, amongst a host of other council services. As we spoke, I was reminded of the important role he played, at quite some personal cost, in stopping the march of the urban motorway through much of the Borough and especially through, around, under and over Clapham Junction. The London Motorway Box was a threat to inner London posed by government-based traffic engineers, which was defeated locally by the Labour Council in the 70s and by the Tories, actually mainly Martin, in the 80s. If the engineers had won, London would have been turned into a mega-Spaghetti Junction. Martin took a correct and bold stance but, because he had defied the party machine, and most particularly Mrs. Thatcher, he lost popularity with his party colleagues and was effectively ignored by his party, ever afterwards. The picture shows Martin on an occasion marking his 40 years as a councillor.
- On 16th April, I had lunch in a pub garden with three friends. In what other year would one record that as an event? My first pub lunch for over a year! Then I had a hair cut, like millions of us – an event to record! And a few days later I went for a “surge test” – lots of strange, new experiences in a strange.
- I attended an XR (Extinction Rebellion) Wandsworth virtual meeting on 20th There were 50 or 60 people there and the meeting started off with five opening speeches about traffic calming, trees and the Council’s record in planting and growing trees, disinvesting the Council’s pension fund from fossil fuel companies and targeting its investment strategy towards “green” companies. XR’s objective was (and is) to make half a dozen demands of the Council. Their tactics, stated quite publicly, included any obstruction of the Council short of violence. I was not the only councillor attending, as I counted half a dozen others from both Labour and Tory parties. I later discussed it with some councillors from each side and was struck by the fact that I was rather more sympathetic to XR and its demands than many other councillors.
- The trouble is that some of XR’s demands were put in such intemperate terms that they were either impractical or border-line illegal and, in addition, a few of their assertions were inaccurate. Combined with the uncompromising tone of the demands, XR Wandsworth seemed more interested in bullying the Council into submission than in persuading the Council of the need to adopt totally “green” policies. I am afraid that the Council is more constrained by the law than is dreamed of in XR’s philosophy. The Council could not resolve, for example, to refuse any and all planning applications, which included the felling of trees at all – such a “pre-determination” would certainly result in refusals being reversed on appeal. The climate crisis is indeed a crisis but that doesn’t mean that XR have a monopoly of wisdom or the right policies, or that the Council can ignore political or legal realities. Acting together would provide faster and better solutions to what is a real crisis.
- On 22nd April, I had the Planning Applications Committee (PAC) and, if I said that the March PAC, was uneventful, then the April version made it seem positively momentous. The interest in individual planning applications was still sufficient, however, to inspire the virtual attendance by 52 people – it was very rare for pre-Covid, pre-online PAC ever to have an audience of 50.
- However, much to the horror of some councillors and lobbyists, the Government has decided that, as from 6th May, all meetings will have to take place – old-style. Personally, I don’t really believe that a diet of 100% online meetings is sustainable in the long-term. Our current online PAC works well enough, but I think that is because we know each other, and our relative strengths and weaknesses. Somehow, I doubt whether that would be the same with a new committee, a committee, which by definition would have a membership of strangers. But clearly some elements of the new online world will (or rather should) remain; having proved the viability of online committees. How can the Council in future deny the public the right to watch? How could the Council insist on the physical presence of a committee member, suffering from, say, flu when we all now know that an online presence would be perfectly possible? Wandsworth Council should lobby the Government and persuade the relevant Ministers that we cannot, or more properly should not, simply turn back the clock.
- I gave a talk, called “A brief history of Battersea 1800-2021”,
for the Battersea Society on 27th It was done on Zoom and there was an audience of about 70 or 80. Judging by the audience response after the talk, it went quite well. I certainly enjoyed doing it, but it is a strange experience talking to an audience, when you can’t see anyone’s reactions. Are they rolling around laughing or amazed by one’s stupidity or one’s brilliance? Is it going well or are they bored? This picture, by the way, is called “A view in the lanes near Battersea Fields” and was painted by William Bielby in 1788. It was my opening slide and, as you can see, there have been quite a few changes since! The talk can be seen at :
Access Passcode: #%L&&T7A
My Programme for May
- Political activity in May will be dominated by the London Mayoral and London Assembly elections on May 6th and inevitably everything that follows from those elections. This year, Sadiq Khan is the overwhelming favourite to continue as Mayor and the issue is just how are he and the Prime Minister going to get on working terms, because for the good of our city, they need to work together for the next three years.
- On 11th May I have a Wandsworth Conservation Area Advisory Committee.
- The 13th May is exactly 50 years after the first election, which I won as a councillor, then, believe it or not, for Northcote ward, which now, and then, was the safest Tory ward in Battersea! Just maybe that is something of an achievement. I know that there has never been any other councillor, who has “done” 50 years on Wandsworth Council, though I guess there might be one or two elsewhere in the country!
- The Planning Applications Committee is on 25th May and on the following day the Annual Meeting of the Council when we will be electing a new Mayor.
Did you Know: Last month I asked, “Where would you have had to go in 1886 to visit Battersea’s Little Hell?”
The answer was the area between Battersea Church Road and the Thames, which was the home of rapidly growing, very dirty, heavy industry such as Morgan Crucible’s 
and of many of its workers living in very squalid slum conditions, unimaginable today.
And for this month can you tell me:
The connection between the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge, shown here, and Battersea?
Tony Belton
Tony Belton 