Councillor Tony Belton’s Battersea December 2021, Newsletter (# 150)
- Living through, what is hopefully the nearest thing to the Plague we will ever know, is certainly an experience – even if, one we would have wished to miss. But it is almost unfathomably personal, depending upon family life, age, life situation, wealth, location, occupation, etc., etc. I am talking from one tiny segment of the population. The comfortably off, owner-occupying, socially established, mature population. Though, even here the range of reactions are massive. My partner, Penny is putting nose to the grindstone, churning out books – actually enjoying not going to the cinema or to the noisy restaurant. Me? I am kind of reducing risk factors to a degree; going out a bit but happy to have an excuse not to. Many of my peer group have hardly stuck their heads out of the door and yet others, within Government restrictions, are flying the world almost regardless of the climate crisis and COP26.
- Lots of past generations, of course, have had their trials. My parents, for example, spent most of their twenties separated by war, and their parents, my grandparents, suffered the more deadly 1914-18 War AND the deadliest of modern pandemics, the 1918 so-called flu epidemic. My peer group appears to me to be uniquely lucky to have been born into Welfare State Britain and now, many of us, comfortably off as we enter a Climate Crisis through a Pandemic. And yet we can be so complacent and mean about it, when we should be generous and open about our good fortune. (One or two caveats, even for my generation: it is so important to be busy and, hopefully, not unhappily lonely).
- November started with me being pinged and self-isolating, so I missed Wandsworth’s Civic Awards and a couple of social events. However, I was clear for a grand Labour Party event at the Park Plaza Hotel, Waterloo. I, and a dozen other Labour councillors, were the guests of Cllr Peter Carpenter at a celebration of Labour and its associated SME (Small and Medium-sized enterprises) members. SME business is not generally thought of us as a home base for Labour, which is more frequently associated with Trade Unions and large, smoke-stack or nationalised businesses. SME4Labour is however a vibrant new part of the Labour Party, very much inspired by first-generation Brits, who have made good. A high point of the evening was Leonie Cooper’s award as Greater London Member of the Year. Congratulations to Leonie, who as many of you will recall, was a Latchmere councillor before moving to Tooting in 2010.
- On 11th November, Penny and I flew to Copenhagen for the Annual Meeting of the Danish Eighteenth-Century History Society, where she was the keynote speaker. I wanted us to avoid air flights – if possible, but discovered that it was practically impossible. There used to be a ferry from Newcastle to Esbjerg on the Danish west coast, followed by a simple train ride to Copenhagen. But cheap airfares have undermined that ferry’s economic viability. And the only real alternative is a 36 hour trip by ferry to Rotterdam and a combination of rail journeys across Holland and Northern Germany and finally Denmark. How can we truly face up to the climate crisis when the Government not only continues to subsidise air travel, but actually increases its subsidies as Chancellor Sunak has just done to the detriment of rail and ferry services? Is this Government serious about anything?
- On the 12th we went for a long walk through central Copenhagen. It’s such a quiet, well-behaved city compared with noisy, rumbustious London. There are
famous tourist spots like Nyhaven (Newhaven – pictured here), pedestrianised streets and thousands of cyclists. But the cyclists somehow belong to a different era from here in London. They are not Lycra-clad speedsters but sit-up-and-beg shoppers with shopping baskets. But before some of my cycle-loving colleagues get too envious of Denmark, I should point out that British pedestrians would never tolerate the inequities meted out to pedestrians in Copenhagen – no minimum width of pavements, no protection against parked cars or bikes, no control over obstructions. The pedestrian really is at the bottom of the pile. - The lecture and the guest appearance of the International President, Penny, went well and so, I must
say, did the delightful socialising on both of our evenings 
there. On the 14th before our return home, we went for a tour of the Fredericksburg Gardens, a Hyde Park equivalent attached to the Palace, pictured here. But the stars of the afternoon were in the elephant enclosure of the neighbouring zoo, which is clearly visible from the Gardens. We were entertained by two elephant teenagers, who were intent on pushing each other into a pond they shared with plenty of ducks, who sensibly kept their distance! - We returned home on the 14th but what a hassle! On the way out, we had a saga of problems. And, as for returning, our efforts to complete the correct forms on strange computer keyboards, to satisfy the Covid inspectors and, and …… led us to conclude that foreign trips of less than at least two weeks are just off the agenda for the foreseeable… And, moreover, we got pinged again two days later, presumably because of someone we met/passed at Heathrow!
- On the 15th, the day before I went into self-isolation for a second time, I had a meeting of the Wandsworth Conservation Area Advisory Committee (WCAAC). I have mentioned this committee before but not discussed it much. It is a very worthy group of local amenity groups, who advise the Council on potential developments in Conservation Areas and who, unsurprisingly, usually have a conservative outlook on developments. On this occasion, the main discussion was about the proposed development of the All England Tennis Club into and over the area of what is now the Wimbledon Park Golf Club. Whilst that is of little direct interest to Battersea, I know many “Wimbledon” fans will be fascinated. In essence, the Championship is doubling in size; the qualifying tournament will be held on-site and not as now in Roehampton; it will provide many, many more practice courts (apparently compared to the other majors the lack of practice facilities is a “scandal”); it will also ease the obvious “wear and tear” pressures of playing on grass as opposed to hard courts. As a by-product, much of the current golf course will also become a genuine park rather than an effectively private open space. The proposals looked good, but, of course, the plans still need close scrutiny.
- Once again self-isolation meant that I did not attend November’s Planning Applications Committee on the 23rd, except in Zoom-mode. In every other respect, it was also like October’s PAC – there was nothing exciting on the agenda; it was mundane; it was ordinary; it was part of the bread-and-butter of local government and it was very well done
with thought and care. I was again impressed by the quality of the councillors’ involvement and contribution. - Some months ago the Battersea Park Rotary Club invited me to talk at their weekly lunch-time meeting on 25th My topic was “50 years of life as a councillor”. The lunch was at Wright’s, one of the new restaurants in the Battersea Power Station development. I thought the talk went quite well; the Rotarians said it did; but then they would, wouldn’t they? Here I am after the event with Rotarian President Senja Dedic.
- Whilst I was there, I was struck by the sight of the
Power Station. Since I was last there it has taken on the looks of a completely new building, in sparkling condition and almost ready for its new life as a town centre, full of shops, living and work. It was, as you can see, a brilliant day: bright and very cold and the Power Station looked at its best. I got into a discussion with two friends, who work there and who are very committed to its success. I suspect I irritated, or annoyed, them with my scepticism about the plan for what is being called “a new town centre”. Personally, as yet I find the development a tad sterile; it’s certainly acquiring some of the patina of success, but there isn’t any authentic urban life there. I hope that I am wrong but ..? - The 25th was also the day of a by-election in Wandsworth’s Bedford ward. Congratulations to Labour’s Sheila Boswell, who won by one vote! I suspect that both Tory and Labour parties were almost equally surprised by the result. Labour was certainly. And presumably, the Tories were a bit sickened, having got so close. It will have done no harm as long as the obvious lessons are learnt, starting with the very clear one that the electorate is not quite as keen on turning out for what will seem to many as meaningless by-elections even if we, active practitioners, think they are important. On the following Sunday, 60-70 Labour stalwarts zoomed their collective frustrations and irritations in a solemn post mortem.
- On the last day of the month, news broke that local artist and political campaigner, Brian Barnes had died. I first met Brian during the Battersea Society’s campaign “to save” Albert Bridge. It was under assault from modern traffic, which its nineteenth-century designers hadn’t anticipated. It was a story very familiar to modern Londoners in the form of similar arguments about Hammersmith Bridge. Demolition and reconstruction was, of course, the “rationalists’” answer but they had not allowed for campaigners, who commissioned the young, unknown Battersea artist, Brian Barnes, to design several beautiful posters in defence of the bridge. An agreed compromise was the largely unnoticed but successful buttress under the bridge’s central span. It has now been there for 50+ years.
- Way back then, I was Chair of Planning and later the Opposition lead on planning, when his most famous mural was designed, created and demolished. The mural, “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”, was a massive 150 feet long, 18 feet high (45 metre by 5.50 metre) political statement of how he, and some others of us, would have liked Battersea to become. A great broom was sweeping away all the noxious industries of nineteenth-century Battersea and replacing them with smiling children and nice new homes. But, like medieval paintings of heaven and hell, Brian had much more fun painting the ‘bad’ than he did the ‘good’ – after all, one set of smiling children in a flower garden doesn’t cover much of 150 feet. I am proud to claim a small role in the artwork, as Brian included me and Wandsworth’s then Director of Planning, Mike Tapsell, on the mural, being tossed about in what was a figurative tide of rampant capitalism. Four Tory councillors, led by Chris Chope (now Sir Christopher Chope, the notorious right-wing Tory MP) also starred in the painting. Unfortunately, the demolition men gave it short shrift when building today’s Morgan’s Walk.
- My favourite Barnes mural is called Battersea
in Perspective and is in Dagnall Street on the wall of what used to be the Haberdashers’ Arms, now converted into flats. The mural is a visual tour of Battersea, from Roman jewellery found in the Thames to Battersea Park’s Peace Pagoda. It demands a detailed description, but, as this photo shows, it is also difficult to picture, whilst retaining the correct perspective. - There was another side to Brian and that was his life as a political activist. In the early 80’s he was the inspirational genius behind the Battersea Power Station Action Group (BPAG). BPAG, he told me some 10 years ago, met weekly for over 20 years with Brian creating the agenda, writing the minutes and basically running the show – that takes some doing. He was also a long-term executive member of the Doddington and Rollo Community Association (DRCA). I was chair of the DRCA for some years around the turn of the century and I can vouch for the fact that Brian was a very idiosyncratic, and not always easy, member of the association – at least from the chair’s perspective! RIP Brian Barnes, committed community activist and great muralist.
- Finally, can I urge you all to get fully vaccinated – if not for yourself then for your friends and family, who deserve not to be infected by a disease that you might otherwise be carrying. To my mind, refusing to get vaccinated is not a display of sturdy individualism but rather an anti-social indulgence.
My Programme for December
- Omicron looks likely to destroy much of my Christmas, and I am afraid maybe yours as well. I very much hope that I am wrong but the sudden appearance in late November of this new strain of Coronavirus, and the threat of other variants to come suggests to me that there must be more lockdowns to come.
- That will leave me with a meeting of the North-East Surrey Crematorium Board on the 7th December, a Labour Councillors’ Group on the 9th, the Council Meeting on the 15th and the Planning Applications Committee on the 16th.
- As for the festivities themselves: I have the usual round of potential parties, but how many happen, or I go to I am not sure. Only one has been cancelled so far!
Did you Know?
Last month I asked, whether you knew this local horse trough, which I had noticed the previous month. The answer is that it stands on Trinity Road, outside the County Arms.
And this month?
Many of you will know this building: Foxtons, large, modern office block on the corner of Theatre Street and Lavender Hill. But do you know what was there before being severely bomb-damaged in the 1940s and demolished in the 1950s? You might find a bardic clue in the address.
Tony Belton
Tony Belton 