Councillor Tony Belton’s Battersea April 2023, Newsletter (# 166)
- After my late January mini-stroke, it was no surprise that I spent half of March either in St. George’s Hospital or on the 219 bus from Clapham Junction to Tooting High Street. Unfortunately, either due to my own incompetence or NHS bureaucratic complexities, a fair proportion of my time was wasted. On the positive side, my vision seems to have improved a bit since then, but it still has some way to go.
-
On the 3rd March we booked Clapham Junction’s Waterstone’s for
a launch of Penny’s book The Georgians, The Deeds and Misdeeds of Eighteenth Century Britain – it had prime spot in the window. Some 50 or so local friends and neighbours 
attended. A fortnight later, on 17th March, the book had a second launch, in Samuel Johnson’s untouched 18th century house – a stone’s throw from the Strand. This second launch was largely attended by University friends, mainly from London but also from Edinburgh, Paris and New York. Pen had given me some nonsense about not making a speech on either occasion; but, after I introduced her, she enjoyed spouting, as much as ever, about writing the book and about Johnson’s house (not forgetting Hodge the cat, who, in this picture, has the prime spot overlooking Gough Square). -
I had the Finance Committee on 1st March and the full Council Meeting on March 8th. The main business of the Committee was the detailed and essentially very important but boring business of confirming the details of the Council Tax, which was finally agreed at the Council meeting. There were some very good speeches during the debate in the Council Meeting itself, but they did not have a great deal of gripping or dramatic content. I tried, in my own fashion, to liven things up and make the event slightly more challenging to the viewing public – if there were any. You can make your own judgement by viewing the debate at – https://democracy.wandsworth.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=296&MId=8791&Ver=4
-
On the 11th March, I took part in a public commission on air quality in Wandsworth, which was held at Battersea Arts Centre. This meeting was a fascinating innovation introduced by
the new Labour Wandsworth Council, under the lead of Cabinet member Councillor Judi Gasser. I was there only as a silent observer. The people invited to participate in the commission had been chosen at random and were intended to be as representative of Wandsworth residents as possible. It will be fascinating to see what the Commission’s final recommendations will be. At a time when there is so much concern, and even anger, about such policy initiatives as the Mayor’s ULEZ expansion, this commission is indeed timely. Judi is seen here, standing mid-right during a tea break. -
I paid quick visit to the Randall Close site, on the Surrey Lane Estate,
on March 13th. I am sure that many will have noticed the colourful new hoarding on Battersea Bridge Road, pictured here and masking the building site of the first of our 1,000 new Council homes that the Labour Council promised the Borough in last May’s election. The building company Hill (strapline ‘Creating Communities’) appears, to this lay observer, to be doing an excellent job in keeping the noise and nuisance, inevitably associated with large-scale building works, to a minimum; and hopefully, the end result will reflect their efforts and their competence.
- I had the Planning Applications Committee on March 23rd. There were not many applications and not very large, or indeed very significant, for Battersea. But they were interesting and posed some fascinating questions. For example, there were two applications for new piers on the Thames at Putney, right next to and complementing the pier that can be seen on TV at the start of the Boat Race. Committee members were eager to get the two applicants to get together and work collectively for the good of all – but, unfortunately, that is not our role. We are there purely to judge the applications that private individuals, companies, public utilities and/or any other operations put before us; not to act as development facilitators, nor to negotiate deals. We can only hope that the developers listen to the debate and review their applications in the light of any comments we make.
-
One of the applications, in Spencer Walk in Putney, interestingly had two Tory ward councillors arguing against each other, with a third Labour councillor asking what they thought of each other’s arguments. Another application provoked opposition, but largely about the current operation on the site and not about the planning implications of the new application. It was an interesting evening.
-
On March 29th the CAB (Citizen’s Advice Bureau)
hosted a reception at the PCS building at Clapham Junction (that is the office building immediately behind the Falcon pub on the main crossroads). This event was a get-together with many, perhaps most, of the organisations coping with both the pandemic and the current cost-of-living crisis. We heard of the problems faced by the Foodbanks, sadly so much needed currently, by children’s charities and by charities concerned for the elderly and many other disadvantaged groups. It was a large and vibrant gathering of many of the Borough’s most important charities– what people mean by ‘positive networking’. -
Towards the end of the month, the issue most dominating my in-tray was the cycle contra-flow plan for Brynmaer Road, and Warriner and Lurline Gardens, which together are a parallel route between Prince of Wales Drive and Battersea Park Road. The new scheme comes into operation on 3rd April and, if the worst fears of its opponents are realised, the £11,000 cost of the scheme may result in increased danger for cyclists, increased vandalism, damage to cars and traffic dislocation. I have said that this outcome has not been my experience of other similar schemes in Battersea, notably in Chivalry and Candahar Roads. Indeed, on the basis of my experience, the impact on both roads has been much less dramatic than either opponents or supporters had feared or hoped.
My programme for April
- The month starts at St. Ann’s Church, on 1st April, with a choral concert given by the SouthWest London Choral Society.
- I am visiting the Wimbledon Park Rifle Club on the morning of 3rd
- On the 5th April, I am having a ‘procedure’ at St. George’s Hospital, but right now I am not even sure what it is – I think I was a bit dopey with medical drugs when I must have agreed it. I am sure that ‘the medics’ are doing their best for me, but I need to do a bit of checking first!
- On 7-9th April I (we) look forward to spending a couple of days lounging and swimming at the Goodwood Hotel.
- On the 15th April, we have lunch with friend, Sarah Langton, at her fantastic Thames-side bungalow – hope that the weather is good.
- I will be going to the Mayor’s Charity Quiz Night on 20th
- On 23rd April, we have tickets for the exhibition ‘Style and Society: Dressing the Georgians’ at the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace.
- The Planning Applications Committee is on April 25th.
Did you Know?
Born in Teddington, lived in Battersea, Clapham and Brixton, but sought and found fame in the
West End and Hollywood. He wrote a ditty about people who lived in Battersea Rise for a war-time review, which uses names for our war-time enemies, which would not be acceptable today. Intensely patriotic, in a very sentimental way: who was he? And special praise from me, if anyone can pin down the addresses he lived in, in Battersea and Clapham (which I suspect was, actually, Clapham Junction). Slightly to my surprise far more of you knew that this was Noel Coward than apparently knew last month’s answer was Frank Bruno.
And this month?
Who were the three sisters and what was their unique nominal connection to Battersea?
Tony Belton
Tony Belton 