Councillor Tony Belton’s Battersea November 2023, Newsletter (# 173)

1. The Finance Committee, on 3^rd October, was uneventful, although it dealt with important budgetary papers. It was followed, however, on the same night, by a bad-tempered General Purposes (GP) Committee. It is called the General Purposes Committee because it deals with anything and everything, which isn’t handled elsewhere. On this occasion that meant it discussed and decided upon Wandsworth councillors’ allowances. And that was indeed eventful.
   

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   It is always tricky voting for one’s own pay – or allowance – increase. We all know that there is no easier target than MPs or councillors voting themselves more money. However, councillors’ allowances had been frozen since 2013 and hence in real terms they had fallen quite considerably. We decided at the committee to raise them by 4.04% and link future increases to the annual national local government pay rise.

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   In addition, we decided to increase the number of councillors in the majority party (that is Labour councillors – because, of course, we were elected to do the job) receiving a small additional allowance, typically about £3,000 for taking on major Council responsibilities, such as Chairing the Audit Committee or championing policies to improve the Borough’s air quality.

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   Finally, we reversed the cut that we made rather too hastily last year in the Chief Whip’s allowance – and back-dated our 4.04% increase to the beginning of the financial year, 1^st April. As they say, nowadays, the optics were not great, and the Tories unsurprisingly made the most of that. But what they fail to tackle is how can we expect elected councillors to spend large amounts of their time running the Borough (well or badly from your perspective) without getting paid. If we do not pay a basic allowance to councillors, then only rich people will ever be able to do the job.

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2. A couple of days later, I was making my way from Austin Road to Battersea Park Library, when I noticed that the Council has repaired the very uneven and dangerous paving between Park West and Eden Retirement Home. I had brought the matter to the notice of the relevant Council department, following a meeting I had with some Battersea Fields residents. The attached pic shows paving, as it was, at least 2 inches out of sync – one of several pictures that I could have used – and so I must say I am delighted that our efforts have been rewarded.
   

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3. A Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) meeting took place on the Doddington Estate on 17^th Google says, “The Safer Neighbourhoods Programme introduced local policing teams to provide a visible, familiar and accessible policing presence across London in order to close the `reassurance gap’ and further reduce overall incidents of crime and disorder.” I am not sure that SNTs have quite done all that yet, but this was the most successful meeting of its type that I have yet seen. One thing is clear, we still need to improve relationships between the police and the public in modern-day London.
   

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4. On the 18^th October, we had the full Council Meeting. Every regular reader of my newsletter will know what I think of the largely ceremonial and formulaic nature of modern Council meetings. But this was just after the Hamas attack on Israel and just as the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) was starting their counter-attack. What were we going to do?
   

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   The Mayor opened proceedings by making a suitable statement mourning the dead and hoping for a quick and peaceful end to the crisis; and she was followed, much as expected by the two leaders. But then, I am afraid, we got stuck into a totally inappropriate row between some Labour and Tory councillors, which bore no relationship to the war being fought 2,300 miles away – this was, in my view, competitive virtue signalling at its worst.

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5. The Mayor, fellow Battersea Park Councillor Juliana Anaan, held a charity dinner/dance on 20th October, It was great fun and gave Penny and me a rare chance to have a dance together. Perhaps more pertinently the occasion helped the Mayor to raise £12,000 in favour of her charities of the year, which are the Katherine Low Settlement, Black Minds Matter, and Keeping Families Together.
   

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6. On the 26^th October, I watched Merton Council’s equivalent of Wandsworth’s PAC (see para 7) debating the application for the extension and consolidation of the All England Lawn Tennis Club’s (AELTC) Wimbledon I was interested, given that the same application is going to Wandsworth’s PAC on November 21^st. Some would argue that this is the largest such application that we are likely to be considering in the lifetime of this 2022-2026 Council.
   

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   As you will probably have seen from widespread media coverage, Merton approved the application and now it is Wandsworth’s PAC’s turn to approve or reject the application. I think that we can guarantee that, whether we say Yes or No, there will be many who will disapprove of our decision. Frankly either way the decision will, no doubt, be passed up to the London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, and probably after him to the Secretary of State. Whatever the outcome I am certain that there will be widespread, even international, interest.

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   The decision will depend on how the committee balances the requirements of the club (and, of course, the Wimbledon Championship), and the benefits that the application brings such as the expansion and improvements to Wimbledon Park against the building of a show stadium and many grass courts on designated Metropolitan Open Land and the further encroachment on Grinling Gibbons’ historic conception of park landscape.

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7. The Planning Applications Committee (PAC), on 24^th October, was the most interesting for months, because it dealt with two highly political issues. By that, I do NOT mean political in the bastardised use of the word, of Labour versus Tory, or of one set of personally ambitious councillors against another. What I do mean, however, is that they were highly political decisions, posing two good sets of values against each other and demanding that we make balanced decisions for the good of the community (polis). They gave the lie to that unconsidered, but oft-repeated, phrase that “councillors should put politics to one side and decide what is the best for the community”. In both cases, genuinely held value sets were in opposition and the argument was about precisely what was best for the community.
   

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   In the first case, the integrity and preservation of the Nightingale Lane Conservation Area was in direct opposition to the desirability of providing two housing units for women and children, who had suffered from domestic violence. In the second, safeguarding the environment, both in general and, in particular, with regards to the residents of one street, conflicted with the Council’s desire and need to improve educational facilities for one small but important group of students – in the Pupil Referral Unit.

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   Councillors expressed their views on both matters with passion but also with balance and mutual respect in what were two of the best and most considered debates of recent months. As I chair PAC, perhaps I am a little biased, but it was local politics at its very best.

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   We decided to allow the two housing units at a potential, though clearly limited, cost to the conservation area; and to defer the second in the hope that a better planning solution might be found.

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8. On 27^th October, I accompanied Marsha de Cordova, our MP, Simon Hogg, Wandsworth Labour Leader, and Paul White, the Housing Committee Chair, on a tour round the Randall Close development in the Surrey Lane estate. I always find it a tad difficult to “see” what a future block of flats will look like, on the basis of a visit to a building site. But, the development, which is exclusively for 106 council homes is going very well and is due to be completed on time, in the autumn of 2024. Here Marsha and Simon are in discussion with one of the development team.
   

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My programme for November

1. I have the Transport Committee on the 2^nd
2. There are, of course, the traditional fireworks display in Battersea Park on both the 4^th and 5^th The 5^th, on what some might still think of as Guy Fawkes night, is specifically designed for families and children, and starts a bit earlier than the Saturday night show.
3. On 7^th November, the Council has its Civic Awards evening when major contributors to the Borough’s life are honoured.
4. On 9^th November my friend and neighbour, Carol Rahn, is giving a talk on the history of Northcote Road.
5. On 15^th November at 6 pm Battersea Society are hosting a talk on The Branson Family. Clive was a Battersea resident and an artist, some of whose works can be seen in the Tate Gallery. A real favourite of mine illustrates his wife selling The Daily Worker outside a factory in Stewarts Road in 1937. Free online tickets are available from the Society.
6. On 21^st November, the Planning Applications Committee is due to make its decision on the giant £200 million AELTC (Wimbledon) planning application, see above.
7. On 24^th November, is the Battersea Police Ball in Battersea Park – the grandest, most OTT event of the whole municipal year.
8. On 30^th November, I have the Finance Committee.
   

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Did you Know?

Last month, I asked, “Where in Battersea is there a private road?” and I got no replies at all, except one to tell me that I was wrong! So, either not an interesting question or perhaps an obscure one. I had thought that Stonell’s Road, off Chatham Road, was a private road, but one near neighbour disagrees and so I will check that out in the coming month!

And this month? 

British and American, born in Connecticut, died in London and buried in Battersea, a hero and villain in both countries, a traitor and a loyalist in both countries, a spy and a military commander in both, a father of eight – who was this man and where can you find him?