Archive by Author | Tony Belton
January 6, 2016  

Councillor Tony Belton’s Latchmere January, 2016, Newsletter (# 80)

1. On December 9th I had a Council Meeting, when the main debates were about Formula E racing in Battersea Park and what the Council calls “Aspirations”.

The Formula E debate was nowhere near as dramatic as the Committee discussion two weeks earlier. Committee discussion two weeks earlier. This was partly because there was so little public interest. At the Committee there had been a packed public gallery and five deputations – at the Council meeting there was a little procedural chaos – and I made a poor speech. Not that the Council Meeting is totally dependent upon me! But you know how it is. If you don’t perform well it rather takes the gilt off the occasion! But in any event, the Council approved the use of the Park for Formula E racing for another 5 years, Labour voting against.

STOP PRESS We have just had notice of a new planning application (29/12/16), which asks for permission for Formula E to do civil works on the Park’s Carriage Drive starting on 16th June and with re-instatement of the Park as normal by 12th July 2016. We are, therefore, being asked to accept an application for the use of the Park by Formula E for 2 days short of 4 weeks, which is rather more than the few days first promised. Residents have until 19th January to comment on this application to planning@wandsworth.gov.uk.

This will be a highly contentious application and I will be on the Planning Applications Committee when it is decided, so I would appreciate it if you also copy me in on any comments that you may send to the Planning Department.

The Aspirations debate was essentially about the Council’s hopes for the Borough, which meant Tory boasting about all the new developments along Nine Elms Lane and along York Road. Unfortunately the Tory councillors do not appear to recognise that building tower blocks of expensive properties does very little, if anything, to resolve the real need in London in general and Battersea in particular for genuinely affordable housing.

2.   On the 15th we had the Planning Applications Committee (PAC), IMG_1636which had several interesting developments, including one significant one in Latchmere, namely the development of 6 “social rent” houses, on the site of disused garages are in Rowditch Lane. These are what used to be called council houses and should be genuinely affordable!

Other significant applications that were approved were for the demolition and reconstruction of Chestnut Grove Secondary School and for the further development of sites in Nine Elms. The school application is particularly interesting. Such a site and IMG_1628such a development could never have occurred five years ago without the very considerable involvement of councillors. But this application seemed to come out of the blue unbeknown to councillors. This is very strange as Councils have the legal responsibility to balance school places against demand. Yet here comes a new application, adding capacity to the school system but unknown and unplanned by the Council. Surely this is no way to run an education system! The law is, in this case, an ass!

3. I and my fellow councillors, Simon Hogg and Wendy Speck, spent quite a bit of time delivering Christmas cards to all our constituents. We like to think that it was appreciated but a couple of people have complained about it as “a waste of money”, so I need to make it clear that the cards were paid for by the three of us and the delivery was also done by us and several volunteer helpers. There was absolutely NO public money spent on them.

Delivering the cards reminded me of just how many Latchmere homes are almost unreachable by ordinary mortals! I can think of at least 500 properties, which are almost inaccessible. Gated communities are, of course, becoming more and more common but surely something is lost in the community as a whole when you cannot call on a neighbour without knowing the entry code. There are even a couple of the developments where, if you tailgate your way in, then you can’t even get out unless you know the code. Strange!

My Programme for January

1. On January 7th, Thursday, I have my first meeting of the  London Councils’ Childrens Forum, which should be interesting given that the Government seems to be intent on making schools totally independent of any external scrutiny, except of course its own. Just what will we discuss?

2. Then on 11th January there is the Council’s own Schools Forum, and the Education and Standards Group on the 14

3. On the 18th, I have the Planning Applications Committee and on 21st I am one of the judges at the Design Panel, when we will be giving awards to Wandsworth’s best new buildings of the year. I hope that we have some exciting entries!

4. We have a Special Council Meeting on the 27th – it’s special because the diary says that it is special! I think that means we will be deciding the Council Tax and rents for the coming year.

5. On the 29th I will be attending a pantomine, starring my fellow Labour Councillor Candida Jones (Tooting) – that should be fun.

Did you know?    Last month I asked why is there a York Road, clearly heading east and north to London and south and west to Portsmouth – and going nowhere near York? Well quite a few people got that right. Vanessa wrote saying: “Battersea Creek was used as a dock for the Price’s Candle Factory built in the early 19th Century in York Road. Price’s factory was once the largest maker of candles in the world and still supplies candles for many Royal State occasions (from their factories which were relocated outside of London in the late 1990’s). The candle factory replaced a late medieval moated house which was built by the Bishop of Durham in 1474. It was later given to the Archbishop of York. This might be the reason why York Road is named so.”

Thanks Vanessa; that was a more complete answer than others. To add to that: the southern side of the Archbishop’s Palace was recorded during excavations by Pre-Construct Archaeology at the site of Prices Patent Candle Factory, Wandsworth, in 2002. The palace was actually built in 1474. It survived until the late 18th century and included a moat, five rooms, two courtyards and a tower.

Interestingly Robert Holgate (1481/1482 – 1555) became theIMG_1629 Archbishop of York  (1545 – 1554). He had an exciting life, spanning Henry Vlll’s Reformation, starting in Catholic England, converting to the Church of England and marrying at least twice – once to a seven year-old girl. Why do I mention that – because Holgate Avenue is less than 100 yards from the site of the Palace. I don’t know whether the connection is deliberate or accidental but surely it must have been deliberate.

And this month’s question? I have covered this before but a long time ago and one reader has asked me to repeat the question: Where is there a memorial to all those Battersea residents, ordinary citizens (men, women and children) – not soldiers, who gave their lives in the second World War?

Finally Happy New Year to everyone.

December 16, 2015  

Just who are the real cynics?

One great unmentionable about politics is the cynicism and venality of the electorate as opposed to the politician. I have been in the game for so long that I really don’t have anything much to lose by being honest about it but most of my younger colleagues daren’t actually say what they really think.

How many times have I been abused on the doorstep? “All politicians are corrupt, liars and cheats”, “Oh, not you”, they speedily retort when I protest that they are saying I am corrupt, a liar and a cheat.

Yet, they continue, “Politicians don’t give straight answers. They change their minds according to circumstances. They are only in it for their own ends.” The litany is never ending, especially if it is “them, politicians” that are being criticised. Jo and equally Joanna Public back off slightly when actual names are mentioned.

The reality of my experience is that in 44 years of seeing and meeting hundreds of councillors of all parties, the overwhelming impression is of people who want to do “good” and want to make a difference. It is true that I can’t abide the ruinously destructive nature of some Tory policies; and there are, or certainly have been ,Tory councillors I didn’t much like – it was probably mutual. But even the most grotesquely right-wing act, on the whole, out of a sincere belief in the “rightness” of what they are doing.

This observation is actually not so surprising. Just who would want to spend dark winter evenings tramping the streets canvassing, being abused by some and having doors slammed in one’s face, merely to end up as a candidate in a no-hope Council seat – the kind of seat that your party has never won. Or, if you were a bit lucky (though some come to think of it as unlucky!), in a winnable seat when you then become a back-bencher sitting through endless boring evenings, which would drive most ordinary people to distraction.

I haven’t met and known so many MPs but I’m certainly on terms with quite a large number, past and present. And they are the same! I am not sure that I have ever met one who didn’t at least start with the intention of doing the “right thing”.

Again this is not so surprising. Both MPS and councillors expose themselves on a daily basis to abuse, ridicule, and contempt as well occasionally as respect, admiration and just possibly but very rarely genuine affection. You have to be pretty tough to do that and it would be even tougher if you really were a cynic as well. Why would one bother unless driven by a desire to make things better? Not for the money, that’s for sure.

No, the really shocking thing, as a politician, is just how cynical the electorate often appears to be. Not of course that the electorate is one person and consistent. It is rather a hydra-headed monster. It wants brilliant services but not to pay taxes. It is too busy to read campaign material or watch party political broadcasts or heavyweight political programmes but then it complains that the rights and wrongs of the Eurozone, the EU, western foreign policy and economics have not been explained to them. The public wants easy solutions to inherently complex questions but it most particularly doesn’t want to think about the issues on its own account.

And the most damning thing that Jo and Joanna Public say is that “You are all the same!” Particularly when in the same breath Jo accuses politicians of “playing party politics”. Why, they say, don’t you just talk together and agree what is in the best interests of the country, when over a pint they themselves can’t even agree on who is England’s best centre-forward.

Oh, my. The electorate can teach any politician I have ever known an awful lot about cynicism and negativity. I think the problem is that it is us, the politicians, who are the gullible ones naively hoping that at least some of the public will think about and empathise with just some of what we have to say and what we promise.

Do I have a solution to this conundrum? I am not sure that I do but if you believe that the electorate gets the politicians that they deserve and that equally the politician gets the electorate that s/he deserves, then all you can do is to put the case as honestly and as persuasively as one can. And hope to win – in the long run.

 

December 3, 2015  

Councillor Tony Belton’s Latchmere December Newsletter (# 79)

November highlights

  1. On November 1st, I spoke at a meeting at York Gardens Library about the Borough’s plans for the Lombard Road/York Road area, along with Cyril Richert of the Clapham Junction Action Group, Philip Whyte, of the Wandsworth Society and Andrew Duncan, a resident of Plantation Wharf, in Trade Tower. The first thing to say about it is that thanks ought to go to Cyril for his efforts. The Council claimed to have an exercise in consultation on these plans and claims to have had 30 or so responses. Cyril from his own efforts, pretty much single-handedly, got 90+ people attending this meeting and they were pretty evenly matched between those from the north-side of York Road and those from the south-side.The second thing to say is that the over-whelming majority of the public were clearly against the march of the high rise developments all around the area. We didn’t take a vote but it really wasn’t necessary – it was absolutely clear what the public mood is. If you would like to see a longer description, and video recordings of what we said, then look at Cyril’s (I mean Clapham Junction Action Group’s, of course) very detailed website at http://cjag.org/2015/11/07/public-meeting-york-area-the-videos/#more-5931.
  2. I attended a Wandsworth Council seminar on trees on 3rd November! It was actually very interesting and showed just how much effort is put into maintaining and increasing the number of trees in both London and the Borough. And of course, it is not just because they are beautiful and provide shelter for birds, insects and some mammals but because, with our increasingly polluted air, they are essential to our very existence – thanks to their air cleaning properties. Two matters of interest re trees. First, Sadiq Khan, one of the candidates to be London Mayor next year, plans to get 2 million planted in 2016-20 if he is elected – see paragraph 13 below. Secondly, following requests from one of the residents of Wayford Street (behind Little India), expect some new silver birches to be planted there this December.
  3. On the 4th I had an Education Standards Committee, when we reviewed Somerset Nursery and Garratt Park schools, both of which got a clean bill of health.
  4. On the 5th we had the Wandsworth Civic Awards Ceremony when councillors recognise the contributions of local people to the life of the Borough. On this particular occasion there was no one with particular connections to Latchmere, although some will know Antony Coker Poole who organises the Battersea Police Ball. There is a fuller description of the Awards Ceremony on the Council’s website at http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/news/article/13090/civic_awards_for_local_heroes.
  5. And on the Saturday 7th I had the Councillors’ surgery at Battersea General Library, when a couple of local residents came along to lobby me against Formula E racing in Battersea Park. I was told off last month by a couple of you for not mentioning this crucial issue and for talking about rugby and trees instead; but as I said to them, this newsletter is about what I do on the Council and doesn’t pretend to be, and indeed could never be, a total record of everything that the Council does. Anyway, I hope I do justice to the issue in para 10 below.
  6. On the 10th, I had the Planning Applications Committee (PAC) Just as a footnote on planning applications, Cabul Road residents will recall the application for a 3-storey development on the corner of the public gardens, where ages back there were public conveniences. You may also know that the developers appealed against the PAC’s decision to refuse permission – well, I think you’ll be pleased to know that the Secretary of State agreed with us and that permission has now been refused by him too.
  7. I went to the Education Committee on the 19th. There were a few mundane items on the agenda but the two that really mattered were a deputation from Balham Nursery and the so-called “Early Years Review”. ‘Early years’ is how the bureaucracy describes care and education for the under 5s and their parents. It is also the most uncontentious and clearly agreed major success of the 1997-2010 Governments, with the growth of nursery education and the introduction and explosive growth of Children’s Centres.Children’s Centres have been spectacularly successful in improving life chances for all, but particularly for kids from the least affluent families. However, the Government’s cuts are attacking all elements of local government services, not least early years services. And on the 19th we were asked to cut the budget by £1.3 million and, effectively, to close Balham Nursery’s Children’s Centre.The Balham Nursery was chosen because, by some criteria, it was the least successful of the Council’s 14 Children’s Centres (one of the criteria being that it was not in one of the 14 most deprived areas!) but the fact of the matter is that it amounts to a cut of nearly 10% in centre provision. How can one support such a cut; but, if you accept the Government’s arguments about austerity how can one oppose it either? Not a comfortable position! I think it’s time for Labour to oppose both the closure and austerity.
  8. I spent the morning of the 11th, Remembrance Day, atIMG_1534 the service in Battersea Park. at the war memorial. In this rather dark photograph the Mayor is returning from laying a wreath at the memorial, with two Chelsea pensioners in the foreground.
  9. On the 21st I was at the London Councils annual conference, which takes place in the splendour of the Guildhall. The conference is a London-wide gathering of councillors, which this year did not start with a rant from Boris Johnson, which rather made a change. It was instead a more serious discussion of the issues facing local government in general and London, in particular. I suppose it is the case that those, who have been crying wolf about the future of local government for some years now, deserve to be ignored a little. But now almost everyone, regardless of political party, academic expert or councillor, seems to be unanimous that our local government system is in serious danger of collapse, with the government imposing cuts of 30%, 40% and even 50% in various areas.
  10. And so on the 24th November to the debate on Formula E. The discussion started with 5 deputations from Battersea Park (BP) Formula E Action Group, the Friends of BP, the Battersea Society, the Prince of Wales Mansions residents and the Warriner Gardens and Alexandra Avenue Residents Association. They were very effective and by the end of the evening very few other than the Tory members of the Committee could have been in any doubt about how unpopular Formula E is with the immediate neighbours of BP. Formula E was, however, accepted by the Committee and it is now very likely to take place in early July, 2016. NB I know that some of my readers supported Formula E and will argue that the Council cannot afford to miss out on the (let’s say) £1million it brings to the Council. Labour, however, opposed the continuation of Formula E racing.
  11. On 25th November, I gave a presentation on the Role of Town Halls in the Community at BAC (Battersea Arts Centre) together with Dr. Michael Short, a Senior Fellow in Planning Shakespeare Theatreat UCL. I didn’t give it advance noticeBattersea Town Hall last month, partly because I had very little notice of the event. It was part of a monthly programme of lectures, BAC is running, about old Battersea Town Hall. It went well and the fairly small room was packed tight. I may repeat this presentation in the new year. I picture here, alongside each other, the old Shakespeare Theatre and the Town Hall much as they looked like on Lavender Hill on either side of Theatre Street for all the first half of the 20thC.
  12. On the 27th November, I went round a number of sites in3IMG_1559 Nine Elms along with the planners and other councillors. The speed of change is staggering and much of it is very impressive – look at this picture. But I remain totally unconvinced that any of this development is going to do much for Battersea’s, or even London’s, housing crisis, or that it is appropriate for the built environment of London. When visiting one marketing suite, the young sales lady I spoke to was very clear that much of their sales strategy was aimed at the Near and Far East.
  13. On Saturday, 28th November, I had the Annual General Meeting of an organisation called SERA. Despite its clumsy name it is the Green Lobby organisation, whose aim is to move Labour policies in a green direction. So we are in favour of re-cycling, energy conservation, are concerned about global warming, etc. I am the Treasurer of it. But my purpose in mentioning it here was that Labour’s Sadiq Khan, once my deputy in Wandsworth, and now 4IMG_1569Labour’s candidate for London Mayor, presented his green agenda for London. Sadiq was on good form. His agenda included: a larger low exhaust emission zone for London, pedestrianisation of Oxford Street, traffic-free weekends in London, 2 million new trees, the phasing out of diesel buses, super-fast electric car charging points and being a pro-business Mayor.
  14. Stop press. I have just heard that the final legal and bureaucratic hurdles have now been signed relating to the redevelopment of the Prince’s Head pub in Falcon Road. Hopefully we will soon see action on this site.

Read More…

November 8, 2015  

Puccini’s La Bohème

I saw Puccini’s La Bohème at the London Coliseum, on 23rd October. This romantic tragedy of Bohemian Paris is well known and the music is, of course, ravishing. It was, also, beautifully and precisely conducted by Xian Zhang.

The production, however, drew a pretty miserable picture of La Belle Époque Paris. The programme notes quote a contemporary as saying, “Bohemia is a sad country. It is bordered on the North by need. On the south by misery. On the east by illusion. And on the west by the infirmary”. You could believe it watching this.Corinne Winters

I suppose that makes it a great production. It certainly convinced me that late nineteenth century Paris was not my dream “Back to the Future” destination. The rich clientele at Café Momus are not appealing and the poor students seemed to me to be a little pathetic rather than tragically romantic.

So why am I even bothering to write this up? One simple reason – the performance of Corinne Winters as Mimi. The English National Opera artists are of course brilliant but the young American, from Frederick, Maryland, outshone everyone. Her power, her range, her musicality out-classed everyone.

Watch out for Corinne Winters, surely a super-star of the future.

November 7, 2015  

Suffragette

Went to see Suffragette (dir. Sarah Gavron, 2015) at the Brixton Ritzy on Friday, 6th November; not sure exactly what my expectations were but I was hugely impressed by this factional (fiction based on fact) story about woman’s struggle for the vote in the years immediately prior to the First World War. From the off (1912), the street scenes in Bethnal Green and in Westminster were very convincing and the pace of the action suggested a director in total control of her material.

Not too sure, as memory tricks me, but I think that I was taught at school that the suffragette movement had indeed succeeded in raising the profile of women’s suffrage as an important political issue but it was really the War that brought them the suffrage in 1918. With women working in the munitions factories, in nursing and catering, in the transport and many other industries, it had become almost irrational not to grant them the vote. It was, I think, a history written from a male, patronising perspective. Men had at last decided to be fair and decent.

This film is an excellent counter to that complacent perspective. It tells of bitter, intimate (husband v wife) and local (neighbour v neighbour), conflict. Surely victory was as much delayed by War, as speeded on by it. The story is told with a light touch. A young mother, Maud Watt, played exquisitely by Carey Mulligan, drifts almost accidentally into being a curious spectator. Then the dynamics of her situation, the attentions of her sleazy supervisor, the peer pressures of her workmates and her neighbours’ push-and-pull her slowly but inevitably into activism – and the loss of her marriage and her son.

The story cleverly weaves Maud into the events that led to Emily Davison’s death under the hooves of Anmer, King George V’s horse in the 1913 Derby. The screenplay by Abi Morgan is sensitive throughout and the whole film has a superb historical feel, even if there are some arguments about the political detail – it is doubtful that Emily Davison intended to die and also unlikely that a Cabinet member’s wife would have behaved as displayed.

There was a personal appeal for me, because it reminded me so much of stories from my paternal grandmother. She was a seamstress from inner north-east London, who walked to work in Oxford Street. She had four children, was widowed in 1918, and was proud of her vote in the 1919 General Election. Her loathing of Winston Churchill, Home Secretary in the Asquith Government; her politics (and just maybe mine) is illuminated by this film.

It is almost redundant to talk of other great performances, notably that by Helen Bonham-Carter’s and a guest appearance by Meryl Streep as Mrs. Pankhurst; or of the gruesome nature of forced feeding. The film also has a lot to say about the nature of opposition. When does “illegal” action become justifiable? Is violence ever justified? How responsible does opposition have to be? Go and see it, if you haven’t done so already.

 

November 3, 2015  

Councillor Tony Belton’s Latchmere November Newsletter (# 78)

October highlights

  1. October began and ended with the Rugby World Cup or RWCIMG_1520 as it liked to call itself. I decided, last minute, that I had to take in the experience so looked up the web to get a guide to lower cost, accessible tickets and it came up with Argentina vs Tonga on October 4th at Leicester City’s new ground. It was a beautiful autumn day, both sets of fans were great fun (but especially the Argentinians) and the teams gave us an exciting high scoring game, with the Argentinians coming out on top 45-16. It wasn’t really as one-sided as that score suggests until halfway through the second half. But then on 29th October I got a call from ex-Battersea MP Alf Dubs, asking if I wanted to go to the Final at Twickenham, with him. He had two complimentary tickets! New Zealand beat Australia 34:17 in a brilliant game. The second half was very dramatic and NZ were definitely worthy winners. But one has to say that the Ozzies put on a grandstand second half. In the picture, New Zealand’s fly-half, Dan Carter, is in the process of kicking a penalty goal – spot the ball! It’s there on its way!
  2. On October 6th, I attended what I thought was going to be the Covent Garden Market Authority’s AGM. But to be honest, it was a bit of a jolly and not very instructive about the CGMA plans. However, it was my first visit to a completed part of the large, new Riverside development and it introduced me to a rarity – a new Battersea pub, the Nine Elms Tavern, which is on the riverfront. It will be interesting to see whether these massive developments evolve into real communities or not – I fear they won’t, because to me they are not very people-friendly!
  3. The following day, I was at the very different Katherine Low Settlement (KLS) AGM. KLS is one of the most significant community centres in Battersea, with a wide range of community services such as English lessons for non-English speakers, housing and debt advice, campaigning against FGM(female genital mutilation) and other courses and advice sessions. There must have been well over 100 people there and it was just a little bit of a party. It was a busy, lively evening.
  4. On the 8th October I joined many other interested locals touring the burnt IMG_1491out Battersea Town Hall (the Arts Centre, BAC). The main structure of the Town Hall stands, as you can see in this photograph, but much else needs to be rebuilt and replaced. Fortunately the great late nineteenth century organ was at the “repairers” when the fire hit and so that was largely untouched and simply awaits a new home. The plans for the re-building looked good: they are not a simple re-build of the old hall, nor are they simply a plagiarism of the past, but a modern space suitable for its future as an entertainment hall, a modern theatre.
  5. The following week-end of 10th/11th October I went on a trip to the First World War battlefields at Ypres in Belgium, along with many other councillors. As I said last month, councillors paid for the trip out of their own pockets – there was absolutely no public money spent on the trip. On the Saturday we visited several large cemeteries within two or three miles of Ypres city centre, and P1000666very emotional it was too. The picture is of the statue of The Brooding Soldier, at the St. Julien Canadian cemetery. The trees have been trained into the shape of exploding shells and the shrubbery is designed to simulate the appearance of poisonous gas floating through the battlefield – the local battle at St. Julien was the first use of poison gas.
  6. On the Sunday, we went to Waterloo and toured the site of Wellington’s great victory over Napoleon. On the Monday, we toured a V2 rocket site, not far from Calais, which has been converted to a museum about war. This really bad picture of me is only here because of the car – a vintage French car (Citroen Light 15) much used by the French resistance. I owned one a few years ago here in Battersea but mine was bright, pillar box red!IMG_1505
  7. I also went to the Menin Gate on each of the three evenings we were in Ypres. It is a town gate, a bit like Marble Arch, with the names of the many thousands of British (and Empire, as was), soldiers, who lost their lives in the Ypres salient and whose bodies were never found. It is the site of an absolutely remarkable ritual. On July 2nd, 1928, at 8 pm the townsfolk conducted a simple, short memorial service to honour the dead of the First World War. It became a ritual, which has taken place every evening at 8, come rain or shine, since then – apart from the period of German occupation in World War II. On the three days I was there, there must have been about 1,000 people present on every night. They are of all ages and come from all over the world. If you are anywhere near Ypres, I recommend it. It is impossible not to be moved by the Last Post, played every evening by a bugler from the town’s fire brigade.
  8. The Council Meeting on 14th October highlighted two major debates. One was a rather complacent, self-congratulatory motion from the Tory councillors, noting how good they are. The other was about the plight of the refugees trying to get into Europe – debating society stuff, I know, but this second one was a serious discussion about a serious subject.
  9. The Planning Applications Committee of 15th October had theIMG_1507 usual selection of applications right across the Borough but none of them had any great relevance to Latchmere. One large Battersea application was perhaps of interest to all. It was about the area round the entrance to Covent Garden Market and was for mixed retail and 374 residential units in blocks up to 18 storeys high. 310 of the units are “affordable” but we all know what that means – less expensive than the market price but far too expensive for most of us!
  10. On the 18th October, I led 18 people on one of my Battersea History walks. It was as enjoyable as ever and a couple of people came along, thanks to reading about it in my newsletter. So if you are interested drop me an email and I will include you on my next trip.
  11. I attended a seminar on homelessness in Wandsworth on October 19th. Depressingly, the Borough “still” has 1100/1200 families in temporary accommodation. It is forecast to rise to 1300 by the end of the year. The explosion of construction in north Battersea, surely as great as anywhere in the country, is doing nothing for the housing crisis in the Borough. Simply building more will not get us anywhere if we do not tackle issues of distribution and control – we need more social housing for families on low income, not expensive housing for those who simply want them to add to their portfolios.
  12. Went to see La Bohème at the Coliseum on 23rd November. What can one say? Fantastic music, tragic story of impoverished youth in a raffish but slightly unpleasant Paris of La Belle Époque, but the most interesting thing, maybe, was that the players were young, unknown British singers (there were a couple of young Russians as well) led by Corinne Winters. You know how opera stars are often depicted as very large, even fat, ladies with heaving bosoms. Well Corinne Winters is a diminutive, slight figure on stage, but with the most powerful, soaring voice. Watch out for her!

My Programme for November 

  1. On November 1st, I spoke at a meeting at York Gardens Library about the Borough’s plans for the Lombard Road/York Road area, of which more next month.
  2. I am, would you believe, attending a seminar on trees on 3rd November! How many there are in the Borough, about pruning and caring for them (I guess), their diseases and their importance, Tree Protection Orders (TPOs) – Yes they do exist.
  3. On 4th I have an Education Standards Committee, when we will be reviewing Somerset Nursery and Garratt Park schools.
  4. On the 5th we have the Civic Awards Ceremony when councillors recognise the contributions of half a dozen local people who have contributed to the life of the Borough.
  5. And on the Saturday I am doing the Councillors’ surgery at Battersea General Library.
  6. On the 10th, I have the Planning Applications Committee and on the 19th the Education Committee.
  7. On the 11th there will be the annual Remembrance Day service in Battersea Park at the war memorial.
  8. On the 21st the London Councils annual conference takes at the Guildhall. This is a London-wide gathering of councillors, which starts off as a showcase for the Mayor – a half-hour show from Boris – followed by more serious discussions of the issues facing London, from housing to transport, from education to planning.
  9. In the last week of the month, I am due to be visiting Graveney School and St. Anselm’s and finally on 28th I have the annual meeting of SERA, a green lobby in the Labour Party of which I am the Treasurer. It looks like a busy month!

Did you know?

Lots of you were correct in replying that Clapham Rovers won the FA Cup in 1880. Rovers, Jarvis Kenrick, actually scored the first ever FA Cup goal in a 3–0 victory over Upton Park on 11 November 1871, but the club’s greatest achievement was winning the Cup outright in 1880 with a 1–0 win over Oxford University at the Kennington Oval.

On 22nd October, I went to the Battersea Society’s lecture on London’s lost rivers –all those rivers that flowed through to the Thames and which are largely culverted and hidden from view. One, of course, flows through Latchmere and has a road, a school, a couple of estates and a pub named after it. You all, of course, know the name of the river. What is it? Where is its source? Where does it flow through Battersea and where does it debouch into the Thames?

October 18, 2015  

Drone Warfare: Ban it now before it is too late

Recently, we have heard of USAF drone strikes operated from Nevada and in the past we have heard of our “pilots” based in a Lincolnshire airfield conducting warfare in Pakistan . Forget for a minute the rather obscene joke of operating “precision strikes” on Medicin Sans Frontiers hospitals, or as so often on Afghan wedding parties, and the “lads” then going down to Vegas and placing bets on the results; and just stop and think.

Maybe it’s the impact of coming back from a weekend visiting the cemeteries on the Western Front but it seemed an appropriate time to take up the issue.

Does distance from blood and carnage remove all sensibilities? Does it strip us bare of moral scruples?

War by drone largely by-passes war correspondents and war photos. It largely obliterates moral choice. It is all very well when responsible powers, that is “our” side, have the power but what if, and when, rogue states or even ISIS obtain the finances and power to fight by drone? There are prudential as well as moral considerations to cause us concern.

It seems to me that the sooner truly responsible politicians and powers campaign for banning the use of drone technology for offensive purposes, the better for us all. In the meantime we should strenuously oppose their use by “our” military. It is just too easy to argue that other countries use them so we will have to or that it is a safer way for us to exercise our power than by putting boots on the ground.

But no! The world has to negotiate battlefield bans on the use of drone technology just as earlier generations agreed to ban poison gas. That ban may not always work but it is effective more often than not and it does make its users vulnerable to charges of being war criminals.

In reality using drones says, “with our money we can kill your young men (and increasingly women) with impunity. We won’t bother to try persuasion, or winning the argument – that’s far too difficult”.

October 14, 2015  

Councillor Tony Belton’s Latchmere October Newsletter (# 77)

September highlights5P1000593

  1. At the start of the month, I went for a week to a little fishing village in Croatia. There is nothing to do there, except swim and eat fish. I don’t do sun bathing but I do like fish. I also did more swimming than ever before in my life – some attempt to make up for an otherwise sedentary life-style. I also read Thomas Piketty’s book “Capital in the Twenty-first Century”. OK, it’s not everyone’s idea of holiday reading and it clearly makes me a nerd. But actually I enjoyed it as well as finding it stimulating. It clearly put me ahead of the curve as later in the month John McDonnell, Labour’s new Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced that he was setting up an economics workshop starring half a dozen international economists, including Piketty. By the way, if you are not a nerd but want to read a left-winger’s view on wealth and poverty in the modern world, then I recommend it.1images4DABVR7C
  2. On my last day in Croatia, Jeremy Corbyn was announced as Labour’s newly elected Leader. I am not giving away any party secrets by saying that not all of my colleagues were delighted. Indeed I rather think that I was the only Wandsworth councillor to vote for him – I even got described by one colleague, in a good humoured aside, as “an old leftie”. As it happens, no one who knew me in the 80’s fighting Militant in Wandsworth would ever describe me as such – indeed, they would have rolled around with laughter.
  3. But if I am not a “leftie”, I do think I probably owe it to Latchmere constituents to explain just why I voted for someone, who at the moment most people think cannot possibly return Labour to power, perhaps not even return the party to a role of significance. So here goes: I supported Tony Blair from the off and originally I supported his war on Iraq; But I was disillusioned by the “weapons of mass destruction saga” and believe that Labour is very damaged until that war is repudiated: I am frustrated by Labour’s failure to tackle the Tory spin about austerity: I am concerned that Labour is not opposing strenuously enough the cuts, which the Government is making across the board: I didn’t think that the other leadership candidates had any better ideas about how to tackle the cuts programme. Given the public cynicism about politicians I rather like Corbyn’s image of “Straight talking: Honest politics” – the thing is, I am not a cynic. That very briefly is why I voted for Jeremy. And why I believe he will be good for Labour’s approach to politics, even if he doesn’t look like a winner – did his opponents look any more likely to be winners?2imagesR2YS1VF8
  4. Sadiq Khan was also, of course, elected as Labour’s candidate to be London’s Mayor. You may recall that I said Sadiq had been a fellow councillor of mine in Wandsworth for 12 years, indeed he was my deputy as Labour Leader in Wandsworth. I actually voted for Tessa Jowell on the basis of her track record of achievement over the years (the Olympics), and as a woman candidate I thought she was better placed to beat Zac Goldsmith. However, congratulations to Sadiq – I am sure that he will make a great Mayor – he will certainly be an assiduous campaigner.
  5. On 5th September my fellow Labour councillors, Simon Hogg, IMG_1466Wendy Speck and I, went on a Latchmere ward Walk-about, making notes of fly-tipping, graffiti and pot holes, noting waste land and traffic hazards and reporting our concerns to the Town Hall. We intend making this a regular event. On this occasion we took particular note of this flamboyant graffiti in the Falcon Park/Latchmere Road pathway. We thought it rather Banksey but were not too keen on its rather cynical view about politics!
  6. The Planning Applications Committee (PAC) was held on the 16th September, and again there really was nothing of any great significance on the agenda. Although with Homebase nearly empty and work starting on the 28 storey block in Lombard Road, we will soon begin to see the impact of recent PAC decisions
  7. I was booked into the Labour Party Conference from 26th September to 30th, but had a disastrous time! Nothing to do with the Conference but I booked into 2 separate hotels and one after the other they cancelled out on me because they had done the old trick of over-booking. So I ended up spending only two days at the Conference. The weather in Brighton was, of course, fantastic. Everyone, well everyone I met, was in a good mood and the leadership speeches (McDonnell’s as well as Corbyn’s) at least had the merit of being refreshingly new.
  8. The Princes Head’s, Falcon Road (pictured right), failed Falcon Head, Falcon Roadto have its licence renewed in June, much to the delight of some residents I could name. That must be some kind of statement of just how badly it was run – pretty rare for pubs to fail to get their licences renewed. The question now is what will happen to the site. There is planning permission for a block of flats, but when will work start? How long will it be left as it is now?
  9. In September, councillors were expecting to make the decision on whether Battersea Park would be used for another 5 years of E-Racing. However, the Council has had so many public responses that it has decided to take another few weeks considering exactly what to recommend councillors to decide. I still await to discover what all the consultation amounts to. Does the delay mean, for example, that the Council is surprised by the weight of opposition to the idea? Or not? Surely a decision is going to have to be made inSenia & I at B Park Rotary, 24_9 October. (PS It has just been announced that the decision will be taken on 24th November).
  10. On 24th September, I was invited to talk to Battersea Park Rotary Club about Battersea’s history. They have their lunch upstairs at the Albert Pub, opposite the Park entrance. Here is a picture of club President and Latchmere resident, Senia Dedic, and I at the lunch. (Because of the occasion I had postponed my history walk into October – see my October programme below.)
  11. On one sunny Saturday, I went to the unveiling in Vardens Road of a blue plaque to Hilda Hewlett. In 1909, Hilda was the 10th Briton and the first woman to be
    Pauline Vahey, Chair of BritishWomen Pilots' Assoc, Gail Hewlett, Hilda's granddaughter-in-law, Cllr Nardelli

    Pauline Vahey, Chair of BritishWomen Pilots’ Assoc, Gail Hewlett, Hilda’s granddaughter-in-law, Cllr Nardelli

    granted a pilot’s licence. She is commemorated along with other Battersea notables in the mural in Dagnall Street. Perhaps even more unusual then, and even now, was that she was an engineer, interested in building aircraft and indeed she had her own factory in Vardens Road where some 500 World War 1 aircraft were built. In this picture Pauline Vahey, Chair of the BritishWomen Pilots’ Association, the Mayor (Cllr Nardelli) and Gail Hewlett, Hilda’s great granddaughter-in-law are sharing a joke.

  12.  Many of you are very interested in the future of Falcon Park and the proposed astro-turf pitch “planned” for the Park. The latest position is that the Council is considering the results of the consultation, but is unlikely to put in a planning application until early 2016. It was never, by the way, the Council’s intention as some people seem to believe that this pitch would be in any sense temporary – the Council doesn’t do that kind of thing temporarily for £1+ million.

My Programme for October 

  1. On October 6th, I will be attending the Covent Garden Market Authority’s AGM. The centre point of the occasion will be a presentation of their massive plans for redeveloping Covent Garden Market. We know the outlines, of course, but there are still many incomplete details about what will be one of the largest developments in London, perhaps only second to the Power Station developments.
  2. The next day I will be at the Katherine Low Settlement’s AGM. KLS is one of Battersea’s largest and most active community centres and I look forward to being there.
  3. And on the 8th I will be touring Battersea Arts Centre to see progress on the “recovery” from the March fire.
  4. On the week-end of 10th/11th October I will be joining a group of councillors on a trip to the First World War battlefields at Ypres in Belgium – and just to re-assure the cynics, councillors will be paying for the trip out of their own pockets – there is absolutely and quite rightly no public money being spent on the trip!
  5. The Council Meeting is to be held on 14th October. I do hope that we have a decent debate but on recent performances I am afraid that is unlikely!
  6. On the 15th, I have the Planning Applications Committee and the day after that the Education Committee.
  7. At 3 pm on Sunday 18th October, I am doing my “history walk” from the Latchmere pub to the Battersea Arts Centre. It takes about 2 hours and is pretty well guaranteed to show you a new side of Battersea, even if you have lived here for years and years. All-comers are welcome and so if you are interested please let me know by email – though I should make it clear I charge £10 as a fee, which goes towards my election expenses!

Did you know?

No one answered last month’s question: “how many places and names can you think of in Battersea named after Lady Di’s family, the Spencers, Lord of the Manor of Battersea. I wonder whether I will get a better response this time by asking which local (and I mean local and not Chelsea or Fulham) soccer team won the FA Cup and when?

Meanwhile back to last month’s question: what place names are associated with the Spencer family. Well, the story of the intertwined Spencer and St. John families is so massively complex that I can’t possibly write it all here – books have been written about them. But here are just some of the many, many connections between the families and Battersea! Spencer Park (both the park and the road) and Spencer Road – until 20 years ago there was also a Spencer Park secondary school; and just maybe the Spencer Arms; Althorp Road, named after the Spencers’ Northamptonshire country home; Marcilly Road named after the second wife of Viscount Bolingbroke, Beauchamp Road, named after Margaret Beauchamp a family ancestor; Bolingbroke Grove, and the Academy, Bolingbroke Walk, the Bolingbroke Pub (both the new and the old), St. John’s Road, St. John’s Hill, Sir Walter St. John’s Sinjun school. There are many more!

August 31, 2015  

Councillor Tony Belton’s Latchmere September Newsletter (# 76)

August highlights

  1. The Planning Applications Committee was held on the 12th August, but there really was nothing of any great significance on the agenda and no Latchmere application at all. However, did you see the fantasy proposal for a swimming pool in the sky, which got the following coverage in the Daily Telegraph?1134862[1]

“Glass-bottomed floating ‘sky pool’ to be unveiled in London”

The “world first” pool will be suspended 35 metres above the ground between two buildings near Battersea Power Station. Residents of London’s Embassy Gardens apartment complex will be able to swim between two high-rise blocks of flats via a “floating” glass-bottomed swimming pool 10 storeys above ground. Resembling an ‘aquarium in the sky’, it is said to be the first pool in the world to link two residential buildings.

The transparent and structure-free pool, designed by Arup Associates and developed by the Ballymore Group, will be 90 by 19 feet, encased in eight inch-thick glass, and have a water depth of around four feet. It will offer aerial views of the capital, including the Houses of Parliament. Residents of the planned luxury flats in Wandsworth will also be able to access a rooftop deck at both ends of the pool which will offer sun loungers, a spa, a bar and an orangery, while an additional bridge between the two buildings forms a dry walkway for both residents and visitors.

“The Sky Pool’s transparent structure is the result of significant advancements in technologies over the last decade. The experience of the pool will be truly unique, it will feel like floating through the air in central London,” said Ballymore Group chairman and CEO, Sean Mulryan. The floating pool is expected to be completed by 2018 and will be available for the exclusive use of residents at the 2,000 home complex where flats are priced from £600,000.”

Can this be serious? Is some developer really suggesting such vulgarity from the insanely rich at the same time as there is an acute shortage of housing in the city? If so then they really are asking for riotous responses! I should say that I have seen nothing from the Council to suggest that there really is such an application.

But I also notice that one Chinese billionaire building a hotel in Nine Elms took a $3 billion+ hit on 24th August Black Monday in the Chinese stock exchange so just possibly the bubble is really going to burst!Christchurch2

  1. Did you see that the Citizens of Battersea War Memorial in Christchurch Gardens (that’s the one in Cabul Road) has been named a Grade II listed monument. The memorial (photographed here) consists of sheltered public seating in the contemplative setting of a small neighbourhood green space where people can quietly pay their respects to civilians from Battersea whose lives were mainly lost in Second World War bombing raids. The monument was first unveiled in 1952, next to the ruins of a mid-19th century church whichchristchurch4 was itself bombed and destroyed during the war. The replacement church that now stands at this location – Christ Church and St Stephen – was built in 1959. Christchurch Gardens was the original churchyard but converted to a public open space in 1885.
  2.  I showed a picture of the 19th century church in a recent newsletter and some time back reported that the old brass plaque had been stolen. The plaque has been replaced by the modern inscription shown on the left.
  3. And did you also notice the local story headed “Party’s over: Late night licence breaches spell end for troubled pub: Last orders: The Princes Head in Falcon Road”
  4.  This story told of The Princes Head’s (pictured right) failure to have its licence renewed in June. The pub had announced its intention to fight the order but in August it decided to drop its appeal It will now close. A few years back I represented residents at a Licensing Committee hearing, when the pub was granted the licence but only with conditions, including conditions that the sale of alcohol at the pub should stop at 11pm Monday to Saturday and 10.30pm on a Sunday, regulations  – a condition, which has been regularly ignored by the licence holder.
  5. In evidence till rolls from the bar showed that on occasionFalcon Head, Falcon Road the last drink was served at 3.05am. The landlord claimed that the event was a party for his son who had paid for all drinks before 11pm and he was merely using the till to keep track of the drinks. On another occasion, 155 entries were put through the till after 11pm to the tune of £850 and in a final visit police people drinking well after closing time.
  6. In general, I very much regret the closure of pubs, which is continuing apace across the country but the Prince’s Head has been trying the patience of many of its neighbours for far too long. Let’s hope we get a decent replacement of affordable properties, possibly with some new shopping on the ground floor.
  7. I said last month that I was not going to say anything about the Labour Leadership contest and I am still not going to say who I am voting for because I genuinely have not finally decided – though I am pretty certain of it. However, I do think that Burnham, Cooper and Kendall are not doing themselves any favours by making their views clear about Corbyn in the way that they are. He is expressing views on a range of subjects, and most particularly the Iraq War, which are widely held by many across the country. To reject the man expressing those views so dismissively is not what I would call good politics.
  8. I am, however, going to support Tessa Jowell to be Labour’s candidate for London Mayor, despite her main opponent Sadiq Khan having been a fellow councillor of mine in Wandsworth for 12 years. Tessa’s track record of achievement over the years and in particular her role in both winning and delivering the Olympics for London gives her a claim, which I don’t believe any other candidate can equal. Some will claim that Tessa is too old for the job. Well she is about the same age as Hilary Clinton, who is running to be the US President, and much younger than many successful past Prime Ministers of this country. Her age is no problem for me and shouldn’t be for anyone else.
  9. In late August I (and my partner) spent a week on a narrow boat on the Llangollen Canal, on the border between Wales and Shropshire. You may have noticed that it rained rather a lot and we were almost drowned (I joke) by a tremendous thunder storm just as we were making our last mooring – ever tried tying the ropes, and avoiding falling in, in torrential rain? However, despite that, it was great fun including crossing two aqueducts and going through three tunnels. P1000497The canal has two major engineering feats. The ‘pioneering masterpiece of engineering’ by which the early civil engineers crossed the difficult landscape between Chirk and Llangollen has resulted in the 18 kilometre length being awarded World Heritage Site status by UNESCO in 2009.The aqueducts at Chirk and Pontcysyllte were built by the engineers Thomas Telford and William Jessop and were among the first to use cast iron troughs to contain the canal. At Chirk Aqueduct the trough is supported by conventional masonry arches and hidden inside the masonry, almost as if the engineers were not confident of their new material. But at the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct the trough is exposed and sits atop 120 foot high slender masonry towers. When you cross it by boat there is an exhilarating sheer drop on the non-towpath side! The picture gives just a little idea of what it is like crossing the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct – with no guard-rail!
  10. Stop Press (as they used to say, in the old days). Have you seen the notice on Latchmere Recreation Ground promising new improvement works? The Council’s intention is to remove the large are of tarmac and restore it to parkland. I don’t know how long it has been tarmac but it is good get that bit of the recreation ground back!

My Programme for September 

  1. On September 12th, we will find out who the Labour Leader is and who is our candidate for Mayor. No doubt, there will be much discussion about that!
  2. On the 16th, I have the Planning Applications Committee and the day after the Education Committee.
  3. On either Sunday 20th September, I am doing my “history walk” from the Latchmere pub to the Battersea Arts Centre. It takes about 2 hours and is pretty well guaranteed to show you a new side of Battersea, even if you have lived here for years and years. All-comers are welcome and so if you are interested please let me know by email – though I should make it clear I charge £10 as a fee, which goes towards my election expenses!
  4. And, of course, there will be the Labour Party Conference, which after the mauling we suffered in the General Election and the announcement of a new Leader will, I am sure, be a fascinating week.

Did you know?

Not many people answered last month’s question: “Who or what is Poyntz of Poyntz Road and why would a Battersea road be called such?” and actually I must confess not many people seem to have been that interested! Bob replied saying, “as a Poyntz Rd resident it’s probably unfair of me to say Spencers, Manor of Battersea etc.”, which I accept as a correct but not very explicit answer. So for those, who want to know more:-

Poyntz was chosen as a Battersea street name as it was the maiden name of Margaret Georgiana Spencer (1737-1814), wife of John, 1st Earl Spencer, and the Spencers were “lords of the manor of Battersea”. They were a fabulously wealthy and fashionable couple, famous for sponsoring the artists of their day. Their eldest child was the notorious Duchess of Devonshire, the “star” of the 2008 film the Duchess, in which she is played by Keira Knightley.

Our Poyntz, Margaret, was the great-great-great-great-grandmother of Diana, Princess of Wales, herself at one point a Battersea resident.

And finally, talking of the Spencers and the Manor of Battersea, just how many places and names can you think of in Battersea, which are in some way related to the Spencer family. I reckon that I can reach at least a dozen without too much thought. How many can you get and please list them for me?

August 27, 2015  

Public accountability vs commercial confidentiality

The case for and against E-Racing in Battersea Park

Amidst all the political events of 2015, the General Election, the impending demise (or is it revival? and actually probably neither) of the Labour Party and the build-up to the London Mayoral elections, one local event stands out for displaying political and even moral issues with extraordinary clarity. That event was the final race of the inaugural season of Formula E racing.

The race took place on 28th June in Battersea Park. The winner, appropriately enough, was local Wandsworth boy Sam Bird. Look him up on Google and, until you refine the search a bit, you get nothing, nada, zilch. This tends to justify those, and there were plenty, who described the race as a trivial event for Dinky toys, with none of the speed, noise and glamour of the real thing – Formula 1.

But the top three racers, crowned in Battersea Park as 2015 World Champions, were Nelson Piquet Jnr., Sebastien Buemi and Lucas di Grassi, all of whom have been involved at the very top of motor racing and must be described as top rate drivers. In addition, the location of the season’s races reads like a compendium of some of the top world destinations. They were, in sequence, Beijing, Putrejaya (a suburb of Kuala Lumpur), Punta del Este (a Uruguayan seaside resort), Buenos Aires, Miami, Long Beach, Monaco, Berlin, Moscow and London’s Battersea Park.

To state the obvious motor racing is trying to expand into a new area, perhaps merely just a new commercial opportunity but maybe just possibly the “petrolheads” recognise that they need to present a more ecological image and a more family focused, less “macho” image. It doesn’t take much imagination to see that London Mayor, Boris Johnson, and Wandsworth Tory Council might want to jump on that bandwagon.

Well, maybe, you might say but what has that got to do with using a major public park over a long week-end in high summer, more or less to the exclusion of all other park users? Indeed, it was more than the week-end, with barriers and lorries, minor road works and “offensive” security staff getting in the way of normal park users for much of June.

Local opinion is clearly divided, but, not surprisingly, the nearer you get to the Park the greater the majority against the use of it for such purposes, and the further away the less the opposition. Indeed, there was quite a large number of supporters for the race in some of the major estates a mile or so away from the Park.

However, the most interesting arguments about the race centre on the issue of what people perceive to be appropriate uses for a public park.

There is a substantial core of people, who argue that a publicly provided facility, such as a park, should never be used for private profit, even to the extent of excluding ice cream vendors or park cafés. I imagine that municipally run ice cream vans and cafés might be acceptable to this minority, but this seems to be complicating the argument rather in today’s climate (of privatisation and private provision of services)!

But once the absolute principle is breached then it becomes, as so often, a case of drawing lines. In Battersea Park, for example, there is a privately run café; ice cream vendors do ply their trade; there is a privately run Children’s Zoo; and more contentiously there is a big tent, where beer festivals, art fairs, commercial and charitable entertainments are frequent occurrences. None of this would happen, however, if these events were not fulfilling a need, or responding to a demand.

But there is no doubt that the Formula E-race, and the threat of 5 more years of such racing is more than just a step change from the other examples. Let’s assume, as is clearly the organisers intention, that the disturbance to the Park will not be on the same scale in future years – they have learnt lessons about the barriers and the staffing. Nevertheless, for at least 2 and probably 3 or 4 days in high summer, use of the Park will be severely curtailed. Should it be allowed?

My argument is that it is a matter of degree, a matter of drawing lines. Should we or should we not allow Formula E a 5 year extension in Battersea Park? As a Wandsworth councillor I will be one of 60 making that decision. But there is a problem! I know, or can easily find out, how much the café business pays for the benefit of using the café building. I know the income that the Council gets from the other operations and, more importantly, I can tell my constituents and the public at large what that income is and why I think that justifies use of the Park for those operations.

I don’t know the income from Formula E, or more honestly I am constrained from telling the public because of “commercial confidentiality”. In other words, I am (and 59 other councillors are) saying to the public it is my (our) judgement that use of the Park for 3 or 4 days is (or is not) worth, say, £1 million. Now I don’t mind making that call. I was elected, I believe, to take such decisions. But what is problematic is that the public is not really in a position to judge my (or our) decision because the public is not allowed to know whether we are talking about an income of £1million or £10million. Or to make the same point a different way, whether we are talking about £1million or £10million’s worth fewer cuts in other Council services – that being the reality of local government finance today.

It is a matter of “commercial sensitivity”, because the Council bureaucracy has said it is. Indeed, I have received the following eloquent response from the Town Hall. “The reasoning that we are using and quoting is that disclosure into the public domain would be deemed prejudicial to the commercial interests of both the Council and Formula E. If the Council decides to continue with the event, it is likely that there will be competition to provide a site for Formula E after five years, and at that point (subject to experience of the first five years) the Council may want to bid against other interested parties to continue to host the event, and so the sum agreed would be of interest to commercial competitors. Equally, Formula E would not want their other venue hosts, world-wide, to know details of the financial deal with the Council. It’s therefore our view that there is a greater public interest in maximising the Council’s ability to compete for the right to host the event beyond the current contract (if such is decided)” than [my phrasing] for councillors to be able to justify their decision to the public.

So the argument is posed: is the perceived “commercial sensitivity” of this decision more important or not than the accountability of councillors to their electorate? Should the electorate simply take their elected representatives’ judgement on trust? Or should they have all the information so that, whether or not they agree with the councillors’ judgement, they can at least see the case and the grounds for the decision.

Two recently Tory but now independent councillors, Cllrs Cousins and Grimston, have made their position clear and voted against the use of the Park for E-Racing. But actually is their position any more defensible than any others of us. Without knowing how much money they are prepared to forego for the sake of keeping the Park untouched, how can we/they argue the rights and wrongs of their case?

I suspect that there will always be conflicts between the demands for “commercial confidentiality” and democratic accountability, and once again it will be a matter of drawing lines, or of making judgements. But surely, in the last analysis, democratic accountability has to have priority over “commercial confidentiality”?

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