1. I was taking my daily exercise across the Common when I saw the very large, slow and apparently lazy wing beat of a heron making for one of the local ponds. And then it disappeared. I searched around the reeds without success. But something caused me to look up and there was my heron, the silent killer of the reeds. Not of course, unknown on the banks of the ponds but always a surprise to me when seen high in the trees. That sighting was a good start to a turbulent month.
   

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2. On 8 March, I attended an event, organised by my partner, Penny to mark International Women’s Day. Our MP, Marsha de Cordova initiated and hosted the well-attended (virtual) public meeting. Marsha also chaired the five presentations of individual Battersea women’s lives. They were chosen to show a range of pioneering female endeavour in politics and protest; aviation and technology; sports; literature; entertainment. The point, for these women, was either to open new doors – or to push further through doors that were already opened. The five women were Charlotte Despard, Hilda Hewlett, Violet Piercy, Penelope Fitzgerald and Elsa Lanchester. A wide-ranging discussion followed, with notable contributions from an international panel – Judy McKnight, former General Secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers (NAPO) and Prof Beverley Bryan, from the University of the West Indies, Jamaica.
   

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3. Two days later, March 5^th, I took our MP, Marsha de Cordova, for a tour of the brand new Mitchell House. I must say Marsha is an excellent companion on such visits. She enthused over the new flats and their fantastic facilities. One particular flat, designed for a tenant with severe disabilities, has a kitchen work-top, which rises or falls at a touch of a switch, depending upon whether the user is in a wheel-chair or not. As the Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities (what an acronym SSSWE!), she was very keen on the adjustable work-top! The first tenants are moving into Mitchell House in early April so that at last the first council tenants will be moving into the regenerated estate!
   

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4. On 8 March, I attended an event, organised by my partner, Penny to mark International Women’s Day. Our MP, Marsha de Cordova initiated and hosted the well-attended (virtual) public meeting. Marsha also chaired the five presentations of individual Battersea women’s lives. They were chosen to show a range of pioneering female endeavour in politics and protest; aviation and technology; sports; literature; entertainment. The point, for these women, was either to open new doors – or to push further through doors that were already opened. The five women were Charlotte Despard, Hilda Hewlett, Violet Piercy, Penelope Fitzgerald and Elsa Lanchester. A wide-ranging discussion followed, with notable contributions from an international panel – Judy McKnight, former General Secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers (NAPO) and Prof Beverley Bryan, from the University of the West Indies, Jamaica.
   

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5. On the 9^th March, I had a meeting of the Wandsworth Conservation Area Advisory Committee. I would like to say that there was something of massive significance but there was not – bar ONE, which means a lot to me. Do you know the old St. Mark’s Vestry School on Battersea Rise? You have possibly ignored it, because of its ramshackle state. You may even have said, “Why haven’t they knocked it down and widened the road junction?” Well, they nearly did except that the late Gordon Passmore, a venerable, Tory councillor, and I joined in an alliance in about 1995 to save the school from demolition. It is in fact an historic building of some local (and even national) significance. It was one of the very first schools built at the advent of free and compulsory education in 1870. Well, I am now delighted to say that, after all these years, the relatively wealthy Southwark diocese is bringing plans to give it a future. I will broadcast that future as soon as I know it.
   

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6. In the early afternoon of 10^th March, there was a meeting of the Wandsworth Design Panel. The panel consists of architects, planners and developers, whose main purpose is to advise the Council on planning and design issues relating to significant developments in the Borough. The panel does not consider the value or utility of any one development – that is clearly a decision for others to take. It is interesting, however, to see and hear the views of practitioners. In my view, they are rather too concerned with design values and too little with social values – but they are advising us on design, so they are doing their job. For example, they tend to love what some might call iconic buildings that make a statement; whereas others might be more concerned about the fit within the community.
   

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7. I went directly, almost at the flick of a switch, to a meeting with Grassroots For Europe, which is a Labour-oriented group talking about when and how to encourage and lobby the powers that be to think about rejoining the European Union. Anyone who has read my newsletters will know, that I think, leaving the EU was an unmitigated disaster. We will see as events unfold, whether it has or has not been. Either way, it is clearly a live issue. Brexit has definitely not been done yet!
   

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8. On 11^th March, in the morning, I took part in a group set up to commemorate John Archer, who in 1913 became the first black Mayor of any large local authority in Britain. (interestingly a small town in East Anglia had had a black mayor in the nineteenth century) The general assumption is that the memorial is likely to be a statue in some prominent spot in Battersea. Judging by this picture, to do Archer proud it will need to be a grand statue! The working group included the Leader of Wandsworth Council, Councillor Maurice McLoud and myself.
   

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9. On 12^th March, Sarah Everard was kidnapped, apparently on the A205, a well-lit section of the South Circular Road, and subsequently murdered. Her murder will always, however inaccurately, be associated with Clapham Common. The local outpouring of grief was unprecedented. I went up on to the Common on both the following days, in a somewhat vain gesture of solidarity. The only thing that I can think of to say is that we do have to do something pretty drastic about men. We need to rethink the education and status of boys, relative not only to girls but to the whole of society. Men are, after all, guilty of most violence whether to young or old, child or adult, female or male.
   

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10. Within a couple of days, the tree was cut down. I have made no bones about my support for the regeneration of the York Road estate, commonly (but wrongly) referred to as the Winstanley. I (and more to the point, most of the tenants) do not consider that the living conditions suffered by many who live in Scholey,  Pennethorne, and Holcroft Houses to be acceptable in 21^st century Britain. And when what follows from that belief are difficult decisions, then I certainly accept the consequences. I have taken some criticism for the cutting down of the tree, for not providing a massive increase in social housing and for not arguing for the perfect solution. As it happens, it is Wandsworth Council with its Tory majority control, which makes the decisions in a context where a Tory Government has set the funding rules. I believe that, in that context, I and my fellow Labour councillors in Latchmere – Wendy Speck (now retired), Kate Stock and Simon Hogg – have negotiated and lobbied for a far better outcome than most regeneration schemes across the capital have achieved. And remember, the plan is to have 40 more trees after the scheme is completed than before!
    

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11. A week later, on 19^th March, I went to a lecture on Degas at the National Gallery. In pre-Covid days, I loved going to the exhibitions to see great paintings, by Hockney as much as by Leonardo. However, I am disappointed with the lectures that the National Gallery has put on during Covid, which I have attended virtually. Personally, I am not all that interested in Degas’ personal circumstances. He seems to have had a very comfortable and happy life – none of your mythical tales of starving, love-lorn student in a freezing attic. For my taste, the lecture put too much emphasis on the artist and not enough on the techniques or the brilliance of his art. So, very high marks to the Gallery for the idea of publicly accessible lectures, even at a high price, but the Gallery needs to think further about the delivery of the lectures. Perhaps, they need to take advice from the  BBC or similar experts.
    

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12. On 24^th March I had the Planning Applications Committee (PAC). It was, however, one of the most uneventful PAC meetings of recent times. Nevertheless, 80 people joined the virtual public gallery. And, although government permission to hold such meetings in virtual mode runs out at the end of June, there is no doubt that there will be long-term effects on the way that Councils hold their public meetings.
    

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13. On 30^th March, I went for a virtual walk along Bolingbroke Grove, led and described by Sue Demont of the Battersea Society and organised by the Friends of Wandsworth Common. It was well researched, as Sue’s work always is, but one of her comments, I found especially interesting, related to Bolingbroke School. It was of course, for most of its life, Bolingbroke Hospital, and you can possibly tell that where the large windows dominate the west face of the school, there used to be balconies. They were there so that patients, mostly from the then densely packed industrial slums, north of the railway lines, could recuperate in the fresh air and the sunshine. In a strange way that geographic exchange between the harsher realities of North Battersea and the softer environment of Wandsworth Common is echoed by the daily flow of school-kids from one to the other.
    

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14. And finally, I and my partner have just had our second jabs. It obviously does not mean that one can go mad and go to the pub, a restaurant and the cinema. However, it is a weight off the mind. I fully recommend it to anyone having doubts about vaccination. Forget your doubts. Vaccination works – all the evidence proves it – and what is more, it is a collective good, potentially releasing us all from endlessly repeated lockdowns.
    

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My Programme for April

1. All normal political activity comes to a halt in April, as the rules forbid meetings, council publicity, etc., etc. in the run-up to the London Mayoral and London Assembly elections on May 6^th.
2. Life will not exactly stop but, what with Covid, it will seem pretty close to it, except that on April 26^th, I am due to give a presentation to the Battersea Society on Battersea History, 1800-2020. That will be a new challenge that I am looking forward to.

Did you Know: Last month I asked about the person, whose name adorns the new Duval House?

The answer is Emily Duval (1861-1924), who campaigned strongly for women’s rights, as did all her Battersea-based family. She was twice imprisoned for her role in suffragette protests; and in 1919, once women had got the vote, she became a Labour Councillor in Battersea – one of the first women to be elected to such a position. Tragically, Duval’s three suffragette daughters died in the 1918 flu pandemic and never got to vote.

And for this month can you tell me:

Where you would have to go in 1886 to visit Battersea’s Little Hell? And what is there now?

1. In January, it was politics, which were so strange, but in February it was the weather! Starting with one of the longest, coldest hard spells in recent history, the month ended in almost balmy, spring warmth. Dogs and kids of all ages enjoyed the start. I am afraid that I have reached the stage of very much preferring the warmth of the last few days!
   

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2. The public political world has been rather quiet, with the one exception of the tree, variously described as a black poplar, a horse chestnut, and a London Plane and photographed the day before it became a cause celebre, a day before it was “occupied” by Extinction Rebellion and other good, worthy causes. You will not be surprised to know that I, and my fellow councillors, have received emails aplenty in defense of the tree claiming that it had stood there a hundred plus years and seen two World Wars and that to bring its life to an end was an act of needless vandalism, which we should resist at all costs. It is undeniably a grand tree and it will be undeniably a sad day when and if the tree does go, but no one should imagine that its loss was an act of needless vandalism, done almost for the fun of it.

3. Just look at Pennethorne House, the grey, concrete slab block close behind on the right of the tree. It is one of three slab blocks, the other two being Scholey and Holcroft Houses, which are the main feature of the York Road estate, so often lumped together as part of the Winstanley Estate. They are also the core of a community, which suffers from one of the highest deprivation levels in the UK. An hour or two spent delivering leaflets, something I have done for many years on that estate, will introduce you to a brutalist concrete physical environment. It is no surprise to me that the social problems found here are the greatest in Wandsworth, nor that, most regrettably, it has been the scene of murders and domestic abuse. The 2012 Council plan to regenerate, ok let’s be honest about it, to demolish and rebuild the estate was agreed unanimously. And frankly, I do not see too many of the worthy, green protesters wishing to live in these three blocks.
   

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4. Agreed that demolition of the worst blocks does not of itself demand loss of the tree, but government no longer subsidises council house building and hence the council has to pay for the work. To do that it has to raise taxes, i.e. Council Tax, which is not actually a viable option thanks to government legislation, or to borrow money or to sell assets. Indeed, selling assets was and is considered the only feasible option. The assets to be sold are the private flats constructed in the new tall, white Duval House, built opposite the Grant Road entrance to Clapham Junction station, and in the other for sale blocks, yet to be built. These considerations have meant reconfiguring the development programme. In fact, there will be some 40 more new trees after the programme is finished than there are now although, of course, to start with they will be semi-mature trees or saplings and not mature, or aging, trees.
   

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5. We, three Latchmere councillors, have asked for a review of the build programme, but just for the record, the high capacity cable that is planned for where the tree now stands is not like your average domestic electric cable that you can wind round the furniture. Nor is the timing a matter of a day or two here and there. Any delay now is holding up the provision of some 150 new council homes and judging by the quality of the newly built Mitchell House, shown here, that would be a grossly unfair penalty to impose on the current inhabitants of the estate.
   

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6. I had the Planning Applications Committee (PAC) on 24^th None of the applications was of note to anyone but the immediate neighbours. Unusually, however, people might be interested in an enforcement action that we agreed. It was about this building that you may have noticed at the corner of Prince of Wales Drive and Battersea Park Road, where they meet near the Dogs’ Home. This building, called Creative House, was built with permission for 16 flats and a ground floor shop, but has been used for some time as a “luxury AirBNB” base for London. The Committee decided, on the officers’ recommendation to start enforcement action to have it converted back to residential accommodation.
   

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7. I am frankly a little concerned about this decision. As a planning authority, Wandsworth has decided that we need more hotel space so as to accommodate the ever-growing tourist trade, which we recognise is of massve importance to the London economy. As a local authority we must also try to ensure that AirBNB is not simply a cheap, unregulated scam designed to exploit the advantages of the internet and avoid the health and safety controls operataed by hotels and yet we have to acknowledge that it is a “new, cheaper product” designed for the internet age and is enormously popular with younger, less affluent tourists – and frankly this corner site is not that ideal for permanent housing. What do you reckon?
   

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8. On 11^th February, I went, with Carol Rahn leading, on a virtual walk round historical buildings in Battersea. Carol has been advising the Council on various buildings, sites and gardens that should be given some level of historic preservation. None of the buildings were famous – if they were then they would already be preserved but this was a fun tour of Victorian post-boxes, of stink pipes, boundary markers like the two parish boundary markers shown here in Wix Lane, and of oddities and unusual designs. Carol’s walk, given under the auspices of the Battersea Society, was as ever well researched and masterfully presented – very enjoyable.
   

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My Programme for March

1. On 3^rd March I have a full Council Meeting.
2. On 9^th March we have a meeting of the Wandsworth Conservation Area Advisory Committee.
3. The Planning Applications Committee is due to meet on 24^th March – if the traditional purdah for the Mayoral Election on 3^rd May does not cause its cancellation.
4. Look out at @MarshadeCordova for Marsha de Cordova’s tweets on notable women with connections to Battersea. There will be one each day in March and a special display on 8^th March, International Women’s Day. Marsha says log in here:- https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/women-in-battersea-options-and-opportunities-tickets-141971750327 and you will receive a Zoom link on the day of the event.
   

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 Did you Know:

Last month I asked where John Wesley’s bust can be found?

Not very surprisingly, stalwarts of the Battersea Society, such as Carol and Jenny, knew the answer but not many others did. It is in Mallinson Road, on the south side, east of Northcote Road. The neighbour’s house has a bust of Mallinson, of whom I know nothing. But the road name suggests to me that he was the builder responsible for many of these late nineteenth-century terraced houses.

This month’s Question relates to the large Duval House, referred to in paragraph 4 above and pictured here. It stands opposite the Grant Road exit from Clapham Junction station and is the “cash cow” of the redevelopment which makes much of the regeneration economically viable. Do you have any idea about which local personage it was named after and what she did that made her noteworthy?

1. This year (or more accurately “last year”), we can all use the same clichés and understand exactly what we all mean, such as “I have never known a Christmas like this one”, “the world will never be the same again”, “working life/the high street/the entertainment world will never be the same” and my own current, personal favourite “it is what it is”. But the fact that we all know the clichés doesn’t stop them from being true. Covid-19 is a disaster and nothing ever will be quite the same again, though chances are they will not be quite as different as some think.
   

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2. No doubt as more and more of us are vaccinated, there will be a return to some semblance of normality, whatever that may be. But that might not be as simple as it may appear thanks to the growth of the “anti-vaxxers” lunacy. It beggars belief that otherwise apparently rational people can campaign against vaccination. That this triumph of immunology, originally of Chinese medicine, brought to Europe through Turkey and developed by the eighteenth-century Englishman, Edward Jenner, and successfully used to conquer smallpox, polio, diptheria and many other diseases, should be challenged by such “know-nothings” is a tragedy of modern life. We all have a duty to deride and defeat such irrationality, even if it is not quite the threat here that it appears to be in the USA.

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   If the anti-vaccination movement becomes a genuine threat to public health, then politicians will have to face questions about compulsion or “liberty”; individual rights and duties; communal values. As we don’t allow people to choose which side of the road they want to drive on, right or left, I don’t really see why we should allow people to choose whether to be vaccinated or not; after all compulsory vaccination against smallpox has been standard since 1853. If compulsion seems harsh to some, then perhaps we should use extreme “nudge theory” like charging an NHS premium on all, who refuse vaccination.

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4. On 8^th December, we had our second monthly Battersea Labour Party meeting. The mechanics of it worked quite well – clearly, a high proportion of members are well used to operating Zoom or Teams in their working lives and virtual meetings are becoming an inevitable, even desirable feature of daily life. Amazing, that an almost unknown technology should become a mundane, everyday event in no more than 10 months: in that sense, 2020 has certainly been different.
   

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5. On Wednesday 16^th December, we had the Wandsworth Council Meeting – very strange! Council meetings are, in my view, meant to be about policy-making and review, about debating current issues and opinions, and holding the administration, whether political or practical, to account. But Covid has put a stop to all that. What we are left with, rather like in Parliament, is a Tory-controlled administration informing us of what is happening and how well they are handling everything – could they have done anything else? And a Labour opposition replying that the Tories are not doing well – but could Labour have done anything else? It leaves us with a form of politics, a confrontational politics, that gives parties a bad name.
   

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6. Personally, I would have liked the Council to have demanded of Government that local authorities should take over the national Covid test-and-trace programme. The Government itself has made “a Horlicks” of the programme, in a display of incredible incompetence, whilst simultaneously playing fast and loose with recognised procurement procedures. The fact that local authorities and the NHS have well-tried, successful test-and-trace programmes for other contagious illnesses seems to have escaped the Government’s notice. This Government’s contempt for local authorities has cost some innocent lives. I trust that the post mortem on this crisis considers all the evidence and really holds those responsible to account!
   

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7. The following day 17^th December, I was back to the very practical discussions  of the Planning Applications Committee (PAC). Unusually, this PAC meeting  was dominated by relatively small applications, mainly in Tooting. The one  exception was an application for 480 residential units in 8-17 storey blocks  between Wandsworth Town Station and Swandon Way. The buck had already  been effectively sold on this, because it had “prior approval” from Sadiq  Khan,  Mayor of London. Nonetheless, I and one other councillor voted  against  the scheme, because of its mass and density, which we thought  inappropriate for the location.  The proposed development also made no concession to the possible or probable post-Covid environment of decreased demand for office space and more particularly for office commuters. Apologies for the poor reproduction but here are graphics of the Swandon Way development from Swandon Way and from Old York Road.
   

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8. The run-up to Christmas was, you will recall, exceptionally wet. That did,  however, have its occasional compensations. On December 23^rd, for example,  this spectacular rainbow could be seen over Battersea. Meanwhile, on a  personal basis it was a challenging month. My partner and I have had Garry  installing a new kitchen, at the same time as we have struggled with an ailing  boiler and an extremely temperamental shower. But on Christmas Eve the  kitchen was superbly finished and a new boiler installed, and everything is  now wonderful. We spent Christmas Day cooking and having hot showers!
   

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9. Meanwhile, I have been reading a book by my friend, Liam Kennedy, called Who was Responsible for the Troubles? Liam is a historian based in Queen’s Belfast and happens to be from a rural, Catholic, Irish background (Tipperary). He has one thing in common with me. He was for a period a Belfast city councillor – but there the similarity ends. I recall that we were once having dinner with him and his wife when the phone rang. Liam excused himself to return a couple of hours later. He had been called out on that Saturday evening to attend to one of his constituents, who had been the victim of a “knee-capping”. Thankfully being a Latchmere councillor has not, so far, produced such drama.
   

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10. The book documents the detail of much of the Troubles; Liam’s personal knowledge of many of the players in Northern Ireland’s troubles gives his book depth and granularity. His conclusions about the events are not conventional but deserve consideration. It has taken courage to write and to have it published. It will be an essential and sombre reference work about the Troubles.
    

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11. On December 30^th, Parliament voted to accept the deal the Prime Minister made with the European Union on Christmas Eve. In my view, the deal joins the short-list of the greatest self-imposed disasters that any country has ever made – it will be a year or two before that is proved right or wrong but nonetheless on the 30^th December Labour had to decide whether to vote for or against the deal, or to abstain. Clearly, this decision was a difficult one for Labour MPs and, I know well, it has pre-occupied Battersea’s MP, Marsha de Cordova.
    

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12. Anyone with a passing acquaintance with the real world of politics will know that voting for a poor “Tory” deal, negotiated by a despised Prime Minister, is, as they say, a “big ask”. However, voting against it was never going to be more than a gesture, which would have left Labour open to the accusation that, in effect, it had supported leaving the EU with no deal. I am pleased that Keir Starmer supported the deal, even a bad Tory engineered deal is a better choice than no deal at all.

My Programme for January

1. On 4^th January I have a Wandsworth Conservation Advisory Committee.
2. On Twelfth Night, the Battersea Society is running a Zoom Poetry Reading event – what an inspiration for the depths of this, particularly grim winter.
3. The Planning Applications Committee is on 27^th January and NOT on 19^th as advertised in the Council diary – unsurprisingly, it looks like a quiet month.

Did you Know:
Last month I asked two easy questions but did not get one response!

They were Q1:     Can you date the two occasions since WWII, when one party won the UK’s popular vote but lost the election and name the two lucky men who subsequently walked into 10 Downing Street?

Answer 1:            The first occasion was 1951 when Labour won the popular vote but not the majority of constituencies and Tory Winston Churchill became Prime Minister for the second time. The other occasion was February 1974, when the Tories won the popular vote but ended up with fewer MPs than Labour. Labour’s Harold Wilson subsequently became PM.

Q2      What is the hidden physical connection between Streatham Hill and Battersea Reach?

Answer 2:            The Falconbrook River, which has its source on Streatham Hill and eventually flows under Northcote Road and Falcon Road, and ends in the Thames at Battersea Reach. It is nowadays culverted all, or nearly all, the way.

And for this month:

In December, I went for a walk on Tooting Common, which I don’t know very well. And there I came across what I suggest is the oldest object in Wandsworth – and I mean seriously old, millions of years old. Do you know what it is?

1. Like everyone else, my partner and I are getting a tad bored with lockdowns and their implications, so on 1^st November, we escaped for a beautiful walk in Richmond Park. As often before we headed for Pen Ponds but instead of our normal walks to the ponds, and then south or west we went north, where we came across my rather tragic tree of the month – majestic and doleful and rather appropriate for “Lockdown November”. We also discovered the Royal Ballet School and its beautiful home. It isn’t (I don’t think) the same building as in the film, Billy Elliott (2000), but it obviously inspired the set for the film.
   

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2. On the 3^rd November, the Boundary Commissioners produced their latest and last report on the proposed ward boundaries from 2022, which will apply for the next 20 or 30 years. The report was published coincidentally and ironically on the day of the American Presidential election. In the Biden:Trump election, the distribution of the popular vote and the Electoral College vote was so different that Biden’s popular majority of over six million was by no means certain to deliver him victory in the Electoral College. The British Boundary Commissioners’ job is to distribute the vote between constituencies so as to ensure that confusion like that does not happen in the UK.
   

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3. On the whole, over the years, the Commission has been fairly successful in that aim BUT not always. (There have been two occasions since the Second World War, when the party that won the most votes lost the Election, once with the Tories losing out and once when Labour did.) Here, in Wandsworth, the Tories have won the last 12 Council elections but not always the popular vote. In both 1986 and 2018, Labour won more votes. The 1986 win gifted the Tories with control for the year of the Zero Council Tax, which created favourable conditions for them for several subsequent elections. It is arguable that their “accidental” victory in 1986 secured for the Tories control of Wandsworth for many years.
   

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4. On a day-to-day basis, the ward boundaries make little practical difference, but some old ward names will disappear (Latchmere, Fairfield) and some new ones will appear (Lavender, Battersea Park, Falconbrook). Some will be familiar but in a different format as in Mary’s and not St. Mary Park or the “combined” ward of Shaftesbury and Queenstown. But, from my experience, the worst feature of the review is the change from 20 wards with 3 councillors each making a total Council of 60 councillors to a mix of 14 three-councillor wards and 8 two-councillor wards, making a Council of 58. From my experience, when the Borough last had two-councillor wards prior to 2002, the smaller wards packed less clout than the larger wards and, when it came to the inevitable horse-trading of priorities and budgets, the smaller wards suffered. That problem was solved by making the wards a standard size.
   

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5. On 10^th November, Battersea Labour Party had a Zoom meeting, where the major item under discussion was Jeremy Corbyn’s position in the party. The debate was calm and considered, which, given the feelings of some members, was in itself quite a good result. Nevertheless, honesty compels me to admit that I was disappointed in our failure to move on to the important issues facing the country as we draw nearer to Brexit, whilst struggling with the consequences of the pandemic!
   

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6. On 18^th November the Mayor, Sadiq Khan, announced the good news that he has agreed to the Winstanley Regeneration plan. We can now get on with replacing the old, worn-out stock of Council homes, with super, high-quality new homes as well as adding some 150 extra bedrooms for all those families suffering over-crowding on the estate. But in addition, we will add hundreds of new homes, a new library and swimming pool and a re-designed York Gardens. These changes will, of course, take time but at least the decks are now clear. Some tenants will be moving into their new homes in the next couple of months and all will have the promise of better living conditions.
   

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7. The Planning Applications Committee (PAC) was on 25^th November; on this occasion, it was watched live by 274 viewers, most of whom I guess were watching progress with the Arding & Hobbs I rather liked the design solution proposed by the architects; it retains the early twentieth century features of the original and adds a slightly Arabic, but restrained roof extension. The contentious element, however, is that the developer obviously does not think that the future of retail in the modern, online world is bright enough to utilise a building the size of the old department store. Instead, he has gone for small, quality office units, arguing essentially that in the post-Covid world, more offices will be located in significant hubs around the city centre – and what hub could be better situated for Gatwick and Heathrow and the UK’s rail system than Clapham Junction? Note that there is no longer a link with Debenham’s or a vulnerability to its bankruptcy.
   

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8. There were several other major applications of real interest to Battersea, most of which were approved. One was the development in Battersea Square of Thomas’s Preparatory School with a substantial secondary school addition. Thomas’s is likely to become one of the most expensive and exclusive public schools in Britain – with all that entails. Another was the development of three tower blocks, up to 16 storeys, on the Palmerston Court site, opposite the entrance to the Dogs’ Home. This complex is designed for more than 850 student residents, from King’s College London, along with a substantial volume of offices and a new pub to replace the current Flanagan’s. And a third development is for 50+ flats on the Patmore estate, attached to and very much in tune with Marsh House.
   

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9. The fourth application I would like to highlight is on a totally different scale but perhaps just as significant for residents of the Borough. It was an application to build a small bar, ancillary to what is now Clapham Common Westside’s Bowling Green. The intention is to provide a commercial refreshment facility to complement a new Putt in the Park complex in place of the bowling green. There are similar facilities in both Battersea and Wandsworth Parks. Incredibly, to me, there is no “statutory” protection for bowling greens (and I dare say neither crown bowling greens nor croquet lawns). There is protection for other sports pitches, such as soccer, hockey and rugby, which attract younger client groups. So the omission of greens seems discriminatory on both age and gender grounds. Bowls and croquet are energetic, inclusive games, which deserve support and not oblivion. I am pleased to say that the committee rejected this application! It would be such a shame to lose the quiet and gentle sight of the local bowling green on a summer’s afternoon.
   

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10. One other “minor” piece of news may have escaped your attention. Because of the state of Hammersmith Bridge (seen here in the distance), and NOT because of Covid, the decision has been taken to move The 2021 Boat Race from the Thames to Cambridge. Because there is no sign yet that Hammersmith Bridge will ever be repaired and best estimates are that it would take seven years anyway, one wonders whether this traditional race, now over 160 years old, will ever be seen again. There are all kinds of things that are anachronistic about it – it excludes hundreds of other colleges; it is an oddity, rather like the marathon only not even an Olympic event; it is not metric; it’s very long; it’s on the tideway when almost all other rowing events are on lakes. We may have seen our last ever Boat Race!
    

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My Programme for December

1. On 8^th December we have a Zoom meeting of Battersea Labour Party members.

2. On 10^th December there is a virtual meeting of the Labour councillors, the first for what seems like months.
3. The Council Meeting is on 16^th December, but what exactly that will be like is difficult to say at the moment!

4. That is followed the next day by the Planning Applications Committee.
   

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 Last month I asked, “Where is the Battersea Welsh Presbyterian Chapel?”

On this occasion, I was surprised at just how many people did know that the Chapel, pictured here, stands in Beauchamp Road on the right-hand corner halfway along the road. But readers also told me that David Lloyd George worshipped there, when he lived in Routh Road, and that Huw Edwards, the newscaster, is a key figure in the chapel’s life.

The Eglwys Bresbyteraidd Cymru Or the Presbyterian Church of Wales

And this month two easy questions and one notice:

Q1.                        In Paragraph 3 above I mentioned that, on two occasions since WWII, one party won the UK’s popular vote but lost the election. Can you date these occasions and name the two lucky men who subsequently walked into 10 Downing Street?

Q2.                        What is the hidden physical connection between Streatham Hill and Battersea Reach?

On December 2^nd Clare Graham’s booklet Discovering Battersea’s Open Spaces goes on sale at Waterstones or via the Battersea Society website. The booklet takes you on six delightful walks across and around the old Battersea parish.

from Tony and Penny

Sails on the Markermeer, the Netherlands, Photograph, Tony, 2013

1. For me, all the days are merging into one amorphous whole. I work from home, I meet at home on Zoom, I eat at home, entertainment (TV, the internet and books) is at home. My partner and I get on well together so lockdown, or whatever we call the state we’re in now, is not particularly unpleasant as we both have protected incomes and own our house; but it’s not wildly exciting either. It must be so tough for those, who are on piecework, or who are on their own and don’t like it; or for younger people who want to get out there and explore people, places and experiences, or perhaps worst of all for those dependent upon others for care and services. Covid is dividing our community in a way and on a scale that Britain has not seen since at least the end of World War Two.
   

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2. One of the annoying features of this crisis, at least for me, is the complacency and self-satisfaction of the “fortunate”. It’s so easy to object to, say, the noisy activity of construction sites or refuse collection or even play-spaces; it’s so easy to disparage the “other”. It’s apparently not so easy to be a little tolerant, understanding and patient.
   

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3. And as for the news from the USA! I have been to both the East and West Coasts and quite a bit of the bit in the middle and love so much of it; I think it’s hard not to be swept away by some features of the States. But in the build-up to the Presidential election, thankfully over in a week’s time, bar legal challenges, it seems as though some Americans are intent on destroying their reputation, their primacy in the world and perhaps even the world, as we know it.
   

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4. Enough of this global moan! What has been going on in the Council? And what about my part in it? In formal terms the centre-piece was a Council Meeting on 14^th October, which by the way was watched by 148 people online. But actually a “virtual Council Meeting” is a pretty tepid affair. The cut and thrust of debate, even at its best, loses so much flavour when delivered from one spare room to another. The reality during this pandemic is that the Council is, even more than usual, being run by the paid staff – the Council’s equivalent of the civil service, with very occasional steers from the Tory-controlled cabinet. As for the councillors, some are immersing themselves with volunteers, delivering vital domestic services, such as helping with food delivery through organisations like Kambala Cares and Waste Not Want Not, whilst others are helping set up “school streets”. And of course, depending upon personal and family circumstances all of us are, just like everyone else, pre-occupied with keeping alive and well.
   

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5. Meanwhile, I had a couple of meetings with fellow Latchmere councillors and officers about progress on the Winstanley Regeneration. The good news is that 50 or so residents will, by the New Year, be moving into the excellent new flats at Mitchell House in the new block on Plough Road. The large block, Duval, next to Sendall Court and at the junction of Winstanley and Grant Roads, will also be occupied about then. Those units have been sold – not as a little maliciously rumoured to millionaires with vast incomes – but at prices ranging from £300,000 to £700,000. I know some of you hate the thought of Wandsworth Council, or any Council, building homes for sale at a time of great housing shortage BUT, with Government subsidies for housing construction a thing of the past, there is no other known way for the Council to pay for the modernisation or construction of houses available at Council rent levels. Frankly, the choice is to sell land, houses or other properties or not to build or re-furbish any new homes at all. As for raising the funds through Council Tax increases, in the first place even doubling Council Tax would not approach the sums required, and secondly, the Government wouldn’t allow it.
   

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6. I had a Planning Applications Committee (PAC) on 22^nd Interestingly, it was watched live by 145 viewers, with another 58 later watching the recording. This total does not exactly match “Strictly” ratings, but indicates that this technology opens up the possibility for public involvement in a way that Town Hall meetings, as long as they are not broadcast, do not. The main reason for the audience interest was, I suspect, the great local (and political) interest in the planning application covering Roehampton’s giant Alton Estate.
   

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7. The main issue on the Alton regeneration, much as with the Winstanley, was the balance, taking into account the current formula for assessing financial viability, between the quantum of so-called affordable and private housing units. A majority of us, including me, thought that this application provided as much “Council housing” as the developer, the Council, could financially provide. Others argue that the Council could and should provide more Council housing. Either way, Mayor Sadiq Khan will now need to decide on the question of viability. If he presses further than the Council believes viable, then logically it will abandon the project. It’s a process of negotiation, where my guess is that the Council will be forced to concede a little. The question is how much.
   

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8. Most of the other important and large applications were, on this occasion, in either Putney or Tooting, the largest being one for more than 800 housing units, amongst other things, on the massive Springfield Hospital site. There was, however, one smallish application that will interest Battersea residents and that was for the site of Blacks store in St. John’s Road. As most Battersea people must have noticed Blacks has had a closing down sale there for what seems like years – it’s certainly more than 12 months. After the PAC meeting, the developers now have permission to concentrate the retail store on the ground floor and to convert the upper stories into six custom-built residential flats.
   

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9. On 24^th October Radio 4 ran a Profile of ex-councillor Edward Lister, now the Prime Minister’s No 10 adviser. The programme director interviewed a number of Wandsworth councillors, including me as I had been the Leader of the Opposition to Lister for 15 years. The interview lasted at least 30 minutes but, of course, my comments were drastically, but not unreasonably, cut to make the final 15 minute programme. If you are interested, you can hear it on iPlayer, Radio 4 at 19.00 on 24^th October.
   

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10. Away from the Council I, like everyone else, have had a quiet month. My only memorable trip outside Battersea was to go to the National Gallery on October 5^th to see the Titian I went with Marcy, wife of fellow councillor Peter Carpenter. She has recently completed a degree in Italian Renaissance Art. I was looking forward to being tutored through the visit, because I’d never really appreciated Italian religious art. That was my first mistake; these paintings were all about classical mythology. Gods yes, but capricious, malicious gods of the kind that the ancients seemed to revel in! Here, for example, the goddess, Venus, is pleading with the beautiful Adonis not to go hunting the wild boar, which inevitably turns on him and goars him to death. However, I am afraid that, despite Marcy’s fascinating tuition, I still don’t find Titian to my taste.

My Programme for November

1. On 10^th November we have a Zoom meeting of Battersea Labour Party members. That would have been interesting enough, just involving a membership of over 1,000, in a Zoom meeting, but after the 29^th October decision about Jeremy Corbyn, it’s possible that “interesting” will prove to be an understatement!
2. The November Planning Applications Committee (PAC) is on the 25^th.
3. As I said last month, with so few official meetings since Covid, it might appear as though we councillors have very little to do, but there are plenty of site meetings and discussions with officers as well as dealing with constituents’ queries and issues.
4. On 26^th November at 5.45, I have Latchmere Ward’s Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) SNTs were established across London some years ago in order to sustain and improve relations between the police and the local community. We (both police and Council) are keen to encourage broader community participation and just possibly the enforced migration onto an online platform will encourage YOU to join us. If you are interested (and I hope you are) then please email Roger Lyddon, at the Town Hall for details. Roger is at Roger.Lyddon@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk.You can join us by telephone or online.  PC Gavin Gilliam, Latchmere’s dedicated Ward Officer will be in attendance.  We look forward to welcoming you on Thursday 26 November but, even if you cannot attend, please let Roger know your details so that he can contact you about future meetings.  But do join us on Thursday 26 November at 5.45 and get involved.

 Last month I asked about this impressive building?

I must confess to a little disappointment that no one else either knew or appeared to be interested.  No matter: the answer is 220 Queenstown Road. It is about 20 yards/metres south of the main Waterloo lines and, when I first came to Battersea in 1966, it was black with soot. When the last steam train services stopped in 1967, its owner decided to give it a clean. For most locals its sudden yellow and redbrick appearance was a great surprise.

Hopefully this month’s Did You Know inspires rather more interest!

Anyone from the Valleys will know that Eglwys Bresbyteraidd Cymru translates literally into Church Presbyterian Wales. My question is simply “Where is the Battersea Welsh Presbyterian Chapel?”

PS about the picture of a boxing match in Culvert Road

Rita, who now lives in Wimbledon, wrote to me in October saying “if you went under the Arch on the left-hand side there used to be offices situated there, rented by Battersea Council, one of which was my Dad’s office. The Council offices were there, I think before World War II, my Dad worked there during the 40’s, and even possibly before the War, until his death in 1958.

“I come from a Family of fourth generation, who were born in Battersea and Wandsworth.  I was brought up in Battersea.  My late husband was also fourth generation from Battersea. There was also a permanent caravan sited there, where a disabled lady lived. The caravan was always spotlessly clean.

Rita, thank you for that personal history. I am pleased that it brought back happy memories. By the way, there is still a caravan encampment there, which can be seen from the Victoria line.

PPS. In the last moments of October, the Prime Minister announced the Lockdown starting on November 5^th (Talk about the old rhyme “Remember, remember the fifth of November, gunpowder, treason and plot” – it will be difficult to forget this one!) and hopefully ending on 2^nd December. Wishing everyone a healthy November and I look forward to writing to you all again in December.

1. At the end of my August Newsletter, I announced two pieces of Stop Press news: the first was that Vauxhall Bridge was to be closed from 10.00 pm on Sunday, 2nd August, until the end of November, because it had been discovered that the internal ironwork was deteriorating dangerously and remedial work had to start immediately. The second was that Edward Lister, ex-Leader of Wandsworth Council, was to “receive” a peerage. Both items deserve updates!

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2. As you may have noticed, Vauxhall Bridge was not actually closed until the following weekend. What had happened, as I understand it, was that TfL (Transport for London) engineers had discovered a dangerous deterioration in the bridge, in the last week of July, and so decided unilaterally to close the bridge without informing the Mayor of London, or the leaders and traffic managers of Lambeth, Wandsworth, Ken & Chelsea or Westminster Borough Councils.

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3. Unsurprisingly, something of a fuss occurred and TfL decided/was forced to postpone the closure for a week. As it happened the “quiet, holiday month of August”, had already been chosen by some Councils, certainly including Wandsworth, for installing traffic calming schemes AND, to pile misery on misery, Tower Bridge decided at some point to get stuck half-open. The picture of Vauxhall Bridge in quieter times (1829) is by Thomas Hosmer Shepherd. The bridge had been opened in 1816 and it was the first in London to be substantially constructed with iron.

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4. It has been a bad month on the roads in inner south London, but it has also been a disastrous time for TfL. Its handling of the Vauxhall Bridge closure was inept, to put it mildly. Add that to the managerial, political and engineering disaster that is Crossrail, then it is inevitable that questions have to be asked: questions about the current management of TfL and/or was it ever a sustainable model for running London’s public transport system. Given that the trains are run by several operators, the roads by 33 separate London authorities, the bridges by individual riparian boroughs and the Government has the final say on its budget, the nominal boss of TfL, that is the Mayor, has an uphill task!

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5. Unfortunately, at the same time as the Vauxhall Bridge closure, Wandsworth Council has been installing many so-called traffic calming measures, which are designed to improve conditions for pedestrians and cyclists, whilst inevitably reducing the amount of road space available for drivers. Enthusiastic cyclists, and of course, many or all environmentalists want us all to use sustainable means of transport and they definitely do not include petrol or diesel-powered vehicles. However, it did not help this hoped-for change to have the Prime Minister asking people to return to work and to use our cars to do so. To say that the public is receiving mixed messages is an under-statement.

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6. The end result has been difficult, and perhaps dangerous, conditions for emergency vehicles as well as furious motorists, and general inconvenience. There should, of course, have been more consultation but no one could have guessed the combination of events that made August such a difficult month especially in Tooting and in the Nine Elms Lane area. From my experience, I guess that there will be some tweaking of the schemes as they stand today and a few months of re-adjustment to circumstances. But in the long run, I expect to see a substantial lessening of London’s reliance on the car.

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7. Attentive readers will recall that in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List it was announced that Wandsworth Council’s ex-Leader, Edward Lister, was to be made a peer. He was Leader of the Council from 1992-2011 at a time when I was the Opposition Leader, so we faced each other across the Council Chamber, as Leader to Leader, for the best part of 20 years and I estimate some 120 Council meetings. As a result, I know him a bit (and vice versa) and I promised some readers that I would write a bit about him this month. The picture is of the last five Leaders of the Council and the Mayor. From the right we are me, Lord Lister, Wandsworth’s Mayor Stuart Thom, Sir Christopher Chope, Ravi Govindia and Sir Paul Beresford at a lunch given by the Mayor in 2014.

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8. First of all, we have to acknowledge Lister’s achievements. He became a Wandsworth Councillor in a by-election in Southfields in March, 1975. At the time there were 48 Labour councillors to 12 Tories, but the real difficulties facing Jim Callaghan’s Labour Government and some serious political mis-judgements made by the Labour Council resulted in the Tories winning the Borough in 1978 by 36 councillors to 25. The Tories have been in control of Wandsworth Council for the 42 years since, with Lister as Leader for 19 years and as a major player for 14 years before becoming Leader. Whatever one thinks of the Tory “achievements” during that period, they happened on his watch and he must share much of the praise or the blame for them.

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9. Lister was never a great speaker, or a dominant personality in the Council Chamber, which possibly explains why, despite many attempts, he never became an M.P. He certainly expressed some frustration as many far less significant Tory councillors won safe Tory Parliamentary seats. Lister also lacked much knowledge of British political history. I remember one particularly enjoyable Council meeting, when the Council was debating education and he attempted to goad Labour councillors by threatening to rename Tooting’s Ernest Bevin school the Winston Churchill school. As he spoke, I realised that he (and they – most of the Tory councillors) did not know their Ernest Bevin, Churchill’s trusted, even if Labour, wartime Minister of Labour, from their Nye Bevan, the left-wing Welsh firebrand, founder of the NHS. Unusually, I had great fun that evening both lampooning Lister and winning the debate. Lister, however, got his revenge some 20 years later when I mistakenly bet him £10 that a buffoon, called Boris Johnson, would never be elected Mayor of London.

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10. Lister was, however, a very effective political operator. In June, 1979, he moved in Wandsworth Council that the ILEA (the Inner London Education Authority) should be side-lined as far as Wandsworth was concerned (abolition came later). This move was a startlingly bold one. The ILEA was responsible for London’s schools, adult education, some 40-50 Further Education colleges, the Careers Service, evening classes and many other functions. It had a world-wide reputation as a beacon of state education services. The thought that a relatively junior councillor should initiate a move, which questioned its authority was considered to be a joke. Eleven years later, the ILEA was no more.

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11. Meanwhile, his colleagues were pressing forward with Wandsworth Council’s Right to Buy (council homes) policies and Lister became a major player in the move to test public services competitively in the market-place. Mrs Thatcher later added compulsion to the policy and made it Compulsory Competitive Testing or CCT. Both RTB and CCT had major short-term political benefits for the Tory Party in Wandsworth. From my perspective, the main disadvantages were that RTB enabled the Council to sell off public assets cheaply, more than halving the stock of social housing, and helping to create today’s housing crisis, whilst CCT undermined the bargaining position of the less-skilled sectors of the workforce, creating conditions conducive to the growth of today’s gig economy.

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12. In the spring of 2011, a vacancy arose for the role of Deputy Mayor of London, deputy to Boris Johnson. Lister was appointed. One of his first duties was to address a London Conference of councillors and senior officers. I was there, as Lister articulated right-wing mantra that the public sector played too great a part not only in the British economy, but also in British life. I am sure, for example, that he would wish to slim down the BBC; introduce greater business involvement in running the universities, just as he has done in schools; and apply greater commercial disciplines in the NHS, amongst other horrors.

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13. Sir Edward Lister, soon to be Lord Lister (surely not of Southfields), has until recently been a senior adviser to Boris Johnson (in this press photo of Johnson’s first cabinet, Lister is the man at the back with the red tie, second from the left) and certainly a constant presence at early Cabinet meetings where no doubt he continues to advocate and press for the implementation of his simplistic neo-liberal views. It is ironic that he has become an important player in the government just as circumstances have conspired to put the public sector at the heart of the economy and the centre of all decision making.

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14. Finally, I should recall that many Labour Leaders, such as Robin Wales, Jules Pipe and Toby Harris, Leaders of Newham, Hackney and Haringey Council, were far more appreciative of Lister’s political skills than were the average Wandsworth Labour councillor. That was because his skills were about negotiation and arranging deals and not about debate. Consistent with those characteristics, Lister is a secretive and reserved character, not a deep thinker, but a straight-forward, highly competent machine politician.

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15. On August 19^th my partner and I stayed the night with friends at their house in the South Downs, immediately behind Hastings. This view from their dining room window certainly includes my tree of the month. The next morning was beautiful and we went for a walk in the so-called Garden of England, but I had to dash back to take part in my fifth virtual Planning Applications Committee (PAC). I really can’t think of anything interesting to say about it other than that it was important for all people directly concerned but mundane in the big scheme of things.

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16. On August 26^th I went for an annual family walk from the Birling Gap to Beachy Head. We had planned to do the walk on 12^th August but that turned out to be Britain’s hottest-ever day. In contrast, the 26^th was cool and very blowy. Fortunately, we were walking with the wind. The view is looking west over the Gap and at the Seven Sisters.

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My Programme for September

1. One day last month, one of my readers sent me his spy thriller, the latest in a trilogy. He included nice words about this newsletter and an invitation to drinks one evening in early September. He obviously knows a great deal about espionage, especially in Italy and Sicily. I look forward to meeting him, and will ask him to sign my copy of his book. Amazingly, of my 2,500 or so newsletter readers, more than a dozen are published authors – Battersea certainly has talent.

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2. On 2^nd September, I have a virtual Wandsworth Conservation Area Committee. I have a feeling that this will be a difficult meeting – for technical reasons. The attenders have not previously worked together using Microsoft Teams, so I expect a host of technical incompatibilities and misunderstandings!

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3. On 3^rd I am looking forward to a tour of Mitchell House, the first and most advanced of the new Winstanley Estate blocks, the one on Plough Road opposite Time House. And then in the evening, I am going to a webinar led by academic and journalist, Will Hutton. The subject, no apology, is how the UK manages to stay close to the EU and avoid many of the catastrophes forecast to follow a “hard Brexit”.

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4. On 15^th September, there will be another virtual Planning Applications Committee (PAC).

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5. Once again September will be a quiet month. Even the traditional major Party Political Conferences will have to take place virtually this year.

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Can you place (and approximately date) this picture?

                I’d like to thank fellow Latchmere ward councillor, Simon Hogg, for this little gem. Any other comments about the picture would be welcome. I have a couple of observations to share about the picture that I will share next month but in the meantime do you think you could write a paragraph or two about it?