1. I didn’t get back from Croatia until 8^th September, but in the event it was a quiet month, at least as far as the Council was concerned. My first “Council engagement” was the following Sunday, 15^th September, when Wandsworth’s Labour councillors had an “away day” in Roehampton. It was a busy day even if this picture of my fellow councillors, from the left, Paula Walker (Queenstown), Jo Rigby (Earlsfield) and Sue McKinney (Roehampton) at a tea break, suggests otherwise. Our aim was to focus on self-improvement, as councillors and as a group.
   

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2. On the 16^th September I attended a public meeting at the Alma pub, in Old York Road, Wandsworth, along with about 50 local residents. The meeting was focused on Waltham Forest’s exciting road and traffic planning initiatives, called simply Low Traffic Neighbourhoods. The presentation was given by Waltham Forest resident, Paul Gasson, and reminded me very much of a similar scheme Wandsworth Council implemented in Balham and Northcote in 1978. There was, however, one very, very big difference. In May, 1978, there was a Borough Election and immediately after they won the Council, the Tories scrapped the scheme. The Waltham Forest scheme seems to have got off to an excellent start; I hope that it gets well established before the next Borough election and that it becomes an example followed elsewhere.
   

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3. The following Tuesday, 17^th September I had the Planning Applications Committee (PAC). There was only one application of any real significance and that related to the semi-permanent, so-called, British Genius site in Battersea Park. The Committee agreed to allow the “temporary” structure even though the application was for a building 2 metres higher than the current one and for a longer, four-year, period. I am afraid that I am going to make myself unpopular with a few of my friends, who live very close to the Park, by saying that I think it is about time that we dropped the fiction of the structure being temporary. It has now been there for a long time and I rather doubt that any future PAC is going to refuse it permission. What is more I very, very much doubt that anyone could defend a refusal at an appeal hearing. Moreover, the sooner that the Genius site is accepted as an established part of the Park, then the more we can address the serious issue of landscaping the area around it appropriately.
   

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4. On 24^th September, I was at the Strategic Planning and Transportation Committee. There were some items about long-term planning issues, which, although very important for the future of the Borough, get a little lost in the technicalities and will not have much affect for many years. Hence they are difficult to describe. Of more immediate interest to lots of people were two items about cycling, which could have an effect in almost every street. First was the Council’s decision to have an e-bike contract. Let me confess, I don’t fully understand the system, whereby armed only with a membership card, anyone can use an e-bike from anywhere to anywhere. What happens as regards repairs, or returning the bikes to some base, any base? Are there insurance issues? None of these questions were considered and they certainly weren’t answered. We were simply re-assured that the company given the contract was willing to take all the risks and that there would be no cost to the Council. It was not, I think, a brilliant moment for the Committee, for which I take some responsibility as the lead on the Labour side – but my excuse is that the Tories have sucked all the life-blood out of the committee structure, which is now totally inadequate as a democratic constraint. As I have already noted, the committees are now restricted in time; worse debate and discussion are discouraged – overview and scrutiny is bound to suffer in the longer term.
   

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5. The second item on cycling referred to cycle parking and the fraught question of cycling security. As someone who has lost four (4) bicycles to theft and had a saddle and endless numbers of lights stolen from my bikes, I have something of an interest on this issue – if you are worried about car theft, you should spare a thought for the poor cyclists, who face far greater problems. So, to the good news: the Council has agreed to the provision of lockable bike hangars in our streets subject to demand and consultation. Paul Ellis, the councillor in charge, says he hopes for 40 such hangars to be in place in the course of the next year. The picture shows a bike hangar in Southwark.
   

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6. Meanwhile, of course, all hell has broken loose at a national level. Every news bulletin has brought shocks, horrors and total surprises. We have a Prime Minister, who, as of now, has lost every single one of seven (7) votes in Parliament and who has had a unanimous decision of the Supreme Court going against him. We have four weeks left before we leave the European Union OR stay in against the Prime Minister’s wishes. In four weeks time, we may or may not have trading agreements with our major customers and suppliers.
   

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7. The country’s governing Tory Party, or maybe I should say parties, with the Democratic Unionist Party playing second fiddle, seems to be on a different stage from everyone else. And yet the opposition parties seem incapable of getting their acts together to promote a more orderly politics. It looks like being a turbulent month with a ghastly prognosis! If we leave, the signs are that “Project Fear” was simply not pessimistic enough about what leaving the EU would do to our economy and our status. If we remain, then many of the 17.4 million who voted leave will be embittered, maybe for life.
   

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8. For my money, it becomes clearer, day by day, that, even if the thought is horrific, the only way out of this is for another Referendum, pitching a Leave package vs Remain but with the advantage that this time we would know more about what it means.
   

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9. On 15^th September, my partner and I hosted an evening’s discussion with our M.P., Marsha de Cordova, and twenty or so local residents. These friends of ours are concerned that the Labour Party is not 100% Remain, because of Jeremy Corbyn’s policy not to alienate those who voted Leave and his efforts to try and hold all parts of the party together. For many of them, the simplicity of the Lib/Dems position seems attractive. However, if I may, say about the Lib/Dems position: If Swinson and her colleagues do deny Jeremy Corbyn the dubious distinction of being Prime Minister for a limited and specifically prescribed period, with the sole purpose of organising and seeing through a Referendum, then, I think, they are likely to pay a heavy electoral price.
   

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10. Meanwhile, on a completely different theme, can I draw your attention to my partner, Penny Corfield’s, blog for this month? Her messages are usually aimed at her academic colleagues but this month’s is very much about the desperate need for all cities world-wide to go as thoroughly green as they possibly can! See: penelopejcorfield.com/monthly-blogs/106

My Programme for October

1. On 1^st October I gave a presentation to the Big Local AGM on Battersea, 1801-2019, A Social History, at Providence House, Falcon Road.
2. The next day I had the Katherine Low Settlement AGM.
3. On 4^th October I attended the funeral of Peter Martin Taylor, a young (39) colleague of mine, who was a Labour Party candidate for Queenstown Ward in 2014.
4. On 9^th October I have the Corporate Parenting Panel, of which more next month.
5. On 11^th I am off to Stockholm for the week-end accompanying my partner, who is giving the keynote lecture at a Swedish Conference on social history.
6. There is a Council Meeting on 16^th October
7. The Planning Applications Committee, “the committee that never stops”, is on 24^th
8. On the 30^th I will be, at the Town Hall, attending the what I think will be the first Healthy Streets Forum – an interesting new Council initiative?

Do you know?

Last month I asked whether you knew, after dissolving Parliament, how long Charles I managed before inviting it to sit again? And do you know how long Parliament took (after that) to try him for High Treason and have him executed? And do you know why, in the end, he invited the argumentative MPs back?

The answers:

1. Charles I dissolved Parliament in 1629 and re-called it in 1640;
2. he was executed in 1649, so nine years;
3. it was money of course. He needed money in 1640 to fight a battle about religious policy in Scotland.

This month my question is Do you know

1. Where was the Portsmouth and Southampton railway’s first London terminus?
2. When was Waterloo station opened as a replacement for the first terminal? and
3. When did the last steam train puff its way out of Clapham Junction?

1. August was, of course, a quiet month in Council terms, even if national politics was as turbulent as I can ever remember. So, I went to Lyme Regis for a couple of quiet days and visited my old friend Tony Tuck, who some of you may remember was a fellow Latchmere councillor in the early 90’s. He has a beach-hut on the famous Jurassic coast and, just to prove it, here is am ammonite set in a beach pebble – 150 million+ years old!
   

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2. I came back through Wilton, Wiltshire, where I was absolutely startled to see this baroque Tuscan church, set in a small eighteenth-century English town. It is a Grade 1 listed building, built as a replacement between 1841 and 1844 on the initiative of the Countess Pembroke. The church is enormous for such a small town and speaks volumes for the Countess’s wealth! A notable feature is the 105 feet (32 m) campanile, which, unlike the traditional English tower or steeple, stands separate from the building – Is this because Tuscany, unlike England, has destructive earthquakes?
   

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3. A week later, on 14^th August, Battersea MP, Marsha de Cordova, and I were invited by a new business called e-cargobikes to see for ourselves their operation of delivery systems for the Northcote Road Co-op. The service uses electric bicycles to provide a delivery service for customers. The bikes are, of course, person-powered but with ancillary electric motors – partly to cope with the many hills in south Battersea and, indeed, the weight of the deliveries. James Fitzgerald of e-cargobikes argues eloquently for the ecological and cost advantages of using this service rather than van deliveries, saving not only petrol, but also congestion charges, road tax, insurance, parking fees and fines, etc. James confidently asserts that a bicycle delivery service, operating short delivery runs from the Co-op to the immediate neighbourhood, can be competitive with van deliveries. If successful, it will also be far more environmentally friendly than using motor vans. The picture shows from the left, the Co-op store manager, me, Marsha, two cyclists, who by the way earn a minimum of £11.15 an hour (and which is well above the London Living Wage), and on the right, James Fitzgerald.
   

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4. Two days later, on 16^th August I went to the House of Commons to take part in a small celebratory party to note Victoria Rodney’s MBE award in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. Victoria runs a voluntary organisation, called the Mercy Foundation, from an office in Falcon Road. The party was hosted by the M.P. and the guests included the High Commissioner of Nigeria. Victoria originally came from Nigeria but has lived in the UK for many years.
   

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5. Victoria once told me that she was sitting at home, some years ago, wondering what she could do to improve the life chances of many of the least fortunate in our society. So, completely off her own bat, she set up the charity based in Falcon Road, which is called The Mercy Foundation. The charity aims to teach technical skills, personal confidence, and self- presentation. She was so committed to the idea that she mortgaged her home to raise capital and, since then, has lived and breathed the Foundation. She has persuaded people like me to teach basic English to Somali refugees, living on the nearby York Road estate; she has organised courses in computing, in childcare and in nursing. Two of the speakers, Samuel and Mohammed, at the party were ex-students, who had come back to “honour” Victoria for giving them the self-confidence and skills to run and own their own small businesses. If any reader wants to make a charitable contribution, but to a small organisation and not to one of the giants such as the National Trust or Oxfam, then you could do worse than donate to the Mercy Foundation! Please, contact me for details.
   

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6. On 13^th August, I played chess against my fellow Labour councillor (Bedford ward) Hector Denfield, at the Battersea Chess Club. I am going to have to up my game before I take him on again – I lost, but I felt a little better when he told me that only a couple of weeks earlier, he had come second in the 13^th Weald Chess Congress at East Grinstead. But I viewed this match simply as training for my game for the Battersea Pawnbrokers, again at the Battersea Chess Club on 20^th August. Unfortunately, I fared no better in that match either!
   

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7. The Planning Applications Committee took place on 22^nd August. The agenda was suitably uncontentious for mid-summer and none of the decisions were of any great significance except, of course, to the people and neighbours directly concerned.
   

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8. On 24^th I was off to Croatia for our annual holiday. It was a delight and we swam over half a mile (1 km) every day. So, despite having plenty of wine and good fish every evening, I managed to lose half a stone or about 3.5 kilos! Can I avoid putting it all back on? I sincerely hope so!
   

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9. I came home on 8^th September to discover that the world had gone bonkers. 21 senior Tories, including two former Chancellors of the Exchequer, and Winston Churchill’s grandson have been kicked out of the Tory Party. My partner, Penny, is having a whale of a time comparing the successive political crises with the events of the early seventeenth century, upon which she is an expert. She pointed out that Charles I also tried to prorogue Parliament, but in his case for an indefinite period, but in the end lost his head! I am not suggesting that we should do the same to dear old Queenie, but perhaps Johnson has already lost his head!
   

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10. Whilst I have been away, the new all-weather sports pitch at Falconbrook (Banana) Park has come on-stream. The plan was not universally popular with all residents but now that the pitch and changing rooms have been completed and the Park has been given some new landscaping treatment, I hope that the pitch and other facilities are well used and appreciated.
    

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11. The Boundary Commissioners announced that they had received a large number of suggestions for the new ward boundaries and indeed the various options have been published. They are all on the Commissioners website but for me perhaps the most interesting is the Tory Plan, which you can see as a PDF on the Commissioners website. They are very different from the Labour Party’s plans and demonstrate that there is, as some would say, more than one way to skin a cat. At the last review in 2002/3 the Commissioners final recommendations were almost identical to the Labour submission. Their decision will be published later this year for one last round of consultation.
    

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My Programme for September

1. I came back from Croatia on September 8^th, but it’s a gentle start to the new Municipal season with my first meeting a Labour Group Awayday on 15^th September. It’s pretty obvious, however, that whatever plans we may have to discuss local affairs are likely to be overtaken by a flurry of Brexit or General Election related activity!
2. The Planning Applications Committee, “the committee that never stops”, is on 17^th September.
3. On the 27^th I will be visiting Christ Church school’s Dream Garden. Christ Church is making a feature of outdoor learning, believing that outdoor lessons are good for both children and the environment.
   

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Do you know?

Last month I asked who knew that Battersea and Wandsworth Metropolitan Boroughs were two separate organisations? Judging by the very few responses I got, not many did; or not many cared very much; or, on the contrary, everyone knew and thought that the question was too trivial to bother with!

The answer was that the 1963 London Government Act abolished the 28 London Metropolitan Boroughs and Middlesex County Council and also annexed parts of Surrey, Kent and Essex into a new Greater London containing the current 32 London Boroughs. Harold Macmillan was the Prime Minister responsible, though the blame/credit is often ascribed to Keith Joseph, who had been the Secretary of State for Housing and Local Government. Wandsworth “began” in 1964 but, for the first year of its operation, Battersea and Wandsworth still existed as separate entities during an extended handover year.

This year the Prime Minister is trying to prorogue (to suspend) Parliament until 14^th October. That is one of the reasons for the current controversy. Do you know how long Charles I managed without Parliament before inviting it to sit again? And do you know how long Parliament took to try him for treason and have him executed? And do you know why, in the end, he invited the argumentative MPs back?

1. 1. 1. You may have noticed that the Council has put out press releases and created “photo opportunities” for Tory councillors under a heading claiming 100 years of social housing, dating from the Housing (popularly known as the Addison, after Housing Minister Christopher Addison) Act of 1919. This move might have confused many Battersea residents, who know that the Latchmere Estate was built in 1903/4. Of course, the Council has got it WRONG. The Latchmere Estate was indeed built by Battersea Metropolitan Borough Council and it is the second oldest council estate in the country. Ironically Wandsworth’s very own Totterdown Estate in Tooting is the oldest, constructed from 1901 onwards. The 1919 Act did, however, mark the start of national exchequer support for council housing. One hundred years later that support has virtually ended, an ironic twist to this centenary “celebration”!
         

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      2. On the 4^th July Pen and I went to Headingley to see Afghanistan playing the West Indies in the World Cup. We had seats high up in the south stand, almost directly behind a right-hand bowler’s arm. What with the stand and the white ball, I don’t think I have ever had such a great spectator view at a big cricket match. Unfortunately, we did not get to see a classic Chris Gayle innings in what may be his last big game in the UK, but we did see him bowl and exert himself once to run out an unfortunate Afghan batsman. The Windies won fairly comfortably but/and it was an entertaining game.
         

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      3. We had travelled up the previous evening, allowing us to see a performance of Grease at the Leeds Playhouse. The lead actor didn’t have the charisma of John Travolta in the famous film but the whole troupe threw themselves into the many very dramatic dance numbers with fantastic energy and not a little skill. The choreographer was Arlene Philips, of “Strictly” fame. I am not sure, however, that such athleticism should be seen by the more mature and envious of us!
         

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      4. On Sunday, 7^th July, Penny took me for lunch to Ronnie Scott’s in Soho – very pleasant too, but much more sedate and “mature” than Grease! The music came from Tony Kofi, second from right, playing a tribute to Cannonball Adderley. The high-quality musicians were on great form and the jazz was very accessible, easy listening. However, in terms of value for money it was no better than Streatham’s Hideaway jazz club.
         

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      5. Two days later, I went to the Grand, Clapham Junction, to see Latchmere’s Thames Christian School’s production of The Pyjama Game. It was very ambitious and demanding and, to be honest, a little outside the range that one could reasonably expect from young teenagers. But they deserve good marks for their ambition. All the girls in the cast are seen here on the right. The school, by the way, has for a long time been in negotiations, now nearly concluded, to move from its site in Wye Street to a new building on Grant Road as part of the Winstanley regeneration. It is planned to move in to its new home, shared with the Battersea Baptist Church, in 2022.
         

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      6. Have I mentioned that Penny has, for some time, been President (elect) of the International Society of Eighteenth Century Studies (ISECS). ISECS has 38 national societies, from Japan to India, the USA to Argentina, Italy to Sweden. She was due to be “installed” at their Conference in Edinburgh on 17^th July. So, we went up to Edinburgh on the 14^th and returned on the 20^th. There were 2,000 delegates at the Conference, which had some 477 separate seminar sessions. You can perhaps get some idea of the scale of the event by this picture of the opening reception held in Scotland’s National Museum.
         

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      7. I came back to London to lead a presentation on the work of the Planning Applications Committee on 16^th July and the Council Meeting on the 17^th. The Council Meeting was notable for the unanimous decision, by all Tory, Labour and Independent councillors, to declare a Climate Emergency. In itself, of course, declaring that there is a climate emergency amounts to nothing much. No Arctic ice is going to be saved because of our decision. BUT, having declared that there is such an emergency, it should make it easier to take the “right”, ecological decisions about a thousand other Wandsworth matters, such as the levels of insulation in schools and other council buildings, or the power systems for transport or heating, or what to make this year’s or next year’s priorities for investment.
         

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      8. On the 22^nd I was at the topping out of one of the Winstanley new-build dwelling units, the one on the corner of Grant and Plough Roads. The block is largely for current elderly residents, who need rehousing before the regeneration can continue. At first, I had some complaints about the proximity of the block to Time House and Thomas Baines Road, but happily, since the external framework of the block has been completed, there have not been any further complaints. This picture is not an Ealing comedic witticism about industrial relations in Wandsworth, but a warning of a dangerous building process!
         

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      9. On 23^rd July Wandsworth Labour Party had a fund-raising dinner. I don’t normally mention such party political events but in this case the speaker was Birmingham Yardley’s Jess Phillips. I’m sure that Jess is not to the taste of everyone reading this newsletter, but I find it difficult to resist her courage, her wit and her charm. She is not an ideologically driven Labour MP, but rather a very pragmatic, and essentially very “sensible” politician. Good luck to her.
         

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      10. On 24^th July, the hottest day in UK history, I (and others) were unlucky enough to be attending the Planning Applications Committee. There weren’t any applications of substantial interest to Battersea residents. But there was an interesting one for “collective” living for 292 residents in Trewint Street, Earlsfield. I went to see a similar and larger development at Willesden Junction. I was quite impressed. It was a bit like a high-quality student campus. Given the incredibly high cost of private rented accommodation in London, I would not at all be surprised, if this sort of collective living marks the start of a growing trend.
          

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      11. I went to Sarah Rackham’s birthday party at KLS, the Katherine Low Settlement, on the 27^th. Again, this kind of private social engagement is not something I would normally mention except that in Sarah’s case it was not so private as she has been a fixture in North Battersea’s community and youth services for the best part of 50 years, and I am sure many readers will know Sarah or at least know of her work. We should all celebrate her commitment and her passion for the community.
          

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      12. On 29^th we went with our old friends, Ron and Hazel Elam, to see Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. This month Ron retired from being a governor at Chesterton School. He had been a Governor at other Wandsworth schools and an Ofsted Inspector and many years earlier worked with me at County Hall. Ofsted inspectors are not always very popular people, but Ron did a great job both as a Lay Inspector and governor. Alert readers will recall that we went to see the same play only a couple of month’s ago, so why go again? We know Ron and Hazel are theatre buffs, and we wanted to go with them to see this outstanding play. And, actually, the performance was interestingly different in a large West End theatre as opposed to the small, intimate, “in the round” production we had seen at Kingston’s Rose Theatre.
          

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      13. Battersea Summer Scheme’s “Summer In the Park” included the Battersea Bake Off on 31^st July. The five competing youth clubs were chosen because they are part of The Big Local SW11 Alliance. They were Providence House, St Peter’s, Caius House, Katherine Low Settlement and Carney’s Community. I was one of two councillors asked to be judges along with representatives of Battersea Power Station Ltd, Battersea Crime Prevention Panel and a senior citizen from KLS. Of course, I have no qualifications other than being a councillor; but it was hard work! We had to select the best of 25 different cakes, quiches, biscuits and other bakes, without a chance to have a drink, even of tea! The overall prize went to Providence House, but all participants deserved warm congratulations.
          

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      14. Stop press and late news for those, who like Alan, are interested in my pleas about Building Regulations! In July, the Council responded to the Government Building a Safer Future (Proposals for reform of the building regulatory system). And in essence, the Council is agreeing with what I (and Alan and others) have been saying. Leaving building regulations in the hands of the developers was and is crazy. It is essential that there is an independent body exercising control, such as the local authority. Let’s hope that the Government will soon introduce legislation to that effect.
          

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      15. Out of the news and in the background, many councillors will have been preoccupied, in July, with ward boundary redistribution. Redistribution happens every 20 years or so as a result of changes in population distribution. So, for example, here in Wandsworth we have had to consider what to do about the rapid increase in population in Nine Elms and along the river-front. Obviously, the boundaries cannot stay the same as now because if they did the Queenstown councillors would find themselves with twice as many constituents as, say, the Nightingale councillors. But not only would it be unfair to the councillors; it would also be unfair in democratic terms.
          

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      16. Both Tories and Labour have put in their own suggestions to the Boundary Commissioners and, for all I know, the Lib/Dems, the Brexit party, UKIP and other interested, independent groups or individuals may have done so. The Boundaries Commission’s task is to choose the most credible looking plan and put that out for further consultation at some time in the autumn. It is impossible to say what that plan will be but early indications from the Commission suggest that the total number of councillors will be cut and all, or nearly all, current wards will change. For further updates, watch this space.
          

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      17. I can’t let July, 2019, pass without mentioning the elevation of Boris Johnson to Prime Minister – that’s the last time I will use the intimate first name. This picture of his first cabinet has Sir Edward Lister, sitting against the wall, third from the left (the Guardian, 25/719). Lister was Leader of Wandsworth Council for 19 years from 1992 to 2011 and for 16 of those years I was his opposite number as the Leader of the Opposition. During this time, he gave the look and impression of a kindly, favourite uncle – everyone’s soft touch. But the reality was different. He believed strongly that public expenditure constituted too high a proportion of the British economy and hence he was prepared, perhaps happy, to cut drastically (60% 2010-19) the funding of local services, almost regardless of the impact on their delivery. Interestingly, however, Lister doesn’t now seem to object so much to Mr. Johnson’s haphazard spending promises, which certainly demand the so-called magic money tree, which the Tories love to mock, whenever Labour talks of protecting services.
          

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      18. But will these promises be enough? His chances of delivering a No Deal Brexit look slim; his chances of delivering a Good Deal Brexit look even slimmer. The end product looks very much like a General Election – on October 24^th?
          

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My Programme for August

1. August is holiday month and so on 6^th and 7^th August we are off to Lyme Regis and on 24^th to our favourite spot in Croatia.
2. The Planning Applications Committee, “the committee that never stops”, is on 22nd August.

Do you know?

Last month I asked what is the connection between Pennethorne House and Battersea Park? Many of you told me that Sir James Pennethorne was one of, if not the main designer and architect of the Park and that is quite correct. But I also asked, if anyone could confirm that the chimneys on the left were the long-gone Lots Road Power Station? I was never very happy with that thought as Lots Road seemed further to the right (north) than these appear to be. Now Marlon has supplied me with a much better answer; he suggests that they are the equally long-gone Fulham Power Station. Much more plausible and thank you Marlon!

This month’s question comes from the reference in paragraph 1 above. Did you know that Battersea and Wandsworth Metropolitan Boroughs were two separate organisations? When and why were they merged into the one London Borough? Who was/were the Prime Ministers responsible and were any other boroughs affected?

1. Have we just experienced one of the most decisive political moments of our lives? Are we just about to see the end of Tory/Labour domination of British politics? Are we just about to see the end of the UK, as Scotland moves inexorably to independence? Will we see the re-unification of Ireland? Are we going to remain in the European Union? Are we going to become a bit player on the edge of Europe or are we going to continue to be a very significant player in the world’s largest market-place? Brexit might be boring to some but that doesn’t mean the decisions we make about it are not of great importance.
   

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2. So, by far the most important moment of the month was the Euro-Election and the results day, 26^th And the results for the main parties in Wandsworth (note that we will not get accurate figures for Battersea on its own) were:-      Liberal Democrats    36,012; Labour Party 15,487; Green Party 13,696; Brexit 12,159; Conservative and Unionist Party 9,395; Change UK 7,281; UKIP 1,057
   

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3. On the basis of these figures, the Lib/Dems would win all three of the Wandsworth Parliamentary seats of Battersea, Putney and Tooting and probably all 60 councillors, though perhaps Labour and the Greens would sneak in with one or two councillors. But surely no one believes that the Tory Party, which has dominated Wandsworth Council politics for 40+ years would seriously be reduced to zero! In other words, don’t take any literal notice of any predictions that you might see – its all far too early to say. However, there has certainly been an earthquake! Our first chance to assess the impact on “ordinary” politics will be in Tooting, at the Furzedown Council by-election on 20^th June.
   

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4. It will be no surprise that I believe that, if the Labour Party does not NOW take a very positive, “Remain” view over the Brexit crisis and does not prevent the UK from leaving the EU, then that will be calamitous for us as individuals, the Labour Party and the United Kingdom. And, if the only really democratic way of doing that is through a Second Referendum, then I think we should hold one as soon as possible – and hopefully abolish referendums from the British political tool-set immediately afterwards!
   

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5. I spent some of election day in Carey Gardens, off the Wandsworth Road, where I came across Brian Barnes’ colourful and dramatic mural. Brian, as ever, packs his work with historical Battersea references. This one includes the Yellow Brick Road from the Wizard of Oz film, the American Eagle marking the arrival of the US Embassy in Nine Elms, the four children killed by unrestrained traffic in Thessaly Road before it was closed in the 1970s, Stephen Hawking, the Power Station and Pink Floyd’s pigs. All of them have Battersea references. I know many of them but not all. Go to Carey Gardens and see how many you can resolve.
   

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6. We went to Cheltenham for the first week-end of May to be at the town’s annual Jazz Festival. It’s a fun experience, with jazz to be heard in this very pretty eighteenth-century town on street corners, the town square, the pubs and half a dozen dedicated venues. Jazz certainly comes in many shapes and sizes, many of which we really enjoyed but others we didn’t really care for. American piano soloist, Marc Copland, was one great act – just take a moment to listen to him on YouTube and you will hear what I mean. In a totally different way the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, pictured here, gave us the big band experience.
   

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7. On the 14^th May, I went to the Education Standards Committee to observe and take part in a review of Chesterton School, Dagnall Street. I am very pleased to say that it passed the review with flying colours – the school is doing really well.
   

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8. The next day, I went first to Budapest and then on to Bratislava accompanying my partner, Penny, who was invited there to give two lectures. For those, who have never been, Budapest is a big, bustling city with boulevards and bars, very largely built in the late nineteenth century and consciously copying the style of Paris – I like it. This mildly quirky, temporary mural on a building near the Parliament building is perhaps typical of Budapest’s oddities. Bratislava, capital of Slovakia, is in contrast simply a large market town with a pretty, preserved centre, thrust into unexpected prominence by the peaceful break-up of Czechoslovakia on 1^st January, 1993. A very pleasant town for a week-end, but one wouldn’t want to spend very long there.
   

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9. However, it was much enlivened when we were there as Slovakia was hosting the World Ice Hockey Cup and Bratislava was the main centre. The bars were full of Swedes, Latvians, Russians, Canadians, Swiss, Austrians, Finns all trying to out-drink and out-sing each other – very lively and very friendly. For those interested in the results then Finland very popularly beat Russia in the final and GB staged a remarkable recovery from 3-0 down to France to win 3-4 in “sudden-death” extra time, meaning that GB stayed up and France got relegated from the elite ice hockey nations!Here is the tourist centre of Bratislava.
   

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10. The Planning Applications Committee was held on 21^st May, but as the Euro Elections were only two days later, the Council had ensured that there were no really important developments considered.
    

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11. The Annual Council Meeting took place on 22^nd Popular Tory Councillor Jane Cooper was installed as Mayor. There were few other changes in the Council hierarchy, though some might be interested to hear that hard-right winger Guy Senior was demoted from the Cabinet after about 30 years!
    

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12. Then on 25^th May, at Battersea Arts Centre, there was a celebration of the life of Samantha Heath, who died of cancer on 28^th March this year. Some of you will remember Samantha, who was a fellow councillor of mine in Latchmere from 1994-2002, before going on to be a member of the Greater London Assembly (GLA). The celebration was very well attended and hugely appreciated.
    

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13. Samantha’s death was partly a consequence, it is believed, of London’s air pollution. Certainly, much of her life’s work since 2000 has been concerned with cleaning up London’s air. She was Chair of the GLA’s Environment Committee and much of our increased concern about air quality is down to the work she did in that role. London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, who implemented ULEZ, or the Ultra-Low Emission Zone, was at the celebration and gave due credit to Samantha for her role in its introduction.
    

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14. On 29^th May, I was at the Alma pub for a meeting organised by Wandsworth Living Streets. It was opened by an interesting presentation on plans to improve the street environment in Tooting. Then we heard from Camilla Ween on her plans for, what she calls, the Battersea Link. Camilla’s idea is to upgrade Northcote Road: St. John’s Road: Falcon Road: Battersea High Street into a pedestrian-dominated link from the Thames and St. Mary’s Church through to south Battersea. This link more or less follows the line of the now culverted Falconbrook. For those, who are interested in these visionary plans, view the Putting the Heart into Battersea: a presentation by Camilla Ween report at https:wandsworthlivingstreets.org.uk
    

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15. On a completely different theme, have you heard of Louis de Bernières? De Bernières was a Wandsworth resident, when he wrote his novel Captain Corelli’s Mandolin in Earlsfield Library. It was an immediate best seller and has just been adapted for the stage. I went to see this war/love comedy/musical drama at the Rose Theatre in Kingston on 4^th It was a very unusual theme for the British theatre, being about love between a musical Italian captain and a young Greek woman during the Italian occupation of Greece in World War 2, as the “relaxed” Italian occupiers were replaced first by the more menacing and disciplined force of the German army and then by the Allied victory.
    

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16. It was simply brilliant. The staging and direction of war scenes; the acting of a goat (yes, goat!); the singing; the family scenes; the portrayal of a Greek village: everything about it was perfect – so much better than Hollywood’s 2001 film starring Nicholas Cage. I am, therefore, not surprised to see that the play is being transferred to the West End at the Harold Pinter Theatre in July and August. I cannot recommend it highly enough!
    

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17. Every week, I walk around approximately one quarter of Latchmere ward delivering welcome letters from me and my colleagues Councillors Simon Hogg and Kate Stock to new entrants on the electoral register, who have either moved in or are coming up to 18 and hence becoming eligible to vote. It’s always interesting to take note of new developments, both good and bad, and to record and report them where necessary. One depressing constant is the amount of fly tipping and abandoned cars left on pavements and roads. Mobile phones certainly make it easier to report them to the Town Hall (and get them cleared?) than it used to be. Here is a brief selection of May’s “catch”!

My Programme for June

1. On June 1^st Spurs take on Liverpool in the European Cup Final – that has to rate a mention! And just possibly I will know the result before this Newsletter gets published but that must wait until next month!
2. I have the Passenger Transport Liaison Group on Thursday, 6^th
3. The North East Surrey Crematorium Board meets on 11^th
4. I am going on a charity walk on 17^th June in support of the Howard League’s work to support children and young people in custody (I am a member of the Howard League and have been ever since I became a Justice of the Peace, JP, about twenty years ago).
5. On 23^rd June I am walking the Seven Sisters cliff-top walk from the Birling Gap to Beachy Head, in memory of my brother-in-law. His last job and his home were in nearby Eastbourne and the family do this walk on an annual basis.
6. On 24^th June I am off to Cardiff to see Afghanistan play in the cricket World Cup.
7. The Planning Applications Committee is on 26^th

Do you know?

Last month I asked just how many trains go through the Clapham Junction complex every day? Quite a few people replied, including Martin, who told me that there “was an advert on TV for Arding & Hobbs which included the words “2,000 trains a day go through Clapham Junction”.  He guessed that with some new routes added that there were perhaps 2,450 trains a day.

When I went to the major signalling centre at Wimbledon last month, I was surprised that they did not know the answer but they put their heads together and did some quick analysis. Their conclusion was that the new figure including all the increased services should be 2,950.

Arding & Hobbs, by the way, was the old department store that stood where Debenham’s now is from 1885-2004.

And for this month’s question: in paragraph 6 above I mentioned an American jazz pianist: Well, who was the Battersea born and bred jazz pianist, who has a community centre named after him? And where is the second commemorative plaque to him in Battersea located.

1. March, What a month – for anyone really interested in politics, then drama of the highest order, even when, as often, the procedural details were really boring. And for anyone not interested then just boring. But more of that later! Meanwhile my month started off very low key. As I said last month, I was due to play chess for Surrey on 1^st March. I went all the way across town to play at Wanstead, where I registered my first win for the county! But only because my opponent didn’t turn up! What was worse Surrey got hammered, although I won my point!
   

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2. My first Council event of note was a visit on March 5^th to the Tideway Tunnel works next to the York Gardens Library. In one sense I was disappointed as I had expected to dive down underground and go for a walk along a 12-metre high sewage tunnel with my guides; but we didn’t do anything as exciting as that. So, you can imagine how jealous I was to see that the Mayor and Mayoress did get down into the tunnel, as shown in next picture!
   

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3. Nonetheless it was fascinating. I must admit that I hadn’t quite realised what the future role of this 12-mile tunnel is going to be. I had thought that it was going to be a new major sewer simply taking flood waters to London’s major sewerage processing centre at Becton Treatment Station, Barking. But the plan is to use the tunnel as a massive holding lock. When London is hit by storms and heavy rain, the flood of water, clean and/or soiled, becomes too great for Becton to handle. The tunnel will hold this water and release it, as capacity at Becton allows – a massive underwater dam and overflow tank. The principal benefit of the project is that it will eliminate most of the (on average) bi-annual floods of sewerage water into the Thames, which currently result in the death of some 2 million fish, and no doubt some cormorants and other wild life dependent upon the health of the river and its fish.
   

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4. The Tideway Tunnel company is also involved with the local community in other ways. For example, the Tunnel employs 247 Wandsworth Borough residents on the project and two apprentices. The staff are also helping Falconbrook School with educational projects and indeed the mural around the site, pictured here, was done by Falconbrook pupils.
   

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5. I think that the Council Meeting on 6^th March should have been about Brexit and the possibility of a People’s Vote. It would have been highly topical as Britain was, after all, timetabled to leave the EU on 29^th March. But Labour’s motion to Council bundled up the People’s Vote with other important issues, such as the Government’s cuts in police funding and the roll-out of universal credit: the result, I am afraid, was a muddled debate without focus or much purpose.
   

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6. Now I know that at least one reader thinks that I should stop bleating on about Brexit, but it is important to lots of Wandsworth residents, many thousands of whom are from the European 27 countries and are very concerned about their position here. Moreover 23,997 people from Battersea have signed the petition calling for a People’s Vote. The comparable figures for Putney and Tooting are 19,938 and 22,350 respectively, so no apologies!
   

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7. So, on 23^rd March I was on the People’s Vote one million strong march. Here I am with some friends in Trafalgar Square and a critical representation of the PM. Some of you will have been there too. After all, simple arithmetic suggests that there must have been about 2,000 Battersea residents there.
   

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8. Then by 29^th March, we had had all the “indicative votes” and Brexit did not happen! Now, I know that many are highly critical of our politicians and the mess that they appear to have made of the whole thing, but let me put another point of view. They have demonstrated what we all know: both the country and its elected representatives are divided as near to down the middle as makes no difference. And what the MPs are likely to achieve, in my view, is a choice between the best Brexit that can be offered or continuing as a full member. A good outcome from this Parliamentary maze would be to present us this choice in a confirmatory referendum. Let’s see if I am right.
   

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9. On the 9^th March, Penny and I went to Earlsfield’s Tara Arts Theatre to see The Importance of Being Earnest. I can see you thinking that it must have been a conventional rendering of this great Oscar Wilde play. But you would be wrong. You can see from the picture that this is not a conventional theatre – nor was the play’s production. The entire drama and all the parts were acted by two young women (here they are eating cucumber sandwiches) – so unlike any conventional production. And it was brilliant.
   

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10. On the 21^st March I attended the Battersea Society AGM (Annual General Meeting) at St. Mary’s church. The meeting had all the normal AGM business but the guest speaker was my partner, Professor Penny Corfield, who spoke on Duelling. Her talk was highly entertaining and much enjoyed by all. If you want to know more, she has written a blog, which is at https://www.penelopejcorfield.com/monthly-blogs/
    

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11. Battersea is an appropriate venue for such a presentation for it was right here, in 1829, in what is now Battersea Park and was then river marshes that the Duke of Wellington, hero of Waterloo, conqueror of Napoleon, fought a duel with the Earl of Winchelsea. It was one of the last of its kind fought in the UK, the last being between two Frenchmen in 1852. It would have been fun to have said that the duel was over a woman or gambling debts, but NO it was about politics! At least we don’t act so rashly now.
    

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12. At the 27^th March Planning Applications Committee we had 23 planning applications, none of which were of spectacular consequence. Only two related to Latchmere. One was an application for two houses behind the listed buildings next to the mosque in Falcon Road and the other to remove an unneighbourly fence between houses in Brynmaer Road. One other application was also nearby. It was for the demolition of the William Hill bookie’s at the base of Park South and for its replacement by a ground floor commercial unit with nine new flats above. Some of you may recall that thirty or forty years ago, it was one of the largest public conveniences in Britain!
    

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13. On 28^th March, I joined the newly formed Friends of Christchurch Gardens group in an initial meeting with Enable, the so-called charity group that now operates Wandsworth’s Parks and Commons. The Gardens are in need of some neighbourly care and it is great to see that local residents are getting together to do just that. If any reader wants to get involved, then I will happily put you in touch with the “Friends”.
    

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14. Finally, on the last day of the month one Wandsworth Tooting school featured in the press (e.g. the front page of The Observer) because members of staff are prepared to take a £7,000 salary cut in order to save the jobs of others, who faced being dismissed because of Government funding cuts. The education cuts in North Battersea are extensive. They include: Harris Academy £1.6 million or £769 per pupil (pp); Chesterton £343,966 or pp £519; Falconbrook £292,702 or pp £412; Sacred Heart £205,575 or pp £286; John Archer Primary/Highview £199,311 or pp £170; Christchurch £75,439 or pp £250.
    

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15. How these cuts will affect individual schools depends on the decisions of individual heads and governors. However, after 10 years of austerity, it cannot be but that the education of the next generation must suffer to a degree.

My Programme for April

1. On 1^st-3^rd April, I am off on a round trip to Essex and York visiting relatives celebrating their 79^th and 100^th birthdays. I don’t suppose that there will be much dancing or knees-ups; but it will be good to catch up with family members.
2. On 16^th April I am going to fulfil one of many schoolboy dreams. I guess that I will never score a hat-trick at Wembley but I will be visiting the main rail signalling centre for all Waterloo lines. I don’t suppose that it is still like the old films with massive levers pulling the old semaphore signals up and down but it should nevertheless be fun – and interesting!
3. The Planning Applications Committee is on 25^th April.

Do you know?

Last month, I asked whether anyone knew anything about Joan Bartlett or Doris Emmerton. I got informative and interesting answers.

So, thanks to Michele, who tells me that Dame Joan Bartlett (1911–2002) was a founder of Servite Secular Institute. As Joan Bartlett, she opened a residential home for the elderly homeless, having been inspired by hearing the late Violet Markham speak at Caxton Hall about the plight of many elderly people who had been bombed out during the Blitz. The Servite Order lent her £8,000, and with this and other contributions she purchased a property for the home in The Boltons, London, which was later registered as a Housing Association, which became known first as Servite Housing and now as Viridian.

And thanks to Kathleen, who wrote to say that Doris Emmerton was the Head of Joseph Tritton Primary School in the 1970s, just about when Doris Emmerton Court was being built and just before the school was closed, demolished and replaced by housing.

I also asked what are Battersea’s two connections with J M Turner, the great artist? Well, first thank you for pointing out that in an early version I had mis-typed Mallord as Mallard – I claim it was the spellchecker! And yes, he lived on the Chelsea bank of the river and often crossed to paint river views from St. Mary’s church and that there is a chair there known as Turner’s Chair.

And as one of you pointed out to me, the actor Timothy Spall, who played Turner so brilliantly in Mike Leigh’s 2014 film, Mr. Turner, is a Battersea boy.

You might also, if you had long memories, have said that I used this one of Turner’s watercolours in a 2017 edition of my newsletter!

Samantha Heath, RIP

On the night of 28th/29th March Samantha Heath tragically lost her fight against cancer.

Many of you will not have met Samantha, who was a Latchmere councillor between 1994-2002. She was also a Greater London Assembly member between 2000 and 2008. Here she is with fellow candidate Maurice Johnson and me on an election leaflet from early 1998.

All, who were lucky enough to have met her, will know of Samantha’s infectious enthusiasm. As a fellow councillor, I can also vouch for the passion and learning that she brought to her role as a councillor. She was always engaged and engaging, always elegant, always dynamic.

As well as her elected posts, Samantha was a leading light in SERA, which was in effect the Labour Party’s environmental study group. She played a major part in making us all aware of the problems we have with air pollution and especially with diesel pollution. Her legacy will be the advance of environmental protection for London. She would have been delighted to know that ULEZ (the Ultra Low Emission Zone) was being introduced on April 8th. Samantha, RIP.

1. February started very sombrely with Jim McKinney’s funeral. Jim was the vicar at Holy Trinity Church, Roehampton, and also the husband of my fellow Councillor Sue McKinney. Jim was a much-loved partner in this very, warm cheerful couple. His church, a very large one built when Roehampton was a very, quiet rural village, was absolutely packed with a congregation of some 800 people. I don’t think that I had ever before been to a vicar’s funeral: the bishop was there and maybe another 30 of the local clergy, and a very large cross-section of the Putney/Roehampton community. It was a moving event.
   

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2. The Council Meeting on 6^th February set the scene for this month’s decision on Council Tax. The decision on Council Tax is actually a long-winded process putting together the current year’s accounts and therefore the current balances, with the plans from all the various committees, the amount of grants received from central government and the demands made upon the Council by Transport for London and the Metropolitan Police all combined with what current legislation allows Councils to do! It hardly makes for an exciting Council meeting! As I have said before, we really need to re-think the civic function of Council meetings. This atrophy must be bad for democracy!
   

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3. On 7^th February, members of the Planning Applications Committee visited Battersea Power Station and toured the building. It is difficult not to be impressed by the scale of the development or indeed the views over the London skyline, but it still feels a long way from completion. The Power Station company has reduced the percentage of affordable housing that was planned; I have hopes, however, that the level of affordable housing will be restored. I met the Chief Executive and he certainly stated that was an objective that he wished to achieve! I hope that I am not being gullible, when I say that I believe him, let’s see.
   

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4. On 7^th February, I was happy to help Battersea M.P., Marsha de Cordova, host an event at the House of Commons for some of her new constituents and new Labour Party members. I know Marsha would be delighted to welcome you and/or your neighbours to the House – you don’t need to be a member of any political party, so please do let me know if you are interested.
   

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5. On 16^th, my neighbour, Amy Merrigan – pictured here – invited us to a play that she was helping to produce. The play, called Bottled, was staged at the Vaults, Leake Street, Waterloo and written by a young woman called Hayley Wareham. The location was stunning, in the old under-pass under the Waterloo railway tracks. Instead of the dark, dank walls I remember from some years back, graffiti artists have been left free to design the décor; for anyone who ever worked at County Hall, it will make an interesting trip! I wrote a glowing review of the play, which is about the impact of domestic violence, both physical and mental. The review is at https://tonybelton.wordpress.com/2019/02/19/bottled-a-play-by-hayley-wareham/
   

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6. Earlier that day, I was calling on a constituent in Rowditch Lane and stopped to photograph these six new council houses. They are to be used to re-house tenants from the blocks on the Winstanley/York Road estate, which are due for demolition and reconstruction. The new houses are a welcome change from the semi-derelict, unused garages that were there before.
   

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7. You quite possibly know that Hillary Clinton got far more votes in the 2016 Presidential Election than Donald Trump but still, obviously, lost – actually 2,600,000 more votes. In fact, 2 American Presidential elections out of 5 this century were won by the less popular candidate – on both occasions Republicans; Trump in 2016 and George Bush in 2000. But did you also know that on two occasions since the Second World War the party that won most votes in British General Elections also lost the election? In February, 1974, the Tories won just a few more votes than Labour but very narrowly lost the election. In 1951, Labour won 4.5% more votes but got 7 fewer MPs than the Tories. How does this happen? It happens in both the British and American systems when individual constituencies are of unequal size or characteristics.
   

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8. You may well wonder what that’s got to do with Battersea or Wandsworth. Well twice in Wandsworth’s history, in 1986 and in 2018, Labour won more votes but got fewer councillors than the Tories. Fortunately, unlike the States, where the locally dominant party decides on constituency boundaries, we have an independent group appointed by Parliament called the Boundary Commissioners. So possibly the most important preparation Labour can take for the 2022 Borough Election is to put the best possible case to the Boundary Commissioners for ward boundary re-distribution – and that is what we are trying to do now! I am involved in a series of meetings, 3 last month, surrounded by maps and spreadsheets – great fun for nerds! The Tories, and Lib Dems and anyone else interested, are doing the same. All trying to put together the most convincing arguments they can find for the version of the boundaries that they prefer, whilst at the same time ensuring that the resulting constituencies are of approximately equal size. N.B at this stage we are considering Ward and not Parliamentary constituency boundaries.
   

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9. This just may be the last time I write this newsletter when we are all fully-fledged members of the EU community. No doubt we all have slightly different views on this matter but for my part, I think that we are about to inflict the greatest act of self-harm on ourselves perpetrated by any European nation, since … Since when? Well perhaps the civil wars of the old Yugoslavian states, or GB and France’s attack on Suez in 1956. The fact that it is being largely led by the Conservative and Unionist Party is itself ironic as just one of the end results could be the end of the United Kingdom as we know it, if not immediately then within a decade or so. I hope Brexit still may be averted.

My Programme for March

1. On 1^st March, I am playing chess for Surrey against Essex! Never thought six months ago, that I would be doing that. Mustn’t leave you with the wrong impression though – it’s at quite a low-level grading!
2. On 5^th March, I am visiting the Tideway Tunnel works in York Gardens. I think I am going down into the Tunnel along which much of London’s sewage will be flowing in a few years time.
3. On 6^th March, we have the Council Meeting, where there will be a critical debate on GB’s role in Europe.
4. There will be a couple of further meetings about the electoral ward boundaries.
5. On Thursday, 21^st March, I will attend the Battersea Society AGM in St. Mary’s Church, where my partner, Prof Penny Corfield, will be giving an historical talk on the history of duelling. Several duels took place here in Battersea, including one notoriously involving the Prime Minister of the day!
6. On 23^rd March I will be on the big March campaigning for the UK to stay in the European Union. With luck we may still Remain.
7. The Planning Applications Committee is on 27^th March.
8. At 11 pm on 29^th March we are scheduled to be leaving the EU. I will be at a celebratory party, if we decide to stay, or a wake if we actually leave.

Do you know?

Last month, I asked whether anyone knew anything about the women commemorated in these names: Gladys Dimson Hall, the Yvonne Carr Centre, Joan Bartlett House, (Caroline) Ganley Court, (Nora) Clark-Lawrence Court, and Doris Emmerton Court. But not one person responded – where are all the feminists? Perhaps we are all exhausted with a year of celebrating the centenary of female suffrage. I know plenty about Dimson, Carr, Ganley and Clark-Lawrence but not Bartlett nor Emmerton. I would be genuinely interested if anyone does know about them.

Meanwhile, here is a question about a man who was connected with Battersea two hundred years ago. He was J Mallord Turner, the great artist. What are Battersea’s two connections with him?