March highlights 

1. First things first! Please make sure that you and your family are all registered to vote. Register at http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/info/200411/voting/74/register_to_vote. You must register by 20^th April in order to vote in this year’s General Election. Of course, for some people, all politicians are the same. All lie. None answer the questions or, if they do, then only in vague generalisations. I came across one such woman just the other day. I had written to her as a new resident and got a volley of abuse for my pains. She certainly won’t be voting because, as she said, we are all the same.
2.  You would not have thought that men, at first, and then women fought and died for the right to vote. (Here is a favourite picture of mine, of violent, heavyweight suffragette being man-handled to jail!) It seemed worth it then but not so much nowadays – it seems. But would we really rather live where change only happened as a result of war or revolution? It is ironic, isn’t it, that the Nigerians are celebrating because, for the first time ever, this March power changed peacefully following a General Election and not as a result of a coup or any other form of violence. And yet here some of us think it’s not worth the candle and that it doesn’t make any difference who wins.
3. But it does. Not perhaps as dramatically as it does where people don’t have the vote, where it may be a matter of life or death. There is not much chance of torture or death because you voted the wrong way. But it does make a difference, not a dramatic difference perhaps but a difference. Whether you think that Bedroom Tax, or the Mansion Tax, is a good or a bad thing, they will be introduced or abolished depending upon which of the major parties is in power. And what is true of those two headline taxes is also true for a thousand other decisions that will be taken over the next five years – so be sure to make your mark on 7^th May.
4. I am sure that many of you will have seen, and all have heard, about the fire at the Battersea Arts Centre on 13th March. The Grand Hall and the Lower Hall were burnt out but fortunately the front of the building, including the grand staircase and the old Council Chamber were untouched. I am pleased to say that Battersea Labour Party, whose office is just across the road on Lavender Hill, hosted BAC’s staff for the rest of the day and BAC managed to continue most of its programme from the next evening. The building belongs to the Council and is on a long (125 year?) lease to BAC, whose insurance covered buildings and contents. Both the Arts Centre and the Council are adamant that the old Battersea Town Hall will be restored and both the Government and the Council have made supportive donations to the repairs fund.There is going to be grand “Phoenix Fundraiser” at the South Bank on 18^th April. Details can be found at http://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/stewart-lee-bridget-christie-bac-fundraiser_37499.html. Do come, if you can, and support the BAC rebuilding.
5. It is ironic that the fire should happen just after the announcement of the merger between the Arts Centre and Wandsworth Museum. The Museum has been a little lost in its temporary home of the old West Hill Library, where it has been ever since Wandsworth Council rather unceremoniously booted it out of its home at the Court House, Garratt Lane. Merging with BAC is an excellent idea and should help BAC make better use of the old Town Hall building and add much needed footfall to the Museum. I wish the merger well.
6. Last month I wrote about the threatened closure of Battersea Sports Centre and the fight to save it, or at least the facilities it provides. I don’t have much to add this month except to note that one facility the Council has promised to provide is an all-weather astro-turf pitch in Falcon Park. Personally, I thought it was quite a good idea to make better use of the much under-used Falcon Park but one of you wrote to me protesting about the loss of open space. S/he was not protesting about the loss in the planning sense, because of course it will continue to be “open”, but s/he clearly intended to be putting in a word for “nature” and natural open-space. I would think, however, that the Park is large enough to take an astro-turf pitch as well as keeping a substantial amount of natural open-space. We will certainly have to keep an eye on this when the plans do eventually come out. (PS, whilst writing this newsletter I have had several emails on this issue! See also the map below).
7. I don’t usually do advertising for rival magazines, especially the Council’s Brightside – dreadful party political broadcast for the Tory Party, that it is (Why Eric Pickles hasn’t closed it down I can’t imagine!). But last month’s centre spread had the four finalists in the design competition for the planned new pedestrian and cyclist bridge across from Nine Elms to Pimlico. I must say all four look great and any one would be a welcome addition to the Thames scene.
8. On the 4^th March we had the Council Meeting, where we discussed the Sports Centre and “Wandsworth’s plan to share staff with Richmond”. I am afraid that the Sports Centre debate was rather predictable, with Simon Hogg, Wendy Speck and myself opposing the closure and the Tories claiming that we were simply opposing new affordable housing. I am afraid also that the two leaders had little to say of great interest on the “staff share”. This was probably because as of now there is not much known about it. But to listen to them one would never have guessed that what we might have been talking about was the loss of some 1,000 jobs. This is definitely a question of watching this space!
9. On 16^th March we had the Latchmere “Let’s Talk” meeting at York Gardens library. There were only 25 members of the public there and I am again sorry to say that, as a meeting, it never really took off. These Let’s Talk meetings have been run on a regular monthly basis, bar August and December, for about 10 years now, but with 20 wards that means they only happen at most once in every two years in Latchmere. They were an honest attempt 10 years ago to bring the “Council to the people”, but I think the format needs a re-think.
10. The Planning Applications Committee met on the 18th. There were a number of substantial applications, affecting North Battersea, and nearly all between “Battersea Village” and Wandsworth Bridge. The largest was the “tower” or pile of washing up dishes(pictured with Labour candidate Will Martindale – sorry about that! And below its site bordered in red, photographed from Totteridge House). Planned at 28 storeys or approximately 300 feet or 90 metres, it will, if approved, provide 135 residential units with the ground and first floor being reserved for shopping and other commercial units. 27 of the units will be, so-called, “affordable”, but whatever that means it almost certainly won’t be affordable to most people you and I know. At 28 storeys, it will drive a coach and horses through the Council’s so-called tall building policy, which states that anything over 9 storeys, on this site, would be considered tall. So how can it be justified at 300% higher – largely I think because it allows space for another pedestrian and cyclist bridge across the river to Chelsea Harbour and importantly the Imperial Wharf station on the popular Overground Railway and because it is seen as a “signature” building – and if you don’t know what a signature building is, and I don’t really, then look it up in Google Images and you’ll get the idea. Well the Committee deferred the decision because of safety concerns raised by the Heliport operators. However, there was little doubt that the majority on the Committee intend to approve the application and, if they do, then I think one can guarantee that North Battersea will be in for a substantial change.
11. There was also an application for a 6 storey building, 2 underground and 4 on top for 144 cars and 30/40 drivers in Chatfield Road. The cars are the personal property of the Sultan of Brunei, who according to Google owns 5,000 cars! I got a certain amount of notoriety for expressing horror at this and was quoted in the Wandsworth Guardian, the Metro and on Wandsworth radio to name just a few! You can hear my clip on Wandsworth Radio at this address https://soundcloud.com/wandsworthradio/wandsworth-tonight-250315 and it runs from 2 minutes in for 2 minutes. Amazingly enough several Tory councillors have attacked me for opposing this plan. They just don’t get it!
12. There were also two other less contentious applications for the north side of York Road and coming shortly is the massive application for the Texas Home store site. That part of Battersea is about to explode, without much concern for the ordinary residents of the area!
13. On 21^st March I was off to St. Mary’s Church, Battersea, to hear a concert from Emily Kenway, mezzo soprano, and Will Martindale, piano, in aid of Trinity Hospice – Yes the Will Martindale who is standing in the General Election on 7^th May. I don’t know how he does it but it is the third charity concert I have heard Will give. How he fits in the practice time and the rehearsals, I don’t know. To be fair Will is good but he was the first to say to me that Emily is in a different class. She has sung at the Royal Opera House and Glyndebourne.
14. On 26th March I visited Wix Primary School in Wix Lane. It is a standard English primary school with one very big difference, it also hosts a French primary school or lycée. The two heads work very well together and so the children mix in the playground and in some of the lessons. There is in effect an English school, a French lycée and a mixed school. French and English are used as the languages of learning but also of playing. It was one of the friendliest and happiest of schools I have visited
15. Ted Higgins, the first Director of Social Services, I ever knew at Wandsworth, in 1971, was 100 on the 22^nd March and on the 23^rd he visited the Mayor and shared a glass of champagne with me and a few other “mature” members of the Council.
16. On a sadder note, veteran Labour stalwart, Lily Harrison, died on 13^th March and I went to the funeral on the 30^th. Lilian was 90. She came of age during World War II, when she became part of the observer corps sitting atop the White Cliffs of Dover, watching out for invading Luftwaffe bombers. She used to tell me of being on the cliffs one summer’s evening watching as hundreds of ships made their way down the Channel; she didn’t know it then but she was watching the first fleets setting sail on the eve of D-Day and the Allied invasion of Normandy. Lily later met her husband Bert and as a result got involved in Battersea politics. Bert was a councillor from the early 60’s until 1986. Lily did all kinds of community work. I don’t know the full list but she was certainly a Board member of Share Community and of Battersea United Charities, as well as being a “Friend of Bolingbroke Hospital” until it closed in 2008. She ran much of the Battersea Labour Party and was a guiding light in over 50 years of fund raising. She also commanded a great deal of respect from her political opponents as evidenced by the presence of several Tory members at her funeral.

My Programme for April  

1. The Council more or less closes down, as a political operation – you can still get your parking permits and pay your Council Tax, etc., during what is known as Purdah – the period between calling an election and the election itself. So my only “Council” event is the Planning Applications Committee (PAC) on the 16th. PAC continues as normal because of the statutory requirement to decide planning applications in a specific timescale.
2. There will, of course, be lots of preparation, canvassing and leafleting in the build up to the General Election, including a hustings meeting at York Gardens Library on 14^th April. Do come along and see all the candidates in action – or in the case of the Greens, his spokesperson.
3. My other (or is it better?) half is lecturing in Cluj-Napoca, a small city in western Romania on 7^th April and I will be taking the opportunity of carrying the bags and spending a week in foreign parts. But I won’t be coming back tanned or anything like that. Even if the coast is a summer holiday destination the winters are very cold and right now it is just about the same as here, warming up slightly and pretty wet!

Did you know?

         A friend sent me this picture of an Ordnance Survey map, dated 1961. It’s worth a close look to see something of what Battersea was like then. The most obvious difference between then and now is that Wandsworth Bridge simply ends at a T-Junction with York Road, rather like Albert Bridge Road. But other obvious differences include housing where there is now Banana or Falcon Park, and a traditional road layout, with Victorian terrace houses in the whole Plough/Falcon/York Roads and railway line quarter. Neither the Battersea Fields estate or the Doddington are in this map – again all are Victorian or Edwardian terraces. What do you notice as being different in your area?

When I wrote last month of the word “Tory”, and why it was used to describe the Conservatives I hardly expected the question, “Why are the Conservatives called Tories?” to feature as one of the most popular questions asked of Google after last Thursdays debate – ahead of the trend!