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1. 1. I went to the Clapham Picture House to see Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. It is billed as a “black comedy”, which I suppose is fair as there are many funny lines but it is so searingly black, so piercingly bitter, so tough that it is difficult for me to think of it as a comedy in any sense at all. The film uses the landscape of backwoods rural America to frame a story of brutality and violence presided over by a good ‘ol boy style of sheriff. It is coolly directed by an Englishman, Martin McDonagh, and brilliantly acted particularly by the lead, Frances McDormand.
  2. McDormand plays an embittered mother of a murder and rape victim out to reap vengeance upon the supine, corrupt, unaccountable police and, if she can find him, her daughter’s killer. It is painfully honest and depressing for the hopes of a liberal America BUT in the last reel she finds an ally in one of the cops and as several of the players start showing moral growth, we are left with a parting question mark. Is vengeance sufficient? Is it perhaps even worse than the original crime?
  3. I thought it was a brilliant film but there is another view. One which says that this is a metropolitan view of hill-billy country and that the moral growth is all too convenient and the apparent evil all too neatly framed for credibility. Go and see it and let me know your views.

Councillor Tony Belton’s Battersea February, 2018, Newsletter (# 104)

1. 1. 1. On Twelfth Night, I went to an enjoyable dinner with members of the Battersea Society. The Society organises a myriad of local and London based events and campaigns about local amenity issues, such as planning and the state of our parks and public spaces. If you are interested in joining but don’t know how then do, please, let me know.
    2. On 12^th January, we went to see The Darkest Hour, the film about the decisive month of May, 1940, when Churchill became Prime Minister. The film was shot in such a way that it emphasised how dark and claustrophobic the world must have appeared in Whitehall’s underground war room. I thought it was brilliant – personally I preferred it to Dunkirk, which I thought a bit sanitised. But there was a dud scene with Churchill, the PM, on the Tube between the Embankment and Westminster. It was excruciating. Intended, I suppose, to demonstrate how Churchill instinctively understood the British public rather better than did the other stuffed shirts in the Cabinet; it was like no tube journey you or I have ever experienced. Quiet enough for an in-depth debate, between 10-15 people, with frankly a token West Indian in a 1940 crowd.
    3. On Monday, 15^th January, I met a newly appointed Council officer, selected by and paid for by the Home Office but working for Wandsworth and Richmond Councils. His job is to assist the Council and the Home Office to counter extremism in Wandsworth and Richmond. This is a Government initiative, but to be honest, I think the Government has perceived a problem and decided it had to act but doesn’t know what to do. Sure, we have known some civil disturbances; we have some crime issues; in the 80s there were a couple of IRA cells in Battersea (Do you remember the discovery of two IRA bomb factories near Clapham Common?), but if we have violent extremists, they haven’t exactly advertised themselves. Tough job, but hopefully not one that’s needed here.
    4. Wandsworth Labour’s Shadow Cabinet, of which I am a member by virtue of being the planning lead, met on 19^th January. I don’t normally indulge in internal party business in this newsletter but, three months before May’s Borough Election, this was rather different. We were discussing our plans for changes in Council policies and, by implication, our manifesto for May. It is NOT yet ready for publication but it will be no surprise to anyone that housing provision will be high on the list.
    5. On the 22^nd, I went to a book launch in an historic building in the City. This time it was the Skinners’ Hall, a stone’s throw from St. Paul’s and Cannon Street station. From the outside, Skinners’ Hall looks nothing special, but inside you discover a Grade 1 listed building, dating from the thirteenth century, although the whole building was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666 and the current one was built 1667-1683. Amazingly enough, like the cathedral, it was almost untouched by World War 2 bombing. I don’t suppose there are many real skinners (of animals largely for leather) left in the Worshipful Company, one of the richest and oldest in the city, but it demonstrates the historical importance of the trade! The book was Essays on Medieval London by Professor Caroline Barron, a family friend.
    6. The next morning it was back to the important, even if mundane, business of joining with Council officers and some residents for a tour of the Kambala, Falcon and Wayford Road estates. On the whole, we thought they were in good nick but as always on the Kambala Estate, there were problems with rubbish! This picture is of conditions behind Haven Lodge. I trust that it got cleared soon after our visit – but it is a perennial problem.
    7. The January meeting of the Planning Applications Committee was on the 25^th and it was packed with major applications, four of them in Battersea. First, the half-completed Peabody Estate development: Peabody had to stop the development, as planned, because it was becoming financially unviable. So, they came back asking for 52 more flats, half for sale on the open market and half for social renting. They suggested adding a couple of storeys here and a couple there. The Committee did not really have much choice but to agree: and we did. I suspect the change will hardly be noticed as the additional storeys are lower down St. John’s Hill than the blocks already completedI voted against two very large developments, which were, however, approved by the committeFirst, 13 blocks between 8 and 15 storeys with 517 residential units are planned for the Smugglers’ Way, B&Q site. 35% of these are described as affordable. There are things to be said in favour of the development. However, in my view it is just too big, with too many high blocks at too high a density. Secondly, a large 82-unit block rising to 14 storeys was approved on York Road, on the Chopper/@Battersea pub site. Again, I voted against on much the same grounds. What do you think of these developments either side of Swandon Way?
    8. The fourth major Battersea development was an application to expand the Royal College of Art campus on Battersea Bridge Road. This had many objections from the immediate neighbourhood of Parkgate Road and, frankly, I can see why. This large university building looks as if it will dominate the area, but the Committee thought that the major benefit of having the University in North Battersea outweighed the disadvantages. On this occasion, I agreed.
    9. There was also an interesting application for 86 residential units with one, six storey block at Jaggard Way, which is behind Wandsworth Common station, just yards outside Battersea. The planners’ recommendation was to refuse it, which we did unanimously. However, I must confess that I had the ungenerous thought that the Committee was keen to vote against a quite small development in rich, posh Wandsworth Common when substantially larger, less pleasing developments in North Battersea were being approved.
    10. On 29^th January, I had a fun meeting at the youth club, Providence House, in Falcon Road, where we made plans to bring Devon’s Shallowford Farm to Battersea, or more particularly some sheep, calves, pigs and a tractor from the Farm for four days in early June. The farm, which is twinned with Providence House, is visited by many youth club members and is an invaluable rural experience for hundreds of Battersea kids. Keep a look out for it!
    11. The next day I had discussions with planners at the Town Hall about a planning application for developments near both Time House and Sendall Court. At the moment this application seems unlikely to be considered in Committee before April. I am sure that it will be contentious and I am rather concerned that the Council is trying to get too large a development through on the coat-tails of the so-called Winstanley regeneration.
    12. Finally, Wandsworth’s Design Awards Panel met on 31^st January. The panel of architects, amenity societies and two councillors, including me, had before it all the North Battersea “icon” buildings like the Lombard Road Tower and the Nine Elms Lane development. But actually, none of those got near to winning, the victor being the under-stated, cleanly designed Chadwick Hall students’ accommodation at Roehampton University.

My Programme for February

On 7^th February there is a special Council Meeting. There is actually nothing special about it as it happens every year and is largely a technical operation agreeing the record of expenditure during the year and the approximate shape of the budget the year 2018-19. There will however be ratification of a 1% rent increase for council tenants and decisions on next year’s budget leading to the Council Tax decision on March 7^th. I think I can guarantee that in Election year there will not be any really unpleasant surprises!
On 13^th February, I have a meeting of the Central Housing Panel, a quarterly consultation meeting with council tenants in Latchmere and other parts of the Borough.
There is the Community Services Committee on the 20^th followed by the Planning Applications Committee on 22^nd February.
On 27^th February, I am off to St. Paul’s Cathedral for a celebration of the life of Mary Turner, of whom more next month.

Do you know?

Last month I didn’t set a question and this month’s is ridiculously easy but I just couldn’t resist the picture – thanks to the Battersea Memories website as the source. And as for the questions then:-

Where? When? How?
How many things can you name that are still there and what are they?
And can you name what is there now?

September 14, 2017

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Councillor Tony Belton’s North Battersea September, 2017, Newsletter (# 99)

This newsletter is going to be short, well, comparatively – August was a quiet month! In passing, have you noticed the number (# 99) in the heading? It indicates that this is the 99^th edition of my monthly newsletter. In other words, I have been producing this for 8 years and 3 months, well actually 2 months, because in August, 2011, I produced 2 editions so as to cover the Clapham Junction riots. I am now wondering if and how to celebrate the 100^th edition, next month!
One of the first things I did, after I got back from Scotland, was to have lunch at the Fish in A Tie restaurant in Falcon Road with fellow councillor, Simon Hogg. I went by bike and padlocked my bike against street railings in full sight of where I sat. So, imagine my anger, and amazement, when I saw three youths about 16/17 years’ old fiddling about with the padlock. I charged out, as best as my new metal knee would allow, and tackled the three of them. They rode off, after a short scuffle, but unfortunately on my bike and two of their own, assuming that they weren’t stolen too, leaving me holding one of theirs – and a broken padlock!
The Special Neighbourhood Team, or most of it (pictured here with captured bike), arrived after a call from Simon. One of them came in and took a statement from me – at the dinner table. They said that one of the villains was arrested in Dagnall Street, but I have heard nothing since. I lost my bike and the police have “acquired” a bike as material evidence. What a nuisance! More to the point, what a tragedy! Three young villains, well on the way to wasting their lives on petty crime and under-achievement. It would have been good to have caught them properly and talked to them long and seriously, before they graduate onto more serious crime.
On August 13^thI went to a Labour Party fund raising garden party in Putney. Leonie Cooper (pictured here), our Greater London Assembly member, was the main attraction at this enjoyable summer occasion. She spoke about life at City Hall, the Grenfell Tower fire disaster and the housing crisis in London.
On the 16^th Seth Gowley, an Oxford geography student, writing a PhD thesis on urban regeneration, visited me to ask about my views on the Winstanley Estate regeneration. He had interviewed some of the residents and other local “experts” and had visited a few other examples of major regeneration projects in London and other big cities. Gratifyingly, he commented that he thought that we have done quite well here on the Winstanley, compared to other places in the country. He based this view on the largely positive reactions that he had had from residents.
You may be surprised to hear that I am a member of the Licensing Committee – I have never previously mentioned it. It met on August 22^nd to decide whether a Putney restaurant should be allowed or not to use some outside space for drinking and smoking for an extra 30 minutes. What a bore – a summer evening spent on such a minor matter!
This was part of Tony Blair’s 1997-2002 reforms of local government and, to my mind, this was one of the more useless of those reforms. Prior to 1997, licensing at this level was decided by local magistrates. Having been a magistrate, I know that this kind of decision would be taken in 10 minutes, or maybe 30, in a busy day full of other largely administrative matters. Blair argued that he was returning powers to local government.
This, however, was no such thing. Local government was being handed power over the trivial but was totally constrained on the major licencing policy issues, such as deciding on the total number of drinking establishments, pubs or bars, that would be acceptable in, say, Clapham Junction. Government thinking was, and is, that decision should be left “to the market”. Then, of course, one is left with the old neo-liberal lie “that one cannot defy the market”.
The following evening, I had the Planning Applications Committee, which on this occasion had no decision to take of any significance, except to the applicant him/herself, and their neighbours.
On 26^th I went to the Ingrave People’s Project Street Party, Hicks Close. The party was organised by Donna Barham, who some of you will know is a Hicks Close resident. Donna has been doing sterling work, maintaining community spirit in the Kambala Estate, organising summer day trips to the coast and winter trips to the Christmas market in Oxford. Donna was thinking of standing to be a councillor at next May’s Council election. It would have been great to have had her on Wandsworth Council as a colleague, but she decided her community work was, and is, more important to her. Here is Donna, second left, along, with two Spidermen, Princess Elsa, from Walt Disney’s Frozen, and a Kambala resident.
On the political front, I was pleased to read Keir Starmer’s 26^th August statement on the Labour Party’s position on Brexit negotiations. It has been agreed by Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Leadership and hence is of national importance. It has been clear to me that the previous ambivalent stance could not stand for long. Given the Government’s hopeless stance on Brexit, our two-party political system demanded that Labour, as the official Opposition, made its position clear.
Changing the focus, have you seen the new electric car charging points installed in Grant Road opposite the station entrance. There are others promised across the Borough, Cabul Road for example. Soon we will all have to get used to having cars wired up across the pavement. That is bound to raise issues that have not yet been considered. But in the next 10 years we will see the end of new combustion engine cars and a massive increase in electric cars.
Finally, I should congratulate all those students, who did so well in this year’s exams, with special mention of students at Latchmere’s Harris Academy and Thames Christian College.

My Programme for September

On 11^th September, my colleagues, Simon Hogg and Wendy Speck, and I will be on the platform at York Gardens Library at the Council’s Let’s Talk meeting. This is an opportunity for Latchmere residents to question us, and a team of council officers, about anything from potholes, to progress on the Winstanley Estate regeneration, from safety on our roads to social care for the elderly.
On 13^th September, I hope to go the Royal College of Arts (RCA), to see the plans for the new RCA building in York Road.
On the 19^th September, I have the Community Services Committee. I don’t know yet what will be on the agenda, but one possibility is a proposal to demolish and reconstruct the Northcote Road Library.
The September meeting of the Planning Application Committee is on the 20^th
The Labour Party Conference runs from 23rd to 27th September and I am booked in to Brighton for the duration. I have been often enough before but this one promises to be something a bit special. I am sure that there will be masses of discussion about the future of the UK in, or out, of the EU.

Opinion Piece

The Tory Party is currently putting up a good imitation of total implosion. In July, 2014, I wrote a blog, where I suggested that the Tory party was in danger of a major split – right now that blog looks prescient. Read it at:-
https://tonybelton.wordpress.com/2014/07/14/the-tories-face-a-disaster-called-europe/
Tell me what you think. Is this just a blip or something more serious for the Tory Party? And if the Tory Party does implode, then what will be the impact on Labour? I don’t think that such a collapse will be simply an unmitigated benefit for Labour, except in the short-term.

Do you know?

Last month I asked whether anyone knew where is the larger identical twin to this the Barbara Hepworth statue, pictured here by the lake in Battersea Park.

A number of you got the right answer, which is the United Nations Building in New York City. It was commissioned from Hepworth as a memorial to Dag Hammarskjöld, following his death in an air crash in Africa in 1961. Hammarskjöld (pronounced Hammershelt) was General Secretary of the UN and his death was the subject of much speculation – was the plane shot down by Western agents or African warlords? Was it really an accident or was it an assassination? Were the killers, agents of western imperialism, or tribal warriors? A modern mystery.

July 10, 2017

Councillor Tony Belton’s North Battersea July, 2017, Newsletter (# 97)

First, apologies for failing to produce a June edition of my newsletter. Mrs. May’s mistaken decision to call an election cost her plenty but it also meant I lost a political bet and didn’t finish the June edition! I lost the bet but, as she discovered, I was absolutely right about why she shouldn’t have called the election!
On the 1^st May, I went to the Old Vic to see Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, a play by Tom Stoppard. R and G are two minor characters in Shakespeare’s classic Hamlet. They are incidental characters in the tragic drama of Hamlet’s decline and death. Stoppard’s genius is to make a funny but tragic story out of the inconsequentiality of their lives and their best intentions. It’s not quite the tragedy of little men within a bigger tragedy for a bigger man, with all the elitism that would imply but it’s pretty near to it – brilliant.
And then the next morning, the 2^nd May, news started trickling through that Labour’s candidate for the 6^th June General Election was likely to be Marsha de Cordova – “who she?”, I heard, asked by 1,000+ Battersea LP (BLP) members. Marsha, of whom more later, turned out to be a charming and attractive candidate, enthusiastic and friendly. Here she is, front left, at a “candidate adoption party” with GLA member, Leonie Cooper and previous Labour MP, Martin Linton.
The selection was done by a committee of the London Regional Party and the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC), inevitably dominated by party apparatchiks. This was not the way one would ideally choose the candidate and admittedly the election was sprung on us, but all could see that there was at least a possibility that the election would happen before the scheduled 2020 date. The Labour Party should have been more prepared – bad mark against Labour’s Leadership!
I volunteered to be Marsha’s agent for the campaign – what a mug to volunteer for all that work! Party agents, amongst other things, have a legal duty to ensure that their party’s expenditure for the election does not exceed the legal limit, which in our case was approximately £14,000, i.e. we, the agents, are the ones that go to prison if it does. The deadline for the statutory return of election expenditure is 14^th July.
Meanwhile I had arranged to have coffee on May 3^rd with one Matt Rosenberg to discuss his ideas for making a film of the Winstanley estate with, and even written by, pupils of Falconbrook School, Latchmere. It turned out that Matt had quite a record of making films/DVDs of London communities and neighbourhoods. It seems like a fascinating proposal, which we will pursue in the autumn.
I got back to the office, just in time to meet Marsha, then a quick drive round the constituency with Marsha and a photographer to picture her with the Power Station, Clapham Junction and Queenstown Road stations and, of course, St. Mary’s Church in the background. You may have seen the one of her from the other side of the river with the Power Station in the background. A few days later, I took this one, which was used on her election address. I am quite proud of it!
On 4^th May, we had canvassing to be organised, stationary to be printed, members to be contacted, supplies to be ordered. We also had a photo-shoot outside the Battersea Arts Centre with all of the current Labour councillors in Battersea, the GLA member Leonie Cooper and two ex-MPs, Lord Alf Dubs and Martin Linton.
Friday, 5^th May was quiet; just Marsha’s election leaflet to write, to design and to send to the printers. A few discussions about apostrophes (‘), split infinitives, spellings, “Are they Tories or Conservatives?” – that sort of thing. (Did you know that it has been a minor Labour Party debate for years “whether to refer to our main opponents as Conservatives, vaguely respectful and formal, or as Tories, more colloquial and less respectful. I belong to the “Tories” school of thought. What do you think?)
On the 6^th my partner and I went to the Royal Opera House to see the UK premier of Thomas Adès’s opera, The Exterminating Angel – pretty unusual for me, but Adès’s mother was my partner’s flatmate in London immediately after university and so we are old family friends. It’s not that I haven’t been to the opera a few times; I could almost claim to be a fan of, in particular, Mozart, but Thomas Adès is a very modern, “post-melodic” composer. His opera was staged impressively and sung brilliantly. The story, derived from the Luis Bunuel film of the same name, is of an elite dinner party, symbolically trapped in a stately home, deserted by the servants, helpless at caring for themselves and increasingly and pathetically blind to their circumstances – it could easily be a metaphor for a United Kingdom blindly, blithely and arrogantly trapped into a hopeless Brexit – except that I believe the UK will escape from the current Brexit impasse. How? Let’s wait and see.
On the following day, 7^th May, Marsha and I attended a meeting about gun and knife crime at the Battersea Chapel, Wye Street. It was called by Reverend LeRoy Burke and was one of the most extraordinary meetings, of the many I have attended. It began a little after 6 in the evening and was still going strong when we left at 10.30. There must have been the best part of 400 people there, of whom perhaps 10 were white and the other 390 of mixed and Afro-Caribbean background. At least 50 people spoke of their anger and concern about the extent of knife crime in Britain, in London and in particular in Battersea. It was part revivalist, part confessional but, whatever it was, it was so totally different from any Council organised meeting on such an issue would have been. Men got up and spoke, (though sorry to say it of my sex) but much of their contribution was bluster and anger. Women spoke with emotion and passion, they spoke of the need for the community to come together to rid itself of this scourge, but not in a self-pitying manner rather in a determined and encouraging way. It was impressive but is there the will or the organisation to make it any more than a one-off protest?
On Tuesday, 9^th May, Marsha and I had a pre-meeting with Wandsworth’s Electoral Registration Officer (ERO), in order to make sure that I submitted her nomination for the election correctly by the legal closure date of 11^th May. The ERO had similar pre-meetings with all the parties competing in the three elections of Battersea, Putney and Tooting. I must say that the ERO spoon-fed the political parties in the three Wandsworth constituencies and if any one of us had got the nomination process wrong they would have been be truly and amazingly incompetent!
On the 10^th, I took Marsha to meet Victoria Rodney, founder and boss of the Mercy Foundation, in her office in Falcon Road. What a woman Victoria is! As far as I can see she self-funds and supports an organisation, whose sole function is to provide various basic training to under-educated, usually ethnic minorities. I have helped her with teaching English to Somali refugees, but her organisation largely trains people in the use of IT and other basic skills, such as childcare. (So, imagine our surprise to see Victoria appearing in the Tory candidate, Jane Ellison’s, election literature – just shows the difference between us party hacks and someone like Victoria, who is simply keen on support wherever she can get it!)
From there we went to the Katherine Low Settlement (KLS), where Marsha met a couple of client groups, one of the elderly and one of the educationally challenged. I should say that in these days of limited state support, KLS, located in Battersea High Street, is now one of Battersea’s key social and welfare organisations.
Some Council events carry on regardless of elections and they include the Planning Applications Committee on Tuesday, 16^th May. But on this occasion, we were very much going through the process of democratic review. I don’t think there was one item on which there was any disagreement – all the applications went through, as they say, on the nod.
Then on the next day, Wednesday, we had the Annual Council Meeting. This is the annual Mayor-Making ceremony: that’s nothing to do with London Mayor Sadiq Khan but the swearing in of Wandsworth Borough’s ceremonial leading citizen: in this case Mayor Jim Madden. It’s a pleasant enough social occasion, the food isn’t bad and the drink is sufficient, but frankly it is becoming a bit of a farce. Every new Mayor adds a little embellishment that appeals to him/her so that the ceremony becomes less and less relevant to the business of the Council. An old colleague of mine would have called it Municipal Tom-Foolery and a new one, Queenstown’s Cllr Dickerdem, commented acerbically that one would never guess from the evening’s processes that the Council was cutting public services.
On the next day, back to KLS with Marsha and a mid-day performance of The Wait, written and performed by the Gold and Silver Players of the Katherine Low Settlement, a troupe whose only qualification is to be 60+. This was a quite brilliantly written, if far too short, very witty take off of life from a modern pensioners’ point of view – about queues in the surgery, young people not offering seats on buses – the stuff of ordinary life – very entertaining.
On the 19^th, Marsha and I joined half a dozen other Labour councillors at Wandsworth Foodbank’s presentation of their annual report and the statistics on foodbank use in Wandsworth. This year it was even more startling than in 2016. Foodbank use has risen in Wandsworth, one of the richest areas in the whole country, by three times the national rate of increase and last year foodbank use in the borough rose by 25% compared to a 4% increase across London as a whole. Clearly the safety net for Wandsworth’s most vulnerable residents is broken.
Then on 22^nd May came the ghastly Manchester bombing – what a tragic waste of young life. How cruel, how wicked, and yet life does and must go on. So, in what might seem a heartless way, those of us involved in the election campaign started thinking about what it meant for us. To start with Battersea Society’s York Gardens hustings meeting for the 23^rd was cancelled. Then all the major parties announced the suspension of campaigning for a couple of days. But what did that mean? All canvassing, all deliveries? We were already on a tight schedule; when would it be considered seemly and decent to start again? Indeed, without military style control and discipline (and communications system) over hundreds of volunteers how could one in any case guarantee a halt? Suffice to say, we worked things out and carried on – sadly.
On 2^nd June, my partner and I went to the Barbican to see a concert, conducted by Thomas Adès. The star event as far as I was concerned was his rendition of Beethoven’s 2^nd symphony. You could hear Beethoven’s development from his almost Mozartian virtuoso beginnings to the full romantic genius of his maturity. Congratulations to Thomas.
Marsha and I went off to my favourite Street Party, on 3^rd June: the Triangle (Poyntz, Shellwood and Knowsley Roads) Party. After years of not winning raffles, tombolas, etc., I have now won two in a row at the Triangle. My partner and I had a very nice dinner at the Nutbourne Restaurant, Ransome’s Dock – and very nice too but I’ll have to avoid winning again!
The next day we attended the much more ambitious Old York Road Street Party. This was on a much larger and more commercial scale than the Triangle, but of course it was less intimate – still fun though.
One of the interesting features of being Marsha’s agent was attending religious events, which I would never usually go near. So, for example, on 3^rd June we attended a Muslim meeting at the St. Anne’s Church Hall, St. Anne’s Hill, and then on 4^th we went to the Ransom Pentecostal African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Mallinson Road, off the Northcote Road. Marsha was invited to speak at both. The Muslim meeting was gender separated, ordered, quiet and orchestrated. The Pentecostal Church was emotional, exuberant and inclusive with a brilliant jazz pianist. Guess which a) I preferred and b) which I think has the greater future in this modern world?
And then on Monday, back to serious campaigning, first with the Borough-wide South Thames College hustings at mid-day. This had 2 Lib/Dems, a UKIP candidate, a Green party candidate and Marsha, Battersea’s Labour candidate. The audience, a group of maybe 50, was a very diverse set of further education college students, some of whom were interested from the off and some were bored and speedy departees (Interestingly enough when the UKIP candidate got into a dispute with the chair, a fair number walked out; they were not interested in any hassle). It was the first time Marsha had “appeared” at a hustings meeting. I was impressed by the amount of homework she did in advance but also couldn’t help noticing how nervous she was. She needn’t have worried. Marsha has such an authentic, enthusiastic personality that she has a head start over almost all competitors!
Then pretty well straight off to Newton Prep, opposite the Dogs’ Home, for a very different kind of hustings. Chaired by the Headteacher and attended by pupils and parents, with pre-written questions carefully presented by pupils, this was a much more ordered occasion. The panel was the Lib/Dem’s Richard Davis and Marsha but also the Conservative candidate, Jane Ellison, seen here at the lectern. Jane, our MP since 2010, knew her stuff, OK, but she does not put over her message with the same passion and belief as does Marsha. I know I am biased but I think Marsha won the hustings competition.
Then to Election Day itself, June 8th and, who should I meet outside my front door but Latchmere personality Joseph Afrane, pictured here – I love the shoes! I have “fought” 13 Council elections, 9 or 10 London elections for Mayor, GLC, etc., a few EU elections and this was my 12^th General Election, so I wasn’t up at 5 am delivering polling day leaflets as some of our keenest volunteers were. Nevertheless I was busy from about 9 am until 4 or 5 on Friday morning. So it was a pretty long day. In many ways, it was like all the rest: chaotic, frenetic, a few lost tempers (I got shirty a couple of times, including to one Tory volunteer outside the George Shearing Centre and if you are reading this then apologies – put it down to the heat of the day!), mistakes, heart-warming stories about the great efforts some people make to register their vote, and exhaustion.
On election days, I have never been totally confident of victory, nor indeed of defeat. But I was very confident of a Labour victory in Tooting and knew we were doing quite well in Battersea, so I was looking forward to the count. I stopped off at home and had a quick shower at 10 pm when I picked up the exit-polls announced on TV. Were we really doing that well? It looked good from the start as the Labour votes mounted up but there was a slight hiatus towards the end as suddenly several hundred Tory votes took Ellison into what appeared like a slight lead. I was girding myself up to demand a recount but then suddenly a large bundle of Labour votes tipped the balance into a de Cordova 25,292: Ellison 22,876 victory with a 9.95% swing to Labour.
I know Jane Ellison pretty well. She has always been an honourable opponent and has worked with me on some issues, especially planning. Of course, as a member of a Tory Government she has had to vote for some awful policies, not least Article 5 and, therefore, Brexit. I can only imagine how disappointed she must be and for that reason, if nothing else, she has my sympathies.
On 15^th June, Marsha invited me to her “swearing in” in the House of Commons. I had never been to this ceremony before and in some ways it is a very mundane process – after all they need to swear in 650 MPs at about 30 seconds per MP, which makes it a 6 hour process. But after Marsha’s “turn” we went and had lunch on the terrace and toured the balance. This picture shows Queenstown Councillor Aydin Dickerdem, photographing Marsha and her friend and supporter Tracey Robinson.
But over-shadowing all that was the disastrous fire that struck Grenfell Tower late on 14^th June. This meant that the Housing Committee on the evening of the 15^th was dominated by discussion of Wandsworth’s many tower blocks and in particular the three blocks with similar cladding to Grenfell Tower. The three are Latchmere’s Castlemaine and Weybridge Point and Putney’s Sudbury House. I think the Committee members gave the officers a pretty good grilling, but, to be fair, I also thought the officers responded with conviction and sincerity. Watch for cladding replacement and other remedial works in the next few months.
On 18^th June, I went with Marsha to the nation-wide Great Get Together in commemoration of Jo Cox, the Labour MP murdered a year ago in her constituency of Batley, Yorkshire. The Get Together was held in the grounds of the Holy Trinity, Clapham Common. It was the right and positive way to celebrate Jo Cox’s life.
On the 21^st June, I had the Planning Applications Committee. This had quite a few very interesting applications all over the Borough but the one that dominated the evening was the Battersea Power Station developer’s bid to reduce the volume of affordable housing that they are committed to deliver along with their total development at the Power Station. You have probably seen some of the controversy around this application with London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, coming out strongly against the application. The Labour members of the Committee, and one of the Tory councillors, hardly needed Sadiq’s exhortations to vote against, which we duly did. But, unfortunately, the Tory majority granted permission.
And then on 24^th June I was off to Sardinia with the grandchildren for a week – a break at last! I will report on that next month along with comments on the Finance Committee of 29^th June, which had interesting implications for Tours Passage and Falcon Park – both in Latchmere.
During the last month I put out a notice titled, Can you help me? In it I described the predicament of a young single mother in North Battersea, who found herself homeless. The Council provided her with a flat but she had no possessions and so I put out a request for help. I am delighted to say that quite a few of you volunteered furniture, kitchen utensils and even money. Well, in response another of you wrote to me saying, ”A neighbour sent me this as they knew I had some bedding etc. We have a sofa bed in pretty good condition, and single bedding – sheets, duvets etc that has only been used one year while my daughter was at uni. We’ve also got a dining table which is lovely but probably a bit big for a small family. I should also have some kitchen stuff. We live near Battersea Park, is any of it ok for you?” I am not sure that I want to become a volunteer Exchange and Mart, but if any of the above is of interest to you then do let me know.

My Programme for July

On 1^st July, there was the Falcon Festival and then there was an Independence Day Party that my colleague Councillor Peter Carpenter gives in honour of his American wife.
On 2^nd July, we have organised a fund-raising rounders match in Battersea Park.
On US Independence Day, I had a meeting of the Council’s Design Panel, which is spending time creating and extending a Wandsworth heritage database.
On 10^th July, there is a meeting of the Wandsworth Conservation Advisory Committee.
Two days later, there is the last full Council Meeting before the recess.
On 13^th the three Latchmere councillors are due to meet the contractors for the Winstanley regeneration programme, which first talked about in 2011, looks like really starting later this year. After the disaster of Grenfell Tower, we will need to take particular note of all fire safety measures!
On the 14^th July, there is a BBQ for Doris Emmerton Court residents, to which I have been invited, and the annual Battersea Society Garden Party in the grounds of St. Mary’s Church.
On the 20^th I have the Planning Application Committee.
On the 25^th we have an inspection of St. James’ Grove, which will be particularly interesting given that “cladded” Castlemaine is a major part of the estate. After Grenfell Tower this will be an important occasion.
On 29^th July, it is my turn to take the councillors’ surgery at Battersea Library.

Opinion Piece

Two months ago I wrote that “we in Battersea should, therefore, vote for the candidate most likely to argue (and vote) against Hard Brexit, whatever that is, and fight still for a Remain position”. I did say that the Lib/Dem candidate would also vote for a Remain position but that the Lib/Dems were not a realistic winning option.

In that context, some have argued that Marsha’s vote against the Chuka Umunna amendment to the Queen’s speech was a mistake and, worse, a betrayal of her constituents. I think that is a rather premature judgement. Clearly both major parties have major difficulties coming to terms with Brexit/Remain, especially given the Referendum’s majority in favour of Brexit and given the complex make-up of the Labour and Conservative parties.

I believe that it is probable that either or both of the Labour and Tory Parties will face a major internal crisis over the EU. How they get there and who gets there first will be major factors in the future of the UK. I am sure that there is much more jockeying for position to come and I know that Marsha will take an active, anti-Brexit role in the parliamentary debates.

Do you know?

Last month, I asked whether anyone knew anything about this house, including the simple question “Where is it?”

Well, the only correct answers came from people who lived there or were friends of those who did. The house is 22 Mossbury Road, barely 100 yards from the Falcon and the centre of modern Battersea. Actually, the rather more imposing traditional front is on the west side of the building, the right as you look at it, but unfortunately can only be seen from inside the property.

The house is one of the oldest in Battersea, dating from the very first years of the nineteenth century and so about 200 years old.

March 1, 2017

Councillor Tony Belton’s Latchmere March, 2017, Newsletter (# 94)

I open with an apology! I did not, last month, mention Battersea Labour Party’s great Jazz night on 22^nd January at the Clapham pub, The Bread and Roses. We were entertained by Junction Jazz with our star guest vocalist Rosena Allin-Khan, who of course is also now Tooting’s M.P. as well as being my fellow Bedford ward councillor. Here is Rosena accompanied by Nikki Marsh on the clarinet.
On the 1^st February, there was a special Council Meeting with just one item on the agenda, and that was a technical, financial paper setting the background of next month’s Council budget, when a 3.99% increase in Council Tax will be announced. I took the opportunity to denounce the state of local government taxation and finances – whatever your attitude to taxation, too much, too little, to be avoided, as inevitable as death, as the old saying goes, the fact is that Council Tax is grossly unfair in that the poor, on average, pay considerably more in proportion to their income than do the rich. For that reason, Council Tax is known as a regressive tax.
Whilst on the subject of tax, the new business rates table was produced in February. It is a massive table, which I couldn’t possibly reproduce here but it does illustrate the vagaries of the system, which have resulted in a lot of recent press coverage. For example, 123 businesses in Latchmere ward have had reductions in their business rates, in some cases of over £5,000 per year. On the other hand 87 businesses have had increases, with 9 having had increases of over £10,000 and in one case an increase of over £36,000! Frankly I see no rhyme nor reason for these variations! So if your local shopkeeper has a good old moan at you – listen sympathetically and tell him/her to write to the M.P. and complain!
On the 2^nd February, I stood in for Simon Hogg, Labour Leader, at the Fairfield Let’s Talk meeting in St. Anne’s church hall, pictured here. I’m not sure that I would have mentioned it except for the many public complaints about over-development on the Homebase site near Wandsworth Town station. I don’t know how many of you are aware of the scale of the high-rise developments approved in York Road in the last year, but I can guarantee that the area will see massive changes in the next few years – see, for example, paragraphs 11 & 12 below.
On the 9^th I attended a Kambala Estate “wine and cheese” party. The weather was atrocious, cold and wet, which may have cut turn-out, but for those few who did turn up it was a pleasant evening.
The next morning was Maurice Johnson’s funeral at Christchurch, Battersea Park Road. I have already posted an obituary of Maurice, my fellow Latchmere councillor from 1990-2010 at https://tonybelton.wordpress.com/2017/01/31/obituary-maurice-johnson/ and so I won’t repeat that but suffice to say that there was a very large congregation to see Maurice off, both from his family and the community but also from councillors of both political hues. At the funeral, I joined members of his family in saying a few words about his time as a councillor and his civic commitment. Here is his cortege making his last journey through Latchmere.
On the 15^th I was invited to Caius House to attend a meeting of Penge House residents and the Wandsworth Council team responsible for its modernisation. Although I did not go, I understand that there was a similar meeting for Inkster House residents the following week. They both worked well and appeared to be much appreciated.
On Thursday, 16^th February, I had the Community Services Committee, which considered a host of papers, but the one that caught my eye was the decision to bring the re-surfacing of Petergate up the Council’s work programme and to ensure that it is in next year’s, i.e. April-March, programme. That is a cause to congratulate local campaigner, Jane, for her tireless lobbying for Petergate – proof that persistence occasionally has its victories!
The 20^th February Housing Committee was entirely devoted to the next stage of the York Road/Winstanley estate regeneration. Yet again this covered procedural matters, but the Council is now getting within a few weeks of signing a contract to proceed with this massive project. With luck and a following wind, work will start on Penge and Inkster Houses around the turn of the year, proceeding later in 2018 with Pennethorne House. The project was first announced in early 2012, after the August, 2011, Clapham Junction riots, and now five years later we are within a year of physical improvements beginning to happen – Phew! It’s a long process, but inevitable, I guess, when the total project is as large as this one is and when there has been a lot of consultation and discussion.
The next day, 21^st February, Battersea Labour Party had as its guest speaker Lord Alf Dubs. Alf, who was Battersea’s MP from 1979-87, was presented with our informal award as Parliamentarian of the Year, 2016, for his work for child refugees and his tireless campaigning for their cause. For those of you who might not know, Alf was himself a child refugee (part of the Kindertransport) from Hitler’s Germany in 1938. Here he is telling us about his struggle to persuade the Government to let in 3,000 child refugees – for interest the much poorer UK of 1938 took in 10,000 child refugees from Central and Eastern Europe.
This month’s Planning Applications Committee meeting was on 23^rd February. There were two applications that were of particular interest in North Battersea, though both were amendments of previously approved applications. The first was the plan for an 8-storey block of flats on the old Savoy Theatre, or Shell garage site on York Road. As I have said before, but it is worth repeating, this was where this magnificent cinema stood prior to being destroyed by a V2 in 1944. The change in this application is the omission of the garage.
The second application was to increase the size of the very large 800-unit development on the gasholder site, next to the Dogs’ Home, to over 900 dwellings. Interestingly this increase of 116 units is largely achieved by more efficient use of space, in particular reducing the height of the individual storeys in the 26 storey blocks so as to squeeze in two extra floors – we were assured that the ceilings will still be high enough!
Earlier in the month I went to see La La Land – what was all the fuss about? I thought the first half was a bit boring and the second OK, but certainly it doesn’t deserve an Oscar in my book; at least they got that right at the awards ceremony! Give me a Fred and Ginger musical any day, or Gene Kelly, or Chicago or one of my favourites amongst musicals, the little-known City of Angels.
On 24^th February I went to see a 1962 play, namely Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? It was at the Harold Pinter Theatre and the leads were Imelda Staunton and Conleth Hill. It was brilliant and they were brilliant. Get to it if you can but if that’s not possible get the 1966 film starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. It’s a searing portrait of a dysfunctional but weirdly loving, loveless marriage. It’s a tough watch but it is a classic amongst films.
On 26^th February, I took myself off to the Victoria and Albert Museum (the V&A) to see an exhibition called Revolution. No, not the one 100 years ago, in St. Petersburg but the one 50 years back in Carnaby Street, London. Quite a thought for me that the Sixties Revolution of my university and immediately post-university days is exactly halfway back to the Russian Revolution! But, I didn’t find the rehash of great music, record covers, revolutionary chic (full of Mao, Fidel, Che images), etc., particularly inspiring – perhaps it’s all still too real to be in a museum – for me anyway.
However, what I would say is, if you don’t know them, or seldom go there, “Do go to Exhibition Road and visit the V&A, or the Science Museum or the Natural History Museum.” There are amazing things there, and the 345 bus goes from the Junction almost to their front-doors. If you are not at home with museums, then just go in to the V&A (it’s free entry) and enter the first room on the right and spend 30 minutes, looking at the artefacts, sculptures and altar pieces from the ancient world. It’s got to be worth 30 minutes of anyone’s time.
On the 28^th February, I went to Honeywell School to attend a meeting of locals, from the Northcote Road area, protesting about the Council’s plans to redevelop the Northcote Road Library. The Council was consulting on a proposal to demolish and rebuild the library and Chatham Hall both to modernise them and to get rid of asbestos in the library building; with associated shops and 17 flats, which are designed to pay for the work. To say that the proposals were not popular with the 30 or so people, who turned up, would be an under-statement!

My Programme for March

On 8^th March, there is a full Council Meeting, when we will be debating Wandsworth’s budget. I have already said that the increase will be 3.99% – we already know that – but this is where we debate the rights and wrongs of that. Once upon a time the actual increase was kept secret until the last moment but those days are long gone.
The day after, 9^th March, I have a meeting of the Met Police Safer Neighbourhood Team at the George Shearing Centre, Este Road.
On 14^th March, I will be at Wandsworth’s Conservation Area Advisory Committee.
And on the 19^th March, I am going with a couple of friends to a last sentimental visit to the real White Hart Lane. For those, who don’t know it, I have been a Spurs supporter for years and years, despite representing a North Battersea ward, which is only a stone’s throw from Stamford Bridge. My excuse is that, when I was 6-8 years old, I lived quarter of a mile from the Lane. My first ever game, that I can recall, was in the 1948 Olympics (how many people have been to both the 1948 and the 2012 London Olympics?). The game, I must have seen according to Google, was the quarter-final, when Sweden the gold medallists that year beat Austria 3-0.
I have the Planning Applications Committee on the 23^rd.

Do you know?

Last month, one of my readers, Ian asked, “Our canine friend here, in his original form, caused a cataclysmic event in the past. Firstly, who is the fellow, where is he situated? Also, what was that cataclysmic event?”

The answer was, of course, the Little Brown Dog, whose death by vivisection caused the 1907 Brown Dog Riots with over 1,000 demonstrators in Trafalgar Square. This statue, which I am afraid, Ian, I don’t like stands in Battersea Park, whilst the much better original shown right was the centre-piece of Latchmere’s Recreation Ground until stolen and smelted down by the “Anti-Doggers” during the night of 10^th December, 1907.

A number of people got that right but what about the next question, which is not exactly a puzzle but a genuine request for information. My fellow councillor, Simon Hogg, came across this fascinating picture of a bridge built during the war and linking Battersea Park to the end of Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea. It was apparently built as a back up to Chelsea and Albert Bridges in case either of them were put out of action by German bombing raids.

Simon says that in 1948 it was taken down and shipped to Uganda, then of course, part of the British Empire. The questions that arise include: Do you remember this bridge? Did you ever cross it? Do you know where in Uganda it ended up? Do you know anything about it? Were there other back-up bridges elsewhere in London?

January 31, 2017

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OBITUARY – MAURICE JOHNSON

WANDSWORTH COUNCILLOR AND HONORARY ALDERMAN

By Penny Corfield and Tony Belton

The death has just been announced of Councillor Maurice Johnson, aged 84. It comes as a surprise because he seemed to be one of those indestructible forces of life. During his twenty years as a Labour Councillor in Latchmere (1990-2010), he was assiduous in his attendance and passionate in his commitment to opposing injustice and discrimination. He talked with a famously rapid-fire delivery, so that sometimes it could be hard to follow all the details of his speeches. But no one could miss his serious intent.

After his retirement as a Councillor in 2010 and in tribute to his long service on Wandsworth Council, Maurice was elected an honorary Alderman. In that capacity, he continued to attend many Council ceremonial events; and to maintain contacts with his friends from across the political spectrum.

Maurice lived on Latchmere’s Kambala Estate, where he and his large family are well known. They remain a warm and close-knit group. They had experienced sadness from family bereavements, which Maurice bore with dignity. He was a very kind-hearted person, good at sympathising with others when they were facing problems. Penny Corfield remembers his words of consolation to her when she was deeply upset by her brother’s death. Maurice not only knew what to say at the time; but also, in the years that followed, always remembered to ask after her brother’s children. That detail showed his quiet caring side, which ran alongside his outer image of boisterous energy.

Tony Belton remembers canvassing with Maurice in Winstanley Road. “It was almost like a royal procession; we hardly walked a yard before another passer-by, young or old, man or woman, stopped to exchange pleasantries with Maurice. Almost anywhere I canvassed the punters knew who my fellow candidate was.

“Maurice also had a popular appeal that worked well with many an audience. I remember on one occasion in the 90’s when the Tories were making typically nasty cuts to services. I had opposed them with typical forensic brilliance, but the packed public gallery did not respond or applaud, but then Maurice pleaded desperately to the Tories better natures. He pleaded and begged; the public gallery cheered him to the rafters. It didn’t change their votes of course, but there was no doubt about who the moral victor was that day.

Lastly, it should be noted that Maurice was very proud of his Guyanese background. He served in the tradition of John Archer, Battersea’s first black Mayor and pioneer of BAME participation in civic life. His dignity in public life makes him a memorable figure for his family, his constituents, all his fellow Councillors, and Battersea Labour Party. RIP.

Here Maurice, with his daughter Laura, is being invested as an Honorary Alderman, by Mayor Stuart Thom, 2015.

November 3, 2016

Councillor Tony Belton’s North Battersea* November, 2016, Newsletter (#90)

* Note: Now covering North Battersea and not just Latchmere, because of popular demand (!), but the Newsletter will continue to be largely Latchmere based.
I didn’t get to the Katherine Low Settlement AGM on 5^th October as I had a meeting of Planning Committee members with the Chairs of the Wandsworth Design Panel. Given comments some of you make about planning in Wandsworth, I realise that you will be astonished to hear that we have a design panel – but we do! There was a helpful exchange of views but the architects, planners and design experts on the panels clearly have a more pro-development attitude than do many residents – development is, of course, the developers’ job. The end result is, I think, that the design panel finds you (and me, perhaps) and the public, a bit too conservative in our tastes; it’s as though they want to wake up in the morning and see an exciting new “concept” building outside their front window, whereas most of us want the view to look tomorrow pretty much as it does today.
The next day I went to a Reception given by the Covent Garden Market Authority. The Market is the site of one of the largest single developments in British history – I suspect as a single site it is even larger than the Power Station but maybe not. The planned amount of affordable housing included in it and, even more importantly, of “social rent” properties is lamentably low and some of us are for ever pushing for more and more of both. On this occasion, however, it was the Chair of the traders, who stole the show with a plea to safeguard the actual traders, who are of course the raison d’etre of the Market. Will his plea have any effect? I hope so, as a very high percentage of London hotel and restaurant food and nearly all the flowers that get into our shops come through the Market and its traders.
Appropriately at the Council Meeting on 12^th October one of the two main debates was about Nine Elms, the US Embassy, the developments and what the Tories like to call “Aspirations”. A central feature of the debate was the decision of Apple to move its UK headquarters into the Power Station.
But the Tories seem to think that “aspirations” equates to expensive housing developments and the presence of a Waitrose. They don’t give the impression of caring what is happening to much of the local Battersea community or to the housing aspirations of the many lower paid staff, who will service these developments.
And as for the Power Station itself! It certainly is looking a mess, but, perhaps more worryingly, given the size of the new blocks of flats around it, the only chance to see the Power Station itself, will be from the new flats, the Chelsea Embankment or from a plane flying into Heathrow! (see Aydin picture below)
The other debate at the Council Meeting was about the very worrying financial chaos that surrounds St. George’s Hospital. With more than half of NHS Trusts now facing financial difficulties, it must be the case that either all administrators in the NHS have all become incompetent overnight (which is unlikely) or this Government is starving them of funds – which is more likely as I, and recently members of the House of Commons Health Select Committee, suggest.
Monday 17^th was an interesting day. A few weeks earlier, I had been asked by email if I was prepared to take part in a Brains’ Trust circuit touring universities. It was all very vague as to what it was about and who it was for, but I volunteered 2 dates anyway. The 17^th was the first date, but when Monday arrived I had heard nothing and expected “it” not to happen – whatever it was. But when I looked at my email that morning there was a rail ticket to Norwich for that afternoon.
I got to Norwich at about 5 pm and discovered that the four of us (in the picture here) were there to be taken by taxi to speak at “The Great Debate, 2016” (#gtd2016), organised by the Afro-Caribbean students at East Anglia University. There were 50 people at the debate and my guess is that I was the only one over 30 years’ old. I was certainly the only white “Brit” there – there were a couple of Bulgarians. The debates were about “Getting a job”, Brexit and Black Lives Matter.
The students were very bright, mainly Londoners; the debate was lively, and very “respectful”. It was fascinating and gave me a slightly different perspective on these issues. For example, the students seemed much more materialist in terms of their career expectations than my generation of students had been; they were almost unanimously horrified by Brexit; and they were, not surprisingly, very much more “angry” about the recent spate of US police killings of black men than the average “Brit”. I think the average Brit is not really very conscious of how close many Caribbean Brits are to many black Americans, who may well have come from the same families back in Jamaica or elsewhere.
On the 19^th I had the Planning Applications Committee. There was only one application of really direct interest to Latchmere and that was for 105 Meyrick Road. The application was to demolish what used to be the Duke of Wellington pub and to replace it with a 10-storey block of flats. The application was refused, much to the pleasure of both current residents and some neighbours.
There were two more applications for large developments in the Nine Elms Lane area – one of them including 25% “affordable” housing, more than the average. “Affordable” housing is, of course, a bureaucratic invention and means a property affordable to the average person on £75,000 a year – which of course is not very average!
Rather more interesting perhaps was an application from Tesco to convert the Prince of Wales pub at 186 Battersea Bridge Road into a convenience store. We turned that down, against the planning officers’ recommendation, for two main reasons. First, we felt that there are completely inadequate facilities for loading and delivery from Tesco lorries at this tight corner site, and secondly, we thought that a Tesco at this corner, however popular it would be to some, would undermine local shopping in Battersea Park and Battersea Bridge Roads.
On the 20^th I went to the Council’s Heliport Consultative Committee. There was not a lot of general interest except that we were told the good news that the newer generation of choppers coming out in the next 10 years or so will be 30% less noisy than today’s models. Of much greater interest, however, was the announcement that the Government intends to press ahead with Heathrow’s Third Runway. Wandsworth Council is very much against this development and may, with other local authorities, take legal action to try and prevent it. One local MP, Zac Goldsmith (Richmond Park) has resigned and is forcing a by-election. Our MPs are against it, but actually in my many years as a Latchmere councillor I have only ever had a couple of complaints about aircraft noise. Please, let me know what you think. Why not just hit reply NOW and say “I am against the third runway” or “I think a third runway would be good for London”?
I spent 22^nd/23^rd weekend at my brother-in-law’s at Westcliff-on-Sea. So! I hear you say, but just take a look at this sunset over the Thames in late October – almost sunbathing weather at Southend.
I was invited to meet North Battersea residents’ associations on 25^th October at the Kambala club-room – pictured here, with Kambala Chair, Donna Barham. There were, maybe 20 tenants and leaseholders from the Kambala, York Road, the Doddington, Surrey Lane and other estates. They wanted to tell me their complaints about cleaning on estates – or the lack of it – and the Council’s inadequate response to resident complaints. I intend to take up their problems but the question is, “Will I get any effective response from the Council?” Watch this space for further developments.
Some of you have asked about the quince and my attempt to make quince jelly. I am afraid it never set! Still I have been using it as a sauce – goes well with pork.
And finally, on October 31^st guess what I saw on a Battersea house! And did I see it moving?

My Programme for November

On 1^st November, the Battersea Society has organised a debate at York Gardens Library on Affordable Housing. The speakers are Lord Bob Kerslake of the Peabody Trust and Councillor Paul Ellis, Wandsworth’s Tory Cabinet Member (that’s Wandsworth’s Cabinet and not the real Cabinet – how I dislike that pompous bit of nomenclature!) for Housing. I know Ellis, of course – he is a Wandsworth councillor, but funnily enough I also know Bob quite well as years ago we worked together at County Hall for the GLC (Greater London Council). I look forward to seeing them debating this important issue.
Winstanley Estate
You may remember that last month I featured William Mitchell, the sculptor who did the concrete sculptures on the Winstanley estate and on Badric Court. I said that his work will feature in the forthcoming Winstanley News. Well, I am going to visit him on 4^th November – that should be fascinating.
I intend to go to the Share Community Annual Awards on 8^th November and on 9^th November, I will be representing the Labour councillors at a public meeting being held at Bolingbroke School.
The Queenstown ward by-election will take place on 10^th November and so that will keep me busy, especially on the day. Our candidate, pictured here, is Aydin Dikerdem, a 26-year old, Battersea born and bred lad of Turkish extraction. The previous Labour councillor Sally-Ann Ephson had a majority of only 75 and so it will be a tough fight for Aydin holding off the Tory challenger, but if he wins I am sure he will add vigour and enthusiasm to the Labour group of councillors.
On 12^th November, I will be attending a fund raiser at Providence House, Falcon Road. Providence House is the most important youth club in Clapham Junction and the evening should be fun.
But perhaps not quite as much as taking my grand-children to London Zoo on Sunday 13^th.
On the 14^th I have the Conservation Area Advisory Committee and 2 days later the Planning Applications Committee. I suspect that the application at the corner of Culvert and Battersea Park Roads, which I featured last month and is pictured here, will not be considered. It is more likely to be in December or January. But please let me know what you think of this application – again hit “reply” and tell me what you think.
On the 26^th I have the so-called London Summit. It is when Mayor Sadiq Khan invites all London’s councillors to discuss his and others’ plans for the next couple of years. You may recall that Sadiq was my deputy as Labour Leader on Wandsworth Council for several years up to 2005. It will be great to hear his ideas for our city.

Do you know?

Last month I asked you, whether you knew the connection between Christ Church School, at the end of Este Road, and the nearby Shillington Old School Building? And can you name one of its early pupils? The answers are – the local parish started Christ Church school in about 1864. But the parish couldn’t maintain the school in competition with the new state school, the London Board School of Este Road. In 1883 that school moved into the Shillington Street site, now flats, and the Batten Street site reverted to being Christ Church – and that was the connection. As for the pupil, it was the later famous John Burns.

This month let me ask you, “Who was Hilda Hewlett, commemorated by a plaque on a Battersea house and one time resident of Park Mansions, Prince of Wales Drive? Was she the first woman:

a) Licensed pilot in the UK?

b) To run 100 yards in 13 seconds?

c) To star opposite Lambeth born star Charlie Chaplin?”

Two prescient Blogs from 2014

I was just trawling through some old blogs and I came across two, of which I am pretty proud. Just scroll down the right side of this screen to July 14, 2014 and October 7, 2014 and take a look.

The first is titled School Governance and Governors, and it bemoans the demise of local councillor representation on school governing bodies and the rise of the technocrat. I didn’t know it but it presaged last week’s announcement of the “end” of parent governors. After all parents don’t know anything about running schools, their expertise being merely to have kids and local councillors equally don’t know much about running schools – all they know about it is the local community and the need to plan for school provision and school places. Obviously just the kind of people that Cameron/Osborne would want to kick out of school administration: parents and local representatives! The Tory version is, of course, to have technocrats and the private sector under the pseudo-guise of educational charitable institutions.

The second was titled The Tory Party faces a disaster called Europe. The one thing I got wrong in that blog was the date of the crisis, which I had down for 2017. I didn’t know that Cameron was going to plump for June 23, 2016 as the Referendum Day. I predicted Tory division and disaster and potentially its demise for a generation. I hope that I am right. It is beginning to look that way!

And my punt for 2016? Against all the punditry and all the apparent trends, the economic problems and climate change issues demand a collective solution. So my prediction is that 2016 sees the start of the rejuvenation of social democracy.

March 9, 2016

Councillor Tony Belton’s Latchmere March, 2016, Newsletter (# 82)

On February 2^nd, I was briefed on the plans for, what I called last month, the Tesco block on Falcon Road, though strictly speaking neither of the two planned retail units are definitely going to be Tescos – that is yet to be decided. The intention is to do a comprehensive re-development, between Khyber and Patience Roads, with retail on the ground floor and four storeys of residential units above. How many of these will be affordable (in the modern jargon definition of affordable) is up for negotiation. These indicative drawings of the development show the intention: it will have an adverse impact on 1-15 Patience Road and maybe on sunlight in 2-8 Patience Road. However, by the standards of some of the giant developments nearby this is unexceptional. OK, I hope you agree.
I went to the SNT Meeting, on 4^th February at the George Shearing Centre, in Este Road. SNT is police jargon for the police Special Neighbourhood Team and they have quarterly meetings with a number of local representatives of resident associations and tenant groups, where issues of ”Latchmere interest” are discussed. Unfortunately, because of clashes with other meetings, I often cannot get there. The police told us that there were 8 more crimes in January than there had been in January last year but that there had been a fall of 28 in December compared with the previous year. The good news is that on the whole the trend across the Borough has, for some years, been downwards.
One minor pleasure of being a councillor for many years is that occasionally someone, usually a student of politics or journalism, wants to come and write an essay based on your experiences. On 10th February, Andri, a Roehampton student of journalism came along to quiz me on the nature and significance of local politics – so that he could write a paper on the subject. It gives one a chance to indulge in the kind of self-centred ramblings that constituents would never put up with. Fun – and it ended far too soon! I hope that Andri’s essay got a good mark!
On 11^th February I had the first of two Education and Children’s Services Committees. Two important items were under discussion, namely the Schools Admissions system and Pupil Place Planning. However, as the transfer between primary and secondary schools seems to have happened quite smoothly this year there was not much to say on the admissions system except “steady as she goes”. Since the Committee met, the potential shortage of secondary school places across the country has been national news. It has been said that the country may have a shortfall of one million places in 5-10 years’ time. And certainly local authorities have protested about the absurdity created by the current Government, whereby local authorities are responsible for providing a sufficient number of school places but are not actually allowed to provide them directly. The academies, it is hoped, will just expand or contract appropriately but without being part of any planning system. The Tory party’s daft reliance on the market could be the cause of much heartache. However, here in Wandsworth we were re-assured that there would be sufficient secondary places even if there might be a tight squeeze in some years. But you may remember that last month I commented that the Chestnut Grove Academy is embarking on the demolition and redevelopment of the school – one Council paper says that there will be 88 extra places and another says there will be none! How we are meant to plan on that basis beggars belief!
There were also a number of cuts, as seems inevitable these days. One was the effective closure of the Alton Activity Centre for youngsters – regrettable as that is, it will have no impact on Latchmere. Perhaps more relevant is the closure of the Accredited Training and Assessment Centre (ATAC), which currently operates out of Battersea Park Road Library, with the loss of half a dozen trainer jobs. But although it is very local to Latchmere I don’t know much about ATAC, which perhaps says something about its significance, or lack of, in the community.
On the 18^th there was the Community Services Committee, of which I am not a member, but which I will mention because there were a number of issues of importance to Latchmere, namely the possibility of extending the parking control zones (cpz) in Eltringham/Petergate Road area and Wye Street and installing a zebra crossing in Ingrave Street near to Falconbrook School – a mixed bag! The recommendation to extend the parking zone hours in the Eltringham/Petergate area was deferred until June, thanks unfortunately to the intervention, as I understand it, of Tory St. Mary Park councillor Rory O’Broin. The extension of the cpz was agreed in Wye Street and the zebra crossing refused, even though the Committee agreed to “improve” the road signs about the school.
On the 22^nd we had the second of the two Education and Children’s Services Committees and this was a far more dramatic occasion. You may not have heard but in December Ofsted gave Wandsworth’s Children’s Services Department a damning report on services for disturbed and vulnerable children and services for young persons, which it said were either inadequate or in need of improvement. It is many years since Wandsworth last had such a stinging rebuke from central government and the Committee discussed how we should recover from this position and make the services as good as they should be. I must make it clear that these services serve a very small minority of Wandsworth’s children, so if you have kids in the school system here in the borough it almost certainly does NOT affect you or your kids. However, if they are in the Council’s care or severely disadvantaged in some way then it is just possible that you (and yours) are affected. If you are concerned that this may affect you, then please get in touch and I will see if I can help.
But in terms of making generic reforms we changed the staffing structure, introduced new management and monitoring procedures and worked out a longer term plan to make sure that the Department improves its practise. You may also have heard that I, in effect, moved a vote of no confidence in the Leader and the Executive member of the Council for Children’s Services. I knew, of course, that this was not going to be accepted by the majority (Tory) party and so in a sense it was “gesture politics”. However since at least one senior officer decided to resign, I think that the politicians in charge at the time should also take the rap – but here in Wandsworth, sadly, they did NOT.
The Planning Applications Committee was on February 24^thand what a busy night it was! First up we had the application for Formula E in Battersea Park I can see that this is going to be an annual occasion! This time the event is scheduled for early July and, as best I could understand it, it was for more of the Park to be closed to the public for slightly less time. There is no doubt that the event is both immensely popular with many and very unpopular with many others, some of whom are pictured demonstrating outside the Town Hall. My fear is that all the commercial operations that surround Grand Prix racing will slowly but surely take a greater and greater grasp in the Park and that with time the very nature of the Park will change. It is also significant, at least to me, that the date has been put back a couple of weeks into the very heart of summer – what a time to close great swathes of the Park. You will have guessed that I was against and I know many of you will have been for – but that’s the way it goes!
There were many other interesting potential developments, but not particularly near to or relevant to Latchmere. One example was the plan to demolish and reconstruct Cringle Dock in Nine Elms Lane. This was imaginative! Can you imagine one of London’s largest refuse transfer stations essentially being rebuilt under a canopy, on which 500 flats are to be built, with the refuse barges appearing out from under rather like a James Bond villain’s underground attack base. Is this really going to happen? Well the completion date is in 2030! Another mega-development was planned for Nine Elms Lane and there were many others and the Committee did not end until about 2 minutes past midnight!
On the 25^th my fellow Councillor Simon Hogg and I had another discussion with officers on the Winstanley regeneration programme, though as you know it largely affects the York Road estate and not Winstanley. It is difficult to report anything specific about that other than that work proceeds and that the Council hopes to start work relatively soon on Penge and Inkster Houses.
The Finance and Corporate Services Committee met on 25^th Again I am not a member but I thought it worth mentioning that it was decided to increase Council Tax by 3.9%, the maximum allowed by law without triggering a referendum. But to compensate for that increase, the London Mayor’s budget has now been reduced as the costs of the 2012 Olympics are dropping out of his budget, and so we will all see a reduction in our own tax bills.
In this newsletter, I have never ever referred to an internal Labour Party meeting, largely because I don’t think that they are of public interest but last Thursday, 25^th February, our meeting was an exception. We organised radical readings from a number of famous radicals from the past, from Gerard Winstanley to Charlotte Despard, from Labour’s first leader Keir Hardie to Clem Attlee, PM from 1945-51. The readings were inspirational and led by Prunella Scales and Timothy West. Here is Tim in full flow.
Finally I thought I should put in a picture of the Latchmere Recreation Ground. On 23rd October the messy tarmac was ripped up and the area re-seeded and landscaped. Some of this work had to be done twice because of the wet winter but the Town Hall hopes to open up the Recreation Ground in time for Easter. It will be a welcome extension of green space in Latchmere.

My Programme for March

I have a meeting in Portcullis House (that’s a twentieth century annex to the House of Commons next to old Scotland Yard) on 2^nd March, when a cross-party selection of London MPs and councillors will discuss the Government’s cuts to schools’ budgets, and later the same day a SERA think tank. SERA is the Labour Party’s green lobbying organisation and we will discuss our plans for the coming years.
There will be the regular Labour Group meeting: that is Wandsworth’s Labour councillors, on 3^rd.
There is an Education and Standards Group on 7^th
An old friend of mine, Anita Pollock, who was also the MEP (Member of the European Parliament for Wandsworth, 1989-99), is launching a book on Europe in Westminster – that should be pleasant.
The Council Meeting is on 9^th
On 10^th March there will be the opening of the Winstanley/York Road estate office in Pennethorne House, followed not long after by the opening of a new Citizens’ Advice Bureau at the main library on Lavender Hill.
I hope to be able to attend a Mayoral hustings with Zak Goldsmith face to face with Sadiq Khan and candidates no doubt from the Greens, Lib/Dems and UKIP.
The Planning Applications Committee is on 23^rd

Did you know?

You may remember that in January I went to the Design Awards Panel and challenged readers to guess, which of the designs received a commendation and why? Well, I must confess that I was a bit surprised because of those who responded most got it right!. And the winner was this very discreet extension (it’s the bit on the top!) to a residential block in Nightingale Lane. It is extremely quiet and under-stated. It adds 5 or 6 flats to the block and just walking by most people don’t even notice it. All the councillors and laymen supported it and all the professionals hated it.

The professional architects and designers wanted a building that “made a statement” or “expressed the architect’s personality” – perhaps rather like this glass roof extension, which was another of the entries. All very interesting but I think a little bit more important than that. Doesn’t it raise the question as to whether architects are in the business for their own gratification and not really very interested in whether their creations suit the surrounding environment?

Meanwhile for next month can anyone come up with a direct link between Latchmere and George Bernard Shaw or GBS? GBS was a very famous playwright of the first half of the twentieth century with plays such as Man and Superman, Major Barbara and many, many others. For those of you for whom the first half of the twentieth century is another world, then he will be best known for Pygmalion, the play at the heart of the musical My Fair Lady.

November 7, 2015

in Political, Uncategorized
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Suffragette

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Tony Belton

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Councillor Tony Belton’s Battersea February, 2018, Newsletter (# 104)

Councillor Tony Belton’s North Battersea September, 2017, Newsletter (# 99)

Councillor Tony Belton’s North Battersea July, 2017, Newsletter (# 97)

Councillor Tony Belton’s Latchmere March, 2017, Newsletter (# 94)

OBITUARY – MAURICE JOHNSON

Councillor Tony Belton’s North Battersea* November, 2016, Newsletter (#90)

Two prescient Blogs from 2014

Councillor Tony Belton’s Latchmere March, 2016, Newsletter (# 82)

Suffragette

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