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On February 2^nd Battersea Labour Party had its occasional Jazz Night at the Bread & Roses pub in Clapham Manor Street. The pub, for those who don’t know it, is run by the Workers’ Beer Company, the financial persona of Battersea and Wandsworth Trades Union Council. You can be sure that the man (sorry re old fashioned sexist jibe) won’t be watering the workers’ beer! It was our first fund-raiser since the General Election and it went very well; but given our current financial situation, we cannot afford it to be the last!
January and February are difficult months for Labour Party Treasurers, especially when there has been a General Election in December. Current legislation demands that Treasurers have to produce a quarterly return of donations and loans for the Electoral Commissioner. That in itself, is no great problem, but the Electoral Commissioner, the National Labour Party and the constituency party all require full reports on our 2019 activities, but, of course, just to be awkward, they are all in different formats. In addition, I produce an Annual Report on the previous year for approval by the February, Battersea Labour Party Annual General Meeting. The report can be seen at https://tonybelton.wordpress.com/2020/03/03/battersea-labour-partys-2019-annual-report/
I had the Strategic Planning and Transportation Committee on the 6^th February and it was a very strange occasion for me, but perhaps for some others also. After many years fighting the Tory fondness for the car and the motorist, I suddenly find myself caught out by an almost 180° turn by the Committee, which spent the evening approving traffic constraint proposals and being nice to pedestrians and cyclists. For all the snide remarks made by some about Greta Thunberg, and some mandatory scepticism about global warming, it does seem to me that the local Tories know that defeat looms for any party that ignores the Green tide sweeping over current politics.
The South West London Law Centres held its annual meeting in the Grand Hall, Battersea Arts Centre on 13^th. The evening was introduced by Marsha de Cordova, MP, and featured a visit from Lord Dubs, Battersea’s MP in the late 70s. but here because of his famed work for and on behalf of child refugees. The feature of the evening was, however, Sorry, we missed you, a film by Ken Loach, who is seen here discussing the film with his screenwriter Paul Laverty. The film was a devastating and harrowing account of the gig economy that Britain has now become, where lower paid jobs are endlessly measured, quantified, over-worked and down-graded. Loach and Laverty were fascinating about the technical side of making this brilliant, highly political film, but personally I find Loach’s discussion of political issues rather too simplistic.
And to think that the gig economy was very considerably inspired by the ruthless programme of radical, right-wing cost cutting introduced into Wandsworth by Tory councillors in the 1980s, on their way to Thatcher’s adoption of her favourite borough and the application of the policies nation-wide. It was, in many ways, a dispiriting occasion to watch this powerful indictment but also to reflect that, as the Labour Opposition Leader for most of those years, however hard I tried, I did not have much success in stopping them – we may have a low Council Tax but we also have people sleeping on the streets.
On Sunday, 16^th February, I was off to Islington’s Royal Agricultural Hall for a Co-op Party sponsored hustings for Labour’s candidates for Leader and Deputy Leader. Hustings for both the Leader and the Deputy Leader of the Labour Opposition, on the same day, are something of a constitutional innovation in British politics. I don’t think that they have ever taken place together before. Ed Milliband was the first Labour Leader to be elected in this way, the second of course being Jeremy Corbyn, but the Deputy Leaders were chosen at a different time. The hustings are a bit like the American primary elections taking place right now except that, in the British version, the postal ballot is taken for the whole country in one go and not played out state by state, or in our case county by county, over a period of six months.
I will be voting for Starmer as Leader, based on his competence and intelligence, though I thought that Nandy came over as very impressive. The Deputy Leader choice was, however, in many ways more interesting, partly because I know Rosena Allin-Khan very well – she was elected to Wandsworth Council in 2014 – but mainly because I knew nothing at all about Ian Murray, Scotland’s only Labour MP. As it turned out, Murray talked much the most sense of any of the candidates, partly because he knew, as the rank outsider, that he had nothing to lose and everything to gain. I will vote for Murray, because he is such an outsider and the English need to do something to woo the Scots back onside; but my second choice will be Rosena.
After last month’s massive agenda, which weighed in at 800 or so pages the 20^th February, Planning Applications Committee (PAC) agenda was almost a light-weight, at less than 300 pages. Moreover, most of the applications were of only very local interest, but as ever the public gallery was full; it nearly always is for PAC, precisely because for those people directly affected it is of all-consuming interest often affecting the value of their property, the quality of their lives or the success of their business.
On Saturday, 22^nd February, I was off to Cheam to play chess for Surrey against Essex in the U18 competition. That’s not an age qualification (if only) but the under 180 grading. I was really pleased with my play until the 43^rd move (and after 3 hours of play), when a false endgame move by me changed a drawn match to a lose! It was the best game I had played since resuming chess, after well over five decades!
On the 21^st, Penny and I went to see the first foreign language winner of the Oscars, the Korean film Parasite. Many of you will have seen the rave reviews of this strange, savage satire of both the short-sighted, silly “stinking” rich and the vicious, calculating, revolting poor, but, for Penny and me, the strangeness became bizarre and the viciousness became gratuitous. And, therefore, despite the congenial political message, we were overall disappointed. However, it did highlight just how the Oscars have been dominated by English-language films: to think that no Jules et Jim, or Fellini film, no Visconti nor Swedish film, nor Bunuel nor Eistenstein film has ever won, is a little astonishing.
On 25^th I was a “jury” member for the Wandsworth Design Awards. Receiving an award is the sole prize; there is no trophy and no cash prizes, simply a piece of paper that architects and designers can put in their CVs and work portfolios. The judges were three councillors and representatives of local amenity groups, architectural and design practices. The awards are broken down by categories such as open space design, new build, conversions and restorations – but in a couple of hours we go through the daunting task of assessing 100 or so entries. This year the entries were dominated by Battersea Arts Centre, which had entries under several headings such as restoration and accessibility (stair-free access, wheelchair friendly doors, etc.), with the magnificent Grand Hall figuring particularly highly. However, the entry that caught my eye, and all the other judges’ too, was the Thessaly Road Bridge designed by artist Yinka Ilori, who developed this design of 16 colours representing 16 types of happiness. The result is ‘Happy Street’. I am afraid that my picture does not do it justice but anyone, who knew Thessaly Road, underpass as it was, will know what an amazing transformation this is.
We had a very different evening on 28^th when we went to see Alan Ayckbourn’s Round and Round the Garden at the OSO Arts Centre, Barnes. Our old friend, and ex-Battersea resident, Robin Miller played one of the central roles with her normal charm, and, indeed, it was largely her presence which led us to go. The play, a comedy, with a gentle bitter flavour, about the angsts and mores of affluent Home Counties folk, was such a contrast to Parasite!

My Programme for March

There is a Council Meeting on 4^th
And a Healthy Streets Forum on 5^th.
We are having dinner with a former student of Penny’s, who has just completed her magnum opus – a massive, beautifully illustrated and produced nine-volume set of essays on, and diaries of, Mary Hardy, with her husband, an eighteenth-century farmer and brewer – Congratulations Margaret!
I have a meeting of the North East Surrey Crematorium Board on 10^thMarch and of the Passenger Transport Liaison Committee on the 12
I am playing chess for Surrey against Middlesex in the U180 league on 14^th.
On the 18^th March I will be attending a reception at City Hall given by Leonie Cooper, the Greater London Assembly Member, for Merton and Wandsworth.
The Battersea Society Annual General Meeting is held in St. Mary’s Church on 19^th
And March’s Planning Application Committee is on 25^th.

March 3, 2020

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Battersea Labour Party’s 2019 Annual Report

CHAIR Sara Apps

Last year, I stated that: “2019 is forecast to be a very special year …. There are no elections planned!” Well, we all know how that turned out.

Congratulations to Marsha de Cordova, and to Battersea residents for re-electing their Labour MP with a justly increased majority. But commiserations to all of us too, because the country has just elected one of the most virulently right-wing governments we’ve ever seen. It is essential that we all take responsibility for this catastrophic loss and not only elect the best leader possible to help ensure that we win next time, but do everything we can to help ensure a Labour Government is elected.

Of course, Marsha’s victory was due to many factors. The most important was Marsha’s consistent championing of the views of Battersea’s communities in Parliament. But also important was Battersea Labour’s superb campaign, led by Carmel Pollen and Amy Merrigan, with Tony Belton doing much hard work as agent. With the support of all of us, they ran one of the biggest and best constituency campaigns I have ever seen.

We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Amy for leading our campaigns over many years, demonstrating considerable wisdom on such young shoulders. She is now moving to a job in theatre management, where I am sure that she has a great future; but I am sure she will stay in touch with us.

I am very grateful to all of the executive for their efforts, particularly Matteo Tiratelli, who has undertaken all of the (very many, very great) demands of CLP secretary with a full-time job; and to the political education officers who’ve organised brilliant debates at our All Member Meetings. Thank you to all the executive members for their important contributions.

This year we successfully re-selected Sadiq Khan as our mayoral candidate and Leonie Cooper as our constituency London Assembly Member. Now we must ensure that they are re-elected! Sadiq has been an effective and rightly popular mayor, important at a time when London is facing many challenges. Leonie has done an incredible job representing a vast and diverse constituency – and it is vital that we ensure that they are both able to continue their important work for London.

I won’t be around for most of the May election campaign as I will be working in the Highlands of Scotland until the end of October! I will be around to do all I can to help the campaigning outside of those months, but it will be down to my successor, as Chair, to take the lead.

What will be the big decisions this year? Preparing for and winning the London Elections must take centre stage. But there will also be preparing for local government boundary changes and making sure that we have a diverse range of able candidates ready to stand. And thinking about how we ensure we have an effective, working Battersea Labour HQ.

SECRETARY

Matteo Tiratelli

2019 was a year that ended in tragedy with the disastrous General Election result on the 12th of December. Marsha de Cordova did a fantastic job here in Battersea and we should be proud of the amazing campaign we ran. But, the bigger picture is that, after a period of hope around 2017, Labour has now joined the rest of the European and North American centre-left by collapsing in the face of right-wing nationalism. There are no easy answers and precious few examples of successful, modern centre-left parties to draw on for inspiration (maybe Spain’s Socialist-Podemos coalition government?). But the struggle will go on and we have a huge job to do rebuilding over the next five years.

In our local CLP, we had a productive year. Our Chair, Sara, and I, together with the rest of the EC, have continued to try to reshape our local meetings, dropping a lot of the boring procedural nonsense and focusing on political education and member-led discussions (including our own set of ‘Indicative Votes’ about Brexit!). Members continue to express their preference for these kinds of active, participatory meetings and I hope that we will continue in this vein going forward.

Much of my summer was taken up with running the Trigger Ballot Process, which gave all local members a say in who Labour’s candidate for Battersea should be in the next General Election. This current system is a bit of a fudge: members are invited to vote on whether they think the current MP should be automatically re-selected, or if we should move to a full open selection. This makes it impossible to run a positive campaign where multiple candidates can throw their hats in the ring and campaign on their own merits. Instead, you have to campaign negatively, against the incumbent – hardly an attractive proposition. This fudge meant that not a single new candidate was produced through this system (in Battersea not a single vote was cast, anywhere in the CLP, in favour of opening the selection up – a great vote of confidence for our wonderful MP, Marsha). But, given the huge amount of organisational work that goes into running a Trigger Ballot, this makes them seem like a bit of a waste of time. If we are serious about being a member-led party which is open to new talent and new ideas, then this system clearly needs to be reformed. I hope that whoever our next leader is takes this seriously.

VICE-CHAIR FUND-RAISING

Matt Valentine

2019 was an eventful where the political calendar played havoc with our best laid plans for fundraising. We had some successes though. Battersea Labour sent two teams to work the bars at Glastonbury for Battersea & Wandsworth Trade Union Council. One made up of members and the other from Marsha’s office. This is a brilliant way of raising funds for the party whilst having a great time. It would be excellent if we could get more member involvement in 2020 and hopefully send some more teams. Unfortunately, the European and General Elections meant that a comedy night, Battersea’s Got Talent and a Junction Jazz evening all had to be postponed.

VICE-CHAIR MEMBERSHIP

Faruk Patel

The highlight of 2019 was undoubtedly our MP, Marsha De Cordova, retaining her seat with an increased majority (one of the rare success stories on the night for us as a Party). The campaigning effort locally was nothing short of heroic, as scores of people, from varying backgrounds, braved the cold and rainy weather to communicate the message on the doorsteps and get the vote out. Huge congratulations to everyone that was involved with this, including everyone at HQ who co-ordinated and organised this mammoth effort!

On the membership front we started the year with 1,141 members. For much of the year there was a steady churn, with our lowest level reaching 1,068 in October 2019. Many of the leavers were citing Labour’s perceived ambiguous Brexit position and leadership as being key reasons for their decision. There was a slight uplift in our membership during the GE campaign as we reached 1,089 members on the eve of the election.

However, since the General Election (GE) our membership has increased substantially. At the time of writing, our membership stands at 1,509. This represents a 39% increase since the GE! Many new members (with some being re-joiners) no doubt feel emboldened by the opportunity to vote in the Leadership and Deputy Leadership elections and a chance to play their part in the next chapter of the Labour Party.

Labour Battersea is now one of the largest Constituency Labour Parties nationally and this should be viewed as a welcome challenge. We must continue our efforts from the last couple of years actively to integrate new members to the local scene and to make our events interesting and inclusive. It has been refreshing to see a warm, comradely atmosphere. Long may this continue!

WOMEN’S OFFICERS

Lynne Jackson & Carole Maddern

We have both been busy throughout the year, supporting Marsha de Cordova, and actively campaigning during both the European and General elections. Two of our main focuses this year have been on the NHS and violence against women. We have attended and supported many events. Here are a few highlights:

A phenomenal NHS defender, Harry Leslie Smith, author of Harry’s last Stand, sadly passed away at the age of 95 – many will remember his passionate speech to Conference in 2014. There was a moving commemoration service honouring Harry at Conway Hall in February, attended by many of the Labour front bench including the leader of the party, Jeremy Corbyn.

To mark International Women’s Day (March 8) we organised a panel of speakers at the House of Commons, on the subject of violence against women. Marsha and her team kindly helped arrange this, and offered a tour of the House of Commons, with special access to St Mary Undercroft and the broom cupboard where Emily Wilding Davison hid, at the time of the 1911 census, in order to declare her residence as the House of Commons.

In the summer, we attended a number of important events. They included a screening of Witchhunt, a documentary about Jackie Walker’s experience of being expelled from the party on accusations of anti-semitism; and a day-long conference in Putney, Wandsworth Transformed which brought together hundreds of people for a huge variety of talks and panels covering everything from austerity to the climate crisis. Carole was on kitchen duty alongside Vennella Boyalla (BAME Officer) – quenching the thirst of the many! In October Black History Month was fittingly marked by a brilliant day of music, speakers and stalls with special guests including Marsha de Cordova and Maurice McLeod – both of whom also featured prominently in a special display at Battersea Library.

Later in the year, women members were invited to a performance of a new play, No Bad Women: Rape on Trial – a powerful piece based on a rape trial which made history in 1991, when, for the first time ever, a rapist was convicted for attacking sex workers. Those of us who saw the play were profoundly moved by the testimony of one of the original complainants and part of the team who took the case to court.

The snap General Election side-lined our plans for a film night and a period poverty/menstruation event in collaboration with our Environment Officers. We hope to hold these in the new year. Amidst the amazing efforts and energies of the election campaign was a visit from sisters in Peckham for a women-only canvass. And, gratifyingly, our hard work as a constituency paid off with the re-election of Marsha with an increased majority – congratulations to her and thanks to everyone who helped.

TREASURER

Tony Belton

In 2019 BLP income and expenditure almost exactly matched at £89,000. However, we started the year with outstanding debts of £19,000 in the form of loans, which was reduced to £5,000 by year end, despite the un-anticipated General Election spending.

Income (Tab 1, row 15, column 3) was £20,000 above budget, mainly thanks to £13,000 of donations, £11,000 of loans from members compensating for £3,000 less from fundraising activity. The main elements of the income were:

£47,000 from rental income
£14,000 from fund raising and donations
£11,000 loans from members and the Wandsworth Labour Group
£13,000 from standing orders, ward levies and membership subscriptions.

Expenditure (row 45) exceeded predicted budget by £39,000 – mainly because of expenditure on the General Election (GE) and reducing the debt (£19,000). Extra GE spending included £13,000 on print costs, and £8,000 on various consumables and expenses.

Context of 2020 budget assessment:

Rental income (£42,000) on the three flats at 177 Lavender Hill is, as ever, the core of our funding, with standing order contributions from members between £10-12,000 a year continuing to be our second largest and most secure income. Fund-raising income in 2019 was disappointing at just over £1,000.

But, with tight control of our expenditure prior to the General Election, we have been able to manage with taking only £5,000 in loans from members and the Labour Group.

Consequently, we enter 2020 almost exactly in balance (< £1,000) and with debts of only £5,000, which, all other things being equal, I plan to clear by 31^st March 2020.

The budget for the next six months (to 30 June 2020) does NOT allow us to employ an organiser for May’s GLA election. This puts considerable pressure on our volunteers to organise any level of campaign, but current polling suggests that in London the Tories do not pose any great threat to either the Mayor or our GLA member.

My current estimate is that, with tight control over spending this year and no great surprises, we should be in a position to employ an agent/organiser for the twelve months leading up to the Borough Election in May, 2022.

Four Year Projection: BLP will be in the black by

1st April, 2020. The current mode of operation produces a surplus of approximately £25,000 a year; NOT enough to afford a fulltime organiser and the extra expenditure that an organiser tends to generate. We need to boost income or cut expenditure by at least £10,000 p.a. to do that. We can, however, afford a full-time organiser for 2 or 3 years in the normal 4 year-cycle.

Balance Sheet:

The balance sheet shows that BLP has capital assets of over £1.5 million, based almost entirely on Featherstone Leigh’s informal desk top valuation (7th January 2019) of 177 Lavender Hill.

Audit

These figures have been audited by Chris Callaghan and Tony Tuck (auditors).

Recommendations:

That the AGM approves this report;
That both income and expenditure remain closely monitored by the EC.

Treasurer’s Report: TABLE 1.

Income & Expenditure 2019 against estimates and four-year projection of budgets from 2020 to 2023

Part 1: Income

Treasurer 1

Treasurer2

Part 2: Expenditure

16	Expenditure	Budget (2019)	Actuals (2019)	Budget (2020)	Budget (2021)	Budge (2022)	Budget (2023)
17	Campaign: Agent	6,000	4,000	–	15,000	15,000	–
18	Campaign: paper, etc.	1,000	5,001	2,500	500	5,000	500
19	Campaign: Expenses	1,000	4,767	–	–	2,000	–
20	Campaign: Post	1,000	559	700	–	500	500
21	Campaign: Print costs	1,000	13,086	–	–	10,000	–
22	Campaign: LCF exp	–	–	3,600	600	600	600
23	Campaign: Telephone	100	–	–	–	–	–
24	Campaign: Total	10,000
25	HK: Administrator	–	4,280	–	–	–	–
26	HK: Affiliation	750	20	750	750	750	750
27	HK: Bank Charge & Fees	1,000	937	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000
28	HK: Conference Costs	1,000	1,065	1,065	1,065	1,065	1,065
29	HK: Fundraising – x’s	100	–	100	100	100	100
30	HK: hardware & software	300	2,107	300	300	300	300
31	HK: Insurance	833	437	700	700	700	700
32	HK: Repayment of loans	15,700	18,700	5,000	–	–	–
33	HK: Misc	800	3,742	800	800	800	800
34	House-Keeping Total	20,483	31,288	9,715	4,715	4,715	4,715
35	LH: Corporation Tax	5,000	5,653	5,653	5,653	5,653	5,653
36	LH: General Works	500	985	500	500	500	500
37	LH: Office, Repair & Mtnc	500	323	500	500	500	500
38	LH: Rented Agent Fees	6,000	9,117	7,000	7,000	7,000	7,000
39	LH: Rented Repair & Mtn	5,000	11,716	8,000	5,000	8,000	8,000
40	Lavender Hill Total	17,000	27,793	21,653	21,653	21,653	21,653
41	Utils: Gas, Elect & BB	1,000	2,061	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000
42	Utils: Rates	105	–	–	–	–	–
43	Utils: Waste & Water	2,000	396	396	360	360	360
44	Utils Total	3,105	2,457	1,360	1,360	1,360	1,360
45 46	TotalExpenditure Surplus/Deficit	50,688 20,171	88,950 -345	40,228 17,190	43,927 15,482	61,827 5,082	65,427 11,460
47	Balance b/f	50,6817	88,9362	40,2817	20,188	,35,670	40,751
48	Balance c/f	20,188	17	17,207	35,870	40,751	70,733

Note: overall financial assets of the Battersea Labour Party do not merit a formal Balance Sheet; suffice to say that Battersea Labour Party’s assets consist almost entirely of its property, 177 Lavender Hill, SW11 5TE, which was informally valued at £1.5 million some two years ago; the Riso printer, current value maybe £3,000; and of course the immeasurable knowledge and enthusiasm of its members.

ORGANISER Amy Merrigan

I’ve had more relaxing evenings than the night of the 29th October, the day we knew an election was going to be called. Carmel Pollen, Alba Kapoor and I (with the help of Martin Linton and Sara Apps who kindly hosted us once we were kicked out of the PCS building in the evening) began to put in motion the start of Marsha’s re-election campaign.

The next few days we had an influx of Battersea Labour stalwarts who came to help. Sara started planning canvassing sessions, Kate Stock spent more time on Contact Creator then I care to think about, Pete Lyons and Brian Cairns led the first of what must have amounted to a thousand canvassing teams, Tony Belton and our candidate and sitting MP Marsha de Cordova spent a day making fundraising calls to members, Jane Eades organised and reorganised the office, Alex Wolfers began a relentless campaign of recruiting new members and Joe Shipman and Sharon Palmer gradually decanted the useful campaigning equipment from 177 into our new office space at PCS. Before we knew it, we were set up and running.

Over the 6 weeks campaign, we had around 20,000 doorstep conversations. Hundreds of BLP activists delivered thousands of leaflets and letters. We knocked on virtually every door and leafleted every school and train station.

We received numerous compliments from visiting CLPs about how smoothly our large weekend campaigning sessions ran. Volunteers gave up their Friday night every week to come into PCS and, fuelled by pizza and beer, methodically prepared everything that was needed to make our massive weekend campaign days a success. Each Saturday and Sunday with the help of a number of key BLP members, we marshalled 100s of activists into prepped and briefed canvassing teams.

The long and the short of it all was is that the campaign was driven by the generosity, kindness, knowledge and skills of BLP members. There are too many people to name – but thanks to everyone who helped us achieve a resounding Labour hold with a more than doubled majority.

POLITICAL EDUCATION OFFICERS Thom Corbett & Michael Stone

We are grateful to Battersea CLP for electing us to serve a second term as Political Education Officers.

We have sought to be true to the wishes of members expressed in the survey we ran, and in subsequent dialogue, for meetings to encourage discussion of national and local issues in a comradely manner with all views respected; and that meetings should not be dominated by procedural points, which leave most of us disengaged.

We believe we have played our part in developing the inclusive and welcoming style of AMMs, though we wish also to record our thanks to Sara Apps, who has been a magnificent Chair, and deserves much credit for the friendly tone of AMMs; and the increasing presence of new members who come along to a meeting and feel sufficiently welcomed to come again.

Matters outside of our control like the unexpected Euro Elections, the General Election and the vacancies for the positions of Leader and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, and subsequent opportunity to nominate our chosen candidates, have restricted our ability to organise the number of discussions we had planned during the year. However, we were pleased to organise:

An expert appraisal of the Brexit deal from Labour’s Head of International Trade Policy, Jon Hilary, followed by a constructive discussion about Labour’s position on the topic.
A discussion on Local Housing Policy and the Future of National Policy at which we heard from Councillor Paul White and local activist, Hannah Stanislaus, who told us about the campaign she is involved with to force the Council to address the problems experienced by council home residents in Nightingale Square, whose living conditions are nothing short of a disgrace.
A discussion on the Climate Change Crisis at which we heard from our Assembly Member, Leonie Cooper, our Co-Environment Officer Dr. Sheila Ochugboju and Tony Hay from Extinction Rebellion, the organisation that has done so much to bring this crisis to public attention.

At each debate, we heard many contributions from members, and many useful thoughts and ideas about how to move forward were generated.

Two meetings we had planned which were postponed due to the various elections that have arisen were on the subject of Taxation – What is the Fairest and Most Electorally Advantageous Means of Raising the Revenue We Need? and Youth Policy – What is Life Like for Young People (Particularly Those Most Disadvantaged Economically) In Tory Britain? If re-elected, we hope to stage both those meetings in the first half of 2020.

Two excellent meetings also took place in the year for which we deserve no credit. John McDonnell spoke to us about Labour’s Economic Policy and showed us all how well-prepared Labour was for Government and what a tragedy it is that he is not Chancellor of the Exchequer today. At another meeting, our Policy Officer, Maha Younes, spoke about working in the NHS and helped shape an excellent resolution to the National Policy Forum. Maha also planned a debate on Palestine, which was postponed due to the election and will, we hope, happen in the next few months.

The local party has agreed that when there is time for a debate, it will last not less than an hour, be the first item on the agenda and involve breaking into small groups after hearing from speakers, to ensure that everyone can feel comfortable expressing a view. We look forward to more stimulating debates in the year ahead.

YOUTH OFFICER

Ben Morgan

writes re Wandsworth Transformed

Given the rise of fake news and political misinformation, it has become increasingly difficult to trust the media that we consume. The need for participatory political education has never been more important, especially for young people. Facing an increasingly partisan media landscape where stories are often fed to us through bite-sized messaging on social media, it is easy to become pessimistic and cynical about the possibility of real change.

In response, it should be one of our tasks as a local Labour party to provide engaging, interactive and inspiring political education to empower our members. This is why I and a small group of members from Battersea, Tooting and Putney came together to organise the inaugural Wandsworth Transformed event; a day festival of panel discussions, debates and workshops with local people, experts and activists. The event joins a network of other local ‘transformed’ events springing up across the country, modelled on The World Transformed festival which happens alongside Labour Conference each year.

Held at the Community Church Putney, the discussions throughout the day ranged from climate change and the green new deal, the housing crisis, media reform, extreme inequality, racism to precarious and insecure work. The event was a huge success with over 250 people attending, including many young people. One young member at the event who had only recently started getting involved with the Labour party told me that seeing so many committed activists in one place discussing radical ideas to change society had truly inspired them to become more engaged.

Events like Wandsworth Transformed enable us to recognise how many enthusiastic and active people there are in our communities, who share in our socialist principles. We plan to continue Wandsworth Transformed into the future making it an annual event. However, this is not enough. There is much scope for continuing to build transformative political education projects in our party and communities on a much more regular basis and with an emphasis on strategy and collective action. As a party we must provide our members with the skills and tools to become more than an army of canvassers come election time, but to become active organisers in communities and workplaces.

ENVIRONMENT OFFICER

Maureen Cooper

2019 was a significant year for environment actions in Battersea. Internationally the Friday School Strikes inspired by Greta Thunberg and the national mobilisation of Extinction Rebellion. Wandsworth Borough Council took notice when environment groups in the borough, together with the newly appointed shadow spokesperson for the environment Cllr. Paula Walker, presented to a full committee meeting, a demand that a climate emergency be declared. In the face of the numbers of signatures on the petition and the crowd present outside and inside the meeting chamber – the council agreed.

As your officers we and Cllr Walker then formed a working party for organisations in the borough to come together and work to push for swift implementation of actions. The working party, which is cross borough, met at the Town Hall and with the input of Cllrs. Walker, Anderson, Denfield, McKinney and others to identify actions and ways forward. The assistance given by Beth Foster-Ogg, our organiser assigned by the Party, was invaluable. She also facilitated our public meeting at All Saints on Prince of Wales Drive, addressing the topic of Labour’s Green New Deal with Labour’s Shadow Spokesperson.

We attended a workshop at the School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS) on Financing an Inclusive and Just Transition to a Net Zero Economy, which brought home to us the complexity of what was needed for the massive job which lies ahead to achieve anything like justice in this area. The main focus was on countries in Africa which is Sheila Ochugboju’s specialist field.

Fairfield branch held an environment stall on Garratt Lane opposite Southside on the borders of Tooting and Putney to engage with local people on WBC’s response to the Climate Emergency, and I have continued to work with the energy group CREW in supporting people to get the best value for their energy bill payments through Energy Cafes. All in all, it has been an exhausting but fruitful year.

MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT

Marsha de Cordova

Overview: What a year! One General Election, almost 60 constituency surgeries and drop in events (including one in Latchmere attended by over 60 people), action taken on c.8,000 pieces of casework. and countless Brexit votes. I thank all who made this year possible – the incredible activists who campaigned for me, my fantastic team and the people of Battersea.

In Battersea: Throughout the year I have been proud to work alongside faith organisations, community groups and charities on important local issues. This included holding a Battersea Community Forum, attended by young people, faith and community leaders and the police, following a number of tragic fatalities. I will continue to fight for adequate funding for our police and vital youth services, as well as work with our community to end this crisis.

I visited and spoke at a number of local school assemblies, including at Bolingbroke, Belleville, Ark John Archer (ex-Hearnville) school and St Francis Xavier’s Sixth Form College.

We also had a number of successful local campaigns including our work to save the Route 19 bus service and saving ‘stay and play’ in the York Gardens Children’s Centre. It’s impossible to list everything, suffice to say, but one essential campaign is concerned to ensure better air quality on Battersea Park Road.

Throughout the year, I also worked with trade unions, CWU, GNB and BWTUC, to call for a decent living wage and fairer working terms and conditions for workers – including at McDonalds and for cleaners at a local hospital.

In Parliament: The Brexit crisis dominated over everything. I did all I could to oppose this Government’s damaging and delusional plans, proudly voting against both Theresa May and Boris Johnson’s catastrophic deals.

I made one hundred spoken contributions in Parliament in 2019. I was successful in the draw for three Prime Minister Questions (PMQs) including on the devastating impact of a no-deal Brexit; the failure of Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and slamming the Work and Pensions’ Department’s misleading advertising campaign promoting Universal Credit, which has driven so many constituents to debt and despair.

As Shadow Minister for Disabled People, I asked regular Departmental Questions; and I also replied to Westminster Hall Debates on behalf of the Labour frontbench. Above all, I am proud to support the Labour Party’s Disabled People’s manifesto – Breaking Down Barriers, with its vision for a society that treats disabled people with dignity and respect, according to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Disabled People (UNCRPD).

The Snap General Election: Thanks to thousands of Labour members and activists, we ran a brilliant campaign in Battersea. In total, we had some 20,000 doorstep conversations; delivered thousands of letters and leaflets; made hundreds of phone calls; and more than doubled our majority in Battersea.

Needless to say, nationally we did not get the result that we wanted. Rest assured that in opposition I will do all that I can to hold this wretched Conservative government to account. And I am sure that MPs and members will work together in unity to deliver a progressive and radical vision, which will promote Labour’s pathway back to power.

GREATER LONDON ASSEMBLY MEMBER

Leonie Cooper

2019 was a year when London, the Mayor and the Assembly took a back seat to Brexit, an unexpected May European election – and an equally unexpected December General Election. As the Greater London Authority Act specifies the number of Mayor’s Question Time and full Assembly plenary session that must be held, the General Election led to the moving of numerous meetings scheduled for November and December, but not their cancellation. This has impeded the ability of the Assembly to hold the Mayor to account during 2019 on progress on his Mayoral Transport Strategy, the Mayoral Environment and Housing Strategies – but has not completely stopped scrutiny.

From January-May 2019, the Examination in Public (EiP) of the draft London Plan took place – this looked in great detail, across many 3-hour sessions, at housing targets, support for town centres and high streets, good growth, healthy neighbourhoods and low emission neighbourhoods, to name but a few areas looked at. The draft London Plan is still draft, but is now there for the Mayor and the City Hall planning team to use when considering larger planning applications. This has already borne fruit in many applications, where the percentage of social rented housing, bicycle parking and solar panels has been increased at City Hall’s insistence.

Setting up the Violence Reduction Unit, to complement the Knife Crime Strategy, has not as yet fully borne fruit. 2019, like 2018, saw a high level of murders across London, unfortunately including, once again, in Battersea. Tory unwillingness properly to fund both the police and Councils has seen crime rise everywhere, although they have taken every opportunity to try and blame the rise in crime in London on the Mayor. The Tories have refused to give the Metropolitan Police the money to cover all the additional responsibilities associated with national demonstrations, protecting Parliament and MPs, plus the Queen and the Royal family, so the Mayoral element of Council Tax has had to rise significantly to cover these unfunded costs.

Senior officers and police stations have been cut to try and keep bobbies on the beat – but police numbers have not really been at the right levels to tackle crime across London. Despite the Prime Minister going on about a further 20,000 police officers, only an extra 1,369 officers have been allocated; and so far there have been no new recruits in Wandsworth.

Crossrail continues to be a huge problem, with delays on its opening now looking to stretch to 2021, not 2020.

However, 2019 did see the launch of the Ultra-Low Emission Zone in April – this has built on the T-Charge, and is already being attacked by the Tories, despite the current 9,000 deaths a year caused by air pollution. As it is the poorest Londoners, who are worst affected by poor air quality, it would seem the Tories usual callous approach extends to their lack of interest in improving Londoners’ health – and attacks on progress in this area continue. However, compliance has been excellent and London’s air quality is much improved. More still needs to be done to clean up London’s air, so the re-election of a Labour Mayor and Labour-dominated Assembly in 2020 is essential.

WANDSWORTH LABOUR COUNCILLORS

Simon Hogg, Leader

Together, your Labour councillors:

* Helped to elect three great Labour MPs in Battersea, Putney and Tooting

* Declared a Climate Emergency and committed the Council to be carbon neutral by 2030

* Ran excellent campaigns that have improved lives – on children’s centres, recycling, private renters, school cuts, car free day, Living Wage, adult care, food poverty, air pollution, Black History Month, sprinklers, Brexit, cycle hangars, Taxicards, homelessness and much more.

* Secured Sadiq Khan’s support for our vision of improved estate regeneration with more council homes

* Got a set of boundaries that are fair to Labour from the Boundary Review process

* Supported workers when they were badly treated – from traffic wardens and SEND drivers to staff at St George’s Hospital. We worked closely with trade unions to secure a good pay deal for all Wandsworth staff – finally ending senior staff bonuses and Dickensian sick pay practices

None of this would have been possible without Battersea Labour Party members’, your, commitment and passion. We can be proud of what we’ve achieved in 2019, and I know our councillors have enjoyed working alongside local volunteers through the highs and lows.

We’ve come a long way since 2010. Wandsworth Labour started the decade with just 9 councillors and one MP – we ended it with 26 councillors and 3 MPs. Our best is yet to come. So it’s on to the continuing challenges and new opportunities: to make a difference, to help local people, and to create a fairer Wandsworth.

LATCHMERE COUNCILLORS

Tony Belton, Simon Hogg & Kate Stock

Tony writes: Latchmere ward might very well disappear from the map very shortly. It was created in 1964 when Wandsworth and Battersea Metropolitan Councils were merged into the one London Borough of Wandsworth. Labour has held it at every election ever fought here, which I think is a record for any ward or any party in the Borough.

Simon Hogg has spent many house working to ensure that the new boundaries, due to be implemented in 2022, create a fairer distribution of seats. There have been two occasions, in 1986 and 2018, when Labour won more votes than the Tories but still had fewer councillors, and thus did not win control of the Council. The end-result of his work, along with others, appears in the Boundary Commissioners Report, which clearly states that many of its recommendations were based on the Labour Councillors’ (means Simon’s, really) submission.

The outcome will split Latchmere essentially into the new wards of Falconbrook and Battersea Park, with a small section going into Shaftesbury. So here is a proud historical record of all Labour councillors who have represented the ward since 1964: Brian Prichard; John Dunning; Les Goodwin; Alex McLaughlin; Fred Shaw; Bernard Dwyer; Maurice Lawson; Elsie Hoadley; Fred Wells; Michael Barley; Alan McGarvey; Christine Cox; Maurice Johnson; Tony Tuck; Samantha Heath; Bhavna Joshi; Leonie Cooper; Wendy Speck; Simon Hogg; Kate Stock; and Tony Belton.

QUEENSTOWN COUNCILLORS

Aydin Dikerdem, Maurice McLeod & Paula Walker

In May, tragedy struck the Doddington Estate, yet again as Brazilian delivery driver, Iderval da Silva, was murdered by youths trying to steal his motorbike.

The murder happened very close to where Ian Tomlins was killed just a few months earlier and residents were understandably upset. Queenstown Councillors were on the scene within hours of the murder to help police and reassure residents and we conducted a door-to-door canvas the next weekend to give residents an opportunity to share their concerns.

Following conversations with residents in the wake of Mr da Silva’s death, we embarked on a campaign to encourage the Council to put more community space on to the estate. There are a lot of young people on the estate who seem to have nowhere to go. The old community space under Arthur Court has been closed for years, following a series of leaks and the Queenstown Councillors are arguing that this space or something similar should be invested in and opened up for the benefit of the estate.

In the summer we held a listening exercise with residents, Labour Party members and community groups. This culminated in a fantastic event at All Saint’s Church to share ideas on how to improve our environment in Battersea, in line with Labour’s Green New Deal policy. These ideas have been incorporated in Labour’s participation in the Climate Emergency declaration and resulting action plan in Wandsworth.

In July, the Council opened a new building on the Savona Estate. Edward Foster Court was opened to great fanfare and will provide desperately needed social homes. Unfortunately, however, this property was still sitting empty at the end of the year. Only one family moved in just after Christmas and there had been some vandalism. Queenstown Councillors have been pursuing the Council for answers as to why it has taken so long to provide this much needed housing.

In August, all residents of Cromwell House had to be evacuated in the middle of the night after the contractors used the wrong paint! Queenstown Cllrs were on the scene the next day to help residents and support community volunteers, residents and council staff. We then demanded answers from the Council about the incident.

Following a campaign by Labour Cllrs and Marsha de Cordova, Black History Month came back to Wandsworth in October. The Council rebranded it as ‘Diversity Month’ but Labour argued that this diluted the focus on black communities. Battersea Labour held a very successful event in Broomwood Methodist Church with live performances, talks from Marsha de Cordova, cultural stalls and a panel of expert speakers.

In 2017, Wandsworth Council decided to install sprinklers in all of its tall buildings. The move would have seen the Council retrofit the sprinklers in a blanket approach and the borough’s 2600 leaseholders, including many on the Doddington Estate, would have picked up a £4k bill. Wandsworth Councillors supported residents in coming together to oppose these charges and to find legal representation. Just after Christmas after more than a year of legal wrangles, the First Tier Tribunal struck out the Council’s case. This has been a massive waste of residents’ time and money.

ST. MARY PARK COUNCILLOR

Emily Wintle

Battersea Election 2019 Analysis

After a hard-fought battle, and one of the best campaigns in the country, despite a sad night for Labour, we were thrilled with the Battersea result. As well as the overall result, sampling at the count gives us a huge amount of data about how people voted across the constituency. These insights are incredibly helpful in understanding where the labour vote is and help shape future campaigning. A big

Turnout caveat is that this is “sampling” data and, while it is likely to be pretty accurate, it is not official data and therefore needs to be used with usual caution.

Overall, this was a high turnout election compared to 2017, with overall turnout at 76% compared to 71%. Projected turnout shows highest turnout in Northcote and Balham with lowest turnout in our Labour wards of Latchmere and Queenstown.

Result

Labour share was 46% of the overall vote and Conservative was 36%. Labour votes share was also 46% in 2017 and Conservative was 42%. Labour held on to its vote share with Conservatives losing votes to Lib Dem and Green.

Projected Result by Ward

Sampling data suggests that we won every ward, with the biggest majorities in our core Labour Wards of Latchmere and Queenstown, and with the slimmest win in Northcote. (The editor adds: Emily Wintle sat analysing the data during the count on the night of 12/12/19 and was asked to produce this overview report especially for Battersea Labour – and she has done a great job).

ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Brighton

Sarah Apps, Lynne Jackson, Carole Maddern and Sonya Davis

Carole Maddern writes: Labour Conference is surprisingly gripping. There is no gentle snoozing. Even when the motions are sure to be passed overwhelmingly, the speeches are really interesting – from delegates across the UK, with all accents imaginable. There is a real feeling that people are talking from, often painful or inspiring, personal experience. So, speeches from rank-and-file trade union delegates bring home the reality of working-class life in Tory Britain.

Conference is fantastically diverse, with women in particular playing a central role in every debate. And the atmosphere is buzzing.

Sadly, the Deputy Leader’s speech had to be cancelled to make way for the Leader’s speech so that he could return to London and deal with the legal judgement against Parliament’s prorogation, which was announced in the middle of the Conference. In these circumstances, Jeremy Corbyn’s speech was inspiring, as ever.

Battersea’s motion – integrate private schools: Carole found it “a real privilege” to present Battersea’s motion – though when she agreed to do this, she had “no idea that she would be presenting to the whole conference ….”

The motion was wrongly presented in the media as a proposal to abolish private schools. In fact, however, it was actually to amalgamate private schools with state schools, pooling resources, and providing equal access for education to all children and young people.

Clause Four: The National Executive Committee proposed a review process of the aims and objectives of the Party (i.e. Clause 4 on membership cards). On that basis, the attempt to restore the old Clause Four was defeated, although about 60% of the Constituency Labour Party delegates supported this move.

National Constitutional Committee membership: the Battersea delegates voted for Stephen Marks, Gary Heather, and Jabran Hussain. All three were successful. Conference Arrangements Committee (Disabled Members Rep) – the Battersea delegates voted for Andy Thompson, who was sadly unsuccessful, defeated by Katrina Murray (nominated by USDAW and UNISON)

Democracy review: All the new detailed regulations for these sections were passed convincingly by conference. They should now be implemented in each CLP this year.

Brexit: From the vantage point of delegates in the hall, Composite 13, which sought to commit the Party to a “remain” position (i.e. even against a deal Labour had negotiated) was clearly lost on a show of hands. In fact, a card vote would have been wise on such a contentious issue, but that is all history now. The Battersea delegation voted for the NEC policy statement and Composite 14, both of which were overwhelmingly carried.

Green New Deal: All the media pundits were feverishly predicting splits and trade union backwardness but they were all disappointed as the motion on the Socialist Green New Deal was passed overwhelmingly by both CLP and Trade Union delegates. It commits the party to net zero carbon emissions by 2030 and a range of exciting policies to achieve these urgent priorities.

Immigration: The “controversial” motion on immigration, which promised to “maintain and extend free movement rights” and “Close all detention centres”, was in the event passed overwhelmingly by CLPs and Unions alike.

National Policy Forum document and references back: Some members may have witnessed the humiliating, televised chaos of the first voting session on various references back of sections of the NPF document as presented to Conference. Some CLPs are now really taking this right very seriously. Indeed, one CLP, Brighton Kemptown, moved dozens of them. Some references back from various branches were on substantive points of policy, while others were much more suggestions of improved drafting and emphasis.

On that first day, delegates were asked to vote on references back on individual paragraphs of a huge document, which had not been seen. It was all very confusing and the chair was as confused as were the delegates. It was all avoidable, moreover, as the next day the Conference Arrangements Committee document contained all the wordings of that day’s references back, allowing delegates to vote in a sensible fashion. This issue needs to be urgently looked at, as it eats up a huge amount of conference time. In fact, the whole National Policy Forum concept needs root-and-branch reform.

Trail, mail, water renationalisation; £1.8 billion for battery production factories; and the Green New Deal. Finally, Conference agreed on Labour’s strategy for stopping a no-deal Brexit – a policy that is now obsolete.

Obituaries

Samantha Louise Heath
6 June 1960 – 28 March 2019

By Sara Apps

Samantha Heath never reached five feet tall, but she was tall for her height and her impact on the environment immediately around her and for the whole of London was and is profound.

Samantha trained as a Civil Engineer at Heriot-Watt University – then as now a rare choice for a woman. After graduation, she worked for 10 years for Robert McAlpine Ltd and lectured at Greenwich University from 1992.

Alongside her University role, she developed her political career and her involvement in environmental issues. She was elected as a Wandsworth Councillor in 1994 and in 2000 was elected as one of 25 London Assembly Members.

Samantha played a significant role as both the Deputy Chair of the Assembly 2003-04 and also as the first Chair of the London Assembly Environment Committee 2000-04, pushing forward many of the strategies to deal with urgent issues with which London and other global cities are still grappling today.

Samantha also worked hard on ensuring that an Energy Strategy was developed that focused on renewable energy. She was instrumental in getting the London Energy Partnership off the ground – a body which brought together a range of private, public and academic representatives. She became its first chair when it was launched in 2004; and welded it into a dynamic force.

Samantha also chaired the London Sustainable Development Commission, where she was the Mayor’s representative on its Energy Taskforce. Here she was successful in seeing the GLA adopt a Carbon Emission Reduction Target, making London one of the first cities to adopt such a target.

Subsequently, Samantha became the Chief Executive of the London Sustainability Exchange, where she worked until 2018. LSx works with many local groups, particularly on air quality Citizen Science projects, leading local groups to demand further improvements in cleaning up London’s air.

Living with cancer for a number of years, Samantha was determined to get every last ounce out of life. Most people with secondary cancer would not dream of standing for the local council, but in 2018 Samantha threw everything she had at it and very nearly won.

To mark our admiration of Samantha, Battersea Labour Party donated two trees presented to her family at the moving memorial event, held at Battersea Arts Centre.

We continue to be inspired by Samantha, who set high standards for herself and for the Labour Party that she loved. We send our love to her son, Eliot; her partner David; her father Harvey Heath; her brothers and sister; and the wider family.

Samantha is much missed and cherished.

Peter Taylor

4 February 1980 – 14 September 2019

By Martin Linton

We were all shocked and saddened to hear of the death of former Battersea Labour Party secretary Peter Taylor, at the age of 39. He held various positions in Battersea and Wandsworth Labour parties. He was chair of the Wandsworth Local Campaigns Forum. He missed becoming a Wandsworth councillor by just 62 votes in Queenstown in 2014 – the year when we finally regained our first seat there.

But that doesn’t really do justice to the role Peter played in Battersea. Every party has one or two members who are dedicated but naively idealistic and totally unrealistic. As a counterweight every party needs someone like Peter who is deeply sceptical, almost to the point of cynicism, and brutally realistic. Peter was all of these, but was always able to clothe differences of opinion in a cocoon of humour. He had good political judgment, never carried away in fits of enthusiasm. He kept all our feet on the ground.

Rising rents in Battersea and missing out in the elections forced Peter to move to Croydon – like so many activists before him – which was a tragedy for us as well as for him as he could have (and in time would have) been an excellent councillor and given great service to his community.

At his funeral, there was a brilliant eulogy given by his contemporary Nigel Fletcher, now a Tory councillor in Greenwich, with whom he maintained a life-long friendship. It ranged across all of Peter’s many interests, debating, cricket, classical music, London Zoo, Australian politics and many more.

He was brought up on Hayling Island, near Portsmouth, and studied at the London School of Economics, where he was heavily engaged in student politics, serving for a time on the National Union of Students executive, leading on to a career as a student union and university administrator, working for an eclectic range of organisations from Battersea’s Royal Academy of Dance to the General Dental Council.

I passed on written tributes from people who could not attend. “He had such a brilliant, and thoughtful, sense of humour,” – Rex Osborn. “A wryly witty person of great kindness. We’ll miss his jokes and his commitment.” – Penny Corfield. “Peter was a giant of a man – intellectual, interesting and incredibly thoughtful – held back, in the 15 years I knew him, by health issues and money worries. He was the best councillor (and indeed, council leader) we never had.” – Will Martindale. (The editor adds: And Peter was an efficient Secretary of Battersea Labour Party.)

These tributes would be echoed by the many councillors and party members from Battersea and other parts of Wandsworth who came to Portsmouth for the funeral

Danny Truell

Born 1963 – d. 29 September 2019

By Will Martindale

A Labour member throughout his life, including many years here in Battersea, Danny Truell died in September 2019, aged 55.

Some would say that Danny was atypical for a Labour activist. Danny was a former managing director of Goldman Sachs, Chief Investment Officer of the Wellcome Trust, and the founder of a multi-billion dollar insurance fund.

But even if Danny did see the contradiction, he didn’t care. He wanted good, efficient, radical Labour government. “Go digital”, Danny said at a Labour meeting in the basement office of 177 Lavender Hill. “Be the first fully digital council”. This was in 2006, years before councils did indeed go digital.

That’s not to say that Danny would shy away from who he was. A rich banker, with a privileged upbringing. But Labour was his party. And when the Party asked for his help, Danny would say yes (and very generously, Ed.).

Danny wasn’t flash. His ground-floor flat in Clapham Junction was nice, but not extraordinary. He enjoyed the sunshine, sitting in his south west-facing garden, with a glass of wine, a strong cigar, and a point to make.

Later in his life, the glass of wine would be balanced precariously in an increasingly shaking hand. As his health deteriorated, Danny coasted through the living room holding table to chair to door handle in the manner of a child learning to walk. He was fragile. Diminutive even. But once seated, his mind would whir, with talk of closed-door meetings with Cameron or Putin. Danny chaired the powerful B20 investment group, the business equivalent to the G20.

Danny was not just good at his job, but the best. Danny was a winner. And he wanted his party – the Labour Party – to win too.

DONATIONS IN 2019:

Finally, Battersea Labour Party expresses warm thanks to all members for their subscriptions and to the following for their additional financial support: Joseph Afrane, Samuel Albert Amoako, Sara Apps, Elizabeth Barnard, Susan Barty, Tony Belton, Diana Birkett, Brian Cairns, Chris Callaghan, Elizabeth Carboni, Richard Card, Alan Cooper, Penelope Corfield, Emma Cornish, the estate of Priscilla Cornwall-Jones, John Cox, Aydin Dickerdem, Maureen Docherty, Ed Elliott, David Fairbairn, Deidre Feehan, David Franklin, Andy Gibbons, Richard Hatfield, Susan Hayday, Harvey Heath, Jon Hilary, Simon Hogg, Peter Holland, Lynne Jackson, Ian Jewesbury, Monash Kessler, Belinda & Sandy Kirby, Tom Kirk, Mr. Lewis, Martin Linton, David Lovell, Rob Lugg, John Lyons, Maurice McCleod, Sally Manders, P Marsh, Will McDonald, Brendan McMullen, Mark Mildred, A. P. Munsie, Toby Naish, Cynthia Newman, Wendy Nicolson, Sue Nye, Stoby Orotayo, John Oughton, Jenny Pardington, Fred Ponsonby, Margaret Post, Aaron Quinn, Sarah Rackham, David Rathbone, Gery Roberts, S Rossi, Donald Roy, Jenny Sheridan, Jonathan Smith, Kate Stock, Basil Strong, Derek Sutton, Rachel Trim, Tony Tuck, Unite, Barrie Vince, Paula Walker, Susan Watt, Prunella West, Timothy West, Cynthia Willis, Emily Wintle, Steve Worrall, Eleftherios Yannoulopoulus, Gulay Yurdal-Michaels, and, of course, Putney Labour Party.

MAKE A DONATION – EVERY LITTLE (OR LARGE) HELPS:

All financial help given directly to Battersea Labour Party gives us invaluable extra scope for local campaigning.

Did you know that your annual Membership fees go the national Labour Party, which sends only 5% of the income back to the Battersea constituency. We are very dependent upon the 100 or so members, who contribute an average of £10 per month, on top of their membership fee. Our income from these quite small standing orders amounts to over £10,000 a year.

The snap election that took place in December, 2019, stretched our finances to the limits and we start the New Year in debt, by a few thousand pounds. We are hardly in a position to fight the GLA and the London Mayoral elections this coming May. Those elections will probably cost us £10,000 on top of our normal costs.

We really need to add to our income from standing orders. One hundred £10 per month contributions would transform our finances.

Please, go online NOW and start a monthly standing order to Co-operative Bank:-

Account Name: BLP Fundraising Account

Sort Code: 08-90-34

Account no: 50448065

Reference: Surname, initial

Or for hard copy of standing-order form, contact Treasurer: Tony Belton:

tonybelton99@gmail.com

February 12, 2020

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Councillor Tony Belton’s Battersea February, 2020, Newsletter (# 128)

The General Election dominated my January just as much as it dominated December. In many ways the main chore for the agent (I was Marsha de Cordova’s election agent once again) is to do the expense returns and to do them by January 16th. Miss that date and you could be fined; get the expenses wrong then you have to explain why. It is not a fun job and I, like many, leave it to the last minute. I was getting worried that week, only to be told by the Electoral Registration Officer, when I eventually handed ours in, that I was one of the first to do so! Those sleepless nights!
One interesting piece of analysis showed just how well Labour had done in Battersea. I am indebted to Councillor Emily Wintle, St. Mary Park ward, for the stats, which she was busily producing whilst the rest of us “invigilated” at the count.
First of all, a note on the methodology: the ballot is of course secret but the ballot boxes are numbered and the Town Hall produces a list of numbers per ward. So, for example, ballot papers for residents in polling district LMA in Latchmere ward votes were in, say, boxes 201 and 202. Party observers, all parties, stand behind the counters (as you have probably seen on TV) and count as many votes for each party as they can. Hence if out of 200 votes seen, one can see that the Labour candidate had 83 votes and the Tory candidate 76 votes then the Latchmere sample would suggest Labour has 42.5% of the vote to the Tory’s 38%. Rough and ready perhaps but fairly accurate.
Emily’s first conclusion was that Turnout was high overall at 76% compared to 71% in 2017. It seems that the projected turnout was highest in Balham, Northcote and Shaftesbury at just over 80%. However, in Queenstown only just over 65% made the effort. There are, of course, other factors. Queenstown almost certainly has a more transitory electorate than Northcote and because of that instability Queenstown’s register is probably less accurate – in other words the 15% differential in turnout is half technical, because the register is less accurate, and half demographic, because the population is less locally committed, younger and less established than Northcote’s.
The actual result was, as shown in this pie chart. Labour’s share was 46% of the overall vote and the Conservative share 36%. Labour’s vote share was also 46% in 2017 but the Tory vote was 42%. So, this indicates that Labour held on to its vote share, but the Tories lost votes to both the Lib Dem and Green.
The sampling suggested that Labour won every ward, with the biggest majorities in the core Labour ward of Latchmere and with the slimmest win in traditionally the safest Tory ward in Battersea: Northcote.
The rest of the month was, in political terms, very quiet – even to the extent that not one constituent turned up to my Council surgery on the 18^th Actually, I doubt the value of council surgeries. It is an iron law of representative politics that elected MPs and councillors should hold surgeries, but it is an iron law from an earlier age. Today, most constituents have readier access to a phone or emails than to weekly councillor surgeries and there is no question that the vast majority of cases come through the phone or email. So, when I go to my surgery, I make sure that I have plenty to read!
The only other big event of my month was the Planning Applications Committee on 28^th January – and this was a “biggy”. The agenda was a brutal 796 pages long, or should it be thick? Obviously, there was very little chance of all 796 pages being read, analysed and understood by all the committee members in the five days we had the papers. But that’s not the total point. The paperwork demonstrates all the issues that had been considered and the conclusions that planning officers had drawn before making their recommendations to the Committee. The paperwork is, itself, a public and legal justification for the recommendation in the event of a judicial challenge.
By far the largest application this month was about the Winstanley Estate Regeneration. That really is a misnomer as it includes the total demolition of the York Road 2 Estate and only relatively few of the Winstanley Estate blocks. In outline, the development envisages the demolition of 759 residential units, a school and a chapel, and their replacement by 2,550 new units. In addition, there is to be a new swimming pool, a gym, a library and new healthcare facilities. The new housing units will be in a combination of new tower blocks and of quadrangles of mansions, designed to complement the mansion blocks surrounding Battersea Park. The new housing will be a mix of council housing, shared equity, affordable rent, shared ownership and private units.
The Labour councillors have for many years been in negotiation with the Tory councillors, who are formally and constitutionally in control of the Council, about the mix of social and private housing. There are nowhere enough social housing units in this development to satisfy our demands, but on the other hand there are not as may private units as Tory councillors initially wanted. There will also be scope to vary the mix in the future. Personally, I think that the tall blocks are excessive – one has 35 storeys – and, I am sure that relocating
York Gardens itself a few yards to the east (nearer Falcon Road) will have its problems. But I, and I am sure most of the residents, will be pleased that at last the project is really getting underway.
The new externally completed block at the corner of Grant and Plough Roads as seen here is, I think, an encouraging sign of the design quality that is being introduced, with the balconies referencing the Winstanley’s famous William Mitchell’s concrete sculptures.
There were also two applications for 23 storey blocks in the Nine Elms Lane area, which included residential units and “affordable” office accommodation, and another for a 16-storey development opposite Caius House and what used to be the Chopper pub. This latter item was deferred as councillors were not convinced by recent design changes, which reduced the amount of housing provided simply because social housing providers are NOT prepared to use the same entrances and exits as private residents. This complication is not a reverse snobbery but instead a justified fear about high service charges.
The end result of the evening was yet more tower blocks in north Battersea, which, if nothing else, has revolutionised the townscape. I doubt whether this change is very popular with the public at large, but given the rapid expansion in London’s population and the kind of developments the London Mayor and the Government are prepared to accept, the trend seems inexorable.
Finally, on 31^st I went to hear Keir Starmer give a “Labour leadership bid” speech in Westminster Abbey hall. He doesn’t give ribaldly funny speeches, laced with jokes about Boris Johnson, or passionate, “to die for” speeches as Michael Foot used to deliver. But he does give very considered, comprehensive speeches and, when he answers questions, he does actually answer the question asked and not the one that allows him the flashiest answer.

My Programme for February

Battersea Labour Party had a fund-raising evening on the 2^nd.
There was a Council Meeting on 5^th
And a Strategic Planning and Transport Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 6^th.
I have a Wandsworth Foodbank event on 13^th February, centred around a film by Ken Loach, which is bound to be both brilliant and agonising.
I will be going to a hustings event in Central London on 16^th February to hear the candidates for both Leader and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party. Younger readers might be surprised to hear that this procedure is a very, very recent innovation into British politics. It has a functional similarity to the American Primary Elections, even if we do them in a rather different way. But because it emphasises the Leader, in rather the same way as the Americans emphasise the President and his principal opponent, as opposed to the collective of MPs, I can’t help feeling that in the long-term this trend will have constitutional implications not yet understood.
February’s Planning Application Committee is on 20^th.
I may be playing chess for Surrey on 22^nd.
And finally, on the 25^th February there is a presentation on the Tideway Tunnel, which appears to be a large-scale infrastructure improvement in London, which is both on time and on budget. It is due to be completed in 2024 and only just in time judging by the increasingly variable weather!

January 7, 2020

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Councillor Tony Belton’s Battersea January, 2020, Newsletter (# 127)

December was, of course, dominated by the General Election. But first, on the 4^th, I went with Labour’s candidate, Marsha de Cordova, for Xmas lunch at Haven Lodge, Kambala Estate. It was a lovely but quiet event and as such a fairly standard campaigning occasion. But what was new to me was the Lodge’s spectacular set of photographs of Battersea in the early twentieth century. I only have room for two here but I hope that you enjoy them. The first has an open-topped 37 bus in St. John’s Road, heading for Herne Hill via Brixton, according to its head-board, passing a horse-drawn coal-lorry, the same route as the 37 follows even to this day! You can clearly distinguish the clock on Hinds, the jewellers, with the “new” Arding and Hobbs tower behind. Hence this picture almost certainly dates from1910-1914. And the second is the old Arding and Hobbs, before the 1909 fire destroyed the shop leading to the building, which we all know today.
And so, to the 12^th, and the disastrous
(as far as I am concerned) election result. I would, however, like to share with you some fairly random thoughts, that may or may not surprise depending upon how closely you follow these things. But first the locally great news of a big win for Labour in Wandsworth with our three MPs, (from the left) Tooting’s Rosena Allin-Khan, Putney’s Fleur Anderson and Battersea’s Marsha de Cordova, seen here immediately after the count.
With a 6% swing to Labour, Putney was the only true Labour gain in the country (I say “true” because all the other so-called gains were in seats such as Streatham, where Labour simply recaptured one lost to defections, such as Chuka Umunna). But Battersea also had a 2.5% swing to Labour as did Canterbury. I haven’t found a simple table comparing swings across the country, but these three were probably Labour’s stars of the night. (Neighbouring Tooting had a small 1% swing to the Tories.)
Putney’s large swing makes Battersea, probably for the first time, the most marginal Labour seat in the borough, even if by only the tiniest margin. If Marsha had about another 80 votes then Putney would re-take this somewhat unwanted title!
This election gave a better indication than usual about the impact of, so-called, third-party interventions, especially perhaps when neither “main” party was exactly popular. For example, in the “safe” third-party seat of Brighton Pavilion, Caroline Lucas, the popular Green pictured here, achieved a 4.4% swing from Labour and a 3.3% one from the Tories. Meanwhile in neighbouring Richmond Park, perhaps the least surprising gain of the night, the swings to the Lib/Dem’s Sarah Olney from both Labour and Tory were identical at 6%. It appears in both cases, that the Green/Lib/Dem candidate was taking an almost identical number of votes from both Tory and Labour. In Kensington, where Labour lost by a mere 150 votes, this seemed to be confirmed and yet decisive, with the Liberals registering a 6.5% swing from the Tories and a 6.7% swing from Labour.
The moral of the story being? I’m not sure except that the British first-past-the-post electoral system is so strong that, where the previous election was essentially a two-horse race, then it was almost certainly a wasted vote supporting third party candidates. So, for example, the Lib/Dems may have looked a tempting prospect in many parts of the country but they barely got anywhere near winning, except where they were already in first or second place; just as Labour also got nowhere near winning anywhere in the country, unless Labour was already in first or second place.
The rise of the Scots NP from third-party obscurity to apparently total dominance, is the major exception to this rule. But I think we can all agree that Scotland is just possibly that oddity “the exception that proves the rule”.
Ironically, of the four current councillors, from Wandsworth, one of the strongest Tory local authorities in the country, who stood in the General Election, the three Tories lost and the one Labour councillor, namely Fleur Anderson, won. That must be some kind of a record! By the way, to my knowledge, there are now seven ex-Wandsworth councillors currently serving as M.P.s. They are the Tories Lucy Allan, Paul Beresford, Christopher Chope, Charles Walker and Nadhim Zahawi, and Labour’s Rosena Allin-Khan and (now) Fleur Anderson.
This was the 14^th General Election, in which I played an active role, as well as 14 Council elections, half a dozen GLC elections, 5 GLA ones, three Referendums and a few European elections – a total of well over 40. It started with a great victory when I was the Labour organiser in St. Mary Park in 1968 (and a ghastly defeat in 1970’s General Election). By the way, in case you hadn’t noticed, this time I was Marsha de Cordova’s agent and hence on any printed matter you received from her you will have seen a small imprint saying “Promoted by Tony Belton”. That’s not exactly a great adrenalin buzz but elections continue to thrill and agonise me in almost equal measure. This picture shows our core team of Carmel Pollen (centre), Amy Merrigan (also with the rosette) and me at the count.
Most notably, not one of the recent rebels, such as Labour’s Mike Gapes and Chuka Umunna, or the Tories Dominic Grieve and Anna Soubry, won or retained their seats despite registering variable swings of 8% to 20% in their favour.
The three Wandsworth M.P.s are all women, of whom the most senior, Rosena Allin-Khan, has been an M.P. for all of three and a half years. This must be a first in terms of both gender and experience. It is not true, however, as some have said, that it is a first for all three to be from the one party. All three Wandsworth MPs were Labour from 1964-1979 (Hugh Jenkins, Douglas Jay/Ernie Perry/Alf Dubs and Tom Cox) and from 1997-2005 (Tony Colman, Martin Linton and Tom Cox), whereas they have never all been Tory.
Historic footnote. Actually from 1964-1983, there were four Wandsworth seats, with the miniscule Battersea North (essentially the current St. Mary Park, Latchmere and Queenstown) being merged into Battersea South in the 1983 Parliamentary re-distribution. Douglas Jay, pictured, was Battersea North MP and a member of Harold Wilson’s Cabinet, 1964-70.
My friend Mike has done some research on the age profile of the UK electorate and he tells me that of the 100 constituencies with the fewest number of older constituents (voters 65+ years old) Labour now holds 99. The odd one out is Brighton Pavilion, held by the Green, Caroline Lucas.
Equally of the 100 constituencies with the largest 18-34 year-old electorate, Labour now holds 84, the Tories 13, and the LibDems, Plaid and Green one each. It really does appear that in 2019 age was a more significant indicator of political leaning than class, education, socio-economic standing or, in England at least, region. (Scotland and Northern Ireland are clearly different, but I suspect Wales is more likely to be like England). Unfortunately, it is difficult to tell whether this evidence means that the UK is bound in time to fall to Labour or simply that as people get older/more mature they get more conservative/cautious!
On a personal note, we went to Winchester (family) and Bath over Christmas itself, including a visit to the Recreation Ground, where we were entertained by Bath’s 16 – 14 victory over the Sale Sharks. But although it was keenly fought, I remain to be convinced that Rugby Union is really a spectator sport. On a dark, murky afternoon most of the action at the other end of the pitch was indecipherable, so at one point I was convinced that the Sharks had scored a try when in fact it was a Bath defensive touch-down.
Whilst in Bath we went to the delightful Theatre Royal to see a great pantomime performance of Beauty and the Beast, which featured, perhaps I should say starred, a great take-off of Boris Johnson, by the classic “Dame”, Nick Wilton, pictured here. If the audience in Bath can be helpless with laughter at the lampooning of the “oven-ready” Prime Minster, then not everything will be gloomy in 2020!
Returning to London, I stopped at the “Duchess of Somerset Hospital (1695)” on the A4. Many of you may have driven past it, just a couple of miles west of Hungerford and wondered what it was. I stopped and discovered inside it an exquisite estate of very large (for 1695) almshouses provided for retired clergymen and their widows. It was well worth the stop, especially for historians of the 17th and 18th centuries!

My Programme for January

I am not finished with the General Election as I have to complete the Labour Party election expenses return for Battersea by 17^th And if they are wrong then although the MP, Marsha de Cordova, would no doubt be under fire, I am the one who would go to jail! So, no pressure there, then.
I am due to take part in an estate inspection of Wayford Street and Este Road on 13th January, and on the 15^th the Power Station people are inviting councillors and others to an update on progress on the Power Station and the Northern Line Extension to Battersea Park.
Meanwhile the chess season starts in earnest on 14^th January and I have my first surgery of the year on 18^{^th}
On 28^th January I have the Planning Applications Committee.
My political scene will, however, be dominated by two issues, one being the election of a new Labour Leader to succeed Jeremy Corbyn and the other the response of many to Brexit on 31st January. More than three quarters of the Battersea population voted to remain in the EU but, in the Prime Minister’s view, Brexit will be done by the end of the month. It probably will be in a headline grabbing sense, but it won’t be over in the real negotiating sense until at least the end of the year. One so-called Grass Roots Conference will be held on this subject on 25^th January; I will be there to take part.
If you have views on the future leadership and/or Britain and the EU, I would be happy to hear them and discuss, including passing them on to the MP.

December 10, 2019

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Review of A Day in the Death of Joe Egg

On Friday, 29/11/19, we went to see a revival of A Day in the Death of Joe Egg. This iconic play of the 1970s was written by Peter Nichols, one of the lesser-known so-called “kitchen sink” dramatists. The synopsis, telling of a marriage under strain as husband and wife struggled to bring up a disabled adolescent daughter, was hardly encouraging – it didn’t look like the stuff of a great evening out. How wrong can you be?

Sensational acting from Toby Stephens and Claire Skinner lit up a hugely sympathetic, humane and understanding work. The dialogue was very funny despite, or was it because of, the totally unsentimental script. It was not surprising to discover that the content was partly autobiographical.

Bri, played by Stephens, was racked with frustration and guilt over his inadequacies as a father. Predictably the male lead was pre-occupied, though understandably, in essentially egotistical concerns; the female lead, as so often in life, was pre-occupied with keeping life tolerable and even livable, even whilst stoking her husband’s jealousy about the time and concern she lavished on Joe.

The two well-meaning friends were hopelessly adrift in a sea of emotions quite beyond their life experiences and, in truth, they were less well-written or liked by both the author and the audience.

The staging was simple and effective, the directing sharp and precise. It was, we agreed, the most moving and commanding performance we had seen since Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.

October 7, 2019

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Councillor Tony Belton’s Battersea October, 2019, Newsletter (#124)

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

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

The following Tuesday, 17^th September I had the Planning Applications Committee (PAC). There was only one application of any real significance and that related to the semi-permanent, so-called, British Genius site in Battersea Park. The Committee agreed to allow the “temporary” structure even though the application was for a building 2 metres higher than the current one and for a longer, four-year, period. I am afraid that I am going to make myself unpopular with a few of my friends, who live very close to the Park, by saying that I think it is about time that we dropped the fiction of the structure being temporary. It has now been there for a long time and I rather doubt that any future PAC is going to refuse it permission. What is more I very, very much doubt that anyone could defend a refusal at an appeal hearing. Moreover, the sooner that the Genius site is accepted as an established part of the Park, then the more we can address the serious issue of landscaping the area around it appropriately.
On 24^th September, I was at the Strategic Planning and Transportation Committee. There were some items about long-term planning issues, which, although very important for the future of the Borough, get a little lost in the technicalities and will not have much affect for many years. Hence they are difficult to describe. Of more immediate interest to lots of people were two items about cycling, which could have an effect in almost every street. First was the Council’s decision to have an e-bike contract. Let me confess, I don’t fully understand the system, whereby armed only with a membership card, anyone can use an e-bike from anywhere to anywhere. What happens as regards repairs, or returning the bikes to some base, any base? Are there insurance issues? None of these questions were considered and they certainly weren’t answered. We were simply re-assured that the company given the contract was willing to take all the risks and that there would be no cost to the Council. It was not, I think, a brilliant moment for the Committee, for which I take some responsibility as the lead on the Labour side – but my excuse is that the Tories have sucked all the life-blood out of the committee structure, which is now totally inadequate as a democratic constraint. As I have already noted, the committees are now restricted in time; worse debate and discussion are discouraged – overview and scrutiny is bound to suffer in the longer term.
The second item on cycling referred to cycle parking and the fraught question of cycling security. As someone who has lost four (4) bicycles to theft and had a saddle and endless numbers of lights stolen from my bikes, I have something of an interest on this issue – if you are worried about car theft, you should spare a thought for the poor cyclists, who face far greater problems. So, to the good news: the Council has agreed to the provision of lockable bike hangars in our streets subject to demand and consultation. Paul Ellis, the councillor in charge, says he hopes for 40 such hangars to be in place in the course of the next year. The picture shows a bike hangar in Southwark.
Meanwhile, of course, all hell has broken loose at a national level. Every news bulletin has brought shocks, horrors and total surprises. We have a Prime Minister, who, as of now, has lost every single one of seven (7) votes in Parliament and who has had a unanimous decision of the Supreme Court going against him. We have four weeks left before we leave the European Union OR stay in against the Prime Minister’s wishes. In four weeks time, we may or may not have trading agreements with our major customers and suppliers.
The country’s governing Tory Party, or maybe I should say parties, with the Democratic Unionist Party playing second fiddle, seems to be on a different stage from everyone else. And yet the opposition parties seem incapable of getting their acts together to promote a more orderly politics. It looks like being a turbulent month with a ghastly prognosis! If we leave, the signs are that “Project Fear” was simply not pessimistic enough about what leaving the EU would do to our economy and our status. If we remain, then many of the 17.4 million who voted leave will be embittered, maybe for life.
For my money, it becomes clearer, day by day, that, even if the thought is horrific, the only way out of this is for another Referendum, pitching a Leave package vs Remain but with the advantage that this time we would know more about what it means.
On 15^th September, my partner and I hosted an evening’s discussion with our M.P., Marsha de Cordova, and twenty or so local residents. These friends of ours are concerned that the Labour Party is not 100% Remain, because of Jeremy Corbyn’s policy not to alienate those who voted Leave and his efforts to try and hold all parts of the party together. For many of them, the simplicity of the Lib/Dems position seems attractive. However, if I may, say about the Lib/Dems position: If Swinson and her colleagues do deny Jeremy Corbyn the dubious distinction of being Prime Minister for a limited and specifically prescribed period, with the sole purpose of organising and seeing through a Referendum, then, I think, they are likely to pay a heavy electoral price.
Meanwhile, on a completely different theme, can I draw your attention to my partner, Penny Corfield’s, blog for this month? Her messages are usually aimed at her academic colleagues but this month’s is very much about the desperate need for all cities world-wide to go as thoroughly green as they possibly can! See: penelopejcorfield.com/monthly-blogs/106

My Programme for October

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

Do you know?

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

The answers:

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

This month my question is Do you know

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

September 10, 2019

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Councillor Tony Belton’s Battersea September, 2019, Newsletter (# 123)

August was, of course, a quiet month in Council terms, even if national politics was as turbulent as I can ever remember. So, I went to Lyme Regis for a couple of quiet days and visited my old friend Tony Tuck, who some of you may remember was a fellow Latchmere councillor in the early 90’s. He has a beach-hut on the famous Jurassic coast and, just to prove it, here is am ammonite set in a beach pebble – 150 million+ years old!
I came back through Wilton, Wiltshire, where I was absolutely startled to see this baroque Tuscan church, set in a small eighteenth-century English town. It is a Grade 1 listed building, built as a replacement between 1841 and 1844 on the initiative of the Countess Pembroke. The church is enormous for such a small town and speaks volumes for the Countess’s wealth! A notable feature is the 105 feet (32 m) campanile, which, unlike the traditional English tower or steeple, stands separate from the building – Is this because Tuscany, unlike England, has destructive earthquakes?
A week later, on 14^th August, Battersea MP, Marsha de Cordova, and I were invited by a new business called e-cargobikes to see for ourselves their operation of delivery systems for the Northcote Road Co-op. The service uses electric bicycles to provide a delivery service for customers. The bikes are, of course, person-powered but with ancillary electric motors – partly to cope with the many hills in south Battersea and, indeed, the weight of the deliveries. James Fitzgerald of e-cargobikes argues eloquently for the ecological and cost advantages of using this service rather than van deliveries, saving not only petrol, but also congestion charges, road tax, insurance, parking fees and fines, etc. James confidently asserts that a bicycle delivery service, operating short delivery runs from the Co-op to the immediate neighbourhood, can be competitive with van deliveries. If successful, it will also be far more environmentally friendly than using motor vans. The picture shows from the left, the Co-op store manager, me, Marsha, two cyclists, who by the way earn a minimum of £11.15 an hour (and which is well above the London Living Wage), and on the right, James Fitzgerald.
Two days later, on 16^th August I went to the House of Commons to take part in a small celebratory party to note Victoria Rodney’s MBE award in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. Victoria runs a voluntary organisation, called the Mercy Foundation, from an office in Falcon Road. The party was hosted by the M.P. and the guests included the High Commissioner of Nigeria. Victoria originally came from Nigeria but has lived in the UK for many years.
Victoria once told me that she was sitting at home, some years ago, wondering what she could do to improve the life chances of many of the least fortunate in our society. So, completely off her own bat, she set up the charity based in Falcon Road, which is called The Mercy Foundation. The charity aims to teach technical skills, personal confidence, and self- presentation. She was so committed to the idea that she mortgaged her home to raise capital and, since then, has lived and breathed the Foundation. She has persuaded people like me to teach basic English to Somali refugees, living on the nearby York Road estate; she has organised courses in computing, in childcare and in nursing. Two of the speakers, Samuel and Mohammed, at the party were ex-students, who had come back to “honour” Victoria for giving them the self-confidence and skills to run and own their own small businesses. If any reader wants to make a charitable contribution, but to a small organisation and not to one of the giants such as the National Trust or Oxfam, then you could do worse than donate to the Mercy Foundation! Please, contact me for details.
On 13^th August, I played chess against my fellow Labour councillor (Bedford ward) Hector Denfield, at the Battersea Chess Club. I am going to have to up my game before I take him on again – I lost, but I felt a little better when he told me that only a couple of weeks earlier, he had come second in the 13^th Weald Chess Congress at East Grinstead. But I viewed this match simply as training for my game for the Battersea Pawnbrokers, again at the Battersea Chess Club on 20^th August. Unfortunately, I fared no better in that match either!
The Planning Applications Committee took place on 22^nd August. The agenda was suitably uncontentious for mid-summer and none of the decisions were of any great significance except, of course, to the people and neighbours directly concerned.
On 24^th I was off to Croatia for our annual holiday. It was a delight and we swam over half a mile (1 km) every day. So, despite having plenty of wine and good fish every evening, I managed to lose half a stone or about 3.5 kilos! Can I avoid putting it all back on? I sincerely hope so!
I came home on 8^th September to discover that the world had gone bonkers. 21 senior Tories, including two former Chancellors of the Exchequer, and Winston Churchill’s grandson have been kicked out of the Tory Party. My partner, Penny, is having a whale of a time comparing the successive political crises with the events of the early seventeenth century, upon which she is an expert. She pointed out that Charles I also tried to prorogue Parliament, but in his case for an indefinite period, but in the end lost his head! I am not suggesting that we should do the same to dear old Queenie, but perhaps Johnson has already lost his head!
Whilst I have been away, the new all-weather sports pitch at Falconbrook (Banana) Park has come on-stream. The plan was not universally popular with all residents but now that the pitch and changing rooms have been completed and the Park has been given some new landscaping treatment, I hope that the pitch and other facilities are well used and appreciated.
The Boundary Commissioners announced that they had received a large number of suggestions for the new ward boundaries and indeed the various options have been published. They are all on the Commissioners website but for me perhaps the most interesting is the Tory Plan, which you can see as a PDF on the Commissioners website. They are very different from the Labour Party’s plans and demonstrate that there is, as some would say, more than one way to skin a cat. At the last review in 2002/3 the Commissioners final recommendations were almost identical to the Labour submission. Their decision will be published later this year for one last round of consultation.

My Programme for September

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

Do you know?

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

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

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

September 10, 2019

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Councillor Tony Belton’s Battersea August, 2019, Newsletter (# 122)

1. 1. You may have noticed that the Council has put out press releases and created “photo opportunities” for Tory councillors under a heading claiming 100 years of social housing, dating from the Housing (popularly known as the Addison, after Housing Minister Christopher Addison) Act of 1919. This move might have confused many Battersea residents, who know that the Latchmere Estate was built in 1903/4. Of course, the Council has got it WRONG. The Latchmere Estate was indeed built by Battersea Metropolitan Borough Council and it is the second oldest council estate in the country. Ironically Wandsworth’s very own Totterdown Estate in Tooting is the oldest, constructed from 1901 onwards. The 1919 Act did, however, mark the start of national exchequer support for council housing. One hundred years later that support has virtually ended, an ironic twist to this centenary “celebration”!
  2. On the 4^th July Pen and I went to Headingley to see Afghanistan playing the West Indies in the World Cup. We had seats high up in the south stand, almost directly behind a right-hand bowler’s arm. What with the stand and the white ball, I don’t think I have ever had such a great spectator view at a big cricket match. Unfortunately, we did not get to see a classic Chris Gayle innings in what may be his last big game in the UK, but we did see him bowl and exert himself once to run out an unfortunate Afghan batsman. The Windies won fairly comfortably but/and it was an entertaining game.
  3. We had travelled up the previous evening, allowing us to see a performance of Grease at the Leeds Playhouse. The lead actor didn’t have the charisma of John Travolta in the famous film but the whole troupe threw themselves into the many very dramatic dance numbers with fantastic energy and not a little skill. The choreographer was Arlene Philips, of “Strictly” fame. I am not sure, however, that such athleticism should be seen by the more mature and envious of us!
  4. On Sunday, 7^th July, Penny took me for lunch to Ronnie Scott’s in Soho – very pleasant too, but much more sedate and “mature” than Grease! The music came from Tony Kofi, second from right, playing a tribute to Cannonball Adderley. The high-quality musicians were on great form and the jazz was very accessible, easy listening. However, in terms of value for money it was no better than Streatham’s Hideaway jazz club.
  5. Two days later, I went to the Grand, Clapham Junction, to see Latchmere’s Thames Christian School’s production of The Pyjama Game. It was very ambitious and demanding and, to be honest, a little outside the range that one could reasonably expect from young teenagers. But they deserve good marks for their ambition. All the girls in the cast are seen here on the right. The school, by the way, has for a long time been in negotiations, now nearly concluded, to move from its site in Wye Street to a new building on Grant Road as part of the Winstanley regeneration. It is planned to move in to its new home, shared with the Battersea Baptist Church, in 2022.
  6. Have I mentioned that Penny has, for some time, been President (elect) of the International Society of Eighteenth Century Studies (ISECS). ISECS has 38 national societies, from Japan to India, the USA to Argentina, Italy to Sweden. She was due to be “installed” at their Conference in Edinburgh on 17^th July. So, we went up to Edinburgh on the 14^th and returned on the 20^th. There were 2,000 delegates at the Conference, which had some 477 separate seminar sessions. You can perhaps get some idea of the scale of the event by this picture of the opening reception held in Scotland’s National Museum.
  7. I came back to London to lead a presentation on the work of the Planning Applications Committee on 16^th July and the Council Meeting on the 17^th. The Council Meeting was notable for the unanimous decision, by all Tory, Labour and Independent councillors, to declare a Climate Emergency. In itself, of course, declaring that there is a climate emergency amounts to nothing much. No Arctic ice is going to be saved because of our decision. BUT, having declared that there is such an emergency, it should make it easier to take the “right”, ecological decisions about a thousand other Wandsworth matters, such as the levels of insulation in schools and other council buildings, or the power systems for transport or heating, or what to make this year’s or next year’s priorities for investment.
  8. On the 22^nd I was at the topping out of one of the Winstanley new-build dwelling units, the one on the corner of Grant and Plough Roads. The block is largely for current elderly residents, who need rehousing before the regeneration can continue. At first, I had some complaints about the proximity of the block to Time House and Thomas Baines Road, but happily, since the external framework of the block has been completed, there have not been any further complaints. This picture is not an Ealing comedic witticism about industrial relations in Wandsworth, but a warning of a dangerous building process!
  9. On 23^rd July Wandsworth Labour Party had a fund-raising dinner. I don’t normally mention such party political events but in this case the speaker was Birmingham Yardley’s Jess Phillips. I’m sure that Jess is not to the taste of everyone reading this newsletter, but I find it difficult to resist her courage, her wit and her charm. She is not an ideologically driven Labour MP, but rather a very pragmatic, and essentially very “sensible” politician. Good luck to her.
  10. On 24^th July, the hottest day in UK history, I (and others) were unlucky enough to be attending the Planning Applications Committee. There weren’t any applications of substantial interest to Battersea residents. But there was an interesting one for “collective” living for 292 residents in Trewint Street, Earlsfield. I went to see a similar and larger development at Willesden Junction. I was quite impressed. It was a bit like a high-quality student campus. Given the incredibly high cost of private rented accommodation in London, I would not at all be surprised, if this sort of collective living marks the start of a growing trend.
  11. I went to Sarah Rackham’s birthday party at KLS, the Katherine Low Settlement, on the 27^th. Again, this kind of private social engagement is not something I would normally mention except that in Sarah’s case it was not so private as she has been a fixture in North Battersea’s community and youth services for the best part of 50 years, and I am sure many readers will know Sarah or at least know of her work. We should all celebrate her commitment and her passion for the community.
  12. On 29^th we went with our old friends, Ron and Hazel Elam, to see Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. This month Ron retired from being a governor at Chesterton School. He had been a Governor at other Wandsworth schools and an Ofsted Inspector and many years earlier worked with me at County Hall. Ofsted inspectors are not always very popular people, but Ron did a great job both as a Lay Inspector and governor. Alert readers will recall that we went to see the same play only a couple of month’s ago, so why go again? We know Ron and Hazel are theatre buffs, and we wanted to go with them to see this outstanding play. And, actually, the performance was interestingly different in a large West End theatre as opposed to the small, intimate, “in the round” production we had seen at Kingston’s Rose Theatre.
  13. Battersea Summer Scheme’s “Summer In the Park” included the Battersea Bake Off on 31^st July. The five competing youth clubs were chosen because they are part of The Big Local SW11 Alliance. They were Providence House, St Peter’s, Caius House, Katherine Low Settlement and Carney’s Community. I was one of two councillors asked to be judges along with representatives of Battersea Power Station Ltd, Battersea Crime Prevention Panel and a senior citizen from KLS. Of course, I have no qualifications other than being a councillor; but it was hard work! We had to select the best of 25 different cakes, quiches, biscuits and other bakes, without a chance to have a drink, even of tea! The overall prize went to Providence House, but all participants deserved warm congratulations.
  14. Stop press and late news for those, who like Alan, are interested in my pleas about Building Regulations! In July, the Council responded to the Government Building a Safer Future (Proposals for reform of the building regulatory system). And in essence, the Council is agreeing with what I (and Alan and others) have been saying. Leaving building regulations in the hands of the developers was and is crazy. It is essential that there is an independent body exercising control, such as the local authority. Let’s hope that the Government will soon introduce legislation to that effect.
  15. Out of the news and in the background, many councillors will have been preoccupied, in July, with ward boundary redistribution. Redistribution happens every 20 years or so as a result of changes in population distribution. So, for example, here in Wandsworth we have had to consider what to do about the rapid increase in population in Nine Elms and along the river-front. Obviously, the boundaries cannot stay the same as now because if they did the Queenstown councillors would find themselves with twice as many constituents as, say, the Nightingale councillors. But not only would it be unfair to the councillors; it would also be unfair in democratic terms.
  16. Both Tories and Labour have put in their own suggestions to the Boundary Commissioners and, for all I know, the Lib/Dems, the Brexit party, UKIP and other interested, independent groups or individuals may have done so. The Boundaries Commission’s task is to choose the most credible looking plan and put that out for further consultation at some time in the autumn. It is impossible to say what that plan will be but early indications from the Commission suggest that the total number of councillors will be cut and all, or nearly all, current wards will change. For further updates, watch this space.
  17. I can’t let July, 2019, pass without mentioning the elevation of Boris Johnson to Prime Minister – that’s the last time I will use the intimate first name. This picture of his first cabinet has Sir Edward Lister, sitting against the wall, third from the left (the Guardian, 25/719). Lister was Leader of Wandsworth Council for 19 years from 1992 to 2011 and for 16 of those years I was his opposite number as the Leader of the Opposition. During this time, he gave the look and impression of a kindly, favourite uncle – everyone’s soft touch. But the reality was different. He believed strongly that public expenditure constituted too high a proportion of the British economy and hence he was prepared, perhaps happy, to cut drastically (60% 2010-19) the funding of local services, almost regardless of the impact on their delivery. Interestingly, however, Lister doesn’t now seem to object so much to Mr. Johnson’s haphazard spending promises, which certainly demand the so-called magic money tree, which the Tories love to mock, whenever Labour talks of protecting services.
  18. But will these promises be enough? His chances of delivering a No Deal Brexit look slim; his chances of delivering a Good Deal Brexit look even slimmer. The end product looks very much like a General Election – on October 24^th?

My Programme for August

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

Do you know?

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

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

September 10, 2019

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Councillor Tony Belton’s Battersea July, 2019, Newsletter (#121)

By the end of the month we will have a new Prime Minister, who will be chosen by the Tory party membership – a small electorate, largely of “mature”, white men. I have nothing against mature, white men, indeed some would say I am one (except for the mature bit, of course), but it must seem strange to almost everyone, who isn’t a Tory party member, that the electorate is so “exclusive”. And they have such a dispiriting choice to make! One candidate, Boris Johnson, could be Joker of the Decade and the other, Jeremy Hunt, the notorious scourge of junior doctors, has just qualified as Charlatan of the Century for his totally unprincipled bid to lower taxes and increase expenditure on everything under the sun – and this, the party that has the gall to accuse Labour of wishing for a “magic money-tree”.
On the 4^th June we went to see All My Sons by the great American playwriter, Arthur Miller. The play is about the pressure on the owner-boss of an aircraft manufacturer, during World War Two, to produce aircraft rapidly even when he knew his planes had design flaws. It was reminiscent of Boeing’s current problems with its 737 Max aircraft – You will remember that one Boeing 737 Max fell out of the air in Indonesia in October last year and a second in Ethiopia earlier this year. The acting was brilliant, with Sally Field almost too painful to watch, as the mother who living with her husband’s self-delusion and deceit. All My Sons, along with his better-known play Death of a Salesman, exposes the problems with capitalism, and the pressures caused by competition in an unregulated capitalist world. Both plays are brilliant.
Two days later, I attended the Passenger Transport Liaison Committee. The Committee’s purpose is to give councillors access to the managers of the various bus and train companies, operating in Wandsworth. We had two pieces of good news affecting Battersea. First both Battersea Park (pictured right) and Wandsworth Town stations, the two busiest stations in the south western network without step-free access, are to be made fully accessible between now and 2024. And secondly, we were told that the 170 bus’s capacity is to be increased, by increasing their frequency.
I had the Strategic Planning and Transport Committee on the 11^th June, but there was nothing of great interest, I thought, to Battersea residents, other than the increasing pressure to restrict the motor car, by adopting play and school streets and speed limits.
On the 13^th June I attended the official opening of the Council’s new Work Match office in Falcon Road. The Work Match team supports people through the job application process, by helping with CVs and interview skills. The service, begun in 2013, has worked successfully and closely with Job Centre Plus, community organisations, local colleges and schools to provide an integrated support network. The Falcon Road office has been funded by the York Road/Winstanley Joint Venture Board, the arms-length company tasked with the estate’s regeneration. Let’s hope that it works as well in Falcon Road as it has elsewhere. It certainly has a dynamic boss in Chantelle Daniel. Here I am (third from right) holding one end of the ribbon, which the Council Leader is cutting to mark the official opening.
Did you hear about the London Legal Aid charity walk? What was it? And what for? Well, on a beautiful, very warm evening, 17^th June, 15,000 took part in the walk and raised the best part of £1 million, for over 100 organisations in London and the South East, helping them to provide free and pro bono legal advice. I walked the 6 miles from Chancery Lane round the Serpentine and back to Chancery Lane and raised £330. It’s a long time since I last walked round the Serpentine, and since then there seems to have been a lot of effort put into improving both the formal and informal garden aspects of the Park. Excited, if exhausted, walkers are pictured here congregating in Carey Street at the end of the walk.
Three days later on the 20th June there was a by-election in Furzedown ward. This safe Labour ward is on the southern edge of Tooting Common. The by-election came at a bad time for both the so-called major parties but fortunately Labour’s Graham Loveland won. I knew Graham when he was last on Wandsworth Council between 1986-90 and now after retirement he has decided to return, bringing with him a lifetime of career experience as a Borough planner. Graham got 1,811 votes (49% of the vote), the Lib Dems 887 (24%) votes, the Tories 681 (18.4%) and the Greens 318 (8.6%). This was a comfortable victory but nonetheless masked an 18% swing from Labour and the Tories to the Lib/Dems. The Greens also had a small loss in percentage terms, suggesting that Wandsworth residents just maybe coalescing around the Lib/Dems as the main completely and totally pro-EU party. I need hardly mention, to those of you paying attention, that I am a committed Remainer along with 75% of Wandsworth’s residents.
On the Saturday, we went to see a one-woman play called Woke at the Battersea Arts Centre. It was written and performed by Apphia Campbell – a tour de force. If you do get the chance, do go and see it. It is an enlightening expose of life as a black American woman in the American South. It is particularly insightful about the contradictions and cruelties of the imposition of summary justice.
Sunday, 23rd June, was the day of the family’s annual walk from the Birling Gap to Beachy Head, where the South Downs disappear into the Channel. We have been doing it for so long now (nearly 30 years) that we can remember the coast extending about 50 yards/metres further out at the Gap – in geological terms the South Downs are disappearing fast. But on a sunny day, with the skylarks doing their thing high above, it is still a terrific walk.
The following day, I went to the Hampshire Bowl to see Afghanistan play Bangladesh in the cricket world cup. I had decided at New Year to go to at least one of the cricket matches and to France for the Women’s World Football Cup. I never got round to booking the French trip but I did get a couple of tickets for the cricket – two Afghanistan games as it happens. The match itself was not a nail-biter with Bangladesh having a comfortable win but it was a colourful and noisy event, as displayed by this picture of some of my neighbours celebrating yet another Afghan wicket.
On the 25^th we had the Education and Children’s Services Committee. I am not a member of this committee but I thought I would comment on one particular item, which could, directly or indirectly, affect us all. It was a review of how “Youth Services” are provided in Battersea and focused very considerably on the youth club services currently delivered from the Devas Club and Caius House. Given the very public concern about “street violence” and the view that one problem is “that young people have nothing to do”, this was obviously going to be a contentious matter. With the Council, or rather the majority Tories, claiming that the service is being reformed and improved and we, the Opposition Labour councillors arguing the exact opposite, the position is confused. The truth appears to me to be that this is yet another cut in public services, camouflaged by a possibly sensible re-arrangement of how they are delivered. The budget will be cut by approximately 5% and the new services will be imposed “Top-down” and not through consultation and discussion; they will not be improved as claimed but nor will they be comprehensively trashed. Given the crisis on our streets, this is a typically inadequate response from Tory controlled Wandsworth Council. We need more Youth Services and increased funding – not cuts, however, carefully managed.
The Planning Applications Committee was held on 26^th June and included one major application and two others of significant concern to Battersea residents. The major one was about the redevelopment of the Atheldene area off Garrett Lane. It centred on the provision of 193 housing units, 40% being so-called affordable. It included some five storey blocks of flats and proved to be very contentious amongst local residents; but it was in line with the London and Wandsworth Plans and was passed unanimously. Also approved was the redevelopment of the Northcote Road library and details of the new Sports Hall at Harris Academy.
On the 28^th June, I visited Christ Church School’s garden. The school has been proud of its emphasis on outdoor learning and the encouragement of gardening knowledge amongst pupils for some time, indeed, I can remember visiting the gardens 4 or 5 years back, when it did not have this English country flower section.
The following day was the Falcon Festival. It has only been going for a short time, but it is now well established as one of Battersea’s regular summer events. The Labour Party stall did brisk business and was well staffed, here with from left Cllr Paula (Haggis) Walker, Cllr Kate Stock, GLA member Leonie Cooper, Marsha de Cordova, MP, party member Steve Worrall, me and Cllr Emily Wintle – and Leonie’s dog.
Whilst at the Festival I took the opportunity to walk down Este Road and take a look at Falcon Park’s new all-weather football/hockey pitch. Its completion has been delayed due, apparently, to some problem linking up the water supply to the changing rooms, but hopefully it will be open in late July. In any event it should be ready well before the new winter season opens in September. The Council (and councillors) have been under some criticism for introducing the pitch and reducing the amount of “uncontrolled” park space, but I think it will be a popular, heavily used resource for local clubs, schools and casual use. Certainly, WOW mums’ Senia Dedic says “We are pro pitch because we needed a safe and clean place for children to play, as Banana Park and Falcon Park are used by dog walkers, who do not (always) pick up the mess”.
Finally, a word about a new book titled Battersea’s First Lady, The Life and Times of Caroline Ganley, MP. It was written by my friend and Secretary of the Battersea Society, Sue Demont, and was published last month. Ganley Court on the Winstanley Estate was named after Mrs. Ganley, who was elected to the House of Commons for Battersea South as it was then, in 1946-1951. She was first elected a Battersea councillor in 1919, one year after women won the right to vote, and was re-elected from 1953-1965, when Battersea was merged with Wandsworth. The book costs £5.99 and can be bought at suedemont57@gmail.com.

My Programme for July

July looks like being a busy social month but without much formal Council business – the August recess draws near. The high point though, for me and particularly Penny, is her installation (is that the right word?) as the President of the International Society for Eighteenth Century Studies in Edinburgh, during the week 15^th-19^th July.
Before then we are going to Leeds on 3^rd July, where we are staying overnight before seeing the West Indies take on Afghanistan at Headingley in one of the last round-robin cricket matches in the World Cup. That might be a challenge for Penny but being Yorkshire born she once thought that she might be good at the game – afraid not!
On the evening of the 3^rd we will go to the magnificent, opulent Victorian Leeds Grand Theatre to see a staged version of the John Travolta film, Grease.
The main Council Meeting will be on 17th July and the Planning Applications Committee on 25th.

Do you know?

Last month I asked “Who was the Battersea born and bred jazz pianist, who has a community centre named after him? And where is the second commemorative plaque to him in Battersea located?” Lots of you knew the answer was George Shearing and most of you knew that either where the community centre was (the George Shearing Centre, Este Road) or that there was a plaque to him at Northcote Lodge school, Bolingbroke Grove, which he attended in the 1930s. But almost none of you knew both, or read the question carefully enough to see that it was a two-point question! Congratulations to the two that did.

This month let me ask how many of you know the connection between the Winstanley Estate Regeneration and Battersea Park? Many of you will have seen some of the new homes being built as part of the Winstanley Regeneration, such as the six new houses in Rowditch Lane, due to be occupied this month, and the six-storey block on Plough Road. Well, before too long Pennethorne House will be the first block of the old estate to be demolished. Just what is the connection between Pennethorne House and Battersea Park.

The left picture is, I think, of Pennethorne House, being built in the late 19-sixties, taken from high up in Chesterton House. I think that the chimneys in the background are probably over the river at Lots Road Power Station, Chelsea. Can anyone confirm that? The one on the right is, of course, Pennethorne and Penge House, with the old frontage of either Plough or York Road behind.

June 13, 2019

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Councillor Tony Belton’s Battersea June, 2019, Newsletter (# 120)

Have we just experienced one of the most decisive political moments of our lives? Are we just about to see the end of Tory/Labour domination of British politics? Are we just about to see the end of the UK, as Scotland moves inexorably to independence? Will we see the re-unification of Ireland? Are we going to remain in the European Union? Are we going to become a bit player on the edge of Europe or are we going to continue to be a very significant player in the world’s largest market-place? Brexit might be boring to some but that doesn’t mean the decisions we make about it are not of great importance.
So, by far the most important moment of the month was the Euro-Election and the results day, 26^th And the results for the main parties in Wandsworth (note that we will not get accurate figures for Battersea on its own) were:- Liberal Democrats 36,012; Labour Party 15,487; Green Party 13,696; Brexit 12,159; Conservative and Unionist Party 9,395; Change UK 7,281; UKIP 1,057
On the basis of these figures, the Lib/Dems would win all three of the Wandsworth Parliamentary seats of Battersea, Putney and Tooting and probably all 60 councillors, though perhaps Labour and the Greens would sneak in with one or two councillors. But surely no one believes that the Tory Party, which has dominated Wandsworth Council politics for 40+ years would seriously be reduced to zero! In other words, don’t take any literal notice of any predictions that you might see – its all far too early to say. However, there has certainly been an earthquake! Our first chance to assess the impact on “ordinary” politics will be in Tooting, at the Furzedown Council by-election on 20^th June.
It will be no surprise that I believe that, if the Labour Party does not NOW take a very positive, “Remain” view over the Brexit crisis and does not prevent the UK from leaving the EU, then that will be calamitous for us as individuals, the Labour Party and the United Kingdom. And, if the only really democratic way of doing that is through a Second Referendum, then I think we should hold one as soon as possible – and hopefully abolish referendums from the British political tool-set immediately afterwards!
I spent some of election day in Carey Gardens, off the Wandsworth Road, where I came across Brian Barnes’ colourful and dramatic mural. Brian, as ever, packs his work with historical Battersea references. This one includes the Yellow Brick Road from the Wizard of Oz film, the American Eagle marking the arrival of the US Embassy in Nine Elms, the four children killed by unrestrained traffic in Thessaly Road before it was closed in the 1970s, Stephen Hawking, the Power Station and Pink Floyd’s pigs. All of them have Battersea references. I know many of them but not all. Go to Carey Gardens and see how many you can resolve.
We went to Cheltenham for the first week-end of May to be at the town’s annual Jazz Festival. It’s a fun experience, with jazz to be heard in this very pretty eighteenth-century town on street corners, the town square, the pubs and half a dozen dedicated venues. Jazz certainly comes in many shapes and sizes, many of which we really enjoyed but others we didn’t really care for. American piano soloist, Marc Copland, was one great act – just take a moment to listen to him on YouTube and you will hear what I mean. In a totally different way the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, pictured here, gave us the big band experience.
On the 14^th May, I went to the Education Standards Committee to observe and take part in a review of Chesterton School, Dagnall Street. I am very pleased to say that it passed the review with flying colours – the school is doing really well.
The next day, I went first to Budapest and then on to Bratislava accompanying my partner, Penny, who was invited there to give two lectures. For those, who have never been, Budapest is a big, bustling city with boulevards and bars, very largely built in the late nineteenth century and consciously copying the style of Paris – I like it. This mildly quirky, temporary mural on a building near the Parliament building is perhaps typical of Budapest’s oddities. Bratislava, capital of Slovakia, is in contrast simply a large market town with a pretty, preserved centre, thrust into unexpected prominence by the peaceful break-up of Czechoslovakia on 1^st January, 1993. A very pleasant town for a week-end, but one wouldn’t want to spend very long there.
However, it was much enlivened when we were there as Slovakia was hosting the World Ice Hockey Cup and Bratislava was the main centre. The bars were full of Swedes, Latvians, Russians, Canadians, Swiss, Austrians, Finns all trying to out-drink and out-sing each other – very lively and very friendly. For those interested in the results then Finland very popularly beat Russia in the final and GB staged a remarkable recovery from 3-0 down to France to win 3-4 in “sudden-death” extra time, meaning that GB stayed up and France got relegated from the elite ice hockey nations!Here is the tourist centre of Bratislava.
The Planning Applications Committee was held on 21^st May, but as the Euro Elections were only two days later, the Council had ensured that there were no really important developments considered.
The Annual Council Meeting took place on 22^nd Popular Tory Councillor Jane Cooper was installed as Mayor. There were few other changes in the Council hierarchy, though some might be interested to hear that hard-right winger Guy Senior was demoted from the Cabinet after about 30 years!
Then on 25^th May, at Battersea Arts Centre, there was a celebration of the life of Samantha Heath, who died of cancer on 28^th March this year. Some of you will remember Samantha, who was a fellow councillor of mine in Latchmere from 1994-2002, before going on to be a member of the Greater London Assembly (GLA). The celebration was very well attended and hugely appreciated.
Samantha’s death was partly a consequence, it is believed, of London’s air pollution. Certainly, much of her life’s work since 2000 has been concerned with cleaning up London’s air. She was Chair of the GLA’s Environment Committee and much of our increased concern about air quality is down to the work she did in that role. London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, who implemented ULEZ, or the Ultra-Low Emission Zone, was at the celebration and gave due credit to Samantha for her role in its introduction.
On 29^th May, I was at the Alma pub for a meeting organised by Wandsworth Living Streets. It was opened by an interesting presentation on plans to improve the street environment in Tooting. Then we heard from Camilla Ween on her plans for, what she calls, the Battersea Link. Camilla’s idea is to upgrade Northcote Road: St. John’s Road: Falcon Road: Battersea High Street into a pedestrian-dominated link from the Thames and St. Mary’s Church through to south Battersea. This link more or less follows the line of the now culverted Falconbrook. For those, who are interested in these visionary plans, view the Putting the Heart into Battersea: a presentation by Camilla Ween report at https:wandsworthlivingstreets.org.uk
On a completely different theme, have you heard of Louis de Bernières? De Bernières was a Wandsworth resident, when he wrote his novel Captain Corelli’s Mandolin in Earlsfield Library. It was an immediate best seller and has just been adapted for the stage. I went to see this war/love comedy/musical drama at the Rose Theatre in Kingston on 4^th It was a very unusual theme for the British theatre, being about love between a musical Italian captain and a young Greek woman during the Italian occupation of Greece in World War 2, as the “relaxed” Italian occupiers were replaced first by the more menacing and disciplined force of the German army and then by the Allied victory.
It was simply brilliant. The staging and direction of war scenes; the acting of a goat (yes, goat!); the singing; the family scenes; the portrayal of a Greek village: everything about it was perfect – so much better than Hollywood’s 2001 film starring Nicholas Cage. I am, therefore, not surprised to see that the play is being transferred to the West End at the Harold Pinter Theatre in July and August. I cannot recommend it highly enough!
Every week, I walk around approximately one quarter of Latchmere ward delivering welcome letters from me and my colleagues Councillors Simon Hogg and Kate Stock to new entrants on the electoral register, who have either moved in or are coming up to 18 and hence becoming eligible to vote. It’s always interesting to take note of new developments, both good and bad, and to record and report them where necessary. One depressing constant is the amount of fly tipping and abandoned cars left on pavements and roads. Mobile phones certainly make it easier to report them to the Town Hall (and get them cleared?) than it used to be. Here is a brief selection of May’s “catch”!

My Programme for June

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

Do you know?

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

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

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

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

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Tony Belton

Income & Expenditure 2019 against estimates and four-year projection of budgets from 2020 to 2023

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