Tag Archive | battersea-park
August 31, 2025  

Councillor Tony Belton’s Battersea, September 2025, Newsletter (# 195)

  1. OK, I know some of you think I can be a bit verbose; you are probably right. So, this month’s newsletter is going to be brief. Twenty odd years ago, I started writing a history of the London Borough of Wandsworth. In August I have been trying to finish it! I have done nothing else; I didn’t even attend those fun events in the Park – great shame. And Penny and I are going to spend the first two weeks of September editing it. Then it will just be a matter of getting it published; and what a relief that will be.
  2. I did fit in just a couple of other events. On 6th August, I met with other members of Northcote ward Labour Party to choose our candidates for next May’s Borough Election. They are Clare Fraser, who brings with her eight years of experience as a councillor, and her colleague from Tooting, John Heywood. We have now completed our selections across the borough, and have a great team eager to fight next May’s election.
  3. But of greater public significance I chaired Wandsworth’s 20th August Planning Applications Committee. This month there were three big applications, all of significance to Battersea. The first was for two ten-storey hotels next to the United States Embassy, between the Embassy and the Waitrose store on Nine Elms Lane. There is likely to be another couple of applications in the area in the next few months. Whether you like Nine Elms Lane as it has turned out, or not, there is no doubt that it is a relief to see it nearing completion, after 40 or so years of dereliction.
  4. The second application was, at long last, a realistic plan coming forward to proceed to develop both on the derelict site at the corner of Culvert and Battersea Park Roads – and in Dagnall Street. The main site is for student accommodation and the Dagnall Street one is for the sports hall/gym that the Harris School has been expecting for the last 20 years. At 18 storeys it is far too high for my taste, but I got out-voted on that issue years ago, when the Tories were in control – and once permission has been given, it cannot unfortunately be revoked. The key point is that this version looks like getting built – at last and the kids at Harris Academy will have a decent gym/sports hall.
  5. The third site is the rather difficult site between Armoury Way and the Wandsworth Gasworks site. The application is a large one, for over 400 student accommodation units, which I know is not to everyone’s taste. However, it is squeezed between Armoury Way, the traffic on Wandsworth’s one-way system, and the railway. S the site is not everyone’s ideal for family housing either. I think students will find the environment less difficult than mothers and babies – or even not to be genderists, fathers and babies. I attach some artists’ impressions, on the next page, – I know, they don’t show the site on a foggy/rainy day in November, but they are just what it might look like in June!
  6. Of course, there were a mass of events in the Park for the London Borough of Culture 2025, including the unfortunate demolition of the Park gate. But many of you will have your own experiences of all that and so I will not comment further. Except to say that the Council will insist a total restoration of the gate in all its old Victorian splendour, as soon as possible.
  7. On 30th August Pen and I went to a celebration in memory of Mark and Priscilla Cornwall-Jones. Mark and Prill, as we called them, were some people’s definition of an odd couple. Mark was a card-carrying member of the Tory party, who went to the Scottish moors and shot stag for some of his holidays; Priscilla was a card-carrying member of the Labour Party and a Labour councillor representing the then St. Mary Park ward from 1982-90. They met and socialised with both Thatcher and Blair Cabinet members. For twenty years after her death, Mark continued to pay her monthly contributions to the Battersea Labour Party – because he loved her and the memory of her. One day in 1968, Mark & Priscilla saw the classic Battersea, ‘us-and-them’ movie Up the Junction and were so moved by it, that they went home and in the front room of their Albert Bridge Road home, where August’s celebration took place, they devised a plan. So, with Mark’s financial skills and Priscilla’s commitment, Battersea Churches’ Housing Association was created (now Battersea and Chelsea).
  8. The lead organiser of the great and happy celebration was the oldest of the kids Kate, with her brothers Adam, Matthew and Jason all in attendance with assorted partners, children and grandchildren as well as a few politicos and church colleagues of Mark’s. For those of you, who may have known them Priscilla is in the front on the left of this 1980s picture with Mark at the back on the right. The others from l to r are (unbelievably) me, John Slater (Roehampton councillor), possibly Mrs Johnstone, Bill Johnstone (St, Mary Park councillor) and Penny.

My September Programme

  1. I have the Transport Committee on 18th September.
  2. The Labour councillors are having an Away Day on 20th. That will not be a grand corporate-style awayday in a 5-star hotel, but a hard-working preparation day for next May’s Borough election, held in a church hall – or similar local venue.
  3. I have the Planning Applications Committee (PAC) on the 25th,

Did you know?

Last month I asked, “Why the Dodd?” I didn’t know the answer to that one, so many thanks to Robert, an assiduous reader from Falconbrook. Robert says that “Henry Hart Davis (who has been described as a “persistent but hapless speculator-builder in Battersea during the 1840s”) owned land in Battersea Fields, including Doddington Lodge, which he named after his birthplace in Somerset. He went bankrupt in 1851 following the failure of the Crown Estate to pay compensation promptly for the land which was purchased from him”.

The public sector was then clearly irresponsible about its commercial obligations – not something anyone would say now. But on the other hand, was the Crown Estate trying its best at land assembly for what was to become Battersea Park? The timing is about right. 

Robert went on to say, “I suppose Doddington Lodge was somewhere in the area of the Doddington Estate.” If my surmise about the Park is right, then that is very possibly true.

And this month?

Last month was about the name of the Doddington Estate itself, but this month, can anyone add details about any of the other public names on the Dodd? What was Park Court South called before it was sold off by the council. Why Voltaire Court? Or Turpin House?  Why Charlotte Despard and Francis Chichester? Why any of the block names? I can have a stab at a few of those names but I look forward to your replies and hope to learn something new!

May 2, 2025  

Councillor Tony Belton’s Battersea, May 2025, Newsletter (# 191)

  1. On 3rd-7th April, we went to Essen, once the heart of Germany’s iron and steel industrial base in the Ruhr valley. Now it is known for its green transformation. We were there so that Penny could give a keynote talk on the Handshake at an international conference of European social historians.
  2. These conferences are great fun. Historians in general are a social bunch, and hence the evening entertainments are usually convivial and friendly. And fortunately, nearly all the formal sessions are conducted in English – there was one French session that I ducked out of. There is very little in the study of history, which is technically obscure, and so I like to think I play the role of an intelligent observer.
  3. The transition from being the home of the Krupp-owned Nazi armaments industry to, it is claimed, the greenest province of today’s Germany is spectacularly on show at the Zollverein Museum, based in a massive, closed colliery – see picture. The museum told the story of the area’s transition from a Victorian-era industrial magnet for immigrant workers from the countryside and from Eastern Europe, through its Nazi past using slave and PoW labour, through to the Germany of today – fantastic.
  4. We went by train and on our way back stopped off for a few hours to see Cologne cathedral. That too is on a colossal scale as I have tried to capture in this photograph of its spectacular nave. One thing that surprised me though was that, despite all the work done to modernise Germany and to recover from both the war and the demise of heavy industry, nothing has been done to clean up the exterior of the cathedral, which looks as black and filthy as St. Paul’s looked 30 years ago.
  5. On the 11th April, I attended Brian Reilly’s retirement drinks at the Town Hall. Brian was Wandsworth’s Chief Executive, who had also previously been the long-serving Director of Housing. He brought a robust common sense and practical drive to the job, especially as the Director, where his commitment to the successful provision of public housing was obvious to all. Well done, Brian, and I know you will enjoy your retirement – PS he will be in Sicily by the time you read this newsletter.
  6. Off to the Boat Race, on 20th Wandsworth’s Mayor always hosts a charity event in one of the boathouses on the Thames riverside – after all the boatrace does start in the Borough. But it can be a bit dispiriting for me! I have been a Dark Blue ever since I was at Oxford as an undergraduate, and this year like in most years, we were on the losing side. Still the Deputy Mayor, Finna Ayres, on the left, I and the Mayor, Councillor Jafri, managed to enjoy the occasion.
  7. On the 24th April, I had the Planning Applications Committee (PAC), where the main decision excited a lot of media coverage, especially in The Telegraph, which featured it for three consecutive days. The application was to build a 28/29 storey tower on the riverside at Battersea Bridge, as illustrated here. The application, known as the Glassmills, was for 110 residential units, 50% of which would have been at social rent levels, for a riverside restaurant and an improved riverside walk, plus a couple of gyms. The application was rejected unanimously, and although readers of The Telegraph might find this difficult to believe, none of the committee members were lobbied by either Mick Jagger or Eric Clapton, or even by Felicity Kendall, despite The Telegraph’s encouragement to so believe. PAC decided on the merits of the case.
  8. On 26th April we were off to Battersea Park, to take part in the first event of Wandsworth’s London Borough of Culture (LBOC) Year – Strictly Wandsworth – and great fun it was too, even if difficult to photograph. This pic shows the milling crowd, with dancers in the middle distance! Twenty plus Wandsworth dance groups took part in the show from ballet to break dancing, from St. Marys’ Royal School of Dance to Battersea Park’s own Baked Bean group. Marvellous! We look forward to a year of culture.
  9. Finally, on 22nd and 29th April, the Labour Group held its two-part Annual Meeting and Simon Hogg was re-elected as Leader to take the Labour councillors right through this Council from May 2022 to May 2026. Simon and I and another 60+ aspiring Labour councillors are also starting our re-selection process in the build-up to the election on the 7th May 2026. Assuming I get selected to stand again in Battersea Park, it will be my 15th election – certainly a record in Wandsworth!
  10. On the way home from the Strictly Wandsworth event it was encouraging to see that work is at long last racing ahead on the provision of a pavement for the long-suffering pedestrians of Elcho Street! Dare I say it, but the pressure, from both residents and myself, is finally bearing fruit.

My May Programme

  1. I have my surgery in Battersea Park Library on 3rd May at 11 am.
  2. The Conservation and Heritage Advisory Committee meets on 6th May
  3. I hope to go to the Ethelburga Tower Residents Association AGM on the 15th.
  4. The May meeting of the Planning Applications Committee (PAC) is on the 20th.
  5. And on the 21st we have the Annual Meeting of the Council, which is when the next year’s Mayor is elected.

Did you know?

Last month I asked, “What is unique about this particular wall? And where is it? And why? And what is it called?

Once again, I am afraid that you were not very interested or perhaps not very knowledgeable about it. The answer is that it is called the Ballast Wall and it can be found in Enable’s main depot in Battersea Park.

It was built in the 1850s, during Battersea Park’s construction. The 1850s was at the height of British power when London was by far the largest port in the world. One problem that the port authorities had was “What to do with all the ballast brought in by the merchant marine?” At the same time the designers of Battersea Park needed hard core as a base for some of the work being done in the marshes being converted to Battersea Park – so here was a solution to two problems, which leaves us all with the puzzle of guessing the geographical origins of individual stones.

And this month?

In the sixty-odd years that I have lived in Battersea, the junction of Falcon Road and Battersea High Street, of York Road and Battersea Park Road, has had at least two popular names – a bit like Tooting’s Amen Corner. Do you know either or both of those names?

November 1, 2024  

Councillor Tony Belton’s Battersea November 2024, Newsletter (# 185)

  1. On 3rd October, I visited London’s space-age City Hall for the very first time. Amazingly enough, it was sixty years and one month after my first day Picture1in a real job (as opposed to vacation jobs, etc.) at the “real” County Hall, which was then the home of the GLC (Greater London Council), which on that day took over from the LCC (London County Council). I worked there for twenty years. Since then the centre of London government has moved to Borough and now Docklands. Can you imagine the USA or France messing around with both the governance and the HQs of New York or Paris in such a cavalier, shambolic way? Neither the Americans nor the French mess with their capital cities. Why do you think we do?
  2. I went to City Hall to participate in the Hearing on the Springfield Park development in Tooting. I know that it is not Battersea but the development is one of the very largest in Wandsworth and the new park is a delight – if you have not been therePicture2 I recommend it – the G1 bus goes from the Junction right there. My Committee, Planning Applications, had turned down the application for an extension of the park and the construction of 449 homes, 225 of which were to be “affordable”, on the grounds that it was an over-development and exceeded the capacity of the local public transport infrastructure. I suspected that Deputy Mayor Jules Pipe was going to rule in favour of the developer and against Wandsworth’s decision. The developer is, after all, the NHS, and the development is a significant part of the Springfield Hospital renewal project. As they say, a no-brainer, and the development was approved. The photograph dates to 2023; the park has matured a bit in the last year.
  3. I had the Transport Committee on Monday, 7th October. The most significant item was about the installation of bike hangars. From having Picture3none just a few years ago Wandsworth now has the largest number in London. What is more, they are occupied the instant they are installed. I can understand why. When I cycled I had three bikes stolen (at over £500 a pop) as well as a saddle and as for rear lights – they just get nicked for fun. No wonder so few cyclists bother with them. Indeed I have recently had requests for bike hangars from Prince of Wales Drive and Cambridge Road – from sharing young renters, who cycle to work. If that includes you, then register an interest in getting one installed near you – it is easy. Look up the Wandsworth website and ask about bikehangars.
  4. Penny and I went to see Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, on 11th October – my first encounter with this iconic play. It was written by an Irishman, theoretically neutral during WW2, but a member of Picture4the French resistance. He narrowly escaped torture and death at the hands of the Gestapo. He was awarded The Croix de Guerre and the Médaille de la Reconnaisance Française. Having experienced war and totalitarianism, he never joined any political party, but he did fund and support various leftist causes such as black rights in Alabama. Waiting for Godot is an apparently endless, inescapable quest for peace in an inevitably violent and unpleasant world. But despite its occasionally funny dialogue, I am not going to recommend it for those seeking a fun evening, however as a commentary on the desolation of war and chaos it is crushingly powerful!
  5. Wandsworth Council organised its first 5K Fun Run in Battersea Park on Saturday 12th I should have been there – perhaps you were – but I had other commitments including visiting the Glassmills exhibition of plans for a 28-storey tower on Battersea Bridge Road. The Run was very popular and marked the start of a six-month trial of weekly runs. There are probably enough runners in Battersea to keep that going on a weekly basis but I have my doubts whether the organising team can continue at that rate – we will see. I will be happy if you prove my scepticism unfounded by turning up to run and/or volunteer on a coming Saturday at 9 am.
  6. The 14th October was a big day for the River Thames – the Thames Tideway Tunnel was finally opened. The Tunnel complex is about 25 miles Picture5of water storage, running parallel to the river. It is much, much bigger than a tube tunnel and is designed to take rain and river flood waters out of the Thames, during the peak wet weather. Easing pressures on the sewage system and raising the river’s water quality back to the level we deserve. I hope it succeeds in doing just that, because it cost us Thames Water customers £4,5 billion.
  7. On October 30th I had a Design Review Panel (DRP) at what turned out to be Vivienne Westwood’s company HQ in Battersea. The company is doing well Picture6and expanding rapidly. It is in desperate need of more space and is well on the way to submitting a planning application to extend its current site. Whilst I was there I discovered that a couple of hundred people work at the Battersea HQ; there is another, complementary HQ in Milan. Nearly all the employees live locally and travel to work on the several buses that cross Battersea Bridge – others cycle. Well over 50% of the company’s sales go abroad. The Panel discussion was positive although not totally without criticism. With luck we should see an early planning application.
  8. And other news about Battersea and Wandsworth:
  • On 15th October, I had a meeting of the Met. Police’s Battersea Park ward Neighbourhood Team in the Doddington Estate. It is a useful exchange of views between the Met and the local community about police priorities.
  • The Council Meeting on 16th was the usual rubber-stamping of the month’s decisions. Regular readers will know my views about this formulaic, essentially pointless event. Over the years it has lost all its old spontaneity and drama and desperately needs a re-think as to both purpose and format.
  • I cancelled the Planning Applications Committee due on 24th October, because of lack of business – a worrying sign for the building industry or just a temporary blip?
  • Plans proceed for building a new primary school in thePicture8 Nine Elms linear park The construction costs will be carried by all the private developments that have taken place in the area in the past few years. I doubt that it will look quite like this but here was the visualisation presented to councillors.
  • Battersea Park Rotary asked me to remind pensioners about Rotary’s Xmas Day special – contact Senia Dedic (seniadedic@hotmail.com) for details.
  • The Battersea Park Fun Run began in October and on 18th October we held the largest such run anywhere in the world ever – or so my friend Simon says but how anyone can possibly know defeats me! But no matter; it takes place every Saturday morning at 9.30. Why not give it a go? (I don’t think my knees would take it!)
  • The Council has installed traffic lights at each end of the Culvert Road Tunnel. I was frankly a bit dubious about whether they would have any real impact but fellow Councillor Sara Apps from Shaftesbury & Queenstown ward pressed for them. I must say that first indications are good. There is more compliance with the signals than I had anticipated; but let’s see if they are still as successful in a few months.
  • On 30th October the Council in association with TfL started works on Battersea Bridge to make it safer for both cyclists and pedestrians – readers no doubt remember the recent fatal accident involving a cyclist. Unfortunately, I suspect whilst the work is being done, there will be delays crossing either Battersea or Albert Bridge.

My November Programme

  1. I have a meeting of Battersea United Charities on 4th November.
  2. And how could one forget November 5th Fireworks Display in Battersea Park.
  3. Junction Jazz are playing one of their occasional fund-raisers for the Battersea Labour Party on 1st November.
  4. The 11th is, of course, Armistice Day and as always, I will be attending the Battersea Park ceremony.
  5. The Conservation and Heritage Committee meets on 12th November.
  6. I have the Transport Committee on 19th.
  7. November’s meeting of the Planning Applications Committee is on 20th.

Did you know?Picture7

Last month I asked “which Jamaican singer-songwriter lived in Chelsea, but loved playing football in Battersea Park? Name him – and one of his songs – and name the English football team that he supported?”

I have never had so many correct answers. Yes, Bob Marley and Spurs. As to the song, well that was a matter of some dispute but probably No Woman, No Cry won by a short head.

And this month?

An Irish Protestant dramatist, clearly torn between both his Irish and British heritages in that he was at once an Irish Republican and a British patriot, this socialist born in North Dublin spent many of his later years in Prince of Wales Drive, Battersea. Who was he and can you name his most famous play, and even one other of his works?

January 5, 2024  

Councillor Tony Belton’s Battersea January 2024, Newsletter (# 175)

HAPPY NEW YEAR

  1. On 5th December, I had the quarterly meeting of the North East Surrey Crematorium Board, which is half-run and owned by Wandsworth Council and half-run and owned by Merton, and Sutton Councils. It is not exactly a dream ticket for ambitious local councillors, but it is a significant municipal enterprise, which delivers less expensive cremations than our private sector rivals and is now one of the greenest crematoria in the country, thanks to our early adoption of catalytic converter technology.
  2. Later that evening I attended the Ethelburga Estate Residents Association AGM, where the main items for discussion were the potential use of PV panels on the extensive roofs of the estate and the use (or lack) of security cameras on the estate. I have taken up both issues and will report back to the Association.
  3. On a cold 6th December, I attended the Alton Estate Design Review Panel (DRP). Using public transport, it took me about an hour and a half each way to get from Clapham Junction to the Roehampton Estate. It was a day of strikes, chaos, and confusion. Was it simply a pleasure or a frustration, after a 3-hour commute, to attend a meeting of such total agreement and amity – after all spending a whole morning just to go to a meeting, where everyone agreed with each other, didn’t seem exactly pointful!
  4. That evening, I was interviewed by a member of Wandsworth Council’s Democracy Review Panel. This study really is a fascinating initiative taken by the still-new Labour Council. Forty-four years of opposition, 44 years of the frustration of opposition, 44 years of powerless protest against cuts in services, and sales of public assets have left many of the Labour councillors, and especially the Leader, Simon Hogg, jaundiced about the whole Council process. Simon’s, ambition is to modernise and democratise the process. In my view, the review needs to tackle at least two fundamental questions. First, whether the 44 years of frustration were just an inevitable part of losing years of elections or whether there was also something fundamentally undemocratic in Wandsworth’s procedures – not of course undemocratic in the rather conservative view of democracy being defined by an occasional election, but undemocratic by more vigorous measures, potentially available in today’s complex society.    Secondly, how likely is it that having won so-called first-past-the-post power, the new Labour majority will be open to real democratic reform – and how much? Or whether all the processes and procedures seem somehow more justified when we are the majority?    Not that my interview got into all the possible depths of such questions – but it was an interesting discussion, largely about the merits (or demerits) of the committee system as opposed to the strong Leader and Executive models of local government.
  5. On 7th December, I was booked into an Italian Picture1restaurant in Holborn for Christmas lunch with my ex-football team. The food wasn’t special, the company was. We were quite a good team, not brilliant, but sixty years later, we don’t look too bad. We all worked for the GLC (Greater London Council); the fact that we still enjoy each other’s company must mean something, I guess. We shared some values, some politics, and some stories about great goals, we had scored.
  6. I guess that many folk believe that being electeda councillor opens up the chance of a life of perks. I can’t Picture2think of many (any?), but we did have a splendid one on the 8th The 4 major suppliers of electric bikes and electric scooters offered members of the Transport Committee, free “goes” on their machines in a council-depot site. All I can say is that one would have to have a heart of stone not to envy the access that younger and fitter people have to such machines. The ease of movement, the smoothness of acceleration, the freedom engendered – it must have been like that in an earlier age for those rich enough to have a horse. Older people often express fear and hatred of both bikes and scooters – they will need to get used to them as they will become ever more popular. The rather unflattering picture is of me getting my final instructions before whizzing joyously around the depot!
  7. Later that same day the Mayor, Battersea Park Picture3ward Councillor Juliana Annan, hosted a Charity Xmas Party. As can be seen by the picture, it was not a very formal occasion, but it was an enjoyable one. The Katherine Low Settlement was the main beneficiary of the occasion. The Mayor is on my left, Sandra Munoz and Senia Dedic are the other two guests.
  8. On 10th December, Penny and I went toPicture4 Battersea Labour Party’s Junction Jazz night. As always, the jazz tended towards the traditional, but all the more popular for that. A guest star on this occasion was Martin Linton, Battersea’s Labour MP from 1997-2010. Martin is seen here playing the trumpet, alongside Nikki Marsh on alto-sax, the bandleader. A good time was had by one and all.
  9. On the 12th December, I was invited to join the Battersea Fields GP practice for their Christmas lunch. It was very much a working lunch, and all the more interesting for that. Given that the practice’s geographical patch includes nearly all the new developments in Nine Elms Lane, they believe that they may be the largest GP practice in the country. It was good to meet the local GPs and pharmacists – a dedicated and interesting group.
  10. That evening I chaired the Planning Applications Committee. Unsurprisingly, given the time of year, there werePicture5 not many particularly interesting applications bar one, which was (and is) the Star and Garter Hotel on the Putney river-front. This great, Victorian building has certainly seen better days, but now we have an interesting roof-top extension, including a new dome (the one on the left in this plan) and new accommodation (on the roof between the two domes). It looked – and hopefully will be – an exciting new development for Putney and the Borough, if not exactly of immediate Battersea interest.
  11. On December 13th, I attended a Design Review Panel’sPicture6 deliberations over the possible development of the Glassmills site on the east side of the Battersea Bridge approach. The potential development is “an iconic tower”, standing as high as St. Paul’s Cathedral as an entry sign into the Borough. The DRP’s rules prevent me from saying much at this stage – after all the plans did not even form the basis of a planning application and they may never see the light of day. What I can say, however, was that the contributions from panel members were of the highest quality – I was very impressed. The picture from inside the current mirror glass shows the ground floor view from the site, including the beautiful swan sculpture, who has recently lost his mate to needless vandalism. I am sure that we will hear much more on this, if and when we get a valid planning application.
  12. The Council Meeting, later that day, was interesting. The Tories decided to “attack” Labour over what they deemed to be our plans to sell-off assets, andPicture7 particularly Battersea Library. From Labour’s perspective, the absurdity of Wandsworth Tory councillors, renowned in the past for their proud boast of selling more council assets than any other authority, attacking Labour for asset selling, almost beggars belief. But it also speaks of a massive Tory ignorance of Labour attitudes, if they seriously believe that we could or would sell such an iconic feature of our history – or that the public would believe such an accusation.
  13. And then it was Christmas, with a quiet day clearing the garden, followed by family stuff in Winchester, dominated by this heroic statue of Alfred the Great. After that we had a couple of days at a favourite resort hotel and a few gentle walks.

STOP PRESS

Starting from 8th January, your Christmas tree will be collected by the Council on the same day as your rubbish and recycling, but by a different vehicle, so this may not be at the same time as other collections. So please do NOT put out before 7th January – after Twelfth Night.

Trees should be left out after 6.30 pm on the day before the collection is due, and by 6.30 am on the collection day.

If you have a front garden – put your tree out for collection next to your rubbish and recycling bags, on your usual collection day – not on the street. If you do NOT have a front garden – put your tree just outside your front door on the pavement taking care not to block where people walk.

If you live in a block of flats – leave your tree near your rubbish or recycling bin store, making sure you do not block access to the bins.

Trees are sent for composting, so the Council will not collect your tree if it is plastic, still decorated, in a pot or a stand, or is over 6ft tall (so cut into pieces).

If you see Christmas trees left abandoned, report them to the Council at: wandsworth.gov.uk/rubbish-and-recycling/christmas-tree-recycling/

My programme for January

  1. Penny and I are having a Twelfth Night Party for our local neighbours on, guess when, Twelfth Night.
  2. The Planning Applications Committee is on 18th January
  3. On 20th January, I have the Councillor Advice Session aka Surgery at Battersea Park Library.
  4. On 24th January, I have the Finance & General Purposes Committee.
  5. On 25th January, Alf Dubs is giving the inaugural, hopefully, annual Alf Dubs lecture at Battersea Arts Centre at 7 pm. Tickets are available at alfdubslabour@gmail.com.

Did you know?Picture8

Last month, I asked, whether you could tell where this plaque is? And who was John Buckmaster? Of course, many people did, including members of the Battersea Society involved in its installation. But what had he done to deserve the plaque? I will expand on that after you have answered this month’s question.

And this month?Picture9

So, where is a second plaque to John Buckmaster? Clue: it is not in Battersea. And exactly what did he do in working to keep the Commons open. Oh, and by the way, can you point to anything named after John Buckmaster and where is that?