Tag Archive | Latchmere

September was hectic; October was both quieter and yet more challenging! During years in politics, I have been “interviewed” at more than 40 selection meetings prior to standing for election. This kind of competition is not unique to politics; but it always means competing with close colleagues and friends. That is stressful and the track record shows I have a mixed record at it! For most of the rest of the month I went coughing and spluttering into voluntary self-isolation – and that is boring.
Saturday, 9^th October, was a tough day. I had two selection meetings; one successful and the other not. The first was in the new 2 member ward of Falconbrook, where my colleagues Kate Stock and Simon Hogg were triumphant. Congratulations to them and all the best for the real election next May. The second selection meeting that day was in the new Battersea Park ward, where I was successful along with my new colleagues Juliana Anaan and Maurice McLeod. I look forward to working, and hopefully winning, with them next May.

Wandsworth’s Council Meeting was held on the 13^th Sadly and inevitably, Covid 19 has put everything, including Council Meetings, into the shade. The pandemic, not to mention the climate crisis, has eclipsed the relatively minor issues of running the Council. However, it does remain important that we have a lively political forum, in which to debate how we run our society, when hopefully we can put Covid behind us. Meanwhile the Council Meeting was rather second tier!

On 14^th October, I went to my cousin’s funeral in Braintree, Essex. He and I were never very close, but immediately post-war, because he lived in Southend-on-Sea, my parents would send me off for a couple of weeks in the summer holidays from Tottenham to live with him, and my aunt and uncle. Penny and I made the 150 mile round journey (and stayed the night) to mark a family passing. It was good to see old family members again after so long. The “butter wouldn’t melt” picture is of David and me. David is the older of the two of us and the picture dates, I guess, from August, 1948.
After the funeral on the next day, 15^th October, Pen and I drove the short distance to Colchester, where amongst other things I got a penalty notice for driving into a bus-lane I frankly didn’t see – oh, well, the price of urban living! Why go to Colchester? To visit an old colleague and friend, Guy Wilson, who was elected as a Wandsworth councillor in 1968. The three of us were part of the 1971-78 Labour Council. We had a conversational ramble through the successes and disasters of that Council – and my word there were some great successes and one very large disaster, the implementation, or not, of the 1971 Housing Finance Act!The picture is of the three of us, Guy on the left, then Penny, and me, along with Margaret Morgan and Martin Linton, celebrating our 1971 victory at a recent 50 year celebration!

On reflection, the funeral, especially the wake, was a super-spreader event. I haven’t heard of any consequential Covid 19, but I have had a nasty cough ever since and so on 16^th October I put myself in self-isolation, despite a negative test – and self-isolation is very boring!

Self-isolation meant that I did not attend the October Planning Applications Committee, except in Zoom-mode. Although there was nothing very exciting on the agenda, I was impressed by the high quality of councillor involvement and contribution. It was mundane. It was ordinary. It was not going to save the world from environmental disaster; but it was part of the bread-and-butter of local government and it was very well done with thought and care.

On a quite different matter, one old friend of mine, who makes her living from graphic design, tells me that she likes my newsletters but hates the cross-page justification I have used in the first 3 paragraphs of this newsletter. She thinks it looks much better simply left-justified as in the last 5 paragraphs. Tell me, what is your view? What is the readers’ opinion?

My Programme for November

On the 4th November, I was going to be at the Civic Awards ceremony at the Town Hall with my colleague Juliana Annan – but I am afraid self-isolation continues to rule that out.
On the 7^th November, Battersea Labour Party is having a Jazz Night at Clapham’s Bread and Roses That is usually an enjoyable occasion and I hope to be there!
Some of you may remember that Penny was elected for a four-year term as President of the International Association for Eighteenth–Century Studies and we had plans for attending multiple international conferences. Of course, Covid has put a stop to all that. But now Denmark has taken the plunge and so from 10^th-14^th November we hope to be in Copenhagen – our first trip (holiday, well working holiday for her) in two years. No doubt many of you have not had a break either, so you will know how exciting that feels!
The November Planning Applications Committee is on 23^rd There will probably be a contentious planning application to convert the Clapham Common Bowling Green to a Pitch and Putt course, amongst other items – watch this space!
Battersea Park Rotary Club invited me give a talk about my 50 years as a councillor and, no doubt, about what has or has not changed during that time. I get lunch in return on 25^th I look forward to that but must think just a bit about what really has changed?

Did you Know?

Last month I asked, “Which ward will be abolished next May and, take with it, the proud record of being the only ward in Wandsworth never, ever to have been anything other than represented by Labour councillors?”

That was so easy/boring/inconsequential (delete to taste) that none of you bothered to tell me that it is, of course, Latchmere, the only ward permanently represented by Labour!

And for this month’s puzzler:

I thought I knew my local horse troughs but last month I noticed this one, for the first time, despite passing it a 1,000 times. It is a slight cheat as it is very marginally outside Battersea’s boundaries. Do you know it? And can you point me to a similar trough that is very definitely in Battersea?

If it helps, Yes – they are pub seats in the background.

August 5, 2021

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Councillor Tony Belton’s Battersea August 2021, Newsletter (# 146)

1^st July. I was on tenterhooks that evening as Kim Leadbeater won the Batley and Spen by-election for Labour by 323 votes. You will remember that this was the seat where the Labour MP, Jo Cox, was assassinated by a right-wing fanatic in 2016, and her successor resigned this year, when she became the Mayor of West Yorkshire. Labour had lost the Hartlepool by-election as recently as 6^th May. Things did not look good for Labour or for Keir Starmer, but, in fact, Labour, in the person of Kim, just held on and suddenly the glitter had gone from the government. Johnson is beginning to get the bad press he so clearly deserves, with his own MPs getting uncomfortable about his failure to deliver. Unfortunately, there is as yet no sign of the public returning to Labour in any great numbers, but at least the Tory Party rocket looks to have burnt out.
6^th July. I took Battersea’s Labour M.P., Marsha de Cordova, to the Centre Court, Wimbledon, where we saw Angelique Kerber comfortably beat Karolina Muchova, 6-2, 6-3. But the day was not vintage Wimbledon. There were showers preventing us from walking the show; Marsha had had very short notice of a Shadow Cabinet meeting called for early the next day and was clearly concerned about that, whilst I was also pre-occupied. Meanwhile, the match was not great, with Kerber (pictured here) dominating from first to last.
It is sometimes amusing, when walking round Battersea streets, to see just how people decorate their gardens or, in this case, their corridors. But I have never seen the internal corridor of a “Council block” with statuary quite like these ladies on the right! I loved them.
12^th July. I introduced our MP, Marsha de Cordova, to Battersea United Charities (BUC) – well virtually – in a Covid-approved sort of way. Both Marsha and BUC seemed pleased with the meeting, although both the trustees and Marsha would clearly have preferred a real face-to-face meeting. The BUC told Marsha of the kind and type of charitable grant they make (i.e. educational grants within the ancient parish of Battersea) and she, in her turn, suggested that they might wish to use her to publicise some of their projects, in order to increase the number of applicants.
19^th July had been set up by the Prime Minister as Freedom Day. What an absurd notion! Freedom from what? Clearly not from Covid-19 as it is obviously fighting fit and ready to fight another day; freedom from regulations that are designed to keep us alive? So that we can be free to be infected? Or free from fear? Tell that to someone who is immuno-compromised. Freedom from caring for the sick and dying? Tell that to nursing staff; tell it to doctors. One thing, that we definitely are not free from, is the absurd statements coming from this most irresponsible of all governments.
On 21^st July I had a Wandsworth Council Meeting. It was a curious occasion. The Government had, earlier in the month, ruled that we councillors could no longer have hybrid meetings – that is, meetings held with both online and actual presence of councillors. However, there are several councillors with health issues, which prevented them from being there in person. Moreover, because of social distancing rules, we were, to some degree, discouraged from attendance, because the Council Chamber, large as it is, is not really large enough to allow adequate social distancing. All these factors made me decide to stay away, making this one of the very, very few Council Meetings that I have missed since May 1971.
Watching the meeting online, I just did not think that the Council Meeting worked in procedural terms. I am not kidding myself into thinking that many of the public would want to watch such an event. It turns out that there was an audience of 75, but that total included half-a-dozen absent councillors, like me. In fact unless one knew the arcane processes of the Council, the procedures must have been indecipherable. I, for one, let alone the other 74, hardly knew what was going on!
The Planning Applications Committee, on 27^th July, featured an application for a two-form entry primary school in Nine Elms, just west of the American embassy. It was a Council application made on the basis of estimates of the future child population in Nine Elms. It is an inherently risky business, building a new school for an estimated future, as yet not born, child population: the Council will be criticised if there are too few 5-11 year-olds but, of course, it would have been crucified if, having granted permissions for the large developments in Nine Elms, it had not provided enough school places. The application was agreed unanimously. The other applications were of only local interest, though of course important to the applicants.
On the 28^th July, Penny and I set off for a three day trip to Alnwick, Northumberland, where we stayed with some old friends. We had, however, never visited their house before – here it is, an early nineteenth-century house close to the centre of town with a view of the castle. We had a great time and their garden boasts having its very own hedgehog, which we did see one night. It was the first hedgehog that either of us had seen since at least the 1960s. I imagine that there may be hedgehogs somewhere in Battersea Park, but can anyone confirm a sighting in Battersea?
On our first day there, we went for a walk from the tiny port of Craster to Dustanburgh Castle. On the way back we were spotted by Battersea residents and fellow Labour Party members, Ed and Aviva with their son Henry – small world! Here they are with Penny, about a mile from the castle, which is clear on the horizon.
Alnwick itself is a small market town with its own castle. But castles are, as they say, ten a penny, on this coast with Bamburgh Castle, seen here, one of the most impressive. They are not display castles nor nineteenth-century follies; they are nearly all twelth- or thirteenth-century fortifications; and many played key roles in either defence against the Scots or the century of battles, culminating in the so-called Wars of the Roses, which basically settled the English (and I mean English not British) monarchy on the Tudors.

My Programme for August

In terms of formal Council Committees or Council Meetings, there is only the Planning Applications Committee (PAC) on the 19^thAugust.
But I do have occasional management meetings about planning and housing issues and, of course, the regular flow of casework, helping constituents.

Did you Know?

Last month I asked, “Where in Battersea was the location of a pioneering aircraft factory, named Omnia Works, where WW1 fighter aircraft were made? And where, again in Battersea, did its owner and managing director live?”

There is a blue plaque commemorating Hilda Hewlett, the first woman licenced as a pilot, on the building at 4 Vardens Road, off St. John’s Hill. Vardens Road was the site of her Omnia Works, where aircraft, including WW1 fighter aircraft were made in 1912-14. Hilda herself lived at 34 Park Mansions, Prince of Wales Drive. Well done, Spen and others.

And for this month can you tell me:

Which Olympians from this year’s Tokyo Olympiad either live in Battersea or were said on TV to have had family watching the event on TV in Battersea? Clearly, I don’t have a definitive answer but can we collaboratively put together a list of, say, 3 which would be roughly three times Battersea’s proportion of the British population?

July 17, 2021

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Councillor Tony Belton’s Battersea July 2021, Newsletter (# 145)

That was June, June that was

1 June. I was walking along Trinity Road, in Wandsworth Common, when I saw this magnificent hearse. Obviously, it marks a sad event for someone, somewhere, but it also provides a spectacle and an insight into cultural diversity, between the sombre nature of some funerals and the joyous celebration of a departed life “enjoyed” by others. (please note this version of the blog is without pictures – techie problem! I hope to sort shortly)
5-6 June. Penny and I went Eastbourne for the weekend. On the Saturday we went to Pevensey Castle, five miles from Eastbourne, where William the Conqueror landed at the start of his conquest of England. The magnificent ruins of the Castle command a splendid view over the coastal plain/marshes and of the sea, which has retreated a couple of miles since 1066. This photograph of the Norman castle ruins is not the best – of the castle – but I chose it for one very special feature and that is the gun emplacement set in the Norman Tower during the Second World War – an eleventh-century pillarbox defence. So, from some fortifications at Pevensey in Roman times through to its military use in the twentieth century, it has had an active history of 16 centuries – a truly unique British castle.
On the Sunday, we went on the “Annual Family Walk” from the Birling Gap to the top of Beachy Head. I was a little doubtful about whether I could make it all the way, but managed OK. The trouble was that, whilst the rest of the country was basking under a beautiful sun, we were trapped in a sea fog and couldn’t see the sea, the Beachy Head light-house or almost anything else. And the day had started with this beautiful and tranquil, if unspectacular, dawn at about 3.45 am!
7 June. I went to a lecture organised by Labour Heritage and given by Baroness Dianne Hayter. She was talking about a book that she had written in 2006 on the centenary of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) and about the 29 MPs, who in 1906 got together to form the PLP and, effectively, the Labour Party. The book, called Men Who Made Labour, is a record of the lives of these 29 men and their experiences as the first Labour MPs. Nearly all were what we might call “working men”, with very few having had any formal education beyond the age of 12 or 13. Almost none had ever been to London before their election and none had had any exposure to life in Parliament. The challenges they faced were immense compared to most modern-day experiences. But nevertheless, through self-education, hard-work and endless commitment they became over time Cabinet Ministers and, in at least one case, Prime Minister. Dianne, an old friend, told the story with passion and understanding – it was an hour’s Zoom well spent.
10 June. This time, I was doing the talking – to Croydon Trades Council. Croydon Borough Council recently decided to hold a referendum on 7^th October this year, when the voters will be asked whether they want to have an elected Mayor or to keep the current Leader and councillors model. As it happens, one of the Trades Council members recalled reading an article I had written in 2007, on why elected mayors are “bad news”. Hence I was invited to speak. My speech went well but I think most of the audience was on my side before they had even heard a word. Nevertheless, it was good to get a good reception. If you are interested in my arguments against elected Mayors, then you can see the article on my blog at tonybelton.wordpress.com/
Constituency Boundaries. Boundaries are extremely important to people deeply involved in politics. It may seem very boring to most but it is a matter of life and death to real politicos. It is because they have manipulated electoral boundaries so efficiently that the Republican Party is stronger in the US House of Representatives than its poll numbers would suggest. Indeed the word “gerrymandering” is an American word of abuse, originally aimed at the Democratic Governor of Massachusetts called Elbridge Gerry and the boundaries he drew up in 1812 for a new voting district, shaped, it is said, like a salamander or as the Boston Weekly Messenger called it a “Gerry-Mander”.
This comment is a long-way round to introducing the fact that the Boundary Commissioners have recently produced their latest proposals for parliamentary boundaries. The whole point of these proposals is, of course, to try and bring some kind of democratic equality to bear on the electoral process by making parliamentary constituencies of more or less of equal population size – the law actually allows a 5% variation. Unfortunately, geography is nowhere as neat as arithmetic, and so five constituencies are defined by geography and not by population numbers. They are the islands of Orkney and Shetland, the Hebrides, Anglesey and two on the Isle of Wight.
Fortunately on this occasion, the growth in Battersea’s (and the Borough’s) population more or less reflects the growth in the country’s population, hence no gerrymandering is required. The three Wandsworth constituencies of Battersea, Putney and Tooting, as proposed, are almost unchanged. But Tory Party MPs may be less keen than they were to implement the boundary redistribution, because, since the 2019 General Election, they do not stand to gain as much as they had previously expected – or at least that is what I have heard Labour cynics say! And, if that is the case, then maybe – as so often before – nothing will happen. We really ought to take these crucial decisions out of the hands of active politicians, and into the hands of the independent Electoral Commission.
22 June. I had a meeting in the morning of the North East Surrey Crematorium Board – and after its routine business, I was shown the grave of John Archer, famously the first black Mayor of a major local authority when elected Mayor of Battersea in 1913. I must confess that the grave itself is fairly unremarkable but it has its place in Battersea history, even if the graveyard is located deep in Merton! Or even Sutton?
On the way back home from the Crem Board, I passed an unusual scene in Christchurch parsonage garden. Not exactly where I expected to see a rehearsal of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Ernest but that is what it was – and I never found out when and where it was produced but it made for an entertaining surprise for anyone walking along Candahar Road, just off Battersea Park Road!
That same evening there was a meeting of the Planning Applications Committee and, as regular readers will know, there is usually something of interest on the agenda. But on this occasion – nothing. So, I pass on to the Education Committee, which had two items that sparked an interest. The first was a Report on Wandsworth Independent and State School Partnership. Now, with one of the largest private-sector engagements in public education in the country, one would think that this issue has to be of major significance to Wandsworth local education authority. But with the final recommendations saying “This paper sets out the plans to strengthen the relationships between Independent and State schools in Wandsworth with a view to establish a long term mutually beneficial cross-sector partnership adding value to both sectors and securing targeted support for disadvantaged pupils in the borough…There is no additional financial implication for Council” – the heart sinks.
The second item that caught my eye was the Report by the Director of Childrens Services on Wandsworth catch up strategy – that is, to catch up on education following all the disruption caused by the Covid Pandemic. How exciting and demanding one thinks, until reading the recommendations which say, and I quote, “No decisions are required on it by the Council”. That was Council politics in June, that was!

My Programme for July

1. On July 1^st we have the result of the Batley and Spen by-election – of course Labour won but more about that next month!
2. I am taking Battersea’s MP, Marsha de Cordova, to Wimbledon on 6^th July, which will be fun.
3. On July 12^th I have a meeting of Battersea United Charities, where Marsha will be a guest.
4. On 15^th July both Kambala Cares and the Battersea Society are having their summer parties.
5. A meeting of the Special Neighbourhood Team is due to be held on 20^th.
6. There is a Council Meeting on 21^st July.
7. On the 23^rd July the Falcon Estate Residents Association Committee is having an annual dinner.
8. The Planning Applications Committee (PAC) is on the 27^th July.

Did you Know: Last month I asked, “How many pubs are there in Latchmere ward? Their names? And how many have closed to your knowledge in the recent past and their names?”

Not one of you tried a reply, and I don’t know the answer but let us work it out, working from west to east. There is the Anchor in Hope Street, the Asparagus and the Suburb in Falcon Road, the Latchmere and the Clockhouse in Battersea Park Road and the Flag in Culvert Road, and that is that – I think. Closed: in the recent past: the Grove, the Duke of Wellington, the Meyrick Arms, the Prince’s Head, the London, Dover and Chatham Railway Tavern, pictured right, and the Havelock Arms. So, 6 down and 6 remaining; pubs really are an endangered species in our current environment!

And for this month can you tell me:

Where in Battersea was the location of a pioneering aircraft factory, named Omnia Works, where WW1 fighter aircraft were made? And where, again in Battersea, did its owner and managing director live?

June 12, 2021

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Councillor Tony Belton’s Battersea June 2021, Newsletter (# 144)

I am having a season of anniversaries! What with reaching the dreaded 80 in April, on 13^th May I notched up 50 years as a Labour councillor – it must be a drug – or certainly an addiction. The Town Hall put out a press release, which was nice of them. They dredged up a picture of yours truly in 1971. Here it is; as shown in my election leaflet, would you believe? I won Northcote ward that year and subsequently Graveney before settling down in Latchmere in 1982 – but enough of me.
On 2^nd May, I went canvassing in Bedford ward, just near Tooting Bec station with the Labour candidate in the Bedford ward by-election, which was held along with the GLA election on 6^th May. It was a Labour area and it was an enjoyable occasion – canvassing is always much more fun when you do NOT get doors slammed in your face and have no abuse to deal with (I am not suggesting, by the way, that Tory canvassers don’t get the same treatment in reverse). I was impressed with Labour’s candidate, Hannah Stanislaus. Whatever else she brings to the Council – she has a good, bold, confident doorstep manner.
On 6^th May itself, Labour did well in London in general and in Bedford and Wandsworth in particular. The by-election result was strikingly similar to the Bedford result in the 2018 Borough election. The turn-out at just over 51.4% was very slightly higher this year than the 48% turn-out in the Borough election and the Labour and Tory votes were very similar, with Labour on 50% as opposed to 49% and Tories on 24% as opposed to 23%. Interestingly, the Green candidate gained 50% more votes than in 2018 – admittedly from a far lower base but the Greens must feel that they are on the move.
On the same day, of course, Sadiq Khan was re-elected Mayor of London and Leonie Cooper re-elected as the Assembly Member for Merton and Wandsworth. Congratulations to both of them, who I know well having been a fellow Wandsworth councillor for more than a dozen years. They are part of the story that London has become an overwhelmingly Labour city. But I think that both, Sadiq and Leonie, have questions to answer. In Sadiq’s case, his first term has been defined by disaster, with the Grenfell Tower disaster of 2017, being followed by the Covid crisis of 2019-21 (22, 23?). And in this election he had an admittedly small (1.6%) swing against him achieved by someone universally perceived as one of the weakest Mayoral candidates ever, the Tory Shaun Bailey. The opening of the Elizabeth Line Crossrail might have given him a completely undeserved triumph, but in fact, it has left him with an equally undeserved calamity – “undeserved” in both cases because the decisions, the planning, the construction mostly pre-dated his time as Mayor and triumph or calamity they “merely” happened on his watch. Can he realistically achieve much in the three years left to him, given that Covid remains the significant factor that it is? Does he decide to go for a third term? Does he like Johnson before him, plan to return to the Commons? He will still only be 54 years old, so he still has time to achieve yet more. But if I know Sadiq, and I think I do, then he will have a pretty shrewd idea now of what he is going to do and he will not let on about it to anyone.
I think Leonie’s questions are easier, at least to pose. Does she decide to be primarily the first Labour Leader of Wandsworth Council since 1978 or the deputy leader of Labour in the London Assembly? I know which I would consider the more important (what after all does being an Assembly member mean apart from getting a massive salary?). But on the other hand, being on the Assembly is arguably a better stepping stone to the Mayoralty (how about being London’s first female Mayor?) or a seat in the Commons. But either way, Leonie does not need to decide, nor will she, until after the May, 2022, Borough election, when she will discover whether she is, or is not, Leader of Wandsworth Council.
On the 11^th May, Penny and I went for a walk in Nunhead Cemetery. It’s well worth a visit in spring, or I guess in autumn for the falling leaves. Wildflowers and generally rampant undergrowth climb over magnificent late 19^th and early 20^th century statuary, spread across a very large site. A quick rule of thumb comparison on Google Maps suggests that it is about half the size of Battersea Park and almost completely empty – at least of live bodies! It also commands magnificent views of the city, with one view, in particular, focused on St. Paul’s Cathedral. It is actually a “protected” view (in planning terms, i.e. new buildings are not allowed to obstruct the view) as indeed is a similar distant view of the Cathedral from Richmond Park.
Talking of which, did you happen to see a recent list produced, by a Wandsworth news blog, of 10 special open-places to visit in South London? Strikingly we, in Wandsworth, are right in the epi-centre, with Richmond Park top of the list and others included Wimbledon Common, Battersea Park, Wandsworth Common (a mistake there I think as the write-up didn’t sound like the common I know), the Crystal Palace dinosaur Park, Nunhead Cemetery, Greenwich Park and a couple of complete strangers near Sidcup, south-east London. With all the travel restrictions we face today, perhaps we will bump into each other at one of these London beauty spots!
On 25^th May I had the Planning Applications Committee. In the last couple of months, I have rather down-played the interest in this committee but May was different. As always there were a number of small and locally important applications but only two of major significance and they were both in Nine Elms. I voted against both, though the first vote was almost a gesture of frustration as I knew that it was really a box-ticking exercise at the “details” level of the process. Nonetheless, despite the poor re-production I hope you can see why I should be against such a monolithic construct! The second was a giant hotel next to, and destroying the view of, the American Embassy.
You might have seen coverage in the press of the new Nine Elms “Sky Pool”, which was opened in May. My Labour colleague, Aydin Dickerdem, who represents the area of Nine Elms where the Sky Pool is situated, reminded me of my August 2015 Newsletter when I asked whether people had seen “the fantasy proposal for a swimming pool in the sky? Captioned in the Daily Telegraph as the “Glass-bottomed floating ‘sky pool’ to be unveiled in London”. Now, it is completed, it confirms my worst fears. It is a display of conspicuous consumption by an arrogant affluent class of developers, which reminds me of Marie Antoinette quipping that the starving Parisians of pre-revolutionary France should eat cake. No wonder she was soon to lose her head: I wouldn’t wish quite that on the planning committee and the developers responsible, but with the homeless walking the streets and foodbanks doing a roaring trade, they deserve some telling punishment.
On 26^th May we had the Council’s Annual Meeting. All 60 of us in the Civic Suite were spaced out like candidates in a major public examination but instead of preventing us from cheating this lay-out was: so that we could socially distance. Of course, the effect was precisely the opposite, as it was clear we were meant to be unsocially distanced. This procedure was rather strange as these annual meetings are meant to be for the new Mayor’s family and friends to share a drink and a chat with everyone who attends. So we had a Mayor-Making when not one person talked to the Mayor. A new experience for all and especially for the Mayor, Richard Field, a councillor in Nightingale ward, Tooting.
On 30^th May Penny and I stayed with Mary Jay in Oxford. Some of you, but not many I guess, will know Mary, the widow of Douglas Jay, Battersea’s Labour MP from 1946 to 1983. We were also there to introduce a Brazilian friend to both the city and the Bodleian Library. We took Antonio round Oxford and, in particular, round Magdalen College. Both looked magnificent in the early summer sun and, whilst we were in the Cloisters, this feathered friend popped by for a chat.
On 22^nd April, I had the Planning Applications Committee (PAC) and, if I said that the March PAC, was uneventful, then the April version made it seem positively momentous. The interest in individual planning applications was still sufficient, however, to inspire the virtual attendance by 52 people – it was very rare for pre-Covid, pre-online PAC ever to have an audience of 50 – so perhaps there will be some benefits from the new post-Covid regime. But councillors and officers will have to learn a few more broadcasting related presentational skills if they expect to be taken seriously!

My Programme for June

On June 7^th I look forward to hearing Diane Hayter talking about the first 29 Labour MPs, who started the PLP, the Parliamentary Labour Party, in 1906.
On June 10^th, I am talking to a group of Croydon trade unionists about the rights and wrongs of having elected Mayors. Croydon is planning to have a referendum on the matter in the autumn and clearly many are undecided about which way to vote. I am very much opposed.
On June 11^th, I am going to give my knees a trial run on an 18-hole golf course for the first time in several years! Fortunately, my partner’s knees are worse than mine so we will be using buggies! Too much football for too many years did for our knees!
The Planning Applications Committee (PAC) is on the 22^{^nd}

Did you Know: Last month I asked, “What was the connection between the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge and Battersea?”

And the answer was simply that the British company, Dorman Long, which won the contract to build the bridge, had a significant part of its London operation in Queenstown ward, Battersea.

And for this month can you tell me:

How many pubs are there in Latchmere ward? Their names? And how many have closed to your knowledge in the recent past and their names? And whilst I will be open to rational debate, I will be the final arbiter on what is, or is not, a pub, etc.

October 1, 2018

Councillor Tony Belton’s Battersea Newsletter, October, 2018, #112

It’s now two months since I wrote about building control regulations and Mrs. Thatcher’s so-called reforms. Last month I said that I have had a heart-felt response on the subject. Two of you, however, thought I was criticising builders, which was certainly not my intention. But this last month I got yet another reply strongly supporting my criticism of the process and the rules. I quote it extensively, because I think it exposes the idiocy of having a regulatory regime, being subject to freelance inspectors, who are picked by builders. The quotation is as follows:-
- “I am an original owner of a flat in a block built in 2010, where we have had a major issue on fire safety. We flat owners have had to pay around £40,000 to make structural improvements to the block …, having been told by fire safety experts, and ultimately by London Fire Brigade under threat of enforcement order, that it did not meet fire safety regulations (I understand the words “we can’t believe a new block got through like this” were used)
- .……… it raised the question who signed off on the block, the answer being precisely your scenario of privately contracted building inspector engaged by the developer. I cannot express how inadequate their response was when we took the issue up with them. The particular fire safety point may have been signed off without the inspector ever actually having viewed the property.
- I suspect an endemic issue of private inspectors ‘waving through’ building sign offs, partly due to being paid flat fees which incentivise ‘light touch’ engagement, and partly being concerned not to raise issues which discourage repeat business from developers.
- Subsequently we have seen the appalling Grenfell tragedy. You refer to the “dreadful price” of the building control system, but building control concerns much more than cracked walls and damaged foundations. I wonder just how dreadful the price of this rancid system might yet be, scaled across the vast levels of development in London alone, blithely waved through by these shoddy operators.”
Surely this quotation is proof enough that there is a problem, and Grenfell is a massive statement about how serious it is. We need fresh legislation to re-establish a simple regulatory regime, with an established, reliable and respected inspectorate – not a random set of freelance experts not subject to official validation.
Ever been to Bordeaux? Not many of my friends have done anything more than pass through. It is actually worth a bit more than that. The fundamentally 18^th century centre has been re-engineered around four or five brand new tram lines and is almost entirely pedestrianised. OK, it’s a relatively small city by London standards, but it was so pleasant walking around the town day and night, without having to dodge cars, or breathe their fumes, and to hear laughter and voices across the road. We went by train and then flew from Bordeaux to Croatia, where we stayed in the same fishing village that we have stayed in for five years – lots of swimming, reading Trollope’s The Way We Live Now and fish, fish for breakfast, lunch and dinner!
Whilst I was away my fellow Labour councillors organised a public meeting about Wandsworth Council’s response to fire hazards in multi-storey tower blocks. It was held at the Alma pub and was a reaction to the apparent intention of the Council to install sprinkler systems in all 10+ storey blocks.
It was an understandable reaction to Grenfell but it was essentially a knee-jerk one. For example, the Council did not suggest even the most cursory of inspections, when a moment’s thought might have suggested that Grenfell-style risks are much reduced where there are separate staircases at either end of blocks, such as on the Doddington estate, or where the construction method was traditional brick and mortar, such as Battersea Fields, or where cladding had or had not been used. Given also that it appears as though leaseholders could be charged up to £5,000 each for an installation they do not want and which may be of only dubious purpose, it is not surprising that there is a head of steam against the proposal.
The meeting was held on Sunday, 2^nd September, and was packed out with at least 100 tenants and leaseholders in attendance. It was chaired by the vastly experienced councillor and Wandsworth Greater London Assembly member Leonie Cooper, standing centre. The other four councillors on the platform as shown in this picture were Claire Gilbert (Roehampton), Maurice McLeod (Queenstown), Paul White (Tooting) and Angela Ireland (West Hill). Of these four, three were only elected in May, less than four months before this meeting. They organised and ran the whole meeting in what was quite an impressive baptism as it appeared to this “mature” councillor then sunning himself in Croatia. Well done to the team.
On the 18^th September I had the Strategic Planning and Transportation Committee, which had one of the lightest agendas I can ever recall. There was, however, an interesting paper on how to remould Battersea High Street, and especially the market, into a street just about worthy of the name. Unfortunately, I didn’t think the Council’s paper was up to the task (and it was amazingly expensive for what it proposed), but improvements to the High Street are now, as they say, on the agenda and I hope to see some exciting ideas coming forward.
The next day, 19^th September, I had the Planning Applications Committee. At first glance, there did not seem much of interest but further study proved otherwise. There was new detail on the mega-development of the old post office sorting office site in Nine Elms. The application from US company, Greystar, was for 894 BtR (Build to Rent) units. This was one of the first and definitely the largest appearance in the UK of the US housing product, BtR. Yes, I hate the phrasing too – “housing product” – Ugh!
The Tory majority on the Committee were really proud that this new “product” should be coming to the Borough, making us a pioneer of a new, efficient, privately rented sector. For everyone’s peace of mind, I hope that they are right, but I suspect that corporate America invading our housing market is going to have similar impacts as Uber to taxi services, Amazon to high street shopping and PayPal to subscription services, etc. It will put pressure on our own landlords at the medium and top end of the market and in the end leave local authorities and housing associations to pick up all the pieces at the lower end of the market.
The second interesting application was for a housing development on the site of the old Balham Bowls Club, Ramsden Road. I found this rather sad, because it meant the loss of a pub’s bowling green. I don’t know how many pubs in the country, let alone in Inner London, still have their own bowling greens (I know one in Suffolk), but I wouldn’t mind betting that this was the last in London – gone for ever.
Meanwhile, in another interesting indication of how the market is moving, the Council has taken enforcement action against a property in Battersea being used as an Airbnb property. I haven’t come across this much but a fellow councillor in Tooting tells me that he is plagued with 100 or so Airbnb (or similar company) “hires” usually of private houses, which are being used as vice dens or party locations. I would be interested to know if any of you are experiencing similar problems associated with this trend, here in Battersea.
I went back to my old college on 22^nd September. About a dozen of us, from further back than I care to admit, met up for dinner and a drink or two. It was great fun, but it meant that I totally missed London’s Car Free Day and no one has mentioned it to me either – I guess that means it was a bit of a non-event, which is a shame. It becomes clearer by the day exactly what damage is being done to our environment (and our health) by the internal combustion motor car – a great pleasure but also a killer!
I didn’t go to Liverpool for the Labour Party Conference but it appears to have gone rather better than many expected. Last month, I said that if Brexit is a disaster and if Labour hasn’t had the courage to take a stand on the issue, then the Labour Party will pay a heavy price. I suspect that Keir Starmer has created enough space, just about, for Labour to avoid that trap and come out of this sorry saga in not too bad a shape. How come he doesn’t get mentioned as being the next Leader? OK, not being a woman is a handicap, but not even getting a mention!
I suspect that there are quite a few Tories, who rather desperately hope to leave their Conference in Birmingham in as good a shape!
On the 27^th September, I went to the pretentiously named Village Hall, Battersea Power Station, to hear Dorian Gerhold talking about the history of industrial Wandsworth. He gave a broad sweeping description of the many major industrial plants and processes that have developed in Battersea, from the first major railway in Britain (horse drawn trucks), Battersea enamels, early aircraft manufacturing and copper smelting techniques to the UK’s busiest railway junction and the Power Station.
I say the “pretentiously named Village Hall”, because of course, whatever the Power Station development becomes, it can never really be a village. I have never made any pretence of liking much of what has gone up in the Nine Elms area, but many in the Council’s planning hierarchy, official and political, are very proud of most of the developments. Of course, getting the US Embassy and Apple to move in are major triumphs, which cannot be ignored. So, putting jaundice and prejudice to one side, I ask myself, and some of you, do you see any really valuable and innovative developments? And, even if you do, are those developments worth the unremittingly Alphaville kind of atmosphere of the place? I would be interested in your views – one thing one can say for the development, however, is that it has opened up the riverfront – here is Chelsea Bridge, more or less from the Village.
On Saturday, 29^th September, I went to a dinner in commemoration of the life of Sally-Ann Ephson, a Labour councillor in Queenstown, who died two years ago after suffering for many months from Sickle Cell Anaemia. The dinner was both a tribute to the brave Sally-Ann and a fund raiser for the Sickle Cell Society, a ferociously painful and merciless condition. The picture is of our guest speaker, Battersea MP, Marsha de Cordova.

My Programme for October

The first week of October will be dominated by the Tory Party Conference – not something that I would normally highlight but something makes me think that this particular week could be of major significance for all our futures – ho, and just might provide a few laughs!
If you follow my newsletters closely then you will know that I accompany my partner to many of her lectures, hence you will not be totally surprised that on 5^th October, we are off to Reykjavik, Iceland. That will be a new experience – especially if we are lucky enough to see Aurora Borealis – the Northern Lights!
There will be a Council Meeting on the 17^th October and the Planning Applications Committee on the 18^th.
On 20^th October a plaque to Caroline Ganley will be unveiled at 5 Thirsk Road at 11 a.m. This is part of Battersea Society’s plan to install as many commemorative plaques to women as we already have to men. Why does Mrs Ganley deserve a plaque? See below.

Do you know?

Last month, I asked as an aside whether anyone knew the connection between Lavender Gardens, Henty Close on the Ethelburga Estate and the Cornet of Horse? Two of you did, the connection being one G A Henty, who wrote a phenomenal number of books, 100+, either for children or adventures about the British Empire. He lived in Lavender Gardens and drank at the Cornet of Horse (now named the Four Thieves). Surprisingly enough, Henty Close on the Ethelburga Estate was also named after him. I think that one can imagine the style and values of his books by saying that one of my readers thought her comments wouldn’t get through the censors and the other, remembering books she read at the age of eight, thought they were rattling good yarns!

But my main question was about the photograph on the right, which I took in Webbs Road. This got the most enthusiastic response that any of my questions have provoked. What is it about bodily functions that interests the human so much?

The answer is that it is a “stink pipe” or as one person said a “stench pole”, installed by the Victorians to take the stench out of the sewerage system and expel it high into the sky. There are hundreds of them on our streets and most of us never notice them. There are about four on Bolingbroke Grove alone. One respondent sent me the addresses of three websites devoted to mapping and photographing them and yet another tells me that they were exported to Sydney, Australia, where they can also still be found. Here is just one of the websites: http://stinkpipes.blogspot.com/

So, to this month’s question: Caroline Ganley is having a plaque unveiled to her next month. Ganley Court is a fairly unremarkable Council block on the Winstanley Estate, which was named after her. Here she is, on the left, but who was she and why is she worth commemorating?

April 12, 2018

Councillor Tony Belton’s Battersea April, 2018, Newsletter (# 106)

On 7th March, Wandsworth’s Mayor Les McDonnell and I presented certificates to Mercy Foundation students of English. The Foundation is organised and very considerably financed by Victoria Rodney; she is the driving force behind the Foundation, which is in effect a one-woman voluntary organisation. Her main objective is to improve the life chances of many of the, frankly, poorer and less educated people of Battersea. Her clients come from all over the globe, with on this occasion, graduation certificates awarded to a couple from Portugal, a man from Afghanistan, a Bulgarian woman and a dozen others, largely from eastern Europe.
However, Victoria surprised me by finishing the awards with a certificate for me(!) and my contributions to the Foundation’s efforts – very nice of her but apart from helping in a few simple English conversational classes and helping her to apply and win grants, I don’t think I have done that much to deserve a certificate.
Later, the same day, we had the last Council Meeting before the Borough Election. It was the usual pre-election antics, but with one outrageous ploy played by the Tory majority, the like of which I haven’t seen in 40+ years of Council meetings. The Tories, without giving any notice or any apparent thought and certainly without due notice, moved a motion about spending an extra £10 million on Council services. This tactic was absolutely outside Council rules, but they avoided censure by using the weasel words, that they would “investigate” spending the money. In other words, the motion meant nothing. But it didn’t stop the Council producing a Council press release the next morning, giving the appearance of making £10 million available for local services – talk about playing politics on the rates! Although I suppose that this resolution does, at least, demonstrate that even the Tories recognise that austerity has gone too far.
On March 9^th, I went to the funeral of ex-Councillor Gordon Passmore. Gordon was a bit out of the ordinary as a councillor. He was elected as a councillor to the old Metropolitan Wandsworth Borough Council in 1960 and on nine occasions to the new London Borough of Wandsworth (1964, 68, 74, 78, 82, 86, 90, 98 and 2002). His long service as a councillor included leadership in a myriad of roles, most notably finance and planning. He and his wife, Shirley, were also for many years the driving force of the Wandsworth Society.
However, the most extra-ordinary episode of his life was his war experience. He was called up to the Fleet Air Arm, aged 18, on December 7^th 1941, the day Pearl Harbour was bombed. He was a gunner starting in a biplane. He flew over 230 sorties, about one in every four days, in the North Atlantic, the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean and finally, in 1945, off Japan. On 6^th June 1945, he was shot down in the Pacific and spent several hours “in the drink” until he was picked up by a Royal Navy destroyer. He was a hard-line Tory councillor, but polite and decent with it, and I suspect his wartime experiences gave him a broader outlook than some of his colleagues. Gordon Passmore was a quiet, mild-mannered man – very different from most of today’s Tory councillors.
On 12^th March, I went to Preston to hear a debate about the Preston Model, which has been much touted in the local government press as an exciting new way to organise services so at to avoid some of the enormous cuts being imposed on local authorities. I was not over-impressed, but largely because I doubt that the methods used in one medium-sized, essentially self-contained town of 114,000 people, would work for Wandsworth’s third of a million embedded in a vast metropolis. However, on a typically (for this March) cold and wet afternoon, I did have an hour to spare in Preston Town Centre and as ever, up North, was over-whelmed by the nineteenth-century grandeur of the centre, clear I hope even in this rainy picture of the court house.
Earlier in the month, Harris Academy, in Battersea Park Road, asked our MP, Marsha de Cordova, and me to be two of the five-strong panel of judges for a fun competition being run for Year 8 students. The competition was held on 15^th March, between six teams of kids. They had been asked to devise a presentation on behalf of a charity, local or national, with the prize of £1,000 being given to the successful charity. The teams were inventive. The presentations included songs, poems, rap and speeches. The winners were the group advocating Cancer Support. Marsha presented the winners’ cheque.
On the 16^th the Wandsworth Design Awards were presented at Roehampton University. The first prize went to the design team who created Roehampton University’s own Chadwick Hall students’ accommodation. I mentioned this in my February edition of this newsletter (#104), but here is a reminder of Chadwick Hall. The presentations were made in the “Portrait Room”, one of the University’s grandest rooms. As this part of the University had been a women’s college it was not surprising that most of the grand portraits were, indeed of women. But, nevertheless it was striking that these imposing nineteenth-century portraits were nearly all of women, and made me reflect on what an incredibly male dominated history tale we tell.
On Monday, 19^th March, I had the Passenger Transport Liaison Group. There were two items of real interest to Battersea. First, on the railways, it was reported that there have been more than 7,000 respondents to the consultation on the proposed new rail timetables. The new timetables are part of an ambitious expansion programme with longer trains and platforms, and increased capacity right across the system. However, to allow a greater number of services on the Reading lines out of Clapham Junction, there was a proposal to cut as many as half the trains stopping at Queenstown Road railway station. The reaction was antagonistic – so antagonistic that I feel certain the planners will re-consider! (PS I have heard today, 4/4/18, that these cuts have been postponed awaiting further consideration).
There were also interesting developments on the bus front. Mayor Sadiq Khan announced that, by 2020, all London’s buses will be of the new, cleaner, non-polluting variety and secondly that two new Chariot bus services will be confirmed. One is the Battersea Bullet, from Battersea Park to Kennington station, and the other the Wandsworth Wanderer, from the Wandsworth river-front to Clapham Junction. The American Chariot pictured here is ordered online. I must confess that I haven’t even seen one, although the service was meant to have started by now. Have any readers tried the booking system or actually ridden on one?
On Tuesday, 20^th March, I had another meeting of Wandsworth’s Labour Shadow Cabinet. Again, we discussed our draft manifesto, which will be published in the next few days – see last month’s newsletter for my comments on the importance of manifestos in the political process.
The March meeting of the Planning Applications Committee was on the 22^nd. There were several planning applications of importance to Battersea. There was one from St. George, the Battersea Reach property development company. The application was designed both to cut some and privatise more of the underground parking spaces at the giant riverside development. It clearly would have affected the residents of Battersea Reach but it would also have increased the pressure on parking in Petergate and Eltringham Street. The Committee unanimously rejected the application.
Another application was for a 10-storey tower block in Havelock Terrace, which would have light industrial uses on the first three floors and offices on the upper floors. The block would be hard up against the railway tracks and away from residential units; it also looked rather an attractive building – supported unanimously.
But by far the most important application was the first of many relating to the Winstanley/York Road Regeneration Project. The application comprised of three separate buildings, from 6 to 20 storeys in height. One of the buildings is designed to house jointly a school and a chapel; another is for 46 council homes in a six-storey block at the junction of Grant and Plough Roads; the third is for 93 private residential units in a 20-storey block at the junction of Grant and Winstanley Roads.
This application posed three problems for me, in particular. First, I am not happy with the proximity of the six-storey block to Time House. Secondly, I am opposed to the march of 20+-storey blocks across North Battersea, especially when all the units in this block will go to the private sector. However, I am committed to trying to improve the environment and the housing conditions of the people, who live on the York Road and Winstanley Estates. To do that, the Council needs to re-locate the Thames Christian College and the Battersea Chapel and to build council properties to allow relocation of residents. But in addition, income received from the private block is required to pay for the re-construction, and, if we are to have 20-storey blocks for sale then having one almost on top of Platform 1 of Clapham Junction station seems the best place to do it. I am sure that I will be coming back to this project on many occasions before it is completed.
On the 26^th March, I attended a meeting of Battersea United Charities (BUC), united because it is the marriage of several small charitable bequests and possibly best known for its Christmas Day dinner party for pensioners from all over the Borough. BUC makes small grants to individuals in training, to primary schools for holiday trips and to voluntary groups providing services for any number of Battersea people. On this particular occasion, we agreed to support, through a small grant, the visit of a Devon farm, with associated livestock, to Falcon Road – keep a look-out for sheep pens outside Providence House! If you have plans and needs of your own and feel a small grant would help, then let me know and we can discuss whether BUC might help.

My Programme for April

1. The Planning Applications Committee will meet on the 18^th April.
2. On the 24^th I will be representing the Labour Party at an election-hustings meeting organised by the Battersea Society in York Gardens Library.
3. On 27^th April, I have been invited to attend a meeting of ACAN, Afro-Caribean Nation councillors, at City Hall. You might well be surprised at that and I was when I received the invitation! I can only imagine that it is because last year I spoke at a Black Lives Matter debate at the East Anglia University in Norwich.
4. Finally, on 28^th April, I have the Council organised surgery to run at Battersea District Library. It will be curious to do that with only five days left before the Council Election on May 3^rd.
5. Preparing for that election will clearly take up much of the rest of April!

Do you know?

Last month, I used this picture and asked, “What was the connection between it and Britain’s greatest engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806 – 1859), who built the Rotherhithe Thames Tunnel, the Clifton Suspension Bridge, most of the Great Western railway and the first iron ship?”

I also said that the connection might just have appeared right at the top of this picture. To my surprise, quite a few of you knew there was a connection, but disagreed about the exact nature of the connection. Actually, his father had a sawmill near to the current Battersea Bridge and a factory, where he made army boots used in the Napoleonic Wars. Isambard, who worked very closely with his father on many major projects, was a regular visitor. Congratulations to those that got that right.

Thanks to Christine Eccles and Battersea Memories for this one. Pretty easy, I know, but I like the picture: Where and when was this photo taken? And do you know the current use of the church on the left-side of the road?

January 8, 2018

Councillor Tony Belton’s Battersea January, 2018, Newsletter (# 103)

1. 1. 1. On 1^st December, I went to Theatre 503 to see The Dark Room, an Australian play by Angela Betzien. First a word about Theatre 503, it is based above the Latchmere pub. It is, as they say, intimate or, rather more plainly, very small, which puts you in really close contact with the action and the actors. It invariably hosts “experimental” theatre and as it’s above the pub, it gives one a great chance, after the show, to have a drink and chat with the cast and discuss the play, which I did with Alasdair Craig, one of the four actors.
    2. As for the show: The Dark Room was about one of Australia’s darkest subjects, the relationship between the indigenous population and the overwhelmingly white, European population of today. What starts off as a “scene” between a white, female social worker and a young aboriginal woman develops, with a confrontation between two white policemen over the death in police custody of an aboriginal boy. To complicate matters the social worker also has a dysfunctional relationship with one of the policemen. Interestingly directed and well-acted, the play poses difficult questions. If my experience is anything to go by Theatre 503 is always worth a visit.
    3. I had my Council Surgery on the morning of 2^nd December, but it was not a very busy event. I only had one constituent visit. Looking through the log, it is very rare that more than two constituents turn up. I know that MPs always have far busier surgeries, which is understandable, but frequently misplaced as MP’s cases are often about essentially Council issues, such as housing. But actually, nowadays not many constituents come in person as most casework usually comes through email or the telephone.
    4. Talking of cases, one reader commented last month that my newsletters were all about social events and that he rather doubted that I did anything real or useful. For the record, I dealt with 81 separate housing cases in 2017, which was 6% of the cases dealt with by 59 councillors (N.B. honesty compels me to admit that one independent councillor dealt with just under 40% of the whole! He really is exceptional.) The system for monitoring queries other than housing is not so simple but these figures suggest to me that I dealt with above 200 cases in 2017.
    5. As for what these cases are all about then the housing ones are largely about rehousing, over-crowding, homelessness and repairs and maintenance. Unfortunately, actually succeeding in getting someone re-housed is a pretty rare triumph. Non-housing matters are most frequently about environmental issues such as planning disputes, pot-holes, fly-tipping and road sweeping, oh, and, of course, noisy neighbours!
    6. I also don’t make much of many other necessary activities, most notably Labour Party matters, which whilst not of great public interest are an essential part of being a councillor. Nor do I write about the boring stuff of reading agendas, preparing for meetings, writing letters, etc. But they all take time.
    7. On the 3^rd, Battersea Labour Party ran its own jazz night, starring Rosena Allin-Khan, Tooting MP, on vocals and Martin Linton, ex-Battersea MP, on horn, with Battersea’s own Junction Jazz band. Rosena is a star in her own right and it’s stunning that, as an MP, a doctor and a mother, she manages also to perform as she does.
    8. I had the Passenger Transport Liaison Group on 4^th December, which was principally concerned with the continuing engineering works on the mainline into Waterloo. Nothing really new was noted then but, talking of transport, I later had notice of roadworks on Battersea Park Road just to the west of the Latchmere pub on 8th-9th January. My advice is to avoid that stretch of the road if at all possible – for example, turning left from Latchmere Road into Battersea Park Road will not be allowed – even for cyclists.
    9. On 6th December we had the last full Council Meeting of the year. There was one set piece debate with half a dozen contributions from both sides. These debates don’t get any press coverage nowadays, but I really enjoyed making an off-the-cuff speech. If you are really, really interested then you can see and hear it at the following address, whenever the Council loads the video, which is not yet! http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/info/200318/decision_making
    10. And on the 7^th December, I appeared at the Licensing Committee arguing for tighter licensing controls on the Anchor pub, Hope Street.
      The Anchor
      
      This was a difficult matter in that neither I, nor the residents I was representing, wanted to close the Anchor – far from it. After all, it is one of the very few public facilities in that part of Battersea. However, pub use should not be allowed to disturb the peace of close neighbours beyond reasonable hours and I was persuaded that the nuisance caused by the Hope justified some restriction. The Committee agreed with me and the neighbours; but unfortunately, early indications (as of 4^th January) are that the nuisance continues. Early days! But the festive season is hardly over and we shall see.
    11. The December meeting of the Planning Applications Committee was on the 14^th. Many of the applications were “technical”, such as, for example, changes in obscure building conditions. But there were some interesting exceptions. One was the application for the new Battersea Power Tube station, which is being built right now, opposite the Duchess pub. In reality, of course, there was not much for us to decide. Clearly refusing permission was not an option, nor was changing fundamentals about layout but we could have expressed a view about the “finishing”; a bit like choosing the colour of the wallpaper. My view was that given the amount of time and effort put into the design of a really, modern, attractive station by good designers, it was absurd for us to disagree with their recommendations – we shall see whether the station is as good as I thought it looked!
    12. There was also notice of an application in Lambeth, which will affect nearly everyone, who travels up and down to town, and that was for the re-design of the Vauxhall bus terminus. Lambeth Council wants to change, as in get rid of, the massive Vauxhall one-way road system and were asking for our observations! I am not being totally flippant in saying, “Good luck to them on that one”, but I can’t imagine it will happen any time soon.
    13. And there was one other interesting set of 24 applications for advertising hoardings all over the Borough. The hoardings will replace telephone kiosks and will include information bulletins and mobile phone charging points as well as the illuminated ads. They will, however, need careful monitoring. The addition of brightly-lit billboards along many main roads in Wandsworth could confuse drivers, cause distractions, increase street clutter (contrary to　recent trends in trying to simplify street scenes) and　add further garish lighting just when the Council (wearing its environmental hat) is installing new street lights to　reduce the amount of light needlessly beamed into the night skies. We must not worsen street design for the sake of advertising revenue – but rather improve street safety, efficiency and environmental friendliness for all.
    14. The rest of my December was full of Seasonal events, such as an Xmas lunch with the other Labour councillors and Xmas drinks with the Battersea Society; a couple of resident association Xmas drinks and three visits to the theatre. Two of these were to see plays by Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw, A Woman of No Importance and Misalliance respectively. They were both very funny and clever and, appropriately for these days, very “feminista.”
    15. But the third theatre visit was the one that has made my friends very envious as it was a visit to the Victoria Palace Theatre to see the American blockbuster Hamilton. How I got the tickets is a long story but they are like gold-dust! I didn’t have high expectations. I didn’t really think that an American rap musical, played by a multi-ethnic cast, about an Independence war essentially between two groups of Brits (and a few French and German settlers) could work. I was wrong. The cast were great, the rap worked really well, the staging was great. The history wasn’t perfect; but nothing is perfect though Hamilton almost was.
    16. I spent both Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve quietly and very happily at home (from where I took this pic on the 25^th!) and went to see the grandchildren on Boxing Day. PS do you like the lunar illusion over the sunset as seen from the bedroom?
    17. Finally, you might remember that last month I commented on the wretched condition of the old Vestry School, on Battersea Rise. Well, I am now delighted to note that there is scaffolding round the building and positive steps are being taken by the church authorities to safeguard the building and carry our essential repairs and maintenance before a final decision is taken on what use is to be made of this slice of Battersea’s heritage.

My Programme for January

On 4^th January I have a meeting of Wandsworth’s Design Panel. This is an advisory body relating to architectural design and the physical appearance of the Borough.
This is followed by the Conservation Area Advisory Group on the 9^th.
And on 25^th January, the Planning Applications Committee, followed by the Heliport Consultation Group on 30^th January – a quiet month

Do you know?

In November, I asked “Who or what were Fawcett, Coppock, Hicks, McDermott and Wolftencroft – apart from being Battersea street names? Last month I gave the answer as regards John Bridgeford Coppock, so this month let’s try Fawcett Close.

Most people I know assume that Fawcett Close is named after Millicent Garrett Fawcett (1847-1929), who gave her name to the Fawcett Society, an organisation, which campaigned for women’s suffrage. However, I think it more likely that the Close is actually named after her daughter, Philippa Garrett Fawcett (1868 – 1948).

Philippa went to school in Clapham High School (now Thomas’s School in Broomwood Road). She was a brilliant mathematician and achieved the best Cambridge maths degree in 1890, at a time when women were not actually awarded degrees. She was subsequently unable to get an academic job, simply because she was a woman, but in 1905 she was appointed principal assistant to the Director of Education of the then newly-formed London County Council – surprisingly, at the same salary as a man would have received. She developed the south London teacher training colleges of Furzedown and Avery Hill. It is because she was a Battersea school-girl and died only 20 odd years before the Kambala Estate was built that makes me think that the Close was named after her and not her mother.

December 8, 2017

Councillor Tony Belton’s Battersea December, 2017, Newsletter (# 102)

1. 1. 1. On 1st November, my partner Penny hosted a book launch in the Speaker’s House, Westminster. The book, edited by Mary Clayton, is entitled A Portrait of Influence: Life and Letters of Arthur Onslow, the Great Speaker. Onslow was an eighteenth-century Speaker of the House of Commons, who set the standard for the role, which is why the book was launched in this very private part of the Palace of Westminster. The current Speaker, John Bercow, welcomed about 70 of us to his home – both graciously and humorously. Something tells me that he rather enjoys the being Speaker! Penny has written a brief review of the evening at https://blog.history.ac.uk/2017/12/report-of-ihrs-long-eighteenth-century-seminar-book-launch-in-the-speakers-house/
    2. The following day, I went to the CAW (Citizens Advice Bureau/Wandsworth) Annual General Meeting at Battersea Library. (Why the CAB has decided to re-brand itself as CAW when everyone in the country knows the CAB – beats me). It was a sombre occasion, because the Council has decided to cut its funding by 10%. What is more the cut is happening just as the Government’s disastrous Universal Credit Scheme is due to be rolled out in Wandsworth. Given experience across the country, this could make it a hard Xmas for too many Battersea residents. The Tory Northcote ward councillor, Peter Dawson, and I had a slight altercation over the Tory role in imposing this kind of cut on our services. He does a nasty job pretty well!
    3. Off to Battersea Park for the Fireworks on November 4^th – good show as always.
    4. On the 6th, I went to the Wandsworth Conservation Advisory Committee. This is a quiet committee devoted to maintaining the best of Wandsworth’s heritage – few political hassles, not many arguments, some might say rather dull. On this occasion we discussed the old Vestry School seen here on Battersea Rise. Some of you will not even have noticed this small building, which is now 151 years old (built in 1866), but it is sorely in need of restoration.
    5. It is part of Battersea history. Before state schools were created by the 1870 Education Act, most education was provided through the church, and Vestry schools like this one were commonplace. I was responsible for getting it listed about 20 years ago but neither St. Mark’s Church nor the diocese have done much to restore it. Now, I am pleased to say, the Council is talking about putting a Repairs Notice on the building. I realise that some churches with small congregations do not have much money for “nice” spending on old buildings but St. Mark’s must be one of the richest churches in suburban London – the Diocesan Board really should do something about its heritage!
    6. The next day, on 7^th November I went to City Hall to take part in WOW (Women of Wandsworth)’s Annual General Meeting in City Hall. It was really an excuse for a party and a first trip for most to the heart of London’s Government. The host was WOW boss, Senia Dedic. Here she is, with GLA member, and Council colleague of mine, Leonie Cooper, on the right, presenting prizes.
    7. On the 9^th we had the Thamesfield by-election. It was a brilliantly sunny day but fearsomely cold. I spent 7 hours of it standing and occasionally sitting outside two of the polling stations. Not the most fun-way of fighting an election but worse from my point of view, I am afraid, was the result. With the Tories winning the seat relatively comfortably.
    8. The very next day, I went on a visit – to the new Battersea Park underground station being built opposite the Duchess pub on Nine Elms Lane and right next to the Dogs’ Home. Many of you will have seen the hole in the ground either from the railway or the top deck of the 44 bus, but nothing quite prepares one for the scale of the whole thing when you are there. This picture shows the platform area with, in the distance, the tunnel disappearing towards Vauxhall; the orange shows high vis wearing workers. Being there that morning appealed to my little boy syndrome of wanting to get out the Meccano set and building a grand, iconic building – or in this case digging a massive tunnel in the heart of the city – fun!
    9. On 11^th November, I went to the second Providence House Fund Raising Dinner – at Providence House, Falcon Road. Every time I go there, which is probably not as often as I ought, I am struck by what a great job Robert Musgrave and his team do encouraging, educating and entertaining the young people of Battersea. We should be proud of and grateful to them.
    10. On the 12^th I went to the Remembrance Day service at St. Mary’s. As ever it was a moving occasion. Unusual features of the service were the rather complex hymns that we tried to sing. They were traditional English nineteenth-century hymns alright, but not the usual ones. Fortunately, we had St. Mary’s excellent choir leading us through the service, but sadly St. Mary’s very own Director of Music is, very shortly, off to do his stuff in the States.
    11. The Council’s Civic Awards presentation was on the 14^th November. I am pleased to say that on this occasion Senia Dedic, see paragraph 5 above, was presented with one of the awards. Senia has missed out on this award several times in the past. It is only right that she has now had the recognition for her work with WOW, building relationships across Battersea between black and white, young and old, female and male.
    12. The Community Services Committee on 15^th November featured a couple of items of general interest (and quite a few very boring ones too). Interesting ones were Battersea’s Jubilee Bridge and the rapid spread of charging points for electric cars. The Jubilee Bridge is planned to run alongside Cremorne Bridge, which is the rail bridge used by the Overground service between Clapham Junction and Imperial Wharf. It would be for cyclists and pedestrians only and would put a considerable number of Battersea residents within easy walking distance of Imperial Wharf station. The newly designed and completed skyscraper in Lombard Road was designed the south bank bridge structure in mind and there is also a considerable amount of money earmarked for the bridge. However, there is still a significant funding gap (£millions) and no immediate timetable for construction – so this plan is as yet a gleam in the eye.
    13. Meanwhile, the assumed rise of the electric car will call for massive changes to our roads – we will need millions of roadside charging points. The change in the next 30 years will be like that in the first half of the last century. In 1900, London had well over 50,000 horses on the roads – imagine shifting all that manure: and if you can’t imagine it, then take a look at http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Great-Horse-Manure-Crisis-of-1894/. Sixty years later horses were a sight in London and there were over a million cars.
    14. I know some of you are very sceptical about the benefits that this new change will bring but just imagine quieter, cleaner streets, fewer asthma sufferers and fewer deaths through air poisoning. There will be problems and one I can think of is the problem with having wires trailing all over the roads. I have been assured by the Town Hall that this will not be a problem. But you will not have been re-assured by this picture of tangled wiring on page 6 in a recent Guardian. I have demanded further reports from the officers on this issue, which I see as big problem with electric cars.
    15. On the 16th November, I went with 20 members of the Battersea Labour Party to see Labour of Love at the Noel Coward Theatre. It is a comedy, by James Graham, of life in the political world, during the period 1990-2017. It is definitely NOT just for Labour Party people but it is very political and enlivened for us, up in the gallery, by a comic and dismissive description of “Lah-di-Dah” Battersea. See my review at https://tonybelton.wordpress.com/
    16. On 17^th November I went with the grandchildren to see my brother-in-law in Southend-on-Sea. It was a beautiful cold, clear winter’s day. We went out on to the Pier, which I first knew many years ago when my parents would pack me off to spend summer holidays with my aunt and uncle, who lived there. I had a lovely day – I think the two kids did too!
    17. The November meeting of the Planning Applications Committee was on the 22^nd. In many ways it was fairly uneventful. One application was, however, a 10% variation to the very large development, about to go up across York Road from Hope Street. This will include 299 residential units, the College of Dance, some shopping and entertainment facilities. This plan confirms the massive changes taking place on and around the Lombard Road/York Road junction – more expensive private apartments and not many so-called affordable but still expensive flats.
    18. Marsha de Cordova, Battersea’s MP, and I hosted a Reception for new Battersea Labour Party members in the House of Commons on 23rd. It was attended by about 50 party members and a fun evening was had by all.
    19. I went to the Battersea Police Ball, along with 2,000 others, in Battersea Park on the 25^th. It was great fun with plenty of food, fun and fancy dresses. However, for my taste, there was not enough dancing – though I am not sure these days that I would trust my metallic knee for a long bout of dancing.
    20. You may recall that last month I took Falconbrook School Year 6 pupils on a history walk around the Falcon Road area. Well following that, on Tuesday, 28^th November, I was interviewed by Byron, Link and Freya, three of the students, as part of a film on the area being made by the pupils. The film is part of a written, narrated and photographed story of the Winstanley and York Road estates, which it is hoped will be launched in a world premier at Battersea Arts Centre in March, 2018.
    21. Finally, on 29^th November, I attended a Guardian “Live Events” at the Emmanuel Centre, SW1, entitled “Can Brexit be stopped?“ The session was chaired by the Guardian’s political editor　Anushka Asthana　and the panel members were Gina Miller, who initiated the court case against the government over whether or not Parliament should have a final vote over Brexit, Alastair Campbell, formerly Blair adviser and vocal remainer,　ex-Labour MP Gisela Stuart　and John Mann MP, both Labour Brexiters; pictured here (Mann had not yet arrived). Although I am very much a remainer, I thought that Mann was very impressive and Stuart frankly rather weak. It was difficult not to have a lot of respect for Miller but Campbell, love or loathe him, was clearly in a different class as a communicator.
    22. One slightly sobering event during the month was a phone call from the Met about my stolen bike, which you may remember I lost in September. Despite several photographs of one of the “villains”, with whom I was struggling and despite the police constable’s certainty that he knew who the young rascal actually was, the Crown Prosecution Service have decided not to take the case to court.

My Programme for December

On 1^st December, I went to Theatre 503, above the Latchmere pub. I went with a dozen friends to see Australia’s “best new play”, The Dark Room – see next month.
On Sunday 3^rd December, Battersea Labour Party was entertained by Junction Jazz.
On the Monday, 4^th December, I went to the Passenger Transport Liaison Group.
On the 6^th I have a meeting with a constituent to discuss her plans for enlivening and improving the Falcon Road/Battersea High Street link between Clapham Junction and Battersea Square.
And, in the evening, we have the last full Council Meeting of 2017.
On the morning of 7^th December, I am going on a tour of Christchurch school, whilst in the evening I could go to the Kambala Residents Association or the Police Special Neighbourhood Team at the George Shearing Centre but will in fact go to the Licensing Committee to ask it, on behalf of residents, to modify the opening hours of the Anchor pub, Hope Street.
On Saturday, 9^th December there is a party given by the Battersea Fields Tenants.
And on 14^th December, the Planning Applications Committee, and then on to Christmas and the New Year and on May 3^rd the Borough election

Do you know?

Last month I asked “Who or what were Fawcett, Coppock, Hicks, McDermott and Wolftencroft (which are names of roads on the Kambala Estate)? Can you answer just one or all five?

I am starting with Coppock Close and the answer is John Bridgeford Coppock, who was born in 1910, and died in 1981. He was a Lecturer and research chemist, who taught at Battersea Polytechnic from 1935-41. Perhaps he is an unlikely inspiration for the naming but not only is there an education connection with Fawcett (of whom more next month), but his death is just about the same year as the Kambala Estate was completed. The most detailed description of John Coppock that I can find comes from the American Journal of Public Health. I am no expert but this speaks wonders for the international regard for this little known Battersea-based scientist. See: http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdf/10.2105/AJPH.72.8.782

July 10, 2017

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

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

My Programme for July

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

Opinion Piece

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

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

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

Do you know?

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

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

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

May 3, 2017

Councillor Tony Belton’s Battersea May, 2017,Newsletter (#96)

On the 5^th April, I attended a Citizenship Ceremony with a difference. Since 2004 becoming a British citizen has involved a ceremony. This was the second I had been to and was a moving experience watching 30 or 40 new citizens from all over the world swearing allegiance to the crown and the UK. For those sceptics amongst us, who might have thought otherwise in a post-Brexit world, they included Irish, Italian and Portuguese – it was also a reminder of what a cosmopolitan city we live in.
This ceremony was, however, different, because it was also the occasion when the Barbados (Bajan) High Commissioner came to present a certificate recording the contribution John Archer made to both Barbados and the UK. Archer, who lived in Brynmaer Road, Latchmere (see the blue plaque on no.55) was a Liverpudlian of Bajan origin, who in 1913 was elected Mayor of Battersea, the first black mayor of a major UK town and a reminder that London has a long tradition of being home to people from all over the world. He was a Latchmere councillor and I was invited as one of his successors. Here is a picture of the Commissioner with Wandsworth’s current Mayor.
Three days later I went to the National Theatre to see Twelfth Night – what a disaster. You can read more about it at https://tonybelton.wordpress.com/ where you will find a review that I wrote. Suffice to say that the evening started with problems on the railway and continued through what I thought was a self-indulgent and rather unpleasant production of what is meant to be, in modern terms, a Rom-Com; enough said.
The next day I went to Battersea Arts Centre for the much more pleasant occasion. It was the “significant” birthday of my friend, Jenny Sheridan, long-term editor of Battersea Society’s quarterly magazine, Battersea Matters. This was a far more successful evening.
After her Easter break, Mrs May decided to surprise us all with the announcement of a General Election. For those of you not involved in politics, which is no doubt most of you, you may not be aware of what chaos and panic, fun and frantic activity, this involves. In our case Battersea Labour Party did not, but does now, have a candidate (Marsha de Cordova, a Lambeth, Clapham, councillor), agent (me!) or funding. Don’t take this as criticism as I doubt that many other parties or constituencies were in a very different position UNLESS they had a sitting MP. This state of affairs does mean, however, that the last fortnight has been fairly lively.
With fortuitous good timing, the next day Battersea, Putney and Tooting Labour Parties had a joint fund-raising party at the Civic Centre at the Town Hall. The speaker was Keir Starmer, who is Labour’s spokesperson on Brexit. His speech was good, but perhaps more significantly he was very impressive when it came to the questions and answers.
As it happened, I already had a date earlier that Wednesday evening at a book launch in the Fulham Road. A Battersea resident read my April Newsletter and was interested enough to write to me saying that “My [i.e. her] writing, about history-enforced exile and uprooting, …., is particularly relevant in these days of increasing jingoism and xenophobia, which are even leading to crimes in our streets”. Her letter included an invite to her book launch – Miriam Frank’s An Unfinished Portrait.
Miriam (pictured right) writes of her journey through war torn Spain (the Civil War, 1936-38) and Europe and then in Latin America, much of it with just her mother and a suitcase. The book is beautifully and lyrically written and is largely about coming to terms with her difficult relationship with her mother and how central that has been to her life. However, her words to me about xenophobia and the crime on our streets are particularly poignant given that since she wrote them we have had murders in Sullivan Close and Melody Road, both within a mile of Clapham Junction.
There was a further incident in Tooting, which led to this response from the Borough’s Detective Chief Commander Peter Laverick. He said: “These events are unprecedented for Wandsworth and taken together over such a short period of time has increased the impact. We have had three tragic events over the last four weeks. I understand that people will be concerned but Wandsworth is safe [the statistics show Wandsworth to be the safest Borough in Inner London]. We are committed and are working very hard with the local authorities to tackle this sort of violence. On the whole, we are successful in doing so compared with the rest of London.”
On the 7^th April I went to the Quaker wedding of an old friend, Edmund Green to Eloise. It was a new experience for me, with the whole ceremony taking place in almost total silence, with their vows exchanged but directly between the two without any supervisory minister or vicar.
My last newsletter must have had an appeal to authors! On the next day, I had coffee with another author, Camilla Ween, who is an urban planner and has written a book called Future Cities. Camilla is keen to help me (and the Council) improve the quality of the urban landscape and design in Wandsworth. As we talked of possibilities we came up with an interesting idea for environmental improvements in North Battersea, which we agreed to work on. We are both busy people but if, and I emphasise IF, we come forward with an interesting plan then you heard it first here!
On 22^nd the Council had a ceremony to commemorate the three Victoria Cross winners won in World War I, but I was not there because on the same day I attended the unveiling of a blue plaque on Northcote Lodge School, 26 Bolingbroke Grove. The plaque commemorated blind, great Battersea jazz pianist George Shearing’s time at school there. George was born in 1919 of working class parents. His father was a coalman, when coal was delivered by horse-drawn wagons, and his mother cleaned railway carriages, no doubt at Clapham Junction depot. He was brought up in Rawson Street, where there is now Rawson Court. He went to Sellincourt School for the blind and then on to Linden Lodge, now Northcote Lodge, where he learnt to play the piano. In 1947, he moved to the States, where he became the only British musician to hit the big time in jazz. You can hear his signature tune Lullaby of Birdland at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zJnoQiIqDU. You can also read his autobiography, co-scripted by Alyn Shipton, in Lullaby of Birdland (2004).
The irony is that the two old London County Council schools, which once gave blind kids an education and in Shearing’s case an international jazz career, are now (respectively) a private block of flats and an expensive private prep school. Two of the Northcote Lodge pupils entertained us with some jazz but next term they are off to Harrow and Sherborne. Good luck to them but still ironic: we need more state schools but we have spent the last 30 years privatising them!
One nice feature of the day was the dozen or so members of the Shearing family, who attended and some of whom are pictured here – looking remarkably like pictures I have seen of Shearing himself.
On 24^th April, I attended the Passenger Transport Liaison Group – often very interesting about rail and bus improvements but not particularly on this occasion.
Two days later, I had the Planning Applications Committee. Two applications were of importance for Battersea. The first was an application from the Flower Stall (pictured here), which stands outside the main entrance to CJ Station. The officers recommended that we refuse the application for, what we, the Councillors, considered to be, purely technical reasons. We thought that if we stuck with the technicalities we’d become a laughing stock with the public. So, we approved the proposal and good luck to the flower-stall romantics.
The second was a major application for 343 residential units, a 15-storey block and three others at nine storeys on the Homebase site, Swandon Way. Again, we councillors ignored the officers’ recommendations and turned down the application, on the grounds that the large and dense development would overwhelm “the Tonsleys” and result in massive congestion at Wandsworth Town station.
At the same meeting, I also submitted a paper about the use of zinc in back and roof extensions. You may remember, from last month’s newsletter, the picture of a roof extension seen from Frere Street – one or two of you commented that they were not surprised that it was unpopular with neighbours. Well here is the same extension seen from Atherton Road. There is nothing that the Council could do in retrospect about the extension as built. However, the Committee agreed that the zinc addition was incongruous in a street, of properties largely built with London stock brick. We resolved, in future, to take more note of materials, when considering such future applications.
On 27^th April I went to a charity lunch in support of the Ammadiyya Muslim Community organised March for Peace on 14^th May in Newham. The Ammadiyya community consists of 200 million people world-wide, who have their world headquarters in Putney, largely because the Community are on the receiving end of much persecution in many Muslim countries. The prejudice towards them is a tragedy, given that the Ammadiyyas are noted for their attempts to be peace-makers between the current warring religious factions in the Muslim world. Without notice, I was asked to speak and found myself, as a member of the opposition, rather ironically, welcoming them on behalf of Wandsworth Council and councillors!
Earlier in the month, I visited the developing St. Peter’s Church in Plough Road and the new flats, recently finished and now largely occupied. Some of you have asked if and when the church is going to be completed; I was assured that they expect completion in late autumn this year.
It was a little difficult to tell what the church is going to be like but it is certainly very modern. As for the flats; they appear very smart with a fascinating view over York Gardens and the many, major developments taking place, as you can see, in North Battersea.

My Programme for May

I am sure the month will be dominated, for me, by the June General Election but I do have a Council surgery on 6^th May at the main library on Lavender Hill.
On 15^th May I have a meeting of the Heliport Consultative Committee and the day after there is the Planning Applications Committee. After that, on Wednesday, 17^th May, there is the Annual Council Mayor Making evening – a very simple, formal evening.
On 28^th May, as part of the Wandsworth Heritage Programme, I am leading a History Walk from the Latchmere pub to Battersea Arts Centre, via a few historical sites. If you are thinking of coming then please do contact me nearer the date, by email, for details.

Opinion Piece

In this newsletter, I have never hidden my politics but I have always tried to make the newsletter relatively non-partisan. That is, however, difficult in the build-up to any election, but especially this one – so here goes.

Most of you will know, or at least can guess, what my views are on the housing situation in London, or the NHS, or education spending, or taxation, but the major and unique new issue of the day is clearly Brexit. As far as I am concerned, it is becoming clearer day by day that our national vote in last year’s Referendum was the worst political decision we have made since …, well since as long as anyone can remember.

In my view, we in Battersea should, therefore, vote for the candidate most likely to argue (and vote) against Hard Brexit, whatever that is, and fight still for a Remain position. To be fair, the Lib/Dem candidate represents a party, which is committed to that position – strange given that it is so indecisive on almost every other issue! But the reality is that given the electoral situation in Battersea there are only two realistic winners: the Tory Party candidate, who is a member of the Government negotiating Brexit, and the Labour Party candidate, who is anti-Brexit and will take every opportunity to fight for our membership of a customs union and the open relationship we have had with the rest of Europe for 40 years. The choice seems simple enough!

Do you know?

Last month, I asked why are the York Road estate blocks, some soon to be demolished, named Inkster, Penge, Chesterton, Pennethorne, Holcroft and Scholey? I got no responses! Obviously too difficult or not very interesting to many of you but the answers are, I believe:-

Chesterton House: G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton, was a writer, poet and literary critic (1874-1936), who moved into Overstrand Mansions, Prince of Wales Drive in the late 1890s.
Holcroft House: Might be named after Thomas Holcroft (1745-1809), who was a radical Englishman, who travelled to Paris, during the French Revolution and probably knew ant-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce, but I have no definite evidence.
Inkster House: Major Inkster was a serving officer in World War II, who was a member of Battersea Borough Council’s Housing Committee, when the York Road Stage 2 estate was being planned in the 1960s.
Penge House: Simon Hogg tells me that In the nineteenth century Penge was, apparently, a detached hamlet of the parish of Battersea. He and I guess that the naming of Penge House comes from that connection – but I am not totally convinced!
Pennethorne House: William Pennethorne, was a principal architect and designer of amongst many other things Battersea and Victoria Parks, as originally conceived in the 1860s.
Scholey House: Might be named after the Lord Mayor of London (1812) who, I am told, was also the churchwarden in Battersea, but somehow I doubt it. Apart from anything else he was an East Londoner.

This month, I have a far easier question for those, who keep their eyes open, though I must admit I have lived here 50+ years and I had never noticed this house before. This is as it appears from the road, but its real front is on the right as seen in this picture. The building dates from the very early 1800s and it is in the heart of Battersea. Where is it?

PS I will not be able to produce my June Newsletter until after the General Election, thanks to laws about election expenditure, etc. So, my 97^th edition will be out about mid-June.

Promoted by Tony Belton on behalf of Marsha de Cordova at 177 Lavender Hill, SW11 5TE. Produced by Tony Belton at 99 Salcott Road, SW11 5DF

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Tony Belton

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