1. On 3rd October, I visited London’s space-age City Hall for the very first time. Amazingly enough, it was sixty years and one month after my first day in a real job (as opposed to vacation jobs, etc.) at the “real” County Hall, which was then the home of the GLC (Greater London Council), which on that day took over from the LCC (London County Council). I worked there for twenty years. Since then the centre of London government has moved to Borough and now Docklands. Can you imagine the USA or France messing around with both the governance and the HQs of New York or Paris in such a cavalier, shambolic way? Neither the Americans nor the French mess with their capital cities. Why do you think we do?
   

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2. I went to City Hall to participate in the Hearing on the Springfield Park development in Tooting. I know that it is not Battersea but the development is one of the very largest in Wandsworth and the new park is a delight – if you have not been there I recommend it – the G1 bus goes from the Junction right there. My Committee, Planning Applications, had turned down the application for an extension of the park and the construction of 449 homes, 225 of which were to be “affordable”, on the grounds that it was an over-development and exceeded the capacity of the local public transport infrastructure. I suspected that Deputy Mayor Jules Pipe was going to rule in favour of the developer and against Wandsworth’s decision. The developer is, after all, the NHS, and the development is a significant part of the Springfield Hospital renewal project. As they say, a no-brainer, and the development was approved. The photograph dates to 2023; the park has matured a bit in the last year.
   

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3. I had the Transport Committee on Monday, 7th October. The most significant item was about the installation of bike hangars. From having none just a few years ago Wandsworth now has the largest number in London. What is more, they are occupied the instant they are installed. I can understand why. When I cycled I had three bikes stolen (at over £500 a pop) as well as a saddle and as for rear lights – they just get nicked for fun. No wonder so few cyclists bother with them. Indeed I have recently had requests for bike hangars from Prince of Wales Drive and Cambridge Road – from sharing young renters, who cycle to work. If that includes you, then register an interest in getting one installed near you – it is easy. Look up the Wandsworth website and ask about bikehangars.
   

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4. Penny and I went to see Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, on 11th October – my first encounter with this iconic play. It was written by an Irishman, theoretically neutral during WW2, but a member of the French resistance. He narrowly escaped torture and death at the hands of the Gestapo. He was awarded The Croix de Guerre and the Médaille de la Reconnaisance Française. Having experienced war and totalitarianism, he never joined any political party, but he did fund and support various leftist causes such as black rights in Alabama. Waiting for Godot is an apparently endless, inescapable quest for peace in an inevitably violent and unpleasant world. But despite its occasionally funny dialogue, I am not going to recommend it for those seeking a fun evening, however as a commentary on the desolation of war and chaos it is crushingly powerful!
   

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5. Wandsworth Council organised its first 5K Fun Run in Battersea Park on Saturday 12^th I should have been there – perhaps you were – but I had other commitments including visiting the Glassmills exhibition of plans for a 28-storey tower on Battersea Bridge Road. The Run was very popular and marked the start of a six-month trial of weekly runs. There are probably enough runners in Battersea to keep that going on a weekly basis but I have my doubts whether the organising team can continue at that rate – we will see. I will be happy if you prove my scepticism unfounded by turning up to run and/or volunteer on a coming Saturday at 9 am.
   

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6. The 14th October was a big day for the River Thames – the Thames Tideway Tunnel was finally opened. The Tunnel complex is about 25 miles of water storage, running parallel to the river. It is much, much bigger than a tube tunnel and is designed to take rain and river flood waters out of the Thames, during the peak wet weather. Easing pressures on the sewage system and raising the river’s water quality back to the level we deserve. I hope it succeeds in doing just that, because it cost us Thames Water customers £4,5 billion.
   

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7. On October 30th I had a Design Review Panel (DRP) at what turned out to be Vivienne Westwood’s company HQ in Battersea. The company is doing well and expanding rapidly. It is in desperate need of more space and is well on the way to submitting a planning application to extend its current site. Whilst I was there I discovered that a couple of hundred people work at the Battersea HQ; there is another, complementary HQ in Milan. Nearly all the employees live locally and travel to work on the several buses that cross Battersea Bridge – others cycle. Well over 50% of the company’s sales go abroad. The Panel discussion was positive although not totally without criticism. With luck we should see an early planning application.
   

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8. And other news about Battersea and Wandsworth:

• On 15^th October, I had a meeting of the Met. Police’s Battersea Park ward Neighbourhood Team in the Doddington Estate. It is a useful exchange of views between the Met and the local community about police priorities.
• The Council Meeting on 16^th was the usual rubber-stamping of the month’s decisions. Regular readers will know my views about this formulaic, essentially pointless event. Over the years it has lost all its old spontaneity and drama and desperately needs a re-think as to both purpose and format.
• I cancelled the Planning Applications Committee due on 24th October, because of lack of business – a worrying sign for the building industry or just a temporary blip?
• Plans proceed for building a new primary school in the Nine Elms linear park The construction costs will be carried by all the private developments that have taken place in the area in the past few years. I doubt that it will look quite like this but here was the visualisation presented to councillors.
• Battersea Park Rotary asked me to remind pensioners about Rotary’s Xmas Day special – contact Senia Dedic (seniadedic@hotmail.com) for details.
• The Battersea Park Fun Run began in October and on 18^th October we held the largest such run anywhere in the world ever – or so my friend Simon says but how anyone can possibly know defeats me! But no matter; it takes place every Saturday morning at 9.30. Why not give it a go? (I don’t think my knees would take it!)
• The Council has installed traffic lights at each end of the Culvert Road Tunnel. I was frankly a bit dubious about whether they would have any real impact but fellow Councillor Sara Apps from Shaftesbury & Queenstown ward pressed for them. I must say that first indications are good. There is more compliance with the signals than I had anticipated; but let’s see if they are still as successful in a few months.
• On 30^th October the Council in association with TfL started works on Battersea Bridge to make it safer for both cyclists and pedestrians – readers no doubt remember the recent fatal accident involving a cyclist. Unfortunately, I suspect whilst the work is being done, there will be delays crossing either Battersea or Albert Bridge.
  

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My November Programme

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

Did you know?

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

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

And this month?

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