Tag Archive | writing
February 2, 2026  

Councillor Tony Belton’s Battersea, February 2026, Newsletter (# 200)

  1. 2026 is a special year for us councillors, as it is the year of the Borough General Election, and the date is May 7th. For me this is the last year with fellow councillors, Juliana Annan and Maurice McLeod. Juliana, I know will continue her work in the community, but perhaps more especially in the Winstanley Estate than in Battersea Park; whilst Maurice will spend more time in Tooting constituency. We have had a successful four years – but people move on. Good luck to both of you, Juliana and Maurice.
  2. My new colleagues are Battersea Park residents Daria Haas, and Victoria (Vicky) Asante. Daria lives on the Doddington Estate and Vicky in the Winstanley Estate, and they join me as the prospective Labour candidates for Battersea Park ward at the election. Daria is, or was, a primary school teacher but has recently resigned to concentrate on the election campaign. Vicky is a community worker with very close links with Battersea’s minority community. In the picture Daria is on the left and Vicky on the right, with me, Tony Belton, between. I look forward to campaigning with Daria and Vicky, and working with them over the next four years.
  3. Long-time readers of my newsletter will know that my Penny was the President of the International Society for Eighteenth Century Studies from 2019-23. We (well certainly I) had hoped that it would have meant lots of international trips but unfortunately Covid destroyed much of that, though we did have trips to Germany, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, and Spain. But now, in recognition of her work as President and of her status as a historian, the Brazilian Association has invited her to their conference in Belo Horizonte (200 miles inland from Rio) in June. And that is a long intro to saying that on 9th January we hosted our Brazilian host, Prof Karine Salgado, to an enjoyable dinner in the West End.
  1. On the 12th January, Penny and I went to MP, Marsha de Cordova’s, annual welcome to new Labour Party members in the House of Commons Jubilee Room. Marsha was, of course, her usual very cheerful self, hosting a morale-boosting occasion. A week later, we walked over to her place to deliver a birthday card. On the way we called in at the Providence Theatre on the Common for a quick lunch, where we came across a group of jazz musicians, from Battersea, who play there in various groupings on Sundays. Apologies for the rotten picture – but I thought the saxophonist was very cool!
  1. Some of you will know that every month I deliver welcome letters to all newcomers on the electoral register. Of course, frequently people are not at home – out working, shopping, or just out – but it is good to talk to the approximately 25% who are at home. Very occasionally, I get a really big surprise but not usually do I meet someone quite like Sandra Martin. Now I have to confess that I had never seen Gogglebox, but when she answered the front-door, I met face-to-face a TV personality, new to Battersea Park ward, who tells me that in the 4 years when she was a regular on Gogglebox she had literally millions of followers on social media – definitely a mark against me that I had never seen Gogglebox. Do you have memories of Sandra on Gogglebox, 2013-17?
  2. I deliver about 200 of these letters every month, which takes me about 6 three-hour sessions each month. It keeps me fit, but it is also a good way of keeping an eye on what is going on in the ward. So here are a few examples of January sightings, which I report to the Town Hall, and which hopefully get cleared soon afterwards. Abandoned bikes, Xmas trees & bad bike parking, building materials, a door and a mattress – just why are some of our neighbours so anti-social? No tree roots and bad pavements this time, but often there are. It would help the Council an enormous amount if everyone of my readers photographed obstructions like these and reported them on the Council’s website, which is always being updated to make reporting like this much easier – search for fly tipping. But it would not only be helping the Council; it would also make life better for us all to see the rubbish cleared quickly and cleanly.
  1. I, and Mike Jubb of the Battersea Society, met one morning with residents of Hester Road, including the Thameswalk Apartments, in Parker’s Café on the corner of Parkgate Road and Radstock Street. There we had coffee and croissants, whilst we talked through with them, what to expect in the upcoming March hearing into the Glassmills appeal against the Council’s rejection of the proposed skyscraper development on Battersea Bridge. The friendly and popular proprietor, Parker, pictured here, kept us well plied with both coffees and croissants!
  1. On 17th January, Penny and I went to see Othello at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. It was the first time that I had seen the tragedy on the stage, although I do recall seeing Franco Zefferelli’s 1986 film, starring Placido Domingo as the Moor. My memory of that was of its cinematic qualities but I was not at all convinced about Desdemona, or Othello’s turbulent moods, or indeed the evil Iago. But this play was totally different. The staging was simple but very effective. The acting was, however, brilliant. Toby Jones was suitably oleaginous as Iago, and David Harewood made Othello’s epilepsy and his moods not only credible but convincing. However, for my money, Caitlin Fitzgerald won the acting plaudits. She managed to be loving, justifiably terrified and sensuous all equally and almost simultaneously. We were delighted to catch the play on its last night.
  2. I chaired the Planning Applications Committee (PAC) on 20th The big issue of the evening was the future of the Vivienne Westwood Headquarters in Elcho Street, off Parkgate Road. We agreed to the development plans, for a 6-10 storey building, which will accommodate the expanding work-force operating out of one of the UK’s leading fashion houses. Hopefully the new building will be a more architecturally suitable building than the current one.

Also, at PAC that evening was a TPO or Tree Preservation Order, which we agreed for the Grapefruit Tree in Queenstown Road, thought to be the only one in the UK, and which recently got much coverage in the London media.

  1. On the 22nd of January I had the Finance Committee. We discussed the steps the Council is having to take to live through the coming cuts in Government funding. We also noted the Leader’s, Simon Hogg’s, ambition to make Wandsworth Council the most digitised council in the country by 2030. This will inevitably mean that many more council services will go online, and that many of the jobs and the departments will need to be re-engineered and re-constructed over the next four years. Exactly how this will work is difficult to say at this stage of the process (almost the beginning). The only plausible alternative would be a massive reduction in services – an option Labour councillors will refuse to take.
  2. On the 29th January I could/should have gone to Wandsworth’s Planning Forum or the Labour Group but instead I went to hear Penny lecturing in St. Mary’s to the Battersea Society on “Homo Sapiens to Homo Zappiens: How variously human beings describe themselves” – a typically ambitious project. Like much of this January it was a cold, blustery evening and the attendance was not great and also to be blunt Penny was not at her best – the lecture needs some refinement. But two completely very different things were striking about the evening. First was just how exciting the night-time view of Chelsea Harbour and Imperial Wharf is from the church steps, especially at high tide – see picture. But secondly, we were looking for somewhere to eat in Battersea Square and Battersea High Street, and it was worrying to see just how desperately short of custom the restaurants were. They need our support! At least that is how it looked in one unscientific survey on one cold Thursday evening in mid-January.
  1. On 30th January I attended the funeral of Martin Johnson, a St. Johns ward councillor 1968=71 and then councillor for Northcote ward 1974-2018. Martin was one of, what Mrs. T would have called, the ‘wettest of wet Tories.’ Because of that, Martin was Yo-Yo-like in and out of the 44 year-long Tory cabinet (1978-2022), that ruled Wandsworth Council. In that time, two major victories of his come to my mind. One was essentially the final defeat of the London Motorway Ringway ‘plots’ – Martin played a big part in avoiding Battersea being at the heart of a Spaghetti Junction to rival the real one in Birmingham – and having studied the history extensively I say ‘plots’ and not plans advisedly. Secondly, he was the major inspiration behind a project called the Hidden Homes Programme, which created some 250-350 new council homes from unused spaces on the estates.

The picture is of Martin on the left and me on the right being presented with diplomas by then Mayor Jane Cooper.

It was appropriate that Putney Vale Crematorium was packed not only with many senior current and ex-Tory councillors but also, a Wandsworth Council Chief Executive of the past and many departmental heads. RIP Martin.

  1. Finally, unusually, indeed uniquely, for this newsletter, can I burden you with some real politics. In my view the Brexit vote was the biggest catastrophe to hit the UK since World War 2, but it is possibly the biggest self-imposed catastrophe ever. As the world has moved on since 2016, as Putin pursues his imperial dreams and Trump leads his violent way back to American isolationism, it simply becomes more and more urgent to pursue rejoining the EU. I know that it will not be easy; we might even have to face the odd rejection; but it is nevertheless crucial for our future. If you agree with me, then please add your names to the rejoin register at this link rejoinregister.org/?recruiter_id=1272

My February Programme

  1. I have the Council Meeting on 4th
  2. I have the Alf Dubs Lecture by Professor Philippe Sands KC, international human rights lawyer and author on 5th
  3. I have the Transport Committee on 11th February, the Environment Committee on the 12th and the Planning Applications Committee on 19th,
  4. I will be speaking at the unveiling of a plaque to Shapurji Saklatvala 20th

Did you know?

Last month I said that this Battersea pub was rumoured to have had a secret tunnel, used by smugglers, linking it to the Thames. What was the pub’s name, and where is it?

Quite a few answered that it was the Ship, either the now lost pub at St. Mary’s or the one at Jew’s Row. But, as some correctly replied, the one in the picture is/was the Raven in Battersea Square – now an Italian restaurant.

In any event all three are so near to the river and so low, I cannot see how they could keep a tunnel water-free – but that’s the story!

And this month?

 Who was the distinguished architect, who designed Battersea Town Hall (now the Arts Centre) and Battersea Library, as well as the Old Bailey? OK some of you will know that but can you also name a religious building in South Battersea, that he also designed?

January 1, 2026  

Councillor Tony Belton’s Battersea, January 2026, Newsletter (# 199) 

  1. I had the Finance Committee on 3rd I do not think that there was much of great moment on the agenda but, of course, everyone was concerned about the Government’s review of local government funding – the so-called Fair Funding Review. Some of the details came out in the national media in the run-up to Xmas. Clearly the Government is concerned to re-balance the subsidies it gives to local authorities – in other words, to move funding streams from the south, and particularly London, to the North. There were indications that Wandsworth and Westminster will be hit particularly hard, but my own experience over many years suggests that what happens to Council Tax in March and April bears very little resemblance to the worst scare stories heard in December and January – so no speculations from me just yet.
  2. On 4th December, I went up West, as they used to say, to have lunch with fellow soccer players for a club, called Witan – it was the LCC and then GLC staff team and Witan is an Anglo-Saxon word for council. I first played with them in the ‘60s and carried on with them into the ‘80s. On the 4th we re-played a few games – in the pub – largely the ones we won – especially when one of us scored. It was great to enjoy our continuing companionship, and long may it continue. However, our plans for a come-back failed.
  1. We had the Council Meeting on 10th December, followed by mince pies with Mayor Jeremy Ambache. I think Simon Hogg, the Labour Leader, is at his best in the environment of the Council Meeting – he had a good evening. I had rather a good time as well. I was replying to a Tory motion – it was critical of our programme, which includes the largest council house building programme in London. Frankly the Tories are all over the place. You may have seen leaflets about the debts that, they say, we are building up – when we are the only London Borough without debts. When they were in control, the Tories sold off more assets at below market price than any authority in history, and yet, they accuse us of profligacy.
  2. We were on our way out to a friend’s Xmas party when Penny fell down the stairs. She won’t thank me for saying this out loud but given the fantastically colourful black eyes she has, I wouldn’t want anyone to have the wrong idea about how she got them! I am pleased to say that she had recovered well by New Year.
  1. I went to a really great event on 15th December with the official opening of the new Falcon Bridge. One simple thing to note is that this 100-metre-long underpass of the railway has now got an official name – The Falcon Bridge. But that is minor. If you have not seen it since the 15th it is well worth the trip. I have heard people say it is not worth the money, even that it is tasteless. Garbage. I know people, who were scared of this main route from North to South Battersea, because it was dark, usually wet, filthy, cheerless and threatening – now it is light, bright, dry, clean, colourful, even welcoming. I expect to see a good impact on Falcon Rad in the next few years. The opening event itself was brisk and cheerful; a great testament to urban renewal.
  2. The Planning Applications Committee (PAC) on 18th December was uneventful, even if the attendance was a bit thin – thanks to a car breakdown and the coming of Xmas. But perhaps it is worth noting that there have been 2,440 Webcast viewings of this year’s PAC meetings. Clearly not a mass audience, but it is not insignificant that on average just over 200 people tune in and watch our deliberations. It is also noteworthy that, having chaired the committee now for just 4 months short of 4 years, I am aware of only one critical ‘review’ of one of our meetings during that time. That’s an impressive record. And it’s notable that all the PAC members, of all parties, treat the applications and the committee with the care and consideration that they deserve.
  1. On the 20th December, Jason Okundaye, a one-time resident of the Patmore Estate, wrote an article in The Guardian. In it he described Battersea Power Station shopping centre, coming “with Rolex and Cartier stores, luxury private members’ clubs and apartments with multi-million-pound price tags,” making it clear the total irrelevance of the power station development for a significant proportion of the local community. Or at least, that is what he thought as things stood before the recent decision to include 203 council houses in the development. In the article, the Patmore resident makes it clear how important it is for the local community, that Labour controlled Wandsworth Council made council housing a political priority. He praises Labour’s Cabinet Member for Housing, Aydin Dikerdem, for his major part in this victory. Well done, Aydin. I know that Aydin would also give much credit to the Council Leader, Simon Hogg, for his solid support. And indeed, to the whole Labour Group every one of whom has played a part in achieving Labour’s 2022 Manifesto commitment to build 1,000 council homes by May 2026.
  2. For completeness, I should also add that we, Penny and I, also went to four neighbourhood parties in the pre-Christmas period. They managed to be amazingly varied, crowded and bustling with everything from carols and decorative exuberance to gourmet-style canapés and engaging conversation, with almost everything in-between. This appropriately chaotic picture is from the crowded and bustling one, during the carol singing. The parties did, however, have two things in common. They were all totally festive and very enjoyable. And then a very quiet Xmas and NY with just us two and the cats, a bit of gardening – the signs of spring are everywhere – already. Happy New Year to you all.
  1. Finally, I was asked by the Chair of the Alf Dubs Lecture Trust, Anne Reyersbach, to give advance notice and publicity for their third annual lecture, on 5 February 2026 at the Battersea Arts Centre. The Trust, very appropriately named after Battersea’s MP, Alf Dubs, “exists to advance the education of the public in human rights and refugee issues through a public lecture”. Alf was, you may recall, a child evacuee from Nazi controlled Czechoslovakia, and subsequently became famous for championing the rights of victims of oppressive regimes. The lecture will be given by Professor Philippe Sands, a professor of law at University College London and Harvard. You can register to attend via Eventbrite:https://alfdubslecture.eventbrite.com I hope to see you there.

My January Programme

  1. I have my Council Surgery on 3rd January at 11 am in the Battersea Park Library.
  2. I have the Conservation & Heritage Advisory Committee on 8th January, the Planning Applications Committee on 20th, and the Planning Forum on 29th
  3. I will be assisting Marsha de Cordova, our MP, hosting a party for some consttuents in the House of Commons, on 12th.

Did you know?

Last month I asked, given that the Bear State is not an arcane reference to Vladimir Putin’s Imperial domain, can you solve the anagram? And many of you could indeed solve it, the answer being: Battersea.

And this month?

 

A Battersea pub is rumoured to have had a secret tunnel, used by smugglers, linking it to the Thames. What is the pub’s name, and where is it?