Southwark Liberal Democrats come close to beating Labour across Southwark. Quite amazing considering two sitting Labour MP and one Lib Dem MP represent Southwark at Westminster.

Dulwich Baths is one of the jewels of East Dulwich. It was built by that breed of municipal Victorian politicians who took a real pride in their community and were determined to improve the lives of local people at a local level.

But just like our great Victorian parks, Dulwich Park and Peckham Rye Park, Dulwich Baths were neglected to a scandalous extent  - seemingly by every generation that followed them.

The parks have been beautifully restored over the past few years and now the spotlight is falling on the Dulwich Baths.

As local councillors, we have been campaigning with local residents to save the pool - and it has been a very popular cause!  Happily Southwark council is funding a multi-million pound refurbishment.

The building’s charm also makes refurbishment a difficult job but the plans include improved changing facilities, a café and poolside viewing area and an expanded gym.

Planning permission for the work was granted earlier this year and the refurbishment works have now begun. This means that the pool has been taken out of service but the good news is that despite the scaffolding, gym facilities will be available throughout the refurbishment works.

The final scheme also has great green credentials with a dramatic reduction in the energy required to heat and light it. Modern insulation has been used where ever possible.

The new swimming facilities should be available from spring 2010 and I’m sure will be well worth the wait. After all we’ve waited over a hundred years for this sort of investment!

Boy, what a series of scandals. Very sad that so many MP’s and Lords have been so outrageous for so long claiming expenses. Moats and Tennis courts. Flipping secondary homes severa ltimes in a year. I’m hopeful and sure the majority are honest to the spirit of the rules. I can understand someone having a second home due to their work having a cleaner or gardener for the second home. Assuming very modest gardening and cleaning.

I can confirm the only expenses I have as a councillor are phone bills, subscription for Local Transport Today magazine - I’m the council’s Cycling Champion. I even buy my own stamps. I did have a council provided broadband until I found out how to point the council computer via my home broadband. Could’nt stand the thought of wasting  oney with BT or the CO2 from having two broadbands modems in the house.

it appears that a secret deal has been hatched between Boris’s Transport for London and the Labour Government Department of Transport. Both parties wouldn’t fund the East london Line phase 2. They’ve agreed to slice and cut services. The South London Line linking London bridge via South Bermondsey, Peckham, Denmark Hill to Victoria will be removed. Services via Denmark Hill will be severely cut.

The bare faced cheek to then receive a Labour leaflet campaigning against these cuts that their own government hatched and agreed is exactly the sort of shabbiness that gives politicians a bad name.

By all means campaign but make it clear to the local Labour MP’s that you’re angry that their government is telling their Departmant of Transport to do this and that it must stop.

The GLA has issued a report about air pollution - available here.

It claims at least 3,000 people die prematurely in London each year due to air pollution. to make matters worse this is based on average air pollution for England. We all know London air quality is some of the worst in England.

- 3,000 amongst 7 million population.
- Southwark’s population is 270,000 people.
- Life expectancy in Southwark is around 75 years.
- QED 3.2% at least of the Southwark population will die prematurely due to air pollution.

Truly frightening.
What is Boris doing to lead and help on this issue….accelerating traffic across London by reducing pedestrian crossing times.

I understand Transport for London has announced iBus is present on all 8,000 London buses. This is the system that speaks the next bus stop and has indicator boards with the next bus stop stated. Useful. For East Dulwich different bus routes name the same bus stop differently. How kooky is that.

Apparently this system improve Countdown accuracy.  only trouble is Countdown isn’t as all bus stops.

When will we get Countdown at all London bus stops - especially those areas with no underground service that rely wholly or largely on bus services?

TfL seem to be pushing for people to receive such information by mobile phones or internet. What a narrow idea. How many people want to have to check the internet before leaving home for real time bus info or text a number on a bus stop, wait for a response and then make bus journey decisions by which time they’ve missed a second best bus choice but the best isn’t coming for some time.  it seems clear that people making such decisions don’t use buses.

East Dulwich is a great place to live, work and study. But it isn’t perfect. Please tell us what you think can be improved, doesn’t work or that is so good we must keep it by completing the following survey.

http://www.tinyurl.com/edsurvey

Your three Liberal Democrat councillors Richard Thomas, Jonathan Mitchell and I will then use the survey results to temper what we work on.

Last night the Dulwich Medical Centre on Crystal Palace Road held a public meeting to present its redevelopment plans.

You can see the plans at: www.dmchealthcare.co.uk

Lots of issues and potential benefits for East Dulwich. Do respond to the Planning Application when it is submitted.

In the mean time let the health centre know what you think.

My ward colleague Jonathan Mitchell is conducting an Inquiry into the local NHS:

www.tinyurl.com/nhsinquiry 

Please do tell him what you think about the NHS locally and how you think it should develop.

A study by the University of West Virginia in the US has found that owners of ‘vicious’ dogs are more likely to commit vicious crimes themselves.

Owners of dogs classed by the American Kennel Club as breeds with a high risk of causing injuries to humans - i.e. vicious dogs were asked to take part in a questionnaire. The study showed revealed that American owners of vicious dogs were significantly more likely to admit crimes such as fighting people, vandalism, illegal drug use.

I wonder if this applies to Brits and their dogs?