James Barber

The European Union is proposing a new data protection rule - the “right to be forgotten”.

The idea is that individuals would be able to insist that data about themselves must be deleted unless it was being kept for a legitimate purpose.

I think this is a potentially great antidote to people doing daft things on the internet and not being able to escape them. It would also be useful for escaping the clutches of annoying marketing companies. This week I’ve had an appalling time stopping one company from repeatedly posting things to my dead mother. This proposal would add even greater weight to be treated with dignity when fixing such things.

The other important element would be a requirement to notifiy people within 24hours if a company loses your data, has it stolen or has it hacked. With the “right to be forgotten” it would mean only live data was available to be lost, stolen or hacked and protect many people whose data isnt actually relevant to an organisation anymore but has been kept.

Businesses are concerned at the requirement for a statutory Data Protection Officer but by harmonising these rules across European the Commission estimates a total saving of £1.9bn a year across Europe. It would also mean people could be more relaxed about providing data which could further boost internet use and the depth of internet use.

Fingers crossed these new consumer rights get approved.

Boris Johnson has decided after two trials showed he shouldn’t, to permanently open up 478km of bus lanes to motorbikes out of London’s 580km of red routes.

The trials showed an increase of 23% in motorbike collisions around bus lanes they were allowed on for the trials. The whole purpose was to reduce dangers to bikers not put them at more risk. The incidence of motorbike crashes near junction shot up 67% – guess drivers pulling out have less chance to see bikers in bus lanes. It also showed that collisions between motorbikes and cyclists shot-up by 250%.

No reporting of whether this experiment reduced cycling on those bus lanes. I certainly avoid them which means I now cycle less.

So what does this tell us. That if you’re a biker avoid bus lanes because you’re much less likely to reach your destination. For cyclists it means find alternative routes. Boris has made the main road bus lanes on Red routes less safe for you.

The silver cloud in all this is you can tell Boris what you think in the ballot box this May.

The Lib Dem GLA team have submitted their amendments to Boris’s budget. Lots of useful suggestions to save lots of money from what appears wasteful or overly generous staff perks – such as free housing for senior Police officers to free travel for TfL friends and family.

This budget would see £10 less taken from every London family every year while providing the following extras:

• Reinstate the 150 sergeants -I’d hope we’d get our East Dulwich sergeant back again.
• One PCSO within each Safer Neighbourhood Team to work with young people.
• Fund  more Safer London Foundation to boroughs with the highest levels of gang crime.
• Improve cycle safety including vital junction safety improvement works.
• Better and fairer fares package: the One Hour Bus Ticket to allow passengers to change buses and only pay one fare; part time Travelcards to stop the discrimination faced by those who only work part of the week; reintroduce a Zone 2-6 one day Travelcard to save people having to pay Zone 1 fares when not required; and to help those often low income earners, we will introduce an ‘early bird’ fare for the Tube, TfL rail and DLR.
• Promote walking.
• Ensure continued operation of the London Fire Brigade Museum and develop a ‘Blue Light Museum’.
• Protect environmental projects and speed up the rate at which London’s buses and taxis become cleaner and develop a central Clean Air Zone where pollution is worst.
• Guarantee the roll-out of easy-to-install energy efficiency measures.
• Tackle rogue landlords establishing minimum standards for private rented housing.
• Take effective action to build more affordable housing in London.

All in all a great budget amendment to make London a better place.

What would you do to make London work better?

Dog poo is a big issue in Southwark. During the last year 3,482 REPORTED dog poo incidents were made to Southwark Council. On an average month 50 complaints about specific dogs fouling made by residents.

In the last residents survey dog poo was in the top three problems for their area.

To try and help with this the council is going to increase Fixed Penalty Notices from the current £50 to £75. Only 85 such dog poo FPN’s were issued last year so it wont be a huge money spinner but it might just help a little bit to encourage dog owners to clear up such messes from their pooches.

How much do you think dog poo fixed penalty notices should be?

IF you receive or know someone who receives benefits then please do check that you’re receiving the correct amount – a benefits health check.

If you’re over 60 call 020 7525 7434 else call 020 7525 3393 or email sbah@southwark.gov.uk to make contact the Southwark Benefits Advice Hub.

They can help you:

• Make sure you benefits are correct
• Help you with claims for new benefits
• Help to get mistakes put right
• Represent you at Tribunals

If you’re over 60, or housebound, vulnerable or unable to visit them they can visit you at home.

Every election day 21 schools are used as Polling Stations in Southwark. Southwark Council has just reviewed all its Polling Stations and has decided that it still wants to use those 21 schools.

This is a real missed opportunity. Hosting a Polling day sounds easy but talking to some teachers it really disrupts not just the day but the whole academic week. That can’t be good for those children’s education. And we have elections nearly every year what with local, London, UK, Europe elections as well as last years AV referendum.

Of the 21 schools two are special schools, one is on special measures, six are satisfactory and about to receive a lot of extra focus and reclassified as “requires improvement”:

Southwark school polling stations

In my own ward Heber School is used – a good school with last value added score of 99.7 - is arguably doing OK hosting Polling days but does it really help and add to the childrens education? Clearly not added to which it also disrupts parents childcare plans.

I’ve looked at many of these schools and alternative polling stations appear readily available.

Come on Southwark stop disrupting our children’s education.

Early last week the deadline for reception class applications passed. A difficult set of choices that always stresses out parents – it certainly stressed me.

The pressure is even higher at the moment with so many extra, until recently, unforecast extra children chasing the available places. Southwark Council has arranged extra bulge places:

• Albion, Bellenden, Bessemer Grange and Ivydale will all take an additional 30 reception pupils
• Charles Dickens, Grange, and Robert Browning will each take an additional 15 reception pupils

These extra 195 places will help. They have made it even more complicated for parents trying to choose a school.

Past forecasts predicted that the bulge in pupil numbers would start to diminish around 2014/2015. The latest forecast I obtained in a response to a council assembly question I wrote (submitted via the Dulwich Community Council) is that in the Dulwich area we permanently need another 60-75 school places from 2014/2015. A new primary school.

We think a new school on the vacant part of the Dulwich Hospital site is the best option. Do you agree?

If you do or don’t agree with us please complete  our survey.

Some time ago my ward colleagues Councillors Rosie Shimell, Jonathan Mitchell and I spent a morning at the East Dulwich Harris Boys’ Academy.

We felt vindicated for making it one of our 2006 manifesto pledges to make it happen. To reiterate how good a decision that has been Ofsted have awarded it an “outstanding” grade after its inspection. The inspectors also added that it is “an inspirational place for learning”. Well done to all the children, parents, teachers, staff, Harris federation and governors.

The building felt like a tardis with a massive sports hall, great cafeteria  – the children kindly made tea and biscuits for us. The school is gradually filling out as another year is added every year.

On our visit we felt the school was going somewhere. So it’s good to see that our instincts were right with this first fabulous Ofsted inspection.

I wish I’d had such a great educational start at the comp I attended!

Liberal Democrat Vision for Dulwich Hospital site

Local Liberal Democrat councillors deeply regret the running down and the loss of services at our hospital in East Dulwich. We want to keep our Hospital not lose it.

We congratulate local residents who have fought a long running campaign to protect health services being delivered from this site. Given the current position of the site we believe it is important for the community and local elected representatives to be clear about the long term aspirations for the area taking into account the new economic realities.

We have, therefore, set out below our initial views following our many conversations with local residents. We are keen to hear more from local people about what they think and what they would like to see on the site and will be specifically asking residents about these proposals. We appreciate the need for any plans to be financially viable, but also recognise that the site is of such local importance that community uses must also be valued most highly.

Taking into account Southwark’s policy for 35% social housing and Section 106 SPD and the expected developer contributions we propose the following:

Western section

We appreciate that the site will need residential units for it to be financially viable for a developer and, therefore, suggest the western part of the site for this purpose. Developers would, of course, have to go through the planning process which would ensure that development is appropriate in terms of design and density. We want a development of the highest possible green credentials to enhance and inspire East Dulwich. We would want to see a high quality development which also provided affordable homes and a financial contribution to the community (to be used in the eastern section).

Eastern and northern sections

As well as a financial contribution from the western side we would also need to find uses which were as economically sustainable as possible while still bringing positive benefits to the community. In this area we would therefore like to see:

- Housing for retired people

We want Southwark to show leadership in providing a high quality ‘retirement village’ development. These would be for a mix of income levels and have different levels of adaptation for varying needs as people become older. They would provide income in ground rent, which would help the rest of the eastern area with developing other community uses. As with the housing development on the western side, the development should have the highest green credentials. A vibrant place for older people in this area would also help to free up larger council properties on nearby estates for families.

  - Primary School

We strongly believe that a primary school should be considered. Local parents tell us that a new primary school will be needed in future and building around 200 new homes will only increase such a need. Although this is not needed right now, pupil projections are clear that we need to be thinking about this possibility over the next few years. We would, therefore, take this opportunity to plan ahead and to consider building a new community primary school here (at the other end of the eastern section from the retirement village.). We would look at a number of sources for the funding of a new primary school.

- A new Medical Centre.

Our vision for a medical centre would for a clinic which offers a GP surgery plus. It could also include blood tests, potentially a pharmacy (although a local one on Melbourne Grove exists) and other medical services. This would be in keeping with the history of the hospital and could be flexible according to local needs and whether local GPs wanted to move in. It would also tie in perfectly with the retirement village and could specialise in services for pensioners.

- Sports, gardening facilities and indoor community space.

The potential opportunities for sharing space with new residents, existing residents and a potential school are vast. This has been done in other parts of the borough and would mean that there could be provision for sports facilities (indoor and/or outdoor), a shared community hall (for use by residents when the school does not need it), and some form of allotments or walled garden.

The Chateau

This building should be kept for community uses into perpetuity as a standalone charity unless the school is able to provide all the necessary shared facilities. It could also have some rented office space and possibly a nursery to bring in revenue. A similar project at Cambridge House is proving to be very successful. The council could even rent office space from here if it needed to. And SELDOC could be based in this building.

The Chateau should also provide space for the Dulwich Helpline and this should be confirmed with them as soon as possible so that they know they have a secure home. If there are other local voluntary sector organisations who need a base then this would also be a good location for them.

Environment

This whole development could and should be carbon neutral. We would create an East Dulwich Zero Emissions Development along the lines of Liberal Democrat London Borough of Sutton’s Beddington Zero Emission Development BedZED (http://www.bioregional.com/what-we-do/our-work/bedzed).

Following the Zero Emissions principles for development would maximise the space used for new homes and retirement homes while minimising the impacts on the local area from cars, energy and water use. This site is less than 5 mins walk from a local station and 5 busy bus routes and there are fantastic opportunities to lead the way in radical environmentally friendly ideas as part of this process.

Conclusion

We are realistic that there will have to be private housing developed on the site to make our other suggestions viable. However, with council commitment and funding as well as the private sources of income we have a fantastic chance to pursue a vision which provides homes, education, leisure and health in a sustainable and exciting way. If you have any comments, suggestions or ideas that you would like to share with us, please send them to info@southwark-libdems.org.uk or complete our survey.

Fascinating to read that in the last financial year 11,597 Fixed Penalty notices were issued against cyclists – 8,027 for cycling on the footway and 3,570 jumping read lights.

The London Mayor was unable to state how many cars were issued FPN’s for driving in mandatory cycle lanes…

It feels as though when people cycle they are treated more harshly and inconsistently compared to when people drive motor vehicles.