On Friday the latest manifesto pledge on Student Tuition Fees was agreed.

The Lib Dems havea six year plan to phase out tuition fees over the next six years. If we want a fair Britain then we have to ensure everyone feels able to attend university. Tuition fees are not part of the Lib Dem vision for a fairer Britain.

This policy also applies to those taking part-time degres swho tend be poorer or older. Under the current fees system they have to pay upfront making it doubly hard to change their lives.

However, due to the economic pickle this country is now in it would take six years to phase out tuition fees.

Final year tuition fees will be the first to go. Too many people drop out, often put off by the huge costs. We’d make it easier to stay on, because no student will pay any fees to complete their degree. In 2011, we’d get help to part-time students, regulating the fees they pay (a vital step towards abolishing them). In 2012, part-time students will be able to access the same loans as full-time students. In 2013, we would extend free tuition to second year students. In 2014, we’d extend that same free tuition to part time students. And in 2015, as the public finances are recovering, we will be able to afford to abolish all remaining fees.

Labour’s recession has made it more difficult to find the money to fund our priorities. That’s why we are right to adapt our plans for big spending commitments and why it is right that our General Election manifesto will focus this time on a smaller number of key commitments. But our message to students is clear: we remain the only party that believes fees are unfair, and the only party with a plan to get rid of them for good.

The bus stands at the junction of Friern Road with Lordship Lane represent the terminal points for the number 12 and 40 bus routes and any buses from routes 176, 185, etc that are turned around earlier. Over the last ten years bus numbers have increased - all great stuff.

BUT this terminus has no facilities. No toilets for bus drivers. This means when desperate the bus drivers have had to ‘go’ wherever they can. This has spilled into anti social problems for the residents in Rycott Path and Friern Road. To such a degree that the Police are involved.

Transport for London obtained planning permission 2007 for a drivers toilet to be installed. I’ve finally tracked down the hold-up. EDF power lines. Council officers have agreed to waive the normal notice periods and try geeing up EDF a major supplier to Southwark Council.

Hopefully within the next eight weeks the toilet can be installed and the area become just a little bit more civilised.

The East Dulwich councillors have been asked to give feedback on local bus services.

We’ve said that generally the lack of bus stop real time information on when buses are expected is suppressing bus passenger demand. Improving this would have the biggest impact on improving custom and the customers experience of any measure that could be taken.

Expressed a niggle is that the onboard information systems are not aligned between bus routes. Some bus routes call the junction of Barry Road with Lordship Lane ‘the Plough’ others call it ‘Dulwich Library’. Ideally London Buses would be organised to agree a common naming convention. Frankly it makes London Buses look at best disorganised. Clearly with the frequent name changes of ‘the Plough’ public house in recent years it would seem safer to align on’ Dulwich Library’. Suspect other examples abound.

The bus stands at the southern end of Friern Road need to have toilet facilities for bus drivers. Currently bus drivers through no fault of their own get caught short with very anti social consequences. Planning permission was given November 2008 for a toilet cabin opposite 391 Friern Road but nothing built yet.

Specifically we’ve also highlighted,

Number 12. When can we have non bendy buses. Presume this is already planned.

Number 37. This bus route seems especially prone to buses bunching. The regulation of bus frequency needs greater emphasis to avoid gaps in service.

Number 68/X68/468. Having an express bus stop at Camberwell and Herne Hill would really help speed East Dulwich residents to get near the area more quickly even though they’d then need to change buses to reach East Dulwich.

What do you think could be improved about the no.12 & 37 bus routes through East Dulwich?

The next Dulwich Community Council 14 December at Christ Church on southern end of Barry Road will be discussing the Dulwich Hospital after the latest update from Southwark Primary Care Trust. Trust has been lacking for the last 10 years with some many changes of plans and the appearance of secrecy and quango knows best. This has been compounded recently by the lifts being closed and the consequent ‘temporary’ closure of the intermediate care wards. These wards provided local care for people not well enough to go home but not poorly enough to block a bed at Kings Hospital.

However, I’m hopefully that with the current scaffolding, planning applications for new pedestrian entrances that the PCT now plans to keep the remaining hospital buildings and all the services they’ve traditionally provided. Sell the vacant land and the profits used to renovate the remaining hospital. That the financial accountancy tricks of the LIFT Co. Private Finance Initiative will be ended for Dulwich Hospital and we can all move on with local facilities agreed with the local community. This doesn’t mean the PCT using the rigged local ‘consultation’ results.

What do you think should happen to the Dulwich Hospital?

Every Southwark Council tax payers by law have to pay an extra amount to fund the Lee Valley Regional Park. This linear park runs along the Lee River from Ware in Hertfordshire, through Essex getting ever narrower until it reaches East India Dock Basin.

How many people from Southwark use this facility? They tell me one Southwark school visited their petting farm and the Herne Hill Harriers compete there. - unfortunately they don’t seem to know that HHH are not Southwark based but moved to Tooting Bec many years ago.

I don’t understand why council tax payers shouldn’t either pay prorated for the use they make - with Southwark residents paying little or nothing - or that it comes from central taxation or other non Southwark council tax payers pay proportionally for the use they make of Southwark Parks.

What do you think?

For the last 10 months I’ve been making enquiries about Southwark Council salt levels. Last Winter during dreadful 1 in 50 year snowy weather the whole UK effectively ran out of salt and many London roads could’nt be cleared. Some climate scientists have predicted the next 10 years will be colder winters and more likely for more snowy winters before returning to trend for rapid global warming.

Southwark salt storage areas have been confirmed to me as full. 950T of salt. Work on increasing this to 1,100T is being considered.

To ensure the salt is kept in a good condition it is kept covered by tarpaulins. Building a permanent structure over these stock piles has been considered - Eurodome or Cover-All- but the costs and time taken to build are not considered worthwhile compared to the small cost of salt wastage. Tarpaulins do feel a bit ‘Heath Robinson’ but do seem effective and certainly the cheapest option.

However, council officers have told me they are examining:

- ‘Dry Store’ a vented flexible covering. a step up from tarpaulins.

- Salt Union (national salt supplier) for a pan London salt distribution scheme.

- ‘Wet Salting’ involving pre wetted finer grade salt which uses less salt, quicker acting and less affected by high winds (a feature of last winter).

- Improving calibration of salt spreaders which would reduce the wastage and make salt go further.

Fingers crossed we don’t have another ‘1 in 50′ snowy winter. But if we do we’ll be better prepared.

It appears the Labour Government has decided that peaceful protesters are now a threat to national security. Last week they passed laws that allows restrictions on where and when someone may go out what they mat wear or what pet they may keep. Apparently these injunctions are similar to terrroist control orders except that you don’t actually have to have done anything criminal other than be viewed as in a ‘gang’.

So if you don’t believe new nuclear power stations should be built and decided to hold a placard on a grass verge near a site you can now be arrested under the new Serious and Organised Crime Act for up to 51 weeks and/or be fined up to £5,000.

Crazy. I could imagine such laws in a fascist regime, or dictatorship in the 3rd world. But Britain. Now. Deeply saddened.

Saying that. It wont stop the family attending the Climate Chaos march in two weeks time. Hopefully we wont each be fined £5,000 for attending!

At the last full council assembly we finally put in place in the new Southwark Planning bible - the Core Strategy - that London Bridge Station should prioritise links to buses and trains station in Southwark. Amazing that we’ve had to state what should have been obvious. But with so many proposed changes such as the South London Line being cancelled Network Rail have to be reminded.

I’m now much more hopeful that when Network Rail has a need to amend or apply for future planning applications to London Bridge station that changes will have to ensure changes make matter no worse for Southwark residents and usually better.

It is quite ridiculous that the huge barriers the railway viaducts and cutting in Southwark, yet the state operator of railway infrastructure Network Rail has to be reminded that the communities these obstacles carve up should actually see some benefit to hosting them.

What do you think?

Fascinating reading a report that prenatal and adolescent exposure to tobacco smoke have been found to be associated with changes in brain pathways to relay ear signals.  Most pronounced with teenage smokers.

Other research reports teenage exposure to smoking resulted in reduced auditory and visual attention with boys being most affected. Quite possible that such teenager’s hear and understand less.

No research yet to establish whether the affects are reversible.

I’d always understand it was bad for your health. But it now appears quite convincing that smoking is bad for your brain development.

London Mayor Boris Johnson has announced the closure the Commercial Vehicle Education Unit. This group of 3 Police sergeants and 9 Police constables specialise finding defective lorries and taking them off the road and working with haulage companies to reduce collisions with pedestrians and cyclists.

Not enough was being done to reduce such collisions. HGV lorries are the number one killer for cyclists in London. Even less will be done going forward.

The announcement was almost exactly nine years to the day when a previous treasurer of Southwark Cyclists, while I was the chairperson, Brigitte Robinson, was killed by a left turning lorry whose driver had a young child in the cab and had been working 12+ hour shifts 7 days a week for many months.

Loosing a close cycling friend was incredibly distressing. How many more people have to die to HGV’s before the few exempt from sideguards are no longer exempt and the limited resources are withdrawn from educating lorry drivers and cyclists.

Tessa Jowell and Labour MPs vote down climate change action

Yesterday evening, Southwark MPs Tessa Jowell and Harriet Harman together with hundreds of Labour MPs voted down

Simon Hughes’ Liberal Democrat motion that would have committed the House of Commons, the Government and the entire public sector to cut their carbon emissions by 10 per cent during 2010.

Lib Dem led Southwark Council has committed itself to making a ten percent cut in emissions - why can’t the Government?

In Parliament and in the town hall, it is the Lib Dems who lead on the environment.

The full shameful voting list is on the House of Commons

Every year we have around 155,100 Heathrow flights and 9,900 London City Airport  flights going over Southwark at less than 8,000 where noise becomes increasingly disturbing.

Every day in my house I can tell when 6am is reached as a torrent of flights start overflying us.

Around 4am several flights come over and about 1 in 5 chance every day my 7 year old will be woken. Boy, does that spoli his school day with tiredness. And we have double glazing.

Fingers crossed this Labour government stops standing out by being the only political party in favour of a 3rd Heathrow runway.

Fingers crossed the Tories and Labour stop supporting a 50% increase in flights at London City Airport. I sometimes fly on business from this airport and I really don’t wont it to expand.

Over the last four years, from 2005 to 2009, Southwark school results have been the most improved in the country. For Primary school key stage 2 English has gone from 72% to 79% and for Maths 67% to 79%.

In the league table of 150 English local education authorities Southwark has gone from 107th to 80th for English and 107th to 58th for Maths and from 110th to 92nd for science.

amazing success due to children, parents, teachers, governors, council officers and executive councillors.

Fantastic progress….with I’m very hopeful more to come.

This year Primary School admissions has been painful. Quite out of the blue we had unhappy parents. 120 appeals, 8 upheld.

I’ve asked council officers how many cases councillors and MP’s referred to them for help.

They’ve told me:

Labour 13 - councillors 5, Harriet Harman MP 3, Tessa Jowell MP 5.

Liberal Democrats 35 -  councillors 14, Simon Hughes MP 21.

Convervative 1.

Total 46.

Last night a meeting of the councils Overview and Scurtiny Committee met at the East Dulwich Community Centre to discuss the problems parents faced with this years primary schools admissions process.

Disappointing that barely a handful of parents could attend plus a handful of headteachers and school governors. However, the room was full of councillors and council officers. Really thought provoking presentation from Terry Parkin the lead officer accountable for admissions. Lots of searching questions that brought out lots of other facts.

Some unfortunate weird comments and wild accusations from Cllr Aubyn Graham. He seemed very confused.

Main points I took from the scrutiny:

- Idea of having quite a few pre prepared buldge class options and then activating them depending on parent demand. This de risks any future pupil predictions being wrong while the economy is in such turmoil.

- More assurance that the GLA stats people now understand what went wrong this year after 15 years of unblemished near spot on pupil predictions.

- Amazing to hear that Southwark created an extra 45 reception places and still has 17% spares places in less fashionable schools such as the excellent Bessemer Grange. Lambeth and Lewisham had to create 150 extra emergency reception places each, Richmond 210, Enfield a whopping 22 classes totalling 660 reception places. This was shocking and really put into context how well Southwark had coped.

- £30M being pumped in Southwark Primary schools to physically make them better by Southwark Council and £25M from central government.

- Southwark schools close to being in top quartile for performance but time lag from when a schools performance soars to when publicly recognised for this.

- That across Southwark175 and in greater Dulwich area 22 kids go ‘missing’ each year. They just don’t show up at the schools places they’ve accepted. It costs the council £100,000 each year chasing these down to ensure they are in a school somewhere and are safe. What a waste caused by tiny number of selfish parents.

- That the admissions department has enough officers for a normal year but this abnormal year they were overwhelmed with worried parents. These officers will be increased by three as admissions numbers are bulging for the next 5-6 years.

If you’re an East Dulwich parent and couldn’t make it last night please do feed in your thoughts and observations.

Southwark Council has submitted its Local Implimentation Plan to Transport for London of how it wants to shape and change its highways and transport over the next three years. A £9.8M plan.

Two things solely proposed for the Dulwich Community Council area covering East Dulwich, Village and College wards. Spending £500,000 on public realm and speed reduction along Lordship Lane and Grove Vale. Spending £500,000 subsidising the number 42 bus being extended from Sunray Avenue to terminate at Sainsbury’s on Dog Kennel Hill during financial year 2011/12 & 2012/13. This bus extension subsidy does seem expensive.

Proposed schemes covering the whole of Southwark include - cycle training, travel awareness and promotion events, safe routes to school/travel plans, supporting sustianable infrastructure, speed reductions measures, surveying, eletric vehicle on street charging points.

What do you think is needed to improve Southwark roads?

Have we hit the mark?

It was a real delight to hear Nick Clegg conference speech.

Have a read at: Nick Clegg speech

Please do tell me what you think.

The East Dulwich Police Safer neighbourhood Team now consists of 1 Sargent, 3 Police Constables and 5 Police Community Support Officers. 9 officers in total. Amazing.

This might be related to the Police being unable/unwilling to correct their Police stats computer to reflect the actual East Dulwich boundaries. Currently East Dulwich includes 1/4 of Peckham Rye, 1/8 of Dulwich and 1/8 of College. Changing the Post Code lookup table in a computer file is dull but really very simple to perform. Only then will we truly know whether the efforts of councillors, council officers and Safer Neighbourhood Teams are working.

So even a team of 9 is hardly enough to cover 150% of the intended area for a Safer Neighbourhood Team.

The 10:10 campaign seeks as many people, business, and other organisations to commit to reducing their CO2 emissions by 10% during 2010. www.1010uk.org

I’m delighted to report Southwark Council is signing up to this.

I’m now seeking a commitment for another 11% during 2011….would that make it a 21:11 from now or 11:11?

Since being elected May 2006 I’ve had several report each year about rubbish collections starting before 6am.

Rubbish trucks are only allowed out from their Manor Place depot (close to Walworth Road Elephant & Castle end) at 6am. Recycling lorries at 7am. It takes about 15 minutes to reach East Dulwich. So no rubbish collections are legitimately allowed before that time. We have had some very keen crews sending colleagues ahead to move wheelie bins into position from 5.30am. Again this is not acceptable.

Why 6am? Croydon, Lambeth and Southwark start refuse collections at 6am, Tower Hamlets at 6.30am and Lewisham 7am. Delaying Southwark collections by 1 hour, due to the extra traffic congestion starting an hour later, has been calculated at requiring an extra crew and dustcart at around £150,000->200,000 pa. In the current climate we wont be reallocating this amount of money from other areas to fund this.

If you ever experience rubbish collections or preperations starting before 6.15am please do get in touch with me. james.barber@southwark.gov.uk

Some Melbourne Grove residents have contacted me asking about a 20mph letter we’ve delivered.

They’ve heard that Tory councillors from Dulwich Village have objected to Melbourne Grove having 20mph traffic calming and speed humps.

It is true that an attempt has been made by Dulwich Village Tories to stop speed humps and parking in the road instead of half on the pavements on Melbourne Grove between Grove Vale and East Dulwich Grove. They wish to extend the number 42 bus route via this part of Melbourne Grove to Sainsbury’s. Speed humps would need to be removed if the number 42 bus route was routed via Melbourne Grove and parking on the pavement would be ncessary. While supporting such an extension in principle via Lordship Lane the East Dulwich Libl Dem councillors are wholly opposed for any bus route to be rerouted or extended via Melbourne Grove or other residential side street. Equally, snubbing local shops on Lordship Lane would not be acceptable. Residents of Melbourne Grove suffered more than enough inconvenience when the number 37 bus route was routed via Melbourne Grove in the past.

When the public consultation takes place on whether Melbourne Grove residents support or don’t support speed humps it will also be their opportunity to tell us whether they want the number 42 buses routed down your street.

In the mean time please do tell us what you think - are we right to oppose buses down Melbourne Grove or Derwent Grove or Elsie Road?

Lordship Lane has frankly been looking a little bit grubby. Unfortuantely we can’t afford to wash down all the streets every night as we’d all wish but can ensure we maximise our streets cleanliness.

Street cleaniness is measured by a company called Encams 3 times every year. Overall for Southwark last financial year (lower % good) we were litter 6%, dtritus 125, graffit 3% and flyposting 1%.

Following my enquiry Southwark’s Street Cleaning Inspector has confirmed for East Dulwich now litter 2.4%, detritus 22%, graffiti 0% and fly posting 0%.  So more attention in East Dulwich is now being made to clearing this detritus - all that organic material like leaf fall, etc.

If you see anything out of the ordinary regarding litter, graffit, fly posting, or leaf fall please do let me know or call 020 7525 2000 to report this problem yourself.

Last night Southwarks main planning committee granted planning permission to a new Integrated Waste Management Centre on the Old Kent Road. The committee took over 4 hours to get the final decision right and sat until after 1am this morning.

This new facility should be completed in around 15 months time. It will provide enough recycling capacity enable an increase from 21% recycling now to over 50%.

Do you recycle everything possible?

The East Dulwich councillors have been campaigning for our streets to be safer. Many residents have contacted us about speeding vehicles. We’ve provided the local Police with a state of art speed gun and display. But on some streets the speed limit is excessive.

Just before the summer holidays traffic and speed counters were installed for a fortnight on 22 of the 65 streets in East Dulwich. On some streets several were installed.

The governments rules to make a street 20mph is that the mean average speed must be lower than 24mph. The results of the counters are below. The next step is for officers to meet the police and other emeregency services and agreed that their happy for these streets to be made 20mph in principle. Local residents are then formally consulted. Then we have to by law advertise this in the local papers (now you know why lots of council tax money on publicity goes), then the signs go up and we should see an average speed reduction due to the signs of 1-3mph. Then local Police can enforce such reasonable speeds on wholly residential roads in East Dulwich. Read the rest of this entry.

The world’s first Plastic Bag Free Day will be on the 12th September 2009. Please ditch plastic bags for good! Just take a reusable bag with you when you shop.

Locally in East Dulwich this has been led by SNUB (Say No to Unwanted Bags) - an inspiring team of locals that we’ve funded the bags and more recent composting trial via our councillor Cleaner, Greener, Safer funds.

There are many ways you can support Plastic Bag Free day. Leave plastic bags at the checkout, help to make your town Plastic Bag Free or join in the celebrations at town’s that have already stopped using plastic bags. You could also write to shops and supermarkets asking them to support the day. See www.adoptabeach.org.uk for more. 

Whatever you do please take part.

Lots of debate about traffic calming measures - speed cushions are often  ignored by larger vehicles and 4WD cars, humps are painful and dangerous for cyclists and painful for vehicle occupants even when taken at less than 20mph. Until the Labour Government finally approves average speed cameras or changes insurance laws physical measures have to be installed to calm peoples behaviour behind the wheel.

However, one type of hump doesn’t seem to have this problem - sinusoidal humps. They’re curved like a wave. Not quite as effective at traffic calming as regular ’round topped’ humps but boy are they more comfortable for vehicle occupants and safer for cyclists.

With the executive councillor Paul Kyriacou agreement it is now Southwark Council policy that all new humps will be sinusoidal.  I also expect when old humps get replaced during maintenance that they’ll be replaced with sinusoidal humps.

We’re now 8 weeks away from the deadline for applying for secondary school places for children starting school or moving September 2010.

If that applies to your children you’ll need to get your skates on finding out information.

The ocuncil operates an e-admissions at www.southwark.gov.uk/schooladmissions

Last night popped along to the open air cinema screening Back to the Future in Dulwich Park. Theirs something about open air cinema - kind of like how food tastes nicer when its BBQ. bBQ cinema.

Everything was really well organised.

Hopefully we’ll see a lot more BBQ cinema.

Alleys are magnets for anti social acts and worse. A simple measure to drastically reduce such problems is gating alleyways. Sounds easy - so I thought. The first act as a councillor was to arrange a pot of money to fund gating alleyways. Boy, is it hard to gate them. You have to obtain agreement from everyone who has legal access. Once you have agreement to gate an alleyway you need to arrange keys for everyone, who can provide emergency access. The list of issues and problems is long, very long.

So I’m delighted to report that the alleyway from Northcross Road behind the Palmerston has now been gated.

That an alleyway on Ashbourne Grove is imminent. We’re working on an Elsie Road one, and a Chesterfield Grove alleyway. We’re working on another but need to talk to residents more before telling anyone else.

If you know of any alleyway in East Dulwich that would ideally be gated please do get in touch.

Last night the final part of the specification for new outside lighting for East Dulwich Community Centre on Darrell Road was agreed by the centre.

The centre will have 90w lighting columns with total costs of £14,000 funding by the East Dulwich councillors support via the Cleaner, Greener, Safer funding. This lighting will enable outdoor activities for young people the whole year round.

Lots of complicated calculations involving predicted lux values and uniformity. The final solution will be 35% more energy efficient that the original proposals. Providing 35.52 lux with 45% uniformity.

I’m looking forward to having a kick around under these new lights in the next couple of months.

I’m not a Muslim but for a number of years I’ve been thinking about taking part in Ramadan - this 30 day period of fasting and contemplation. I’ve been impressed by the fortitude of a work colleague every year. This year I’ve finally plucked up the courage to see if I can show sufficient resolve to take part.

Two big fears. My wife will have a sense of humour failure at my eating before 4.30am and after 8.30pm every day for a month. That I wont be able to stick to it. Wish me luck.

In January the East Dulwich Lib Dem councillors supported the planning application for the £6.5M renovation of the East dulwich Leisure Centre but asked that the scheme should be rejected if as planned due to the buildings heritage the pool roof wasn’t insulated. The main planning committee added a condition that this should be assessed and if practical roof insulation included.

What a relief - we’ve just been told that although insulating the roof will add 4 weeks to the centres closure it can and will be insulated. So I’d like to apologise for the extra 4 weeks the pool will be closed but the reduced CO2 emissions will make this really worthwhile.

Ensuring maximum insulation, as per this condition, is crucial to Southwark Council helping fight global warming.
The £6.5M renovation will be fantastic and will once again become the truely great facility it once was.

Caroline Pidgeon a local Lib Dem Southwark councillor and also a Greater London Assembly member has come up with the great idea for 1 hour bus tickets. The idea is much like the tube where once you’re in the system you can change tube trains and lines as many times as you need. 1 hour bus tickets would mean you could change buses with no extra charge. For me this would mean catching the first bus in the direction I want to go rather than a bus that goes exactly where I need to go. It will reduce the overal time taken to get me from A to B. It would also mean people are penalised for living in areas that have poor bus choices.

Caroline has visited a number of boroughs across London to drum up support including Lambeth, Waltham Forest, islington, Brent, Westminster, Harrow, Hammersmith and Fulham with lots more visits planned.

If you support this idea please sign the petition through the online petition www.ourcampaign.org.uk/1hourbusticket . Reaction from Londoners has been extremely positive. We need as many signatures as possible to really persuade the Mayor of London to listen to our idea and get a better deal for London bus users.

Each year, Dulwich Community Council has around £370,000 to spend on improving our area through the Cleaner, Greener, Safer programme. No one likes a constitutional anorak but if ever there was a demonstration of how the way we make decisions can improve the quality of those decisions it is Community Councils. In the past all spending decisions were made in Peckham by people who may or may not have a clue about our local area. Now spending decisions are made by people who represent the area - and that means we’re more likely to invest in things the community really wants to see happen. Liberal Democracy in action.

Each year, any local person or community organisation can submit an idea for how to improve our local area. All ideas are welcome no matter how big or small and each year the applications flood in.

In the past projects have involved things like improving open spaces , small parks and playgrounds, tree planting and public art. The famous East Dulwich SNUB Say No to Unwanted Bags campaign was funded this way, as was the crime fighting alert boxes for local shops in Lordship Lane. Funding can range from just £2000 for small projects to over £150,000.

This year, we’ve funded another great range of projects. Here are a few:

· School composting scheme

· New cycle parking at Halliwell Court

· Improved fencing at Norcroft Gardens

· 25 new car club spaces - so half of East Dulwich streets will have a car club space

· More street trees

· Hanging baskets and lamp post banners promoting local shopping on Lordship Lane

· Pop-up electic points for Northcross Road market - to eliminate noisy polluting generators

· Improving the shopping parade at The Plough on Lordship Lane

· A pilot food composting scheme for our shops and restaurants

We think we’ve chosen a good range of schemes - but if you’ve got better ideas, there’s always next year!

Back to school.

East Dulwich parents and children are anticipating the start of the new school year. It’s easy to forget what a major event this is for children. It’s less easy to ignore the lack of equality in educational chances. The gap between those who have and those who have not in education is stark in an area like ours. The whole range of provision is there to be seen, from the private schools of Dulwich Village, through our popular over-subscribed state schools to those schools that some parents fight to avoid.

Things have of course improved immeasurably over the past few years. It was only a few years ago, before the Lib Dems took control in 2002, that the local education service under Labour for 44 years, having failed two OFSTED reports was deemed so dreadful that it was privatised by the Labour Government and given to an engineering firm to run. That Labour period is behind us and now, year after year, our local schools under the Lib Dems are improving above the national average rate.

At primary level, the latest results show our primary schools to be amongst the best in London and at key stage 2 we are now at the national average for the first time in Maths and English. The  pupils, parents, teachers and governors who have worked incredibly hard to achieve this all deserve our congratulations but there is still so much to do.

But being one of the best in London is not good enough when so many parents want to leave London because of their concerns about education. Approaching the national average is great progress but we are not content to settle for average.

In East Dulwich we will continue to strive to improve the facilities and opportunities available. After years of community campaigning, a new secondary school for boys is now being built at Peckham Rye.  It opens in temporary accommodation in September and in the purpose built new building next year. We wish the school well in this critical first year.

But at primary level too it is suspected there is a lack of places available. This year a few parents were offered places at primary schools in Camberwell as competition for places at East Dulwich schools exploded. It seems this was partly through the popularity of East Dulwich as a place to bring up children and partly through fewer people being able to afford private schools.

We need to move quickly to address this issue before next year. Plans are already in place to expand the number of spaces at Goodrich. We may need to go further though and look for further expansion of other schools.  Expanding St Anthony’s is an option, although in my view, only if we can ensure those spaces are available for all the community. It may be that we also have to look for a new primary school.

One thing is clear: Education in our area is improving and it is great that more parents now want their children to stay within our local schools. But education is still one of the main reasons why parents think about moving to the suburbs. This year, we need to get our heads down and ensure that our rate of progress accelerates and we make the right decisions to ensure we in the years ahead we are top of the class.   

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.

Local Liberal Democrats in East Dulwich, and across Southwark are celebrating after coming the closest they have ever been to beating Labour across the whole borough in a European election. The Labour majority nearly halved with the Conservatives coming a distant third.  The Conservative vote fell from 19.3% in the 2008 GLA elections to 14.9% this year.

The news even says Gordon Brown is toying with the idea of Single Transferable Voting for other elections. Times they are a changing…..

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.

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 year the East Dulwich councillors Richard Thomas, Jonathan Mitchell and myself established a £50,000 Crime Reduction fund.

One idea from the East Dulwich Police Safer Neighbourhood Team Sergeant Duncan Jackson was for a hand held metal detector. I warmly accepted it and we quickly made our first purchase. The idea being that Police officers with a pocket metal detector could sweep someone they stopped for metals objects whether knives, guns or even needles. The first type we purchased was a big flat thing that could with a squeeze fit in a large pocket. Not very hand held. So we tried the next type. This attaches via a holder to a standard issue Police belt. They’ve tried it and found it works a treat and it has made searching must less intrusive and much safer for officers. It has sped up searches and we’ve made sure that the sgt. and both police constables have them.

In fact they’ve been so helpful in reassuring Police officers, being less intrusive during stop and searches and finding things that a finger tip search might not, that I suggested to our Executive member Paul Kyriacou and council Leader Nick Stanton that we had a winning idea and that we should find the money to kit out all frontline Police and enforcement officers in Southwark. That money was finally agreed early January and an order placed.

That order delivered in early March and now all frontline Police and council enforcement officers and our Community Wardens have them.

If you carry guns or knives or needles in Southwark your chance of being caught has been dramatically increased.

It used to be called Walk to Work day but has now become Walk to Work week. This year it runs 27 April until 1 May.

See: www.walkingworks.org.uk

I live about 3 miles form work. I walked there and back again during the February snowy weather we had when I could’nt cycle or take bus or train. I think I’ll try walking in several times next week. Why don’t you?

For most of us who live in East Dulwich, Lordship Lane defines our community.  Its importance to East Dulwich as a commercial, social and cultural centre is clear. But it also serves many other purposes too – as a bus route and a through route for traffic.

It is not surprising that everyone has a view about Lordship Lane.

Road safety is always top of the list when we ask people about how Lordship Lane could be improved - what has not always been clear is what should be done to improve the situation.

So we commissioned Living Streets to help us identify the problems on Lordship Lane. The Living Streets approach is simple but effective. They walk up and down the road with a group of local people and a clip board, identifying issues and talking about possible solutions.

This is exactly what a small gang of us did.  We identified loads of things that would improve the shopping experience on Lordship Lane.  But overwhelmingly, the one issue highlighted was that people shopping on Lordship Lane tend to walk up one side of the street or down the other. They rarely cross the street to reach a shop on the other side of the road and when they want to - they find it unpleasant, off-putting and down right dangerous.  That’s not just bad from a road safety point of view. By degrading our shopping experience it threatens the lifeblood of our local shops and encourages particularly the elderly and families to head for the safety of Sainsbury’s or White City. Better crossing points - especially outside Somerfield – was the number one way to improve things.

So that is what we have been working on and we have now got to the point where we have designed and consulted upon new crossings on Lordship Lane – at the Goose Green roundabout and outside Somerfield.

The initial results indicate that the plans are supported by over 80% of people who responded.

There is still some way to go – not least to persuade Transport for London that providing a safe crossing point won’t interfere too much with the bus timetables. I hope that in the end the road safety arguments and the need to promote our local shops in the current climate will win the day.

On Friday the Labour government blocked a bill to end fueld poverty by 2016. Fuel poverty is wher epeople have to decice whether to eat of heat their homes. Erradicating fuel poverty involves installing lots of insulation. Installing insulation is labour intensive. Saving fuel bills reduce climate heating. People without either enough heat or food are more likely to be ill or stay ill or worse.

The bill has the support of Help the Aged, Friends ofthe Earth and many other worthy organisations.

It seems truly bizarre that a Labour government blocked such a clear anti povery measure that helps prevent people being ill, fight climate heating and creates employment very efficiently.  

We were out doing our rounds as East Dulwich councillors on Saturday and Sunday. Knocking on doors and asking what is great about East Dulwich we need to keep and build on and what doesn’t work in East Dulwich and we need to fix. Frankly the best part of being a councillor seeking views.

I took a breather and sat on a bench on Dawson’s Height. After reporting the dumped rubbish and sign that is broken and needs replacing I st down and enjoyed the most marvellous views across London.

A real hidden spot. If you get the chance take 30 minutes out and enjoy the whole of London panorama spread out before you.

Today the phase two extension fo the East London Line to Clapham Junction was finally announced. This will create a route from Mile End to Calpham Junction via Canada Water, Peckham, Camberwell (Denmark Hill) to Clapham. great if you don’t want to get into central London. Unfortunately this is probably a sop to recompense for the closure of the South London Line which did link two parts of central London via Peckham and Camberwell/Denmark Hill. Getting the former and keeping latter would have seen a real transformation for South Londoners travel options. Recently trains via East Dulwich and North Dulwich to East Croydon, where users could change for a variety of services, were stopped.

So Southwark rail users find thing worse  in the short term. Longer term we instead get a kind of stasis - swapping the South London Line for East London Line phase 2.

The one thing that would change the game would be extending the Bakerloo line to Denmark Hill……

Tuesday night the culmination of three years hard work from East Dulwich councillors and council officers, planning permission for the complete renovation of the council Leisure centre in East Dulwich was given. Phew.

The original recognition came during the East Dulwich campaign in January 2006 that the centre was sub standard and unacceptable. It hadn’t had major investment in over fifty Labour years. On the door steps and in resident surveys many had expressed dissatisfaction. Our own personal experiences bore this out.

So the new renovated leisure centre will have a new DDA compliant entrance on Crystal Palace Road. The swimming pool will have more space around the actual pool making circulation easier and only for actual swimmers. It will also have a proper viewing area so parents can see their kids learning to swim. The pool will be changed from 27m to competition sized 25m. The main gym will be revamped. New dance studios and a cafe.

Overall it is anticipated that the numbers of users will increase to around 50,000 a year. Over half already walk to the centre. 8/9 schools that use the centre walk already.

Wherever possible insulation to modern standard will be installed. New air recycling and heat exchangers and plant. Overall a dramatic reduction in the energy used and CO2 produced to run the centre.

Cllr Richard Thomas and I persuaded the planning committee that the plans needed to have added roof insulation above the swimming pool and gym hall.

This scheme is one of the reasons I enterred local politics. Making sure local services are something we can all be proud of.

The East Dulwich councillors - Richard Thomas, Jonathan Mitchell and myself - helped establish a Crime Reduction fund in East Dulwich ward.

The latest actions this fund is taking is the purchase of 50 Alertboxes to create an electronic neighbourhood watch scheme in Crystal Palace Road between Whateley Road and Lordship Lane. This patch is a crime hotspot for East Dulwich as identified by the East Dulwich Police Safer Neighbourhood team. This enhanced electronic neighbourhood watch should see neighbours working more closely together.

Combined with SelectaDNA property marking kits the Police will engage residents to install Alertboxes and demonstrate how to use them. Installing the Alertboxes will magnify neighbours looking out for each other and we should see a dramatic reduction in reported crime.

Today the Labour government announced a third runway at Heathrow. It has decided to sacrifice carbon emissions, noise pollution and the huge detrimental impacts on millions of residents in London and South-East England.

I often travel through London’s airports on business. I much more often use voice conference calls and video conference calls. If I have to travel my company pays the market price. I have all the flight connections from London I could need. I’m spoilt for choice and can time my flights out and return easily.

So why do we need to increase the number of flights from Heathrow from the current 480,000 flights to 720,000! 

But the majority of people using Heathrow and other airports are travelling for leisure. This is ridiculously cheap. Expanding Heathrow will make air travel even cheaper as its doesn’t pay for the noise pollution, carbon emissions it causes. Air travel also pays little tax compared to other forms of transport.

It will mean more flights flying over Southwark epseically Camberwell and East Dulwich. The Government hasn’t even announced an end to night flights as a tiny compromise.

More fundamentally why does a Labour government want to ensure air travel becomes cheaper and easier so that wealthier UK residents can travel abroad to spend money and create jobs abroad. We want this money spent in the UK creating jobs in the UK. Truly bizarre government policy.

Do you think air travel should be expanded or limited?

Should we encourage UK residents to spend money in the UK creating jobs or abroad?

Bendy buses were introduced some years ago into London. In East dulwich we’ve had a number of problems - where they terminate in Lordhip Lane/Friern Road, toilets for bus drivers who in desperations have used front gardens much to everyone’s disgust, junctions have been widened to allow them to turn and for others to then speed, bus stops hugely extended

The Mayor of London has decided to retire bendy buses form the streets of London.

Has he budgeted to put everything back to ‘normal’?

• All those junctions made tighter to stop speeding?
• Bus stops shortened?
• Kerb build outs shortened?
• Bus stands shrunk back to sensible size?

I will find out.

Burgess Park creation was started after World Ward Two in the post war ruins between Albany Road and St.Geroge’s Way. It came from the 1943 Abercrombie plan for London’s open spaces and has been assembled over the decades. London County Council surveyors while recording all the war damage recognised that with large swathes of London flattened it was an opportunity to reconfigure London.

My great aunt had a shop on Albany Road that was demolished along with many homes as part of the creation of this park. It will be quite an achievement when Burgess Park is eventually finished - perhaps in time for the 70th year since the idea was first conceived.

Why so much damage in South London?

V1 rockets were fired from Normandy directly south of Tower Bridge which was the aiming point the Nazis used. V2 rockets were fired from Normandy directly east of Tower Bridge.

Apparently the Nazis briefed field agents to report if these weapons and earlier bombing raids had hit the target. Most if not all of these Nazi agents had been “turned” and the War Cabinet debated whether these double-agents should be used to send back inaccurate reports to Germany. During July 1944 a secret report was prepared for the War Cabinet to illustrate what the impact would be on various London boroughs of a deception operation to convince the Nazis that V1’s were overshooting and thus further shorten their range and miss central London. The Minister of Home Security, Lambeth MP Herbert Morrison, opposed the idea of playing ‘God’, perhaps also suspecting an attempt to protect government officials and the wealthy at the expense of working people in south London. It seems that the War Cabinet agreed that the plan would be wrong in principle, but apparently a final decision was – exceptionally – not minuted in writing. This exceptional ambiguity has led many to conclude that attempts by the intelligence services to deceive the Nazis continued.

Bermondsey had the most V1 hits per 1,000 acres, Camberwell came 3rd and Lambeth 4th. It appears the War Cabinet had decided to play god. The Citizens of Southwark were being sacrificed to help protect Westminster and the City of London. The implication was that this was a continuation of earlier policies regarding bombing raids. Thirty percent of homes in Bermondsey, Camberwell and Southwark were destroyed or very badly damaged. The residential population halved between 1939 and 1941.

In recognition of the 5,349 residents of Bermondsey, Camberwell and Southwark killed of seriously injured - many as a result of these deception operations to protect the seat of central government - a gesture of penance is long overdue.

Making Burgess Park a Royal Park in my mind would be such a gesture.

What do you think?

The Government has decided to create 200 new bail hostels without publicy telling anyone where they are thinking of putting them. In secret they plan to talk with senior Police and council officers around the country.

Until very recently friends lived next to such a hostel. They had significant problems because mechanisms to manage it and the residents were not in place. The governments idea to create 200 new hostels without involving the public to ensure such governance mechanisms are in place is irresponsible.

Bail hostels are clearly needed. If they are ineffective offenders will be more likely to reoffend or not integrate fully into society. Without consulting with the public or having to follow the full planning process such checks and balances will not be in place.

Frankly such behaviour is soft on crime and the causes of crime. If you happen to come across one in East Dulwich please do get in touch so we can try and ensure it helps the residents rehabilitate and doesn’t cause local issues for residents.

On Tuesday the South London Press launched a campaign to ’save four libraries’ they suggest are proposed for closure. It then went on to suggest how Southwark libraries are under resourced, etc, etc.

This is the same Southwark Council that has announced a new state of the art Library for Canada Water. Has increased the opening hours at several libraries. Is currently revamping the John Harvard library and Local Studies library.

Many options are presetned by council officers near budget times.

Southwark Liberal Democrat councillors have no plans to reduce the numbers of libraries in Southwark. It is a shame when a local newspaper tries to start creating such unfounded news.

Southwark Council has 13,000 leaseholders where it is the freeholder. After a very thorough consultation process with leaseholders Zurich has been the supplier of building insurance for two and a half years. The renewal date is April 2009.

Due to the lengthy consultation process required it’s considered too late to consider a full tendering process so officers are recommending the Zurich contract be extended by one year.

Zurich appear to have very carefully selected the date to consider any increase in charges via the rebuilding prices index produced by the Royal Institute of Charterered Surveyors as October. October was a high at 6.6% per annum which Zurich proposed to round up to 7%. How thoughtful. Whereas December is 5.2% and we can reasonably be sure in the current economic climate will fall further.

http://www.bcis.co.uk/rebuildingcosts/index/rebuildingcosts.htm

For leaseholders of Southwark council properties the difference between 7.0% and 5.2% will be an average of £2.68 for every leaseholder.

Clearly this is wrong and I will endeavour for more rigourous supplier management of Zurich to take place to get these increases minimised.

1952 the planned extension of the Baklerloo line from Elephant & Castle via the Walworth Road, Camberwell Green to Denmark Hill was cancelled. They extended the line about 1km ,contructed three ventilation tunnels and then stopped.

Recently London Mayor Boris Johnson has cancelled the Cross River Tram that would have run parallel to much of this Bakerloo Line extension but targetted towards Peckham.

The Bakerloo Line is the only tube line in London not running at capacity. Ideal for extending. Transport for London working with AMEC/Royal Bank of Scotland has just extended the Docklands Light Railway by 2.5km to Woolwich Arsenal contructing two stations and going under the River Thames for £180m.

The distance from the end of the Bakerloo Line to Denmark Hill is 2.5km.

The benefits to Camberwell, the Aylesbury estate and surrounding areas would amount to considerably more than £200m.

How can we make this happen?

For the past two years Upland Road has held a very successful street party early each September. Abby Taubin has done a maginificent job helping organse her neighbours . For 2009 a new organsier Polly Collier had taken on this role. To maneuvre around legally required red tape that Southwark by law has to follow the East Dulwich councillors especially Richard Thomas have helped. We’ve also found a little funding to help avoid charging residents for advertising of the legal notices.

However, for 2009 I’d like to extend the invite to all other streets in the East Dulwich ward. It costs the same to advertise and raise a traffic order for one or 100 streets. If you think your street would like to be closed for a Sunday in September to hold a street party then let me know and we’ll try helping you achieve this.

As part of this years Cleaner, Greener, Safer scheme the East Dulwich councillors awarded money to help local East Dulwich schools increase cyclnig to school.

Its just been announced that Goose Green and St.Anthony’s RC schools are the most suitable for this.

Fingers crossed it all goes to plan and we see an increase in children cycling to these local schools.

In July this year a resident in north Southwark Mrs.Lambert died under very sad circumstances. Those circumstances are being investigated by Southwark Council’s CEO Annie Shepherd via an indepedent investigator. They will report back to the Coroner. Before this detailed investigation starts Southwark Labour party requested an extraordinary full council meeting which took place last night.

Regretably it descended into a farce with Labour oppositions councillors trying to turn the evening into a kangaroo court with repeated allegations from Labour councillors of a cover up and of officers and executive members keeping it all secret. The facts at the time were issued in a council press release 4 August which were printed on 12 August in local papers. So much for keeping it all secret and a cover up.

At the time I read this story of a frail 84 yrear old lady being discovered dead at her home. It resonated and troubled me as one of my grandmothers had fallen over knocked her head and wasn’t discovered dead until the day after it happened by neighbours. Tragically sad and moving whenever this occurs.

Amazingly 28 labour councillors either don’t read the South London Press or couldn’t be bothered to ask questions about this sad death that they now claim to be so upset and troubled by. Either this implies the Labour opposition has 28 lazy councillors or are being extremely cynical.

I did ask questions at the time and have kept up on how the process to investigate this has occurred. I do await the reports recommendations and will help ensure they are carried out. This is how positive politicians should behave.

We now await the independent investigation results which are due before February.

East Dulwich has had ZERO residential burglaries for two months. Zero residential burglary for two month. That is amazing.

In the summer East Dulwich councillors Richard Thomas, Jonathan Mitchell and myself agreed funding a crime prevention fund of nearly £50,000 from our bit of the annual Cleaner, Greener, Safer funding.

A large slab of this has been spent on over a 1,000 SelectaDNA (www.selectadna.co.uk) property marking kits. Aiming for every fifth home to have this property marking and homes that have been previously burgled or are in the proximty of homes that have been burgled. The East Dulwich Safer Neighbourhood Team has been helping residents install these marking kits. Every school in East Dulwich has been given these kits. We also purchased UV lights for the Police to quickly spot marked property.

Even business burglaries are down. Four over the last two months. Two were pubs. They have now been property marked and helping promote these property marking kits.

Fingers crossed zero burglaries continues. As all the property marking kits are used the chances of burglars being caught and successfully prosecuted rises making East Dulwich an increasingly inhospitable area for burglars.

If you live in East Dulwich and have’nt yet had a SelectaDNA property marking kit installed by the Police then please do get in touch with me. 

At Mayoral question time London’s tory Mayor Boris Johnson was asked about the number of uniformed Police officers - the ones you see walking around on patrol or speeding past in cars.

He could’nt gurantee the current numbers would be increased or even remain the same!

He must at least occassionally read the papers, or speak to ordinary Londoners like you or me. He must know we’re worried about crime? Perhaps not.

Tell him if you think we need more Police in Southwark.

 [if you look at his website you’ll see ads for books suggesting global warming is a swindle - hello Boris smell the coffee]

I’ve just about recovered from all the efforts of the Rotherhithe by-election held 9 October.

This by-election was caused by the sad death of cllr Anne Yates. She would have been proud of how hard her colleagues worked to ensure the new councillor colleague was also a Liberal Democrat.

Liberal Democrat Wilma Nelson duly won with 57% of the vote. Up 9% from May 2006.

Worst part of the campaign - being stuck in a lift with two colleagues within a private block Labour cllr Fiona Colley lives in. The private lift maintenance contractor was useless and eventually they called out the London Fire Brigade. The fire fighters were absolute stars.

Best part of the campaign - the glorious weather and working so closely with colleagues.

On Sunday Upland Road has its not firmyl established annual street party.

congratulations to all those that organised, made it happen and attended. Unfortunately I could’nt pop along - I’d even decided what to make and bring along (Strawberry salad starter).

The weather was fantastic and quite a relief after such a gloomy summer.

Abby, one of the prime organisers has kindly agreed to give us advice on how to encourage more street to do the same which could potentially drastically reduce the costs of public insurance, press notices, etc.

A few fridays ago I had the chance to visit London Bridge Station to discuss the South London Lines proposed closure with Andrew Munden the head of Network Rail infrastructure for SouthEast London and Kent. Apparently this area carries 1/7th of all the services Network Rail provides the tracks etc for.

As part of the visit we were shown the signal box. Which was interesting and appeared to be aimed at impressing us with how incredibly complex running trains services can be.

The meat was discussing in a group with Andrew the context of closing the South London Line.

He made it clear Network Rail would provide whatever infrastructure the Government Dept. of Transport so wishes if they are provided the cash to do it. They explain options to Government but that ultimately the final arbitor is the Secretary of State Ruth Kelly.

The rebuilding of London Bridge Station is required to enable Thameslink2000. The current 6 through and 9 terminating platforms will be changed to 9 through and 6 terminating platforms. Until 1974 London Bridge had 22 platforms. Six terminating platforms means that some of the currently terminating train services wont have any platforms to terminate on and will be closed. The argument being that the south London line having the fewest customers should be sacrficed. The counter argument being

So I asked the obvious questions about what benefits for Southwark will all this bring. Andrew suggested longer trains - but for Kent commuters, more reliable trains - but much fewer services for Southwark residents. It became clear and Andrew agreed no benefits to Southwark will come from all this.

The crumbs of comfort being proposed by the Labour Assembly Member for Lambth and Southwark Val Shawcross is that the East london Line phase 2 delivery be brought forward. I’m not sure people who currently use the South London Line into Victoria and London Bridge are going to find it useful to be delivered instead to Clapham Junction or Shoreditch.

What can be done?

The orignal planning application for London Bridge to be rebuilt was made in 2002 when Labour ran Southwark Council. No mention was made that it would result in a decimation of the train services to Southwark. If it had then I don’t believe it would have received planning permission. If such information was with held then that might mean the planning permission could be Juducial Reviewed.

The Southwark Council executive cllr Paul Noblet has agreed to urgently look into this.

The latest decision relating to Southwarks street lighting have been taken including those in East Dulwich. The East Dulwich Lib Dem cllr Richard Thomas, Jonathan Mitchell and myself made an electoral promise in May 2006 that all East Dulwich street lighting will meet modern standards by May 2010. Such street lighting helps reduce crime and the fear of crime.

This years decision and plan is that the following five East Dulwich streets will have upgrades to modern white lighting:
East Dulwich Road
Goodrich Road
Grove Vale
Lordship Lane
Upland Road

That the following eight East Dulwich roads will have recycled SON lighting upgrading from SOX (orangey/yellow lighting) for white light:
Crystal Palace Road
Dunstans Road
Fellbrigg Road
Friern Road
Heber Road
Rodwell Road
Silvester Road
Thompson Road

If you’d like to see SON and White Halide street lighting in situ they can be seen on  Whateley Road and Landcroft Road.

Some friends wanted to get married on a beach. In England we don’t allow that. So they travelled abroad. We don’t allow getting married anywhere outdoors. How weird is that?

Why would the state want to specify that civil weddings and partnerships can only take place in a few very restricted places. I guess our national politicians still feel beholden to making civil weddings feel as close to the style of a state religion wedding as possible. Good luck to those that want to become married via their religion but as a society we really should give people freedom to express this as personally and meaningful a way as they want.

For me my civil wedding would have felt as loving, passionate and sincere in a garden, woods, on a beach, or on a mountain, as it felt in a licensed venue for civil weddings.

Can you imagine getting married in Dulwich Woods, Stave Hill in Russia Dock Woodlands or one of our several Green Flag parks.

Its been reported that Transport for London has now estimated the cost of building the Cross River Tram would be £1.3 billion but that 40-60% of that would be contingency funds ie. money in place on the self assumption TfL will screw up or not manage its contractors.

Over the last five years TfL extended the Docklands Light Railway from North Woolwich to Woolwich Arsenal with 2.5km of big bore tunnels under the River Thames. This was done on budget and on time.

Why is it that with that recent success TfL feel they can’t repeat such project management. Or is it a Political decision by the London Mayor Boris Johnson and the Labour Government who would have to fund a major part of it to make it sound so expensive that this decision to ‘can it’ is accepted.

Shame on them all.

Two peace protesters attend a peaceful political meeting in Walworth. A Police photographer wanted to take their photo. They objected to this as they had done nothing wrong. They were arrested and then found guilty of obstructing a Police officer doing his duty.

Is it really a Police officers duty to take photos of citizens attending lawful peaceful political meetings. Orwell 1984 eat your heart out - even you didn’t think of this oppressive form of state Police behaviour. Putin in Russia would be reticent in authorising Russian Police to do this.

I hope that the Police refrain from continuing this practice. Such heavy handed tactics loose the Police friends, politises the Police, and law abidding citizens need the Police to maximise the number of friends they have.

Last week this years GCSE results A*-C with English and Maths for the Harris Girls Academy East Dulwich came out. The results had jumped 10% from the previous year. This bodes well for the Harris Boys Academy East Dulwich which is due to Open September 2009.

This afternoon the Olympics handover was celebrated by Southwark at Camberwell Green. The weather defied the forecasts and was reasonable.

The new portable running track was demonstrated. What a great piece of kit to enable the Community Games to set up shop with running races on almost any half reasonably flatish ground.

Southwark has a great Olympic heritage from the 1908 & 1948 games in London. Also quite a few Olympians have trained, lived and still reside in Southwark. A great colleagues cllr Columba Blango being one of these Olympians.

Its a shame none of the 2012 events will take place in Southwark….

The campaign group End Child Poverty has just compiled a new league table that reveals the best and worst places for the poorest students to go to school. It shows that Southwark is 21st best out of 148 education authorities in England, with 45.3% of children in receipt of free school meals obtaining 5 A*-C GCSE’s. The England average is 35.5% and London 44.6%. I was amazed to discover that London is outperforming the rest of England. The worst education authority is Nottinghamshire with only 22% on free school meals gained 5 A*-C GCSE’s compared to 59% of children who are not entitled to free school meals.The End Child Poverty group believe that London’s success is due to the London Challenge a £40m per annum program where authorities bid for money to give special extra help to poorer childrens education. I suspect its more complicated than this but either way such targetted extra spending to equalise life chances is exactly what we need more of.

Liberal Democrat policy is to dramatically increase this type of spending.

http://www.endchildpoverty.org.uk/news/press-releases/gcse-chances-of-poorest-are-a-post-code-lottery/24/113

I was shocked and deeply saddened to hear today that a Liberal Democrat colleague Councillor Anne Yates passed away this afternoon. She’d been in hospital for five week with a brief interlude at home for a few days.

What a very sad loss.

I know it’s only August but if you are super organised you might like to consider buying your Christmas cards from the charity Kids Kidney Research which is dear to me personally and my family. Have a look and hopefully you’ll feel inspired…. 

http://kidskidneyresearch.org

Today East Dulwich cllrs Jonathan Mitchell and I (cllr Richard Thomas is on holiday), along with Greater London Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon met with Southwarks Police Commander Malcom Tillyer along with other Police and MPA officers.

A very useful third meeting to discuss the future of East Dulwich Police Station.

We discussed the East Dulwich councillors proposals of how a Police station as we would see it could be kept on the current site, combined potentially with other council facilities, while meeting Police aspirations for new facilities commensurate with their requirements while obtaining capital receipts for the site.

Unfortuntely everything is on hold while the Metropolitan Police Authority reviews it property plans. Hopefully, in 4-8 weeks time we can continue these discussions.

Southwark Council and Southwark Police have been recognised for excellent partnership working. Hopefully we can deliver a role model in East Dulwich that takes such partnership working to an even higher level by sharing facilities and increasing how joined up services are for the general public. If successful this could be a model for other sites in Southwark and London as a whole.

The East Dulwich Safer Neighbourhood Team have requested that the East Dulwich councillors via our Crime Reduction fund buy two trial pocketable metal detectors. The beauty of these is that they can be carried easilly in a pocket. If/when officers stop someone and search them they can use a metal detector and reduce the level of intimacy of a manual search, reduce the time it takes and increase the likelyhood of finding any hidden metal items.

Even detecting one extra knife and taking it out of circulation will have made this funding worthwhile.

We await the results of this initial trial.

Today Retail Price Index inflation is reported at 5%. Ouch!

National pay negotations for local government employees appear stuck around 2.45%. So a real term pay cut while they help councils deliver productivity gains ahead of national government ‘Gershon’ targets (while that same national government fails to meet its own productivity targets).

The same week it’s revealed that 26 London MPs voted themselves a 9.4% basic pay rise and Cabinet ministers a 4.3% pay increase. Which also means a mega pension increase when they stop being MPs.

Shouldn’t MP salaries be linked to average earning and pensions. They be very motivated to implement policies that boost wages and pensions.

The latest Key Stage 2 results for Southwark Primary Schools - key stage 2 - show fab results this year.

English +3%,   Maths +4%,    Science +2%.

Nationally, schools have improved on average by +1%, +1% and 0% respectively. So Southwark is catching up with the national averages. This years results build on several years of Southwark schools catching up.

WELL DONE - pupils, parents, teachers, assistants, governors and head teachers. What a great team effort must have been taking place

Still lots more to be done before every school in Southwark is better than the national average… 

After World War 2 the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help countries in financial difficulties by lending money to tide them over. Laudable idea to give countries stability.

Unfortunately the conditions of such loans are often very painful. A recent study has shown 21 countries lent money by the IMF see an increase in deaths due to Tuberculosis. Kind of a measure of the health care systems in such countries.

The conditions are usually a drastic reudction in government spending on things like health care. This says to me that IMF conditions, programmes and ideology experiments on countries not taking into account the overal bigger impacts. Loosing large numbers of citizens in poor countries due to reduced health care provision is bad for economies. 

This could explain why the IMF is singulalry so unsuccesful helping poor countries succeed.

Last year for England crime dropped by 10% nationally but knife crime is still a problem. 22,151 reported knife crimes occurred with half of these in inner London, Manchester and Birmingham.

To help the East Dulwich Safer Neighbourhood Team find knives before they are used to commit a crime the East Dulwich councillors are using Cleaner, Greener, Safer funds to purchase a metal detector wand so small it can fit in a shirt pocket. T

Hopefully this little device will work as hoped and help the local East Dulwich find any knives out their. Hopefully, they wont have any to find. Even finding one knife will be a huge success.

If this devices proves useful we’ll fund others.

August 1908, one hundred years ago, the Liberals’ landmark Old Age Pension Act received its Royal Assent and became law. A little bit of Liberal Democrat heritage to be particularly proud about.

I find it hard to imagine our country before the civilising affect of a state pension ensuring all older citizens are able to retire. The value of that pension over the last two decades has rapidly declined compared to average wages. That is sad.

The number of retired people has also shot up. But the principle is still present. A pension. I often wonder if I’ll make it to retirement age - burning the candle at one end with a busy job, the other end having a young fmaily and in the middle being a councillor trying to make things better.

Happy 100 years of pensions.

I recently experienced the new St.Pancras station while travelling to Paris on business. A couple of weeks later I needed to travel via the new Thamesink station at St.Pancras as I was home from a work meeting in Leeds far later than planned and hadn’t brought bicycle lights. Yesterday I read St.Pancras had been given a RIBA London Award. My experiences are that it looks good and as a shopping mall it should win an award. But as a station it’s a failure. It delays passengers from arriving at the station to departing by train. This is the whole purpose of a station. I used to be a regular passenger travelling to and from Leicester University. It was always a faded station but it had soul. It is now bang up to date and superficially attractive but the customer requirements have been subsumed.

At the other end of the Eurostar journey Gard du Nord has not descended into shopping mall vernacular. It is a real station with the buzz of that purpose. Brussells midi is a horrible edifice. The St.Pancras architects have recreated that atmosphere in central London.

Sadly such awards for trash architecture reflect a loss of purpose for architects. The human scale has been lost. People are now merely consumers to be paraded past shops to generate revenue.

So how will the new London Bridge Station fair - will it be a glorified shopping mall or a station that helps passengers quickly arrive and depart by train? The architects have abondoned the current ramps and replaced them with numerous escalators and changes of level. It wont feel a smooth transition for arriving or departing.

This year the East Dulwich councillors Richard Thomas, Jonathan Mitchel and I have allocated £42,450 out of our £120,000 Cleaner Greener Safer funding allocation towards Crime Reduction. We’ve met the East Dulwich Safer Neighbourhood Team Sgt. Duncan Jackson and agreed the initial spending. These monies are on top of the £35,000 last year and £15,000 the previous year.

175 Alertboxes - proven to reduce shop and busines crime by over half

2,000 Smartwater/Select DNA type property marking kits to make burglary pointless

New Neighbourhood Watch signs

Laser speed camera and mobile traffic calming message board 

When I was elected in May 2006 East Dulwich ward was 267th out of all 625 London wards, with 1st being best, for rates of crime per thounsand population.  We’ve helped improve this so that in East Dulwich we’re now 221st in London and improving. Roughly this means 130 fewer reported crime victims last year.

I’m just from a weeks bucket and spade holiday with my family. We thought rather than Dorset, our regular haunt for such holidays, we’d try Broadstaris on the Isle of Thanet. Great place. Lots to do with yound kids. WHAT AMAZING AMOUNTS OF GRAFFITI AND LITTER. Being a councillor in Southwark I regularly report graffiti. Southwark Council removes it within one working day with the property owners permission. In Broadstairs the graffiti just doesn’t shift. All week the same graffiti stayed - and a lot more than we’re used to these days in Southwark. They also have a litter problem. Again Southwark Council is the 3rd cleanest borough in London and it really showed in comparison with this seaside holiday towns litter problem.

So I relaxed but not as much as I wanted to.

East Dulwich station is a rather charming if very run down station. It is amazingly busy and the nearly all ramped access has proved a god send when my young children travelled by prams everywhere. Over two years ago I met the rail operating company to ask about the five remaining steps being ramped over but such a ramp would have a slope greater than 1 in 20 - which I was told generally isn’t allowed due to the Disability Discrimination Act. I also wanted fences changed to make the prolific littering easier to manage.

A fortnight ago I met Network Rail and the TOC to see if they could consider a new ramp or lift and stairs to make the station fully accessible. They explained that various retaining walls have been moving signigicantly. That the very nice large tree has had to be lopped as it was causing the retaining wall problems.

The outcome. Network Rail are going to consider some options of what may or may not be possible. Lifts are expensive to maintain. A ramp would need to be very very long indeed. 

At long last Caffe Nero, having spouted considerable vitriol about Southwark Council, East Dulwich residents, council officers, and after the latest 30 day deadline, Caffe Nero have finally removed two noisy illegal and ugly air conditioning units they’d installed within a few feet of residents bedroom windows.

I never thought I’d quote the “unacceptable face of capitalism” and think it resonated with the appalling actions of a business located in East Dulwich.

Imagine what it must have been like having these units feet away from your bed, working 24/7, and being particualrly noisy in summer when you need to have your bedroom window open to keep cool.

At last some good news for these residents who can finally get a good nights sleep.

I feel sad and angered with the anouncement today that all eights proposed Post Offices closures in Southwark will go ahead. One of the East Dulwich Post Offices will close. The one on Melbourne Grove.

The service given at this Post Office is so good that many users bypass other Post Offices. Some people just can’t queue for quarter of an hour. This decision is particualrly bad as the Camberwell Post Office will close for an extended period while it is kncoked down and rebuilt. So at the very least delaying until after that project happens would make sense.

But this isn’t about making sense. It is about closing profitable popular urban Post Offices with the presumption customers and their business can travel to other Post Offices and boost profits from urban Post Offices. These decisions are not about giving excellent, better or even the same level of service.

The whole landscape needs to be changed to maximise customer service. Ministers and Post Offices decision makers are not customers of Post Offices. They have other people to run such errands. Hence this daft decision - timed to be announced just after the 1 May elections.

The governments elimination of the starting 10% tax level has made over five million people in the UK poorer. Many of them pensioners who spent a lifetime toiling in public services towards occupational pension schemes that accrued at the rate of 1/80 per annum.

Contrast this with the super rich and non doms paying little or no tax. The OECD has stated that the UK is now a tax haven for such people.

The gap between the richest and poorest has never been bigger in our history. With increasing competition for global resources prices are accelerating. The poorest comparative poverty will worsen with growing fuel poverty, etc.

How has a Labour government created such an obscene pickle?

While striding around East Dulwich canvassing and delivering London election leaflets I was told that Ken Livingstone had written a letter to some residents casting doubt on whether Boris Johnson could be trusted with the Cross London rail link and how Boris is bound to overspend.

This happened just at the right time when I was flagging and needed a good laugh.

Now I’m no fan of Boris. But do you remember when London was awarded the London 2012 olpympics. Ken and Tessa Jowell were clearly seen telling everyone it would ‘only’ cost £1.6bn. to put this Olympic jamboree on. Since then the costs have escalated to over £9bn. A parliatenemntary committee has lambasted how poorly run the bid was in terms of costs. They forgot it would costs money for security, VAT, etc. The chairperson of the Olympic Delivery body resigned at the lack of control he had compared to politicians second guessing him and has said he thinks it will cost £20bn.

So for Ken to suggest Boris is incompetent at keeping to budgets is quite preposterous.

Fortunately for me, as a Lib Dem, our candidate Brian Paddick is clearly the best candidate.

Apparently plans are afoot to close t he Lewisham Accident & Emergency service.

Where will people who need A&E, who would currently be served by Lewisham Hospital, go?

My guess is they wont go to Woolwich or Farnborough as proposed. My guess is they will travel, in distress, all the way to Camberwell and Kings College Hospital. What particularly frustrating is that Guys A&E was closed with the expectation that many users would go to Lewisham A&E.

Apart from the extra stress on the Kings A&E that users from East Dulwich ward that I represent will experience.  In these times of increased caution about a big terrorist incident reducing the capacity of London to cope with a severe incident is alarming.

Southwark Council Taxpayers have faced an average 14% a year tax rise from Labour and Green Members of the Greater London Authority.

Working with Labour Mayor Ken Livingstone, Labour and Green Assembly Members have backed big rises in the “GLA Precept” charged on Council Tax bills. These rises have been much bigger than inflation and have ranged as high as 29% in one year.

I guess we shouldn’y be surprised that Ken Livingstone should do this. One example is bus investment. Before the GLA is cost £30M and took 7 years to get 20% increase in passenger numbers in London. Ken spent £1,000M to get such a rise in 3 years. His impatience is costing Southwark council tax payers a fortune.

GLA Assembly members are there to watch over the mayor and stop him when he goes too far. But Green and Labour members of the Assembly seem to have forgotten this role.

Contrast this with Southwark Council’s Lib Dem-led Administration which has kept average Council Tax rises below inflation each year over the same period.

This year the UK will spend £1.65bn. on British troops being in Iraq.

If the Labour government hadn’t taken us to an illegal war on Iraq, during which 1,140,000 Iraqis have died since we invaded, what could be be spending on better services?

For Southwark we would be keeping home help for residents with moderate needs, the Livesey Museum open, meals on wheels below the London average prices.

How many years will we be pumping money away trying to esacape the consequence of this daft labour war supported by the Conservatives?

During January a Planning Inspector held two appeals about Caffe Nero on Lordship Lane regarding Enforcement Notices to remove illegally installed airconditioning units and against a Change of Use. Caffe Nero also requested that all legal costs be born by Southwark on the basis they thought Southwark Council had been so very unreasonable.

The inspector decision was announced yesterday. She found that Southwark Council should not pay for the appellants costs - so clearly Southwark Council has acted reasonably. She upheld the enforcement notice against Caffe Nero about its illegal airconditioning units and they should be removed. She accepted that evidence from the council that the balance of shops to non shops on Lordship Lane had changed since the original decision and that this unit use as a cafe should be allowed.

Overall, considering the changes Lordship Lane has had this was that best possible decision. Residents have a ray of hope that Caffe Nero will finally resolve the illegal sleep disturbing airconditioning units which have frequently operate 24/7 even when the cafe is closed. What amazing eco credentials Caffe Nero must be aiming for!

The coffee lovers of East Dulwich can sleep easy at night knowing that caffiene will still be available locally.

Hopefully Caffe Nero will now clean up its act and will conform to the planning laws of this land.

The deadline for applications for Cleaner, Greener, Safer funding was midnight last night.

With the support of my Liberal Democrat ward colleagues cllr Richard Thomas and cllr Jonathan Mitchell I’ve applied for various schemes to help reduce emissions in East Dulwich.

The main application is for a home visitor project to talk residents through how they can reduce emissions, reduce fuel proverty and if eligible where to apply for funding. 

More symbolically I’ve also applied for a landmark windturbine for East Dulwich. We just need to find the best possible public building that would like one!  

Yesterday was the deadline for Cleaner, Greener, Safer funding applications. This flagship Southwark Liberal Democrat policy sets aside around £120,000 for each ward for capital projects and circa £5,000 for revenue events type projects.

As with previous years I’ve applied for funding to help reduce crime and the fear of crime. Previous years I’ve led on getting Alterboxes into East Dulwich shops. They’ve helped participating shops reduce shop crime by over 50% and engendered a more local shop community spirit.

East Dulwich ward was slightly better than average for crime being 274th/625 wards in London - 1 having the lowest crime rate in London. For Southwark East Dulwich has 2nd lowest crime rate out of 21 wards.  During the last year East Dulwich has improved slightly and is now 236th/625 wards in London but still no.2 in Southwark. So each resident in East Dulwich has a 8.5% chance of being affected by crime each year that they report to the Police. Still rather depressing. 

So this year I’ve applied, supported by my Liberal Democrat ward colleagues cllr Richard Thomas and cllr Jonathan Mitchell for things to further help reduce crime in East Dulwich. My personal aim is to help East Dulwich become a truely low crime ward, not just compared to other wards in Southwark but compared to London as a whole. To achieve this we will need to halve rates of crime in East Dulwich.

In about 6 weeks time we’ll know which applications won. The real work then begins.

 If you’d like to get involved the East Dulwich Safer Neighbourhood Team next meeting is 23 April contact me for further details.

The Post Office is planning to close Melbourne post office. This is part of a huge programme directed by the Labour Government.
Liberal Democrats think that when a Post Office master says they are making a profit that it is bonkers to close such Post Offices.
Local Labour MP’s voted last week for such closures. They also appeared in photos campaigning against such closures.
How hypocritical is that?

Southwark Council is really good at removing graffiti. You report it and it’s removed within 24 hours. Fab. We have a great Street Leader network of hundreds of active residents, including children, who report such eco problems. The Integrated Cleaning Contract provides for all street cleaners etc to report eco crimes. Community Wardens patrol our streets and report such eco crimes. One day we might even persuade Southwark’s Police Officers to report such eco crimes.

This is part of how Southwark has become one of the top performers in London for keeping streets clean.

But this only works when the graffiti is at street level. When the graffiti is at height such as on railway bridges, 1st floors or above on buildings it doesn’t get removed.

Southwark Council has metalwork teams that fix signs who use aerial platforms. We have teams that work with street lights who use aerial platforms. We even have some graffiti removal officers trained to work at heights from aerial platforms.

We just don’t seem able to join all this up.

So after many many many many many months of reporting the same graffiti over and over and over and over again, the property owner is served a notice and it eventually gets removed. A bit longer than 24 hours! Usually it takes over a year. It certainly took over a year to get the Gala Bingo hall on Camberwell Road. Its taken over two years to not get graffiti removed from Network Rail bridge over Newington Causeway. Walworth Road had lots of graffiti at 1st floor level but officers were able to stand on solid flat roofs over several weekends and it only took six weeks to get removed.

Needless to say I’m pushing for drastic improvements to this. It should not take longer than 24 hours. It does require co operation from organisations such as Network Rail, Bingo halls. We must lot graffit criminals keep feeling they’re are winning.

Get involved, become a Street Leader.

Sunday 6 April an Olympic torch parade takes place through London celebrating this summers Bejing Olympics. Part of this parade will be through Southwark from London Bridge to Tower Bridge. To ensure the ‘best possible’ Olympics the Chinese state has been increasing its oppression of any dissent. China doesn’t have a free press. It gives long prison sentences and tortures citizens who criticise it. The Bejing Olympics are clearly being used to provide propaganda material for China. The latest Tibet attempted uprising against Chinese occupation and the brutal retribution is just another example of how morally bankrupt the Chinese regime is.

I don’t see how we can morally support a parade through Southwark celebrating this summers Bejing Olympics.

What do you think?

The Spring programme for Dulwich Paradiso film society is out.

A long time ago East dulwich had a local cinema on Grove Vale. It was demolished and replaced with key worker accomodation several years ago.

It is really good to see that this local cinema club is still surviving and goning from strength to strength. It meets on Tuesdays upstairs at the East Dulwich Tavern. I hope that my family, work and council diaries will allow me to visit at least once during the Spring season - especially for Control on 1 April. 

www.paradisofilm.co.uk 020 8299 1136

Drink driving is up in Southwark by 14%. This compares to London-wde figures where charges for a positive breath test have gone down by 10%. How very disappointing and life threatening.

Several years ago the Traffic Police service in south London was decimated.  Perhaps this is one of the results. All the research shows that Traffic Police patrols are one of the two most effective means to reduce average traffic speeds to the speed limit - the other being average speed cameras.

I read an article about British Gas providing free loft and cavity wall insulation for any home with some over 70 years old or on benefits.

I suggest my 71 year old mother try calling the British Gas number 0845 605 2535 (quoting code JOU?). A fortnight later a surveyor turned up on the agreed half day. A further fortnight later the cavity wall insulation was installed and earlier this week the loft insulation.

She has already felt the difference. What a marvellous scheme and smoothly working system.

If you know someone over 70 years old or on benefits do suggest they give it a try as well.

Tomorrow Simon Hughes MP has a second reading of his proposed Leaseholder Reform 2008 bill. If it enters the statute book is will give leaseholders much more say over what happens to their property and governance over the charges they experience. It also would give councils the power to have sinking funds to pay for major repairs. Currently council leaseholders get massive bills to fix major repairs. A sinking fund would ensure that a pot of money was collected over time from leaseholders to be ready to pay for such major works.

Fingers crossed this bill is successful and goes onto the next stage. It would truely make the lives of Southwark council’s 10,000 leaseholders better and all other leaseholders.

I understand that the Labour Government Post Office closures programme has been announced today.

In East Dulwich it is proposed to close the Melbourne Grove post office. This really is vandalism by the Labour government of a local community resource. Secondary shopping parades all over london will be badly affected with post office closures. In a time when we need people to walk and cycle to local services to reduce CO2 emissions the Labour government seems predicated to creating car journeys. Truely bonkers.

The three local East Dulwich Liberal Democrat councillors had a big turnout of helpers on Sunday to personally call on home and deliver a parking survey to residents near to East Dulwich railway station and around Lordship Lane.

Over the last three years cllr Richard Thomas, Jonathan Mitchell and myself have had many people complaining how hard it is to park on their street. Hence the survey.

In several weeks time we should have the survey results.

Watch this space….

This week the council executive of eight Lib Dem and two Tory executive councillors finalised budget recommendations for the next three years.  Considerable debate has taken place and several months of hard work by council officers and coalition councillors to reach this point.

The council leader Cllr Nick Stanton has done an exemplary job in keeping all the coalition councillors informed and involved.

It’s worth reminding ourselves that 70% of council revenues are provided by central government. That the Labour government has decided to use 2004 population figures and not more recent figures. As the population is dramatically rising in London and South East, 2004 population fugures results in less money for Southwark but benefits Labour heartlands up the M1. Councils with signifcant deprivation (Southwark is the 20th most deprived council in UK) are getting real term cuts from the Labour government for the next three years as opposed to councils such as Rotherham (the 50th most deprived) which is seeing dramatic real terms increased.

Considerable savings will be made by centralising many council offices into a new office on Tooley street. God knows where we’d be if this wasn’t already in progress.

Social care is being consulted on to stop providing care for those with moderate needs. Community Warden services will have fewer wardens and manager. Meals on wheels where Southwark is the cheapest in London will see price increases. Livesey childrens museum will close. A review of all three historic town halls will take place. Some council funded events will see cuts or no more funding. A whole host of other cuts will be made.

No one likes or wants cuts. Considering the dreadful hand of cards dealt by the government I think the residents of Southwark have had the best possible result.

Just over two years ago Caffe Nero opened a cafe on Lordship Lane. The premises had previously been a very busy electrical retailer with planning consent as a shop (A1). To sell food and drink for consumption on the premises requires A3 consent. Caffe Nero opened its cafe without obtaining change of use planning consent from A1 to A3/A1. Council officers saught enforcement. Caffe Nero then applied for planning permission. The Planning Application came early 2007 before the dulwich community Council Planning Committee.

Personally, I had expected to approve the planning applciation as per officers recommendation. On the night Caffe Nero and its agents decided not to attend the planning committee. I’ve never seen this happen before or since as questions of the applicant always come up at planning committees. Officers gave oral evidence that Lordship Lane would, if the planning application were approved, have less than 50% shops - contrary to council policy as a high street rapidly declines once shops fall beneath a critical mass. We also heard evidence from neighbouring residents how Caffe Nero airconditioning condensing units were very noisy, going on/off 24/7 immediately outside bedroom windows and Caffe Nero were unresponsive to fix the problem.

On this basis, and with a heavy heart, that the eight committee members unanamously refused planning permission contrary to officer recommendations. The committee had three councillors whose regular jobs are as barristers - so we were meticulous exploring all the evidence presented.

Officers then issued two enforcement notices. One about the illegal A3 use and a second about the anti social noise. Caffe Nero then appealed the planning permission refusal. This formally delayed the two enforcement notices.

After a considerable period finally on Tuesday 24 January a Planning Inspector heard the Caffe Nero appeal. Caffe Nero team of seven kept suggesting that residents and council officers were imagining the noise disturbance and must be mistaken.

Sometime between now and the end of February we’re due to hear the planning inspectors decision.

A couple of months ago while popping into the Town Hall to attend a meeting about East Dulwich I came across a Harriet Harman MP surgery. It was taking over the whole ground floor of the Town Hall and special security was present. Amazing.  After asking questions at a full council meeting I was shocked to hear that Southwark Council hires the town hall to Harriet Harman for only £50 per surgery.  Weirdly I believe the invoicing for this stopped when Labour ran Southwark council.
When Harriet holds surgeries I’ve seen a minimum of two extra security guards hired by Southwark Councl for her surgeries. When Harriet is generating lots of press interest, such as when she was busted for speeding to her Suffolk home, Southwark Council hires even more security to keep photographers at bay. Even two contract security guards  must cost more that £50 each time.As MPs have significant expense accounts and allowances paid for by parliament they really shouldn’t be treated as charities and subsidised at the expense of Southwark Council tax payers. Equally hiring out the town hall shouldn’t get in the way of the council holding meetings - currently the main council Planning Committee can’t always meet when it needs to as Harriet has bagged Tuesday evenings.

Can we be sure that ALL the costs associated with the use of Southwark properties by MPs are charged at commercial rates and will be kept commercial going forward?

I’ll keep asking until I’m happy such weird subsidies are resolved sand that invoices and bills are actually being paid.

Every month the Peckham CRAG meeting at Peckham Library. The concept is brilliantly simple. Attendees calculate how much Carbon Dioxide their lifestyels result in and share ideas of how to reduce it. Some groups even commit to reducing by a specified amount the CO2 they produce. Very effective CO2 slimming club.

We really need to create one in East Dulwich.

Anyone interested?

The latest crime stat for London are available on the Metropolitan Police website. It shows that reported crime in East Dulwich has taken a sharp dip. Some of this is due to the Police more accurately showing East Dulwich political ward boundaries. But most of the dip can’t be explained in this way.

Much of the dip is due to the hard decisions the three Liberal Democrat councillors have taken to spend local Cleaner, Greener, Safer money in ways suggested by the local Crime Prevention Officer. Things like Alertboxes and gating alleyways. We’ve also been following up our promise to ensure all East dulwich streets have good modern street lighting levels.

So 2006 East Dulwich has 99.72 crime per thousand population. During 2007 this dropped to 86.16 crimes per thousand. This means we’ve gone from being the 3rd to 2nd best ward for lowest reported crime levels in Southwark. The next round of Cleaner, Greener, Safer applications has opened with a closing date of 31 March for applications.

Again we’ll be taking extra heed of what the evidence tells us will reduce crime when deciding between schemes. In one years time I expect to be able to say that East Dulwich is no.1 for lowest reported crime in Southwark. Watch this space….

Over 5% of global CO2 emissions from man comes from plain old contrete.

For every tonne of concrete, 1/2 tonne of CO2 is produced from the chemical reaction and another 1/3rd of a tonne of CO2 from the fossil fuels used to heating calcium carbonate to 1400 degrees C.

During the Soviet Union era they developed a concrete based on Geopolymers. This technology has been rediscovered by Australians. It raw materials are fly ash and slag waste from fossil fueled power stations - great recycling - and works at room temperatures. This technique produces 80% less CO2 than traditional concrete.

considering that in Southwark we have so many regeneration schemes that will require huge quantities of concrete - Elephant & Castle, Canada Water, Bermondsey Square, London Bridge, Blackfriars Road - we need to reduce the embedded energy of all these schemes.

So when will this technology reach our shores helping us make the 80% CO2 reduction we need to make to avoid catastrophic global warming?

I’m delighted to report that last night my ward colleagues Cllr Richard Thomas, Cllr Jonathan Mitchell and I supported a new community library at 18-22 Grove Vale. The library component is something I proposed to the developer two years ago. Last night Southwark Council’s main Planning Council GRANTED planning permission for a new Community Library at 18-22 Grove Vale replacing the current Grove Vale Library. The scheme will include 22 flats, 25% renewable energy, green roofs. The new library will have twice the current floor space for users. This will enable school classes to visit, adult education and increasing the number of days and hours of opening. The new site being next to East Dulwich station will have significantly more footfall. The current library has just over 100,000 visits per year. I’m expecting this to increase by at least 50%. Local businesses in Grove Vale and the surrounding area should benefit from this new magnet for visitors.

The Planning Committee voted: James Gurling, Eliza Mann (reserve), Gordon Nardell, Althea Smith and Aubyn Graham for the scheme, with Robin Crookshank-Hilton voting against the scheme.

The expectation is that six months of finalising planning conditions. Then 18 months to complete the build.

Getting to this position would not have been possible without the developer and agents St.Aidan’s and many council officers, council departments and councillors sharing my vision and overcoming considerable hurdles.

Many thanks for all their hard work. What stars. A really great result for the residents East Dulwich and South Camberwell. 

Currently councils are extremely limited in ensuring new developments meet the highest possible and practicable environmental standards.

A private members bill being promoted by Michael Fallon MP would allow councils, after  involving their communities, to set high energy efficiency standards for new developments and to require them to generate energy locally. This would dramatically save on CO2 emissions, create local jobs.

IF you want such a bill to happen then please contact our Dulwich & West Norwood MP Tessa Jowell and ask her to vote for it on 25 January - Rt. Hon. Tessa Jowell MP, House of Commons, Westminster, SW1A 0AA  

Telephone number - 020 7219 3409, Fax number - 020 7219 2702, E-mail address - jowellt@parliament.uk

Tuesday 15 January the Dulwich Community Council Planning Committee met to decide, amongst other things, a Listed Building Consent to demolish the grade 2 listed bridge outside North Dulwich railway station on Red Post Hill. Weirdly the item was submitted as a late item with less than five clear days notice. Network Rail have known they’ve required permission since 2004.

I asked whether we could hear the justification for this demolition and judge whether Network Rails stated necessity justified this apparent vandalism. The Southwark Council legal officer stated we were not allowed to consider whether the demolition was justified in our minds. What a silly law. The logical extension is that no listed building is safe. 

It was clear that all the Conservative councillors were minded to allow the demolition. We discussed the details of the replacement and how alike Network Rail plan to return the bridge to its former glory. Sadly Network Rail only offered very limited and few architectural features will be recreated in the replacement bridge.

The application to demolish this part of our architectural heritage was approved. The voting was four Conservatives for the Listed Building Consent and myself against. Democracy in action.

What next. 26 weeks of Red Post Hill being closed to through motor vehicles so that bridge no one wants strengthened for 7.5 tonnes t o44 tonnes can take place.

TWENTY SIX WEEKS.

Some time ago I highlighted my annoyance at the Labour Governments Digital TV tax - all the TV’s, video machines, etc have to be replaced at a huge cost to individuals so that the government can sell TV analogue UHF channels. That this will disproportionately affect the poor.

The UK auctions start this year.

We’re now getting an idea of what those UHF channels will be used for - new technology mobile phones and wireless broadband gadgets. Digital TV signals are weak low powered signals but mobile gadgets high powered. Without extraordinary care the mobile high powered gadgets will drown out digital TV signals. Now I watch more TV than is good for me but I hadn’t thought the government was planning a TV starvation diet for me.

The US National Association of Broadcasters has accused Microsft and Google who plan to bid for US channels of “playing Russian roulette” with digital TV quality. The European Broadcasters Union testing has shown that some of the types of wireless gadgets planned destroy digital TV pictures and sounds. 

Considering the fiasco the Labour Government has made of other high tech projects expect to have no TV in East Dulwich for 2012. Ironically one of the few TV services that probably will be o.k. will be TV on mobile phones. But do we want a whole new raft of mobile oerator masts.

Perhaps we all need to be prepared to fill our evening and make sure you have a Southwark Library card!

The latest annual report by the UK based Privacy International advocacy group tells us that an increase in survelliance and decline in privacy safeguards globally has occurred during the last year.

The UK earned top place for having the most endemic surveillance due to having the biggest network of CCTV in the world + Labour plans for a national compulsory ID card rich with personal and biometric information, and minimal comeback for citizens when the government looses this information. And you know they will loose that information.

The report states that the UK Labour government “has access to its people and technology that China doesn’t”. We seem to have runaway adoption of such technologies with little or no progress in safeguards to ensure fair play for you and me as private citizens.

The latest cost estimate by the London School of Economics of the Labour governments ID card plan is £12 to £18 billion during the next ten years. Think how many Police officers that could pay for. Or how fantastic the reabilitation of prisoners could be, dramatically reducing reoffending rates.

The Youth Justice Board, which runs the Labour flagship Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme, said the re-offending rate was “very high” or in plain english 91% re-offended within two years!

What do you think the Labour government should spend our tax money on - ID cards, more Police or getting criminals rehabilitated?

A new law passed by the Labour government in 2005 came into force September 2007. In the past to obtain a betting shop licence from a magristrate an applicant had to prove a need. This meant that others could prove the existing shops had plenty of capacity. The new Labour law means an application can only be blocked if you can prove the applicant is not “fit and proper”, or is unfair to punters, a source of disorder, putting children or other vulnerable people at risk. So legally its now near impossible to block new betting shops - even if it wrecks the balance of shopping high streets.

So why the sudden demand for new betting shops - because betting shops can have upto four electronic touch-screen roulette machines. Such machines mean the average betting shop can make £2,000-£2,500 profits a week from these machines alone. The Financial Times reported that “In essence, in the past five years, the nations bookies have become fantastically lucrative slot-machine arcades”.

How does this affect East Dulwich?

A new super sized betting shop is being applied for where the old Woolwich Building Society used to be at 109 Lordship Lane. The deadline for objecting to it is 18 January.

However East Dulwich has three of the five Community Mental Health team for Southwark.

I will be objecting on the grounds that Lordship Lane has 60% of community mental health team users visiting and these patients are vulnerable.

If you want to object, and try holding back the tide of Labour caused betting shops, then send your objections to:

Tel: 020 7525 2000
Fax: 020 7525 3077
licensing@southwark.gov.uk
Licensing unit,
Chaplin Centre,
Thurlow Street,
London SE17 2DG

Sadly yesterday my ward colleague and friend Cllr Richard Thomas resigned his executive councillor Regeneration position. Richard has been on Southwark Councils executive since 2002. He led the successful charge of a step increase in recycling. He has profoundly moved the environment and regeneration agendas on. I do feel deeply saddened as he is so passionate for positive change. A sad day for any one who cares about Southwark.

I used to cynical about politicians saying they were taking a step back to spend more time with their families. Even as a back bench ouncillor with a young family I can absolutely sympathise. To also be head hunted shows what an asset Richard is and that we’re loosing. It really does highlight how we expect local politicians with incredibly big responsibilities to do the job for largely the love of it. Perhaps this is why such a disproportionate number of councillors are retired or have no family responsibilities.

However, I do know that Richard will still be a great local councillor for East Dulwich.

Heber School is a good, increasingly successful school. During the last year it completely renovated the ground floor toilets that had been in a disgusting state for over a decade. The buildings are old so this work was extremely overdue. However, this still leaves the first floor toilets in a dire, smelly state. Not somewhere we can all be proud of.

The schools governors asked for support from the Dulwich Community Council Cleaner, Greener, Safer funding. This didn’t seem right as that funding is meant for works that make the community Safer or Greener or Cleaner.

So started over six months of discussions and badgering on how to find nearly £80,000.

Just before Christmas the finances were finally sorted out. Southwark Council Education Department will fund 50% directly and the other 50% will be funded by Heber school yearly devolved capital fund. As Heber have been busy improving the school this will have to be an advance, from Southwakr Council Education Department, on its 08_09 devolved capital allocation.

The work is so major it will need a whole summer holiday to complete.

I’m really chuffed that everyone has pulled together to be creative and flexible with the finances and make this happen at the earliest possible time.

To reach government future targets for recycling a huge £30,000,000+  investment is required in new state of the art facilities on the Old Kent Road. Apart from all our desires to minimise the waste we individually and Southwark collectively generates the government charges Southwark £12 per tonne Landfill Tax. Additionally, if Southwark doesn’t meet ever tougher recycling targets the Government will fine Southwark a lot of money. The Landfill taxes and fines are getting bigger.

So Southwark has to make a huge investment in waste services.

‘helpfully’ the Labour Government has decreed that such huge investments should occur via Private Partnerships. No Liberal Democrat likes these partnerships, better ways to do this exist, but the government has made it abundantly clear that this is the ‘only show in town’.

This month the contract with Veolia to make this huge investment and run waste services with ever tougher recycling targets is due to be signed. Now the Unison union representing all of the employees involved are considering strike action. The same Unison that gave the Labour Party £464,434.00 during July-September 2007 alone.

I think Unison needs to makes it mind up. Either it supports the Labour Party and the near imposition of Private Partnerships and all that entails or it doesn’t.

For the individual Unison members in Southwark. You don’t have to pay the political levy. You can opt out if you think this Labour government policy affecting you is crass. 

Southwark Council Planning Officers are currently preparing a report on this scheme. They will decide early next week whether to recommend this planning application be Granted or Refused. Since 19 November, when I last posted about this new Grove Vale library, the scheme has been revised. Unfortunately the library height proposed has been reduced. The top floor is now proposed to be set back and overall the building will appear less bulky. It also has lost much of its copper banding and wont be as striking. Shame.

If you want more details, want to support or oppose the scheme, then please get in touch with me.

The final decision by the full Planning Committee is expected to be taken 7pm 22 January at the Town Hall. These meeting have very long agendas so be prepared to wait some time and bring a book, snack, drink.

In October the three East Dulwich Liberal Democrat Councillors Cllr Richard Thomas, Jonathan Mitchell and I allocated £25,000 to help fight shop crime in East Dulwich. This was the number one priority for investment from the local Crime Prevention Officer.

Just before Christmas another 100 traders in East Dulwich signed up for Alert boxes - a proven method to reduce shop crime by typically 57%. The Alert Boxes have been programmed and will be delivered during mid January.

Big thanks to the East Dulwich Safer Neighbourhood Team and council officers nad project managers for making this happen - Andrea Allen, Sarah De Souza and all the traders who have joined in the scheme.

A by election in the Riverside Ward in Southwark gave me a huge de jevu feeling. While canvassing for the excellent Liberal Democrat candidate Anood Al-Samerai I kept coming across Labour leaflets with covers identical to those used in East Dulwich in 2006. Same broken windows on estates not located in Southwark. Same Police officers in uniforms that the Metropolitan Police have never used - looked like West Midlands Police officers. All stating that Liberal Democrats are soft on crime. Err, that would be Southwark with crime down ahead of tough targets set by central government through hard work of Liberal Democrat run Southwark Council working with the Police.

I also had the same de jevu that voters in Riverside would see straight through such rubbish. They duly did and Anood virtually received 50% of the votes - 1,114 out of 2,248 and extended the majority over Labour.

Well done Anood.

Good news.

The Lib Dem East Dulwich councillors Richard Thomas, Jonathan Mitchell and myself supported a Living Streets pedestrian audit of Lordship Lane. To make more of the recommendations possible we ensured that Southwark Council applied for £100,000 to improve Lordship Lane for pedestrians. We need to make it easier and more pleasant to get from one side of Lodship Lane to the other.

We have just heard that we’ve been successful and can spend the money during the next financial year from April 2008.

What do you think is needed - get in touch.