Review of the year: July 2008

In July we celebrated the 60th anniversary of the founding of the National Health Service. Locally we've seen Labour investment in very real terms: in the rebuilding of Queen Mary's Hospital and the commencement of work on Putney Hospital by Putney Common, as well as thousands more nurses, doctors, dentists and midwives. At the same time waiting lists have been slashed from 18 months under the Tories to just 18 weeks today; still too long but a vast improvement.

Several campaigns that came to dominate the Autumn were launched: the planning application for two monstrous towers at "Putney Place" opposite East Putney Station was submitted; and the Council held a so-called consultation that hardly anyone knew about and even fewer participated in on their plans to redevelop Danebury Avenue.

I met with the minister responsible for regulating dangerous dogs to talk about local problems that have plagued Putney; in particular the Dover House estate area and Roehampton. And I made sure residents of the Putney Vale estate right on the edge of the constituency had their say as they set up a new residents' association for their patch.

The first edition of the Putney Pensioner was published; we'll be significantly boosting its circulation in 2009 thanks, in part, to the large number of sign-ups we've had from the Autumn edition of the Putney Paper.

On national issues, I wrote about the importance of green taxes not being exploited as just another revenue raiser, and also about the need to ensure that staple foods be protected as high fuel costs forced up the amount the typical basket of goods cost.