Happy Halloween

www.safehalloween.co.uk

This month's crime stats

As you can see from the green numbers (which indicate crime down or at the same level as a month ago) compared to the red (crime up), we've had another good month in Putney, Wandsworth and London.

There was actually very little change in most of the numbers - either or up or down, though where increases were seen they tended to be more than off-set by larger falls in other areas. That's why, for instance, East Putney saw an overall decline in crime even though more categories of crime saw small increases: the decline in burglary was significant and offset those rises.

Roehampton also, again, saw a marked drop in crime, especially theft and handling.

And West Hill deserves a special mention, because it has a crime rate half that of the London average: West Hill is not only the safest part of Putney but one of the very safest anywhere in the capital.

Putney Place Decision Day: 06 November

Councillors will be determining the Putney Place planning application on Thursday 06 November.

The fantastic news is that council planning officers are recommending that councillors refuse the application.

They state emphatically that the application is unacceptable on five grounds:

1. Overbearing impact on the area
2. The adverse impact on surrounding residents
3. The loss of office space
4. Too few affordable homes
5. The buildings are not sufficiently environmentally-friendly

You can read the officers' report that councillors will be considering here.

You are also entitled to attend the planning committee meeting: it starts at 7.30pm at Wandsworth Town Hall, Wandsworth High Street and this application is the first item of business. I for one will be attending.

And I hope the owners of this site will now bow to the inevitable: there is no public support for their plan, there is no planning basis for it and there is no council support for it. If, as I expect, councillors follow the officers' guidance and reject this application Oracle should accept this verdict and not pursue an appeal to the independent planning inspectorate.

Roehampton redevelopment planning news

The Council has published its planning news booklet alerting us to the application they have submitted to themselves (!) to redevelop Roehampton.

It should be delivered to all homes in Roehampton at the very least - look out for it; it looks like this>

The first thing that grabbed me was the image the council have put on the front page, supposedly a representation of what the development will look like. I've enlarged it below so you can really get a good look at it.

Amazing, isn't it?

Through this one development, Roehampton has suddently become a rural idyll. Children playing happily. No anti-social behaviour. Birds flying above.
...And not a car in sight! Remarkable, given that these plans will increase traffic catastrophically - sending thousands of shopper cars and articulated lorries down Danebury Avenue. Yet not a single car, bus or lorry in the illustration.

And also, look at all the grass! More grass, in fact than exists there now - when in reality the council intends to concrete over the grass and trees that are there now.



The Conservatives are perpetrating nothing less than a mass deception. They failed to adequately consult residents, sneakily staging an exhibition hardly anyone knew about in the middle of the Summer holidays. They steamrollered the results of that consultation through committee a few weeks later. They ignored Roehampton residents at the recent so called "listening to you" meeting. And now they're deliberately misrepresenting their plans.

We have until 08 December to make our views known to the council about this application. Since my own consultation at the start of September, the economic situation has made this crazy plan even less viable. If you want to have your say, here's how:

• Write to: Planning Service, Wandsworth Town Hall, London SW18 2PU
• Email: planningapplications@wandsworth.gov.uk
• Phone: Neil Shaw, the planning officer for this case on 020 8871 6632
• Fax: 020 8871 6003

Please quote planning application number: 2008/4552

The Council's planning page, where all the plans and responses can be found is here.

18 months to 18 weeks

Where has all the money that Labour has poured into the NHS gone?

Well, one of the things it has done is turn the average 18 month waiting list for treatment on the National Health Service that Labour inherited from the Conservatives into one of just 18 weeks. Just think about that difference:

18 months under the Tories
18 weeks with Labour

And remember that's the average. In Wandsworth's Primary Care Trust (PCT), newly released figures show that over half - 536 of 1,030 - needing treatment were seen within EIGHT weeks.

You can download an excel table that shows, department-by-department, the treatment times for Wandsworth here.

Cleaned every week..?

For the third time in just over a month, I've had to write to Wandsworth Council about the state of the Alton estate.

At last week's Roehampton Council report-back, residents spent the first half of the meeting berating councillors and housing department officers over the poor quality of the cleaning service.

At that point, I'd already received two replies from the Council insisting that every block on the Alton was cleaned once a week - you can download the schedule of cleaning chores they say should be carried out here. I wrote a few days ago on this blog why, even if that were the case, big blocks like those on Highcliffe Drive need far more cleaning than small ones.

Well, this weekend my campaign team and I were out and about in Highcliffe Drive - again - to see whether the reality lived up to the council's rhetoric. The photo above - and all the others here - show that it does not. And these were from just three of the five blocks Binley House, Charcot House and Dunbridge House!

And it's no excuse to say that the major redecoration work to these blocks has hampered cleaning - I'm sure it has but the stains, the dust, the damage to rubbish chutes, the flytipping and the general grubbiness prove that these areas have been in this state for weeks, months - maybe even years.

On this evidence, I think residents would be grateful for their block to be cleaned even the once a week the council says it is.



























.....

Shubh Diwali

Today is the Hindu, Jain and Sikh celebration of Diwali: the Festival of Light.

Diwali is one of my favourite festivals; anyone who visits Tooting at this time of year will see the High Street bedecked in festive lights.

Many think this is just the Council jumping the gun on getting the Christmas decorations up - but it's actually to mark Diwali.

I've sent out hundreds of Diwali cards in the past few days and I wish all Putney constituents who mark this lovely festival all the best on this special day.

If you'd like to learn more about Diwali check out these sites:

• Diwali Festval
• BBC Diwali page
• About Diwali
• Boloji.com

Planning our town centres

The BBC is reporting on plans by Waltham Forest Council, in north east London, to tighten its planning rules to limit the number of fast food outlets near schools or places heavily frequented by children.

The report proves again that tougher planning rules to protect town centres are entirely achievable and desperately needed in Putney High Street. In Waltham Forest the problem appears to be too many fast food "restaurants"; in Putney its coffee shops, mobile phone shops, gambling premises and what the Americans call "Dime Stores".

A cohesive plan for Putney is what the Putney Society has been calling for and it is one of the essentials of my SOS plan to Save Our High Street. It goes hand-in-hand with ideas like shop-front improvements, to introduce a cohesive character to the town centre and longer term suggestions like relocating the Chelverton Road bus garage away from the High Street and replacing the ugly concrete building that currently houses Woolworths, Halfords and Superdrug.

The Council's Local Development Plan is currently being reviewed and this is an ideal opportunity to draw a line under past disagreements and work together to draw up a strong, clear and radical plan that safeguards local shops, improves the environment for shoppers and other pedestrians and makes the High Street the attractive heart of Putney it should be.

You can read more about my ideas for Putney High Street and give me your own views here.

What is the value of a bad debt?

Despite the astronomical sums pumped into the global financial markets in recent weeks, there remains a big problem with what the City calls "liquidity" - the willingness of banks to lend to each other, and in turn, to us.

One of the main reasons for this is that there remain on most lenders' books - including those we the public now own huge stakes in - a huge amount of bad debt. That's not just mortgage and credit card debt that consumers have accrued; it's also what are called "options" which banks trade with each other: a bit like a pass-the-parcel of their own debt which, until confidence collapsed, kept this surreal financial clock ticking.

In the US, the Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson created a "bad debt bank", owned by the public, into which all the sub-prime or "toxic" loans and much of the consumer debt could be dumped. The problem with this idea is is simply this: what is the value of a bad debt?

If someone defaults on a mortgage the value of that debt - by which we mean the amount that the bank is likely to recover - is very unlikely to be the amount it originally lent. Some argue that if someone cannot repay a loan the value of that debt is zero because the coffers are empty.

That doesn't quite hold up with mortgage debt because it overlooks the value of the asset the mortgage is secured on. It also overlooks any repayments that have been made by the consumer. The same isn't true with the options debt that the banks trade between themselves: this is solely liability without asset attached - just, in effect, a label saying how much it changes hands at.

This is a massive issue of political and economic philosophy and it's the very issue over which the Bank of England and our Government deliberated for so long in respect of Northern Rock - and for which they took some unfair criticism: because if a government is always going to bail out a failing bank there is no risk to failure. Therefore, institutions will become even more reckless.

The only credible position here is the one the government has taken: to support our banks but not at a pound-for-pound ratio of good money to bad; to expect a return for the taxpayer who is now shouldering huge risk; and to insist that lenders are far more tolerant of those in the real world struggling to repay their creditors.

Helping existing homeowners, supporting small business, and lending to new buyers is the price - or should I say value - of the bad debt we have taken on.

RAF Bomber Command Memorial

As Remembrance Sunday draws closer, a fund has been launched to provide a statue in central London to commemorate the 55,000 RAF bomber crew who were killed during the Second World War.

While the efforts and sacrifice of those who contributed to other aspects of our war effort have been properly marked, those who flew and manned bomber aircraft have never been honoured.

In part, this may be because some have been discomforted at the role our bombers played and the horrific damage aerial bombing did. Nonetheless, without Bomber Command the war would have lasted much longer at the cost of many more innocent lives. Bombers were the only means in those days we had to strike in a significant way at the heart of the Third Reich's industrial and military capability. Simply put, we would not have won the war without RAF Bomber Command.

To find out more about the role the RAF Bomber Command played in WW2 and about the plans for the memorial - which includes a short video - click here.

Will a change of leader help us to succeed?

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/article1852281.ece

As a fervent QPR fan I hope so.

Fancy paying more tax on petrol?

In July, when oil prices - and therefore the price at the pumps - reached record levels, David Cameron and George Osborne came up with a short-term tactic to score political points. They announced that there should be a variable tax rate on petrol so that when oil prices were high tax would fall and when petrol was cheap taxes would rise.

Today, oil prices have almost halved from their Summer high. Under the Tories, that means we would now be paying more tax on our petrol. Just as the price fall is beginning to put a little money back in our pockets - some of which we might save for Winter fuel bills - the Conservatives would take it away from us.

Once again David Cameron and George Osborne demonstrate that now is no time for a novice to be given the keys to the Treasury.

We should agree to scrap political billboard ads

The papers are again full of party political funding scandals - this time George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor for allegedly trying to solicit a donation from a Russian Oligarch (which would be illegal as he's not a British citizen) and then trying to work out ways of channelling it through a British subsidiary company (which, according to one interpretation, would still be legal but in any case is certainly is clearly contrary to the intent of the law).

I'm not going to spend this post talking about the Conservatives' troubles because all parties have been embroiled in these problems and are likely to be again in the future.

Central to this issue, once again, is the huge cost of election campaigns. The bulk of this comes from parties buying up huge billboards all over the country to shout very basic - and occasionally crass - slogans at largely oblivious passing voters. Occasionally, billboard campaigns get it spot on - at least in terms of impressing the marketing industry; but more often than not they miss the mark as the Tories' "Are you thinking what we're thinking?" posters did at the last election - answer: no!

I think very few votes are swayed by billboards: certainly not enough to make the return on the investment worthwhile. I know of no candidate (as opposed to national party) - of any party - who has spent his or her own campaign money on local billboard advertising. Clearly cost is a significant factor, but I also suspect that effectiveness is the other. What this boils down to is that the most expensive aspect of our election campaigning is the least effective part of it.

That's why I think the two main parties should agree to scrap big ad campaigns this forthcoming election - something that would halve the cost of the campaign instantly. I don't support an official ban - if parties have that sort of money (raised lawfully) and want to burn it then of course that's their right.

Local democracy...

Following Monday's Roehampton report-back, Labour councillors asked to table a report that analysed the responses I had received to my redevelopment survey (remember: I obtained over 300 replies, the council got fewer than 70). Labour councillors wanted to discuss this at next week's meeting of the council committee responsible for the plans.

Councillors from both parties on the council have always been able to table reports to committees; it's a rarely-used prerogative. This time however, the Conservative chairman of the Committee has blocked the report being tabled.

This is more than just playing politics - it's refusing to listen to the views of Roehampton...again. We'll persevere and get the report tabled eventually, but it is further demonstration - as if it were needed - that the Conservatives are uninterested in local opinion.

More help for Putney homeowners

Today the Government announced new rules to help protect homeowners who may be facing the threat of repossession. New court protocols will help make repossessions a last resort not a default response, and the Government is proposing that companies engaged in sale and rent back schemes - which can often target vulnerable home owners - should be properly regulated.

Lenders will now be expected to demonstrate that they have tried to discuss and agree alternatives to repossession when borrowers get into trouble with their mortgage repayments. If a case reaches court, lenders will be required to tell the court precisely what they have done to comply with the protocol. The expansion of free legal representation in courts for households at risk of repossession and an increase in free debt advice will also help protect those most in need.

This is exactly the help we need to make sure there is help for those Putney, Roehampton & Southfields homeowners who might be hardest hit in the tougher times ahead, ensuring repossession is the last resort not the first.

It is right to ensure that every avenue has been explored before lenders seek to repossess homes. And now the public has a major stake in several of the biggest mortgage lenders, it is also right that the people's priorities are addressed in the Boardroom.

For more information on the package, click here.

Last night's Roehampton report-back

Over 80 Roehampton residents braved the rain to attend the report-back meeting last night. The big issues, as you might expect, were Roehampton redevelopment, the Council/TfL no right turns from Roehampton Lane and the state of the Alton estate.

I myself have been increasingly concerned about the cleanliness of the estate: I've written to the Director of Housing twice about this in recent weeks. Part of the reason for the mess is that the contract doesn't seem to be being honoured - I heard from someone in Farlington Place only today that her block has been cleaned just three times since August.

But there's another reason. The Council set out in its cleaning contract that every block on the Alton has to be cleaned once a week. Not unreasonable on the face of it, is it? But consider this. Arnewood Close has six flats in each block. Each of the five Highcliffe Drive blocks has 75 maisonettes in it - probably easily over 100 residents in each. They're both supposed to be cleaned the same.

Isn't it self-evident that a big block which has hundreds of comings-and-goings every day needs more cleaning than a small block? And it's such a waste, because the Highcliffe Drive blocks have just been redecorated: the council's spent tens of thousands repainting and smartening them up, but because its cleaning contract is insufficient, these blocks are already looking grubby.

The Conservative councillors for Roehampton told residents that they hold regular walkabouts on the Alton. I leave you with the response of one of the residents from the estate: "Are you doing your surveys with your eyes closed and your noses pinched?"

They must be.

Council spends thousands renting homes it once owned

I'm writing a lot at the moment about the serious problems caused by the over-zealous way the Tories have imposed their right-to-buy policy on Putney, Roehampton and Southfields:

• It's pushed house prices up artificially
• It's deprived local families of much-needed affordable housing
• The huge subsidies involved have lost local taxpayers millions
• It's turned once strong communities into transient buy-to-let conveyor-belts
• It's made anti-social behaviour worse as the transient residents have far less commitment to and interest in the area they are only part of for a few months: more noise, more fly-tipping, more overcrowding.

But let me give you a direct example I've encountered in the past few days that anyone who is a Council Taxpayer in Putney should be outraged about.

Dowdeswell Close is part of the Lennox Council estate off Priory Lane in Roehampton. Wandsworth's Tory Council is now renting a property it used to own there at £1,300 a month. If those being housed in such properties don't have the income to pay this level of rent then the difference is made up in Housing Benefit, which you and I pay for.

All because the Conservative Council have sold off over half the council homes in our borough.

This isn't the only example: right across Wandsworth there are hundreds and hundreds of former council homes now being rented back by the Council for use as temporary accommodation to help them cope with the huge housing crisis the Conservatives have brought on themselves. And this voodoo financing is costing taxpayers an absolute fortune.

The Conservatives pride themselves on financial prudence. They certainly aren't showing it in their incompetent housing policies.

Getting them young...

George Bailey is one of our newest deliverers of The Putney Paper.

George, who delivers the Putney Paper on his environmentally friendly super-buggy (pictured below) has done such a good job for us that he's been promoted: this week he's being seconded to Newcastle to take on the Liberal Democrats who run that council for the time being...

No time for a novice

The Conservative front bench treasury team, of which Putney MP Justine Greening is a member, has changed its tune somewhat over the past few weeks. Compare and contrast:

Then:

In August 2007 George Osbourne welcomed proposals drafted by his party that "sets out how we liberate our economy to compete with the likes of India and China. Cut government regulation, planning restriction and red tape."

The report went on to state: "We see no need to continue to regulate the provision of mortgage finance, as it is the lending institutions rather than the client taking the risk."

In November 2006 Osbourne crticised Alistair Darling stating that "He has clobbered business with £50 billion of regulation, when we should be liberating our economy to compete."

Now:

"Osborne calls for tougher financial regulation"
The Independent, 29 Sept. 2008

"Business leaders have welcomed George Osborne's 'innovative and far-reaching' plan to...increase City regulation."
Daily Telegraph, 29 Sept. 2008

As I have written before, admitting to mistakes is no vice, but completely changing your position and trying to pretend that the Conservatives are anything other than the truest champions of the unfettered free market is shallow, vacuous and utterly unbelievable.

Johnny Haynes

A statue to legendary Fulham and England captain Johnny Haynes was today unveilled outside the gates of Craven Cottage.

Johnny Haynes was one of the greatest ever footballers who played 658 games for Fulham - a club record - and represented his country 56 times. It was a mark of his brilliance that he was routinely selected for England while Fulham were in what was the Second Division; an incredibly rare occurrence.

So it's fitting that the Club has dedicated its first statue to him and that the statue does him justice.

"Landmark" buildings

The ever-helpful architects for Putney Place have provided some more images of their "landmark" designs for us all - even here slightly misleading as the cylindrical tower will be black, not the sort of soft, gentle, almost transparent white they've drawn it as:


From Fawe Park Road, junction of Skelgill Road


From Brandlehow School.....................................From Wadham Road


From Disraeli Road jct Bective Road.......................From Oxford Road

Roehampton: make the council listen on Monday

The Leader of Wandsworth Council and the officers pushing through their unpopular plans for redevelopment of Roehampton will be at the Cornerstone (Roehampton Parish Hall) in Alton Road on Monday from 7.30pm.

I encourage all Roehampton residents to come along; especially the 304 who responded to my redevelopment survey.

As well as the redevelopment, other issues that may well come up are the Council's equally crazy plans for no right turns from Roehampton Lane and the idea to connect Roehampton buses with Barnes - a good idea in principle but with serious flaws in practice.

Why not also ask what planning the council has made for the huge amount of extra traffic down Roehampton Lane now the Queen Mary's Place development is starting to be occupied? Or why the Council has no strategy to safeguard the shops in Roehampton village? Or how the council intends to respond to increased parking stress on the Alton estate?

Roehampton also includes Putney Vale, Putney Heath and the Priory Lane area: so do come along - the Conservative Council only deigns to "listen to you" once a year, so make the most of it!

Wandsworth's Health Service in good health

The Healthcare Commission has just released its performance figures for all NHS Trusts in England and Wales. And Wandsworth's Primary Care Trust has, for the second year in a row, improved a category: it's now rated "good" at its use of resources. In 2006/7 it was in the lowest category possible; last year it was "fair"; now we're in the top half of the table for the first time.



However, there are still ways Wandsworth PCT can do better. While it's clearly getting to grips with its financial controls - wasting less, targeting resources better, investing in the right services; it is still in the bottom half of the table in terms of "quality of service" - the aspect of their service we experience and the more important measure.

In particular, the Trust still has not got to grips with infection control: preventing the spread of superbugs and other germs and diseases; it is not achieving targets for all A&E patients being seen within four hours; and its booking service failed the test too.

But the Trust scored a full-house in terms of "patient focus" - treating patients with dignity and respect, food quality, responding to complaints and the like; "governance" and "cost effectiveness".

Managers will argue that quality of service will follow once resources are properly targeted, and I hope they're right. With the amount of our money Labour has invested in the NHS, I want to see Wandsworth with "excellent" services - in both quality and use of resources.

Download the full Healthcare Commission report for Wandsworth PCT here.

Putney Place latest

A message from the Chairman of The Putney Society:

Council officers tell me they have met with the developer. Oracle will not withdraw or amend their plan. If it is rejected by the Planning Applications Committee then Oracle will appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.

The Planning Committee date is likely to be 6 November 2008. Rejection would mean an appeal some months (maybe 3 - 6) later.

I am optimistic about rejection - but we cannot assume that this will happen.

It is important that there is a continuing flow of objections to this application in order to both strengthen the case pre-committee and be in place as evidence at an eventual appeal if required.

Letters will count after the Council's cut off date of 17 October - desirably they need to be in by 31 October 2008

Regards

John Ewing

You can either write to the council direct by emailing planningapplications@wandsworth.gov.uk or by visiting my Putney Place page and completing my online survey which, if you tick the relevant box, I'll submit to the council for you.

Elliott improves

School inspectors have noted a major improvement in standards at Elliott School after a poor inspection last year put it on special measures.

It's really important that Elliott does well: it fought to remain true to its comprehensive values when the Council tried to turn all the borough's secondaries into selective schools; it serves a catchment area that covers the whole constituency and beyond - which makes it genuinely diverse - and it is a much-loved institution.

Importantly, a lot of the improvement has been led by the students themselves. Head Sharon Ferrell has introduced a leadership scheme where older pupils mentor and set an example for the younger ones.

You can read more about the improvements to Elliott in this week's Wandsworth Guardian.

Tory Mayor is going to miss affordable housing targets

Imagine my shock: the Tory Mayor of London has started preparing the ground for an admission that he isn't going to meet the far from challenging target for affordable housing that Ken Livingstone left him.

Yesterday a panel of housing experts called before the London Assembly all forecast that building 50,000 affordable homes by 2011 - which may sound a lot but works out at just 520 per borough per year - isn't achievable.

My response is: of course it is; it just isn't achievable by continuing with the policy of tacking affordable homes onto much larger private developments as an afterthought. Building a handful of affordable homes in return for being allowed massive overdevelopment is only a relatively recent phenomenon born of the Thatcher Government's ban on councils building homes. Prior to that, councils and housing associations were able to - and did - build hundreds of thousands of affordable homes.

In fairness, the experts that gave evidence to the London Assembly came closer than I have ever seen in admitting this: they said that because of the housing downturn £4 billion earmarked for new housebuilding should be targeted on affordable rented homes. Of course it should.

The Mayor's Housing advisor, Richard Blakeway, came up with this piece of bluster that even Boris would be proud of:

"We are asking the Housing and Communities agency to develop innovative models for delivery in the capital to meet new circumstances."

Anyone who can translate that into plain English please send me your answers on a postcard. It's utter tosh: we don't need "innovative models for delivery" - we need Councils like Wandsworth to stop sitting on millions and millions built up from the right-to-buy sales they've pursued so damagingly and start building new affordable homes. They could start tomorrow if they wanted.

But they don't and won't, and we now have a Tory Mayor who lacks the interest or ability to force them too. Look out folks: Wandsworth's catastropic housing policy is about to be applied across the whole capital.

My October Parliamentary Report

My latest report for the putneysw15 website is now online. In it I talk about the two big issues of the day: Putney Place and Roehampton redevelopment.

Redevelopment survey: what Roehampton REALLY thinks

As the illustration above shows, there's been a fantastic response to my consultation on the Council's plans to redevelop the top end of Danebury Avenue. Nearly five times as many people completed my survey than bothered to return the council's "heads they win, tails you lose" survey in the library at the end of July.

I've published a detailed report on the results of the survey: you can download a copy here.

I have news for the Council. On not one single aspect of their new plans for Roehampton do they have a local mandate to proceed. Yes, people think Danebury Avenue can - should - be better. Yes, they would like to see some investment in the area. But no, not at any price, and certainly not at the price being demanded by the Conservative Council. Among the key findings:

• 91% oppose building on the green space at the top of Danebury Avenue beside the library
  
• 72% demand that all or most of any new homes built here be affordable
  
• 66%, when forced to choose between the Council?s plan for a supermarket that would send hundreds of lorries and cars down Danebury Avenue or no supermarket at all, say no to extra traffic
  
• Even on the one issue the Council claims clear support for: the demolition of Allbrook House above the library, 45% said no to this in our survey, compared to 34% who agreed with the council

If we genuinely care about Roehampton; if our intent really is to provide better facilities and more opportunities for the Alton Estate and to better unite the Alton with Roehampton Village, then these findings cannot be ignored. Roehampton has spoken.

The Council must now listen and respond appropriately. It must suspend these plans as there is clearly no local support for them. It needs to return to the ideas it tore up earlier this year, upon which it has consulted more extensively. And it must look seriously at whether the best course is simply to renovate and redesign the existing buildings instead of its wasteful and unnecessary slash-and-burn approach.

Safe as houses

A few days ago, The Guardian published a big report on the impact of the Tories' Right-to_buy policy, 27 years after it was first introduced. You can read the report here.

Although the report focussed on Barking and Westminster, it applies equally to Roehampton, West Hill and Southfields.

Right-to-Buy was the flagship Thatcherite housing policy: it gave council tenants the right to purchase their home at discounted rates. The ethos of the policy was that people who owned their homes took more pride in them and the surrounding area. It also provided those who could afford to buy their homes - and in particular those in council houses, rather than flats - with a nest egg to leave to their children.

But there were several major flaws with right-to-buy and places like Roehampton are now suffering the effects. The first is that the Tories blocked the building of any new council homes for rent to replace those they sold off. This has created huge waiting lists for council housing, overcrowding and homelessness.

The second problem is that a lot of the homes that have been sold off are now owned by absentee landlords, bought during the buy-to-let boom. These are now leased to transient tenants (in Roehampton's case EU migrants and students), who stay put no longer than six months to a year - people who understandably have less commitment to or investment in the area or its community.

The thing Right-to-Buy was supposed to improve: the sense of pride in community, has actually been the thing it has damaged beyond measure. It's one of the reasons why, in response to my recent Roehampton redevelopment survey, around 80% of respondents felt that the area had changed for the worse.

It's also why I'm calling for a change in the law to require councils to replace every home they sell off with at least two for rent - to start repairing the huge loss of affordable homes we in Putney especially have suffered.

The Conservatives still don't understand the problems their policy created: they're committed to worsening it further by extending the right-to-buy to Housing Association tenants, and oppose the building of new council housing.

Take time to read the Guardian article - it sets out the issue in far more detail than I am able to in a post like this.

Local Guardian reports on Putney Place

The Wandsworth Guardian was at the Putney Place meeting last Thursday, and you can read their report of the meeting here.



Local residents have also set up a blog to help people keep in touch with what's happening:
http://saveputneyfromthetowerblocks.blogspot.com/

Sharing The Road: What Cycling Can Do For Putney

The Putney Society, Hotham Primary School and Wandsworth Cycling Campaign (WCC) have got together to organise a series of events on the weekend of 18th and 19th October.

Saturday 18th October; 10.30am-12.30pm
Brewer Building, St Mary's Church, Putney

• Video presentation on WCC's award-winning Movers and Shakers project

Saturday 18th October 1-5pm
Cycling Events for all at Hotham Primary School, Charlwood Road, featuring:

• Lunch and Afternoon Refreshments from Hotham's Global Kitchen - Delicious home cooking from around the world (hot dogs for the less adventurous!)
• Tea, coffee and homemade cakes available all afternoon
• Dr Bike session by WCC & Putney Cycles - let them check your shed-bound bicycle for roadworthiness
• Putney Cycles and Go-Pedal on hand with adult bikes for free tryouts and hire for Sunday rides
• Thamesfield Safer Neighbourhood Police Team
• Stalls with cycling info, fun cycling activities for children, help with route planning, bicycle security marking etc.
• 1.45pm Display of cycling skills by Hotham School children
• 2.30pm & 3.30pm Cycle Training UK will run two sessions in the playground on basic cycle skills. The one-hour sessions must be pre-booked by calling 07989 974406 or emailing info@wandsworthcyclists.org.uk Cost £5, payable on the day.

Sunday 19th October, 11am
WCC guided rides around Putney

Starting at St Mary's Square at 11am, short guided rides for all ages will demonstrate how easy it is to get around Putney by bicycle. Bring your own bike, or arrange to hire one for 24 hours at a reduced rate on Saturday, to be returned on Sunday. Riders can join in with one or more of the short rides to enjoy local shared paths and the new sculpture trail.

First ride to the Wandle Delta along the riverside.
Second ride to Barnes Wetlands Centre along the riverside (ride timings to be confirmed)

For more details, visit http://www.wandsworthcyclists.org.uk/

Autumn Putney Paper now online

The Autumn edition of my Putney Paper has just been added to the website. This edition, which will go to 30,000 homes in Putney, Roehampton and Southfields, features stories on housing and overdevelopment.

We highlight that while the Tories' sole national tax announcement has been to promise to take estates worth £2million out of paying Inheritance Tax, Labour is prioritising ordinary people with help for those struggling to pay their mortgage or waiting years for a new council home because the Conservative council has sold off half our affordable housing stock locally.

We also continue reporting on the overdevelopment nightmare threatening Putney; Putney Place, the Ram Brewery site, Capsticks and the office blocks along Upper Richmond Road lying empty as their owners wait for the chance to turn them into new apartment blocks.

We report back on the results of two of our big recent consultations: in the Southfields Grid and in Roehampton, where Tories are steamrollering through their plans in the face of massive opposition from residents.

What ties all these stories together is the great opportunity the Conservatives have missed to improve our area for good. Instead, their feeble lack of a plan for Putney - and the rest of Wandsworth - has encouraged the crazy Putney Place idea, has let our High Street decline and is about to concrete over green space in Roehampton to pile up three times as many homes as are there now - hardly any for local people.

Plus, the usual su doku and an opportunity for senior citizens to sign-up to receive my quarterly Putney Pensioner newsletter.

You can read the new edition - and earlier copies, here.

Tonight's Putney Place meeting

I'm just back from the Putney Society-organised meeting between residents and the developers at St Mary's Church which I was able to address briefly.

Over 300 people turned up - as you can see from the photo below the hall was packed - as was the upstairs gallery. It's really pleasing that so many turned up over what is such an important issue; though I'm a little surprised at how few Putney councillors bothered to attend.

I'll write more about my thoughts on the meeting in the next few days but I don't think the developers' team had a good night. In all likelihood they were never going to - this is a massively unpopular plan and deservedly so. But they did themselves no favours by arguing that white was black: that the plans were not intrusive, that they would not overshadow, that public transport capacity could accommodate them, that the towers were just what Putney needed.

I think one resident summed the scheme up perfectly when they said that this was a plan to win architecture prizes for daring, not a plan for the people. And the presentation was pitched at architects rather than local residents: it was a very, very poor show and I wonder why the public relations person present hadn't sat them down and gone through it with them before they spoke.

I've had almost 300 surveys back so far, and I can tell you that just 9 have been in favour of the plans. Those nine I don't think were present tonight!

Anyway, a good night for Putney, a good night for local democracy and a bad night for Oracle.

Another part of the borough, another overdevelopment nightmare

Tower blocks are in the local news again; this time plans to build twin 39-storey tower blocks above Clapham Junction station. The towers will contain 556 homes, NONE of which will be affordable on the extraordinary basis that the developers would rather spend the money improving the station beneath it. Another false choice - affordable housing, a more human scale development AND an upgraded Clapham Junction - if you don't mind, developers.

I highlight this issue, which is actually in the neighbouring Battersea constituency, simply because the Battersea Society is making exactly the same, entirely justified criticism of the Conservative council as our Putney Society is.

The Batersea Society say that the Council lacks a "coherent vision" for Clapham Junction. "Without an overall plan we fear the proposed new shops may damage, rather than benefit, the existing shopping centres in St Johns Road and Northcote Road" they say.

And in the letter notifying residents of tomorrow's Putney Society meeting with Putney Place developer Oracle, Chairman John Ewing says "The Council appears to have no overall town plan for Putney". I agree.

Be under no illusion: it's this void; this lack of leadership from Wandsworth's Conservative council that is holding the door wide open to any stack-em-up, pile-em-high developer to come up with these ludicrous tower block notions.

We urgently need leadership on this vital issue - and if the Conservatives cannot or will not provide it, then it's down to you to vote in those of us who are leading.

More in the pocket for the lowest paid

Around one million workers across the UK will today have a little extra money in their pockets as the National Minimum Wage (NMW) has increased.

The rate is rising to £5.73 per hour for workers aged 22 and over, £4.77 for 18-21 year olds and £3.53 for those aged 16 and 17.

The Government is also currently preparing a further crackdown on bosses who fail to pay the minimum wage, with tough new penalties set to come into force next April. An information campaign over the next six months will aim to make sure that every employer is aware of the changes.

Anyone who is concerned they may not be getting the National Minimum Wage can call the NMW helpline on 0845 6000 678 for confidential advice or to register a complaint about underpayment. Callers can remain anonymous of they wish.

In the last year alone, Enforcement Officers investigated more than 4,100 employers and secured almost £3.9million in arrears for over 19,000 workers. Since the minimum wage was introduced in April 1999, the Government has returned over £30million unpaid wages to more than 100,000 workers.

The National Minimum Wage was introduced by Labour on April 1 1999. Since then it has risen by 59 per cent. Combined with Working Tax credits and other benefits, the new rates will guarantee an income of at least £292 a week for families with one child and one full-time worker.