What's going to be left?

Shortly after I sent in the 600+ petitions from the Roehampton area demanding action from the Conservative-run council on street-drinking in the Danebury Avenue area, the Tories responded firstly by denying there was any problem - and if there was one they had fixed it (this was in the middle of the coldest winter in recent years).

They said no other council had ever implemented the sort of alcohol exclusion zone I was calling for - yet a straightforward google of those three words provides a great list of councils who have done exactly that.

And they said that even if there was a problem - the same problem they'd just denied the existence of - the same failed policies they'd been applying would fix it even though they've failed for years.

But then the Conservatives decided to take action. First they removed the benches outside the library - a favoured gathering place for the street drinkers admittedly. So they moved across the road to sit on the stone benches outside the post office. A move that made people accessing post office services - especially the ATM there - very uncomfortable.

So now the Tories have taken those benches out too.

This is an ingenious plan by the Conservatives. Rather than just ban street drinking in the area, they are choosing to strip from Roehampton every facility used by the street drinkers until there's going to be nothing left. What's the next step - evict all the shops from Danebury Avenue and Roehampton until there's nowhere for them (or anyone else) to buy anything?

We already know the Tories want to concrete over the green beside the library because it was in their crazy demolition plans for Danebury Avenue - so perhaps they'll bring that idea forward so there's no grass on which they can gather either?

They should probably demolish the wall by the library the drinkers are now sitting on, even though it keeps the pavement around the library from subsiding into the green - but why worry about that?

No. The Conservatives have completely lost the plot. They're not removing facilities that only street drinkers use: they're punishing the entire community around the town centre by removing these facilities. It's as if they think it's Roehampton's fault the Conservatives can't or won't deal with street drinkers.

Well it isn't - it's the Conservatives' failure, not Roehampton's. It only becomes the responsibility of Roehampton if, despite all the evidence of Conservative neglect, failure and incompetence, on May 7th the people of Roehampton wake up to the same Tory MP and councillors they've just re-elected.

Alcohol Zone: Roehampton says yes, Tories say no

I've just read the response from the Conservative council to the petition of over 600 Roehampton and Putney residents calling for an Alcohol Exclusion Zone for Roehampton.

It's riddled with inaccuracies, jargon and excuses not to act. I'll give you just five:

First, that "no alcohol exclusion zones are known to have been established in the UK." Well, they may not know it, but had they done a quick google search, they could have educated themselves quite easily. How about Rotherham, Winchester, Pontefract, East Lothian, North Tyneside - shall I go on? If the Conservatives are so ignorant as to make such basic mistakes, what confidence can we have in anything else they have to say?

Second:"The practicality of this approach in such a small area where displacement is likely [is] merely likely to displace the problem to the immediate vicinity around the zone".

Well, that depends what the immediate vicinity is, doesn't it? If it's just the shopping parade at Danebury Avenue then of course there could be displacement: to Portswood Place or Petersfield Rise or the village. And no one's arguing for that - I'm certainly not. If, however, the AEZ covers an area bounded by Richmond Park, Priory Lane, Clarence Lane, Roehampton Lane and a perimeter around the village, the only places left for street drinkers to disperse are heaths and parks. And they won't disperse there because there is no ready supply of alcohol for them in the middle of Richmond Park.

But then, just listen to their third argument: that were a zone to be implemented, it would "need to be large and as a result difficult to justify".

Hang on: one minute their case is that an AEZ won't work because it will be too small, but now it's because it will be too large! Which is it? And it's even more baffling given that Winchester's AEZ covers the whole of the city, and Bromley's covers the whole of Beckenham town centre: far bigger areas than Roehampton. And they're working fine, thank you.

Fourth, they conjour up a figure of £10,000 to create the AEZ - a figure they offer no substantiation for and which, incidentally, pales into inconsequence compared to the £350,000 they've just squandered on their aborted Danebury demolition debacle.

The fifth is just about the most bizarre claim you'll ever hear a council make. They claim that an AEZ would demand the confiscation of all alcohol - open or not, from anyone - drinking it or not, without exception. I've got to ask: do you really believe Rotherham, with its city-wide AEZ, is a 1930s prohibition mecca? Or Tyneside? Or the entire city of Winchester? The Conservatives make fools of themselves, and show their contempt for the people of Roehampton, with such absurd claims.

We then get more of the same weak and ineffective excuses for a lack of action so far: that it's a new problem (no it isn't); that their current efforts have changed habits (no they haven't); that the problem's diminished in the cold weather (yes it has but do you really think it won't return the moment it's not freezing cold?); that the drinkers are mainly local (so what?) and that getting them to sign slips of paper promising to be good are far more effective ways of dealing with them (need I comment on this!?).

For some reason the Conservative are afraid to take the action Roehampton needs to deal with this problem. I don't know what the source of that fear is, but it exists and it's failing Roehampton.

Let me put it this way: Roehampton did not just create a 600-signature petition, which could have been double or treble that size with very little extra work, to get such a peremptory, dismissive and weak response. They signed up in droves because they want action - and for us all that action is long overdue. But it's clear we won't get it from this lot.

Allbrook community action

Regenerate, the Roehampton charity that, among other things, organises the annual Roehampton Festival and provides plenty of activities for Alton teenagers to get involved with has just press-released an event they helped organise a few weeks ago in Allbrook House, the block above Roehampton Library:

"Regenerate, along with 2 local churches, joined the residents of Allbrook House, Roehampton for the first 'Love Allbrook House'day.

"Frustrated with the state of their block, the residents organised the day to scrub clean the walls, floors and ceilings of the lifts, lobby and 9 flights of stairs.

"With council plans to demolish the block withdrawn, the residents have fresh hope to make it a nicer place to live. Here are some quotes from residents:

'It?s been a great opportunity for everyone to get to know one another better'

'By working as a team we can make this block a better place. We should do this again every month!'

"Big up everyone for getting your hands dirty."

I'm a big fan of initiatives like this that help residents in what are too-often called "soulless" blocks get to know each other and thereby foster stronger communities.

But isn't the bigger issue that residents felt the need to deep clean their block because of the unacceptable state the Conservatives allow it to fall into repeatedly? Residents keep complaining about the low standards the Conservatives hold their cleaning contractors to but nothing ever changes.

It'c slear the Conservatives either can't or won't. That's why you need to change it yourselves - at the elections next year.

More on the Regenerate facebook page - why not become a fan? I am.

600 say street drinking must stop

The photo above was taken earlier this evening when I handed in petitions signed by over 600 Roehampton and Putney people demanding an Alcohol Exclusion Zone in Roehampton.

Councillors Rex Osborn (left) and Billi Randall will have the job of pushing the council to get serious about this issue as the petition now has to be acknowledged and responded to by the Conservative council.

This has been a huge response and the idea clearly commands widespread support, as witenssed by the fact that the majority of signatures came not from the campaign cards I sent out but from those who signed the petitions in local shops including the Right Plaice chip shop and the post office in Danebury Avenue.

The other thing I know Roehampton residents want to tell the council is: get on with it - this has been a problem for years and the Conservative council has done nothing whatsoever about it.

Even now, instead of doing what residents want, Conservative councillors in Roehampton are talking about getting the street drinkers to sign pieces of paper promising to turn over a new leaf.

This isn't good enough: it won't solve the problem and it doesn't give the police the powers they need to improve Roehampton for good. Nothing less than a complete ban on street drinking in the Danebury Avenue area - which includes the village, the Petersfield Rise parade and the Portswood Place parade will do.

Roehampton residents have done their bit. Now it's time for the Conservative council - for once - to do right by Roehampton.

Weekend casework

Harbridge Avenue is constantly littered - made far worse by palladin bins being placed on the pavements which invites flytipping and animals to scatter waste all over the place.


Another feature of Harbridge Avenue is pathways that end in dead-ends like this on the corner of Ellisfield Drive; which also get flooded whenever it rains a little because there is no run-off.


More Harbridge Avenue palladins dumped on the pavement, surrounded by rubbish. Really unpleasant for the people who have to live here.

This is the junction of Harbridge Avenue with Ellisfield Drive: completely flooded on Sunday evening.


Chadwick Close is one of the relatively new developments where Roehampton Gate School used to be behind Danebury Avenue. And this is their refuse storage area - piled high with rubbish that has clearly not been emptied for weeks. What a health hazard!


These puddles - in Highcross Way (left) and Timsbury Walk (right) - exist because the drains beneath them are blocked solid by Conservative council neglect. In Timsbury Walk the puddles are right in front of residents' front gates - often flooding into their gardens; while in Highcross Way you can see how long it's been since this path has been swept.


A flytip in Timsbury Walk


This is the bottom of Danebury Avenue near Priory Lane - again, flooded after heavy but hardly extraordinary amounts of rain. And again, look at the leaf mulch which indicates how long it's been since basic street cleaning has been carried out here.


These are some of the photos my campaign team took over the weekend on the Alton Estate. Harbridge Avenue, in particular, is in a disgusting state - and sadly it's not that unusual for it to be.

In addition to the rubbish, potholes, unswept-up leaves that had turned to slippery mulch, bad paving and the other usual failings of the Conservative council, over the weekend we also saw the impact of blocked drains throughout the estate, unable to cope with the heavy but hardly unexceptional rain we all experienced on Sunday.

I'm on the case here - already, I've secured guarantees from the London & Quadrant Housing Association which is responsible for the piled-up refuse in Chadwick Close, to clear it today.

The problems the council are responsible for are going to be much harder to fix - not least because there is no interest - let alone leadership from the Conservatives to provide a decent environment for Alton residents to live in.

Harbridge Avenue is of a similar design to Sherfield Gardens, which I exposed the state of a few months ago. And it's in a similar - maybe even worse - state. Residents have been let down by the Conservatives for too long. It's time for action. It's time for change.

Says it all, doesn't it?

What a pitiful way to mark 50 years of the Alton

Up until a few days ago, Conservatives in Roehampton were delivering a newsletter containing the story above promoting their dreadful demolition plans for Danebury Avenue. Earlier this week the plans were dropped. Talk about the right hand not knowing what the far right hand is doing!

Particularly notable is the quote from one of the Tory candidates for Roehampton: "We need to make sure that any investment in Roehampton really delivers for our local community."

I agree. What investment HAVE the Conservatives made in Roehampton and what HAS it delivered - REALLY - for our local community? Absolutely nothing.

At the end of four years of broken promises the only people who've benefited have been the printers of the endless, banal, glossy leaflets the council churned out (many of which never seemed to reach residents) and the (two sets of) expensive consultants paid huge amounts of money to tell the Tories that their plans won't work.

They could have saved taxpayers that money and simply taken the word of Roehampton residents, members of the Putney Society, Labour councillors, Roehampton Labour Party, English Heritage, the Conservative Mayor of London, the Wandsworth Cycling Campaign, local businesses and, err, me - all of whom told them this over and over again these past weeks.

A shambles would be too kind a description for the debacle the Conservatives have made here. This has been a folly characterised by ego, arrogance, ignorance and woeful incompetence. Roehampton has had a Tory council for 30 years, Tory councillors for 11 and a Tory MP for four.

We have to hold these hopeless bunglers to account but let's just remember that Roehampton - the most deprived part of our area - is still without any investment, any leadership and any cohesive plan to transform lives on the estate. That's the real cost of the Conservatives' failure.

What a pitiful way for the Tories to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Alton estate.

The Conservatives just don't get how to fix the street drinker problem

Since I started campaigning for an Alcohol Exclusion Zone for the Alton Estate, the Conservatives have suddenly discovered a concern about the issue of street drinkers.

That's welcome - because it's better to have their support dealing with the problem than their usual apathy and indifference. But the problem is that they simply don't understand what's wrong. And as a result, they're coming up with weak solutions that simply won't sort the problem out.

The Conservatives are talking about "48 hour banning notices" and "good behaviour contracts" - as though that will deter street drinkers. It won't - because these people have an addiction and need help; and anything less than a complete ban on street drinking will simply see them return once those banning orders expire.

The Conservative response is weak - and as usual it's far more about trying to look like they're doing something instead of actually doing something.

My campaign for an Alcohol Exclusion Zone continues: we've got hundreds of supporters already and you too can sign up here.

Nothing less will work. Nothing less than Labour leadership will deliver it.

BREAKING NEWS: Tories finally drop Danebury demolition disaster

The Conservatives have finally bowed to the inevitable and are going to drop their dreadful plans to demolish the top end of Danebury Avenue.

A report going before councillors next Monday, 2nd November, will cite unfavourable economic conditions as the reason for the abandonment of the plans. I wonder whether that's really the reason - it seems to me far more likely that council elections next May would have become a referendum on their plans - and the Tories would certainly have lost.

I'm delighted that, for whatever reason, these calamitous plans have bitten the dust: I've been working hard with residents on the Alton for almost two years to stop these crazy plans and put forward new, affordable and sustainable ideas. We need new ideas that:

* Don't send thousands of cars and articulated lorries down Danebury Avenue
* Don't reduce the amount of affordable homes to rent in the area
* Don't reduce the number of family-sized homes in the area
* Don't concrete over the green in front of Roehampton Library
* Don't threaten Roehampton's local shops by opening a massive supermarket
* Don't close three youth clubs and open just one tiny one in their place

That's not really asking that much. It was only the dogmatic arrogance of Putney's Conservatives who were the ONLY ones supporting these devastating, flawed and deeply unpopular plans, that kept them alive for so long, blighting the lives of so many residents.

I'm delighted to have played my part in bringing this flight of foolishness crashing down.

The Conservatives have wasted years and years endlessly talking about their intention to regenerate Roehampton and they have delivered absolutely nothing. Consultations have been ignored, consultants hired at huge expense to taxpayers have accomplished nothing; not a single life has been transformed for the better; Roehampton remains the most deprived part of the constituency.

This is simply not good enough.

Roehampton has been run by the Conservatives for thirty years: and it's just got worse and worse. It's had Conservative councillors for nearly twelve: and they've achieved exactly nothing for the area - name one thing they've done for you that's made your life better.

If that isn't a more compelling case for change in Roehampton, I don't know what is.

Here's the report that consigns this disaster to the dustbin.

Danebury demolition delayed again

There's nothing like decisive decision-making, is there? Just last week we were informed by a senior officer in the planning team that the Tory Danebury demolition plan would be back before councillors next Thursday for rubber-stamping.

Today we learn that, umm, no, it won't be. It appears that the Conservative council STILL hasn't done enough to persuade Boris Johnson's London planners that the plans are a good idea. I'm not entirely surprised by that given that the plans aren't a good idea, but it's somewhat surprising that Wandsworth's Tory council and London's Tory Mayor haven't been able to come up with some sort of fix.

My advice to the Conservatives is abandon your dreadful, damaging demolition derby and start again on plans that will actually improve the Alton, rather than reduce even further affordable homes, increase traffic massively, turn public open space private and bulldoze over the green.

Tories' Danebury demolition returns

Bad news for the big majority against the dreadful Conservative plans to demolish the top end of Danebury Avenue, concrete over the green, scrap council flats and replace them with very poor quality private homes and build a massive supermarket that will send Heavy Goods Vehicles and hundreds of cars a day onto the Alton Estate.

Despite opposition from residents, English Heritage, the Mayor of London and, of course, Labour in Roehampton, the Conservatives are driving ahead with their demolition plan with a report recommending approval going to Planning Applications Committee on 8th October.

The Conservatives have a massive majority on this committee and there is little prospect of their councillors putting the best interests of Roehampton first and rejecting these plans.

The only way Roehampton can now stop this Tory Danebury Demolition is at the council elections in May. Let me be clear: a vote for Labour will stop this dreadful plan dead in its tracks - and Labour councillors for Roehampton will then work with the community on the things you've already told us you do want.

So, if you want the traffic, the windswept town centre, the concreted over green space, the loss of affordable homes and the further damage to the Alton Estate vote Conservative.

If you want to stop it vote Labour.

Help me tackle street drinking in Roehampton

As I wrote about a few days ago here, one of the problems with the centre of Roehampton is the street drinkers who hang around throughout the day, outside the library and post office.

Not only are they a problem in themselves; reinforcing stereotypes about Roehampton, urinating beneath peoples? homes and generally causing a nuisance, but they also take up police time which could be better used tackling more serious crime and anti-social behaviour.

Making the Danebury Avenue area an Alcohol Exclusion Zone will give the police new powers to not only move drinkers on but confiscate and dispose of their drinks. It doesn?t prevent local shops selling, or local people buying alcohol at all: it just means people can?t drink it in public within the zone?s boundaries.

My Alcohol Exclusion Zone should be complemented by real help for those with drinking problems, so I?m pleased that local churches and the Salvation Army are working together to see what they can do.

If you support my plan to make Roehampton town centre a nicer place for residents, visitors and shoppers, please sign my online petition. As ever, the more of you who sign up, the stronger our voice will be. Together we can make a difference.

You can sign my online petition here.

My campaign to make Danebury Avenue an alcohol-free zone

Recently I wrote to the Council's Chief Executive and the Chief Superintendent of Wandsworth Police to urge them to take action on one of the biggest concerns I come across on the Alton estate: the impact of street drinkers on the Danebury Avenue area.

I want to see an alcohol exclusion zone introduced in this bit of Roehampton that bans the drinking of alcohol in public. Your rights to buy alcohol would be unaltered. At present Roehampton's Safer Neighbourhood Police has the power to move on street drinkers who hang around outside the library and post office in Danebury Avenue pretty much all day.

An alcohol exclusion zone would give the police the power to confiscate and pour away any alcoholic drinks - and faced with this prospect I suspect the drinkers would soon disappear.

Tackling the problem of street drinkers in Danebury Avenue is really important according to local residents and businesses. It is the biggest issue raised with me by Roehampton residents. And hopefully with that problem tackled, the police can focus more on some of the other problems. That's why I'm backing an alcohol exclusion zone and why I hope the council - which has to set the zone up, and the police - who have to enforce it, will get behind my campaign.

Here's the letter I sent to the Council Chief Executive yesterday (click on the image for a larger version):

Today's Roehampton Festival

Roehampton Festival on Saturday!

Roehampton Festival 2009

The Putney Paper - new edition out now

I've just taken receipt of 35,000 copies of summer 2009 edition of The Putney Paper. The headline is a message I think needs saying because too many Labour MPs have let the public (and yes, my party too) down really badly.

As well as setting out my position on the expenses scandal, the Putney Paper also contains stories on our continuing battle against Tory overdevelopment plans for the area - check out the Overdevelopment Line to see just how much of our borough is - quite literally - under threat.

There's also an update on Southfields Station's lift, the really unfortunate sell-off of Arton Wilson House by the NHS; some of the work the Government's been up to nationally which has gone largely unnoticed because of the expenses scandal; and our usual news round-up and su doku on the back page.

And if you've got a local gripe about a problem or issue, you can use my "Get it sorted" slip to let me know. Or alternatively, click here to go to the Get In Touch page and report it right now!

35,000 copies is the largest circulation of any publicity Putney Labour Party has undertaken in years - every single copy is delivered by local volunteers. We don't use a delivery company and not a penny of public money funds The Putney Paper. We do this because you deserve to be able to make the most informed choice possible at the next election. Such a wide delivery demonstrates that there are no no-go areas for Labour in Putney, Roehampton and Southfields.

You can read the latest edition of The Putney Paper right here.

Danebury Barrier victory

In a spectacular U-turn, the Conservative council has abandoned its plans to remove the traffic barrier at the end of Danebury Avenue by the Alton School.

Last year I exposed secret plans pushed by Putney's Conservative MP and councillors to turn Danebury Avenue into a rat-run by removing the barrier. Perhaps they hoped that their unpopular and damaging redevelopment plans for the area around Roehampton Library might be more popular with developers if the road was opened up.

In November last year I sent to the council the results of a ballot I'd held of residents in the Danebury Avenue area asking what they thought. 77% wanted the barrier left alone; just 4% agreed with the Conservatives that it should be taken out.

For the past six months the Conservatives have dithered between respecting residents' wishes or railroading their plans through. Common sense has, eventually, prevailed because next week at a council committee they'll be agreeing with us that the barrier should be left where it is. I'm delighted - it shows that residents can make their voice heard when they work with those of us who actually care what they think.

You can read the Conservative climb-down report here.

Even Boris opposes the Tories' Roehampton plans

To the list of opponents of the Conservatives' plans to redevelop the top end of Danebury Avenue can now be added the (Conservative) Mayor of London.

Wandsworth Council has been advised that their current application for Danebury Avenue does not comply with the Mayors' London Plan (the overarching plan for the capital) in a number of respects including housing and tenure mix, site layout and open space, residential quality of design, sustainability, transportation, cycle and car parking.

In fact, every single aspect of the plans that residents and I have said the Council has got wrong. You can read the report here.

The table below says it all, really.

My response to the Danebury planning application

The closing date for comments on the council's planning application for Danebury Avenue has just passed and I submitted a detailed objection on five grounds: design, transport and access, housing and community facilities.

You can read my response here.

There is a wide array of opposition to this application:

• Myself, Putney Labour Party and the Labour Opposition on Wandsworth Council
• The Putney Society's Buildings and Conservation Group
• The Wandsworth Cycling Campaign
• English Heritage - in so far as they do not feel it is able to be determined as yet
• And most importantly of all the overwhelming majority of local residents as shown by the response to my detailed survey this Autumn

Like the Emperor's new clothes, the Council lacks even a figleaf to justify proceeding with this planning application and I very much hope that the planning applications department and the planning committee - which has a quasi judicial duty to act free of political interference from the Conservative administration - will determine this application on planning terms.

If they do so this application will be refused.

Roehampton redevelopment; English Heritage weigh in

English Heritage are one of the bodies always consulted on major planning applications because of their potential impact on existing buildings, the overall setting of a community and the architectural opportunities a demolition provides.

They have today sent in a response to the Council advising them that there is insufficient information in their planning application to enable the plans for the redevelopment of Danebury Avenue to be determined one way or the other.

English Heritage go on to say that the Council has so far failed to justify its demolition plans, stating:

"There is a statutory obligation for local planning authorities to pay special attention to preserving the character of a conservation area but there is no consideration [in the planning application] of the implications of the loss of the buildings identified for demolition for the Alton Conservativon Area.

"In addition, no information has been provided as to the impact of the proposed development on either the Alton or Roehampton Village Conservation Areas. In our view the information provided in support of the application is insufficient to provide a full understanding of the proposal without which we do not consider the application can be determined."

They go on to recommend that "without this information our view is that this application should not be determined at this point."

This is another warning to the Conservatives to stop railroading their unpopular, unsupported, and damaging plans for Roehampton through. There is no need for the haste with which they're lurching on with this application - it is undemocratic and the economy makes their ideas less viable by the day.

I agree with English Heritage that the Council should not determine this application; and as the people approving as well as submitting this plan it is entirely within their power to pause for thought, consider the views of local people, think about the damage they're trying to inflict on Roehampton and - at long last - do the right thing.

You can read the English Heritage submission here.

What Roehampton wants on Danebury Avenue

A couple of days ago I broke the news of secret Conservative plans to remove the traffic barrier at the end of Danebury Avenue that would turn the road into a cut-through for all the traffic that wants to get to Richmond Park or Priory Lane.

As I showed from correspondence with Council Officers, they're planning on presenting a "report" on their plans in December. This followed pressure from senior Conservative Councillors to take the barrier out supposedly to make their plans for the redevelopment of the other end of Danebury Avenue more attractive to buyers.

They also implied that they'd asked residents for their views on their ideas already. They have not.

That's why, today I have sent out over 1,300 ballot papers to residents in and off Danebury Avenue to ask them what they want.

There are three clear options:

• Leaving the barrier in place - no change
• Allowing buses through but not other traffic
• Taking the barrier out entirely and letting all through-traffic use Danebury Avenue

This is one decision I'm not going to allow the Conservatives to make before residents have had their say. I also suspect the two schools in the area - Alton and Ibstock Place - might have something to say on the idea.

I'll report the results of the ballot after the closing date on 3o November.

Danebury Avenue free-for-all?

I've been trying to get to the bottom of secret Council plans to remove the road barrier at the end of Danebury Avenue by Alton School and Tunworth Crescent.

There are definite plans being considered to remove the barrier - which would turn Danebury Avenue into a through road for traffic wanting to access Richmond Park and Priory Lane. How do I know this?

Well, Putney's Conservative MP boasted about her involvement in this plan back in July in her report to the Putney SW15 website. She wrote: "A review of bus services overseen by the Council has come up with some options that would see a service feed ASDA on the A3, the Alton estate and Priory Lane, then going to Barnes Station."

Prompted by that, I've been pushing the council to tell us what exactly they have in mind. This is the reply I got from them back in Septermber:

"One of the options they [TFL] propose is the consideration of the removal of the road closure on Danebury Avenue for buses only. This would enable a bus service to penetrate through that part of Danebury Avenue and Priory Lane currently without a service, and provide an alternative direct route to Barnes Station.

"Separate to work being undertaken by the consultant the Council has investigated the feasibility of removing the traffic barrier in Danebury Avenue to permit use by vehicular traffic, following a request to do so. The investigation has been completed and the report detailing the outcome is being written."

So I asked who exactly made the request to open the road to all cars. The response:

"In response to the proposals associated with the Roehampton Regeneration scheme the Director of Technical Services was asked by Leading Members [ie Conservative Councillors] to consider the feasibility of removing the traffic barrier in Danebury Avenue to permit use by vehicular traffic."

In other words, the Conservatives are considering making Danebury Avenue a through-road but without explaining to anyone - yet - why.

These plans could help residents of the Alton enter and leave the estate more easily. But there are a lot of considerable drawbacks to the plans. For example:

• Thousands of non-residents will also use Danebury Avenue to reach Richmond Park or Priory Lane. At present they need to stay on Roehampton Lane until Clarence Lane.


• There are two schools at the end of Danebury Avenue: through-traffic will increase the risk of road traffic accidents here


• Traffic is likely to significantly increase into Richmond Park, not that long after it was reduced when Robin Hood Gate was closed by the Royal Parks Agency


• The quiet character of the western end of Danebury Avenue will change


• I've written before about how the redevelopment plans at the east end of Danebury Avenue will send hundreds of extra cars and lorries into the area when the road is already congested by the library. These plans could gridlock the Alton.

The Conservatives have a track record of consulting residents only after they've decided what to do - the Roehampton redevelopment plans are just the most recent example. This issue is way too important to let the Conservatives' plans go unscrutinised.

Transported from reality

I've been reading the Transport Assessment the Council has commissioned to try to show that their redevelopment plans for Danebury Avenue won't gridlock an already heavily congested area.

The report can be read here as a pdf (and is missing a page).

There are two big problems with this report. First, the "modelling" which they use to forecast how much traffic they think the plans will generate is flawed. And second, the report is incomplete, because while it looks at what the industry calls "modes" of transport - that is car traffic, bus traffic, walking etc individually, it doesn't look at the combined impact.

So for example, you will find nothing in the report about the quality of pedestrian routes around Danebury Avenue when car traffic doubles (as even this report acknowledges); nor the likelihood of road traffic accidents. One of the reasons I oppose this development is that it is simply crazy to direct hundreds of extra vehicles through the heart of the most densely populated, residential parts of the constituency. All the council will do is make Roehampton's shopping area as congested, polluted, unsafe and unpleasant as gridlocked Putney High Street is. The only difference is that Putney High Street is principally a shopping area. Danebury Avenue is principally a residential area.

I mentioned above that the models used to forecast traffic are wrong. As an example of this, it makes the assumption that we all regard supermarket brands in the same way - that someone who prefers Waitrose, for example, will shop at Asda if it is more convenient for them. That isn't my experience, and it wasn't what Roehampton said when I consulted them earlier this Autumn.

This matters, because the Traffic assessment asserts that residents who shop at Asda in Roehampton Vale would cease doing so if, say, a Sainsbury's opens up that is nearer to them. No doubt some will.

But Asda has massive brand loyalty. So do all the major brand supermarkets - it's why they are so big. Brand loyalty trumps convenience in my experience. People won't just change from their supermarket of choice because some other retailer opens up. And whichever retailer does eventually open here will likewise attract outsiders into Roehampton for whom this will be their nearest branch. The traffic assessment dismisses those arguments - and actually goes further, claiming that traffic will DECREASE because Alton residents will stop driving to Asda.

For me, it's a risk too high to believe that anything approaching a majority of the custom of the Danebury Avenue store will come from Asda. I would have had a lot more confidence had the assessment compared like with like: for example comparing the number of people who drive to a store of similar size to that planned for Danebury Avenue (like Putney Sainsbury's) and using those traffic "movements" as the basis.

One final comment. The report forecasts that while traffic down Danebury Avenue will double, in Roehampton Lane it will only increase by 1.3%. That sounds tiny doesn't it? Yet 1.3% (a very conservative estimate of the likely traffic increase, given my comments above) is actually over 400 extra vehicles on Roehampton Lane. I think the true figure will be well over 1,000 extra cars on an already gridlocked road now coming to grips with the 400+ new homes at Queen Mary's Place.

The table below is from the assessment and shows how much traffic already uses Roehampton's roads.

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.

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.

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.

Roehampton survey: 230 replies and counting

I'd like to thank the 230 Roehampton residents who have taken the trouble of responding to my survey on the council's redevelopment plans. And there are still another 11 days before the deadline for replies, so I'm confident that we'll have many more before my consultation closes.

What's really gratifying is the amount of time and consideration most respondents have invested in their survey answers. As well as answering the questions honestly, the majority of those who have returned surveys have added additional comments, and I'll be publishing a few of these over the next few weeks.

Of course, 230 replies is more than ten times the number of people the Conservative Council managed to find to support their plans. I'm sure even they, in private, now recognise they made a major mistake failing to consult residents properly and then staging an exhibition hardly anyone knew about at the start of the Summer holidays.

Unfortunately, even when they do recognise privately that they have got things wrong, this arrogant administration rarely admits it in public, so expect them - whatever the results of my far more authoritative survey show - to steamroller on with their redevelopment scheme.

If you haven't responded yet, or haven't been in the area my surveys were delivered to (all of the Alton estate and Roehampton village) you can do so by visiting stuartking.net/consult

Articulated lorries

So the Conservative Council, in their inate wisdom, believes they're going to get hundreds of these:



Down here:



...Without widening it!

And before the Tories put 1 and 1 together to make 3, that's not a suggestion to widen Danebury Avenue to send articulated lorries down it: it's a suggestion that their whole plan for sending thousands of cars and hundreds of lorries through the centre of the Alton Estate to get to their planned supermarket is plain stupid!

This photo, incidentally, was taken at about 3pm today - not an especially busy time of day; and this queue is without any of the buses trying also to get into and out of Danebury Avenue.

As you know, I have concerns about several aspects of the Tories' redevelopment plan, but this is the most absurd feature of it.

Tories press on with Danebury development with just 21 supporters

The Conservative Council - in one of the biggest blunders I think it has made for a long time - is trying to steamroller through plans to redevelop the top end of Danebury Avenue despite the most risible response to their so-called consultation.

In a report being discussed by councillors tonight, they will admit that out of 10,000 newsletters they claim to have delivered to the local area inviting residents to visit an exhibition at Roehampton Library held at the very end of July, just 35 bothered to respond.

Of these, a measly 21 (that's 0.2% of the voters of Roehampton) were in favour, but from the Alton estate itself, only 12 supported the Conservatives' plans. I can't help but pose this question: if the plans aren't supported by the Alton estate, what or who exactly is the Council doing this for?

I've been appalled at the way the Tory Council has handled this matter. I outlined my concerns here.

Now, the Conservatives have taken the very first opportunity after the Summer to steamroller their untested and unsupported plans through the Council. What's the rush? Why the hurry? What are they so afraid of?

Because residents weren't properly consulted by the Council, I've been surveying residents myself. I'm sending out over 3,000 surveys to Roehampton - surveys that set out the Council's plans impartially, then state my views, and then ask local people what they think. And the replies I'm getting - already, far more responses than those the council can cite - are completely at odds with the figures the Conservatives are claiming.

For example, just as the original council consultation found, an overwhelming majority is against building on the green. People want more affordable homes, not less. They want more family homes - under the new Tory plans, not a single three-bedroom council flat for rent will be built. And people are divided on whether or not a supermarket is a good idea, but they're strongly against the traffic access for it being in Danebury Avenue - a residential area that should be the focal point of the community, not a motorway for huge articulated lorries bringing stock to the supermarket and hundreds of customers in their cars every day. And we haven't even touched on the tiny amount of space allotted to community groups, the height of the buildings proposed and the needlessness of building a new library when people love the library they have.

I'll write more about the results I'm getting as surveys come in over the coming days - and once people have had a reasonable amount of time to reply, I'll share the results with the council.

But my message to Conservative councillors before tonight's meeting is this: put aside your partisan desire to railroad plans just because we have a difference of opinion. Think about the consequence of your action. Bear in mind the ridiculously low response you've elicited. Listen to the views of residents - they DO NOT support your new plan. And if you have any question at all that I may have a point all I'm asking is that you hold off a decision until you have all the evidence at your disposal. There's no need to bounce Roehampton into a multi-million pound development. This isn't how Wandsworth got it's reputation for financial prudence.

Defer the decision tonight.

All the fun of the festival

Yesterday, as I mentioned earlier, I visited the Roehampton Festival organised by local charity Regenerate.

The weather held - in fact it was really pleasant day - and that brought hundreds of people to the green at the bottom of Danebury Avenue to enjoy the music, the stalls, the food and drink, the kids activities and each others' company.

The festival is just right for the estate, not too crowded, not too much going on; not lasting too long: and it's great that Roehampton has such an event - something other parts of the constituency could well emulate. In fact it reminded my election agent - whose father used to help organise it - of the Fulham Carnival that used to take place in Bishops Park, preceded by a long procession of floats from Sands End.

That Carnival did what the Roehampton Festival does: bring together a community and create a great day out for the family. I hope the Festival goes from strength to strength.

Roehampton Festival

Tomorrow, Saturday, I'll be attending the Roehampton Festival. The festival, organised each year by local grassroots charity Regenerate takes place on the green at the bottom end of Danebury Avenue, where the 170 and 430 buses terminate (not the green the Tory Council wants to concrete over...yet). It runs from 12 noon to 8pm.

You can find out more about the event here, but there will be music, stuff for kids and families, stalls and more serious stuff like a sexual health clinic - and an opportunity for local teenagers to get involved in Regenerate.

Residents start to move into Queen Mary's Place

The first phase (of four) of the Queen Mary's Place development off Roehampton Lane has been completed and residents are beginning to move in.

For those of you unfamiliar with the area or the plans, this is the half of the Queen Mary's Hospital site - including Roehampton House - that was sold off to fund the building of the new Queen Mary's.

I've been writing a lot about planning issues recently due to the huge problems the high rise plans for East Putney and the Tory Council's botched and ill-judged scheme for Danebury Avenue redevelopment are creating. Queen Mary's Place is a more sensitive and thoughtful plan in design terms but it is still going to create massive problems.

When complete Queen Mary's Place will provide nearly 500 new homes - probably housing around 700-800 people. Most of the properties are being pitched at affluent professional families, most of whom will have more than one car. The only way to get to Queen Mary's Place is via Roehampton Lane, already one of the most congested roads in Putney.

And just harking back to the Danebury Avenue plans, to this traffic chaos, the Conservatives also want to add huge amounts of additional traffic - customer and service vehicles - to a supermarket behind Roehampton Lane. All without a single line explaining where the extra road space to carry these vehicles will come from - let alone an explanation of how articulated lorries will squeeze down Danebury Avenue which they have no plans to widen.

Planning matters - it is about so much more than just the aesthetics of good and bad architecture. Planning determines whether a community will thrive or fail; whether crime levels will be high or low; whether an area will be respected or vandalised; how residents get too and from their homes; what local services they'll benefit from; how crammed-in or spaced out people will be; what recreational activities we can enjoy; what types of people move to an area; even how a particular area votes. Simply put, planning is arguably the last substantive power local councils like ours has.

Yes, planning matters. But I'm afraid Putney and Wandsworth Conservatives have built up a quite dreadful record of failing to plan prudently, purposefully and successfully. And so they bear the responsibility for making our area worse for generations to come.

For more on Queen Mary's Place visit the site's sales website.

Save Danebury Green

I thought I'd publish some photos of the green space at the top of Danebury Avenue that the Conservatives want to concrete over in their misguided plans to redevelop Roehampton.

Under their plans, all the green space you see here will be destroyed to be replaced with new buildings and a "town square". Sure, it will have patches of grass between the concrete and maybe even the occasional flowerbed, but compared to what is there now it is pitifully inadequate.

Could this particular green space be improved? Yes. Could the heart of Roehampton be improved? Yes. Is the way to do that to concrete over this precious and strategically important piece of greenery? Absolutely not.

The Conservatives' bizarre argument - that they seem to think trumps overwhelming local opposition to concreting over the green space - is that they don't think this space is used enough. Well I don't agree, but even if that were true, why does an open space have to be heavily used? Why can't it just be enjoyed for what it is: a tranquil buffer between Roehampton Lane and the Alton estate?

And just as importantly, who do the Tories imagine their town square will suddenly be used by? A completely different set of people to those who already cause plenty of nuisance in Danebury Avenue and drive away many who might otherwise use it? Come off it!

This green continues further up Roehampton Lane past Allbrook House up to Kingsclere Close. The Conservatives also want to tear out this verge and build what can only imaginably be poor quality homes right on top of Roehampton Lane blighted by noise, pollution and congestion. This is redevelopment for the sake of it; redevelopment at any price - and the price is too high.

Help me stop this concrete canyon

The Conservatives have just announced they're tearing up carefully consulted-upon plans to regenerate Roehampton.

After more than a year and a half of surveys and public meetings, the Council brought in new consultants who, without any evidence, have said the old plans for the top end of Danebury Avenue are unworkable. What they propose in their place is:

• Three times as many flats as there are at the moment in what is already the most densely populated part of the borough.


• Not a single one of the *additional* flats will be affordable; and overwhelmingly they're likely to be one-bedroom properties rather than the family homes the area desperately needs. Many of them will also be low quality, over noisy, congested, polluted Roehampton Lane


• Doubling the height of the Danebury Avenue buildings - we are supposed to be impressed that no building will rise "more than six storeys"


• Closing the Alton Youth Club in Dilton Gardens - the "best option" according to the Conservatives


• Concreting over the precious green at the entrance to Danebury Avenue, which the vast majority of residents wanted retained; green open space in this new plan is reduced by three quarters


• Demolishing Allbrook House, despite Allbrook House residents not wanting their homes flattened


• Worsening congestion in Roehampton Lane even further - it's already on the verge of getting dramatically more congested when the huge 400+ home Queen Mary's Place opens soon

The plans as they stand do not have my support and, nor do I believe, will they have the support of Roehampton residents.

As I wrote in my recent post about getting the derelict King's Head pub back into use, I want Roehampton regenerated as much as anyone else, but not at any price. Any ideas for Roehampton must put the existing community first and foremost. The Conservative plans just want to drive Roehampton residents out and bring even more temporary, transient newcomers to the area.

Just imagine how doubling the height of the Danebury Avenue shops, where it can already feel gloomy with just a three-storey block, will feel. It will turn the centre of the area into a dark windswept, canyon. The superstore they propose will massively increase traffic down Danebury Avenue, which can already get pretty congested.

The new community hall and Boys Club will both be crammed into what is now the Right Plaice chip shop: a tiny space and one the chippie doesn't want to leave anyway.

What I think Roehampton needs is a more diverse number of homes to allow generations-old local families to stay local. More affordable homes to replace the hundreds that the Conservatives have sold off. Fewer one-bedroom flats. And much better public transport.

How could the Conservatives have got this so wrong?! These plans are damaging. They'll make Roehampton worse. And they're unworkable. Help me defeat them.

Pothole of the week: 30 June 2008

The Conservative Council doesn't discriminate in its neglect of our roads: whether you live in Putney, Roehampton or Southfields all their roads are thoroughly run down.

This example is from the Alton Estate: Tangley Grove, which is off Danebury Avenue. What's even more remarkable about the Tories' neglect of the roads around here is that the foundation of the roads on the Alton are actually giant slabs so it should take even more neglect to allow them to fall into this condition than with more traditional road surfaces.

The so-called public representatives responsible for this neglect are Putney Conservative MP Justine Greening and Roehampton's three (or is that two?) Conservative Councillors.