Three steps to danger

These steps, all of which are loose - and when I say loose, I don't mean they wobble a bit - I mean that they are completely unanchored - lead up to and down from a block of sheltered housing flats for senior citizens in Burke Close on the Lennox estate.

Having such dangerous steps anywhere in the borough is unacceptable, but when they lead to homes for pensioners, and when the danger has been reported to the council several times - including by council employees who visit regularly, it's an even more appalling case of Conservative negligence that they are still in this state.

I've written to the Director of Housing urging him to get the steps repaired by this coming weekend - and if he can't do that to fence off the steps so that there is at least some way of alerting people to their danger.

If you think I'm being unduly harsh on the Conservative Council just consider whether you'd feel that way if it was your gran who had to use these steps on a daily basis.

New rules on student digs will help the Alton

New rules introduced by our Labour Government will mean that landlords who want to let their home to more than three or more unrelated people will need to get planning permission.

This is a really important measure because, in Roehampton at least, it will help rebalance our community.

Here's the problem. After their first year in halls of residence, most Roehampton University students move into private rented homes principally on the Alton Estate but in surrounding areas, too.

If they were dispersed throughout the estate that wouldn't be a problem, but what has happened on the Alton is that student homes are concentrated in very specific parts of it - places like Sherfield Gardens, Laverstoke Gardens, Swanwick Close, Hersham Close and parts of Bessborough Road and Petersfield Rise, to name just a few of those with the highest numbers.

The problem is that these aren't student-only areas: students live side by side with long term residents. And inevitably there are conflicts between students, here for no more than a year (and without a long-term commitment to the estate), and residents for whom this is their permanent home.

Add to that different lifestyles: those of students enjoying their three or four years before the responsibilities of working life kick-in, set against those of families trying to get their kids (or themselves) to sleep while a party is going on next door.

It creates tensions. This new planning law Labour has introduced can help resolve those tensions simply by capping the number of homes in any given block or street that can be turned into HMOs (homes in multiple occupation) rather than being kept for families or individuals.

Now I hear the concerns of the NUS - expressed in the Evening Standard article from Friday - about forcing students into a ghetto - but on the Alton it would have the reverse effect. It would break up student "ghettos" - and in so doing those areas would become cleaner, better maintained and more cohesive - happier.

And that's what the Alton's lost these past two decades since Conservative right-to-buy legislation started going wrong - when those who had bought their council homes moved out and buy-to-let landlords took over, renting house after house on the estate to students (and others).

I think the way to rebuilding a strong community on the Alton is rebuilding balanced communities that have pride in their area. We don't get that if any particular part of the estate is dominated by those who are simply passing through with different, conflicting priorities to others.

We've got to start paying more attention to our planning laws - it's a theme I return to again and again, whether it is this issue, local planning overdevelopment or the need for a Plan for Putney - because the Conservative laissez-faire, do nothing approach to planning is wrecking those areas that need strong communities the most.

Policing the Lennox

Another Roehampton story in last week's Wandsworth Guardian (along with the collapse of the Conservatives' Danebury Avenue demolition plans) was another success story for local policing.

Getting more police resources focussed on the Lennox estate, at the top of Priory Lane, has been something I've been working on for months - I reported on it in this special edition of the Putney Paper and it was an issue mentioned throughout my campaign week on the estate this spring. It's also an issue about which I know the local residents association have been very vocal and active.

I've been in touch with local residents on the estate who've been reporting worries about crime and anti-social behaviourto me, putting them in touch with police officers and making sure their concerns are taken seriously.

Gun crime in our area is fortunately very, very rare. When it occurs it is often linked to the twin problems of gangs and drugs. Roehampton's Police have taken it seriously and as a result, this incident on the Lennox has been tackled; and the estate can return to being a decent place to live.

Beverley Brook

I write a lot about the river Wandle - it's important to me because I grew up alongside it in Wandsworth. The Wandle forms much of the eastern boundary of the Putney constituency;but a lot of the western boundary of it is formed by another waterway, Beverley Brook.

You can view Beverley Brook at several points around the constituency: it exits into the Thames just past Leader's Gardens; winding between Barn Elms and the Ranelagh Estate; through Barnes and then up alongside Roehampton - past the Lennox estate; through Richmond Park, and just past the Putney Vale estate.

In today's Wandsworth Guardian, Tony Drakeford, the paper's nature correspondent, writes about the progress the brook has made in recent years. Here's the article:

New stop for the 969 bus

The 969 bus - a service that runs once at lunch-time on Tuesdays and Fridays from ASDA in Roehampton Vale to Whitton now stops on the Lennox estate.

A new bus stop has been put up at the front of the estate on Arabella Drive near Priory Lane, just opposite the former Paddock School building.

There is very little information around about this service, but what it does do is give pensioners - and anyone else who doesn't find it easy to get about a way to get to Roehampton Vale or go into Richmond. Oddly, however, there doesn't appear to be a return service, so not sure how people are supposed to get back!

If it's this hard for us to get things sorted...

...no wonder council tenants and leaseholders get so exhausted trying to get anything out of the housing department. These are two cases from the Lennox estate I raised with the council back in April. In both cases I have replies from the housing department promising that the work sought would be carried out within a few days.

As I mentioned recently, when I was on the estate a few days ago, these problems still hadn't been fixed. I'll chalk these two up to genuine oversights despite coming from two separate sections of the housing department, but I have eight years' experience as a local councillor of having to fight again and again to get basic work like this done.

It does raise real questions about the Conservatives' commitment to their tenants and leaseholders.

Helping improve the Lennox

One of the really satisfying things about being in politics is when campaigns and casework you take up produces results for local people.

The photo above is of part of Dowdeswell Close on the Lennox estate at the bottom of Priory Lane. This is the last part of Dowdeswell Close that hasn't had new windows fitted - the current windows are old, metal, don't fit properly and allow a lot of heat out in the winter. As you can see, they won't be around much longer.

This £600,000 work is something I asked the council to prioritise when I held my campaign week on the Lennox in April - it's also something the residents association has been pressing hard for. So it's great that the work's finally getting done.

This is the good news. The not-so-good news is that when I was on the Lennox on Saturday I was able to check on some of the other issues I asked the Conservative council to sort out, and was annoyed to find they had not. It's simply not good enough for the Council to promise to correct problems and then just not bother to do so, and I've got back on the case to make them honour the commitments they gave me.

Keeping Roehampton Safe

In March I spent a week calling on residents on the Lennox estate in Roehampton, which for those of your who know it is a somewhat isolated part of the constituency off Priory Lane.

Every night after work my campaign team and I called on residents to discuss their local priorities and concerns.

You can read more about the issues that I took up and the actions I won in a special edition of The Putney Paper delivered to the whole estate.

As you might imagine, crime and policing was raised by a number of residents - both on the doorstep and in response to my residents survey. So yesterday I met with Inspector Kevan Martin (Putney's Sector Inspector), Sergeant Mark McLeavery (Roehampton SNT) and PCSO Marco Serrano (Lennox Estate Micro-beat) to discuss the various concerns that were raised with me.

The meeting was extremely productive and it was encouraging that the majority of the issues I raised were matters already known to the police and on which action was ongoing. It bears testimony to my belief - and that of many others - that safer neighbourhood policing really is delivering results. Locally based police teams are picking up intelligence on low level crimes that have an impact of people's quality of life disproportionate to their "seriousness".

The principal issue that I wanted to raise with the police was that residents feel they do not see enough of the SNT on the estate. This is a difficulty for the police because I acknowledge and accept that they cannot be everywhere at the same time and Roehampton is a very big ward geographically. It runs from Upper Richmond Road in the north all the way south to Wimbledon Parkside.

There is a perception that the SNT tend only to be seen at the parade of shops and were thought rarely to venture furether into the estate. I was assured by Marco Serrano that this was not the case and that he visits the whole of the Lennox at least every other day on his bicycle. I was impressed with Marco, who clearly knew his patch and displayed a welcome enthusiasm for his role.

Anyone wishing to raise policing concerns with the SNT can contact them on 020 8247 7681 or at roehampton.snt@met.police.uk

Putney Paper: Lennox report-back

During my recent campaign week spent on the Lennox Estate in Roehampton, I was asked to get involved with a range of issues local residents asked for my help on.

I've today published a special edition of The Putney Paper for the estate, reporting back on the issues residents raised and results I've already managed to achieve. You can read it online here.

Many of the issues I've got results on aren't big issues that will resonate right across the constituency: they're small things that affect the quality of life of a handful of constituents.

But to me this is one of the most important parts of an MP's job: to proactively find out what needs fixing; to learn where something is going wrong; to help get things improved.

Whether it is this example from my time on the Lennox estate, or my efforts to get the potholes in our roads fixed, or my campaigning to close drug houses in the constituency: I believe I have showed that as your MP I'll roll up my sleeves, get stuck in, and deliver results for Putney, Roehampton and Southfields.

Out and about on the Lennox estate and Woking Close

I've spent the past week talking to residents of the Lennox estate and Woking Close, with the help of a large - and growing - campaign team of volunteers.

These are two estates at the top of Priory Lane by Upper Richmond Road, right on the edge of Barnes Common and East Sheen.

A huge range of issues were raised including the visibility of the Roehampton Safer Neighbourhood Police team; problems with public transport and traffic congestion in the area; homelessness and unacceptable overcrowding caused by the council selling off half the affordable rented homes locally without replacing hardly any of them; and the usual, valid complaints about the poor quality of estate cleaning by the Conservative Council's bargain-basement contractor.

Curiously enough, the moment word got round that I was about to spend a week talking to people in the area the Conservatives showed up - a coincidence no doubt. If my visiting an area is what it takes to get the Tories to take an interest in it too all well and good - it's the residents that will hopefully benefit. But yet again we see the stark contrast between my local leadership and the Conservatives following along behind.

Wandsworth Guardian covers wardens story

I am delighted to see the Wandsworth Guardian reporting on this story in today's edition.

What annoys me about the way Wandsworth Conservatives behave is their attitude that they know best and everyone else is wrong.

It's this appalling arrogance that has led to this unpopular reorganisation of the sheltered housing scheme. There is no reason why they could not have consulted properly - as they're supposed (and I would argue required) to do.

As Arabella Drive resident Rita Maxwell highlights in the Guardian article there is no reason to adequately explain the way they buried two petitions opposing their plans - why hasn't the council sent these petitions to its housing committee as it should have?

And there is no reason why, once residents' concerns were known, that they could not have agreed to my request to suspend the plans while they investigated the widespread concern that had been generated.

I suspect they think that admitting errors makes them look weak; answering to local residents a distraction; and agreeing to a request from someone from a different political party hands me some sort of victory.

What a sad way to approach really important concerns that have caused terrible distress among senior citizens in our sheltered housing. And what a dreadful indictment of the arrogance of Conservatives in Putney.

The Tories must suspend their warden reorganisation

During the week since I first exposed the Tory plans to shift around Putney & Roehampton's sheltered housing wardens, I've been unearthing more and more troubling issues about the manner in which this reorganisation has been managed.

Aside from causing huge upset among many of the senior citizens who could be about to lose their cherished warden, the Conservatives have behaved extraordinarily in both a failure to consult and in trying to keep these plans out of the public, democractic spotlight.

Way back in October last year, residents of the Lennox estate sheltered housing scheme in Roehampton sent a petition into the Tory cabinet member for Housing, Councillor Martin Johnson.

Normally when petitions are sent to the council they are reported to the appropriate scrutiny committee and council officers then have to explain, in public, how they think the concerns raised should be tackled.

In this case, Cllr Johnson wrote to one of petitioners saying that he was taking the "unusual step" of sending it straight to the Director of Housing, thus avoiding the democratic scrutiny afforded all other petitions. As a result the residents of the Lennox - some four months on - have still not had an adequate response to the concerns raised in their petition.

The residents of another Roehampton sheltered housing scheme, Minstead Gardens, submitted a similar petition at the start of this year. This too has never seen the light of day; nor has it received an adequate response either.

This is bad enough but at least it might be excusable had the Conservative reorganisation plans themselves been approved by councillors. But this entire plan was never put before any public council committee either: there has been no open accountable scrutiny of these plans.

And even that lack of accountability might be tolerated had those affected by the changes - the elderly residents of the sheltered housing schemes themselves, been given a say. After all, the reorganisation was first mooted back in August 2008: six months ago. That means there has been plenty of time when the council could have talked through their ideas with residents and so avoided a lot of the anxiety and fear that has been created by their secrecy.

The Council talks about this reorganisation being an example of "best practice". But failing to ask residents about what is an essential service for them could never be best practice. Burying petitions is not best practice. And keeping even elected councillors in the dark about a policy that has significant consequences for their constituents is not best practice.

A US Supreme Court Justice once said that "sunlight is the best disinfectant". I pledge to shine as much light on these Conservative plans until they do the right thing by our senior citizens.

I've called on the council to suspend the reorganisation until proper consultation and democratic scrutiny has been carried out. It is the very least they can do to correct this botched plan.

Sheltered housing stupidity

Over the past week, I've been working with sheltered housing residents in Roehampton over crazy plans by the Conservatives to play musical chairs with the wardens who look after the schemes and their residents.

Sheltered housing offers independent living for senior citizens, but with the support of a "warden", someone employed to check on residents, to make sure they're ok and to offer help and support when asked.

The best wardens build great trust and friendship with the residents and become much loved - in fact the strong personal connection is the whole point of such schemes.

The Conservatives are now planning on destroying this link - and with it the trust and security that goes with it - by forcibly rotating wardens around all the borough's sheltered schemes every two years. Worse still, they've done this without consultation with residents and without any council overview and scrutiny. This is not just bad practice and gross arrogance - it has caused real trauma among residents.

The bizarre logic behind this upsetting plan is that senior sheltered housing officers are apparently overworked. How rotating wardens will ease workload is something understood only by the Tories. Wouldn't the rest of us take the view that if a service is overstretched then either workload needs to be reduced or more wardens need to be employed?

There seems to be some belated admission from the Conservatives that they may have failed to consult properly, but that has not prompted them to halt their plans - which come in on 02 March. This is not good enough and I'm doing all I can to help our senior citizens - who deserve so much better - from losing their wardens.

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.

Crime down across the board in Roehampton

On Tuesday I attended a public meeting organised by Roehampton's Safer Neighbourhood Police Team (SNT). These are regular meetings organised by these Labour-funded Police teams to explain local policing issues and address residents' concerns.

I was delighted - as were the members of the public present - to learn that crime in Roehampton has fallen significantly across the board in the past year. The extent of the fall in crime is particularly impressive, and Sergeant "Rocky" Salmon and his team deserve our praise.

Burglaries are DOWN 12%
Personal robberies are DOWN a whopping 41%
Theft from vehicle is also DOWN 41%
Theft of vehicles is DOWN 15%
Common assaults are DOWN 10%
Wounding offences are DOWN 14%

Overall, crime in Roehampton is DOWN by 19% compared to this time last year.

Sergeant Salmon attributed these successes to intelligence-led policing, whereby police action is often the result of tip offs and information provided by local people. Our SNTs - derided and maligned by local Tories as "not proper" coppers - are making us safer and more secure in our homes and community.

If you wish to report a crime or offer information to the Roehampton SNT call them confidentially on 020 8247 7861 or email them at roehampton.snt@met.police.uk

Lennox Estate blog

Well, there are blogs on the most surprising things, aren't there? I've just come across a blog extolling the virtues of the Lennox Estate off Priory Lane, which you can read here.
And why not? After all, as the blog notes, many people - particularly Roehampton's Conservative councillors - won't go near the estate simply because of pre-conceived notions of what a council estate is like.

The Lennox blog hasn't been updated for a while, but you can find out a bit about why the estate; and blocks within it; are named as they are.

Nothing changes...unless you change it!

Here's an example of why Putney, Roehampton and Southfields needs a Labour MP. Three years ago, residents of the Lennox estate - the estate at the north end of Priory Lane just by Upper Richmond Road - contacted us about fly-tipping problems the council was ignoring. They had tried to contact their three Conservative Councillors and got nowhere: they just couldn't be bothered.

A few days ago I held a walkabout on the estate with local residents and Councillor Leonie Cooper, Labour's Wandsworth Housing speaker and London Assembly candidate for our area, and what did we find?

Exactly the same problem unresolved three years later and after the election of new Conservative councillors despite the failure of their predecessors. And this is the problem: every single councillor in Putney is a Conservative - they have no interest in rocking the boat, making the council do what it's supposed to do, holding the administration to account. And Putney's Tory MP does exactly the same: side with her friends on the council rather than with the residents who elected her. She's done it over the closure of West Hill Library, the debacle over Wandsworth Museum, the embarrassing state of Putney High Street, and she does it time and time again by failing to take up bread-and-butter complaints like fly-tipping.

Here are three photos from the Lennox: the first two taken on our visit, the other three years ago. Can you see any improvement?