Improving Roehampton Vale

In the Autumn, following a Sunday afternoon talking to residents of Roehampton Vale and Friar's Avenue, I surveyed the area.

Roehampton Vale - the A3 as it roars past ASDA - in particular is a challenging environment for residents. But as with anywhere at any time, there are little things that can be done by a good local MP, working with residents, that make a disproportionate improvement to quality of life.

I had a great response - not just in numbers of surveys returned, but the quality of the returns: residents really put a lot of time and thought into their replies about how the area could be improved. Here are some of the results.

Conservatives claim they've fixed the potholes!

When my campaign team were out on the Alton estate yesterday they came across a Conservative newsletter which makes the amazingly impressive claim that "a large area was repaired on the Putney Vale estate at the junction of Stroud Crescent and Frensham Drive".

The reason this is so amazing is that also yesterday, I got a reply from the Housing Department about the pothole above, reported a few days ago by me, which just so happens to be at the junction of - yes, you've guessed it - Stroud Crescent and Frensham Drive (you know, the area the Conservatives claim they got repaired already!)

The thing is, the Conservative newsletter would have gone to print before I got this incredibly dangerous pothole on Frensham Drive fixed. And while we're on the subject, does the road in the background of the photo - that's Stroud Crescent - look like it's been "repaired"?

So what to make of the Tory claims?

Well, they claim they're also responsible for getting "some 200 potholes resurfaced." Again, I leave it to you to decide whether that's a believable claim - but at least they're finally recognising the scale of their neglect of our roads.

But why is it, then, that Danebury Avenue is still in an atrocious state and why only on Monday was the massive pothole in Tangley Grove at the junction with Danebury Avenue repaired after I asked for it to be fixed? Or Holybourne Avenue? Or Harbridge Avenue? Or Bessborough Road?

There's something just a little sad about claiming credit for something when you're actually responsible for causing the problem in the first place; and when what you're claiming is evidently untrue, and actually the result of hard work by someone else. I'm relaxed about this because I know local residents are aware of my long track-record on this issue, and it demonstrates perfectly that the Tories have no local achievements of their own to boast of!

Wandsworth Heritage Festival

Throughout June the Council is running a programme of events celebrating the borough's diverse and rich heritage. Here are some of the remaining events focussing on Putney, Roehampton and Southfields:

Archaeology of early Wandsworth
Wednesday 17 June, 7-8.30pm
Putney Library
A talk by local archaeologist Pamela Greenwood going back as far as the Ice Age
Admission: free, but please book in advance - 8871 7090

The making of modern Southfields - from George Eliot to Queen Mary
Sunday 21 June, meet at 2pm
Andrews Estate Agents, directly opposite Southfields tube station
A 2-hour walk around Southfields with author Neil Robson
Admission: £5 to be booked in advance - 8871 6388

Putney Vale Cemetery and Crematorium
Tuesday 23 June, 7pm
Meet at the manin cemetery entrance off Stag Lane, behind ASDA
A walk through this 47-acre site with Wandsworth Parks Officer Clive Andrews
Admission free, but please book in advance - 8788 2113

Development of the Alton Estate exhibition
throughout June
Roehampton Library, Danebury Avenue
An exhibition celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Alton Estate

You can download the full brochure of events right across the borough.

These events are all part of a programme celebrating The Story of London, about which you can find more information here. Or you can download a pdf guide about the month of events here.

Tories to close Newlands Hall

In the Autumn of 2007, the Conservative Council announced plans to close Newlands Hall - the community hall in the middle of the Putney Vale estate in Roehampton.

The Tories claimed that the hall was too dilapidated for them to - as they see it - waste money on refurbishment (despite being responsible for allowing it to fall into such shameful disrepair).

Over 100 residents of the estate signed a petition of mine opposing the closure and this duly was discussed by councillors on 15 November 2007 - the link is here (scroll down to item 19).



As you can see from the minutes of the meeting openly available on the council website, as a result of the petition the Tories promised to consult residents again before determining the fate of Newlands Hall.

A few days ago, Putney Vale residents found out by chance that Newlands Hall was being closed on 31 January. No consultation has taken place with the estate. And the reason they're closing the Hall? They've apparently given it to a group that they're kicking out of Heathmere School on the Alton Estate.

This is outrageous dishonesty by Wandsworth Conservatives. They have a track record of neglecting Putney Vale - cancelling work, ignoring problems like traffic travelling to and from Hall School, anti social behaviour and flytipping, axing funding for the Youth Club in Stag House and now they've blatantly broken another promise to the estate.

Shame on them.

My archive of this saga can be read here.

Putney Vale

Last week, I attended a public meeting that took place in Newlands Hall on the Putney Vale estate. The meeting was attended by about 40 fairly cheesed-off residents who took the council - and local Conservative councillors - to task for a series of problems bedevilling the estate

Putney Vale estate is a charming estate consisting of about 300 properties right on the border of Wimbledon Common, just off the A3 (behind the big Asda store). The estate - as one resident put it - is surrounded by one of the largest areas of green space that any council estate in London can offer

Like many similar estates much of the housing stock has been sold off by the council and consequently there is a large proportion of residents who are tenants of private landlords. Herein lies the source of many of the estate's problems. Absentee landlords neglect their responsibilities to ensure their tenants behave appropriately. Many residents at the meeting complained of late night parties, flytipping and other anti social behaviour. However, their real beef was with the council for its failure to tackle this problem.

Having listened to the concerns raised at the meeting and then taking some time to speak to residents outside afterwards, I think there are a number of actions that the council can take

1. A proactive policy of immediately targetting the landlord of misbehaving tenants - very often the tenants themselves move on before the council gets round to speaking to them. The council also needs to issue without delay fines against those found guilty of flytipping;

2. An immediate commitment to improve the estate's community centre - which the council plans to close - so that local residents have a local centre to come together. Indeed, earlier on the day the meeting was held the residents held a birthday party for two elderly residents celebrating their 90th birthdays - why would the council want to close such a facility;

3. Zero tolerance of anti social behaviour in council properties - that means enforcing tenancy conditions without delay and prevarication

4. A real drive to establish an active and flourishing residents association on the estate - local people coming together to find local solutions to their day to day problems (to be fair the purpose of the public meeting was to try and find residents willing to help set one up;

5. An immediate commitment to reopen the estate's youth club which was closed earlier this year because of Tory cuts to it grant. As a result the kids from the estate have nowhere to go and no planned activities to keep them occupied.

I don't claim to have all the answers to the estate's problems - indeed, the answers tend to lie locally with the residents themselves. That's why I'm asking residents what they think needs to be done.

Better buses for Roehampton?

A few days ago there was an exhibition about public transport accessibility in Roehampton, held by Transport for London consultants SDG.

Because Roehampton is relatively remote - separated from other places by Richmond Park, Putney Heath, Wimbledon Common and Barnes Common - it is especially reliant on buses.

One of the key strands of the consultation was improving connections between Roehampton and Barnes station. Two bus routes, one from Kingston that currently stops at ASDA in Putney Vale, and the 170 that runs to Victoria from Danebury Avenue, are both being considered for extension to Barnes.

In the case of the 170, it's proposed that it runs down Priory Lane. Priory Lane desperately needs a bus service but the problem with this plan is that the plans as they stand would continue the bus down Danebury Avenue and through the road closure by the Alton School. Removing the barrier would return Danebury Avenue to being a rat-run.

And we also need assurances that extending further a route like the 170 - which has already been lengthened from Clapham Junction to Victoria in recent months - will have no knock-on consequences for frequency or reliability.

What do you think? Please get in touch to let me know your thoughts.

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

Another dog attack - but the answer remains the same

I've just got word of another dangerous dog attack - this time on the Putney Vale estate in Roehampton.

I'm glad to hear that the pensioner attacked is recovering, that the Police know who the owner and walker were of the dogs in question, and that legal action is proceeding against them.

Putney Vale is probably the most isolated community the constituency, tucked as it is right at the bottom of the Hill on the border with Kingston. Because of this, I'm concerned it gets overlooked: it's as important a part of Roehampton as the Alton estate, Village and Priory Lane area are and the Police, Dog Wardens and Safer Neighbourhood teams must give it the same level of service as any other part of the borough.

This attack again shows that ideas for licensing - be they the outrageous £500 fee the Council wants to fleece from dog owners- or notions that dogs above a certain weight be banned, are wide of the mark: his lady was attacked by small bull terriers, not Dobermans or Rottweillers.

The answer is a higher police and dog warden presence on our streets; one rule for all, not picking on council tenants as the Conservative council wants to - serious prison sentences and lifetime bans for dog owners who mistreat their pets; and much greater clarity on banned breeds because it's incredibly difficult to identify some permitted terrier types from "dangerous" ones.

Here's how the Wandsworth Guardian is reporting the incident.

Newlands Hall fight featured in Guardian

The Wandsworth Guardian today covers the fight to save Newlands Hall on the Putney Vale estate. Reporter Chloe Lambert has been out talking to residents of Frensham Drive and Stroud Crescent - in particular the senior citizens who are among the Hall's most regular and active users and who would be hardest hit by its demise - especially as it's such an isolated part of the constituency.

Sadly, one of the area's Conservative Councillors is quoted excusing its closure: call me old fashioned but I always thought the job of councillors was to side with their constituents when the council gets things wrong; but evidently this isn't a view shared by the Tories.

This same councillor also tried to dismiss the petition we collected of over 150 signatories on the basis that it contained names of users who lived outside the estate, so I'm really pleased that the Guardian report focusses on the pensioners for whom Newlands Hall is vital.

Click here for a larger version of the article shown above.

We've stalled the closure of Newlands Hall

My petition to save the Newlands Hall on Putney Vale estate went before the Council's Housing Overview and Scrutiny Committee last week.

And despite attempts by some silly Conservative councillors to discredit it - simply because some of the signatories were users of the hall who don't actually live on the estate itself - we did squeeze some concessions from the Town Hall.

There will now be a consultation with the community about the future of Newlands Hall which, given the council's determination to close it down just a few weeks ago amounts to a major U-turn.

Newlands Hall update

Over 100 Putney Vale residents signed my petition to save Newlands Hall, the community centre in the heart of their estate which the council has run down and now intends to close.

My colleague, Councillor Leonie Cooper, who is Labour's lead councillor on housing in Wandsworth, presented this petition to the full council meeting a week last Wednesday, formally entering it into the record so that the Conservative Adminstration now has to explain itself.

The next step is for the petition to be discussed at one of the Council's "Overview and Scrutiny" Panels, which are Conservative dominated so don't expect much overview or scrutiny of this cruel decision. This meeting takes place on 15 November at Wandsworth Town Hall - it's open to the public, so do come along.

Save Newlands Hall

Yesterday my campaign team and I were out and about on the Putney Vale estate, which is nestled just behind the ASDA superstore on Roehampton Vale.

Aside from it being right next door to where I play football, we were there because the Council is threatening to close down - and, we suspect, sell-off - Newlands Hall, the focal point of this estate ever since it was built.

Newlands Hall serves as the base for all sorts of community facilities; residents' meetings, family birthdays, it's the local polling station for that area - you name it, it goes on there. For years the council has neglected it - and now, instead of rectifying that neglect, they prefer to condemn it.

That's just not good enough, so today we were out in force there, chatting to residents, discussing the local anger this has caused, and despite only being around for just over an hour we drummed up nearly 100 petitioners demanding the council Save Newlands Hall.

We've only just begun our petition, and if you'd like to add your name, you can now do so online: just click here and fill in your details.

Football

On Sundays I play football for a Roehampton-based side called Mulladween down at Roehampton Vale near the Asda superstore.

Today was our last game of the season and we needed a win to ensure we were promoted as division runners up. At 2-0 up at half time everything looked rosy.

However, a dodgy penalty decision and a lapse at the back saw our opponents pull it back to 2-2. However, a late surge forward brought an opportunity for us in the very last minute of the game. Our Captain chipped the keeper from the edge of the box and as the ball floated into their net we all knew we were going to win, and so we did.

A great end to the season: promotion to Division Seven of the Morden and District Sunday League (ahem!) - and our second promotion in successive seasons.