Whitelands parking perversity

I've written before about the crazy decision by Wandsworth Conservatives to give permission for over 100 homes on the Whitelands Park development off Sutherland Grove without a single parking space for their residents. The point was also made in a Wandsworth Guardian story almost exactly a year ago.

But now the Conservatives are about to create a whole lot more trouble for residents of Whitelands Park because they're planning to introduce a controlled parking zone in Sutherland Grove, Combemartin Road and Skeena Hill, the nearest "free parking" streets in the area.

So in a few weeks time, residents of Whitelands Park will be denied a parking space in their own development and will be banned from parking in the street closest to their home. And to add insult to injury, the Conservatives have rounded things off by refusing to even consult Whitelands residents on the parking scheme that will directly affect them.

The homes denied parking spaces on Whitelands are mainly for key workers: people like nurses, police officers, ambulance medics, firefighters, teachers and council workers, all of whom do a fantastic job keeping London a world class capital. What's common among most of these professions is a need for shift work: leaving or returning home in the early morning when trains aren't running and bus services barely functioning. In short, many of those the Conservatives are denying parking spaces to are the people who actually need and depend on a car.

Whitelands Park is a 20 minute walk from Southfields tube. The only bus routes close by are the 39, 493 and 170; none of these modes of public transport operate 24-hour services. This area is classified as having poor public transport accessibility at the best of times.

The Conservatives have messed up gravely over Whitelands Park - to the extent that they have since changed their policy in this area so that these errors will not be repeated in future developments in the borough. But instead of seeking to mitigate their mistake the Tories seem hell-bent on making it worse. Fairness dictates that they must let Whitelands Park have its say on this parking zone; and if the Conservatives want to press ahead with it the least they should do is provide some facility for Whitelands residents to park somewhere near to their homes.

I hardly think this is unreasonable. The Conservatives do. Worrying, isn't it?

Window dressing?

Yesterday I reported on how the Conservatives were commissioning a year long study into whether there's pollution in Putney High Street (somewhat akin to a study into whether there's water in the Thames, if you ask me) with the stated purpose of funding some "environmental theatre".

Today, they've unveiled their long awaited local economic stimulus. It is - wait for it - to pay landlords of empty shop units to display pretty pictures of the borough! I kid you not - in a news release boldly headlined "Council tackling vacant shops" they say:

"In Wandsworth Town Centre the council will offer grants of up to £1000 for vacant shops to install window dressings displaying attractive images of the local environment."

They go onto highlight another radical, decisive plan:

"The council is also investigating a pilot project in Tooting where a community mural could be painted on a bricked-up shopping parade."

Note: not to get the bricked-up shopping parade unbricked and back into use growing our local economy, but to make it look a little less bricked-up. This isn't action - it's (literally) window dressing.

The third and final intervention the Conservatives are pondering is to use shop front windows as "art exhibition spaces".

At least they'll have somewhere to perform their environmental theatre.

Stuart vs the potholes round 27

I've tried to resist resurrecting my campaign to shame the Conservative Council into fixing Putney's potholed roads after last year's successes, but I'm getting so many complaints again that it's unavoidable.

The Conservatives have just announced that from the next financial year they're increasing the road repair budget by £1 million. Sounds great, doesn't it - except that this is the amount they chopped from it last year! And they weren't maintaining our roads competently even before the now-reversed cut. Still, it's better than nothing, but they've got a lot of roads to repair.

Here are the first few examples I've been sent or come across myself:


Amerland Road



Amerland Road - junction of Valonia Gardens



Daylesford Avenue - junction with Langside Avenue and Lantern Close. Daylesford Avenue has been in a state for a while, but the cold winter we've just had has really finished it off...Langside and Dungarvan aren't in the best nick either.


Dryburgh Road at the apex of the bridge over the railway: one I reported last summer which the council still hasn't fixed! Proof for the Tories that ignoring a problem doesn't make it go away...in fact it multiplies: here's another one right next door to that crater!:



And while it's good to see some of the roads we highlighted last Summer having been properly resurfaced, like Borneo and Blackett Streets off Hotham Road, not doing so well is next door Westhorpe Road!:

No to parking charges in Richmond Park

Yesterday I sent in my objection to the Royal Parks Agency over their proposal to introduce parking charges in Richmond Park.

You can read my response here.

Richmond Park - especially the Putney and Roehampton side of it, is incredibly isolated. There are no nearby bus links. Unless you live in Roedean Crescent, Roehampton Gate or Priory Lane; or down the bottom of Roehampton Vale it is unlikely that you live close enough to the park to walk to it.

The people who park in Richmond Park are not "park and ride" commuters, abusing free parking while they hop on a bus into central London, because there isn't a bus to hop onto. They are users of Richmond Park, who can only get to the park by car: people who treasure this vital natural resource for London.

So the Royal Parks Agency needs to think again. I've asked them to work with Transport for London to set up a bus link that connects the park with the world beyond it: possibly even a dedicated service that shuttles between the roads around the park to give people an alternative. Even then parking charges will be a very difficult case to make.

There's still time to have your say on the Royal Parks Agency plans. Click here to download the consultation document.

King George's Park: close but no cigar

King George's Park has failed to win one of the Mayor for London's parks improvements grants, but came fourthd in the public vote, which I reported here.

The two parks in south west London that won are Wandle Park in Croydon - which is near the source of the Wandle and will involve unearthing the river here, which currently runs through a concrete pipe - and Crane Valley Park that borders Richmond and Hounslow.



You can read more about the winning parks - and the candidates - on the Help a London Park website.

More on the Thames Tideway Tunnel

I wrote a few days ago about the plans by Thames Water to build a super-sewer along the route of the river to, hopefully, prevent untreated sewage flooding into the Thames whenever it rains heavily.

I said that I was awaiting a more detailed briefing from Thames Water, and this has now arrived. Anyone interested in knowing more can download a copy of my briefing letter here.

Putney power outages

I have today written to the Chief Executive of the National Grid plc asking them to explain why central Putney has suffered three power outages in recent months. Here's the text of my letter:

30 November 2008


Mr Steve Holliday
Chief Executive, National Grid plc
1-3 The Strand
London
WC2N 5EH


Dear Mr Holliday,

Power outtages in Putney, London SW15

I am writing because, in the past four months - the most recent being on Wednesday - there have been three power outages in the centre of Putney in the evening.

These blackouts have affected the town centre including the High Street, the Royal Mail sorting office for Putney and Putney mainline rail station, as well as thousands of local homes. Having an overcrowded mainline rail station go dark in the middle of the rush hour is exeptionally dangerous. Supermarkets including Sainsbury's and Tesco have lost perishable items, other shops have lost trade having to close early - and have been exposed to a greater risk of break-ins as electronic security systems have failed; and huge numbers of residents have been inconvenienced.

The High Street is one of the busiest roads in the constituency and for it to be without light is dangerous, especially given the number of pedestrians seeking to cross the road throughout its length. And a huge number of households have been inconvenienced for several hours at a time.

I am writing to find out the cause of these outages and what you as the body responsible for ensuring stable electricity supplies is doing to ensure that this does not recur. Furthermore, if there is a long-term structural problem with electricity supplies in Putney that cannot be quickly resolved this must surely call into question planned development in the area if the existing demand is regularly exceeding supply.

The constituency is obviously deeply interested in your reply so I hope you will let us know the answers to these questions at the earliest opportunity.

Yours sincerely,

Stuart King

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.

Thames Tideway Tunnel

The problem of untreated sewage flooding straight into the Thames whenever there is heavy rainfall in the capital is one that affects Putney as well as the wider environment.

Thames Water are now proposing to build a new "super-sewer" - the London Tideway Tunnel - which will follow the course of the river from Hammersmith (where much of the sewage that affects Putney is jettisoned from) to the Isle of Dogs and then on to Beckton treatment works.

This is a massive engineering task and a controversial one - a meeting was held on Monday in Hammersmith where experts and consumer groups questioned the effectiveness of the project.

I start from the basis that something needs to be done to reduce the amount of raw sewage contaminating the Thames - a problem that stems back to the way our Victorian sewer network was built in the 19th century but which, through population growth and a reduction in the amount of green space available in London to absorb rainwater, has overflowed more and more frequently. The problem is now so bad that Thames Water has regularly been fined for the leaks, not least last year during that Summer's heavy rains.

But I do want any work to be effective - so I've asked Thames Water to brief me more fully on the plans. When they do, I'll report back, but in the meantime you can find out more about the London Tideway Tunnel here.

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.

Conserving Putney

As regular readers will know, I think the character of Putney, Roehampton and Southfields is under real threat from greedy developers who've been given the green light to put forward the most appalling plans for overdevelopment by the lack of leadership of local Conservatives.

One of the main weapons we have against overdevelopment is our conservation areas. These provide extra protection (or, as developers would claim, restriction) over those parts of our area most steeped in history or of special character.

The Council has begun the process of reviewing these areas, of which Putney has several. First up in our area are three conservation areas, each of which has a special public meeting coming up to which you are welcome to attend and give your views:

• Landford Road along with Lower Common: Thursday 04 December, Dryburgh Hall
• Putney Heath: Friday 05 December, Elliott School, Pullman Gardens
• Victoria Drive: Tuesday 09 December, St Paul's Community Hall, Inner Park Road

By clicking on each area title above you can download the conservation area profiles and find out how to have your say. Aside from anything else, they offer some really interesting insights into local history and how Putney was transformed, in a very short of space, from a rural outpost of London to a bustling town.

You can also read some of the other profiles for elsewhere in the borough here.

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.

Sharing The Road: What Cycling Can Do For Putney

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Saving local gardens

An issue I predict will become massive in the coming years is the loss of green space in urban environments like Putney's. In the past 20 years, two thirds of front gardens in London have been paved-over. Just think about that stark statistic for a moment.

Throughout the constituency, concern has been growing about the loss of front and rear gardens due to three factors:

• Turning front gardens into hard standings to park cars on
• Excavating basements, which also involves the loss of a large chunk of front and/or rear gardens
• The more recent phenomenon of residents with large gardens selling off chunks to build new homes on

Pressure from all three of these factors is certain to grow as the credit crunch reduces the likelihood of people to be able to move home, and financial pressures encourage us all to look at new ways of utilising our assets to make more money.

This isn't exactly a new issue: residents on the Dover House Estate in particular have been concerned about the loss of front gardens for several years now and basement excavations have been increasingly common throughout the past decade.

You may have seen London Mayor Boris Johnson recently discover the wonder of roof-top gardens, as if they're something he's invented. They're important; and they'll become more so, but they're no compensation for that two-thirds loss of front garden green space.

But what does this really matter? There's actually a really serious consequence to this loss of garden space - and not just some aesthetic impact that cutting down a few trees and bushes and concreting over some lawns will have.

Over the past three or four years, parts of the constituency - including Roehampton, the parts of Southfields alongside the Wandle and parts of central Putney - have all been affected by flash flooding caused by sudden very heavy downpours that the drain system locally can't cope with. Gardens help drain this water away. Without them, the impact of flash flooding worsens - and bear in mind that ours is an area liable to flooding from the Thames, Wandle and even Beverley Brook. And because ours is a hilly area, those who live at the foot of hills have to absorb the cascading water pouring down upon them as well as their own share of heavy rainfall.

People have a right to expand their living space within reason. But I am against allowing front gardens to be turned into car parks and back or side gardens to be sold off to cram another unit of housing into our already densely populated community, however much a nice little earner that may be for the landowner.

New entry in worst Putney pothole competition

Residents of The Platt, just across the road from my campaign HQ in Felsham Road, have a very strong entry into my Putney potholes competition. This is the state the Council has allowed Gay Street, on the estate, to fall into:



Here are a couple of close-ups of what can no longer be called a road - more like a gravel track (you can click to enlarge):



The state of Gay Street - and a lot of the roads on Putney's council estates - leave much to be desired, though of course as my earlier post, here shows, The Council aren't discriminating: they're neglecting all roads equally as dreadfully.

Do you know of a pothole worse than this one? Let me know - email stuart.king@putneylabour.org.uk or sms it to 07533 384 895 and we'll add it to our gallery. Sooner or later, even Wandsworth Conservatives will be shamed into taking action on their neglect of our roads.

Putney going to pot (holes)

Working my way around the constituency, I have to comment on the quite appalling state of many of the roads in Putney, Roehampton and Southfields.

I'm reminded of the Beatles' song "A Day In The Life":

Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire. And though the holes were rather small they had to count them all: now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall.

If the Beatles had been around today, they could have substituted "Putney, Wandsworth" for "Blackburn, Lancashire" though I suspect the town hall has no idea how many holes there are in our streets.

There was even a letter in the Wandsworth Guardian from someone from Tooting about this problem last week. It made the - perfectly reasonable - point that low council tax is no excuse for leaving our streets in the state they're in: maintaining our highways is a fundamental duty of any council and our Conservative one is failing in it.

I'd like town hall bosses to visit Victoria Drive or Putney Heath - to single out just two of Putney's potholed streets - and see exactly how bad things have got. But the problem affects every part of the constituency: Danebury Avenue and Harbridge Avenue in Roehampton, Holroyd Road in West Putney and Kingsmere Road in West Hill - these are just a selection of roads from across Putney (click on each for the full size photo).

If you've got a pothole in your street, take a photo of it and send it to me: email stuart.king@putneylabour.org.uk or text 07533 384 895. I'll keep logging further examples of the council's neglect of our streets as I'm out and about around the constituency.

Together we may be able to shame the Conservatives into taking proper care of Putney's potholed roads.

Redevelopment in Putney

We're facing an increasing wave of plans to build huge tower blocks in our patch. Rising land prices and the general lack of space in London is prompting developers to build up rather than out.

A couple of years ago, the first of these applications, for the site at the top of East Hill above the Wandsworth Bridge roundabout, was rightly rejected by the Council; a slightly less tall block is now almost complete.

Today we have three "landmark" buildings proposed for the area:

• Putney Place, opposite East Putney tube in the triangle between the two railway viaducts plans for two tower blocks: one of 25 storeys and one of 19.
• On the corner of Carlton Drive and Upper Richmond Road a 20-storey building is being proposed to replace the Capsticks building - I wrote last year about loopholes in the council's planning rules that enable developers to leave office buildings derelict and then convert them into windfall residential blocks
• And in Wandsworth town on the Ram brewery site, another set of twin towers are being planned that, hard to believe, will actually dwarf the blocks on the Arndale Estate, which currently hold the record for the highest towers in the constituency

My views on these so-called "landmark" building are the subject of my latest Putney SW15 parliamentary report, which you can read here.

The risk of flooding

Yesterday the Environment Agency held an exhibition and consultation at St Mary's Church about its plans to protect riparian communities like Putney from the growing threat of flooding.

Although this is a chance for us to have a say over how the powers that be protect the Thames area from flood risk through to 2100, the exhibition was as much a chance to reassure residents that Putney and London are not at any imminent risk of severe tidal flooding.

Protecting against severe flooding also needs to be offset against, for example, the visual impact of flood barriers. Many would argue that a great concrete wall along the Putney embankment similar to the one in Barnes would not be worth the loss of our riverside vistas or accessibility to the foreshore for pedestrians and rowers alike.

The Environment Agency is also looking at protecting communities that live alongside the Thames's tributaries - in our neck of the woods that means those in Southfields and Wandsworth town living near the Wandle, and the Roehampton and Putney Common areas alongside Beverley Brook.

Given that both these areas experienced some flooding during last Summer's downpours, the Agency is looking at ways of diverting "fresh water" floodwater (as opposed to tidal floodwater) onto flood plain land and away from homes; meaning in the case of The Wandle onto King George's Park, and in respect of Beverley Brook Richmond Park and Barnes Common.

But the underlying message to come out of the consultation was that London is secure from flooding; the Thames Barrier - while it needs some strengthening - is still fit for purpose for decades to come; that we do not yet need a new barrier further towards the estuary and that communities like Putney, if we do experience flooding, will do so due to freak downpours of rain rather than tidal surges.

You can find out a whole lot more about the flood risk, what the Environment Agency is proposing to do to protect us, and have your own say, by visiting: www.environment-agency.gov.uk/te2100

A new park for the Wandle area?

A consultation has been launched over plans to create a park that will be one of the largest in the world along the Wandle valley. The plan would join together all the open spaces along the river to create one seamless parkland environment for almost the entire length of the Wandle from Sutton to the Thames.

This project, which would create a park several times larger in total area than either Hyde Park or New York's Central Park, is a collaborative venture led by the Mayor for London and the environmental regeneration charity Groundwork London. I'm a big fan of Groundwork - it's high time Wandsworth had it's own Groundwork and their involvement lends this project significant credibility. The local boroughs the Wandle runs through are also partners.

You can find out a little more about the plans and have your say at http://www.wandlevalleypark.org.uk/. The site also contains a history of the Wandle and other facts and figures about the Wandle Valley.

The sell-off and sell-out of Barn Elms

Barn Elms is a local treasure. It provides acres of school playing fields and other recreational facilities right on the edge of our borough, just across Beverley Brook.

Now, Liberal Democrat-run Richmond Council is planning to sell-off a sizeable chunk of the site - which would include the athletics track - to a private developer for a luxury sports centre most of us will never be able to afford.

By now, I'd have thought politicians of all colours would have understood that the consequence of selling off playing fields is unfit children and worsening obesity. That self-evident truth is clearly lost on Richmond Liberal Democrats.

Before joining my current Sunday league football side based in Roehampton Vale, I played for Fulham Compton Old Boys which was based on Putney Common just behind Barn Elms - so I'm not just sounding off about this issue - I've directly benefited from this local open space for sport.

As someone heavily involved in politics, I come across so many examples of the Liberal Democrats hypocrisy over issues like this. Just google "Liberal Democrat playing field sell off" and you'll get a tirade of examples of Lib Dems campaigning to defend playing fields - it was even a manifesto pledge of theirs - and just as many examples of Lib Dem councils selling them off. Richmond is just the latest.

Of course, it's easy to be against sell-off. Successive councils have evidently struggled to generate revenue from Barn Elms, which is no doubt a substantial drain on council tax. Equally, councils have shown time and time again that they are not the best entrepreneurs around - ill equiped to market themselves or their assets to the maximum and often excluded from applying for grants from outside sources to help finance them.

In such circumstances, I'd like serious consideration given to creating a trust or conservatorship for Barn Elms - to protect this precious land from the short-termist instincts of councillors and establish an organisation solely responsible for and interested in the protection, preservation and success of Barn Elms.

Life returns to the Wandle

I reported last November on Thames Water's accidental release of chemicals into the River Wandle that wiped out wildlife for hundreds of metres downstream.

I'm pleased to report that after coughing up 500,000 - the least Thames Water could do to make up for their debacle - signs of life are returning to the river. Trout have been spotted in the affected area, which is great news.

While I don't want to sound like some latter day Huckleberry Finn, I grew up alongside the Wandle and I think London's minor rivers are among the capital's greatest treasures. So many of them have either dried up or been paved over as the city expanded and grew that it's really important to cherish the rivers that run through our urban, built-up environment.

That's why the return of wildlife to the river, alongside more active efforts to return the area's indigenous creatures like water voles - which I've also blogged about - is news to be celebrated.

How much of our recycling gets recycled?

This story in this week's Wandsworth Guardian raises real concerns about how serious the supposedly newly "green" Conservatives really are about recycling.

Throughout my time as a councillor constituents raised concerns about whether the recycling they took the effort to sort out (and remember the days when we had different coloured sacks for different recyclables, to be put out on different weeks?!) just ended up in landfill.

This story is in a different league because there isn't even the pretense that our recycling is going to the right place: recycling mixed in with refuse is going to end up in a landfill site and is contaminated (ie unusable) even if the council sought to claim it would at some later point be separated out.

This is an issue I spent a lot of time on as a councillor - I was Labour's environment spokesman on the council for eight years, and working with Labour colleagues from neighbouring boroughs brought pressure on Wandsworth to introduce the Orange sack scheme at a time when the Tories wanted to build a health-threat super-incinerator rather than invest in recycling.

I'm all for value-for-money services. But as was shown during the debacle over Wandsworth Museum, or the retendering of the street cleaning contract two years ago, or the retendering of the refuse contract just before that, the Council isn't interested in value any more; just in any old bargain-basement contractor regardless of quality. And the consequence is corners get cut.

No wonder Wandsworth lags behind on recycling.

Council tree ban - what's the real story?

The Wandsworth Guardian today reports on a campaign by a resident of Felsham Road, close to my campaign HQ, to get some trees planted in nearby Mascotte Street. The Council has claimed that the reason they won't plant any is a fear of damaging the houses and that it costs too much. But that's a strange argument on any number of levels.

First that hasn't stopped them planting trees in any number of streets throughout the borough. Second, any Arboriculturalist will tell you that trees' roots seek out water - so they only attempt to bury into houses if, for example, a sewer is cracked and leaking or where there is major damp - in which case the householder has far more serious problems than trees! Where a house is well looked after there should be no threat of structural damage - especially if trees of a scale appropriate to the streetscape are planted.

I very much doubt that residents of the small terraced steets behin Putney High Street are seeking massive Oaks, Sycamores or Horse Chestnut trees; but modest Rowan or Crab Apple trees would improve the area no end.

In fact, the most common reason why street trees can't be planted is because of underground cables and pipes that we all rely on for electricity, phonelines, cable TV, gas and water. Even in these cases there is usually enough space for one or two trees in any given street, but the council hasn't even ventured that as an excuse this time around.

So come on Wandsworth Council - stop conjouring up scare stories and instead get back to greening Putney! The Guardian story is here.

Tory Wandsworth: the fly-tip capital of London

Figures just released by the Department for the Environment (DEFRA) have revealed that Wandsworth is the most fly-tipped borough in London.

There were - wait for it - a staggering 158,076 incidents of fly-tipping the council had reported to it: and those are just the cases the council picked up! Astonishingly, Wandsworth accounts for 1 in every 4 fly-tips in the entire capital. The council spent almost £4 million of your money on the problem, and yet only managed a measly 18 prosecutions last year.

This is an issue close to my heart because for eight years I was Labour's Environment spokesman locally and spent a lot of my time forcing the council to clean up grot-spots all over the borough but especially in Roehampton (like the one pictured in Hersham Close above).

So it's little surprise to me that these new figures have found Wandsworth lagging badly, because whatever this council does well, keeping our streets clean isn't it. Over the past three years complaints about street cleaning have soared. We've seen how popular my campaign to improve the shameful state of Putney High Street has been. We've had scandal after scandal with the refuse contract.

Why is Wandsworth is so much dirtier than other boroughs? Why are fly-tippers more prepared to treat our area as a dumping ground for their rubbish? How can we do better? One of the ideas I've urged the council to adopt is to provide borough residents with a free collection of larger/heavier items of waste from their home - which in one stroke removes such incentive as there is to flytip. That's a service residents of Hammersmith & Fulham get - and their council spends barely 20% of Wandsworth on flytipping as a result because it's much less of a problem.

My experience of dealing day-in, day-out with this issue for almost a decade is that this council just isn't getting to grips with it. There doesn't seem to be the leadership to tackle it. Because improving the local environment has been my political priority for years and years, you can rest assured that as MP I'll provide the leadership so evidently lacking here.

Here are the DEFRA council-by-council figures and here's the BBC coverage of the story

Thames Water must put their house in order

I am one of those who thinks that Thames Water got off lightly earlier today with their 12 million OFWAT fine.

A newly published report by the Health Protection Agency has just found that on less than 1% of days when water from the river Thames was tested levels of hazardous bio-organisms were within acceptable World Health Organisation (WHO) levels.

One of the main reasons for this is that whenever it rains very heavily, Thames Water can't cope with the sewage and so jettison it straight into the Thames, upstream of Putney. This is disgusting, unhealthy and damaging to wildlife - not to mention rowers. It has to stop.

Thames Water have a track record. They have the worst record on broken pipes and water leaks of any water company in the UK. Last year they cut pressure through their mains which required extra pumps to be installed (at residents' expense) in blocks in Roehampton and West Hill. Their poor customer service is the reason for the record OFWAT fine.

It just isn't good enough for Thames Water to whine that instead of being fined this money could have been invested in improved service. Yes, it could: but this is the same company that last year claimed they couldn't improve upon pipe repairs because they were doing the absolute best possible. Well, a filthy river isn't the best possible. Cutting supplies isn't the best possible. Wasting water through record leaks whilst lecturing the rest of us on conserving water isn't the best possible. And record profits coupled with huge water rate increases isn't the best possible. Thames Water: must do better.

You can read the Health Protection Agency report here.

Voles for the Wandle

The River Wandle and Beverley Brook form, respectively, large parts of the boundary of the Putney constituency: the Wandle separating Southfields from Wandsworth, Earlsfield and Tooting; and Beverley Brook Putney from Richmond Park, East Sheen and Barnes. They are also hidden from public view - and perhaps therefore overlooked - for much of their length - either being routed under development like the Arndale or just difficult to access.

The London Wildlife Trust (LWT) has just announced plans to reintroduce Water Voles, which once were a substantial part of the Wandle's character, following a successful project in nearby Watermeads Island in Mitcham earlier this year. The Water Vole is one of Britain's fastest declining mammals, partly due to human encroachment on their habitat but also because Mink have been hunting them. Shockingly, there is now only one water vole for every 20 that existed just 80 years ago.

The last Wandle Vole was spotted in the 1960s but flood protection work in the 1970s is thought to have ensured their demise. This project, which I fully support, should also see other forms of wildlife cultivated, including dragonflies and Irises, and lead to an even more diverse, interesting and beautiful Wandle.

You can find out more about this and other London Wildlife Trust projects (as well as taking their quiz to find out what London Animal you most closely resemble!) by clicking here and you can visit the River Wandle - which exits into the Thames in Wandsworth town just past Point Pleasant - at a number of spots but especially from King George's Park in Southfields.