February crime stats

February's crime figures again show good progress; crime down in most categories and in most parts of the constituency.

It's worth comparing the six Putney wards with the London average, because this contrast shows exactly why we are one of the safest parts of the capital:

• Burglaries are lower than the London average in five of six Putney wards
• Criminal damage is lower in four of the six
• Drugs offences are - much - lower in every single Putney ward
• Fraud and forgery offences are - again, much - lower in every single Putney ward
• Robbery is lower in five out of six wards
• Sexual offences are lower in four of the six
• Theft and handling is very much lower in every ward except Thamesfield than the rest of London
• Violent crime is lower in five of the six wards

And the substantial increase in Police and Community Support Officers Putney has recently benefited from should help make Putney, Roehampton and Southfields even safer.

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.

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.

Action on loansharks

Back in September I flagged up warnings about a gang of loan sharks that had begun operating in the Roehampton area. Apparently loans at an interest rate of 66% were being touted.

Loansharking is illegal but despite this over 165,000 households are believed to borrow from loansharks each year: a problem made worse by banks dramatically cutting back on lending - even to those with decent credit histories.

This week Consumer Affairs Minister Gareth Thomas launched a confidential national hotline to help people stuggling with loansharks and to help with indebtedness.

The hotline number is 0300 555 2222.

The Stop Loan Sharks teams have successfully prosecuted more than 60 people with a further 90 prosecutions underway. This amounts to nearly 40 years of custodial sentences for illegal lending and associated crimes. The teams have supported more than 7,000 victims of illegal money lenders. Their work has meant around £14million has been saved for consumers who were locked in illegal deals with these money lenders.

In addition to the website, there's a website at www.direct.gov.uk/stoploansharks; and you can also get help by texting loan shark [include the space] and any message to 60003.

January crime stats: Roehampton joins the sub-100 club

For the first time since I've been reporting Putney's crime figures, the number of recorded offences in Roehampton ward fell below 100 crimes per 1,000 residents in January.

This is a remarkable achievement by Roehampton's Safer Neighbourhood team, and I congratulate them. In May 2007; the first month I reported Putney's stats, Roehampton crime rate was 127.5 - last month it was 97.7: that's a drop of 25% in just over a year and a half.

January's figures also show that there was no "Christmas spike" in crime, as there was over the December/January period in 2008. Crime fell in four of our six wards, and in most categories of crime. There is also no sign of a surge in so-called "economic crime" linked to the recession, yet, although drugs offences rose in Putney, Wandsworth and London as a whole.

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.

Good news on Barnes station

The government has told South West Trains (SWT) where to go over its plans to substantially reduce ticket office opening hours at Barnes Station.

Companies like SWT, as well as running trains, also have responsibility for stations on routes they operate, including Barnes, Putney and Wandsworth Town. Barnes' ticket office currently opens from 6.25am to 8.05pm on weekdays, from 6.40am to 8.15pm on Saturdays and from 9.10am to 4.40pm on Sundays,

SWT had planned to close the ticket office entirely on Sundays, operate a cursory service on Saturdays and significantly cut back during the week. But what the operator is actually being allowed to get away with are broadly similar hours to what we have now: 6.45am-6.45pm weekdays, 7am-7pm Saturdays and 10am-1pm Sundays.

I am really concerned about the unacceptable and widening gap between increasing fares, increasing customers but at the same time declining services. The argument goes that taxpayers should subsidise railways less which means customers paying an increasing share - but that's a false choice: the bulk of the subsidy for public transport should come not from rail users or general taxation but from less environmentally-friendly modes of transport.

Ticket offices are more than just a place to buy fares and ask for train information: they help with security at stations - especially at places like Barnes in the middle of nowhere. I'm working hard to get SWT to honour its promise to improve Putney Station and it's why it's good news that the Barnes ticket office is staying open.

Old maps of Putney 2

As promised, here's the second of the maps of Putney from Bacon's Up-To-Date Atlas & Guide to London, published probably in the 1930s - click here for the earlier post covering the Southfields and Wandsworth parts. And click on the image above for a much higher resolution scan.

This map covers the majority of Putney and Roehampton. The most obvious difference between today's map is that there is no Alton estate in Roehampton: the only resemblance with Roehampton today is what is now the Alton East: Alton Road and Bessborough Road. But even here the type of housing on either side of these roads was very different; grand houses and smaller cottages.

The rest of the land west of Roehampton Lane comprises the estate of Downshire House, Mount Clare, Manresa House and the Maryfield Convent - all buildings which remain today, just surrounded by an estate, rather than expanses of open land.

Similarly, in the north of Roehampton there is no Lennox estate at the end of Priory Lane, and the crescent-shaped housing block today called Fairacres was in those days called Lower Grove.

Moving east from Roehampton you can see how it was that the Telegraph Pub was such an important inn and communications post for travellers into and out of London. Today the pub is part of a relatively isolated cul-de-sac community in the middle of the Heath but until fairly recently, it was right on the crossroads of major traffic routes: Portsmouth Road, Telegraph Road and Wildcroft Road all of which extended right across the Heath.

And just north of the Heath we again see what Putney looked like prior to the building of huge estates: where the map shows expansive grounds around Exeter House is now the Ashburton Estate and Elliott School. In fact the only one of today's estates can be seen already built: the Dover House estate around Dover House Road.

Roehampton and West Putney aren't the only areas where major council estates were built after the war: West Hill ward - the area east of Wimbledon Parkside has also changed unrecognisably. But as I mentioned in my post on Southfields, you can see reflected in the estates of today several of the historic names shown on this map: Levana Lodgeand Park Lodge in Victoria Drive now Levana Close and Park Lodge now a care home of the same name for example. And many of the mansions on Wimbledon Parkside still remain: Chivelston, Albemarle and Spencer House.

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.

"Economic" crime? December crime stats

I often go on about the high level of crime in Thamesfield ward, which is almost entirely due to the amount of crime that occurs in and off of Putney High Street.

Let me try to put how much more crime there is in Thamesfield compared to the rest of Putney into context. There are more theft and handling offences alone in Thamesfield than the entire amount of reported crime in East Putney, West Hill or West Putney wards.

That's why my campaign for town centre patrollers in the High Street are so important: when they were tested out in Clapham Junction and Tooting about four years ago they cut street crime by one third. And they'll allow the Thamesfield Safer Neighbourhood teams to give more attention to the residential parts of their patch. It's why I'm also campaigning against the £472 million the Conservatives want to cut from the Metropolitan Police, which cannot but mean reductions in front-line police locally.

So-called economic crimes like theft, or burglary - ie property crimes, are likely to rise during an economic slowdown. Politicians always struggle to talk sensibly about such crimes for fear that talking about the reasons why a tiny minority become more likely to thieve and steal in such a climate equals condoning or understanding such behaviour. Of course there is never justification to take someone else's property -period.

Fortunately there isn't that much sign of property crime increasing in Putney - yet. Burglary is somewhat down in five wards and slightly up in one. Thefts did pick up noticeably in December in four wards, dropped in two. Drug offences were down across the board and sex offences down in five out of six wards. There also seems to be a delay in reporting any crimes during the Christmas period in the figures - maybe these will feed through to the January figures due out next month.

Roehampton Lane right-turn ban: 61% say "no"

In another spectacular misjudgement of public opinion, the Conservative plans to ban right turns from Roehampton Lane into Medfield Street have been rejected by a thumping 61.1% NO vote.

To recap, the Conservative plans - drawn up way back in early 2006 by Putney Tory MP Justine Greening and our former Tory London Assembly member - wanted to ban cars turning into Medfield Street, supposedly to ease traffic rat-running through Roehampton and the Dover House estate.

As pretty much everyone except the Tories realised, just banning cars turning into these roads but NOT Roehampton High Street and Rodway Road would simply push all the rat-run traffic into these residential roads and not solve the problem in the Dover House at all.

Now, three years on, a hugely costly consultation later and having disillusioned thousands of local people with their do-nothing approach to the area's traffic problems, the Conservatives have graciously agreed to abide by the 61% no vote and consign their crazy plan to the dustbin.

Even a majority of Medfield Street residents opposed the Tory plan! In the Quadrant area that includes Rodway Road, and in Roehampton High Street the no vote was 85% and 86% respectively. Quite right too.

A more modest plan to ban right-turns into Ponsonby Road, where Roehampton Church School and Holy Trinity is, received a narrow yes vote of 54% and this will proceed, subject to review after six months.

You can read the report on the consultation 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.

November crime stats

Crime fell again in all six Putney areas in November 2008 (remember there's a two month lag between the month they happened and the reporting of them).

As this graph shows, with the exception of December 2007, when crime spiked in the run-up to Christmas, all wards are now safer than they were in May 2007 when I first started reporting these figures. There have been marked falls in crime in Roehampton and Southfields during this period - during which Roehampton has become substantially safer than the London average.



As we saw at the end of last year, it's probably wise to forecast a notable jump in crime in the December figures - but what we also saw was a January fall larger than the December "blip" - so that's also something to watch out for.

Here are November's figures - a reminder that green figures show a decline or the same level of crime as the preceding month; red shows an increase.

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.

Crime: how does Putney compare with the rest of the borough?

The October crime figures, just released, again show good progress by the Police in cutting crime. East Putney and West Hill wards all saw declines in every single category of crime; in West Putney all categories bar one were down. Overall, crime fell in five of our six council wards, with only a small rise in Southfields.



With crime figures, context is everything - it's why, alongside the ward by ward figures, I also provide the borough and London averages - so you can see how Putney is doing compared to larger areas. But this month, I thought you might be interested in seeing how Putney's six council wards compare to their fourteen counterparts elsewhere in the borough.

In the table below I'm just showing the "total" number of crimes per 1,000 - the figure that's in the shaded grey box in the table above. And, instead of ordering them alphabetically, I've ranked them in terms of that total crime rate - with the lowest crime areas at the top, and the highest at the bottom.

Three of the safest four council wards anywhere in the borough are in Putney - and four of the top ten. But Putney's Thamesfield ward is the most crime-ridden ward in the borough by far. Putney probably has the largest shopping centre in the borough, so it is to be expected that the sort of town centre crime that affects Thamesfield will be higher than other town centres. But I don't think the gap should be quite so stark.

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.

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.

Local dentists

Click on image if you need a larger version.

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.

Cleaned every week..?

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

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

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

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

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

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



























.....

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.

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.

Last night's Roehampton report-back

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

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

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

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

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

They must be.

Roehampton: make the council listen on Monday

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Tory Roehampton steamroller grinds on

The Tories, in what appears to be an act of exceptional desperation, have now put in an application to their own planning committee to bulldozer Roehampton's green space.

It's almost as if they're hoping they can get their crazy, unpopular and poorly thought through plans through before anyone notices.

Fat chance: around 300 Roehampton residents have now responded to my consultation and as the pile of objections grows the message is being sent louder and louder: no way; not here; no thank you.

There is always something a little surreal about a council applying to itself for permission to do whatever it likes and I can perfectly well understand the cynicism this stokes among residents who, almost to a person, feel this council ignores their views and treats Roehampton as a testing ground for whatever mad idea the Conservatives dream up.

Their planning application is not yet online; there is no link to it either on the Roehampton or planning pages of the council website although the latest in their scarcely-noticed redevelopment bulletins is currently being delivered in the area.

There is time to have your say on this application - which looks unchanged to the plans that were consulted on despite the Tories' assurance that comments "were all carefully considered before finalising and submitting" the application. The Council expects the application to be determined some time in January 2009.

Let me say this loud and clear to the Tories: if you do not listen to Roehampton I will submit every single response I have received as part of the consultation on this planning application which will remove any shred of pretense that this has the support of the public.

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.

What's happened to Alton Gate?

When Tony Colman was Labour MP for Putney huge strides were made to get a pedestrian gate from the Alton estate into Richmond Park.

After she was elected Justine Greening, somewhat to her discredit, tried to pretend that the idea had been hers all alone and that she was the champion who would finally deliver a gate.

That was over three years ago. Since then she has stopped talking about the Alton Gate. So have her council colleagues. And the Alton remains along its entire length without access to the park it has such magnificent panoramic views of.

I have today written to the Royal Parks Agency to find out the status of the plans for an Alton Gate to Richmond Park and, unlike my Conservative opponent, intend to keep going until we get the gate we deserve.

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.

Conservative Club - going to the dogs?

I reported a couple of months ago about the drugs shame of Roehampton's Conservative Club which was shut down and boarded up following Police raids because narcotics were being dealt from the premises.

Since then, the "nightmare in Treville Street" as it's been dubbed because of its resemblance to Freddy Krueger's house in the horror films has been empty - a blight on Roehampton Village.

However, word on the grapevine is that negotiations are under way to sell the property to a veterinary surgeon looking to expand. A bigger vets surgery for Roehampton would be a benefit to the area so I wish the negotiations well. Getting the Conservatives out of Roehampton once and for all is just an added bonus.

Putney's Grand Designs

Last week I asked you to identify this local building and said I'd reveal its identity shortly.



Well, that time has arrived!

This is a roman-esque out-house right on the edge of Richmond Park behind Minstead Gardens in Roehampton. It lies right behind the residents' club, in a small patch of fenced-off abandoned land. In fact it's really easy to miss it entirely!

It's a shame that such buildings - remnants of Roehampton before the Alton Estate was built - are neglected and not made features to treasure. A few days ago I wrote about the possibility of building some new hidden homes in Minstead Gardens - land adjacent to this small villa. It would take a little imagination and a bold architect, but this building could also be turned into a home; or for some other community use.

How about some hidden homes here?

I am today writing to the council suggesting that they should get these derelict former homes and disused garages in Minstead Gardens, on the Alton Estate, back into use as part of their Hidden Homes programme.

For those of you unfamiliar with this scheme, the Council has since 2003 been converting surplus storage rooms and the like on council estates into extra flats. This is a good scheme: it's pretty much responsible for all the new for rent council homes being created in Wandsworth. The problem is that the Conservatives seem to believe that the 130 homes they've built in those five years (an average of just 26 a year) is the sole and complete cure for the housing problem they share no small amount of responsibility for creating locally.

The number of council homes in Wandsworth has been halved in the last 25 years; from 32,000 in 1981 to less than 16,000 today. With all due respect, 130 hidden homes doesn't even start to rectify this haemorrage of affordable homes.

Minstead Gardens comprises, in the main, sheltered housing bungalows for senior citizens so this space, right on the boundary of Richmond Park, would be perfect for five or so new homes for local pensioners. It would also sort out a derelict site that is currently a bit of an eyesore.

So how about it Wandsworth Council? Let's have some hidden homes for rent in Minstead Gardens.

Putney's Grand Designs No.3

Anyone know where this Roman-style villa is that we photographed (not very well) on Saturday?

I'll reveal the answer and write a bit more about it in a few days. But if you do know, or want to have a guess, email me: stuart.king@putneylabour.org.uk

June's local crime figures

There's not much to write about in this month's crime figures - it's fallen very slightly in three Putney council wards and risen very slightly in three. Without further ado, here are the tables:



And May's comparison:

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.

Roehampton Village

This photo of Roehampton Village and Putney Heath was taken from Allbrook House at the top of Danebury Avenue - a block the Conservatives want to demolish under their redevelopment plans.

The main road to the right of the picture is Roehampton Lane whilst the red brick road off it is Roehampton High Street.

Roehampton has strong religious institutions: off Roehampton Lane on the centre right of the picture is the Roman Catholic St Joseph's Church while the church with the spire on Putney Heath is Holy Trinity Church of England Church. And the red brick building up Roehampton High Street is St Mary's Convent.

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.

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.

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.

Putney - safer than other parts of London?

Every month when I publish the ward-by-ward crime statistics I usually focus on the change over the previous month.

This month it's worth looking at how crime in Putney compares with London as a whole.

Every single ward in Putney has a lower record of drug offending, fraud or forgery, robbery and other notifiable offences than the Met Police average.

Every single ward in Putney bar one has a better record on burglary and theft & handling (Thamesfield being the exception); criminal damage and violence against the person (Roehampton); and robbery (Southfields) than the London-wide figures. Roehampton has a stastically insignificant higher rate of sexual offences, which are a very small percentage of the total anyway I'm pleased to say.

Putney also compares favourably to our borough as a whole - though the pattern is very slightly different. The overall Wandsworth figure for crimes per 1,000 of the population is 99.6; the overall Putney figure is 89.9.

So what these crime figures show, month-in, month-out is that Wandsworth is safer than other parts of London, and that Putney is safer than other parts of Wandsworth. Don't let the Tories tell you different.

Here are the year to May 2008 figures:



And the April 2008 figures for comparison:

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.

King's Head remains headless

On Tuesday councillors rejected plans to redevelop the King's Head pub on the corner of Roehampton High Street and Roehampton Lane.

The King's Head is Roehampton's oldest building, dating back to the 17th Century. For the last three years it has been empty having been closed down after lots of complaints about rowdiness and poor behaviour. It is one of six pubs and clubs Roehampton has lost in recent years.

I want the King's Head restored to use - but not at any price and I think, on balance, that councillors were right to reject this planning application.

This site adds to the impression that Roehampton village is in decline. The Conservative Council and the Conservative MP could and should be far more concerned about getting this site back into use: promoting the area to investors, working with them to submit strong, impressive plans and ensuring that they help kick-start a revival of this important part of our constituency.

One thing that would be unacceptable would be for councillors to use the pretext of their so-called regeneration plans for the Danebury Avenue area to stall any work on this site, because that could mean the King's Head remaining derelict for another decade.

I hope the applicants go away, reflect on the council's decision and come back with a more sensitive, more thoughtful plan that better addresses the challenges this important site poses.

You can read the report on the planning application for The King's Head here.

Potholes: even Putney's most exclusive address has them

Roedean Crescent usually comes out in property price league tables as the most expensive street in Putney. The Crescent, which backs on to Richmond Park near Roehampton Gate is, we must say, in a somewhat better condition than many streets elsewhere in the constituency, but even here Conservative Council neglect can be seen.



And just round the corner, here's Bank Lane, which runs up to Priory Lane alongside the Bank of England Sports Club; though to be fair to the council - as I always am - this road has seen quite a lot of development recently.

Shalden House sorted

I wrote last week about the vandalism in Shalden House. I can now report that following my intervention the windows that were smashed in have been fixed. And just look at the difference a repair makes:


Then.................................................Now


Then.................................................Now


Then.................................................Now

I'm really pleased for the residents of Shalden House that we've got action - that still took too long in my book - because the conditions that they were living in were unacceptable.

There remain problems in Shalden House - the caretaking leaves much to be desired and illegal activities are regularly reported by residents who stumble across non-residents in the stairwells. These are all difficult problems to tackle, but for me politics isn't about what's easy - it's about what's right.

Rat running danger in Danebury Avenue

At the recent Roehampton Safer Neighbourhood Police meeting, residents raised with me their concerns about rat-running down Danebury Avenue. Many years ago this used to be a real problem as Danebury Avenue was used as a shortcut from congested Roehampton Lane to Priory Lane and Richmond Park - but it was sorted out when barriers - subsequently replaced by bollards - were installed just by Alton School.

Aside from making Danebury Avenue much safer, quieter and more pleasant for the thousands of residents who live there, it's also prevented traffic speeding past the Alton School and Ibstock Place School - so it's really important.

In recent months however, the padlocks have been removed and the central bollard taken out, which creates enough space for most cars to be able to squeeze through. No-one is quite sure whether the person removing the bollard has one of the padlock keys the emergency services have to gain access when needed, or is simply breaking the padlock open and removing it.

When I visited on Tuesday this week the bollards were in place and padlocked, so hopefully the problem has been sorted out. This type of problem is exactly the local issue that Roehampton's councillors should be keeping an eye on - difficult, admittedly, when one of them lives in Bournemouth and the others, it is reported, are rarely seen locally (one resident of Shalden House asked who they were as she had never seen or heard from them).

There are signs by the bollards warning people that the bollards are monitored by CCTV. If that's the case - and the CCTV's working properly - the Council and Police should be able to work out who's been vandalising this bollard; causing criminal damage and risking a road traffic accident outside two schools - all simply to save a few minutes' journey time. If not, then it's time the council did what its signs say it does: monitor and act on CCTV footage.

I'm here to make sure they do.

Shalden shame

Vandals have been smashing up Shalden House in Tunworth Crescent, on the Alton Estate. I never quite understand why a tiny minority enjoys kicking in windows, or urinating in lifts or stairwells - not least their own - but sadly Shalden is the latest victim and the peaceful, self-respecting majority now have to put up with this:



This was one of the problems raised last week at the Roehampton Safer Neighbourhoods Police meeting and I've already taken the issue up with the Council's Housing Director, because this temporary repair isn't good enough: it's dangerous, it's unsightly, it's making the communal areas incredibly dark and residents deserve better. Here are some more other examples of the criminal damage done to Shalden House - you can click to enlarge them:





I know Roehampton's local Police team are working at finding those responsible for this vandalism; and I'll keep pushing the council to make sure that the damage is repaired as soon as possible - because no-one should have to put up with this for any longer than necessary.

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.

"Where do I vote?"

It's been a few weeks since the Council sent out pollcards telling us where our polling station is in the elections this coming Thursday.

We're sending out our own cards letting thousands of Labour supporters in Putney, Roehampton and Southfields, know where to vote on Thursday. But if you want to check where you vote, you can do so on my website by clicking here.

There's a list of polling stations down the side, or you can check using the map - by clicking on the links you'll get a list of streets that vote at each station and a satellite image of the location on it.

Most polling stations are where they've always been, but a couple have changed since the last elections in 2006:

• The Putney Vale estate now votes at Stag House in Stroud Crescent, following the Tory council's closure of Newlands Hall;


• Residents of the Alton East estate are back voting at Roehampton Parish Hall (now called Cornerstone), on the corner of Alton Road and Roehampton Lane.

Safer Neighbourhoods successes

We heard it again on the BBC's Mayoral Debate on Tuesday: the Conservative slander that Safer Neighbourhoods Police teams (SNTs) aren't "real police".

Of course the Tories don't want to admit that SNTs have a value and purpose: they fought against their introduction tooth and nail and they've refused to give any reassurance they won't sack Putney's forty SNT offices. In fact, London Assembly Conservative Leader Brian Barnes is on record as saying the Metropolitan Police budget is too large!

Well, the Putney SW15 website is now reporting two more examples of the practical difference SNTs make in our communities - in West Hill by busting a cannabis factory worth £20,000, and in Roehampton breaking up two more drugs dens. And this on the back of the breakthrough a few weeks ago by the West Putney SNT in tackling the dangerous dogs menace there, which I wrote about at the time.

Enough's enough: it's time for the Conservatives to stop running down our Police. Regardless of their title and responsibilities, our Safer Neighbourhoods teams are living up to their name: making our neighbourhoods safer and contributing to the low crime rate I report month-in, month-out.

I have attended a number of public meetings that Putney's SNTs have held to publicise their work and get feedback on local crime concerns. I have never seen Justine Greening at any of these meetings so haven't been able to challenge her to stop this sniping against our police. I hope she, and Putney's Conservative councillors, will pause for thought the next time they run down the hard work of our SNTs.

Out and about in Putney

The main reason I've been posting a little less frequently in recent days is because of the London election campaigning my team and I are up to.

We've been out all over the constituency, and I've just today finished adding all the places we've been too in the past month to my constituency map page.

We've been talking to you about your concerns and priorities for London in the next four years and the clear choice between the experience, tested leadership and delivered improvements to the capital over the last eight years with Ken Livingstone; and the bluster, blunder, lack of substance, lack of vision, and lack of any credibly-costed plans of his Tory opponent.

So far this campaign we've been to the Longstaff Estate, Galveston Road, Lebanon Road, Sutherland Grove, Skeena Hill, Combemartin Road, Girdwood Road, Whitefield Close, Arcadian Place, Wimbledon Park Road, Albert Drive, Hayward Gardens, Pullman Gardens, Beaumont Road, Whitlock Drive, Kersfield Road, Lytton Grove, Littlecombe Close, Arlesey Close, Chepstow Close, Whitnell Way, Gay Street, Crown Court, Waterman Street, Kingsmere Close, Felsham Road, Glenthorpe, Hanover House, William Gardens, Minstead Gardens, Aubyn Square, Toland Square and Vanneck Square - apologies if we've visited you but aren't listed above.

We've a lot more campaign stops all around Putney, Roehampton and Southfields before polling day on Thursday 01 May so look out for us!

A Nightmare on Treville Street

Despite what it looks like, this is not Freddy Krueger's home in the Nightmare on Elm Street horror films, but the boarded-up remains of Roehampton's Conservative Club.

The Club was closed down by the Police in January after a drugs raid. The Conservatives then embarked upon a rather embarrassing and half-hearted attempt to claim that the Club was "nothing to do with us, guv" despite several senior Tories, including former Putney Conservative Councillor Michael Chartres and current Southfields Conservative Association Chairman Terry Walsh being trustees of the club.

What with one of the Roehampton Conservative Councillors now living in Bournemouth but refusing to resign his seat and let the area choose a more committed replacement; the recent outrageous blog about the Alton Estate by another Conservative Councillor, the pending closure of the Putney Vale Youth Club and the boarding up of their Conservative Club, Roehampton Tories aren't doing at all well, are they?

Roehampton regeneration part 1

The Council has recently come out with some clearer plans for Roehampton following consultation with residents. Because the plans are quite detailed and I want to do them justice, I'm going to post here what they are, and in part 2 - which will follow soon - what I think of them.

For those coming to this subject fresh, the plans concern the area around the top end of Danebury Avenue where the shops are, opposite Roehampton High Street. There are four key sites:

Site B, which is the block that includes the housing office, the boys' club and the Roehampton Safer Neighbourhood Police. The council wants to move these facilities, demolish the building and replace it with 34 flats (19 one bed; 9 two bed and 6 three bed), 64 parking spaces plus 410 sq m offices.

Site C, which is the block that includes the Co-Op shop. The Council wants to demolish this block and replace it with another 34 new flats(17 one bed; 9 two bed and 6 three bed), 20 car parking spaces and 565 sq m new shopping. For info, that's about three times as many flats proposed than are there at the moment.

Site D, which is the long parade of shops down Danebury Avenue, with flats above them. The council is proposing to demolish this block and replace it with one of two options:

Option 1 would provide 127 new flats (70 one bed; 25 two bed and 32 three bed), 2,600 sq m of new retail (inc. a supermarket) and 141 underground parking spaces.

Option 2 – submitted by the Roehampton Business Forum - would provide 100 new flats (50 one bed; 34 two bed and 16 three bed) and 1,325 sq m of new retail.

And finally, site E which is Allbrook House and Roehampton Library. These are the most controversial proposals - the council has come up with three options:

Option E1 retains Allbrook House (and refurbishes the flats) plus the library and provides 64 new flats (38 one bed; 10 two bed and 16 three bed), plus commercial space (1,490 sq.m.) and 144 parking
spaces.

Option E2 also retains Allbrook House and the library and provides 64 new flats (32 one bed; 20 two bed and 12 three bed), commercial space (500 sq m), office space (1,000 sq m) and 132 underground parking spaces.

Option E3, prepared by the Roehampton Business Forum, demolishes Allbrook House and replaces it with 143 new flats (100 one bed; 16 two bed and 27 three bed), commercial space (5,000 sq m), new library (730 sq m) and 224 car parking spaces.

As a result of overwhelming public pressure, the council has U-turned over plans to concrete over the green space in front of Allbrook House (which always comes into its own at this time of year!): this will now stay untouched.

As I say, I'll follow up with my comments and observations on these ideas in a forthcoming post.

In their own words: Conservative neglect of the Alton

Apparently, one of Wandsworth's Conservative Councillors ventured onto Roehampton's Alton estate last Saturday (before anyone asks, it WASN'T one of the councillors elected to, supposedly, serve Roehampton!). This is how she describes her experience on her own blog (in a post titled "Different worlds"!):

"The lift wasn't working, the smells, sights, sounds can be intimidating. On 23rd floor I took fright and ran all the way down and went and did a different block. But I knew I had to go back and finish the one I hadn't done. I came back via the basement walking through foul smelling leaking sewage."

Aside from the fact that no block on the Alton has more than twelve floors - so climbing to the 23rd was a remarkable feat even for a Conservative councillor - let's just take a reality check:

• The Conservatives have run Wandsworth Council (and its housing department) for 30 years
• They've (at least notionally) represented Roehampton ward for the past ten years
• They're the ones who sacked the local caretakers in favour of a cheapskate, out-of-town cleaning contractor
• They're responsible for the lifts working...or not; and the drains being cleared...or not

As the Councillor says candidly: Putney Conservatives live in a different world - on a different planet - entirely.

I wonder if she's bothered to report her findings to the housing department, let alone demand they be fixed? Maybe she doesn't realise that the point of being an elected representative is to improve the quality of life of our constituents, not just to write these shocked, skewed and, frankly, derogatory blogs about the novelty of visiting a council estate, of all places!

UPDATE 26.03.2008 - curiously, the councillor's post has, all of a sudden, disappeared from her website. Fortunately, thanks to the wonders of Google, it's been cached - so you can still read it here. Or, if you prefer, as a PDF here.

Alton School's deserved praise

I've written before about the huge efforts that the The Alton School makes to improve the educational achievements of its pupils. So I was delighted to read the school's recent Ofsted report, and the positive write-up this prompted in this week's Wandsworth Guardian.

Alton School serves one of Europe's biggest estates, in Roehampton. The population of the Alton is changing rapidly - as well as some of the worst deprivation in the borough (Roehampton is the second most deprived ward in Wandsworth) it also has a large and growing eastern European population, which is both highly transient and introduces lots of children for whom English is not their primary language.

High turnover, significant deprivation and sadly, on occasion, parents who don't always appreciate that education isn't just a 9am-3pm past-time but rather a round-the-clock collective effort: all these factors mean that Alton will always struggle to head the Primary School league tables.

The school's just launched a breakfast club starting at 8am offering a healthy breakfast and games to start off the school day. As Headteacher Ruth Hudson says: "If children aren't coming in ready to learn it's no use forcing literacy and numeracy on them". That's not some liberal excuse to not teach the basics - it's a recognition that schools like the Alton need to go an extra mile to set their pupils on the right course. They're evidently doing so, and it's great that Ofsted has recognised their achievement.

You can read the Ofsted report here.

Out and about on the Alton Estate

Isn't this a great photo of the Alton Estate? We took it from the top of Chilcombe House in Fontley Way when we were out contacting residents there yesterday.

You can see pretty much all of the Alton West in this picture: in the left three of the blocks in Tunworth Crescent and next to them Sherfield Gardens and Clarence Lane. At the back then come the five Highcliffe Drive blocks, and in front of them the ten high rises in Tangley Grove and Ellisfield Drive.

Below them are the long blocks that run down Danebury Avenue, and in front of them Laverstoke Gardens. And, at the foot of the picture, the very well maintained grounds of Whitelands College - you can just see part of Parkstead House, the focal point of the Whitelands campus - in the bottom right.

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

Roehampton Conservative Club drugs shame

Roehampton Conservative Club in Treville Street has been closed by Police following a drug raid recently. You can read more about the background to the Conservative Club's drug problems here.

The closure of the Conservative Club means that the Roehampton area has now lost SIX pubs and clubs in very quick succession:

• The Maltese Cat in Aubyn Square
• The Earl Spencer in Roehampton Lane
• The Montague Arms in Medfield Street
• The Ranger in Cortis Road
• and The King's Head in Roehampton High Street

Just look at this table pulled off the internet:



Most of the closures are due to problems with drugs or repeated bad behaviour. I was heavily involved in sorting out problems with the King's Head in 2006 - it is now a derelict site, just like the Montague and the Conservative Club.

It cannot be beyond the capability of our breweries to run pubs in Roehampton well, and with due respect to the long-suffering community living around them. We can hardly promote responsible drinking if they can't demonstrate responsible management.

English Heritage Blue Plaques

A couple of years ago I wrote an article for the Wandsworth Borough News about the local dignitaries who are remembered through English Heritage blue plaques in our borough.

I really enjoy investigating local history - in part it comes from living here for 37 years, but my degree was also in history. Anyway, here's the article, which I hope you find interesting.

What links the borough of Wandsworth to a former Prime Minister, a music hall artist, the dentist to Queen Victoria and an artic explorer? The answer is that all of them (David Lloyd George, Sir Harry Lauder, Sir Edwin Saunders and Edward Wilson) lived or worked in the borough, and have an English Heritage blue plaque outside the house in which they lived.

There are twenty-two English heritage blue plaques located within the borough of Wandsworth, out of a total of 456 throughout London.

2005 marked the centenary of the erection of the first blue plaque in Wandsworth, which was located at Holly Lodge, Wimbledon Park Road, in memory of author and novelist George Eliot, who lived “in sin” at the property with her lover, G H Lewes.

This selection of a figure of literary note seems apposite given that literary figures make up the largest group of recipients within the borough. These include the poet and novelist Thomas Hardy (who lived at Trinity Road), Victorian adventure story writer G A Henty (Lavender Gardens) and poet Gerald Manley Hopkins (Manresa House, Roehampton).

Three plaques are dedicated to famous figures from the British music hall era –the comedian Gus Elen (Thurleigh Avenue), and Harry Tate and Sir Harry Lauder (both of Longley Road). During its heyday the music hall was the most popular form of entertainment for ordinary people, and its stars were the popstars of their day. Harry Tate’s funeral at the cemetery in Blackshaw Road, Tooting, was attended by over a thousand mourners.

Only two politicians have been commemorated – former Prime Minister David Lloyd George (Routh Road) and Battersea MP, and the first working class man to enter the British Cabinet, John Burns (Clapham Common North Side). Burns was elected as an independent MP in 1892 and served Battersea in Parliament until 1918.

Others who have been commemorated include the former President of Czechoslovakia, Dr Edwards Benes (Gwendolen Avenue), John Walter, founder of The Times newsapaper (Clapham Common North Side) and anti-slavery campaigner, William Wilberforce (Broomwood Road). The most recent plaque to be erected in the borough was in 2000 in honour of the celebrated sculptor Charles Jagger, who lived and died in Albert Bridge Road.

The blue plaque scheme is a national programme run by English Heritage. To be eligible for a plaque, nominees must be worthy of national recognition, recognisable to the well-informed passer-by, and have been dead for twenty years or passed the centenary of their birth, whichever is the earlier.

As it has been five [now seven - ed.] years since the last plaque was erected in the borough, readers may wish to suggest other candidates suitable for nomination. There is surely a wealth of suitable nominees in this great borough of ours. Here is a full list of the 22 blue plaques in Wandsworth, with the Putney ones highlighted in colour:

• BATEMAN, H.M. (1887-1970),Cartoonist, lived here 1910-1914. 40 Nightingale Lane, Clapham South, SW12 Wandsworth 1997
• BENES, Dr Edward (1884-1948),President of Czechoslovakia, lived here. 26 Gwendolen Avenue, Putney, SW15 Wandsworth 1978
• BURNS, John (1858-1943),Statesman, lived here. 110 North Side, Clapham Common, SW4 Wandsworth 1950
• DOUGLAS, Norman (1868-1952),Writer, lived here. 63 Albany Mansions, Albert Bridge Road, SW11 Wandsworth 1980
• ELEN, Gus (1862-1940), Music Hall Comedian, lived here. 3 Thurleigh Avenue, Balham, SW12 Wandsworth 1979
• ELIOT, George Mary Ann Cross (1819-1880), Novelist, lived here. Holly Lodge, 31 Wimbledon Park Road, SW18 Wandsworth 1905
• HARDY, Thomas (1840-1928),Poet and Novelist, lived here 1878-1881. Plaque replaced by new one on same building in 1962. 172 Trinity Road, Tooting, SW17 Wandsworth 1940
• HENTY, G.A. (George Alfred) (1832-1902), Author, lived here. 33 Lavender Gardens, SW11 Wandsworth 1953
• HOPKINS, Gerard Manley (1844-1889),Poet, lived and studied in Manresa House. Gatepost at Manresa House, Holybourne Avenue, Roehampton, SW15 Wandsworth 1979
• JAGGER, Charles Sargeant (1885-1934),Sculptor, lived and died here. 67 Albert Bridge Road, Battersea, SW11 Wandsworth 2000
• KNEE, Fred (1868-1914),London Labour Party Pioneer and Housing Reformer, lived here. 24 Sugden Road, SW11 Wandsworth 1986
• LAUDER, Sir Harry (1870-1950),Music Hall Artist, lived here 1903-1911. 46 Longley Road, Tooting, SW17 Wandsworth 1969
• LLOYD GEORGE, David, Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor (1863-1945),Prime Minister, lived here Replacement for GLC plaque erected in 1967 3 Routh Road, Wandsworth Common, SW18 Wandsworth 1992
• O'CASEY, Sean (1880-1964),Playwright, lived here at flat No. 49 49 Overstrand Mansions, Prince of Wales Drive, Battesea Park, SW11 Wandsworth 1993
• SAUNDERS, Sir Edwin (1814-1901),Dentist to Queen Victoria, lived and died here. Fairlawns, 89 Wimbledon Parkside, SW19 (Plaque on gate pier) Wandsworth 1997
• SPURGEON, Charles Haddon (1834-1892),Preacher, lived here. 99 Nightingale Lane, SW12 Wandsworth 1971
• SWINBURNE, Algernon Charles (1837-1909), Poet and his friend, Theodore WATTS-DUNTON (1832-1914), Poet, Novelist, Critic, lived and died here. 11 Putney Hill, SW15 Wandsworth 1926
• TATE, Harry (Ronald MacDonald Hutchison) (1872-1940),Musical Hall Comedian, lived here. 72 Longley Road, SW17 Wandsworth 1984
• THOMAS, Edward (1878-1917),Essayist and Poet, lived here. 61 Shelgate Road, SW11 Wandsworth 1949
• WALTER, John (1739-1812),Founder of 'The Times', lived here. 113 Clapham Common North Side, SW4 Wandsworth 1977
• WILBERFORCE, William (1759-1833).On the site behind this house stood until 1904 Broomwood House - formerly Broomfield - where William Wilberforce resided during the campaign against slavery which he successfully conducted in Parliament. 111 Broomwood Road, SW11 Wandsworth 1906
• WILSON, Edward Adrian (1872-1912),Antarctic Explorer and Naturalist, lived here. Battersea Vicarage, 42 Vicarage Crescent, SW11 Wandsworth 1935

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.

Roe Rec reopens - at last!

The news that Roehampton Recreation Club is to reopen next week after a £1.8 million refit is pleasing for those of us who have been campaigning for the Club to get the resources it deserves for years.

Given that the Recreation Club in Laverstoke Gardens, just behind Danebury Avenue, will provide a refurbished gymnasium, work-out studio and activity hall, along with a creche and weekend activities centre for local kids, it's now time to draw our successful campaign to a close, but not before reflecting on the herculean efforts it's taken to get this far.



This blog post from Labour's Roehampton council team in April 2005 shows how close we were to Conservative councillors breaking their word to refit the recreation club, and how long Labour has been campaigning on the issue - it was only through a high-profile effort led by Labour councillors in the town hall and local campaigners in the community - coupled with coverage from the Wandsworth Borough News, that showed the Conservatives that they could not wriggle out of their responsibility to Roehampton.

And since then Labour has been keeping up the pressure - we even featured the story in the last edition of The Putney Paper.

Roehampton Recreation Club will reopen on Wednesday 9th January; and during the following weekend (13th and 14th January) admission will be free - there'll also be goodie bags and balloons for kids. Click here for a map.

Enterprising Roehampton

On Tuesday I was invited to the Enterprising Roehampton awards ceremony; which recognises local businesses and community groups who make a contribution to the community.

The event, hosted by Roehampton University at the Whitelands campus in Holybourne Avenue, was addressed by John Bird, Founder of The Big Issue newspaper and homelessness campaigner. Among the winners were:

• Roehampton Co-op
• Regenerate.com
• Eastwood Nursery School
• The Right Plaice Fish and Chip shop, Danebury Avenue
• Roehampton SureStart
• Roehampton Veterinary Clinic, Roehampton High Street
• Roehampton NewPin

And twelve others.

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.

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?

The Quadrant

Last night I was invited to attend the Annual Meeting of The Quadrant Residents' Association in Roehampton. The Quadrant covers Rodway Road, Akehurst Street, Umbria Street and Nepean Street.

The big issues for residents there at the moment are the huge Queen Mary's Place development of over 600 homes currently under construction, which backs right up to the edge of the Quadrant. Aside from the general disturbance caused by such a massive development, there is huge concern about both the parking impact it will cause and the added congestion upon the already slow-moving Roehampton Lane.

Plans have been mooted to ban all right turns from Roehampton Lane because of the amount of rat-run traffic through the village and Dover House estate, but such plans would also prevent Quadrant residents from getting to their homes as well, so this was a topic that received a lot of discussion too.

And the parking situation in the area has gradually worsened over the past three years, so residents were pleased to note that the council had finally bowed to demands, championed by Labour's Roehampton team last year, for a consultation on a controlled parking zone.

I was delighted to have been invited to the meeting which was well-attended, and to have been able to contribute on several of the issues discussed.

Putney in the news

Putney has been in the news twice today. BBC London News this evening led with a story on dangerous dogs and featured the attack on The Pleasance last month. It was good to see the victim of the attack recovering well.

You can watch the BBC News story here or read the summary of the story on the BBC website here.

We also learned today that fifteen years after the horrific murder of Rachel Nickel on Wimbledon Common, part of which is in the constituency, someone has been charged with the crime. My thoughts tonight are with both Rachel's family but also with Roehampton resident Colin Stagg who was falsely accused of her murder at the time and who has been persecuted ever since. While no one has yet been convicted and we need to be careful with what we say until they are, this must have been a day Mr Stagg has long waited for.

Our Safer Neighbourhood Teams

Putney now has forty Police Safer Neighbourhood Officers - members of teams that didn't exist just four years ago, and which we wouldn't have if the Conservatives had their way - they opposed all funding of them.

Here are the details of our six local ward teams along with any details of forthcoming events they're holding:

East Putney Team

Acting Sgt Matt Snowden
PC Sandrine Tanghe
PC Russ Percy
PCSO Simoni Simoni
PCSO Alison Brownlow
PCSO Douglas Cameron
PCSO Kelly Collins
PCSO Claire Fairman
PCSO Paul Henry

Write to them at: Jubilee House, 230-232 Putney Bridge Road, London SW15 2PD
Phone:020 8721 2433
Mobile: 07920 233925
Email the East Putney team

Upcoming East Putney team meetings and events:

• 28/11/2007 - 19:30 - 21:30 - Community Event - Cadets, Lytton Grove
• 09/12/2007 - 11:30 - 13:30 - Street Briefing - West Hill Road
• 17/01/2008 - 19:00 - 20:30 - Public Meeting - Putney High School
• 28/01/2008 - 18:00 - 19:00 - Community Event - Brownies, Wandsworth Police Station
• 31/01/2008 - 19:00 - 20:30 - Public Meeting - London Mosque

Roehampton Team

Sgt Peter Salmon
PC Andrew Voong
PC Amanda Kennedy
PCSO Lisa Burke
PCSO Noel Perkins
PCSO Nicky Edwardes
PCSO Fuad Osman
PCSO Marco Serrano

Write to them at: Jubilee House, 230-232 Putney Bridge Road, LondonSW15 2PD
Phone: 020 8649 3551
Mobile: 07843 065885
Email the Roehampton team


Southfields Team

Sgt David Mepham
PC Darren Hunt
PCSO Liam McLaughlin
PCSO Jacek Zebracki
PCSO Alexandra Claridge
Write to them at: 146 Wandsworth High Street, LondonSW18 4JJ
Phone:020 8721 2429
Mobile: 07920 233931
Email the Southfields team


Thamesfield Team

Sgt Roger Chapple
PC Bosede Odelusi
PC Stuart Paton
PCSO Gerald Baffoe-Bonnie
PCSO Sophie Wood
PCSO Julie Kirk

Write to them at: Jubilee House, 230 - 232 Putney Bridge Road, LondonSW15 2PD
Phone:020 8721 2434
Mobile: 07920 233924
Email the Thamesfield team


West Hill Team

Sgt Nigel Mussett
PC Glen Cheal
PC Mark Toulson
PCSO Daniel Taylor
PCSO Lisa Tyler
PCSO Laura Smith
PCSO Kirsteen McPhee
PCSO Andrew Morgan

Write to them at: 146 Wandsworth High Street, LondonSW18 4JJ
Phone: 020 8721 243
Mobile: 007920 233930
Email the West Hill team

Upcoming West Hill team meetings and events:

• 01/12/2007 - 12:00 - 14:00 - Drop-in Surgery - 26 Montfort Place SW19
• 05/01/2008 - 12:00 - 14:00 - Drop-in Surgery - 26 Montfort Place SW19

West Putney Team

Sgt Eric Ostrowski
PC Stuart Baggaley
PCSO Sharon Ellis
PCSO Michael Yates

Write to them at: Jubilee House, 230-232 Putney Bridge Road, LondonSW15 2PD
Phone: 020 8721 2760
Mobile: 07747 757590
Email the West Putney team

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.

Roehampton students' blood donors campaign

Students at Roehampton University have been campaigning in recent weeks for the antiquated and discriminatory ban on gay men being blood donors to be scrapped - a campaign I support.

This is a crazy ban that shouldn't have survived the dawn of the millennium. The NHS blood banks are hardly overwhelmed with donors; and from time to time, especially during the Winter, there are often reports that stocks are perilously low.

The National Blood Service argues that even with screening there is a small risk that infection may get through. But it is unjust and silly to assume that all homosexual blood will be infected while all heterosexual blood is safe; especially given that HIV infection (to name but one) is now proportionally higher in the heterosexual than the gay community.

All I know is that if a relative or friend of mine needed a blood transfusion, the only thing I'd care about was that the blood was safe. Whether it was donated by a man or woman, black or white, gay or straight is utterly immaterial. How the National Blood Service can believe different in this day and age is extraordinary.

Roehampton Community Justice Court

The first Community Justice Court anywhere in London has just opened its doors in Roehampton.

This is a major new way of dealing with what are classified as relatively minor crimes, but which cause disproportionate hurt, victimisation and upset to those affected.

For the first time, local criminals will be held to account locally for their crimes; with input from the community. Experience elsewhere in the country where this method of punishment has been trialled has shown that reoffending rates fall dramatically, not least because of the added responsibility of being judged locally and being held accountable by the community they've harmed.

Cases which will be dealt with by the court include harassment, theft, possession of drugs, breaches of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders, breaches of community orders, bail or drug treatment orders, failures to appear, fraud, Road Traffic Act offences, assault, criminal damage, assaults and domestic violence. The Community Justice court can bring back offenders to the court to review the progress of their community sentences, a power which they, uniquely, have.

I fully back pinoneering new initiative by the Labour Government like this - which on top of extra Police and the 44 Community Support Officers in Putney introduced by Labour since 2001 - really should tackle so-called low level crime in Roehampton. This scheme is also important in helping residents to sleep securely at night, because although crime in Roehampton is higher than the constituency as a whole, this community is nothing like the crime den some local politicians (who really should know better) seek to paint it as.

You can learn more about the Community Justice system here.

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.

The decline of Roehampton Village

Whenever regeneration of Roehampton is discussed, it's usually in reference to the Alton Estate. But Roehampton is more than just the Alton; this area has one of what I would describe as the last genuine villages within the bounds of Greater London.

Roehampton Village is incomparable to the Alton in terms of the affluence of most of its residents, but it is also a local shopping centre that boasts a diversity of shops. But recently that diversity has narrowed sharply.

In the past year or so, two of Roehampton's three pubs have closed (in itself no great loss as they were both causing problems for residents) which means that there are now only two in the whole of Roehampton. More recently, both of the village's flower shops have closed, as has Threshers: almost overnight, the parade of local shops at the foot of Medfield Street has gone from vibrant to nearly derelict. A delapidated house next door to The Angel pub was condemned over a year ago; that was the right decision but the council has just boarded it up and left it - I would advocate a compulsory purchase order and renovation.

There are some success stories - new businesses are trying to start up and the run-down terrace on Roehampton Lane between Ponsonby and Medfield Streets has been done up. But a lot of the new businesses that have opened in this area have closed fairly quickly and I genuinely believe that the village is now reaching a tipping point, with so many vacant properties as to risk a real decline from which it will struggle to recover.

I'm in politics because I'm an optimist - I don't believe that the village's problems are insurmountable or unavoidable. But I do think the council needs to remember the Village is part of Roehampton too, and not focus all it's efforts on the Alton, important though this is. What is lacking is local leadership - from the council, Roehampton's Conservative Councillors and the Tory MP. We need a can do, not a can't do attitude from the politicians; but it's just as important that Roehampton residents don't give up either: we can change things - but if anyone representing you tells you they can't, make sure you change them for those who can.

What price democracy?

The Council has been reviewing where it locates its polling stations on election days. This may sound like a seriously dull issue, but research has shown that the further away from a polling station someone lives, the less likely they are to bother to vote.

One of the areas where this problem is most starkly highlighted is in the northern part of Roehampton ward. This is the area that covers Priory Lane, the Lennox Estate and Woking Close. For residents in most of this patch they vote fairly locally at the Brookside Community Centre. But also included in this polling station's catchment area is the main Roehampton University campus in Roehampton Lane. From here, the distance to vote is well over a mile.

Now you may say - as the council does - that students are "active and mobile", so a mile hike is nothing. The problem is that it's off-putting enough that in the council elections last year a total of seven - that's seven students, not 7% - out of almost 800, decided to go to the trouble of walking it.

We can either take the view that it's just too bad or - my view - that we have to make a bigger effort to engage students so that they get a voting habit that will stay with them for life. That's why we in Labour argued for a new polling station in the Roehampton campus.

To my regret Council officers recommended rejecting this idea as "not cost-effective" (even though it's the government, not the council, that foots the bill of staging elections). So my question is: what price democracy? I hope that Councillors, who on all sides are genuinely concerned about engaging residents in the democratic process, will reconsider this issue and make voting much easier for Roehampton University students.

You can find out more about the review of polling stations here.

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.

Attending Roehampton's Police meeting

Last night I went along to a - disappointingly - poorly attended public meeting organised by the Roehampton Safer Neighbourhoods Police team. The Government now funds a team of 6 police officers responsible for beat patrolling in Roehampton.

Despite the low attendance, important local issues were discussed. In particular residents were angry with the council for its failure to deal with youths congregating in Danebury Avenue, mainly around the shops. Embarrassingly for the council it appears that new security doors were fitted a few months ago…but without any locks! According to residents the area's Tory councillors have known about this blunder for some time but done nothing. I’m making sure Labour councillors sort it out.

After the meeting I spoke to long-time Alton estate residents Mrs Millard and Mrs Armstrong (pictured), who were both critical of the delays and inaction they have experienced.

Roehampton regeneration

Tonight I went along to the latest public meeting on the potential redevelopment of the centre of the Alton Estate: the area around the top end of Danebury Avenue.

There is broad support for the principle of redeveloping these sites: there are surely very few who would argue that this area represents the best possible quality, use and image of Roehampton. But as with most things in politics, the devil is in the detail.

There are very real concerns across the political divide about the viability of these plans. The last thing that Roehampton needs is another unfulfilled promise: too many have been broken.

Alongside the plans to provide more retail space and more recreational opportunities, the Council also wants to demolish a lot of homes and to replace them with private homes for sale. Needless to say, the residents aren't happy about the prospect of displacement and don't believe they'll ever return to this area once forced out.

657 residents have signed a petition expressing their concerns. The Council must give cast iron guarantees that everyone who lives in homes under threat of demolition and who wants to return to a council-managed property in this redevelopment shall be able to. I give those residents my personal pledge that I stand with them in their campaign.

There is also a desperate need for:

* A bank (and/or a Credit Union) in the area where people can access their cash without paying through the nose for the privilege.
* A new health centre (and, ideally, dentist) for the estate is ideal.
* A more prominent, better staffed Police station.
The Boys Club must be found a new home if it cannot be rehoused where it is now on a rebuilt site
*And while a "blue-riband" retailer like Sainsbury's or Waitrose being brought to the area is a good idea there are real concerns that it shouldn't be too big (parking and access is a major consideration here) and that it shouldn't drive out smaller retailers - one of the nice thing about the existing shops is the diversity of local traders here.

None of this is easy. Unfortunately, Roehampton's councillors promised much but have provided no leadership: only one of them could be bothered to attend tonight. Likewise, Justine Greening seems content to take a backseat in the hope it just comes together through hope alone. If leadership is not provided this project will fail - that much is clear already, as the council is already starting to compromise and auction-off aspects of the plan.

Roehampton has been leaderless for too long. There is a huge potential here. But potential not realised equals neglect. Roehampton has been neglected too long by its Conservative representatives.