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I'm a councillor in the London Borough of Wandsworth; this blog mainly covers that, sometimes general politics and policy and occasionally anything else that takes my fancy.
Category Archives: Regeneration
Golfrate: a landlord with no interest in Lavender Hill?
Steve Jobs once expressed frustration that Barack Obama focused on the reasons why things can’t get done instead of just doing them. Part of the problem may be that he doesn’t have as much power as people think. And this is true of all politicians; right down to the humble councillor. The idea that there
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Tagged Golfrate, Lavender Hill, Party Superstore, riots
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Kinghan report published
Neil Kinghan’s report in the looting at Clapham Junction (and elsewhere) was published today. It is, by necessity, not an in-depth look into the riots, they causes and consequences, but instead a first look: trying to show what happened and draw out some key recommendations. And it is, by the nature of the process, a
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Also posted in Business, Community Safety
Tagged Clapham Junction, disorder, Neil Kinghan, riots
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Work starts in Nine Elms
Before yesterday I’d never been to a ground-breaking. And never really understood them, it seemed an attempt to attach symbolism to an other arbitrary part of a process. But yesterday’s was different. For a start Boris Johnson was doing the ground-breaking, and it’s always worth listening to him speak: and he was as entertaining as
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Tagged Battersea, Nine Elms, Power Station, Riverlight
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SW11 Literary Festival
This year’s SW11 Literary Festival launched at the Bellevue Pub on Battersea High Street earlier this week. The theme for the year is Monsters: which might be offensive to some of the more genteel authors on the programme, but is all good fun. The festival runs from 17 September until 3 October (you can download
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And now: shop in Clapham Junction
Going through Clapham Junction is surreal experience. I went along it early on Tuesday morning and for a large part of it you would be hard pressed to know anything had happened. The council, businesses and some fleet-of-foot glaziers had tidied up so well it was business as normal for most. Even the cordoned off area
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Tagged Clapham Junction, riots, shop local
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It’s today and tomorrow, not last night, that count
Like every other decent person I was following what was happening in Clapham Junction and elsewhere last night with horror. But while there has been and will be plenty written about last night (including, I suspect by me) I know that what is really important is not what happened in Clapham Junction last night –
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Also posted in Community Safety, Shaftesbury
Tagged #riotcleanup, Clapham Junction, riots
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New Covent Garden Market
Although nothing like as closely involved in the developments in Nine Elms as I was (and even then it was such a big project I was only tangentially involved) the development continues apace: the Tideway site was recently given planning permission and the Secretary of State recently approved the plans for Battersea Power Station. One
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Wandsworth JSA claims in December
Despite the national increase in unemployment there was a small drop in JSA claims in Wandsworth last month, down 39 from November to 6,016 (a drop of 0.64%) and down 578 from the previous year (a drop of 8.77%). Not a huge fall, but better than the drop of one in November and in the
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Tagged Jobseekers Allowance, JSA, Unemployment
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Unemployment claims in Wandsworth
Almost no change in Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) claims in the borough for November! In October there were 6,056 claims, in November 6,055 (a change of just -0.02%). The year-on-year change is a little happier, it’s a drop of 586 (-8.82%) from this time in 2009. The longer term impact of the recession is clear, the
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Wandsworth JSA claims
Another small drop in JSA claims in Wandsworth, and couldn’t be much smaller. Just 14 (0.23%) fewer claims than the previous month bring the total to 6,056. But still a decent drop over the course of a year, 757 (11.11%) fewer than this time in 2009. During the week I heard a few people downplaying
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