The winner? The iconic Power Station building in Nine Elms

The council is starting its formal consultation on the Battersea Power Station planning application and, to coincide with this, Treasury Holdings are holding another public exhibition this Thursday (between noon and 8pm), Friday (from 10am to 6pm) and Saturday (from 10am until 5pm).

The Power Station is a key part of the regeneration of Nine Elms. There is no getting away from the number of false starts over the years, but this – hopefully – is the beginning of the formal process that will see the site brought into public use. If you have an interest in how Nine Elms is going to start to develop over the coming years it’ll be well worth going along.

It takes place on the site, which can be accessed from Kirtling Street just off Battersea Park Road.

Category: Regeneration Tags: Battersea Power Station, consultation, Nine Elms, Power Station, Treasury.
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Over the past few months I’ve been developing this blog as a way to communicate with residents, to let you know what I am thinking, what I’m doing on your behalf, and to highlight issues in which you might be interested.

But now I want to ask, what do you want from this blog and from me, as a councillor? (more…)

Category: Blogging Tags: Community, consultation, engagement.
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I’m currently putting the finishing touches to my presentation for tonight’s public meeting on our community safety priorities for the year.

I’m told that, from the acceptances we’ve received so far, the venue is nearing capacity and we may have to open up the public gallery as an overflow!

However, if you are interested in finding out and influencing what the council, police, probation service and other partners have as their priorities for the year then come along tonight, we should be able to squeeze you in!

The annual ‘Face the Public’ meeting is being held in the Council Chamber at the Town Hall on Wandsworth High Street.  It starts at 6pm and should last no longer than 90 minutes.

UPDATE: The venue has now been moved.  The meeting will be in the Civic Suite, still on Wandsworth High Street.  Police Cadets are helping with the organisation and will be able to point you in the right direction.

Category: Community Safety Tags: consultation, crime, partnership, police, priorities, public meeting.
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The latest crime figures show crime continues to fall in Wandsworth, and that it remains the safest inner London borough – there’s been a 6.9% drop in overall crime in the past year.

But what next?

One of the things the council, along with the police and other partners, have been working on recently has been the strategic priorities.  Part of this process is a public meeting, where we present the ‘draft’ priorities and members of the public can let us know what they think and their concerns.

The ‘Face the Public’ meeting is being held at 6pm on Thursday, 19 February, in the council chamber at the Town Hall.  The meeting should last no longer than 90 minutes.

If you are interested in your borough, and what is done to make it safer, come along and talk to us.

Category: Community Safety Tags: consultation, crime, police, PSG, public meeting, safety, strategic priorities.
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Clapham Junction

Many may find it odd that this blog doesn’t contain a single mention of the Clapham Junction planning application, often referred to as the ‘twin towers’.  How can a councillor whose ward is right next to the area concerned not say a word about one of the biggest planning applications Wandsworth (and even London) has seen?

The simple answer is that I can’t say a word about it. Nada, nothing, zilch.

However, since I have had several emails about the scheme, I thought it might be worth setting out rules on this, since they don’t just affect me, but affect all councillors.  I must stress that nothing here should be interpreted as offering any opinion, either positive or negative, on the Clapham Junction planning application – nor, indeed, on any other application, past, present or future.

The application process
A common question is ‘how can the council even consider this application?’ The answer is that we have to consider every valid planning application and does not mean it is being viewed favourably or unfavourably.  The only conclusion that can be drawn is that the council has received a valid application.

This applies regardless of the size, so if you wanted to extend your house and made a proper application it has to go through the full consideration process.  If someone wants to build some towers, it has to go through the full consideration process.

A ‘tall buildings’ policy?
The council does not have a blanket tall buildings policy, instead the council considers what is appropriate for each area.  There are some very good reasons for this.

First, appropriate height is going to be different from area to area.  A tall office block might not look out of place on Upper Richmond Road, which already has several office buildings.  It would look downright unsightly in an area of two-storey houses.

Second, setting an arbitrary limit would probably just encourage developers to build to that limit.  If we set a height of 12 storeys I suspect pretty much every application would be 12 storeys as developers strive to maximise profits.

And you can’t say anything because…?
The reason councillors cannot comment on applications is something called ‘pre-determination’.  If I were to express a view, it could be said that I had already made up my mind without regard to the merits or otherwise of an application.  This would leave any decision open to legal challenge.

Instead, councillors have to demonstrate they approached the decision with an open mind and considered the application and representations fairly.  This is especially the case with a major planning application that might end up being discussed at a full council meeting.

Personally, I think the rules on pre-determination are a nonsense, since it effectively bars elected representatives from representing their residents in cases like this.  However, since they do exist I feel my role as a councillor is best served by retaining my right to vote than by commenting before the decision process has fully begun.

Category: Wandsworth Tags: Clapham Junction, consultation, planning, public meeting, town centres.
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Last night’s Regeneration and Community Safety Overview and Scrutiny Committee was something of a blast from the past, since the Labour Party spent a lot of time presenting a paper prepared by Stuart King.  Stuart was a councillor in Wandsworth from 1998 until 2006 when he lost his seat.  He was also the Labour group leader and served on a lot of the same committees as me before his defeat.

Stuart’s latest hobby has been representing the Labour party in Putney, and as part of this he has, as is his right, been campaigning against our plans to create employment, quality housing and businesses and a pleasant environment in Roehampton.

The Labour group brought one of his misleading surveys to the committee last night.  Despite admitting that the council had conducted extensive consultation in the area and that King’s report could be said to be biased they suggested the council should spend more money to ask people, for the fourth time, what they thought.

In fact, I think it represents a total failure of the Labour group to provide community leadership.  It’s the fourth different position they have taken in four meetings.  First of all they supported regeneration.  Then they weren’t sure.  Then they opposed it.  Now they want to ask people what they should think.

What leaves me most disappointed is Tony Belton’s stance, since it seems his group is now, rather than serving the Wandsworth community, just dancing to Stuart King’s tune.

Roehampton has the borough’s highest unemployment rate.  It has higher than average crime.  It has a disproportionately high take up of non-work related benefits like incapacity and lone parent benefits.  It is badly served by public transport, so people face difficult journeys to work or learn.  Hence the scheme, designed to create employment in a refreshed centre at Danebury Avenue and Roehampton Lane.

It is one of the few times I have really been saddened by Wandsworth politics.  The political groups will always have different solutions to problems, but this is one time when Labour have shown a poverty of ambition and, in doing so, seek to remove the hope of Roehampton and Alton Estate residents.

Category: Regeneration Tags: consultation, crime, Labour, Putney, RCS OSC, Roehampton, Stuart King, Unemployment.
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The council is currently reviewing all the borough’s conservation areas and it’s now the turn of the Shaftesbury Park Estate Conservation Area which covers a large part of Shaftesbury ward.

I should declare an interest because I live on the Shaftesbury Park Estate, and what attracted me was the unique nature of the area – which is largely due to the conservation area.

If you live on the estate it’s well worth contributing your views to how the estate should develop in the future.  There’s a public meeting scheduled for Thursday 11 December (which I unfortunately can’t attend) at 7pm in Shaftesbury Park School or you can email your comments to Justine Page (jpage@wandsworth.gov.uk).

My personal bug bear are satellite dishes on the fronts of houses (rather than above the gutters or on the chimneys where they are much less obtrusive) which seem totally out of place on the front of Victorian terraces – although again I must declare an interest because I do have dish, even if it’s largely out of sight on the roof.

There’s more on the council’s website, which has a section dedicated to the conservation areas, and is well worth a read if only for the interesting history and background to the areas.

Category: Shaftesbury Tags: Conservation Area, consultation, planning, public meeting, Shaftesbury, Shaftesbury Park Estate.
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