Tag Archives: Economy
More recession workshops
The council are running two more ‘recession workshops’ for local businesses. The first is tonight (Wednesday 29 April) for businesses based in Wandsworth, Earlsfield and Southfields. It is being held at Blend, 111-113 Wandsworth High Street at 7pm. Attendees will be lucky enough to hear me speak on the council’s reponse. The second is tomorrow [...]
Wandsworth Jobseekers Allowance claims go up by more than a half
With the Chancellor about to start his budget speech unemployment continues to climb. Nationally 2.1 million people are claiming Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) with nearly 6,000 of those in Wandsworth. In total 5,889 people are claiming JSA, 2.9% of the Wandsworth population. We continue to be in a better position than the national and London averages, [...]
Wandsworth unemployment claims up by over 13%
Unemployment claims nationally have hit 2,000,000 and if you follow this blog you’ll know I regularly report the JobSeeker’s Allowance JSA claims for Wandsworth. The figures for February were released yesterday and showed a 13.6% jump from January. The increase means I’ve had to change the scale on the graph I was using (which only [...]
Beating the recession in Balham
I’ve written several times about Balham on this blog, largely the negative news surrounding the closures of Woolworths and Marks and Spencers. This time I get to be a little more positive and flag up the council’s ‘Beat the Credit Crunch’ seminar taking place tomorrow (Wednesday 18th March). The seminar is one in a series [...]
Wandsworth’s recession-beating package
There is a bit of a fashion for things like Recovery.gov and realhelpnow.gov.uk (although the latter apparently only includes Labour Party ‘help’) and I wonder whether I should offer recovery.jamescousins.com. While the council hasn’t developed a nifty front-end it has put together a substantial package of help and assistance for the borough’s residents and businesses [...]
Wandsworth Jobseekers’ Allowance claims climb higher
The January figures of Jobseekers Allowance claims have continued to rise. January’s figures show an increase of 168 for the month, 1,082 for the year. It’s a fairly significant increase, although less than the previous month. It’s worth bearing in mind that this is a total of Jobseekers Allowance claimants, those people who have registered [...]
Balham M&S definitely closing
Marks and Spencer have confirmed their decision to close their Balham Simply Food store. The store, which has been open for nearly six years, will close on 19 March. I know this is going to be a big disappointment to many Balham residents. And is a big disappointment to me, Balham is a Town Centre [...]
Why do I feel sorry for Gordon?
We’re officially in recession, with a second quarter of ‘negative growth’, although we’ve gone three quarters without any growth. Unemployment is rising, so is crime, and house values are falling almost as quickly as high street names. So why is it, as a Conservative, I sorry for Gordon Brown? It is an odd feeling. But [...]
Why are Marks and Spencer leaving Balham?
The closure of Balham’s Marks and Spencer has left a lot of local residents puzzled about why M&S have decided to axe what is seemingly a busy and successful store. And I’m puzzled too. We all know that the country is effectively in recession. We know that businesses will be feeling the pinch. But, [...]
Fighting the recession in Wandsworth
Last Wednesday’s Regeneration and Community Safety Overview and Scrutiny Committee was the first in the ‘new’ format in which the focus moves from each meeting to a different part of the portfolio. This time it was the turn of regeneration and, not surprisingly, the recession took up a large part of the meeting. It is [...]
