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So the government have given the go-ahead to the 3rd runway, not good news for those in the north of the borough who will face more disturbance as a result.

Now, I must confess that I have changed my opinion on this.  Up until a few years ago I really couldn’t understand the fuss about Heathrow.  I had chosen to live in London, and one of the things you accept about living in a big city is the noise, but over the years I’ve come to realise that not only is the Heathrow flightpath having a huge effect, but that it has slowly become worse and worse.

If you follow me on Twitter you will have seen an exasperated early morning tweet:

Damn those early morning arrivals at Heathrow – I want another hour asleep!

Although written at 6.14am, it followed a couple of hours of the incessant drone of engines, approaching then fading, then realising that the fading engine noise is actually the next plane.  (That this followed a sleepless night with an unsettled baby just compounded my frustration.)

It is a difficult subject to tackle, and I’m aware of the risk of seeming to be a NIMBY politician, but the government is railroading a decision without consideration of the alternatives.

We could expand existing airports.  My council colleague, Nick Cuff, has written a thoughtful article – ‘There are alternatives to expanding Heathrow’ – on the ConservativeHome website detailing some of the smaller airports in the south-east that already have expansion plans and could accommodate increased air-traffic.

We could invest in high-speed rail.  The 2M Group, of which Wandsworth Council is a member, published a report on how a high speed rail network could connect the UK to many European cities in under four hours (good when you consider the time wasted at airports in addition to flight times)

Or we could take the radical option of building an airport that is actually designed to be a good modern airport, rather than one that has evolved since the 1930s.  Apparently, one of the reasons the car-parking is so far from the terminals is that originally it was assumed passengers would be chaffeur driven and wouldn’t need to park nearby.

Boris Johnson has suggested that the best solution would be a new airport in the Thames Estuary (with most flights over water and therefore not causing the disruption we currently suffer), that could be designed to meet the demands of modern air-travel and modern passengers.  Sadly, it seems no-one in the government has his foresight.

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Clapham Junction
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.

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Trees do a lot to make our streets look greener and more pleasant, unfortunately, like all living things they don’t last forever and sometimes the council has to remove them.

Trees in the following eight locations in the ward will be removed shortly (with the reason for removal):

Brassey Square – opposite number 17 (root rotting fungus)
Elsley Road – outside 14 (tree is dead), outside 76 (extensive decay)
Eversleigh Road – outside 203 (tree is leaning into, and obstructing, the road)
Grayshott Road – outside 109 (tree is 60% dead)
Holden Street – outside 62 (root rotting fungus), outside 46 (dead sapling)
Sabine Road – outside 122 (root rotting fungus)
Town Hall Road – outside 1 (tree is 60% dead)

Where possible a replacement sapling will be planted in the next planing season – unfortunately that isn’t until November.

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Tooting High StreetUpper Tooting Road

Last night I attended a meeting of the St John’s Hill traders to discuss the use of A-boards on the street outside their shops.  It is fair to say that the council’s enforcement of this had put a few backs up, not just there, but also on my own ward on Lavender Hill.

As with so many things, it is a balancing act, the council has to consider the needs of residents, some of whom may have accessibility issues and need to have clear pavements as well as the needs of businesses who want to advertise their businesses to the passing trade.  I would throw in a third consideration, that allowing businesses to display outside their store actually enhances the look of the street.

And of course what’s right for St John’s Hill is not necessary right for the rest of the borough.  We have a real problem in Tooting, especially places like Upper Tooting Road where pedestrians are forced to compete for narrow pavement with overflowing shop displays and illegal traders.

However, the compromise that council officers are proposing seems sensible and workable, allowing shops to use and enhance the pavement while also ensuring a minimum clearance so pedestrians can use the street without having to weave around obstacles.  The basic plan allows displays directly outside the shop, and requires a minimum 2 metres clearance on the pavement – so the narrow pavements of Tooting won’t be overcrowded and the wide streets of Lavender Hill and St John’s Hill won’t be barren.

Obviously nothing’s perfect, and this will have be reviewed once in place to make sure there are no anomalies, but the response of the St John’s Hill traders was uniformly positive, and hopefully everyone will be happy with the outcome.

The new enforcement protocol will come into force next month after going through the council’s Planning and Transport Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Executive.

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There is going to be another gap until I can start publishing crime maps again.

The crime briefings that are used to produce the maps are created from data given to the council’s Community Safety Division by the police.  The Community Safety Division ‘sanitises’ the data to ensure that personal information does not get into the public domain.  It is important that victims are not identified in them.

Both the council and the police take the security of the data very seriously, and while there has not been a problem with the process they’ve decided to halt until a secure communication channel can be set-up.  Work is in progress on this, and will be completed within the next week or two.

In the meantime you can have a look at the Met’s crime maps.  I think these are still far from perfect (you can read why in a previous post) and it’s highly likely all you’ll discover is that crime is ‘average’ – but they are better than nothing.

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  • Q for local gov types, in 140 chars or less: what is the most important thing a cllr should know/do about community leadership & engagement? #
  • RT: In 140 chars or less: what is the most important thing a cllr should know/do about community leadership & engagement? in reply to jamescousins #
  • Tooting, Earlsfield and Furzedown crime briefing/mapping online:
    http://tinyurl.com/9d88fr #
  • I’m now second on Google for ‘Dignity by Dev Alahan’! I’m tweeting ‘handsome and intelligent councillor’ in hope of a similar effect. #
  • I need to celebrate, ‘Dignity by Dev Alahan’ has got me to number one in the Google charts! http://is.gd/eE1E #
  • It’s sad, if not that surprising, to discover the Wandsworth Borough News is no more: http://bit.ly/q6pG #
  • I’m mourning Wedgwood’s passing http://is.gd/eG6L #
  • I’ve shaved the beard I grew over Christmas. Consequences? I feel less of a man, think I look about 12 and am covered in shaving cuts. #
  • Even derelict I think Battersea Power Station is a fantastic building. http://twitpic.com/106cv #
  • Heading out of London to do some IDeA peer work on engagement. Any words of wisdom anyone would like to offer? #
  • Sights you don’t want to see when it’s -10 and 20 minutes to the next train… all the station buildings closed! http://twitpic.com/109ng #
  • Preparing for Regeneration and Community Safety scrutiny tonight. Very timely with the closure of Balham’s M&S. #
  • My tribute to the dearly departed Wandsworth Borough News: http://is.gd/eN0a #
  • MUST. RESIST. URGE. TO. TWEET. MEETING. #
  • Fascinating meeting at Town Hall, Lots of interesting discussion about the recession, its impact and what we’re doing to fight it… #
  • …just can’t help feeling angry at Labour though, they seem to put politics ahead of regenerating Roehampton. Real poverty of ambition. #
  • Congratulations to @JamesCleverly on his appointment as Mayor’s young people ambassador. #
  • It seems today, nobody can hear you tweet. #
  • Or at least, if they do hear, it’s about an hour and a half later. #
  • Is Twitter behaving itself today? #
  • Heading out to spend vouchers from Christmas before the stores go bust. #
  • Some of what we’re doing to fight the recession in Wandsworth http://is.gd/eXZv #
  • Wow, at what point in my life did I decide delivering leaflets in brass monkeys weather was my calling? #
  • Best part of four hours engagement with brass monkeys. Now for some engagement with a couple of pints. #
  • Warm house. Comfy Sofa. Lakeside world darts on telly. What else could I possibly need? #
  • Even Eurovision has spawned an X Factor style voting show. Is nothing sacred? Eurovision should be about talent and music, not reality TV. #
  • I’m amazed Karl Rove is not only on Twitter, but actually using it and engaging @KarlRoveChannel – Alistair Campbell next? #
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Northcote Road market
Northcote Road market

I have already blogged about our Northcote Road plans so was pleased that these were agreed at the Regeneration and Community Safety OSC on Wednesday night.

Peter Dawson, one of the Northcote Councillors, attended the meeting and spoke in support of the plans.  Peter has been involved right from the start – standing up for the Northcote Road traders and doggedly pushing officers and me to come up with a good scheme for the road.  He deserves a lot of credit for the work he has done over the past two years.

The action plan seeks to protect Northcote Road as one of London’s special places and will look at de-cluttering the street, expanding the market, holding special markets and events as well as providing help to businesses and lobbying TfL to improve the awful junction with Battersea Rise.  Hopefully, we can create a vibrant street that can win the fight against the spread of mobile phone and coffee shops.

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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 difficult to get the tone right when talking about the recession. While I don’t want to make the mistake same mistake as Gordon Brown of pretending that Britain would never have bad times I also don’t want to make the situation in Wandsworth seem worse than it is.

The simple fact is that Wandsworth is not immune and will be hurt by the recession, and while there’s good reason to believe we won’t be as hard-hit as other other areas, we need to take what measures we can to help residents and businesses.

At the meeting some specific measures were approved by the committee.

Employment Support for Young Black Men
Unemployment amongst you black men is disproportionately high, and we have appointed Talent to work with clients to overcome the most common difficulties they face in getting jobs. You can read more in the council’s press release or the report considered by the committee.

‘Best Buy’ Wandsworth
The council constantly promotes Wandsworth to businesses and potential investors – as a borough and a specific areas. I have great pride in seeing the sterling work undertaken by the Town Centre managers of Balham, Clapham Junction, Putney, Tooting and Wandsworth in developing and promoting their areas. The programme of promotion will continue to highlight the town centres as part of the ‘Best Buy’ but will also start promoting other areas in Wandsworth.

Nine Elms
The Nine Elms area represents the largest potential development area in inner London and it got a real boost with the announcement that the American Embassy will be moving there. The council will continue to promote the area to create more jobs and homes.

Roehampton
Roehampton suffers the borough’s highest rate of unemployment and is currently the focus of a major regeneration scheme. This is reliant on attracting a private sector partner, which will be hard in the current climate.

The Wandle Valley
The Wandle Valley covers several boroughs, and there is a scheme to create a Wandle Valley Regional Park and this will provide an opportunity to promote the business and investment opportunities along the river.

The scheme will have several elements (you can read more in the report) but the main purpose will be to sell Wandsworth as a destination for business and leisure. However hard the recession is, and however long it lasts, when people start thinking about investment again, we want Wandsworth to be top of their list.

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James CleverlyJames Cleverly

Congratulations to James Cleverly on his appointment as the Mayor’s new Ambassador for Young People.

In his role as ambassador James will act as champion for young people across London and he is in a unique position to do that – he is on the London Development Agency board, a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, he’s obviously on the Greater London Assembly and has the ear of Boris, who appointed him.

James is largely south-east London based, so I’ve only come across him infrequently, but each time I have met him I’ve been impressed.  He’s a hard-working, dedicated and thoughtful politician.  I have no doubt that he will bring his energy and talent to the role and be a great champion for young people across London on the GLA.