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Although no longer part of my council brief (and of such importance that it was mainly the leader’s baby anyway) I’m still incredibly excited by the potential in Nine Elms.

While the Power Station and New Covent Market have been in the pipeline – sometimes seemingly stuck – for many years, the really exciting development recently was the decision by the US Embassy to relocate there.

The US press attaché, Philip Breedon, is delivering a talk tonight at Battersea Park library (at 7:30pm) about why they chose Nine Elms, as well as how the embassy design was chosen and how it will be constructed. I’m sure it will be a fascinating insight into a decision that was a real boost to Wandsworth and east Battersea.

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The latest figures (which I’ve been a bit slow in posting) show a drop in claims for Jobseekers Allowance in Wandsworth.

While there are still nearly 3,000 more people (2,902 to be precise) claiming JSA than before the recession and 545 more than this time last year, the number has dropped by 181 (2.7%) since last month.

Of course the impact of the recession is likely to be long lasting; the impact on long-term unemployment is only just starting to show through and many have predicted a jobless recovering in which businesses recover but do not replace the staff they lost but at the moment is seems the rises in Wandsworth have stopped.

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Tomorrow sees the start of summer – in Battersea Square at least.

Nigella Lawson will be kicking off the Summer in the Square event at 11am and the event will include a farmers market, crafts and entertainment (including stilt-walkers and jugglers).

Although my days responsible for regeneration and economic development may be coming to an end, these sort of events show how the council can be at its best helping others to do things, rather than trying to do everything itself – working in partnership to provide the help and support that allow businesses and communities to organise events that help themselves and the area. And also an example (if you forgive the politics) of the ‘Big Society’, albeit one that pre-dates the Conservative manifesto, as it’s all being done by the Friends of Battersea Square.

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I went along to a new nursery/office space in Wandsworth this morning (not on any official capacity, but because we’re thinking of using it). The company, Third Door, operate a flexible nursery with attached office space so people who work from home but don’t want to put their child in a regular nursery spot have somewhere they can go for a couple of hours.

A few months ago it would have been a godsend for me, while I was having to wedge huge amounts of work (lots of it on the phone) in between demands to hear about Igglepiggle getting lost and then finding his way back again.

But this isn’t just an infomercial; Third Door brought home to me one of the things I really like about Wandsworth. And that’s the businesses. Some of them are incredibly innovative, like Third Door, but all of them contribute to the success of the local economy and borough as a whole.

I am between portfolios on the council at the moment (legally all executive positions ceased with the new council last Monday and can’t be recreated until the annual council meeting next week) but was incredibly lucky to hold the portfolio I did for the past four years. Much of my blogging has, I think, concentrated on the community safety and crime element, but that is not a reflection of the importance of the council’s economic development role.

There is a strong small business aspect to Wandsworth. Small businesses make up over 9 in 10 of the businesses in Wandsworth and there are an estimated 25,000 self-employed people in the borough. It has, perhaps, been a failing of mine not to spend more time on business related issues in the blog. But while you are out and about, or even surfing the net, keep an eye open for the huge numbers of small businesses, often based above retail parades or operating from a house down your road, that are creating wealth and jobs in the local economy.

And if you are one of those businesses, I hope you are getting the support, help and advice you need from the council’s economic development office. If not, let me know.

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It isn’t unemployment, of course, because those figures aren’t available for months on a borough level, but claims for Jobseekers’ Allowance, the main benefit available to the unemployed, fell (very slightly) in Wandsworth in March despite the national increase in unemployment.

Over the course of the year from March 2009 to March 2010 there were an extra 935 claims for JSA (a rise of 15.9%). The drop for the month was 17 (-0.2%).

Comparing claims over the course of the year is a little meaningless now, since the recession lasted so long the comparison is recession with marginally post-recession figures. Taking the figures over the course of the recession (from the beginning of 2008):

JSA claims have risen by 3,083 (or 82.4%) in this period.

What is interesting, at least in Wandsworth, is that the JSA claim figure seems to have plateaued since January. If you believe that the dip in November and December was seasonal (people taking on jobs for Christmas) you could argue that the plateau has lasted since October which fits in with the speculation that there will be a “jobless recovery” in which jobs lost in the recession won’t be recreated in the recovery.

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The currently anonymous Il Molino on Lavender Hill

Ages ago (six months, to be precise) I rather gloatingly posted about a victory against the slow spread of estate agents on Lavender Hill with a change of use planning application to turn We’re Moving into a café. While I’m often not great at updating stories on here I’ve been watching the site closely over the past few months and had been fearing that I had somehow cursed them.

But no, over the Easter weekend Il Molino finally opened, with little fanfare and, to be honest, not that much to suggest they are open! They are still lacking a sign advising people of their name, but they do have a few tables outside – a little ambitiously today, I think – and are serving excellent coffee and cakes.

They’re well worth a visit – you can find them on the corner of Lavender Hill and Thirsk Road.

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I recognise that reports of meetings I attended are dull. Frankly, they are dull for me. Last night’s full council was a classic example of why.

I have a lot of time for the Labour Party in Wandsworth, I think they have provided some good opposition to the council, but actually, that’s mainly come from their leader, Tony Belton. Without him, I don’t think there’s any doubt they would not be much of a force. Last night’s debates largely proved this.

At the previous council meeting (which was only to set the council tax) their arguments were “Yeah, Lord Ashcroft”. Nothing to do with the council, and nothing to do with council tax setting. Last night, they developed a new line of attack: “Yeah, Mark Clarke.”

Rather than debating council policy they spent more time trying to attack a Conservative Parliamentary candidate than anything else. A sign, perhaps, that they are worried about the Tooting seat?

We did try and debate Tooting. Sadly Rex Osborn, a Tooting councillor, could offer nothing better than saying everything good in Tooting was because of the residents and businesses, and everything bad because of the council. Our problem, it seems, was that we are too heavy handed with enforcement, except when we aren’t because then we should be heavier. And we don’t have any vision, because if we did, we’d be encouraging more people to go to the bingo hall. And we’re not clairvoyant, because he had photos of problems which we subsequently had to clear up.

And that was the corker. Like a Liberal Democrat on Glum Councillors he had a series of photos where rubbish had been dumped or the pavement blocked, which the council had to clear up. The complaint was not that the council didn’t clear the problems, but that the problems existed in the first place – and here he conveniently forgot the residents and businesses good, council bad line. Perhaps hoping we’d all think the council has been dumping mattresses or re-arranging shop displays.

I’ve repeatedly said that the real strength of Tooting Together is the together element. We clearly rely on residents and businesses to keep pavements clear and not to litter or flytip – but when the minority (and it is a small minority) step out of line we will act quickly to rectify the situation. To try and spin the whole thing in the way Labour did shows they are out of ideas at exactly the time they need them.

If that is the best Labour have to offer, it can hardly be a surprise that they are worried about losing to the Conservatives, and maybe even to the pothole pointers of the Liberal Democrats.

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I suppose I should be honoured to be deemed noteworthy enough to appear in an April’s Fool ‘joke’, even if it is only Third Sector.

In an article bylined by ‘May Dupp’ they reveal that a street fundraising ban unites main parties and I’m quoted as saying what good news a ban would be. Not the best April Fools joke ever – but good to see they are thinking of me!

Meanwhile, the temporary ban on chugging in Tooting Broadway remains while we try and talk with the Professional Fundraising Regulatory Association (PFRA). Theoretically there shouldn’t be any chugging there at all, although we know the agencies ignore this from time to time. The main sticking point in the discussions is a fairly fundamental difference of opinion over what licensing means – the PFRA believe it means the council rubber stamps their applications to chug, the council believes that it means assessing applications on their own merits and against council policy.

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When I did my presentation for BATCA (which I’ve embedded again below) last week I commented that I felt one of the best things to come out of it was the the time-banded waste collection – a remarkably simple idea that has had a huge impact on the cleanliness of the streets.

The idea is mind-numbingly simple – it’s effectively waste collection by appointment. Businesses can only leave waste out during specific time bands during the day, one during the day and one during the night. While this might seem a small thing, it means waste isn’t littering the streets waiting to be collected. Aside from the detriment to the look of an area, having waste out, however tidily bagged, tends to attract other waste – you’ll often find small piles of litter placed their by pedestrians who assume that it will be collected along with the rest (sadly, it usually isn’t, because the waste is collected by a business contractor, not the council).

I’m not the only one who admires the idea for its simplicity, it was highly commended for innovation by Keep Britain Tidy last week. The idea has already been replicated in Balham, and is being rolled out in Clapham Junction this summer. Congratulations to everyone in the council’s waste department who worked on making it a success, it may be a simple thing, but it will make a huge difference in the town centres as it is spread across the borough.