The parkrun logo

Earlier this week saw the launch of a petition to bring a weekly parkrun to Wandsworth, and having written a blog post disagreeing with the Formula E proposals I might as well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb and say this is another bit of council policy with which I disagree.

Parkrun is a weekly five kilometre run, measured, timed and run by local volunteers so it is free to enter. There are currently 289 weekly parkrun events around the country.

I did try to help a few people (including those behind the petition) who wanted a parkrun in the borough. Unfortunately I drew the same blank as they did, the council would not allow an event without payment of a licence fee. I did wonder if there might be a creative way around the fee issue, perhaps finding someone who could fund it. Unfortunately parkrun themselves were opposed to this, a similar situation happens elsewhere and is often cited to them as a precedent. Their fear (a reasonable one, based on experience) is that aside from the sustainability of a parkrun that needs annual funding, is that extending the precedent reduces the chances of new parkruns being established and could jeopardise those already in place.

My intervention, therefore, only resulted in the continuation of a stalemate. Both sides were probably better informed, but it was a stalemate nonetheless.

The petition, then, can be seen as a last attempt to persuade the council of the demand for an event in the borough. Yet even without that I think there are compelling reasons for a parkrun.

You might think parkrun is something of an exclusive event, a freebie for runners who, frankly, don’t really need an organised run to go out and do a 5k. In fact parkrun is attractive to non-runners and helps increase overall levels of activity, a study in the Journal of Public Health found the majority of registrants were not regular runners, a third were overweight or obese and that it attracts more people from older age groups who, generally, are less active. The study also found participants reported positive outcomes to their physical and mental health, weight loss and sense of community.

I know the council needs to maximise revenue and minimise its expenditure. As a councillor it’s impossible to avoid the simple fact that there isn’t as much money as there was. I’m also fully aware that one of Wandsworth’s strongest features is the rigour it brings to financial management: it watches every penny.

But sometimes that means the balance sheet wins because it’s hard to put a price tag on common sense. I think this is one of those occasions. The council may forgo a £600 or so a year in licensing fees (though I’m not aware of any other event like parkrun who would pay it), but the benefits to the wider community far outweigh £600.

I’d love to see a parkrun in Wandsworth. If you’re a Wandsworth resident (the organisers are keen to keep the signatures local, they’ve turned down celebrity endorsements to do that) please consider signing too.

The finish of the Beijing Formula E race

Tonight the Community Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee will approve plans to agree, in principle, to running a Formula E race in Battersea Park starting the process of formal approval at full council and planning consent next year.

It’s a process I’ve been watching for a while. Indeed, when I first heard of it over a year ago I was a supporter of exploring the idea. Wiser colleagues were not, sensing the disruption and risk to the park was too much; but I felt the initial offer seemed suspiciously ’round’ (if I recall the Formula E proposal was £250,000 with four weeks of setting up and dismantling). Perhaps, I conjectured, if pushed they may offer more or be able to get in and out more quickly and if that was the case, we might get a stage at which both we and the Friends of Battersea Park think the benefits outweigh the inconvenience.

I’ve obviously not been a witness to the developments since May but it would seem there has been movement, I don’t know if it’s more cash, less set-up time or a combination of both, but we’re now on the brink of giving the go-ahead to Formula E.

But in that time my opinions have changed too.

I don’t know whether I’m a heavy user of the park. I am in and out of there a lot. Almost all my running incorporates Battersea Park in some way, I take the kids to the playground, they go to a sports club there, we are semi-regular attenders of the Pump House’s Sunday Socials, but while I may average more than a visit a day, I am sure there are those for whom the park is an integral part of their life, just as there are some for whom it is an irregular oasis of calm in an inner city.

But more and more I’ve become concerned that an event like this is a dangerous erosion of what makes the park special.

I know there is a need to raise revenue. And I know the park already does that. But it does it well, the park can almost hide events. You might have visited the park the other week and spent a day there without knowing a cinema screen was going up. You need never visit or use any of the concessions or pay to enter the zoo or use the Millennium Arena and sports facilities. There can be exhibitions or big parties taking place at the British Genius site, but other park users may never know.

Formula E strikes me as different. It’s hard to see how it can take place without total closure of the park to the ordinary public during a key period of (hopefully) good weather in June. It’s hard to see how you can set-up and take down all the facilities of a race track without a lengthy period of disruption. And while the council is proud that a 5am test run didn’t create any complaints I suspect the real disruption would be the 40,000 visitors, then the comings and going of crew, TV, support, and everything else associated with a race. That is before you consider the risk to the park’s environment and heritage.

So having been one of those who said we should look at it I now find myself thinking we shouldn’t look at it. But seem to be in a minority. The news has been out for a while, Battersea Park being touted as the preferred track for at least a year in various places (indeed, Googling it recently I discovered that they’d even said the council were keeping it secret until the elections, which shows how much it wasn’t being kept secret) but watching reaction it seems lots of people are keen. Even the Friends of Battersea Park seem to be, at least, neutral to the prospect.

I have, perhaps, lost sight of the bigger picture. Perhaps if Formula E offered me loads of cash to invest in Lavender Hill so they could race on it I’d be much keener (and, practically speaking, can see how roads would be much more suited than a park). But I can’t help coming back to the feeling that Battersea Park is something special. It’s part of what make Battersea such a wonderful part of London.

Perhaps everything does have a price. But if it does, you need to be absolutely sure you know what that price is, because once it’s been sold once, it simply becomes a bit of rental land. When that happens a lot of what makes it so very special will be lost forever; I can’t imagine a price tag worth that.

Wandsworth’s Big Society Fund opens for another round of bids (although at the time of writing the web page doesn’t reflect this) on Monday.

The Big Society Fund exists to give small grants to smaller community based projects, so does not have hugely restrictive requirements on being a formally constituted body or requiring years of accounts in an overly formal bidding process. The sums are not huge, the biggest grant is £5,000, but are the sorts of money that make a difference to a grassroots project.

The types of organisations that can bid include residents’ associations, sports clubs or parent and teacher associations. Bids over £1,000 are usually expected so be able to show some other form of contribution, either monetary or in time, to match any council grant.

Bids need the support of a Wandsworth councillor so if you are in the area, or perhaps have a project with which I have a particular affinity, I’d be more than happy to consider giving my backing.

The council’s website has all the forms or feel free to contact me if I can help.

The courtyard entrance to Wandsworth Town Hall

Eight years on exec and eleven in the council’s leader’s group came to an end this morning when I was gently sacked in the post-election reshuffle. A smaller group needs a smaller exec, and by implication I wasn’t up to the job. I probably want to spent more time with my family, as well.

It will probably come as little surprise to those that know me (or could pick up the oblique references in the blog). It was fully expected. I have increasingly been out-of-line with the council’s groupthink. I even joked in my re-selection meeting that being in a minority of one was the unique attribute I brought to the council. However, while it makes a nice joke, when someone is doing the serious business of running a council they need support and not challenge.

Nor will it come as a surprise to many that it is a blessed relief. I have not found these past few years on the council terribly happy, the past year in particular (when I found myself pushing through a policy with which I disagreed) was not a fun time for me in SW18. Of course, a lot of that unhappiness was of my own making: I chose inertia. And I can’t pretend that the job didn’t have perks. Being Wandsworth and largely home-based with meetings tending to be in the evening meant I could spend a lot of time with my children, something for which I will forever be grateful.

Now I need to focus on plugging an income hole—all job offers are welcome—but it also gives me freedom to start being a more proactive ward councillor and seeing what I can achieve from the backbenches for Shaftesbury. I was not entirely without guilt last Thursday, since I don’t think any of us have been the ward councillors we perhaps should have been over the years, but re-election gives me a chance to redress that.

But before I do that, and before I polish up my CV and LinkedIn profile, I’m taking my boy away for a few days of adventure, camping in the glorious half-term weather we’re having!

The courtyard entrance to Wandsworth Town Hall

Last night was the final full council meeting before the elections in two weeks time. It was, therefore, possibly my last full council meeting. It was certainly the last time I’ll attend a full council meeting in the current arrangement of six meetings per year.

After the election the number of meetings will be cut by a third. Effectively all the committees and the full council will meet roughly quarterly.

This will be a change. It means that some items that considered by councillors before will no longer go through formal committee scrutiny. I have mixed views on this; there is an issue about reducing democratic oversight, and I’ve no doubt there will be some adjustments to which papers go to committees as councillors re-assess what’s really important. But meetings can be an expensive luxury. Having a committee meeting creates a huge overhead, from time taken by council officers to prepare the agenda, right down to the physical costs of hosting a public meeting. The council surely has a duty to ensure it exercises democracy as efficiently as is delivers any other service.

On a more practical level where are councillors more effective, in their ward or in a committee meeting? I’d be tempted to argue that a lot of value I have brought to the rôle comes somewhere in between, but particularly in the meetings and discussions I have with officers outside formal meetings (I won’t deny a twinge of sadness at the end of one such meeting yesterday afternoon when it occurred to me it might be the last).

Thinking back to my time as a councillor since the last election, I am probably proudest of Battersea Buzz. It wasn’t a council event—arguably I, or someone else, could have arranged it as a private citizen. It started not in a committee room, or even a council office, but over a coffee in Costa on St John’s Road. From there it took off and brought together hundreds of people who made connections and came up with ideas that are still having an impact today.

I mused about all this while I sat in the council chamber last night. While the debates were a discordant mix of demob-happy and electoral passion, it occurred to me that no-one outside the council really cared that much. Road repairs, education, health services and—yes—even Europe come up when canvassing. Not a single person has raised the machinery of local government with me on the doorstep.

Entirely predictable. But it does make me a bit sad.

The Mayor of Wandsworth with the 2013 Civic Award Winners
2013’s Wandsworth Civic Award winners (photo by Love Battersea)

If this blog were powered by good intentions there would be (at least) daily posts. But, through lack of time, self-censoring or just plain laziness they rarely make it to the blog. So a growing sense of hypocrisy by omission, therefore brings to belatedly post about last week’s Civic Dinner and Awards.

In an age of austerity the event is one of Wandsworth’s last set-piece occasions, but one that I hope remains for a long time to come, since it’s also one of the last big opportunities we have as a civic organisation to celebrate the people who make the borough great. While some may feel that dressing up and having a dinner is an extravagance, I’m inclined to think that if we consider it a cost against the work done by the borough’s many volunteers it is incredibly good value.

Curiously the full list of winners doesn’t seem to be published by the council yet, but there are two I would highlight: Marlene Price and Shirley Price (I’m compelled to add: no relation) who, from opposite ends of the borough, have dedicated themselves to working hard for the residents of the estates on which they live and beyond. Only last Monday I was at the Roehampton Partnership where Shirley was challenging the council on school places for the residents of the Putney Vale estate and, I think, modifying to the council’s thinking. Both have offered decades of service without thinking of thanks; it’s great that we still have this opportunity to show the borough’s gratitude regardless.

Interestingly, I sat next to a representative of the voluntary sector during the meal and talking about some of my good intentions, but also about the barriers that I found off-putting (for reasons other than the Civic Awards, volunteering has been on my mind recently). I listed a few, like the lack of training, need for CRB checks. My neighbour added insurance and health and safety awareness, to which I nodded as if I’d already thought of those.

What became clear to me during the chat was that it is always easy to find obstacles, and to allow them to be blocks. What marks out the Civic Award winners (and nominees, and all those volunteers who, as yet, are unsung) is that they just get on with it: they have a JFDI attitude[1]

I had the good intention of taking a few minutes to write this blog post for almost a week.

Their good intentions don’t last long, because the turn them into great actions. An example we could probably all do to follow a bit more.


  1. Just flipping do it, although the ‘f’ is usually rendered less politely.  ↩

Room 123, Wandsworth Town Hall
One of the centres of Wandsworth democracy, room 123.

Today is #ourday on Twitter. It’s an old trick used by plenty of other organisations before, and highlights the astonishing variety of work often undertaken by councils but equally often unnoticed by residents. While there are a few using the hashtag for a bit of local government bashing I think there is huge value in illustrating how exactly how much a typical council does for its residents, individually or collectively, each day.

I’m sure there are plenty of councillors taking part, I will not be one of them but it has made me think about what a councillor actually is, and what residents expect of their councillors. In some whats it is easier to say what a councillor isn’t.

I am not responsible for housing allocations. I can take up issues with the housing department, but can’t get you a house any quicker or get you a bigger house than you’ve been assessed as needing.

I cannot really help with parking tickets. If they’ve been issued, you’ll have to go through the formal appeal process; I can guide you, but it won’t make any difference to your chances.

I’m not a schools admissions officer. Generally the schools themselves decide their admissions policy and they are applied scrupulously; as a parent I have to take my chances the same as anyone else.

I have no control over planning, I can represent residents at a planning committee, but the decision will be up to the committee I can’t get applications approved or rejected.

And these shortcomings can’t be rectified with cash, whatever you think about politicians.[1]

In short, as a councillor I have no power.

So what can I do? Well, I hope I have helped guide many residents through some of those council procedures and policies, sometimes successfully, sometimes not, but always ensuring they get a fair crack of the whip. And I hope I’ve ensured that issues are raised and fully aired, even if that sometimes means helping both sides of an argument or helping promote a view with which I disagree.

And, of course, I have been a part in approving those policies and–from time to time–shaping or creating them. But it’s always as part of a collective process. One of the strengths of local government is in that collective process: two heads are better than one, and in Wandsworth there are 60 heads all bringing different expertise and experience to the issues.

And if, after all that, you are wondering what attracted me to being a councillor when there is no power the answer is simple: I do it for the glamour.


  1. To be fair I’m only aware of two occasions in my fifteen years as a councillor when it seemed someone was offering me a bribe to get something done.  ↩

If you were interested in visiting Battersea Police Station at the weekend then you might be interested in the information below about the open day and history of the station itself. Credit for the text to Inspector James Ellis and the Met’s Heritage Centre.

Battersea Police Station: An Invitation to the last Open Day

Sadly, Battersea Police Station closes its doors for the last time on Sunday the 22nd September. This day will be marked by a Station Open Day, with many diverse Met units including our Mounted & Dogs sections, TSG, Homicide Detectives with a Crime scene to investigate, our Gangs Task Force along with Trident SC08, Forensic specialists, Officer safety and Taser equipment trainers, displays by The MPS Heritage Museum, old uniforms & historic vehicles, Cadets, Specials constabulary & MPS Volunteers, the Wildlife Crime Unit & specialist staff from the Computer Aided Modelling Bureau. Safer Schools, Parks & Transport Officers as well Neighbourhood officers & partner organisations from across the Borough (LFB and WW Borough Council) will be in attendance to offer crime prevention advice (Bike & phone marking). There will be custody tours, fingerprinting for the kids and Chelsea Football Club coaches will be there to entertain our younger visitors. Battersea Dogs & Cats home will be offering free micro chipping to any dogs brought along on the day.

A Brief History:

The current Battersea Police Station at 112–118 Battersea Bridge Road was the second Station built on that site, the 1st was built in 1858 to designs presented by Charles Reeves, the police surveyor, to the Wandsworth District Board in 1859. Opened in January 1861, it was a compact, stock-brick building of two storeys over a basement, embellished only by the incised word POLICE over the round-headed door. Unmarried constables occupied a section house on the first floor, four per bedroom. The offices were on the raised ground floor over the mess-room and kitchen below. The station’s importance grew along with the local population. By 1864 its strength was four sergeants and 20 constables. In 1867 stables were added behind. The following year Battersea became a full sub-division, with two inspectors. The building suffered from the perennial north Battersea problem of flooded basements, which affected the men’s health. In the 1890s the Receiver of Police suggested moving the mess-room to the first floor, or rebuilding the stables. Superintendent David Saines ruled out the latter, as he thought mounted Police essential in Battersea ‘which is a troublesome Borough from a Police point of view’. The flooding got worse, bringing with it in June 1907 two feet of sewage. That year the freehold site of 112––116 Bridge Road adjoining was bought. A Home Office memorandum of 1908 reported: ‘This station is not a credit to the force … the single men cannot be considered to be raised above the level of their surroundings which are decidedly low’. The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police therefore overruled the Receiver, recommending that a ‘Station of the First Class (Large Town)’ should be erected.

In 1910 Dixon Butler produced his design for the new station, which was duly built by J. G. Minter and taken into service in November 1911. The main station is a sober red-brick building of two storeys over a basement, surmounted by a mansarded attic storey with dormers, offset from the paired windows below. A shallow canted bay at the south end of the frontage dignifies the former Inspector’s room but sits uncomfortably beneath the deep eaves cornice. As first planned, the public areas were at the south end, which was staggered back along Hyde Road, while the entrance adjoined the Inspector’s bay. Behind were the charge, detention and matron’s rooms, and seven cells—two singles for women and four singles and one ‘association’ or group cell for men. The northern part, entered from the rear yard, housed the facilities for the officers and men. Beneath the cells was a parade room and on the north side of the yard a three-stall stable. In execution, a proposed ambulance garage in the yard was replaced first by a temporary prefabricated iron office for the Public Carriage Office licensing branch, and then by a permanent building for testing taxicabs The station survived largely unaltered until 1983 when extra land was acquired to the rear and an extension built, bringing the cell block to the same height as the main building and finishing it with a roof and cornice in the same style. The principal entrance was moved to the south end, the former entrance blocked in, the staircase removed and a wing added at the north end on the site of the stable block.

Get Active Day 2013 poster

Get Active Day 2013 poster
Get Active Day 2013
Tomorrow is the Active Wandsworth Day in King George’s Park, SW18, part of the wider Active Wandsworth Festival that includes open days next weekend.

I can’t quite put my finger on why I’m so excited about them and why I’m promoting them here (especially since I was very remiss not to promote the Supply Chain and Open Day events in Nine Elms, taking place over the latter part of this week). In part it might be because I’ve become a particularly demented runner in the past few weeks, and am in a position where my lack of self-control hasn’t met my physical limits when it comes to distance.

More seriously it’s driven by the increasing general interest in health, and children’s health in particular, that comes from being a father. Wandsworth might not appear to have a problem at first sight. The amount of sport taking place in our parks and commons is huge and our recent success in winning the London Youth Games might suggest we have an active and healthy younger population.

Unfortunately that activity is not repeated across the board. In 2011 61.7% of our year six pupils were assessed as having a healthy weight1. In England that figure was 65.4%. Nearly 40% of our year six pupils had an unhealthy weight, most either overweight or obese (only 1.6% were underweight).

I don’t know the absolute figures used, but based on the Wandsworth secondary school applications for that year (which don’t include private or out of borough) it would mean that year group had about 575 overweight or obese children, 70 more than if we were at the national average.

To make the situation worse, when mapped there is a clear correlation between deprivation and obesity.

While I’m always resistant to interventionist solutions (ultimately it is a matter of personal and parental responsibility) there are clearly issues, like education and access to opportunities. Though neither should really be a problem in Wandsworth (if anything we suffer from the tyranny of choice) this and next weekend’s events provide an ideal opportunity to sample lots of what is on offer all year round.


  1. I recognise such assessments may not work well on an individual level, but do with larger sample sizes