Bad news on Cuts in Southwark, a mixed year for me and Hibs struggling again!!

I am off to Edinburgh for Christmas and New Year with dad and the family!!

I am coming back to deal with the consequences of the very bad news about the Southwark settlement from this revolting CON DEM Coalition!! We have been working through a worst case scenario of £20M cuts and have now learned that we have to find £33M of cuts over 11% and the worst financial cuts in London!! And we have to find another £17M cuts the year after so devastating news and Southwark residents will suffer because of this draconian right wing CON DEM Coalition who are doing this because they want to and not because they have to!!

It has been a mixed year for me starting with deselection and the death of my mother in March but followed by selection and election in Brunswick Park Ward and a fantastic victory in the Southwark Elections and now six months as Cabinet Member for Community Safety!!

The death of my dear friend Clare Cozens was also a terrible blow to all of us and I was honoured to attend and read at her Memorial Service at St.Giles last Saturday we all miss her!!!

A good year for Awards with the Tilley Award and the Noise Abatement Society Award for the Council and the Mayor's Green 500 Award at London Met, hope it continues next year!!

On the Hibs front 4th place last season was followed by a good pre-season and an early exit from the Europa Cup but our season was ruined by the last day snatch of Anthony Stokes by Celtic which effectively cost John Hughes his job so not with Colin Calderwood in charge the Jury is still out!! Some poor performances and the fantastic 3-0 win over Rangers at Ibrox so who knows!! Plan to go with dad to Easter Road over the break to judge for myself weather permitting!

Cabinet Member for Community Safety Monthly Report November 2010

My Monthly Report for November 2010:

1. Violent Crime Strategy - The final version is complete and will be going to Cabinet Agenda planning very soon and hopefully before Cabinet in December.

2. Dangerous Dogs Strategy - I agreed an IDM to consult on the Strategy which will include a borough-wide Dog Control order and is planned to go to Cabinet in March. It is very much supported by the Deputy Mayor for Community Safety and similar Government Legislation is also progressing.

3. Fireworks - We had a relatively quiet time over the 2 weeks of Halloween and Guy Fawkes Night with a 50% reduction in Police and fire Brigade calls in the 2 weeks leading up to 5th November and on the night a 32% reduction in Police calls and a 57% reduction in Fire Brigade calls so all in all a good result from a very successful 2 week campaign of communication, prevention and enforcement!

4. Home Office Tilley Award - Southwark Council won the London Region Tilley Awartd and came Third in the National Home Office Tilley Award for our work on gang disruption in Peckham. The Trophy is in the Tooley Street Reception Cabinet!

5. Noise Abatement Society John Connell Award - Southwark Council also won an Award for our work on noise control with the developers of the Shard and I had the pleasure of accepting the Award and giving another award to our very own Alan Blissett, a lifetime Achievement Award for 47 years...and counting!... with Southwark Council!!

6, GLA/MPA Community Safety Roadshow in Greenwich - I attended the Roadshow and spoke to Kit Malthouse about our violent crime and Dog control Strategies and about possibilities of securing additional police resources in Southwark in the future.

7. Snow and Frost Preparations - I attended an Emergency planning Meeting today to discuss the cold weather expected over the next week and the likelihood of severe frost and some snow. It looks like the gritting lorries will be out this weekend and we have our salt stocks up to 900 tonnes with another 500 tonnes on order so looks like we are well set up. We also discussed priority roads and pavements and what we could be on estates so a really useful meeting.

8. Damilola Taylor 10th Anniversary of his tragic death - There is considerable Press and Media interest over the past week culminating in the Anniversary of Damilola's death tomorrow.

I have been interviewed by the Independent on Sunday, South London press and the Guardian with radio interviews on LBC and BBC Radio London Drivetime this evening and possibly more over the weekend with hopefully a positive story about Peckham today as compared with 10 years ago and of Damilola's Legacy!!

9. Spirit of London Reception in 10 Downing Street - I attended the Prime Ministers Reception at No.10 with all of those Shortlisted for the Spirit of London Awards at the O2 tomorrow. I spoke to Patrons Alexandra Burke and Christine Ohuruogu and to the parents of Jimmy Mizzen.

10. Clichy Visit to Southwark - There was a strong Community Safety presence in the recent Clichy delegation visit to Southwark with the Deputy Mayor for Community Safety, the Head Officer for Community Safety and a Senior Police Officer so I spent a day with them taking them to our CCTV Control Room, the Shard and out with the Community Wardens which seemed to go down well and i have an invite to visit Clichy next year!

Tilley and John Connell Award Winners, Clichy Visit , Remembrance sunday in Southwark and Hibs back to winning ways!!!

It was an Awards week special with two dates at the House of Commons, firstly winning the Home Office Tilley Award for London and getting third place Nationally for our work disrupting Gangs in Peckham.

Secondly we won the Noise Abatement Society John Connell Award for our work with the builders of the Shard at London Bridge. I also presented my friend Alan Blissett with a Lifetime Achievement Award for 47years work at Southwark controlling noise!!

We had a delegation from our Twin Town of Clichy and they has a Community Safety focus so I spent an afternoon and evening with them showing them what we were doing in Southwark!!

This is me with my Clichy Counterpart in the Southwark Community Wardens control room Room. I was really envious of his nice sash!!!

On Sunday we had our Remembrance Sunday Ceremony at Walworth Road Town Hall and the Clichy Mayor was also present, always a moving and dignified event!

At last Hibs are winning with a good 2-1 win over Motherwell on the back of that fantastic 3-0 win at Ibrox on Wednesday!!!

CSR Review, Campaigning, Cambridge House, Banksy and Hibs have a new Manager!!

And so the largest Public Spending cuts since the early Thatcherite Years are upon us!!!
Cuts of £81 Billion and for Southwark Council £90M cuts over the next 4 years, more than 30% of our total Budget from Government!!!

Probably the most nauseating element of the whole speech was the cheering from the Tories and Lib Dems, images which i know will come back to haunt them!!

Good to see the Telegraph today report a lead for Labour for the first time in 4 years and surely that will increase as the real impact of these cuts become clear to the electorate!!
Great Mobile Surgery in Newington Ward on Saturday with Patrick and Neil and I plan to spend a fair bit of time in that ward supporting them in the future as I do Clare in Chaucer!!!
Today I had a Tour around the Cambridge House building works which will radically transform the building and enable Cambridge House to grow as an organisation even in these very troubled times!!
Spotted the Bermondsey Banksy over the weekend already protected by a plastic screen, very nice it is too!!!

Hibs have Colin Calderwood as their new Manger and even after a defeat at Aberdeen on Saturday a bit of optimism in the camp for the future!!!

LIb Dem Hypocrisy on University Tuition Fees and the Theatre with Shakespeare and ABBA!!!!

Of course the big story is the quite astonishing hypocrisy from the Lib Dems all signing a pledge not to increase University Tuition Fees, see the Blessed Simon Hughes above!!, and then would you believe it? going back on their Manifesto Promises!!! this may well turn out to be one u-turn too far for the Lib Dems and may really come back to bite them hard in the weeks and months to come!!
With the Comprehensive Spending review out next Wednesday it will clearly be tough times ahead for all of us as we have to deal with public service cuts which would have made Margaret Thatcher blush!!!
The London Met Building Refurb programme continues and the picture above is of the new Moorgate Basement. Will be complete in February 2011!

Plenty of Theatre recently with Henry IV Parts I and II on Saturday at the last performance at the Globe of the Season!! Excellent it was too!!

Last night I went to see mama Mia with my visiting Cousin from Helsinki and again it was a great night and a real uplifting evening!!!

Ed Miliband as Leader, Anti-Knife Campaign, Back to the Floor and Darren and Helen's Weddning!!

So Ed Milliband is the new Labour Leader! I voted for him and Ken for the Mayoral Candidate but my friends Johanna Baxter and Gordon Nardell just missed out on the NEC and NPF respectively!

Lots of new Member's joining and Campaigning on Saturday was just like the good old days with a very very positive response on the knocker!!!

Met the Govts. Anti-Knife Ambassador Brooke Kinsella on the Four Squares Estate to look at our innovative Youth Leader Project where young people go out and talk to young people, get contact details and signpost them to local activities and even run Youth Clubs. A great project that needs supporting!!!
I went "Back to the Floor" a couple of times over the past few weeks, out with Noise Patrol and then out with the Wardens, a really useful experience and I am booking trips out with the EHO's and Tradings Standards Officers soon but back out with the Community Wardens on November 5th, their busiest night of the year!!!
I had a great time in Christchurch at Darren and Helen's Wedding, my first time there and it was a great place, lovely B&B, sunny weather and a great time had by all!! many Congrats to them both!!

The Fourth Southwark Labour Party Conference 2010

Southwark Labour Party Conference
Saturday 11th September 2010 at the Beomund Centre

REPORT FROM COUNCILLOR JOHN. J. FRIARY,
CABINET MEMBER FOR COMMUNITY SAFETY

Crime and the fear of crime constantly appears in any Southwark resident survey near the top of their concerns even although crime overall is at it’s lowest reported levels for over 25 years in Southwark. London and the UK as a whole largely due to the work of the Labour Government since 1997. There have been very large reduction is burglaries, car theft and street robberies but violent crime, although low in number, remains a significant problem in Southwark and a real cause of public anxiety so we need to tackle it at it’s route causes as well as of course with the perpetrators. Low level anti social behaviour, “neighbours from hell” etc. can and do make people’s lives a misery so we need to deal with that as well, including the scourge of dangerous dogs.
I am concerned that the savage cuts proposed by the CON DEM Coalition Government will make this harder and may actually reverse some of the recent success and that is why we need to work as smartly as we can, work with our neighbours, focus on what works and what gives us the greatest return from our investment and empower people to take action locally to make there homes safer.
Below is a brief update on progress to date:

Violent Crime Strategy
We are now at the stage of having a final draft for consultation of this key strategy which formally began on the 1st September and will conclude in late October for consideration be the Cabinet.We will be having a Cabinet Briefing next week as it has many cross cutting themes and have already met with Catherine and Ian to discuss community safety issues and will be meeting with other cabinet Members soon to discuss how we can work together on some of the issues raised by this document.
There is a lot of detail in the document on the range of violent crime where it is being committed and by whom and also analysis by case study of how young people get drawn into drug dealing, gang membership, serious violent crime and ending up as a perpetrator or victim and how and when we can intervene so I hope you will help me get it right as it will shape our approach over this entire Administration.

We have won the London Region of the Tiller Award for our work in Gang dispruption and are nominated for the National Award and have had great success with our Diamond Project aimed at preventing reoffending and have Channel 4 News and Panorama making films on the work.

Extending CCTV in Southwark
CCTV works as a deterrent, public reassurenace and it catches criminals and the public like it so we are committed to extending CCTV where we can and have already made significant progress already with our deal with Transport fro London to have access to over 70 of there cameras operating on the main routes through Southwark. By upgrading our Control Room and working with our neighbouring boroughs we can further extend coverage and have access to better clearer pictures by being able to link with other existing systems. This is a very cost effective and efficient way to meet our Manifesto Commitment

Dog Control Policy
We are working on a Borough Wide Policy to deal with dangerous dogs and again will be consulting on this in the Autumn so again your comments will be valuable.Kit Malthouse is very supportive of such initiatives and lobbying the Government for legislation on this.

Residents Safety on Estates
I was involved in some radio and press media in August with the story of plans to set up a Residents Security Team on an Estate in Lane Ward.I met the Organiser and am working with him to try to deal with some of the issues on the Estate and also to discuss perhaps a new model for cooperation between residents, police and the Council working together on Estates to improve community safety.
I also met with Silla Carron, a tenants rep on a Camden Estate who has been features by the BBC recently on her work turning around a crime ridden Estate and I hope to work with her in the future to provide some guidance for T&RA’s on how to do the same.

Cooperation with Counterparts in Lambeth and Lewisham

I am developing a very good working relationship with our colleagues in Lambeth and Lewisham and plan regular meetings in rotation between Tooley Street and Brixton and Lewisham Town Hall. One of the first areas is the Purple Flag Scheme for nightime economy areas. It is being trialled in Brixton and hopefully we can develop something in Herne Hill and Camberwell over the next year!

Air Monitoring Stations
Two new high tech Air Quality Monitoring Stations are now in operation at either end of the Old Kent Road and hopefully more will follow.
Community Safety Campaign
The Comms Team are working on a high profile Campiagn around community safety including posters and Bus Stop Ad Shells so this should be visible in the Autumn

CCTV Article in October's Southwark Life

We are working on a significant article for October's Southwark Life on community safety focusing on our Manifesto commitment to extend CCTV coverage highlighting success stories showing how it does and has worked and how it remains an important part of our community safety strategy.

Back to the Floor
Along with my cabinet colleagues I will be going “back to the floor” next week and for me going out on Noise Patrol really will be a return journey as I last did it in 1989 so am looking forward to going back! I also plan to go out with the wardens, EHO’s and trading Standards officers in the months ahead to give me a clearer idea on what is going on “on the ground”!!

Southwark Youth Council "Crystal Clear" Event at South Bank University

I attended this excellent event with other Labour Cabinet and Labour Group Members with over 100 young people for Political Speed Dating and a Question Time Session. It was a really positive event and I am looking forward to doing more in the future!

Councillor John J. Friary
Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Labour Ward Councillor for Brunswick Park Ward

Southwark Youth Council, Move to Jewry Street, the Camber Well, Rotherhithe Pump House Museum and Hibs lose at home to Rangers!!

Yesterday I spent a really good day with Southwark Council Cabinet colleagues at London South Bank Universityfor the "Crystal Clear" Event with around 10 young people from Southwark Youth Council and local Youth Clubs around the Borough! We had Political Speed Dating and Question Time during the day and it was a great chance to talk to young people face to face and I hope we can do a lot more of it over the next 4 years!!!

Packed up at London Met and ready for the move to Jewry Street which is a lovely old building with lots of history and even a Roman Centurion Ghost so cant wait to move in next week!!!
I went along to an Open Day to see the remains of the original Camber Well and the guy in the picture John Chapple is very keen to restore it and even perhaps get water from the Well again which is a fantastic idea so am supporting him to see how we can do it!! Already planning the labels for the bottles (Del Boy like!) of Camberwell Spring water from the Camber Well!!!

Went to the Rotherhithe Pump House Museum to carry out a Health & Safety Inspection and have a chat with the Mangers and trustees and was very impressed and hope to be a Trustee myself in the near future and continue to support a brilliant local Museum doing so much for young people and the elderly!!

This is the Fete/Fun day Season with 2 in Brunswick Ward over the weekend on the D'Eynesford Estate and a Barbeque on the 73 Grove Lane Estate!! Weather was ok with rain staying away for most of the day!!!

Watched Hibs Vs rangers on Sky on Sunday and Easter Road looks fantastic with the new Stand open and the pitch widened!! Did not do us much good though going 3-0 to Gers with the key issue being the cheat Rangers Goalkeeper trying to get Riordan sent of by feigning a head butt, bizarrely the Referee booked them both but tempers then were lost and 2 players sent off before half time!! Disgraceful and I hope he is disciplined!! Great to hear the Hibs fan boo him for the rest of the match!!
You can see the Match Report and Goals with the Link below:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_prem/8930132.stm

Edinburgh Trip, Remembering Clare and Hibs ready for new Season!

I had a nice time in Edinburgh with Clair and the kids with the Fringe just kicking it off the Town Centre was incredibly busy but dad enjoyed it and Bernadette and Tony and Family from Helsinki were around so a nice family time together. Plans to go to Monaghan in early September and Helsinki next Summer!!

Nice to get away from most of it for a few days interrupted only by radio Interviews on BB Radio London with Paul Ross and Gaby Roslin on Thursday and Nick Ferrari on LBC on Friday about residents setting up their own Security Patrols on the Wivenhow Close Estate. Plan to meet with them next week to discuss how we can work together with the Police to deal with asb on the Estate! I was able to rearrange my travel plans and get back for my good friend Clare Cozens Funeral Service at St. Giles. A real tragedy for everyone and devastating for her family and friends but a beautiful and fitting service with a Memorial being arranged for October probably.
Her sad death covered in the SLP. Southwark News and Guardian.

After the Funeral Service some of us had Lunch and Prosecco in Caravaggio's in Memory of Clare.

Hibs pre-season finally over with a good Tour of Holland followed by a crushing defeat in the Europa cup and fiunally a good 2-1 away Victory at Premiership New Boys Blackpool! Not too many players in or out but De Graaf looks good and excitement mounts for the opening of the new Stand for the rangers game on August 23rd! Easter Road with a capacity of over 20,000!! Cant wait to see it!!!

Running Southwark, Day in Brussels and Hibs in Europe!!!

It has been an exceptionally busy month settling in to live within the Cabinet and the Ruling Administration. We have already taken some big decisions on the Elephant and Castle Regeneration and Potters Field and I am progressing things within my Community Safety Portfolio on CCTV Extension, Violent Crime Strategy, Dog Control policy and dealing with Anti Social Behavious especially on Estates!
I am having regular meetings with Counterparts in Lambeth and Lewisham to share best practice and work on joint initiatives like the Purple Flag initative with Lambeth!

Lots of Briefings and Meetings in Tooley Street day and evening and of course my ward work in Brunswick part so pretty full on!

My sister was down last week and we did lots of touristy things like climb St. Pauls, see Swan Lake at the Ballet and spent a day in Brussels so good fun but long tiring days!!

Hibs venture into Europe for the first time in some years in the Europa Cup Qualifier against NK Moribor next week so would be great to see them get through to the First Round Proper and then who knows!!!

Elephant & Castle Regeneration gets the Green light, London Met win Green Award and the "Green" new Stand rises from the ashes!!!

The biggest news this week is that we as the Cabinet ageed the Regeneration Agreement for the Elephant and Castle e with Lend Lease, a £1.5Billion project to transform the area. We sought extra assurnaces on Socail Housing provision, as well as the future of the Shopping Centre and plans for a new Leisure Centre on the site of the current one and were happy that in all three of those aras things had moved along significantly over the deal that the Lib Dem/Con Coalition Administration were prepared to sign before May!! Not too surprising that the Lib Dems now oppose the deal which just really shows them up for what they are and they can take absolutely nop credit for the years fo dither and delay over this project which is now going to start moving!!!

London Met won a Silver Awards at the Mayor of London's Green 500 Awards Ceremony in June and we now have a shiny award to give to our VC!!!

Had a great boys ( and girls under 10!!) day out on the banks of the Regents Canal last Saturday on a really beautiful day with bee and curry!!!
Things looking good at Easter Road with Hibs buying new players, waiting forn the Europa Cup draw and the new East Stand taking shape for next Season with a 20,000 Ground capacity!!! Cant wait to go there!!!