Camberwell Leisure Centre and Southwark Town Hall futures, Death of Len Walker, Fundraising and Hibs take on the Jam Tarts!!

It has been an extremely busy few days for me with T&RA AGM and Meetings, OSC and CCC Meetings not to mention a week of deadlines in the day job!
I attended T@RA meetings at Poets Corner, D'Eynesford and Castlemead in the week and am really pleased to be involved with three very active and engaged tenants groups!
The real tragedy in the week was the very sad death of long time Castlemead T&RA Member and unofficial Estates gardener Len Walker, who died of his injuries on Monday night after being hit by a vehicle on Camberwell Road just in front of the Estate. I had to walk around the cordoned off area to get to the meeting in Monday unaware that Len had been the victim. He will be sadly missed and I intend to nominate him for a posthumous award at next year's Southwark Council Civic Awards.

OSC on Monday discussed the 2 key Camberwell Reports going to Exec next week on the future of the Camberwell Leisure Centre and the future of the Southwark Town Hall.
Despite Lewis Robinson's assurances the tone of the report was lukewarm with apparently all riding on a Government bid for upto £2M pounds from a £50M pot where already 200 local authorities have expressed an interest! If unsuccessful all options are back on the table including closure, an argument that I have thought we had won long time ago! Interesting after being told that the capital "cupboard was bare" the very next item committed to spending more on the three Town Halls than would be required to completely refurbish the Centre and I reminded them that this is a mater of political priorities and these can change! All in all a disappointing report and it brought us back to earth with a bump that the future survival of the Leisure Centre in Camberwell is along way from certain and I still feel that the support from the Lib Dem/Tory Executive (accepting Lewis Robinson's sincerity in it all) is lukewarm to say the least!
The next report on the 3 Town Hall's promised to keep them all, Walworth Town Hall as the new Civic Centre, Southwark Town Hall as the Democratic Centre and Bermondsey Town Hall as ...er..er... cos it's in Bermondsey! Interestingly the only building to have any sort of use review is surprise surprise the Southwark Town Hall so dont be surprised to see it sold off if the Lib Dems and Tories run the council after 2010, I am sure that it will be top of their list, with Camberwell Leisure Centre second top no doubt!
All in all very disappointing with a lot of reading between the lines required and clearly a fight on our hands to retain any of Camberwell's and Southwark's heritage!!!

I just got out of CCC Planning Meeting at the Town Hall last night to get to the tail end of another successful Camberwell & Peckahm CLP Fundraising Night with Alan Johnston MP as the Guest of Honour.
I did miss the dinner and the speeches but just made it to buy some raffle tickts and see Peter and Alison make the draw! Guess what I won a bottle of Champers!"!!

Big match for Hibs at Easter Road on Sunday with Hearts coming to us for the first derby of the season! Dad will be there and I will be watching on Setanta so we are hoping for a good Hibs win! Hibs current form is good with Hearts struggling after a good start (also struggling to pay the players apparently!! Wonder if the Kaunas bank of Lithuania is struggling? If so Hearts very survival may be at risk! Shame!!)
Hibs need to put them to the sword and make it clear who is boss this season! Come on Hibs!
I am also off to see Arsenal versus Spurs in a few weeks with Tsui, never been to a North London Derby so looking for a nice Hibs/Arsenal Win Double (not as if I bet of course!!)

A busy week in the Town Hall and around Camberwell this week , AGM's at the Blue Elephant Theatre and Poets Corner, T&RA's on Brandon, Castlemead and the D'Eynesford and a daytime OSC and a CCC Planning Committee to boot! Sadly I will miss the Camberwell & Peckham Fundraising Dinner with Alan Johnston MP as I will be at the Planning Meeting but hope to join them for a drink and hopefully another succesful fundraising night!
Big decsions on the future of Camberwell Leisure Centre and the Town Hall loom so lots to get on with and tomorrow morning I am running through the draft Scrutiny Report on Peckham Rye Park which I think will be helpful and have some useful things to say about Parks Management in general.
It was another frustrating day at Hampden on Saturday with a 0-0 draw against Norway with poor old Chris Iwelumo who possibly missed the worst "sitter" of all time! It is a real shame because I think that if we had scored we would have won! Not too bad a performance really but our key players like Brown,McFadden and Darren Fletcher looked off key and we cant afford that. Stephen Fletcher looked good when he came on and I think will be a regular feature in the team from now on.
Disappointed that Kris Boyd had withdrawn from playing under Burley as we will miss him, an over reaction on his part but probably no way back judging from Burley's reaction to the news!
Qualification is now only possible as a runner up and we need to pick up points including against Holland at home as only 8 of the runners-up get through to the play offs! A hard task but not impossible!

In Rotherhithe with Kath, no "War of Words" on Violent Crime!, decisions on Camberwell Leisure Centre and the Town Hall and Come on Scotland!!!!

My legs are still aching from campaigning yesterday in the Rotherhithe By-Election and it was really a fantastic day, working hard with dedicated people and a brilliant candidate! Obviously not enough to kick out the tired and dishonest Lib Dems eg. "Local Lib Dems against Gordon Brown's Labour Party!" (they really are a class act are n't they!!)
It was a real honour to work with Kath Whittam and those sort of days really make me proud to be in the Southwark Labour Party!!

This week's Southwark News carried a big piece on violent crime in the borough and declared that there was a "war of words" between the Lib Dem/Tory Administration and the Labour Group! I felt it important to clarify and have submitted this letter for next week:

"Dear Southwark News, I was grateful for your full coverage of the current discussions taking place in the Town Hall regarding the scourge of violent crime in Southwark.
Whilst most of your report was spot on I would like to make it cleat that there really is no “war of words” between the political parties of the key objective of reducing the levels and fear of violent crime.
I have always had a good working relationship with the previous and current Executive Member for Community Safety and have the upmost confidence in Jonathon Toy, Head of Community Safety and the Metropolitan Police, from Malcolm Tillyer, Victor Olisa through to the excellent Safer Neighbourhood Teams. In fact, as Paul Kyriacou said last week, there are many examples of good practice in Southwark that are being looked at across London and nationally!
The concern that I and my Labour Group colleagues have had since this present Lib Dem/Tory Administration came to power is the apparent lack of any strategic approach to tackling violent crime and we asked for such an approach to be considered no fewer that four time sat Council Assembly without success. It is right that we point this out as we fear that two years potential progress has been lost!
I was very happy to meet Paul recently when he told me of a proposed Violent Crime Summit with our other partner boroughs and I was pleased to commit to cross-party support on this and on moving this forward more strategically by targeting some key priorities which will hopefully arise from the Summit. Coincidentally the recent Southwark Labour Group Conference workshop that I Chaired suggested something very similar and when I was Cabinet Member for Community Safety in the past we did hold such a Summit ahead of producing our Community Safety Strategy so we are all thinking along very similar lines!
I am hopeful that from this we can use the extra Government money, £700K, to further develop the good practice that we already have and invest in new ways learned from our partner boroughs.
Paul is right when he says that this is a matter too important for party politics to get in the way but of course Community Safety is “political” priority for most residents of the borough and we need to shop joined up coherent working across all agencies to tackle it head on

If we can get this out of the Summit and subsequent strategy then we will be extremely happy to work cooperatively and cross-party in the future. That does not mean to say that we will not disagree at times but we will be clear to ensure that any differences that we have in no way compromise the Council and the Police’s ability to deal with and significantly reduce violent crime in our communities as this is an objective that all political parties share!

Councillor John J. Friary Labour Group Spokesperson for Community Safety
The upcoming Executive on the 20th October will have a couple of Camberwell relevant decisons on the redevelopment of the Camberwell Leisure Centre and the Town Hall.
I am hopefully that they will decide to go with a redevelopment plan which keeps a pool at the heart of it and that the Town Hall will be kept as the Civic Centre for Southwark!
Scotland take on Norway at Hampden on Saturday in a "must win" game! With a long beak til the next games we need to get the home 3 points or else we cn probably kiss the World Cup 2010 goodbye!! COME ON SCOTLAND!!!

By-Election looms, a Violent Crime Strategy, City Hall visit and Hibs win again!

On the wider politician front Peter "Mandy" Mandelson is back and clearly the Press love it as the man they love to hate is back in the front line.

I was surprised by the decision but peter is a good organiser and motivator and will be very helpful to Gordon Brown and to the Labour Government is keeping us on track up to the next Election.

Talking about Elections we have the Rotherhithe By-Election on Thursday and I will be up there on the day. I hope that loyal Simon Hughes voters there will think twice now that the Lib Dems and Tories have been become an indistinguishable lump both at local and now national levels and think about the consequences of having the Tories running the Town Hall, City Hall and No. 10! A truly frightening thought for anyone!! Kath Whittam is a great candidate and would be a great Councillor representing Rotherhithe so good luck to her!
I met Lib Dem Exec Member for Community Safety, Paul Kyriacou on Wednesday at his request to talk about a cross party approach to violent crime. I have a lot of time for Paul and he suggested a Summit before Christmas to come up with some clear objectives. Strangely enough we came up with the same idea at our Southwark Labour Party Conference last month where I Chaired a workshop on Community Safety. I have to say I was a bit surprised when he suggested that this would lead to the development of a violent Crime Strategy for Southwark, something we have repeatedly called for at Council Assembly(4 times!) and which has been rejected by the Lib Dems and Tories!

We will of course support a cross party position on violent crime as it is too important or party politics to get in the way off but I think can justifying point out that this should have started 2 years ago as we suggested!

Some recent good news on the Community Safety front with 55 new Police Officers for the Borough and £700K extra money given to Southwark from the Government. If we can work cross party on this then hopefully we can ensure that these extra resources are used to their best effect!

Some good news on the Camberwell regeneration front with money from English Heritage being agreed over the next 3 years with match funding (could mean £200K each year!) to improve the shop frontages and the overall appearance of the Town centre. Also significant money from TfL to spend in the Town Centre and a £400K bid to the Mayor of London to improve Camberwell Green. If this all comes through we could make significant improvements in Camberwell over the next 3 years, this alongside the potential redevelopment of Camberwell Leisure Centre, further development plans for Butterfly Walk and the Community Council's continuing CGS Projects there is a lot to be positive about. It also comes during a major Scrutiny looking at Camberwell Regeneration so I feel very positive about the future of Camberwell and that all of our efforts over the past 15 years may be starting to pay off!

On Thursday Val Shawcross hosted a Camberwell Community event in City Hall which was extremely successful and we must make it a regular event! I even spotted Boris on his bike leaving City Hall at 7.30pm! I was impressed that he was working late but he had just "sacked" Sir Ian Blair so probably had quiet a busy day! It was a crass politically motivated decision and is a clear indication of what we can expect from Boris and his "Tory Boy" gang who are now terrorising everyone at City Hall!!

Great result for Hibs yesterday with Derek "Riordinho" Riordan scoring twice to beat Aberdeen 1-2 at Pittodrie! He is still not fully match fit but really showing his quality and he may be the best Hibs buy for some years! It was also a brilliant performance from Yves Ma-Kalamby who made 4 outstanding saves to keep us in the match so things are picking up at Easter Road and we are now up to 4th place in the SLP! Next Week it is Scotland against Norway at Hampden in a vital World Cup Qualifier, we need a win!

Finally I am up in Edinburgh and mum is recovering well after getting out of Hospital on Wednesday. Many thanks for the best wishes and I will be back in harness on Wednesday!

Time on the Wyndham and Comber Estate, Freshers Fair and Hibs lose to Rangers

I spent a fair bit of time on the Wyndham and Comber Estate in the Ward this week. Starting with a Fun Day on Saturday to open the new Basketball court and to consult on the CGS Project to change the frontage of the Tenants Hall.
On the Monday I went on an early morning Estate Walkabout with Harriet on the Estate and afterwards met local residents to discuss their concerns locally and nationally!
Last night I attended the Wyndham and Comber T&RA AGM so they cant say that they only see me at election time!!!

This model of an Estate walkabout with a meeting afterwards is a really positive initiative that we plan to repeat across all of the Estates in Camberwell Green hopefully with Harriet as she is a very positive asset for us!

Good news on the home front with mum likely to get out of hospital on Friday so I shall be going up for the weekend to help dad out when she gets home. I am relieved that she is geting better!

The New Academic Year at London Met is underway and I was manning the Freshers Fair Stand as usual this week at City with the second one tomorrow at North.
I really enjoy meeting the new students although a bit tiring on the knees after being on my feet all day!
Hibs lost 0-3 to a very good Rangers team at home on Saturday and I watched it on Setanta. The score flattered Rangers and Hibs midfield and attack played well for most of the game but our defence still looks vulnerable and at times we looked very slow and flat!! Still not a bad performance but we play Celtic next!

I was at home yesterday watching the Gordon Brown Speech live at the Labour Party Conference, the first time I have done that for some years.
I was very impressed with him and I know "I would say that would not I" but I thought that it was very genuine and sincere and very clearly setting out to the membership and the Country why he is the best man for the job!
I was pleased that he attacked the Tories and our key message is really to go out and give people the stark alternative, right wing Tories (or Lib Dems for that matter!) or continue to support us through the tough times ahead to come out the other end stronger!
Comparing his speech to the whining nonsense of Nick "Cameron Lite" Clegg is not even worth talking about and I do hope that Cameron will now come under closer scrutiny as the press now see him as a possible PM, then we may see a different press and public reaction!
All in all the right speech at the right time! Forget all the conspiracies and get on with running the Country!
The timing of Ruth Kelly's announcement is strange to say the least and suggests that there are still some malcontents in the Party who care more about their own interests that that of the wider Party and Country. I do hope they are held to account by their Constituencies!! Now is the time to shut up!!!

I have been doing a fair bit of deputising this week and attended the Southwark Alliance Meeting on Monday which had a seminar on "Worklessness". I found it a really useful and positive day with some of the key players in the Southwark sitting around a table talking about some of the key issues facing local people!
A really worthwhile enterprise!

On a personal level my mum is in hospital with pneumonia and my dad and sister are going in to see her every day but I will probably go up to help dad out when she gets home. These are the times when you really do feel far from home and a biot useless!!

Hibs beat a very good Hamilton team 0-1 on Saturday but it was really Derek Riordan's return and fantastic winning goal that stole the headlines.
He was only on the pitch for a minute an scored with a brilliant placed shot in the corner with his first touch of the ball!! All good news and also a good defensive performance. Rangers are next with Celtic and Hearts around the corner! To be honest Hibs are now settling down and do look good so maybe my pessimism at the start of the season may be a bit excessive!

Infamy, Infamy....., Southwark Labour Party Conference 2, Kath stands in Rotherhithe, "Cameron Lite" and Hibs win at home!

With the Labour Party Conference imminent we hear of more and more treachery from those who only one year ago were hailing Gordon Brown as the fresh start! In fact the Scottish Office Minister who resigned yesterday (cant remember his name!) was on Question time only a few months ago backing the prime Minister to the hilt!
We had out second excellent Southwark Labour Party Conference on Saturday (one week after the last Camberwell Branch Meeting which Harriet attended) and the overwhelming majority view was that it was suicidal to embark on a Leadership challenge at this time and we all needed to rally behind the Prime Minister and our Leader ! In fact this all comes at a time when our poll ratings are improving due to the announcements on Stamp Duty and Energy Poverty, not to mention the fact that the real source of the economic downturn is become starker with the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the bailing out today of AIG by the Federal Bank!
Even independent political experts agree that a leadership challenge is stupid and harmful and all the worse as these rebels cant agree on a candidate or a new policy between them!!
Harriet describes their policy as "throwing all the pieces up into the air and seeing how they land" and it is not a plan that I would have anything to do with!
I only hope that this is all put to the sword next week with a "put up or shut up" ultimatum!

The Second Southwark Labour Party Conference was held last Saturday and we looked back on a tremendous Mayoral/GLA Election Campaign in Southwark with Ken getting a very high vote and Val quadrupling her majority!
Harriet and Val spoke very well as usual as did Chuka Umanna, Streatham PCC.
To me the real star was James Purnell, Secretary of State for DWP who was a brilliant, witty and insightful speaker and who answered all of the tough questions without flinching!
A real Labour Party Leader of the future if ever I saw one! ... just not now!!

Labour has selected Kath Whittam to fight the Rotherhithe by-election. Kath is the manager of the Surrey Docks Farm and has been involved in numerous campaigns up on the Rotherhithe peninsula over the years. She is a great candidate and will make a superb councillor if elected.
She is a terrific local representative and campaigner and widely known and liked in Rotherhithe so we are all hoping that she can take the seat, especially with the Lib Dems ands Tories fighting each other for once!
Although no one really cares it is the Lib Dem Conference this week with Nick "Cameron Lite" Clegg deciding that the Lib Dems are to swing from left of Labour to right of the Tories in a single bound! Lower taxes, smaller government, cuts in public spending, private services top ups!!!! where will it all end?
The day of the "Orange Book" has now dawned and I cant believe that many of the "rank and file" Lib Dem members (and there must be some) are happy with this so interesting times ahead!
It will however be an easy transition for the Lib Dems in Southwark Town Hall who have been "in bed" with the Tories for over 6 years so they must be pleased that their national party is catching up!
Hibs won 2-1 at Easter Road against Dundee United who are not playing anything like as well as they did last season.
Stephen Fletcher, fresh from his Scotland double, scored twice again for us 1
Derek "Riordinho"Riordan came on and played well setting up the first goal and looked comfortable, a good sign!
Bamba played his first game looked strong and fit , was booked for a rash challenge and later in the game decided to make another equally rash challenge and was sent off!! A good player that needs to learn to stay on the pitch for 90 minutes!
The team looks better though and it will be interesting to see how they fare against Hearts, Celtic and Rangers , all coming soon!

September 11th 2001 remembered, 2ndSouthwark Labour Party Conference,Govt rescue package, Cambridge University and Scotland start World Cup Campaign!

On the 7th Annivesary of what is known as "9.11" there is a lot of media coverage looking back at that terrible event and the personal experience of people directly affected by it.

I had an american relative who was in Tower 2 on that day and luckily escaped but with very severe post traumatic stress afterwards understandably.

Global terrorism is still a serious threat and I am absolutely in favour of any actions that have and will continue to reduce that threat in the future but accept that the genie is well and truly out of the bottle and therefore a heightened level of alertness is probably with us for the long haul!
Gordon Brown announced a welcome £910M package of measures to help with increasing fuel bills to support their recent announcements aimed at helping the Housing Market including shared ownership and Stamp Duty exemption.

These have got to be the right sort of measures to help cope with the worldwide recession and ensure that the UK bottoms out at the earliest opportunity and starts to pick up!

On Saturday we will be having the Second Southwark Labour Party Conference and , despite the national oncerns, we have a lot to be positive about, not least the fantastic election results in May which quadrupled Valerie Shawcross's majority over a (you have to say it!) a very good political campaigner in Caroline Pidgeon!

Last year's Conference was a real "shot in the arm" to the party locally and I am sure that this year will be no different with time to reflect on an excellent election campaign and the European, National and Southwark Elections to come over the next 2 years! Should be a good day!

The Media really have it in for the Government big time and the press coverage of all of this has been unbelievably negative! Rupert and his cronies have clearly now scurried back to the Tory Camp and we will find it very hard to get anything positive out of the media until the Election!
I spent a few days in Cambridge at a work Conference at the University . It was good top have a look around and in particular visit Kings College to see those amazing stained glass windows!
It was a really useful Conference as well and not I know more about Nanotechnology, and in particular Carbon Nano Tubes, that I ever thought that I wanted to know!

Scotland kicked off their World Cup Campaign in the heat of Skopje against Macedonia, lost a goal in five minutes and then played out a dreadful first half with only a slightly improved second half
Scotland did pick up last night with a 2-1 win over Iceland in Rekjavik but the lose of 3 points is a

blow and we really need a win against Norway at Hampden Park next month to put us back on track. With Holland the clear favourites for the top spot it looks like a fight between Scotland and Norway for the runners-up spot and the play-offs! i think that we do have a good squad of players with more options that we have had for years we just need constant good performances from all of them!Good to see Stephen Fletcher bumped up to the full squad after his 2-goal performance in the under-21 game last week.

Looking forward to seeing Derek Riordan back at Easter Road and in the team for the home game against Dundee United on Saturday. Come on Riordinho!!

The Camberwell Scrutiny is now underway with the first meeting on Wednesday and the Camberwell Summit next Monday.
I do think that at long last we have turned the corner with this Administration and they hopefully will be working with us rather than against us in this process and the Camberwell Leisure Centre Redevelopment project even if there are "no votes in it!"

The Bye -Election has been called in Riverside after the very sad death of Anne Yates and it could be a testing one for the Lib Dems with good Labour and Tory votes up there? We should have some fun with the Lib Dem and Tory leaflets attacking each other despite the cosy coalition at the Town Hall? Talking of the Town Hall I have been in touch with English Heritage and am expecting a decision on the Listing of the Town Hall very soon. Applications for the other buildings at risk are in so I am hopeful for a positive response!
I am off to New Hall at Cambridge University next week for a Conference which should be interesting and good to revisit Cambridge after a long gap!
This is the Conference peak just before the Academic Year begins and I have three in 3 weeks before the students come back.
I am pleased to see Derek Riordan back at Hibs and the international break this week will give him some time to work with his new team mates. I am confident that he will get back to his old form and at 25 he has his best years ahead of him! Come on Riordinho!

A bit of a strange story with Zemmama who has married a 17 year old in Morocco who is pregnant and he cant get her in the UK until she is 18 so he has been sent on loan to a team in the UAE for the season! Mixu is keen to clarify that he will return next season but he will be missed!
The World Cup 2010 trail to South Africa begins for Scotland on Saturday in a very hot Skopje in Macedonia with Iceland in Rekjavik to come on Wednesday. England tripped up against Macedonia and we need at least one point and really want 4 out of 6 point s from the first two away games. Holland and Norway are to come so we need a good start if we are to have any chance of even a play-off place!

The under-21's got off to a good start with a good 3-1 victory over Slovenia at Falkirk in the week with Captain,Hibs Stephen Fletcher scoring twice!
A good boost for Fletcher as he has yet to score for us this season and of course has Riordan to play alongside or even threaten his position in the team?

23 More Police for Southwark but still a violent crime hot spot!, Edinburgh Festival ends with a bang and Hibs lose again!

Good news this week that Southwark Police are to get another 23 Police Officers but we still seem short as Lambeth apparently having 100 more Officers and yet less reported crime!
We have been Campaigned for 1000 Police officers in Southwark and need to continue with that especially with the publication of the latest in a steady stream of reports picking out Southwark as one of the worst violent crime hot spots in the country!
Southwark news reported it as follows:
"SOUTHWARK IS one of the top ten violent areas in England and Wales, according to new figures from a leading charity on personal safety.
The annual report, produced by the Suzy Lamplugh Trust but based on Home Office data, showed the borough climbed nine places and now sits at ninth place in the table. Speaking to the 'News' the charity’s Chief Executive Mark Gauge who said: "One reason we do this report is that we want some communities who need the help to get the resources they need, the police should not be surprised by these statistics and they will know they are dealing with larger amounts of crime than other areas."The report states that for every 1,000 people in the borough there are 33 instances of violence against the person."
Overall the report shows that there were 8,863 reported incidents in Southwark in the 2007/08 reporting year."
The lack of a stragic overview I still think is a major flaw with the Tory/Lib Dem Executive and brought starkly into focus by Labour neighbours in Lambeth who have recently produced "Young and Safe", a focused strategy to deal with youth violent crime! What are we doing in Southwark?
The Edinburgh Festival ended with a Spectacular Fireworks Concert in Princess Street Gardens with music from Brahms and Dvorzak's Hungarian and Slavic Dances!
Not so many Fireworks at Easter Road where again Hibs had most of the play only to lose to a goal in the last ten minutes against Motherwell! Sounds familiar?
With the transfer window closing today Hibernian have signed
Souleymane Bamba on a three-year contract from Dunfermline for an undisclosed fee.
He is a 23 year old defender who has just represented Cote D'Ivoire in the Beijing Olympics .
The other deal to be done is to get Derek Riordan back from Celtic, either on a contract or a season loan deal! he is so out of favour with Strachan that he is training with the under-19's so he needs a move and hopefully we can get him today or else he might be off to Hearts!!
That will be it and we will just have to get on with it and start winning soon!!