Congratulations to Southwark Police

I must add my sincere congratulations to Southwark Borough Commander Malcolm Tillyer and his staff following the recent Police Awards Ceremony where Southwark Police were recongnised for their bravery and hard work above and beyond the call of duty.
I am very impressed with the police that work in Southwark, especially the Safer Neighbourhood Teams. Camberwell Green had one of the first tema which has now been operational for about 2 years and now teams are established in every electoral ward in London. I also work with SNT's in Holloway and Whitechapel as part of my day job with the University and am likewise very impressed by the way they work and by the ability of the individual police officers and especially the Police Commuinity Support oficers who have really been the "real" success of the entire programme.I think that the setting up of the SNT Community Panels which identify the top priorities for the SNT has been a brilliant success and I am convinced that this initiative, based on Rudolph Juliani's programme in New York, I believe, has been very positive and contributed signmificantly top the reduction in reported crime in London, especially domestic burglaries, car theft and anti social behaviour. The key issue to tyackle however is serious violent crime including street robberies and the seenming increased availablity and use of knives and guns. I am staggered that you can still buy replica guns in Peckham shops and am seeking a change in By-Laws prohibiting replica weapon sale ahead of new Government Legislation to outlaw it! This was again reported in the South London Press

This is a map of Peckham identifying the murders involving guns since th tragic death of Damilola Taylor in 2000 and the local community have had enough! Possession of a gun, real or replica, will soon carry a 5 year minimum jail sentence for anyone over the age of 17 and in my view it cant come soon enough!!!

It was really good to see my good friend and ex-councillor colleague Alfred Banya who has just been in Uganda invloved in some key mediation work. I cant think of anyone better to be involved in this important work. Alfred was always well liked and admired and is deeply missed from the Southwark Labour Group although I know that he is still very much involved in the party and especially with the local community, especially over the proposals for the Tram.


By the way HAPPY ST. PATRICK's DAY!!!!!!!

Ready for the Cup Final

I am now in Edinburgh for the CIS Insurance Cup Final at Hampen on Sunday. More than 30,000 Hibs fans will be travelling through to Glasgow, my dad and I included and the forecast believe it or not is for snow!!!!! I have copied a picture of Hibs Manager John Collins with the Cup which hopefully he will have for a year after Sunday.

I hear that at the Camberwell Leisure Centre meeting, Lib Dem activists, including failed Brunswick Park candidates, handing out Focus leafles with pictures of Ian Wingfield and I saying that we voted to close the Camberwell Leisure Centre in the last Labour Administration. This follows on from a Lib Dem "spokesperson" repeating the lie in this week's Southwark News that I challenged in the Council Chamber when it was first made by Cllr. Lorraine Zuleta. So once again the same lie is produced obviously based on the idea that if they repeat it enough people will start to believe it! Every time they say it I ask for written evidence or a retraction, and surprise surprise, they have declined to do so!!! They really are a pathetic bunch from a incompetent political party who deserve nothing but contempt!!!!

The election wheels are rolling in Scotland with polling day only a couple of months away. it will clearly be a two horse race between Labour and the Nationalists and I hope that the Scottish electorate know better that to cause an economic crisis in Scotland by putting an SNP Administration in power!!!

OSC Super Call-In night and a new Camberwell Labour Rose

The OSC Meeting last 6 long hours ending at midnight and the item on the Camberwell Leisure Centre took over 3 hours with a number of excellent presentations, especially from Professor Moxham, Clinical Director of Kings College Hospital and Camberwell resident.
It was clear early on that the Lib Dems and Tory has been instructed to play "hard ball" on all 3 items and there apeared little prospect of getting any of the items referred back.

In the end we focussed on this vague notion of a "Community Hub" for Camberwell which is clearly "Council speak" for downgrading the Leisure Centre, closing the pool and moving the Library across.

We agreed a motion reaffirming our desire for a 21st century Centre with a Swimming Pool at the heart of it and to work with the local community to fund a £6M redevelopment of the Centre, £1.5M from the Council, another £1M fromn the sale of the adjacent plot of land and the £3-4M balance being found through partners or funding from within or outside oif the council.
It was still a bad decision and the hastily "secret" cobbled togther justification from Consultants was quite riseable in parts and we rightfully ignored it, it was even titled "Camberwell Vs Dulwich" and seemed to suggest that people grow older quicker in Camberwell than in Dulwich??????!!

The real political point in all of this is that we have a seriously vindictive group in control of the Council who appear to make decisons on everything from School Governors, Southwark Alliance Membership, voluntary sector funding and capital investment based on past or future election results and their own personal prejudices!. It is quite obvious really that due to the Lib Dems , and Tories at the moment, lack of any clear political principles they are making all their key decisons on prejudice and spite and we have 3 more years of this to put up with!!!! They make me feel ashamed to be a Councillor at times and are an embarrassment to everytone who lives and works in Southwark!

Chris, Dora and I have now finished our latest Labour Rose which will keep us busy delivering over the next few weeks. Chris is the real expert of producing them and has the knack of writing readable articles which hopefully are of interest to our constiuents. We always get a very positive response from our tear off and return slips and we have a solid distribution network which can get all 6,000 leaflets out within a couple of weeks! (If you click on the pages they wil go to full page so that you can read them!)

I went with Tony Ritchie and Tony Squires to see Dulwich Hamlet play Tooting and Mitcham last night and they lost 2-0 with a very poor performance where they were just bullied out of the game by a much more physical side. Hope that is not a bad omen for Saturday??

I was pleased to see that Scotland have risen 4 places to 16th in the FIFA World Rankings. I recall when they were in the low 40's not so long ago so they really have come a long way! No doubt the victory over France played a major part in that?
Good to see that Gary O'Connor, ex-Hibs) may be back in the squad after his strange behaviour going awol before the game against the Ukraine. I cant believe that living in Moscow can be that much fun and Hibs could really do with him back so hopefully he will return although probably to Rangers unfortuinatley rather than a retrun to Hibs!

I am off to Edinburgh tomorrow for the Cup Final and apparently the rail strike in Scotland is over so we should have no problems getting to and from the match! All we need now is a HIBS WIN!!!!!!

OSC Super Call-In night and Hibs ready for Cup Final!

Tonight we have a Super Call-In day with 3 items on the Agenda with a 6pm and a likely late finish on the cards. The whole Leisure Centre plans are key for me and I hope that we can send it back for a re think with a proper business and community based decision making process which I believe should include the full and early redevelopment of Camberwell Leisure Centre , all £6 Million of it.

The very cynical approach of the the Lib Dem leadership in trying to "buy off" the SE5 Forum with empty promises of resources if they support a "Community Hub" model (really means no pool!) rather than push for the redevelopment as previously planned for.
The obvious and blanant political nature of this decision will hopefully strike a chord with the OSC members tonight and it can be sent back for more discussion!

Hibs completed the build up to Hampden with a 2-0 victory over Falkirk with Moroccan Benji scoring twice.

I am off to Scotland on Thursday for the match but the threatened rail strike could yet stop me getting to the match on Sinday. dad is sending through daily updates so hopefully it will clear up by the end fo the week.

Urban versus Suburban and problems at AMR School

ABOVE IMAGES OF DULWICK PARK, CAMBERWELL GREEN AND SURREY DOCKS

Southwark News this week has understandably and rightly focussed on the Urban/Suburban dispute with the Secretary of State and Mayor in areas like East Dulwich and Rotherhithe.

There is course is political consensus about protecting green areas in the centre of London but there is also a reality of an expanding population which cant be ignored and is at the centre of the Mayor's plans. the bigger picture is relevant to the debate but at the moment the focus is on the party politics with the Lib Dems chasing a few political point scoring against the "evil" Labour Government which has given Southwark Council more resources that it has ever had before to provide decent home, modern schools and inner city "urban" regeneration on a scale which you are unlikely to see on a similar level anywherer else in London (Olympic site obviously excluding!)

My concern, as a Camberwell Councillor, is that the protection at all cost of "suburban" areas does rather force the Council into ever greater over development of densly populated areas in the middle of the borough, ie Camberwell and Peckham. Perhaps as a consequence I have been. and stl am fighting with Planning Officers over a number of over developed proposals in my Ward. There is still a lot of anger in the Grosvenor terrace area over the Urlwin Street development, opposed by local people, rejected by the planning committee and then overturned by the Planning Inspector, due in no small part in what appeasr to be a deliberate policy of not defending the Committee decision adequately and allowing the decision to be overturned.

There is currently a large high rise block being built on Wyndham Road in opposition to local peoples views and out of proportion to the area and we are seeing a flurry of applications to over develope in Camberwell, all with Planning Officers apparent consent!

Rusia Docks Woodland and our Parks are real assets for ourselves and future generations but I wonder if at some stage the reality of a rapidly expanding City will force compromise in other areas where the pressure for housing gets overwhelming?

I attended a very full meeting of Brandon residents upset at the problems of AMR pupils , stimulated in part by a serious disturbance last week. Nooe from the school appeared so the Police and myself took most of the flack! The South London Press reported the meeting.

We agreed to send a delegation to the school to discuss short and longer term resolutions to the problem.

Hopefully when the new Head arrives, the fourth in 2 yeasr there will be a degree of stability which may produce a longer term benefit long with the plans for an Academy on the site.

Bullying and Extended Schools Scrutiny

At last night's Childrens Services and Education Scrutiny we agreed our final Report on Bullying.

I really enjoyed the school visits on the bullying and extended schools projects and it is very clear the resources that have been put into education since 1997. The Academy at Peckham and Harris Academy for Girls are absolutely fantastic schools and we were very impressed by the Head Teachers, staff and especially pupils that we met.
I enjoy being Chair of Scrutiny and being involved in the detailed report development.

I am off to Edinburgh next week for the CIS Cup Final with dad and then back up for a prolonged Easter break ahead of a University Conference in Newcastle. When I get back from all of that in mid April we will be into the Group AGM process and Annual Council.

Making Southwark a Fairtrade Borough, Lib Dems seeking "deal" with Brown, and more goalkeeping errors cost Hibs dear!

On Saturday Dora,Chris and I helped out at a Fairtrade Stall at Butterfly walk in Camberwell, giving out samples of chocolate tea and coffee and asking people to sign our petition to make Southwark a Fairtrade Borough.
There was a very positive response and it is nice to do something non-party political for once!

Dora really takes most of the credit for this as she was the instigator and has kept the subject on the Council's agenda!

It was interesting to see Ming Campbell set out his negotiating position for a possible coalition with Labour in the event of a hung parliament showing once again the complete absence of any political principle within the Lib Dems. They are an unholy alliance of right and left wingers fighting for control, the right wingers appear to be in the ascendency, and are happy to make a deal with any side that will give them power, Labour on Scotland and Wales, Tories in Southwark etc!
They accept the inevitable that they will never win a General Election in this country and therefore their whole position is based on horsetrading, apparently even a comittment to PR is not a "dealmaker or dealbreaker"!

When pressed on taking the UK into the Euro, another "dealbreaker". Davey was squirming like a worm on a hook so it looks like that has gone as well!!

Hibs lost 2-0 to Rangers with a couple of Goalkeeping errors from Simon Brown! The truth is the season stands or falls on the CIS CUP Final against Kilmarnock and the Scottish Cup Semi Final against Dunfermline. A Cup win and another Final with UEFA Cup place guaranteed, along with record crowds and 11,000 Season ticket sales would be considered a good season even if we dont make 3rd place. two losses and a failure to get into Europe would be a poor season. I think that it is as simple as that!

Camberwell Green Councillors Annual Report - The first year of this Administration

Annual Report from Camberwell Green Ward Councillors 2007

This time last year, we were in the build up to the local election. Camberwell was identified as a key seat with the smallest Labour majority in the Borough. Dora and John were reselected to stand as candidates, and were joined by Chris who was standing for the first time

As the campaign progressed it became more and more apparent that the Liberal Democrats were not contesting Camberwell and we therefore asked members to help in the more closely contested Brunswick Park. In May we had an election result we can all be proud of. In Camberwell Green there was a 22% swing to Labour, and Camberwell Green is second only to Peckham for strength of Labour vote for any ward in the whole of London. Thank you to all the members who selected us and have given us your support at selection, in the campaign and beyond. We are only able to do our job because of your support. Thank you.

Since May, we have kept up the hard work. We now hold six surgeries a month, more than any other ward in Southwark, we are putting out direct mails, surgery cards and newsletters. The campaign continues with Christmas Cards sent over Christmas and a Rose planned in the next few weeks. This will be in the format of an Annual Report and will go out in April .

In the Council, Dora has been elected as the Chair of the Labour Group, vice-chair of the Disciplinary Appeals Committee and she chairs the Fairtrade Steering Committee. Chris is the Group Treasurer and member of the Environment and Community Safety Scrutiny Sub-Committee and co-chair of the Transport Study Group of Camberwell Community Council with Dora. John is on the Shadow Executive as Community Safety Spokesperson and is also the Chair of Education and Children Scrutiny Sub-Committee and chairs the Crime Study Group of Camberwell Community Council.

In Camberwell we have been working hard tackling local problems and difficulties that people have had. There have been a number of planning issues where the Council has failed people and where we have stepped in and made a difference. On Caspian Street, work has finally restarted on a previously abandoned building which was attracting anti-social problems to the area. In Warner Street, a car pound which has been operating without consent and causing problems for their neighbours is being shut down in the next few weeks. And in Urlwin Street we have fought hard against a new development which is not suitable for the area, taking it to the point where the Council considered challenging the development in the High Court.

After a long campaign, we now have controlled parking in North Camberwell which is proving successful. For too long people around the Grosvenor Estate could not park as out of town commuters parked their cars there all day and got the bus into London. There was parking chaos and a lot of local anger. The Controlled Parking Zone means residents can now park nearer their homes and the estate is less congested.

In October, we took the new Chief Executive, Annie Sheppard, around the ward to give her a feel of the different areas and communities within it. We also pointed out areas which we need help in resolving such as investment in Camberwell Green centre, better cleaning and maintenance on Brandon 3, trees being cut back on the Grosvenor and new play facilities for St Joseph’s Primary School as well as a new public toilet on Camberwell Green.
We have continued to keep in touch with local groups and regularly attend the neighbourhood housing forums, the TRA’s and new groups like the SE5 Forum and the Transport Study Group. We are also keeping up our work with the Safer Neighbourhood Team. We have been working with them to set the priorities that matter to the area such as cracking down on anti-social behaviour. While the Safer Neighbourhood Team make a real difference, Camberwell still has crime problems. It is one of the top five London wards for violent crime, a fact that was all too tragically brought to the fore before Christmas with the fatal shooting on Camberwell Road. Since then, we have all been working with the Police to press for action to be taken to stop this sort of terrible crime from happening again.

Our campaign to get the investment we need into Camberwell Leisure Centre continues. We were dealt a serious blow at the most recent Camberwell Community Council when the head of Leisure told us that one of the recommendations he would be putting to the Executive was to close Camberwell Leisure Centre. This is something that has never been on the table and we had thought that there had been cross party support for regenerating the Leisure Centre, with the only disagreement being where to get the money from. At Council Assembly this was raised and the Executive denied it would be closed, but we will continue to keep up the pressure to make sure that the Lib Dem/Tory coalition that run the Council know how important this is to Camberwell and that they can not continue to leave us and our needs behind.

We also argued against the lack of community consultation when we discovered that the Executive were proposing to sell of the Age Concern building in Crawford Road. This has been empty for years and we tried to encourage both Age Concern and the Council to allow local community groups to use it but without success. Following our intervention we have now got a last minute agreement that when the building is sold there will be a caveat that the ground floor will have some form of community use.

Dora has continued to work on promoting Fairtrade in the Borough. Fairtrade fortnight starts on Monday 26th February and we will be having sampling stalls in all the shopping malls including Butterfly Walk in Camberwell. Dora is looking for volunteers to help staff it. If you are interested in helping (not more than 2hours at a time) then please let Dora know.

The Decent Homes work in Camberwell continues with varying success in different parts of the ward. We are continuing to take up individual problems and work with the Area Housing Office to make sure that people get the works they need and that they are carried out as well as possible.

Chris has been continuing to work on transport issues in Camberwell and has met with the Executive Members as well as people in transport planning to find solutions to some of Camberwell’s transport problems. This will be a long process, but the work goes on.

Thank you for your support over the last year and as always we want to hear what you think. Are we getting it right or are there things you want us to focus on? Please talk to us and let us know.

Best wishes,

Councillors Dora Dixon-Fyle, John Friary, Chris Page

Tackling gun crime in South London and Hibs through to third Scottish Cup Semi Final for third successive year!!

I think that some useful initiatives will come out of the Gun Crime Summit last week at No. 10 and I will be glad to see the 5 year minimum sentence for gun position being applied to people from 17 year old and the speeding up of a new law to make replica guns illegal. I also support making gang membership an aggrivating factor in sentencing as I think that people carrying guns need to be clear what the consequences are likely to be if they are caught. They may sound draconian but we need to act now or further down the track we could be in a situation like Washington DC where young black men have a longer life expentancy on Death Row that they have being out in the street!! An extreme example I know but perhaps a vision of a future that none of us want to see?

The Southwark News lists the progress of the "100 days of Change" weekly and some of the "initiatives" look a bit lame. One of them was to "commit to improve Housing Repairs"! (is the current policy not to improve the Hosuing repairs Service?) and another one was that old gimmick of putting flags on dogs mess!!! (hands up for volunteers to do that?)
Does Cllr. Humphries really see this as a priority or is the whole project running out of steam and credibility? His next gimmick is to spend a few days on the Aylesbury but I have to ask if he needs to stay on every estate in the borough to work out what is going wrong with Southwark Housing??

Hibs won through in Dunfries beating Queen of the South 2-1 in what Manager John Collins called "winning ugly!". New boy Sunowmi scoring the winner. Hibs have a small squad and are looking at some short term deals to get them through the season. The loss of Caldwell, O'Conner , Riordan and Thompson in the past year has really put a serious dent in the squad and as well as bringing through the youngsters we do need a bit more experience.
Celtic scrapped through by scoring twice in the last 2 minutes so we have to wait until Thursday's Semi Final draw to see if we can avoid them in the Semi at Hampden!

I watched the Carling Cup and felt sorry for the Arsenal youngsters who played the best football but lost to a late goal and ended up in a full scale
brawl! I am a Red Card member of Arsenal due to one of my work offices facing directly onto Ashburton Grove and believe that Arsenal and Man U are playing by far the most attrative football in the Premiership this season.

More "Liberal Democracy" in Southwark Town Hall

It was another frustrating and angry night at the Town Hall on Wednesday.
Lib Dem apologist blogger, Andy Mayer, described me as "excitable" on his wonderfully balanced site! I am sure that if the Lib Dems proposed slaughter of the first born he would describe it as an education efficiency saving!!

Mr Mayer even managed to confuse something said by Cllr. Sandra Rhule (making an excellent contribution!) as being attributed to me? Confusing me with a black women is obviously an easy mistake to make for Peter John's "favourite blogger" (Andy - have you ever heard of irony?)

The main reason, once again for my anger, is the complete contempt and absence of any political principle from the Lib Dems and the Tories and they showed their true colours both at the Executive meeting the week before where they allowed no public questions arising from about 8 deputations and at Council Assembly. I know the numbers and expect defeat at every vote but at least I expect them to treat the process with respect but their arrogance really has taken over, especially in the Stanton/Humphries Leadership!

They would not allow more than 15 minutes debate on 2 Camberwell Leisure Centre motions and referred to Labour Administration plans to close and sell of the Centre in 1998. This is a clear and deliberate lie and I asked for a ruling from the Mayor and an opinion from the Acting Borough Solicitor but was told to sit down and shut up!
I will revisit this at OSC Call-In and through the Standards Board!

Then there was a lot of bluster about the budget with it all being the fault of the Labour Government and the Labour Mayor, so pathetically predictable!!!
What really angered all of us was the issue of the Audit Commitee. I moved an amendment to stop an SRA but that was always going to fail as more Lib Dems may need to be bought off by the Leadership ahead of the annual elections.
I also argued for an Opposition Chair due to the scrutiny aspect of the Committee but that again was always due to fail.

During the discussion Humphries was scuttling around with Stanton and Hubber and suddenly moved Tory Cllr. Lewis Robinson as Vice Chair which was voted for and passed. As well as being completely anti-democratic it was stupid as no member of OSC could Chair the committee and even on that point the Legal advice was pathetic!!
Luckily, one member opposite had some political integrity, Lewis himself, and he then refused the position and asked for support for Richard Livingstone. He also suggested a rotating Chair which i think was also agreed.

Well done to Lewis but it does not hide the shame of the rest of them who were willing to go through with it (I might exempt James Gurling, Chair of the committee, who did look very uncomfortable!)

I am thinking about our new Camberwell Green Labour Rose and think that it may be an Annual Report format. Below is the last Newsletter and the style that we will keep for our quarterly publications.

Meanwhile the Quarter Final of the Scottish Cup takes place on Saturday when Hibs visit Queen of the South. On paper an easy draw but stranger things have happened!
If we get through it the next hurdle is the draw and hopefully avoiding Celtic in the Semi Finals. Anyway one step at a time !





CIS Cup Final tickets go on sale on Monday so my dad will hopefully sort it out for the 18th March at Hampden Park! Cant wait!

CIS INSURANCE SCOTTISH LEAGUE CUP FINAL

HIBERNIAN VS KILMARNOCK

SUNDAY 18TH MARCH 2007

HAMPDEN PARK GLASGOW SCOTLAND

3PM

Gun Crime in South London, The "Hollowing out of Camberwell" and Hibs in last 8 of the Scottish Cup

As I said earlier I attended the Public Meeting in Peckham on Monday evening.

There was a massive turnout with people unable to get in so, upon request, a number of us older ones left top let some more young people in. For that reason I did not hear all of the meeting but did hear some really interesting comments from local people talking about the importance of parents in keeping their kids away from seriopus criminal activity and inparticular the important of a male role model for young black boys. This si not a new theory but an interesting one coming directly from the black community itself.

The Met Police will pump extra armed police into South London as a short term reassurrance but we all know that something more fundamental needs to happen in the longer term. I hope that in the short term the police really put the heat of these young armed criminals and bring them to justice through any means necessary!!!

On Tuesday I sat through a frustrating Executive as they agreed a budget again ignoring Camberwell at every turn and then of course starving the Leisure centre from funding but directing millions into Dulwich and Rotherhithe!! I wonder why and if things would have been different if the Lib Dems had taken Brunswick Park!!

It is clearly entirely down to political vindictiveness for which the Lib Dems are famous and the pathetic attempt to justify it as a "business decision" was laughable!!

The pre Election picture of Ming, Hughes and the Lib Dem throngs outside of the Camberwell Leisure Centre promising that they would save it have been shown as lies with the Lib Dem Leadership at the highest level complicite in it!! They really will say anything to anyone to get a vote wont they!!!!
They must really regret this picture!!!!

One of the delegation used the expression "hollowing out" to discribe Council policy towards Camberwell and I can only think that the rationale behind it is that the Lib Dems think that the more they starve camberwell of resources the more residents will want to vote Lib Dem????

There was also lots of whining about the Government funding of Local Government unbeleievably from the Tories and Lib Dems, both of whom would cut public spending by tens of billions of pounds and would cut the basic rate of income tax!!

And what would be the current state of the welfare state if the tories had remained in power after 1997?? I think that we all know the answer!



On a brighter note Hibs take on Queen of the South away in the Quarter Finals of the Cup a week tomorrow and if we win as expecetd and avoid Celtic in the Semis could be at Hampden again?

Violent Crime in Peckham and Camberwell, Camberwell Leisure Centre and CIS Cup Final Looms

I shall be going along to a Public Meeting on the recent murders in Peckham and Camberwell, 3 in under a week, on the back of the fatal shooting in Camberwell at the end of last year and the incident at the Academy at Peckham.

There is clearly no easy answer to tackling this increase in gang warefare which is impacting so greatly on people locally but there is a need for a more positive approach from the Council and Police to give people reasurrance that there is a strategic approach which is being followed through. This has been less that clear in recent times so I will be interested to hear what thye say and to see the public reaction.

I am not really interested in political point scoring on this but the Executive and Police need to raise their game on this or else our criticism will grow!

There are a number of Camberwell Deputations at tomorrow night's Executive and I shall be there with my fellow Camberwell Councillors.

It is clear that we are going to be seriously short changed in what is looking more and more like political vindictiveness, and after witnessing the way in which the Lib Dems treated Danny McCarthy I know that that this would be very much in character for this bunch!!

Hamden Park awaits on March 18th and the tickets are on sale so I am looking forward to another trip there and perhaps the first of 2 trips this season?

Developing a Community Strategy "Southwark 2010"

I was at an OSC Meeting held today in the Town Hall at 10am which gave us 3+ hours to discuss the Community Strategy in detail and it was a really enjoyable meeting as we had time and space to question a number of senior officers on long term strategy.

My big problem again was the lack of any strategic plan for Camberwell. Regeneration and transformational plans were included for other parts of the borough and Camberwell was given only a passing refernece regarding it's future identity!

The future of the Camberwell Leisure Centre and Library were raised as was the need for a Town Centre Manager approach to revitalising Camberwell and a number of positive noises were there from Officers who i think accept that Camberwell is often bypassed! In fact a local resident said that she was fed up of Camberwell being seen as a "through road" and little else!

Perhaps Camberwell is seen as a political wasteland by the Lib Dem/Tory Administration or the fact that it does not need pulling down and rebuilding??? I really dont know but it very hard work to get the Council Executive and officers to take Camberwell seriously!!

Our Scrutiny work on Bullying is coming to a conclusion and I am confident that we can recommend some good practice and look at the internal policies and procedures in operation in the light of Government and specialist advisors guidance. This is the first time that I have done this as Chair so it has been valuable experience.

Hibs beat Gretna 3-1 and with Queen of the South in the quarter finals the prospect of 2 Cup Finals in one season are pretty high, dependant in part but not entirely on not pulling Celtic as a Semi Final opponent.