Peckham Rye Labour

We don't ordinarily give much coverage to national politics on the Peckham Rye Labour Blog. Parochial to the last, you'll find more on this website about the Clock House pub than the House of Commons. That said, we thought we'd make an exception following the election of Ed Miliband as the new Leader of the Labour Party. It's been a difficult time for supporters of the Labour Party watching a supposedly left-of-centre Liberal Democrat Party form a Coalition with the Tories, providing cover for cuts which are clearly too early and too deep for our recovering economy. In very testing circumstances our local MP Harriet Harman has done a fantastic job as the Acting Leader of the Labour Party, holding the Government to account every step of the way. Nevertheless, the people we've been talking to on the doorstep have been very curious to know who would be the new Leader of the Labour Party. Victoria, Renata and I are delighted that Ed Miliband is now in the hot-seat. Rig...

I thought I’d give a slightly overdue update on how things went at the last Traffic and Travel Community Council 'Sub Group' when we discussed how to take forward the campaign to extend the 63 bus. I gave a bit of the background and informed the sub-committee that TFL are claiming that extending the route would cost £470,000. Val Shawcross, our London Assembly Member was attending the meeting to give us her view on what the next steps in the campaign should be. Val explained that the contract for the route was renewed a year ago and contracts get re-let every 5 yrs. Transport for London can tweak a bus route mid-contract but it needs demonstration of a clear demand. Considering the current climate, the picture is not optimistic, however if there is a case it needs to made and be persistent. One suggestion is that since all the passenger number studies are pre-east London extension, post-East London line data might demonstrate a need so the council might ask for more data regard...

Victoria, Renata and I today attended the Mundania Road Street Party. This was a fantastic event entirely organised by people living on Mundania Road. Thankfully the summer held out for another day to allow people to enjoy themselves. There were bookstalls, face-painting, football and lots of cake for people to enjoy. Some of the funding for the event came from the Nunhead and Peckham Rye Community Fund, which is allocated by local councillors. I think this kind of event is a superb way of building community spirit. Though there are many great things about living in London, life in a big city can all too easily isolate people from their neighbours. But today on Mundania Road the atmosphere was more like a village fete than a street in a city 7.5 million people. Congratulations to everyone involved in the event.

I've said before on this blog that the nuts and bolts of local authority politics can squeeze the enthusiasm out of even the most hardened campaigners. But it is crucially important that all those leaflets, all the time talking to you on your doorstep, and all those votes actually achieves something for the people of this borough. It's been just over four months since the people of Southwark voted for a change in who runs their council. So, has it made any difference? Southwark Labour was elected on a manifesto of creating a fairer, more equal borough and giving people a council that provided good quality services. Whilst doing this Southwark Labour is also having to contend with 25% + cuts to our budget made by the Coalition Government. Given this context, I've listed below Labour's top 10 achievements in Southwark since 6th May. Labour has: 1. Entered a Regeneration Agreement for the £1.5 billion redevelopment of the Elephant and Castle - a deal which includes a mini...

In October 2010 your newly elected Labour Administration in Southwark will start to deliver on our manifesto commitment to expand the variety of materials that can be recycled in order to boost the recycling rate in the borough. One of the major failings of the Lib Dem-Tory Administration which we have replaced was their refusal to prioritise recycling - leave Southwark with the 6th worst recycling rate in the country. Labour is determined to change this. In October, parts of six wards, including Peckham Rye, will take part in a six month pilot. The most significant change will be the introduction of weekly food and garden waste collections. As part of the pilot you will be supplied with compostable bags which will allow you to collect all food waste. Food waste can then be put into your brown garden waste bin. The council will then collect your food and garden waste each week. If you don’t have a brown bin, the council will supply you with one, in a size suitable for the space availa...

A local resident recently posted on our "Peckham Rye News" Facebook Page asking for an update from the latest Community Safety ward panel meeting. I thought our blog readers might also like to see the response, so I've copied and pasted it below: "The local police team gave an update on their work. They have been particularly focusing on the crime and anti-social behaviour being committed by a small number of individuals in the Peckham Rye area. Their work on this over the summer seems to have been very succesful. There was also some discussion on the issue of dangerous dogs. The police explained that they will act whenever they have reports of people failing to control their dogs or of dogs posing a danger to the public. There have been a small number of burglaries in the area over the last month or so, and the police gave their view that these were opportunistic. They emphasised the importance of locking doors and windows to avoid this kind of break in. On the who...