Peckham Rye Labour

Home sweet home in Peckham Rye All the Peckham Rye Labour candidates live locally and we have all been involved in a variety of community groups for some time. As I tell many people on the doorstep, I would never have dreamed of standing to be a councillor had it not been clear to me how much the Lib Dems and Tories were failing our part of Southwark. Fighting Peckham Rye ward is very personal for me - it's about making sure that the services me, my family and my neighbours rely on are high quality and that we work hard to ensure that the most vulnerable in Peckham Rye get a better deal than they do at present. Meanwhile the Lib Dems and Tories couldn't find a single local person to represent them, instead parachuting in candidates from Camberwell and elsewhere in the borough who presumably are interested in propping up their colleagues in the Town Hall rather than in standing up for their own community. The local choice on 6th May is Labour.

Tonight, one of our local Labour Party members popped round for a cup of tea and a chat. During our conversation he told us about a mildly amusing experience he'd had on his doorstep earlier today. I thought I'd share it with you too. An unsuspecting Liberal Democrat canvasser had knocked on his door and asked to have a chat about how he might be voting in the May local elections. Our member wanted to know what the Lib Dems had to offer the people of Peckham Rye, so he played the role of an undecided voter. The conversation that followed went something like this:- Lib Dem Canvasser: 'Which party do you think you might be voting for in May?' Labour member: 'Well, I'm undecided. But I'm put off voting Lib Dem locally because they've gone into coalition with the Tories.' Lib Dem Canvasser: 'Sorry?' Labour member: 'The Lib Dems. They've run Southwark council with the Tories since 2002. The Tories are a bit right-wing for me. I'm not t...

Angela shows us the terrible state the council left her bathroom in - for 7 weeks! Gavin, Renata and I were horrified to find that council tenants in Rye Hill Park have been left without a bathroom for almost two months. James Finn , 71, Angela Harrington, 28 and Giulia Harrington, 59 have had to wash in bowls and in the kitchen sink after the council ripped out their bathroom but didn't seem in any rush to replace it! What we found was really upsetting, especially as James suffers from a heart problem and has difficulty getting around. For this very reason the council had proposed that they install a shower in the flat, yet seven weeks after ripping out the old bathroom the council still hadn't returned to finish the job. The council had also ignored all contact from James, Angela and Giulia. Once we'd brought this to the council's attention and got the story on the front page of Southwark News, miraculously the council decided they would sort this problem out. But i...

(A tweet from the Peckham Rye Lib Dems) Peckham Rye Lib Dems are now claiming that Labour 'run' Peckham Rye (take a look above). When asked by a local resident "Am I right in thinking Lib Dems run Southwark but Labour run Peckham Rye?", a Peckham Rye Lib Dem candiate replied, "Yes you're right. For the next three months Lab run Peckham Rye. Then we take over..." Given that, just like every other area in Southwark, Peckham Rye is run by the Lib Dem-Tory Executive it seems this is just the latest in a string of attempts to mislead people into thinking they've got nothing to do with Southwark's failures. Of course, Peckham Rye does have three Labour councillors, who do a great job of representing our area and our concerns at the Town Hall. However this is very different from 'running' Peckham Rye. If only we could just opt out of the Lib Dem chaos! In truth, the policy levers and almost all the money spent by the council are under the cont...

I've just arrived back from the latest Nunhead and Peckham Rye Community council meeting. It was, once again, a lively meeting in which a number of important local issues were discussed. However, there was one piece of news which will give rise to significant concern among local residents. The meeting was addressed by Cllr Tim McNally, the Lib Dem Executive Councillor for Resources, on the council's policy on community buildings. A very revealing moment came when Cllr Gordon Nardell asked Cllr McNally if a group of local residents concerned about local community buildings (which he chairs) could have some information. Cllr Nardell asked for a list of non-housing properties in the area which the council is considering disposing of. That was all he wanted. A list of local, publicly owned properties which the council is thinking of selling or renting out. As the representative of a party which claims to support openess and accountability, you'd think Cllr McNally would have ag...

Regular readers will be aware that Southwark Lib Dems are proposing to pay massive bonuses to the most senior council officers despite Southwark recently being rated the worst council in inner London. The Lib Dems seem happy to reward failure and are not holding senior officers to account. To put things in context, 17 council officers in Southwark are already earning more than £100,000 per year . When local residents complained that it was wrong for the Lib Dems to pay lump sums to council bosses when services were failing, the response from our local Lib Dems was, apparently, ‘so what?’!! Posting online, East Dulwich Lib Dem Councillor James Barber, refused to accept that those of us watching our pennies and keen to know that our council tax is being well spent, might be annoyed about this. He defended the policy by simply saying:- “As for bonuses, so very senior managers have performance management pay, and some have delivered larger back office savings than expected.” So that’s fine...