Parents angry at Labour lies

Extraordinary scenes at the Council meeting tonight, as the sitting was abandoned in the face of disruption from angry parents. I arrived half an hour late at the Town Hall, having been detained at another meeting, and found the meeting had already broken up after just 20 minutes.

A large group of parents of children at the Charlotte Turner school, which the Council is closing, were in the gallery to make a deputation, and had also gathered outside the Town Hall to protest. I am told they took exception to 'lies' being told by the Labour Cabinet Member for Children's Services, Cllr. Jackie Smith, and shouted her down. After warnings from the Mayor failed to quieten them, the meeting was abandoned.

I can't condone such disruptive behaviour, and it is wrong for anyone to halt the democratic process by refusing to allow an elected representative to be heard. But it is a measure of the anger that is felt by many parents at the way Greenwich Council has handled this matter.

Greenwich MP joins 'dump Brown' call

Crikey- this is turning out to be quite a week in politics. As the latest shock Cabinet resignation makes Gordon Brown's prospects look even more dire, we have just had a local dimension. Greenwich MP Nick Raynsford, a former minister, told Newsnight he thinks Mr Brown should step down. Will his Parliamentary neighbour Clive Efford follow suit?

A house-warming gift.

At the weekend I moved to a new flat in Westmount Road, in the heart of Eltham North. It's also just a few doors down from the Eltham Labour office, meaning I have to suffer the grisly sight of their giant picture of Gordon Brown and Clive Efford as I walk to and from the train station. At the moment that image is probably doing them more harm than good, so I'm content to suffer it. On my doormat this morning was their latest leaflet (above) boasting of their freezing Council Tax this year. Unusually there was no mention of us nasty Tories anywhere on the leaflet. Probably because we proposed a budget that would actually have cut the tax, which is still too high. Come the election, we'll be offering residents more for less, and if all Labour can manage is to keep tax high locally, I look forward to the debate.

Brown and out?

I never thought it likely the Labour Party would move against Brown with just a year to go before an election, but how quickly things change. On balance I still think this plot will fizzle out, but it's now much more uncertain, with the rumours of different letters being circulated. It does feel rather like the last days of Iain Duncan Smith, I must say (the only internal party coup of which I have first-hand experience). The reshuffle will be crucial, but in the meantime voters will be angry to see the Westminster village self-indulgently plotting whilst they go to the polls. We Tories discovered in the 90s how badly that plays- including amongst the governing party's own voters. I just hope the BNP - who are all too active in my own patch in Eltham- do not reap the benefit.

All the fun of the Fayre

A glorious day yesterday, perfect for lounging in the sun, so that's what I did. I went along to the 'May Fayre' at Well Hall Pleasaunce, where there were family activities, various stalls, owls [?!], and a band playing hits of the 60s. Sitting on the lawn reading the paper and sipping a cool apple juice, life felt pretty good.

There was also a display in the Tudor Barn of the new plans for the building, which has now been leased to a 'Community Interest and Event Management Company' called Staar. Their website for the project is still under construction, but you can see it here. The plans look very good - there will be a cafe and visitor centre/community space on the ground floor, which will become a restaurant in the evenings. There will also be a function room on the first floor, and the site will market itself for weddings and corporate functions.

The plans have received a warm welcome from the Friends of Well Hall Pleasaunce, who are pleased that the barn will be operational again as something other than a pub. Local residents I've spoken to seem to agree, and I certainly look forward to seeing this fantastic building get a new lease of life.

It's good to talk

A busy weekend, but great weather for it! I went along yesterday to the Council's 'Great Get-Together' event in Eltham, which is one of the series of 'free' activity days the Borough puts on each year. We'll leave aside the political point that they're not free to the taxpayer, and should really be properly sponsored...

Anyway, it was a good atmosphere and well attended, with lots of family activities, displays and stalls by local groups, not to mention the surreal sight of the new Mayor, Allan MacCarthy, trying to hoola-hoop (apologies for the photo, Mr Mayor!). Councillors are invited to attend the 'Talk Cafe' to meet residents, who are able to put comments and suggestions on display boards for the powers-that-be to take note.

I met a number of Eltham North residents who raised issues such as a couple of unwelcome planning applications which you might hear more of in due course. I also noted several comments asking when the old Coronet cinema will be redeveloped. It's had planning permission for some time, but nothing has yet happened, and it looks increasingly messy. I took photos of the comments boards so I can follow these and other comments up (not that I don't trust the Council to do so...)

A true hero

With politicians in such low esteem, it was a humbling experience last night to attend the annual awards at the University of London Union (ULU). I was Vice-President there in 2001-02, and founded a set of awards for the union's societies. These have now been incorporated into the main union awards ceremony, and it's always a pleasure to be invited back each year to present my award and see the other winners. The number of young people giving up their time to devote to student activities and achieving impressive results is truly inspiring.

This year, however, there was a very special guest on my table- Major Phil Packer, who has made headlines around the world recently for completing the London marathon on crutches to raise money for the Help for Heroes charity. After he was seriously injured in a rocket attack in Basra last year his doctors told him he would never walk again, but he has proved them wrong in spectacular style. For such an impressive man, he is astonishingly modest, saying that what he has done is nothing special. The audience begged to differ, giving him a raputous ovation as he was presented with the prestigious William Ross Murray award, whose previous recipients have included Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The running order meant the part of the ceremony I was hosting began just after Major Packer's award - talk about a hard act to follow! It was an honour to meet him, and you can read about his ongoing charity work on his website.

Time's Up

With apologies to 'OfBlog' for posting on national politics, but today's resignation of The Speaker is undoubtedly a momentous development in British politics. His terse statement, saying only that he was standing down on 21st June and 'that is all I have to say on the matter' was a huge contrast to the resignation of his predecessor, Betty Boothroyd. Whereas Michael Martin's demise was widely predicted and demanded, and the news leaked hours ago, Madam Speaker took the whole House by surprise in 2000 with her statement that she would be stepping down. She gave an emotional farewell, which was met with genuine sadness from across the House. Seeing the glum faces before her, she looked up from her notes to declare 'Be happy for me!' and was given a huge round of applause- the rare tribute given only on such unanimous occasions. Today, the silence spoke volumes for the miserable state of morale at Westminster and the shattered trust in our politics. This isn't a happy occasion, and it won't be the end of the current crisis, but as a politician and as a voter, I hope the new Speaker will be able to make a fresh start and clean up this mess.

A Competition win for Greenwich

After my earlier post concerning the competition in Greenwich Time, which was won by a non-Borough resident, I'm pleased to report a minor victory. Having raised the issue with Greenwich's Ministry of Truth (aka the Communications Department), I am assured that in future, only Greenwich residents will be eligable to win competitions run by the Council's taxpayer-funded 'newspaper'. Hurrah - if only it were so easy to win all such disputes with the Council.

A planned retreat?
The Council annual meeting last night (Weds 13th) held a few surprises - firstly, Deputy Mayor Alan MacCarthy was elected Mayor for the coming year with Conservative support. Usually, we oppose the Labour nomination, on the grounds that the supposedly impartial mayoralty of the Borough continues to be used as a Labour Party sinecure, with no opposition councillors being considered for the role, however well-qualified they might be.

However, Alan MacCarthy has been a long-serving councillor, devoting many years to the borough, and we felt it would be wrong to oppose him. The outgoing Mayor, Cllr. Steve Offord, was also rightly praised by several councillors for his fairness in the Chair, and for the dignity and dedication which he has brought to the office of first citizen of the Borough, ably supported by his wife Jackie. Steve's father was Mayor of the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich in the early 60s, so it's good to see the Labour Party embracing the hereditary principle in some form!

But back to the Council meeting. As can been seen from the photo above, the Labour Party did indeed back down on their shocking proposal to restrict the right of residents to oppose planning decisions (see earlier post), and issued an "addendum" to the agenda, removing it from consideration. Leader of the Council Chris Roberts even offered a half-apology for the process by which the constitutional change had been proposed. What he didn't do, however, was explain why it had been proposed in the first place. I made a short speech drawing attention to the fact that, although it had been withdrawn, the Labour proposal suggested a worrying lack of consideration for the democratic process in planning. I won't name the Labour Councillors I saw half-nodding in agreement, but there are some who were equally concerned by the proposal. Comrade Roberts spoke after me in the debate but failed to explain the issue, except to admit that the initial proposal had been to increase the number of objectors needed to 10, instead of 5, so that's all right then!

Much amusement too at the Liberal Democrats' opposition to the appointment of Cllr. Danny Thorpe as deputy representative on the Commonwealth Local Government Forum. Cllr. Thorpe is, of course, infamous as the Councillor who thought it acceptable to remain a councillor whilst spending a year away in Australia. On that basis, it might be thought he was ideal for the Commonwealth position, but it might strike his constituents as something of a bad joke.