John Roan school – work finally begins

After many years of discussion – and a possible move to the Peninsula which won planning approval but was halted by tightened safety rules over the gasometer near the site – work on rebuilding John Roan School’s Westcombe Park Road site has begun.

Work there to lay the foundations for temporary classrooms at the back of the Westcombe Park Road site has now started. The new classrooms should arrive in March 2012, with demolition of the current building starting in July 2012 – just as the Olympics start – at the end of the summer term.

Over at Maze Hill, work to refurbish the current building and remove the existing temporary buildings will start in November 2012 – with the southern half of the building done first, then the northern.

Work on both sites should be completed by September 2014, allowing the school to open in its new buildings at the beginning of the 2014/15 school year.

A consultation group is being stablished by the school to ensure that neighbours in Wycherley Close, Westcombe Park Road, Vanbrugh Fields and other local streets are not unduly effected by noise, traffic or disruption. If any residents living near the school have questions about the council’s role in the project, or wish to be put in touch with the consultation group, please mail me at alex.grant@greenwich.gov.uk.

I was at a meeting of governors and staff at the school in February and images of what the new building on Westcombe Park Road will  look like have generally been welcomed by students, parents and neighbours, so I hope it does not disappoint when it is completed. And at Maze hill the proposed new uses of the courtyards look stunning.

We are all vigilantes now

There will be many feelings a week on from the start of the riots. Anger that large numbers of people feel so detached from society that they feel the need to loot and commit arson. Surprise that, for one night at least, the police appeared to have lost control of our streets. Exasperation that areas of London that are already deprived – Tottenham, Peckham, Hackney and Woolwich – will now be further stigmatised by the riots, and will now have to overcome that stigma to attract investment.

Commenting on this kind of social unrest is, as always, a minefield for politicians. For Labour, raising concerns over government policies that may encourage more people to join such rioting can be misinterpreted as sympathy for criminals.

Equally, as the Government is realising, it is difficult to take credit for resorting peace on the streets, while at the same time praising the police, and simultaneously ignoring their warnings that cutting police numbers will make future disorder more difficult to police. While both the police and politicians were recently dealt a blow by the phone hacking scandal, the police retain a bedrock of public trust which politicians have completely lost, possibly for ever.

But there are clearly some questions for the police to answer. Locally, as late as the early evening of the Monday (August 8^th) the police said that they did not expect any trouble in Woolwich – with hindsight, not a good call as a few hours later there was serious unrest in the town centre. There clearly are questions about the shooting of Mark Duggan earlier this month, and the way the police communicated with his family and friends afterwards. 

But a priest who had worked in and around Brixton in the early 80s told me yesterday that compared to the systematic prejudice many police officers showed then, today’s Met is light years away.

Preventing such trouble happening again is not just a matter of police tactics, the deterrent effects of tough sentencing, or re-opening youth clubs, and certainly not hot air from politicians.

What is needed is watchfulness – in effect a “new vigilantism”. For every young person who did riot or loot this week, there were hundreds who did not. They were being watched out for by family and friends. In many cases, those who would otherwise have joined the rioters had been kept off that path some time ago by the vigilance of their mother, father, teachers, or friends, who instilled a sense of responsibility at an early age.

 The term “vigilante” (derived from the Latin for “to be watchful for”) has a bad press, particularly on the Left, as it conjures up images of self-appointed community guardians, more interested in pursuing their own, often extremist, ideology than protecting all members of the community from harm.

It is high time that the term vigilante is re-appropriated, and its derivation remembered. The real heroes of the last week – those who have watched out for each other, and defended their neighbour’s property without taking the law in to their own hands – are kinds of “vigilantes”, even though the may not recognise or even like the term.

In Greenwich, the problems were concentrated in Woolwich and the Charlton retail area on Monday night. In Woolwich, Wilkinson’s, the Wetherspoons pub and a shop near M&S onPowis Street were all burnt out, though the fires attracted surprisingly little media coverage, other than recycled YouTube footage, as camera crews were not in Woolwich on Monday night and there has been no trouble there since.

Locally, there has been no trouble in Blackheath  and Westcombe Park thankfully, other than a few shops looted in Blackheath Village. The shops at the Royal Standard escaped trouble.

The only serious trouble in Greenwich since Monday night has been from so-called “vigilantes”, whose actions show how much that term has strayed from its proper meaning. On Tuesday, tensions were increased in Eltham by the arrival of outsiders from the odious English Defence League to “defend the community”. Shortly afterwards, people were being filmed attacking bus passengers because of the colour of their skin (with friends like these, who needs enemies?).

To term these people vigilantes – “watchful ones” – is as absurd as saying that the looters of Monday night had been vigilantes as they were “watching out” for things to steal from shop windows. Just like the looters, the EDL only seemed to be keeping a watch out for trouble to create, not calm down.

I have been in Woolwich several times since the riots and a better kind of watchfulness – or vigilantism if you like – is very apparent. The streets were all cleaned up the morning after the trouble, and buses and traffic running normally (only Wellington Street remains closed).

The hoardings outside the burnt-out Wetherspoons have become a kind of community message board, whose messages are ones of hope. There is a good spirit in the town, which will not let a few mindless idiots threaten its future.

Police say there have been more than 40 arrests in the borough so far and most of those charged are over 18. So this was clearly not a rebellion by young people objecting to the abolition of EMA, or high youth unemployment. Many people are angry about these things, but they had the good sense to realise that looting and arson is not the right way to make their point. They watched in despair, and did not join in.

Nor is race a factor – not only were those arrested from a range of backgrounds, but many of the victims are people – often from ethnic minorities – who run small businesses that have been looted or burnt.

Self-appointed “Vigilantes” like the English defence League see the recent trouble as an opportunity to peddle their own agenda, and hold one ethnic group responsible for the trouble. They are anything but vigilant.

We should all be vigilantes now: watching out for each other, our friends and neighbours, and vigilant against both the rioters and those who wish to provoke more trouble.

The economy, “fatherless families” and the tale of the goldfish

Saturday 1st May, 2010 …12.30p.m and Roy Preston looks at his watch…
‘We’re done now, Pat; I’ll get the car and we call it a day……’
These words have been uttered ever so often since Roy, Rita Stephen and I mounted a Labour Stall in front of Marks and Spencer’s at the Royal Standard these past few weeks as the campaign picked up. The difference today is we were packing up for the last time before the 6th of May, our D-Day! It was with mixed feelings that we said our good-byes. As Roy drove off and I headed for the bus stop, I knew he wa asking the same question as me ‘Have we done enough?’ ‘Will our efforts be crowned with success?’.

We have indeed done enough… and that set me reflecting on our activities in Blackheath Westcombe ever since Alex, David and I became Labour candidates. We have been at the doorstep through thick and thin, even in the thick of the snow at the close of 2009 and early 2010! It has been gratifying having residents recognise Alex as having solved this, that or the other problem in the course of his duty as a Labour Councillor. Alex has been what residents would describe rightly as a ‘visible and effective Councillor.’
As my mind went through the various campaign activities, I thought of the Hustings organised by the Westcombe Society at Mycenae House on 17th April, 2010. My curiosity to meet candidates from the other parties took the better of me, overcoming the terror of sitting in front of the distinguished audience. Gordon Baker, the chair for the evening’s proceedings (bless his heart, for he must have known how terrified I was) did all possible to set us at ease, and one after the other, us candidates proceeded to let the distinguished gathering assess our capability to be their representative for the next five years.
Needless to say, I could only hear bits and pieces of the proceedings; one thing though that I heard perfectly clear was a reference to ‘Fatherless families’
- probably because I am the Women’s Officer for the CLP of Greenwich and Woolwich, but more so perhaps because I am too familiar with the negative connotation behind that accolade. Surprisingly, I was slightly bemused as the reference seemed to suggest that such families do so out of choice.
Shall we be more charitable and consider some of the causes:
- Death of the breadwinner
- Illness or incapacitation
- Physical or emotional abuse leading to a breakdown of the family unit
- Divorce through no fault of mother or children of such unions
- Rape
- Countless and many countless reasons…….
We should pause and reflect over which is the better of two measures to mitigate the negative effects of any of the above reasons for such ‘Fatherless families’
(i) Support from government to prevent a spill-over into society due to extreme poverty and hardship of such households, or
(ii) A reward system for households who are fortunate enough not to be hit by the axe of any of the above misfortune.
In my opinion, the government should go a step further beyond ‘support’, and teach those who ‘wilfully’ create fatherless families’ a lesson from those who get it right.

I reflected also on the debates…in particular the last one about the Economy.
Not because Maths and Economics were my strongest points in school, but because of the similarities I could draw from management of the budget of my own household in these harsh economic times.

To my mind, now more than ever when I have to stretch meagre resources, must I make sure that the nutrition of my family is not in jeopardy; now more than ever must I ensure that I am still able to run between school gates and after-school-clubs (and don’t come cheap!) Paying for school trips, purchasing extra resources to help with homework etc should be a priority even in the tightest of family budgets. This is no time to cut such resources, for therein lies the future of the children, and indeed of the whole family!!

In a sense, listening to Gordon Brown last Thursday made me see how right he was in his plan for managing the economy of the UK in these difficult times.
Much more needs to be pumped in to maintain frontline services-to get the vital sectors like the NHS, Education, and the Police running smoothly. It makes common sense to me, that keeping these sectors running at all cost is indeed an investment in a future generation that we cannot afford to fail.

As Thursday, 6th May, 2010 approaches, let us remember the tale of the goldfish who wanted a change of environment from its aquarium – let’s not avoid jumping onto the dry land of disaster!

Pat Boadu-Darko

David Gardner’s campaign week

What a weekend of intense campaigning all around Blackheath Westcombe from Blackheath Village in the south down to Maze Hill station in the north.

My eldest daughter came out with the team on Saturday morning (actually we had three teams out that morning) enjoying the sun and meeting people in Vanbrugh Park and Ulundi Road. Many good conversations and one woman who only spoke French, no English. So my daughter put her best A-level French to use only to find that the lady was a visitor and it was her daughter who was the voter – and she was out. On Saturday evening, we all went to the excellent Westcombe society hustings at Mycenae House to set out our stall and face questions from the good citizens of Westcombe Park. Very positive feedback from people and trust we answered all the points fully. Very pleasant Liberal Democrat candidates at the hustings, but no evidence of them around the roads and avenues of the ward whatsoever. The Conservatives went on a bit about controlling immigration and fatherless families which I think almost stigmatised those migrants fleeing persecution or who have come here to make a great contribution to our health service as doctors and nurses etc. or care workers or indeed many as teachers let alone the many single mothers who have been abandoned by their partner or, worse, abused by them. I do think that while I am married with children, it is extremely important not to sit in moral judgement about the way other people live their lives and their family circumstances and certainly not to build our tax system to favour one type of family over another as the Tories propose.

On immigration, obviously we need some fair controls and people should not be in the UK illegally but at the same time we must recognise that Blackheath Westcombe comprises people from all corners of the world – from Australia to Zimbabwe and most in-between. Many have key roles that provide London with its global position as the leading world city and some have roles that keep vital services going – all make an economic contribution that benefits everyone. I think this richness is part of our character in Blackheath and Westcombe Park and in the wider Borough. One house can be a well-to-do Dutch banker and next door there might be a couple of Indian students in a basement flat with a Polish care worker above and a Scottish family on the upper two floors. What is essential – and here the Westcombe and Blackheath society and our countless more local resident groups – play a huge role is that we all pull together to help each other out regardless of our nationality or colour.

On Sunday after my run, we managed a coffee morning in The Keep (some new volunteers to help) followed by some Open Gardens, then afternoon tea and a walkabout of the Vanbrugh Park estate in Combe Avenue. Looking over from the raised Combe mews terrace over the Heath on such a sunny afternoon reminded me just how tranquil the area was. Some good ideas on how the are underneath where there were once garages could be better used for local residents and how the estate needs some adapting to modern recycling needs. Then back home to welcome back my middle daughter who had spent the week on an immersion French course before her GCSE. Luckily, she was not flying but being driven down by parents of her friend.

And just to tail things off nicely, when at maze hill station this morning, a woman approached me said she had seen my photograph what a great job we were doing and well done getting the Olympics to the Park! Which after having been on the receiving end of so many understandable concerns (and quite a few myths about the Olympics) was very refreshing.

David L Gardner

Blackheath Library and a strange case of ‘déjà vu’

I had a look at the work at Blackheath Library on Old Dover Road last week with John Fahy (the councillor in charge of Libraries on Greenwich) and am pleased to report that it is on schedule to reopen in late April after its £260,000 refurbishment.

I remember, as a child in the early 1980s, when what is now the library used to be a branch of RACS (the Co-op). In those days, Blackheath Library was around the corner at 50 St John’s Park, in a red-brick Victorian building that used to be a Vicarage and is now divided into flats used as council temporary accommodation.

The building had a children’s library on the right of the entrance hall, the main adult section on the left, with the music section upstairs I recall – like most childhood memories, the building I remember is a lot bigger than what is there. I remember once visiting with my father in the early 1980s and being told off by him for forgetting to hold one of the heavy swing doors open for an elderly lady behind us.

Apparently, when the library moved to Old Dover Road (in the late 1980s I think) the number of visitors doubled overnight and the library is (or was until it closed temporarily for the refurb in January) the second-busiest in the borough, after Eltham Library. The “new” library has electronic sliding doors, so there is no scope for heavy Victorian swing doors to be closed in other people’s faces.

But twenty or so years after it opened, the library has began to show its age, with those sliding doors getting a bit squeaky (the entrance is being relocated to the centre of the frontage of the building) and the décor and carpet looking increasingly ropey. So it is excellent news the council is investing in new shelving, décor and “self-issue” technology (this creates more space for books and reading by removing the large counter area).

I have not been able to find any images of what the library will look like when opened, but to get a clue go to West Greenwich Library on Greenwich High Road, which has just reopened after a similar refurbishment of its own and is pictured below (sadly, Blackheath Library does not have the lovely Edwardian baroque domes in the ceiling, of course!).

I hope that when the library reopens it will be even more popular, and attract more passing trade for the shops on Old Dover Road, whose rents have been frozen by the Labour council but are still finding trading conditions difficult. The council has been planning improvements to paving and pedestrian crossings in the Royal Standard area for some time, but sadly Transport for London has recently told us that there are no funds for them to contribute so the council must devise a more limited scheme without their support (in the meantime, the broken bench outside the former loos –pictured here – will be replaced soon I am told).

A cold but sunny and dry weekend – Saturday meeting residents in Blackheath Westcombe and Sunday en famille.

Nestled at the back of the Royal Standard shopping area between Old Dover Road and Charlton Road is the Dornberg and Schofield estate where the Labour Team descended on Saturday morning. It is a well-kept estate which was tastefully refurbished in the 1990s by the Labour Council with glass panel shades giving the buildings a pyramid shape. The upper floors all have the protection of entry phones and there was no sign of vandalism, graffiti, littering or dumping. A pleasant estate around a green and, of course, very convenient for the shops. A good response with tenants pleased about the rents being kept down. The only significant issue was a faulty street lamp fitting which Alex Grant is straight onto as ever. We also visited the flats above the Old Dover Road shops which again were well maintained with some colour provided by plants and flowerpots Good to see the Blackheath Library refurbishment in progress and still due to open on time at the end of April.

Saturday afternoon we had an open coffee afternoon to mark International Women’s Day (actually 8 March) on helping young families to thrive. My daughters are now teenagers and were luck to live in Greenwich and benefit from free nursery education from the age of 3 – but now everyone does and going up to 15 hours rather than 12.5 hours per week. Also, we now have Sure Start and Children’s centres for many 0-5s as well as maternity pay for up to 39 weeks (compared to 14); paid paternity leave and child tax credits and higher child benefit. It is a different world, Mums and Dads have more options – they have the right to request flexible working and the right for emergency time off (say when the little one is ill). Many of these changes have been opposed by the Conservatives who claim to be the party of the family. A good discussion at Mycenae House led by my fellow candidate Pat Boadu Darko.

Sunday was my normal 10k run, cooking the traditional Sunday roast and a long walk in the afternoon taking in some very interesting heritage sites just north of the Thames along Greenway, Three Mills, the Lea Valley Park and Limehouse Cut. The East End does not have the great parks and open spaces that we enjoy in Greenwich, but it does have an amazing network of canals, old railway paths, old docks and industrial heritage. A busy week at work plus something on every night. Perhaps the highlight is an evening with Alistair Campbell on Wednesday in East Greenwich, a very capable and funny man even if (on occasions) given to bursts of temper.

St. David’s Day

Monday 1 March is St. David’s Day which brings out the Welsh in me (my middle name is Llewellyn) but should also be a sign of the first daffodils flowering and Batley Park (aka Blackheath Standard) breaking out in the colour of crocuses, snowdrops and daffodils. Alas, spring is delayed. Global warming is ushering in greater volatility in our weather. But hopefully soon, there will be more sunshine to help our confidence and the green shoots of the economy.

Despite, the cold and wet we have kept up the round of meeting everyone in Blackheath westcombe yesterday in the Kidbrooke Park estate nestled between Kidbrooke Park Road and the noisy A102. People were pleased to see the Labour team and the Decent Homes programme making a difference. The new entrocoms in the blocks are going in and will mean a big improvement in securtity and peace of mind. There is a problem with people dumping rubbish on the overgrown land at the back of the Rochester Way shops which is a real eyesore; the trouble is it’s private property and the council’s powers are limited. But we will press on.

Today my normal 10k run with my eldest (just adult) daughter and out meeting the people with Nick Raynsford MP (quite a few people coming back to Labour it seems) before some domestic chores. We discuss the nightly closure of the Blackwall tunnel which doesn’t affect me as a public transport fanatic but my wife and friends (and many on the doorstep) have been really inconvenienced by the southbound closure after 9pm. Why there cannot be a carefully controlled contraflow with a 20mph speed limit as in the rothehith Tunnel is quite beyond Nick and me. We will campaign on for Mayor Johnson to see some sense here.

Tomorrow is John Roan Governors which I chair. We will be reviewing progress with getting the final sign-off for the restroration of the Maze hill site and rebuilding of westcombe park under the Building School for the future programme. It is very exciting but also challenging. We fear that a change of Government would lead to the plug being pulled on the schools’ rebuilding programme and Boy George wields the axe. But the polls are now closing: it does very much look possible for Labour to win. In any event, the physical transformation of the school will not be allowed to get in the way of the educational transformation of John Roan which goes from stregth to strength. I remain very confident of continuing year-on-year improvement from 50% in 2008 to 62% in 2009, up to 70% this year and 75-80% the year after. We continue to attract more applicants, being three times over-subscribed this year.

Time to sign off for a little domestic harmony!

David Gardner

Helping Young Families Thrive

As part of the celebrations of International Women’s Day, Greenwich and Woolwich Labour Party will be holding an open “Parents and families” discussion to listen to the views of local families about they can be supported in helping young families thrive on Saturday March 6.

Since 1997 Labour has made a huge difference to young families. 90% of families qualify for tax credits and many can claim up to 80% of childcare costs. Paid maternity leave has increased from 14 just weeks in 1997 to 39 weeks now, whilst every father now has the right to two weeks paid leave. Child benefit has seen above inflation rises from £11.05 to £20 for first child and £9 to £13.20 for other children, whilst nursery education has massively expanded, with every 3 and 4 year old now getting 12.5 hours a week free nursery provision: which will rise to 15 hours later this year. Labour has support modern families’ complex career and childcare decisions by giving parents the right to request flexible working. Sure Start Children’s Centres have been built to provide childcare, early education and support for families. These are differences that would be jeopardised by a Conservative government. The Conservatives opposed paid paternity leave and opposed extending paid maternity leave. They have promised to cutting Sure Start.  Their policy on child benefits and child tax credits is not clear.

But despite these improvements, many mums and families still face many challenges balancing work, careers, money and ensuring the best for the children. Labour activists want to see further support for families – and we would like to hear your views and experiences about how that support can be best achieved, whether or not you are a Labour supporter. Please do join us for some tea, cakes and discussion.

Saturday March 6, 3-5pm, Mycenae House, Mycenae Road, SE3
Special Guests:
Cllr Jackie Smith, Cabinet Member for Children and Families
Cllr Alex Grant, Councillor for Westcombe Park Ward

Pat Boado Darko Women’s Officer, Greenwich and Woolwich Labour Party

David Gardner Chair, Greenwich and Woolwich Labour Party