Dates for Diary

Oops, it's been a while since I last posted on here - I've been getting on with life outside politics, but there are a number of local events coming up worth supporting:

Saturday 5th February: Lewisham libraries 'read-ins' in protest at proposals to close 5 of the borough's libraries.
Crofton Park & Sydenham 11:30am - 1.00pm, Blackheath Village & Grove Park 2.00 - 3.00pm, New Cross 3pm onwards. Turn up, read and (quietly but clearly) make your voice heard.

[UPDATED 20.21: I forgot to mention the People's Convention against Cuts and austerity, 12th February, up at Euston Friends Meeting House - details over on Lewisham Right to Work blog.]

Thursday 17th February, 9am: Mayor & Cabinet and Tuesday 1st March, 10am Council Budget Setting Meeting
Due to the large number of people wishing to express their democratic right to protest at November's council meeting (or something like that), the Chief Exec (or Mayor, not sure who) has, on the advice of the police, decided to change the times of the two key budget meetings to 9am and 10am.

So 'Alarm Clock Lewisham', including many of the council workers whose jobs will be affected by the cuts will no longer be able to attend the meeting and will be relying on Lewisham's pensioners and anyone not working then, to make sure their concerns are heard.

19th February: Lewisham Carnival Against the Cuts
A day of events across the borough to oppose cuts to services. More details at Carnival Against Cuts.

22nd Feb Lewisham says no to cuts - Rally for an Alternative -For jobs, growth, justice.

Brendan Barber (TUC General Secretary) plus various local trade unions and anti-cuts activists
Time: 7pm-8.45pm (refreshments, stalls and entertainment from 6pm).
Venue: Goldsmiths College, New Cross go to Ian Gulland Lecture Theatre access via gate at end of Laurie Grove London SE14 6NH
Organised by Lewisham TUC with support of Goldsmiths' Student Union

26th March: March for the alternative: jobs - growth - justice'.
TUC national demo in central London. By the time this demo happens, most councils across the country will have already made sweeping cuts to local services. Better late than never I suppose, though.

To keep up to date on local anti-cuts campaigns, check out the Lewisham Anti-Cuts Alliance or Lewisham Right to Work blogs, and the LACA Twitter Feed.

A few photos from the campaign

Well it's been a busy few weeks out campaigning for Ute in the by-election. I've been having a break from my 'break from politics' to help with the campaign. We've been getting a great response on the doorstep, and have spoken to loads of residents that have previously never been in when we've called.

Back in April/May, it was difficult to get people interested in the local elections, with all the focus on the leadership debates on TV etc. This time the emphasis is firmly on local issues, albeit with the impact of the government cuts to local government a top concern for many. And there is much more emphasis on the candidate than there was in May, where quite a few people seemed to be voting on party lines, rather than for individuals.

When the by-election was called, the national party asked us if we would like some 'big guns'. We looked a bit askance at first and thought it sounded very ungreen, but we've been delighted that Green Party leader Caroline Lucas MP, deputy leader Cllr Adrian Ramsay and London Assembly member Jenny Jones have all come and supported our campaign, along with lots of members and supporters from both the local area and further afield.

Caroline Lucas (top and second picture) is pictured here with local Greens supporting the campaign to keep Crofton Park Library open. Jenny Jones AM (third picture), who leads on pedestrian issues for us on the London Assembly, came to take a look at the Lewisham Way crossing that the Mayor of London is inexplicably threatening to remove - passersby told us that they remembered signing the petition a few years back to get the crossing put in, and couldn't understand why TfL would want to ride roughshod over local opinion now. And Cllr Adrian Ramsay is pictured canvassing on Gillian Street.

It's been a while since I've spoken to anyone on the doorstep who wasn't aware of the by-election, and many residents are probably starting to get a bit cheesed off with the unusual level of attention they are getting from local political parties. Hopefully those who've lived in the area a while will know which parties they hear from regularly, and who are just showing a fleeting, by-election related interest in the ward.

Anyway, time for me to get back on the doorstep rather than sitting here in the warm . . .

Save our Libraries March

There was a good turnout for yesterday's libraries march, and despite the ominous weather forecasts, the rain held off too. I would estimate that there were about 200 people who marched from Crofton Park library to the town hall in Catford. There was a good range of people there - lots of families with children and older residents, as well as the usual activists.

Lewisham MPs Joan Ruddock and Heidi Alexander attempted to speak at the beginning of the demo, but their voices were pretty much drowned out by heckling, with people shouting 'Vote against the cuts'. A number of politicians there were looking rather uncomfortable - the local Lib Dem cllr, as his party is being blamed for cuts at a national level, and the Labour cllrs and MPs as they run Lewisham.

I want go into loads of detail as Transpontine has already beat me to it with a good write up and photos, but suffice to say the march was vocal, determined and presented a united front from the 5 libraries campaigns, who have now collected over 20,000 signatures for their petitions.

Second meeting on Crofton Park Library - community again says 'keep it open'!

Left: Ladywell ward by-election candidate Ute Michel outside Crofton Park library.

On Tuesday I went along to the second public consultation meeting about the Council's proposals to close Crofton Park Library (along with Blackheath, New Cross, Sydenham and Grove Park Libraries). Once again it was officer-led, with officers at pains to stress that no decision had been taken and that they would report back to the Mayor who would ultimately make the decision. Two of the councillors for Crofton Park were there, as was Chris Best, the cabinet member for community services, which includes the library service, and she spoke briefly at the end of the meeting.

Once again, the vast majority of those at the meeting were firmly opposed to closing the library, and spoke of the important role it plays in the local community. Gwen, the now retired former librarian at Crofton Park spoke eloquently and with passion about how many parents and children use the library, which was backed up by a local head teacher concerned about the impact it would have on her pupils. And there were a notable number of older library users' there, including a blind woman whose grandson borrows books from the library to read to her. The very angry bloke who shouted so loudly at the last meeting that the chairs vibrated was there again, still just as angry, and intimidating!)

One interesting snippet of information was that while the majority of Crofton Park Library Users are, as to be expected, from within Crofton Park ward, 16% of users live in Ladywell ward and 11% in Telegraph Hill ward, so closing the library would have an impact on a much wider area than just the one council ward.

Perhaps the most interesting, 'meaty' part of the meeting, however, was when officers invited representatives from 'Make Believe Arts' (a local social enterprise) and the Ackroyd Community Centre to come up and speak. Both were at pains to stress that they didn't want the library to close and as local residents would far prefer it if it stayed open, but then went on to talk about possible ways of keeping the building in community use in the event the library does close.

'Make Believe Arts' outlined what use they would like to make of the building if it does close as a library. This included bringing the upstairs back into use as office and community space, in addition to the downstairs. The building would be more of a (social entreprise run) community centre, a hub for various classes, rather than a library, although they would work with Lewisham Library Services to see if they could maintain some aspects of the library service (eg some books still there, albeit a greatly-reduced number, or some kind of order and collection service of books from elsewhere). They talked about the work they have been involved in at the Leegate Centre, where they have brought an empty shop unit back into use as a community centre.

The Ackroyd Community Centre didn't have a firm proposal as such, but had been approached by council officers and said that they were willing to work with the local community to see how the building could be kept in community use, with some element of library provision incorporated within that, if it closed.

People listened politely to the presentations, then got straight to the point with the questions and comments - where did Make Believe Arts' funding come from, who would own the building, what would prevent an organisation changing the use in the future, how much of the current library services would be retained, etc. The thrust of what people seemed to be saying was yes, we'd love to see the upstairs of Crofton Park Library brought back into use, and might not be averse to a social enterprise or similar getting involved in making greater use of the building and bringing in more revenue, but we want this in addition to the much-loved library downstairs we already have, not instead of, with a tokenistic shelf or two of books thrown in alongside another use. You can find a view more comments on this from people who attended the meeting on the 'Save Crofton Park Library' Facebook group.

A lot of those present were concerned that if they said anything positive about the proposal put forward by Make Believe Arts that this would be interpreted in the report to the Mayor as acquiescing to the closure of the library. Officers assured us this would not be the case. Others felt it risked undermining the campaign to save the libraries to put forward alternative 'what to do if it closes' proposals at this stage - to an extent I agree with them, but I do think that Make Believe Arts were brave in coming and speaking to the meeting, and that they are genuine in their passion to keep the building in community use.

In the meantime, however, the campaign to keep our libraries open goes on, and it is one that the local community is determined to win. It was great to see at the meeting that campaigners from all 5 library campaigners are united and working together, rather than taking any kind of nimbyist, just save my local library approach.

Next weekend (Saturday 30th October) there is a march 'with a carnival flavour' to the town hall to protest against library closures. It starts outside Crofton Park Library at 12pm, to arrive at the Town hall by 1.30 for a rally. More details on the 'Save Crofton Park Library' Facebook group.

Walking the Talk

I have a bad habit of buying books I want to read, rather than using my local library, which is a)expensive and b)not very green. I regularly went to the local library as a child and was even occasionally found in a library when at university, but since moving to Lewisham 8 years ago, although I joined the library, I don't think I've ever taken anything out.

So I have resolved to turn over a new leaf. I started by phoning Lewisham Library Services and getting a PIN so I can search their online catalogue. I did that and couldn't find the book I wanted, so spoke to a librarian who is going to order it in for me, for the bargain price of 50p.

So, I've belatedly woken up to the idea that libraries are very green places, and that I should use them more often. Maybe everyone who reads this is already a regular library user, and I'm just a bit slow to cotton on?

Of course, another thing I am looking forward to borrowing from the library, when they eventually arrive, are the electricity smart meters that we got through the budget this year.

Lewisham Toy Library - funding cut overturned

I was very pleased that Mayor & Cabinet decided last week to overturn the proposed cut to funding for the Lewisham Toy Library. The grant they receive is less than £5,000, but crucial to them continuing their work. The chair of their management committee made a very good speech about the volume of toys bought and thrown away in Britain each year, and the important role that toy libraries can play in reducing this waste, as well as enabling parents to save money and children to play with a wider range of toys (as pointed out in this Newsshopper article from last year on the toy library). There is no guarantee that the funding will be continued next year, but the toy library now has another year to publicise its work widely and to encourage as many families in the borough as possible to join and use its services.