Back from Conference

Well I'm back from conference, and more or less recovered. A good conference overall, well-attended, lots of interesting fringes and debates and great to meet up with lots of other greenies. Rather a lot of arguing over procedure on the first day, which was unfortunately what Newsnight chose to focus on, though interview with Caroline Lucas was, as always, good. Good policy discussions on prostitution, social enterprises and education, we sorted out some inconsistencies in our smoking policy and I've agreed to join a policy group reviewing our international policy. I won't go into loads of detail here, as it's other green bloggers including jimjay , Peter and Philobiblon have already done so admirably.

Apparently the Lib Dems conference was sponsored by TESCO, while Labour delegates are wearing passes with 'Sky News' advertised on the straps. Green Party conference remains reassuringly free of such corporate sponsorship (and thus on a v tight budget!), though there were lots of good stalls this time such as Fair Pensions, Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Gossypium. Also great discussion on environmental justice with Maria Adebowale from Capacity Global and Steve Trent from the the Environmental Justice Foundation. Steve focussed on links between human rights abuses and environmental damage, looking at devastating impact of cotton production in Uzbekistan. Interesting fact: it takes 6 pints of water to make 1 cotton bud.

Also found out some interesting stuff about sustainability in Swansea schools - the Welsh constitution has sustainability written into it and apparently they are streets ahead of us in incorporating issues of sustainability into the education system. Would like to find out more.

Forthcoming blockade of Faslane and opposition to the replacement of Trident also featured prominently.

Conference Blog

Sian Berry, candidate for Green Party Female Principal speaker is blogging her experiences at conference for the New Statesman. Green Party Conference kicks off in Hove tomorrow. Lots of the sessions are open to observers and supporters, not just members. Take a look at Green Berry.

Been busy on both work and council front for the last couple of weeks and haven't posted much on here, but have a couple of days off from the day job this week so I can catch up on a few other things. Have been getting a few quotes for some work on my flat, which has been v neglected of late and I've got a new table made by local company Chunk Originals. All the furniture Steve makes is made from wood he has salvaged from skips, flytips etc. My table is made from old floorboards and looks great. The plan is that it is to be kept free of council paperwork as it is the replacement for our dining table which has turned into my council desk, but we'll have to see how long that lasts ;).

Surgeries and ward issues
Hilly Fields Surgery is proving far more popular than the St Andrews one at the moment, with 8 people coming along to the last one. We also held a street surgery in Somerset Gardens, Elswick Road, Grover Court and Sunninghill Road, but no one put the flyer in their window asking us to call :(, so we ended up spending some time chatting to the shopkeepers on Loampit Hill and handing out graffiti removal forms instead. The street surgery flyers seem to attract a bit of casework by e-mail in the following weeks as much as stuff on the doorstep. I've asked if the graffiti team can come along and put some anti-graffiti paint on the shop shutters on Loampit Hill like they have on Ladywell Road, which has worked well, but we need to get the shopkeepers' signed forms back first . . I've also requested for the chewing gum to be cleaned off the pavement on Loampit Hill - it's decent paving along there, but covered in black splodges of chewing gum.

Loads of flytipping in a few areas of the ward in the last few days - Elswick Rd, Foxborough Gardens, Malyons Rd - have been reporting to lovelewisham but really wish we could catch a few more of those responsible. A 'no fly-posting' sign has also gone up in Algiers Rd at my request, though it remains to be seen what effect, if any, this will have.

Empowering Communities and Neighbourhoods
I am on the Mayoral Commission on Empowering Communities and Neighbourhoods, although unfortunately the inaugural meeting this Thursday clashes with Green Party conference and I will be down in Hove. From what I can make out, the purpose of the commission is to look at ways of improving links and communication between local communities and the council. I'm hoping part of the remit will be to look at ways of devolving some decision-making down to local forums and ways of giving them a bit more clout. It sounds very green . . .

Ladywell Forum
We are provisionally looking at Wednesday 8th November for our first Ladywell Area Forum, although this has still tbc. I would welcome residents' views on what issues they want to discuss. Current possibilities we are considering are youth provision in the ward (or lack thereof) and the town centre development. Similarly, your views on ways of 'empowering communities and neighbourhoods' for me to feed through to the commission would be welcome.


Youth Provision in Ladywell
Mike, Ute and I had a very useful meeting with officers from the Youth Services team last week. We wanted to find out what plans, if any there were for further youth provision in the ward as we share residents' concerns that there isn't a huge amount going on at the moment. Besides Street Vibes and the skate park, which strictly speaking are just outside the ward, St Andrews Church on Brockley Road has a youth club, and Crofton Park Baptist Church on Brockley Grove does too, but I'm not aware of anything else. In the past there were also youth clubs at Crofton Leisure Centre and St Mary's Centre, but these are both no more. There doesn't seem to be as much in the way of clubs locally as you might hope, eg Brownies, Guides etc. I guess it's the usual story of not having enough volunteers, people working longer hours etc etc.

The lack of provision in Ladywell was recognised by the youth team and we spent some time brainstorming various options, sites and funding, and there are a few things to follow up on, but nothing definite just yet. The existing budget for youth provision in the north of the borough is very tight, but there are a number of grants available at the moment for young people interested in setting up some kind of project and sometimes match funding is available. We're looking into it, but again, your suggestions welcome.

(Un)ethical pensions
Last week was another meeting of the Pensions Investment Committee, which I am on. We were supposed to be reviewing the statement of investment principles and I was very keen to push for us to exclude investments in arms and tobacco, but in the end we ran out of time and have deferred it to the next meeting. Lib Dems have passed a motion on clean and ethical investment at their conference today, so I'm hoping they may support this, though they were rather quiet at the meeting.

Arms and tobacco only represent a tiny amount of the total investment portfolio, approx 1%, so I don't think excluding them would excessively limit the diversity of investments. Our current policy is one of constructive engagement with companies on ethical issues. I am willing to see how you can 'positively engage' with most companies, but can't see how you can do so with arms and tobacco.

We are legally obliged as trustees of the pensions fund to put fiduciary interest above all other considerations, but aren't prohibited from taking into account ethical issues as long as it is not financially detrimental to the fund. We can also argue for the exclusion of investments in a particular sector on financial grounds. For example, Newham Council have barred investments in tobacco, citing concerns over possible lawsuits. I did think of arguing that there would be potential downside for arms stocks if peace broke out, if the war on terror is won, etc, but maybe that isn't so likely . . .

Car Free Day
On Sunday I went to the open house event at the wonderful Creekside Centre and then popped into Greenwich to see their Car Free Day event. They get funding to close their high street to traffic and put sand and deckchairs there for the day and have various performers. Great idea, would be good if we could do smthg similar in Lewisham and I have asked a question to this effect for this month's full council mtg (which is this Wednesday, 20th Sept, btw). That said, Lewisham is doing some kind of promotion to encourage council staff to walk/cycles to work this Friday for In town without my car, and various events for staff as part of goodgoing week. There are also lots of events taking place in Greenwich, Lewisham and Bexley for the Green Chain Festival (16-24 September).

Real Nappies for London
Today I went to City Hall for the launch of the Real Nappies for London launch. The idea is for boroughs to work together to share expertise in promoting the use of real nappies. I'm hoping that Lewisham will join the scheme and again, am hoping for a positive response to a question I have asked Heidi Alexander, the deputy mayor, on this very subject at full council tomorrow.

Healthy Brockley
Blimey, this is a long post and it's getting late. I'm off to Green Party Conference in Hove this Thursday, so will sadly not be at Healthy Brockley this Sunday. The last one back in May was great, well worth a visit.

Lewisham Green Party Meetings
Finally, we have a new venue for local Green Party meetings, which is Brockley Social Club. The next meeting is at 7.30pm on Monday 9th October. New members/supporters always welcome.

London bucks the national spiral of congestion and pollution

From London Assembly Green Group press release:

New Government statistics show that London has started to reverse many of the worse national trends on growing car ownership and the decline in environmental forms of transport. Jenny Jones, a Green Party member of the London Assembly has welcomed three crucial differences between London and the rest of the UK, which are making London a healthier and less polluted city.

Car ownership per household has increased dramatically in the UK, but has declined in London. The proportion of households in Great Britain with access to a car has risen to 75%. Whilst in London it has fallen to 61% of households without access to a car, up from a low point of 65% in the late nineties.

In the UK, the number of trips by bicycle has fallen between 1995/7 and 2005, by just over 20 per cent. This contrasts with the rapid growth of 50% in the number of journeys made by bike in London since 2001.

The number of trips by bus in London per person per year increased by 28 per cent while trips by bus outside London fell by 13 per cent (between 1995/7 and 2005)

Jenny Jones, the Mayor of London’s green transport adviser, said:

“London is a far from perfect city, but these Government statistics show how others have failed and London are starting to succeed. London’s transport system and its environment have both started to improve as a result of the congestion charge being introduced and increased investment in buses and cycling. Traffic stopped growing in London five years ago, but has continued growing in the rest of the country. Car ownership per household is rising fast throughout the UK, but is actually falling in London. People have begun to realise that car dominated streets and neighbourhoods don’t work. Congestion costs business and pollution costs people’s lives.”

Bus stop seat
You may have noticed a seat has been installed at the bus stop on Ladywell Road, opposite the car wash. Mike pushed for this at the request of a local resident. It took longer than we expected though as amongst other things it apparently involved purchasing a bit of pavement to compensate for the space the seat took up.

Bike Racks
We should soon be getting bike racks installed outside some of the shops on Ladywell Road and Brockley Road. My hope is that kids may be less inclined to leave their bikes lying right across the pavement when going into the shops, but maybe I'm being naive in thinking this! We have an excellent council cycling officer who is keen to get more bike racks installed outside local shops. A rack has also recently been installed outside Sheel Pharmacy on Lewisham Hill at my request.

Grants for youth groups
Article in Newsshopper about grants available for youth projects from the Jack Petchey Foundation, local groups encouraged to apply.

Lewisham in Bloom DVDs available
Just before I went away on holiday, Ute and I had a really useful meeting with officers from the council environment team and discussed all sorts of issues ranging from recycling and flytipping to dog poo. It was good to finally meet some of the people I have been e-mailing about various issues since May. I was also given some DVDs that the council had specially made to give residents information about Lewisham in Bloom. If you would like a copy of the DVD, or are interested in your street entering Lewisham in Bloom, please contact me. I haven't watched the DVD myself yet, but plan to soon.

Licensing Application: Morleys, 313 Brockley Road

Residents who live on or near Brockley Road may like to know that Morleys take-away have applied for an extension to their opening hours under the Licensing Act 2003.

Morleys
313 Brockley Road
London
SE4 2QZ

Applied for late night refreshment Monday – Thursday until 02:00 and Friday – Saturday until 03:00.

The four criteria under which you can support or object to this application are:

1. Prevention of Crime and Disorder.
2. Protection of Children from Harm
3. Public Safety
4. Prevention of Public Nuisance

You can email the Licensing Team or write to:
The Licensing Team, 2nd Floor Laurence House 1 Catford Road, London SE6 4RU

Please could you ensure that any representations either for or against this application reach the Licensing Team by 29th September 2006.

Back from holiday

I've just come back from a week in Ilfracombe, Devon. We had lots of family holidays there when we used to live on a boat, but I was only a baby, so couldn't remember it. Had a great week - did lots of walking, hired a bike and went on the excellent Tarka Trail, stopping off at Tapeley Park, a stately home near Instow that the current owner is trying to make 'sustainable' and includes a permaculture garden and solar water heating. Went on a day trip to Lundy (was sea-sick so clearly haven't inherited the family sea legs), swam in the sea at the Tunnel Beaches.

Anyway, it's back to work now and September is looking like it's going to be a busy month. More training on overview and scrutiny issues tomorrow, I'm going to the Sustainable Development Committee meeting on Tuesday and the rest of the week will hopefully be catching up on casework, preparing for forthcoming meetings etc. Saturday is Lewisham Peace Fair on Ladywell Fields, from 3pm-7pm, which I will attend.

Noise! Don't suffer in silence!
When I was jogging this evening (yes! second time this week and, er year) a car alarm was going off on Malyons Road and there was a message on the windscreen from a resident saying that it had been going off all day. I called the Noise enforcement team who hopefully by now have disabled the alarm. Apparently what happens is they go to see the car, if they can’t gain access to disable the alarm, they serve a notice on the car and after an hour they are able to call in contractors to turn the alarm off. Could have been dealt with earlier, if it had been reported to the noise team.

lovelewisham, hate abandoned shopping trolleys
I've been using the lovelewisham website regularly to report graffiti and flytipping, and the team are generally responding quite quickly. We've managed to get most of the shop shutters on Ladywell Road cleared of graffiti now, still working on a few others and I will try to get round some of the shops on Brockley Road and Loampit Vale with the permission cards in the next few days. The Safer Neighbourhood team have also been handing out graffiti clean-up cards to residents and businesses whose premises have graffiti, as one of the priorities set by the local neighbourhood panel is to tackle signal crimes, such as graffiti. Contact details for Lewisham Safer Neighbourhood Teams.

There is an ongoing problem with shopping trollies being abandoned along Marsala Road. It's on my cycle route to work so I report them fairly regularly, but if anyone knows who is dumping these trollies (I suspect it's only a couple of culprits at most), the council enforcement officers would be interested to know!

Minor success: Residents on Adelaide Avenue might have noticed that the flashing traffic cone that had been on the island at the bottom of the road for several years has finally been replaced with more permanent signs, which look a bit tidier. I conacted the Highways Department about the traffic cone and pointed out how long it had been there, and they responded within a week.

Any transport issues you would like me to raise on your behalf?
The next Lewisham Transport Liaison meeting is coming up in a few weeks. This is the opportunity to raise any gripes about trains, buses, stations etc with TfL and the operators. Post a comment or e-mail me if there's anything you would like me to mention. I've recently been in touch with SE trains about a couple of Ladywell Station issues (the side gate being locked - security and to reduce fare dodgers, apparently) and the possibility of getting a cash machine there (they've investigated it and the banks weren't interested, though I've since found out that Ladywell Post Office may be getting a cash machine (inside the shop) soon, which will be handy.

National Allotments Week
This week is National Allotments week. There was an article on BBC news online about the waiting lists for allotments in inner London, which mentioned Lewisham and another about the London Assembly Environment Committee investigating whether the number of allotments is declining. Lewisham Greens have worked closely with allotment holders at St Norberts allotments in Brockley in the past to protect the site from developers. Despite the reassurances which have been given I am also concerned that if the new school is built on the Ladywell Leisure Centre site that the temptation will be too great for the school to expand onto the allotments behind (Romborough Gardens?). Lewisham Council has a list on its website and info on it allotments, all of which have waiting lists, of from 1 month to 7.5 years. Some of the non-council owned sites, such as St Norberts may just have some vacancies. Don't know if it's still the case, but at one point the Green Party was the only national party that had any policy on allotments.

Lewisham Peace Fair and Lewisham Peace Council
A Peace Fair, to launch Lewisham Peace council, is to be held on Saturday 9 September 2006 in Ladywell Fields between 3 – 7 pm.

“An afternoon and evening of good music, food, and debate, to launch the Lewisham Peace Council”

For further info contact David or Kate from Lewisham and Greenwich CND e-mail: info@lgcnd.org.uk, Phone: David on 020 8857 1095 Mobile: Kate on 079 77255 745.

Jersey Tiger Moths in Lewisham!
A colony of Jersey Tiger Moths have apparently set up home in Lewisham in Devonshire Road Nature Reserve, Forest Hill. They are not usually found round here and it is thought that they may have made their way up the wildlife corridor along the railway lines from the coast.

Climate Change Lobby
Friends of the earth are asking people to lobby their local MP to call for a Climate Change Bill to be passed in parliament. Joan Ruddock has been quite good on this in the past (which is considerably more than can be said for her party as a whole and the government, imho, but then I would say that!), but it's always worth keeping up the pressure.


Picnic at Woodlands Farm
Greenwich Greens have invited Lewisham Greens and supporters to a picnic at the Woodlands Farm Trust, this Sunday (20 August 2006), 3.30pm, 331 Shooters Hill, Welling, all welcome. 89 bus stops (second stop after the top of hill)10 yards from entrance.

If you are a supporter of Lewisham Green Party, and would like to be kept in touch with events, you can join our supporters list by sending an e-mail to: lgpsupporters-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. The list is generally restricted to monthly updates. Of course, if you want to get more involved, you can also join the Green Party ;).


New Links
I've added a few more links to the sidebar, including to Ladywell Society, Lewisham and Greenwich CND, Lewisham Town Talk and the European-wide petition against nuclear power. Also found a good discussion forum on Brockley, though no thread for Ladywell as yet.

Solar Lewisham

We've had a number of enquiries from residents about how to get solar panels installed and what grants are available. Hopefully the information below will be of use (with thanks to Richard Hurford, the council's Sustainable Resources Group Manager). I have also set up a discussion group, solarlewisham@yahoogroups.com with the aim of helping those interested in renewable energy to share ideas and swap advice. If you would like to join the e-group, simply send an e-mail solarlewisham-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

There are grants available from the council and the government for renewable energy schemes, as follows;

Lewisham grant
Lewisham will provide a one-off grant of £500 to any Lewisham home installing appropriate renewable technology, subject to availability. Contact is 020 8314 6622, Private Sector Housing.

Low Carbon Building Programme
The Government has recently launched the Low Carbon Building Programme, a new £80 million scheme to invest in renewable energy, with grants available to the public. If you would like to talk to someone about the programme, call the free phone helpline on 0800 915 7722.

There are a number of technologies that the programme will cover, these include: Solar photovoltaics, Wind turbines, Small hydro, Solar thermal hot water, Heat pumps, Bio-energy.

There are a number of energy efficiency measures that you must undertake before you are eligible to apply for a grant under the low carbon buildings programme. These measures will ensure that you are minimising your energy requirements and are as follows:
a. You have a minimum of 270mm of loft insulation to meet current building regulations, where practicable - e.g. 270mm of mineral wool.
b. b. Installed cavity wall insulation (if you have cavity walls)
c. c. Using low energy light bulbs in all appropriate light fittings
d. d. Installed basic controls for your heating system to include a room thermostat and a programmer or timer.
It is also recommended that you complete a home energy check so that you can assess which measures are most suitable for your home.

Solar PV
If you want to consider solar PV (photovoltaic), then you may want to look at Solar Century.

Solar PV uses energy from the sun to create electricity to run appliances and lighting. PV requires only daylight - not direct sunlight - to generate electricity. You can use PV systems for a building with a roof or wall that faces within 90 degrees of south, as long as no other buildings or large trees overshadow it. If the roof surface is in shadow for parts of the day, the output of the system decreases.

Solar panels are not light and the roof must be strong enough to take their weight, especially if the panel is placed on top of existing tiles.

Prices for PV systems vary, depending on the size of the system to be installed, type of PV cell used and the nature of the actual building on which the PV is mounted. The size of the system is dictated by the amount of electricity required.

For the average domestic system, costs can be around £4,000- £9,000 per kWp installed, with most domestic systems usually between 1.5 and 2 kWp. Solar tiles cost more than conventional panels, and panels that are integrated into a roof are more expensive than those that sit on top.

A useful website for further information is Energy Savings Trust. In addition, the Green Party’s Green Energy Works website has a number of useful links and background information Green Energy Works.

Planning
The installation of solar panels is classified as a permitted development under current planning legislation and therefore planning permission is generally not required, unless you live in a conservation area (but please check this with the planning department before you go ahead, just in case!). As things stand, if you live in a conservation area planning permission is required and you should seek advice from Lewisham planning office on 020 8314 7400 or planning@lewisham.gov.uk. A recent conversation I had with a planning officer suggested that they will look more favourably on applications for solar panels in conservation areas if they are on a rear roof or in the back garden, but this may well change in the future.

Catford Honey!

I was v impressed when doing my shopping in Sheel pharmacy today to see they had Catford Honey, produced in a back garden in Catford. You can't get much more local or low food miles than that!

A Ladywell resident wrote to me recently asking us to do more to promote milk delivery. Not really a milk drinker myself, but if you are, find me a milkman might be, er right 'up your street'.

Am happy to do anything (within reason!) that will promote small local businesses and take money away from supermarkets, so while I'm at it, I'll also give plugs to:

Sheel Pharmacy (312-314 Lewisham Road - the largest range of fairtrade and organic products I've come across in Lewisham, better than any of the chain stores).

Local organic fruit and veg box schemes:
UK5 organics (based in Greenwich)
Capricorn Organics (based in Bexley)
Abel & Cole (much bigger company, London-wide distribution).
If you know of any other good ones I've missed, please let me know.
15 reasons to order a box scheme today
and lots of reasons to avoid supermarkets:
Tescopoly
Corporate Watch - What's wrong with supermarkets?
What supermarkets won't tell you (The Ecologist)

Was interested to read the other day that TESCO is going to be offering incentives for customers to reuse bags - a small step in the right direction, but even if they meet their targets they will only reduce the number of their bags thrown away every year to 3 BILLION! Hasn't Sainsbury's been doing that for years, with little impact? IKEA started charging 5p/bag a couple of months ago, which has had more impact. I think it needs a bit of stick as well as carrot to change shoppers' habits, such as a plastic bag tax similar to that in Ireland.

Peace Demo - ceasefire now!

Went on the peace demo today - good turnout, I thought, though it's always hard to tell when you're in the middle of it. Lewisham & Greenwich CND, STW and RESPECT were there, also met up with Greens from various places, although Green contingent was somewhat smaller than usual as loads of members are at the Big Green Gathering. I had been planning a quiet day, but wanted to express my disgust at the violence perpetrated by both sides and the UK government's failure so far either to call for a ceasefire or condemn Israel's action.

The children's shoes placed at the Cenotaph in memory of the children killed in the bombings were a powerful image. While waiting for the train home at Charing Cross station I met a man from Gaza who had also been on the demo. He is coming to the end of his masters course in International Relations here and will return home soon, when he will visit the graves of 2 of his friends killed in the troubles recently. He said he had been thanking everyone for going to the demo, but was depressed at what he felt Israel was getting away with. Tend to agree with him.

Legs aching now, thought not sure how much is marchers' fatigue and how much is the yoga class I did at Ladywell Leisure Centre yesterday evening . . .

National Demonstration Against Violence in the Middle East

On Saturday 5 August there will be a national emergency demonstration in London calling for an immediate, unconditional ceasefire in Lebanon and Gaza and the end of Tony Blair's support for George Bush's wars. Greens condemn the collective punishment of civilians on both sides and will always support diplomatic efforts to resolve conflicts as opposed to military aggression.

NATIONAL EMERGENCY DEMONSTRATION
END ISRAEL'S WAR ON LEBANON AND GAZA
SATURDAY 5 AUGUST: ASSEMBLE 12 NOON
SPEAKERS CORNER, HYDE PARK
(Nearest tube Marble Arch)
MARCH TO PALIAMENT SQUARE FOR RALLY

Darren Johnson will be the Green Party speaker on the platform.
The Green Party meeting point details are as follows.
Meet from 11.30 inside Hyde Park, Park Lane side, roughly where it says
'Brook Gate' on this map:

Lewisham STW to meet 12 noon by the Round Cafe, Hyde Park Corner, Upper Brook Street Gate. Look for the big red Lewisham STW banner.
map

Sign the letter to Tony Blair online (16 000+ names already signed)


further info

(thank you to Mike from Croydon Greens blogspot and Francesca from YGs who I've shamelessly plagiarised most of this from ;)

MRF Visit!

Exciting day today - went on a visit with members of the Sustainable Development Committee to the Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) in Greenwich (yes, I know, I'm a sad green geek!). Part of the reason for the visit, besides to see how it worked, was to reassure members of the committee, and hopefully in turn the public, that the materials put into the green wheelie bins are being recycled. Public confidence in recycling has taken a bit of a battering since some rather negative programmes on TV recently about waste being shipped to China etc. Residents also get confused when they think their recycling is going into an ordinary waste van - the council uses the same vans for both recycling and non-recyclable waste.

Have to say I was really impressed by the facility. All of the recyclable waste collected in green bins in Lewisham goes to the Greenwich MRF, which has been in operation for about 18 months now. It is collected first at Hinkcroft recycling in Deptford, then bulked up and put in articulated lorries, rather than every recycling van going all the way to MRF. Once there it goes along an array of conveyor belts and crushing drums which seperate paper, cardboard, glass, tins, plastic bottles and non-recyclable waste. The vast majority of the waste is sorted automatically, but pickers are employed to pull out anything that might contaminate the materials eg food waste. Between 93% and 95% of the waste sent there is seperated into recyclate, which is then sold on to reprocessors. The remaining 5-7% is residual waste which is returned to SELCHP and incinerated.

It is one of the few MRFs in the country/world that is able to deal with glass. It does this by crushing it into small pieces which then fall through a mesh, while larger items such as newspapers go down a different chute. The downside of dealing with glass in this way is that it is not suitable to be recycled back into glass bottles, but is sold as aggregate. This reduces the amount of waste going to landfill and the amount of aggregate being quarried, but is not as energy efficient as recycling it into glass (or better still reusing bottles, of course). The alternative would be to collect glass from households seperately, which would be expensive and result in more vans and more pollution.

Apparently 60% of the volume of recyclate processed at the plant is paper and cardboard, 20% is glass and the remainder is plastic bottles and tins. The facility can process 12 tonnes of material an hour and will soon be working at full capacity 24 hours a day to meet demand. At the moment the MRF can only deal with plastic bottles, as these are the types of plastic there is a market for - yoghurt pots, plastic trays etc get filtered out and rejected, or they lower the overall quality of the product and hence the price. Plastic bags also slow down the process and have to be removed by hand.

When we asked about where the recyclate was reprocessed, we were told that the paper is exported to Malaysia and the plastic goes to China. This is apparently because the markets for recyclate are more developed there than here, Cleanaway, who run the MRF get more money and paper recyclers in the UK refuse to take paper that has been mixed with glass during the sorting process (even though it is seperated). Cleanaway track the goods from when they leave the UK right until it is delivered to the buyer, and are confident that it is being recycled, not being landfilled. They are keen to make the distinction between waste and sorted recyclables, known as recyclate, which is a commodity which is bought and sold. When we expressed concern about the distance the material travelled, we were assured that the material is put into containers that have brought goods to the UK and would otherwise be returned empty and therefore it is not that environmentally unfriendly.

Clearly, it is far from ideal that the materials are shipped to the otherside of the world to be recycled, but the market here is not sufficiently developed, and the infrastructure to reprocess so much material is currently lacking. It is arguably greener to ship recyclate to China for reprocessing than to landfill it here, but the long-term aim must be to develop our domestic recycling industry. Apparently in other countries such as Germany, government subsidy is greater to support the reprocessing, and of course they are also streets ahead of us on reusing packaging, so the type and quantity of waste they produce is very different. The difference between the recyclate exported from Greenwich MRF and that shown on the BBC TV programme which caused the controversy is that the material from Greenwich is sorted and basically a raw material ready to be used, whereas the programmes showed mixed recyclables arriving in China some of the containers were contaminated with food waste and by the time they arrived a large amount of the material was unrecyclable.

Lots of food for thought, but the basic message has got to be: keep recycling, and keep trying to reduce your waste. Oh and only plastic bottles - no plastic bags, yoghurt pots etc!

Greenwich MRF Brochure. Incidentally, I was amused by Cleanaway's slogan: 'For a greener world think blue' - not quite sure who got there first, Cleanaway or the Conservatives!

Ladywell Safer Neighbourhood Police Panel, 27th July

Thursday was the second mtg of the Ladywell Safer Neighbourhood Police Panel. The mtg was better attended than the first one, and 2 of the community support officers also came along, which was good. Pauline Morrisson (former Ladywell councillor) was appointed as chair, and after some discussion, the priorities we set the team for the next 2 months were (in no particular order):

To maintain a visible police presence
To tackle graffiti and flytipping
To tackle anti-social behaviour by young people
To tackle the illegal use of mini-scooters

Tackling speeding and drivers using mobiles was removed as a priority for the team as Sgt Deuchar felt it was difficult for them to deliver on, given that the PCSOs can't arrest or even stop drivers. However, he did agree to try and get the traffic division to do several sessions a month within the ward to tackle these problems.

The team has undergone some staffing changes as PC Steve Snipp and PCSO Cherif Bensidhoum have both moved on, and the full team now comprises Sgt David Deuchar, the PC is called Brian and the PCSOs are Abdul, Ben and Graham (not sure of everyone's surname). The PCSOs are all doing lots of overtime this month to maintain a high visibilty presence during the school summer holidays.

The panel was still somewhat under-represented by younger people and also people from the Arabin/Braxfield/Comerford Rd and Tressillian/Breakspears, Chalsey Rd areas, so if you are from these areas (or elsewhere in the ward) and would like to join the panel, e-mail the team on Ladywell.SNT@met.police.uk.

Full Council Meeting 26th July 2006

Wednesday was the second full council mtg since being elected.

The deputy mayor proposed a motion saying how good Lewisham is on sustainable energy, but accepted an amendment submitted by us pointing out that while the council has been good on procurement of green energy, it has lagged behind other boroughs when it comes to on-site generation of renewable energy. The final motion, which was passed unanimously, “calls for the council’s commitment to renewable energy to be taken further with energy action zones, the establishment of ambitious renewable energy targets for new developments in the Local Development Framework, the installation of at least 1,000 renewable energy devices across the borough, the integration of renewable energy into the Decent Homes programme and the Building Schools for the Future programme, and initiatives to make it easier for everyone to improve energy use and energy efficiency in their homes.” Yippee! This bodes very well for getting good renewable energy targets into the Local Development Framework when it is up for review soon.

However, the deputy mayor did somewhat tarnish her green halo when she watered down a motion Romayne proposed, calling on local MPs to support the Climate Change (Contraction and Convergence) bill (a bill originally tabled by Labour MP Colin Challen, it ran out of time before the summer recess but should return to the house in the Autumn). We thought that this would be a straightforward motion that would get all-party support, but the deputy mayor tabled an amendment removing endorsement of contraction and convergence and simply stating that “there are a number of international models for future actions on climate change, including the Contraction and Convergence Model, the Brazilian Historical Responsibility Proposal and the use of Sustainable Development Policies and measures in the framework of the Climate Change Convention”. There is broad consensus in the environmental movement and with development charities that contraction and convergence is the fairest way to reduce carbon emissions globally. The Tories supported the Labour amendment, meaning that the amended, watered down motion was what was passed rather than the original. The deputy mayor also laid into Romayne for copying and pasting from the internet, seemingly failing to grasp that this was the point, it wasn’t our original motion, it was a motion being put to numerous councils across the country to try and bolster support for this all-important bill. Once again, vote red or blue, don’t expect to go green.

Lib Dems proposed a motion on giving more power to area forums, a concept that we are also committed to, but there was some confusion over amendments which had/hadn’t been circulated and a rather flustered chair proposed that it be brought back to the next mtg. The Socialists proposed a motion calling for council tenants in the area due to become an ALMO (arms-length management organisation) to be balloted about whether or not they wanted to proceed. We supported them, but Lib Dems, Lab and Tories got an amendment through reducing the requirement for a ballot to if the ALMO decides to have new powers in the future.

Questions to the Mayor and Cabinet
Each councillor is allowed to ask 3 written questions to the mayor and cabinet, submitted 10 days before the full council meeting.

My questions were:
Cabinet Member for regeneration: Can you confirm whether there are plans to demolish the sports hall at Ladywell Centre in Slagrove Place to make way for a travellers' site to replace that being lost on Thurston Road?
Cabinet member for children and young people: Are you aware that some primary schools in the borough are introducing finger print ID to borrow books from their libraries?
How many schools are planning to introduce this and do you think it is an appropriate system for primary school libraries? Do you share the concerns of parents in thinking this is unduly intrusive and would you encourage schools to adopt an alternative system, eg involving swipe cards?
Cabinet member for regeneration: Would the council consider expanding the shop improvement grant scheme to include Ladywell, which suffers from an ongoing problem of graffiti on solid shop shutters? I understand that, funding permitting, you plan to expand the scheme to Brockley - can you confirm whether this might include the parts of Brockley Road and Loampit Vale which fall in Ladywell ward, but are geographically in Brockley?

The responses I got were: yes, there are plans to demolish the sports hall at Ladywell Centre in Slagrove Place to make way for a travellers' site to replace that being lost on Thurston Road, no the cabinet member for Children and Young People didn’t know about the plans some primary schools in the borough may have to fingerprint pupils to borrow library books (informally after the mtg he confirmed he thought it was ridiculous) and no, the shop improvement scheme can’t be extended to include Ladywell, but some of Brockley Road which is in Ladywell ward may fall within the Brockley scheme.

The plan to demolish the sports hall at Ladywell Day Centre is controversial. Clearly the travellers need a new site as their existing one is going to be part of the new town centre development, and the proposed site would be a better place to bring up kids than in the current site underneath Lewisham Station. Yet the trade-off is to demolish a sports hall that is currently used by various disability groups, including a disabled girl guide company. The argument is that the sports hall is currently underused and not cost-effective. Whether the solution is to demolish the hall is debatable. In an area crying out for better youth provision, uses could always be found for a sports hall.

I'm also concerned at what the impact of reducing the overall number of spaces for travellers from the current 16 to the planned 7 will be. The council is only planning a site for the 7 families that have asked to be relocated from Thurston Road. Although the council no longer has any legal obligation to provide travellers' sites, it is not clear what provision there will be should any more travellers move into Lewisham. Tomorrow (Monday), Mike, Ute and I are having a briefing with council officers on the application when I hope some of our concerns will be addressed. At the moment, promises of photovoltaics on the roof of the outbuilding for the travellers are not sufficient to convince me of the scheme's merits.

Planning mtg, Whitstable, Casework

Bit of a time since my last posting - sorry.
Planning mtg last Thursday - long mtg with lots of cases (none in Ladywell). V difficult balancing act - can't reject applications without good reason under planning regulations or council is at risk of getting sued, however vociferously neighbours may object. Also can't currently oppose application on grounds that there is no renewable energy requirement, but hopefully this will change when the local development framework is revised.

Saturday was Lewisham Green Party's annual outing to Whitstable and despite the weather forecast it stayed dry and we all had a good swim in the sea and laze around on the beach. I would highly recommend Whitstable as a day trip, easy to get to (train from Crofton Park, change at Bromley South).

Lots of casework recently, on a variety of issues - query re trees being cut down on Chudleigh Rd (due to protruding roots), someone chasing a freedom of information request they hadn't received (data now sent, but a complaint has been lodged with the Information Commissioner) question re road resurfacing, maintenence issues in a sheltered housing complex, someone who'd been waiting 2 years for the council to send a bill for work done to her property, someone wanting info on solar panels . . .

Weekend in the solar capital of the UK

Just come back from a weekend in the solar capital of the UK, aka Kirklees, where I went for an Association of Green Councillors conference. Good to meet other Green councillors, find out what others have achieved, share ideas, problems etc. The Green group in Kirklees were successful in getting the council to set up a Renewable Energy Fund, which was used to support the installation of solar panels on a number of council homes. They also have introduced a minimum renewable energy requirement in all new homes built, starting at 10% last year and rising by 5% each year to reach 30% in 2011. The building where the conference took place was a college which had a wind turbine, solar panels and brown roof. Apparently, over 5% of all renewable energy produced in the UK right now is made in Kirklees.

Lots of food for thought and stuff to work on over the coming months.

Sponsor Dan!

Have been asked to give a quick plug to Cllr Dan Houghton's sponsored walk, so in an unprecedented (on my part) show of cross-party co-operation, here goes, pls sponsor him at:Walk for Life.

Fun and games

Went to Ladywell Centre fayre on Thursday afternoon - very enjoyable, lots of groups doing karate demonstrations, performing music etc. Spent some time talking to people and had a tour of the centre by the manager.

Saturday was our surgery in the Old Bothy on Hilly Fields - 5 people came to see us, on a variety of issues.

In the afternoon of course it was Lewisham People's Day. Ute and I were somewhat surprised to be told by the security and police on the gate that we couldn't take our bikes in, given that it was the entrance advertised on the programmes for cyclists to use because there was a secure bike park. Tried to explain this to people on the gate but they had their orders, so had to chain our bikes up to the railings outside. Later returned to the gate with the council cycling officer, Carole Crankshaw, just as word came through on their walkie talkies that they could let cyclist in afterall! Lewisham Cyclists were understandably annoyed, as people couldn't get through to their Dr Bike stall and it didn't exactly give out a cyclist friendly message!

Other than this initial irritation and the somewhat patchy recycling provision (both of which I will be following up on), I thought People's Day was excellent. Ute and I spent a couple of hours wandering round the stalls and talking to various groups, and left Mike to do the Green Party stall! Had a long conversation (through an interpreter as my sign language is limited to the alphabet) with Lewisham Sign Language Community group and we will be following up on some of their concerns about access to interpreters.

On Saturday evening I went to see Deptford Stories at the Albany - a combined walk around the historical streets of Deptford and sketches depicting the history of the Albany over the last 100 or so years. Highly enjoyable and v informative. Lots of local groups and schools were involved, ranging from local primary school children to the Sunshine Grannies.

We had a local party mtg on Monday. We have just about outgrown members' living rooms now and are looking for a bigger venue, so if anyone knows of any cafe/pub/community centre located fairly centrally (Ladywell/Crofton Park area) that we could hire for a fairly small fee on the second Monday of every month, I'd be interested to know. Monday is the best night to meet, as it doesn't clash with other council/Green Party mtgs, but it rules out several local cafes as they close on Mondays. Of course, if you are thinking of joining the Green Party, you can do so here ;)

I spent a lot of time on Tuesday and Wednesday catching up on casework. Quite a lot of queries coming through from residents at the moment, some more politely phrased than others. I think the post-election honeymoon period, when lots of the e-mails we received were congratulating us on our election, is definitely over now!

Some residents expressed concern that the traffic calming consultation in the Crofton Park/Ladywell South area had not been delivered to all of the area, so I knocked on a few doors in each street to check. I'm confident it went to most of the area, but it doesn't seem to have been delivered to Ivy Road, Huxbear Street or all of Ladywell Rd, which I have followed up on with the trasport team.

Some small successes lately, with graffiti removal and getting a green bin to a private residential block that hadn't got recycling facilities before - sounds simple, but took an awful lot of negotiation and convincing to get it in place. Also chased why e-mails to the envirocall address were bouncing - didn't get an entirely satisfying response, but it's best to either phone to report flytipping etc (020 8314 7171) or to use the lovelewisham site now.

Am off to deliver Ladywell Green News to the last few streets now, then later going to a public mtg with Joan Ruddock at the town hall about her recent trip to Africa as part of the International Development Select Committee.

Greens in the European Parliament - batteries and aviation

Green MEPs Jean Lambert and Caroline Lucas have been busy this week in the European parliament. The European Parliament has today approved the Battery Directive, which will mean that schemes for the collection of used batteries and accumulators are set up throughout Europe by 2008. Belgium, Austria, France and Germany have had collection schemes for portable batteries in place for some time now and the UK will now have to do the same to reach a minimum collection rate of 25% by 2012 and 45% by 2016. At the moment, I think the Landmanns Way site in New Cross is the only place to take used batteries to in Lewisham and I'm not sure if that's all batteries or just car batteries. According to the directive, easily accessible collection points must be available to consumers by 2008 and distributors will have to take back the used batteries at no cost regardless of when they were sold. Sounds like a good idea to me.

Euro-MPs also voted to adopt proposals drafted by Green Party MEP Caroline Lucas to introduce a range of measures including an airlines-only CO 2 Emissions Trading Scheme and emissions charges to tackle their non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions.

The aviation sector is one of the fastest growing sources of carbon emissions yet airlines currently enjoy tax breaks and hidden subsidies worth more than £9 billion in the UK alone. Apparently MEPs were intensively lobbied by the airlines in recent weeks, yet fortunately they don't seem to have caved into their demands for air travel to be included in the EU's existing Emissions Trading Scheme. The proposals aren't yet law, Caroline's report will now form the Parliament's submission to the EU Commission's forthcoming legislative proposals, but it could be on the EU statute book by 2008. See article in Independent and also Airport Watchs Rethink website.

Also in the Independent, a survey apparently shows strong support for householders to be charged for the disposal of non-recyclable waste. When the topic of recycling has come up in class with my students (I'm an EFL teacher and it's surprising how often environmental issues come up in my classes ;)!), Koreans always explain that they are charged according to how much waste they produce, that they have to buy special (expensive) rubbish bags for non-recyclable waste, which acts as an incentive to recycle more. They don't seem to question it and are critical of how little they see recycled here, but it would take quite a change in mindset to successfully implement this in the UK.

Consultations: CPZ and traffic calming

Residents in the southern part of Ladywell between Chudleigh Rd and Ivy Rd (Phoebeth through to Abbotswell, Brockley Grove and part of Ladywell Rd) should have received through their doors a consultation document on traffic calming in the area. This is your chance to have your say! Questionnaires should be returned by July 14th. If you haven't received a consultation document, click here or call Keith Gordon on 020 8314 2591/ Tom Henry on 020 8314 2562.

Meanwhile, residents in the area of the proposed extension to the Lewisham CPZ (Bertrand, Branscombe, part of Algernon, Claybank Grove, Loampit Hill and Elswick Rd still have a few days to respond to the consultation document on the planned CPZ. For more info visit Lewisham parking

Pensions, fairtrade, cycling training for kids

Aargh! Haven't written anything in ages. V busy week last week with training/meetings every night. Bizarrely, we seem to be getting training now for the things we needed to know 2 months ago, but better late than never I guess.

Pensions Committee: had 2 mtgs in which we received presentations from fund managers about how their funds had performed in the previous quarter. I questioned fund managers about how investments in the arms trade fitted in with a socially responsible investment policy. Lewisham Council's pension scheme has a policy of 'positive engagement' with companies on ethical issues, which means that rather than screening out companies fund managers think are dubious, they invest in them and try to work with them on issues. I had a slightly bizarre conversation with one fund representative who proudly said that they had decided against investing in Nike because of their reputation on sweatshops, but that they were positively engaging with a certain arms manufacturer. Now I'm no big fan of Nike but I can just about see how you could positively engage with them on workers' rights issues, but how do you positively engage with an arms manufacturer (can you make weapons guaranteed not to kill anyone or to be sold to anyone who might use them?!/can you start making solar panels instead please?!)? I would like to see the council pension fund screen out investments in tobacco and arms and will be pushing for this. Top priority must be to maximise returns for pension fund members (and minimise the contribution council tax payers make to the fund), but I don't think profits and ethics need to be mutually exclusive.

Also went to the Fairtrade steering committee meeting with my Oxfam hat on. Lots planned for their stand at Lewisham Peoples' Day this Saturday. When time permits, I would like to do some work on encouraging cash and carries to stock fairtrade goods, which would make it easier for small shops to do the same. Every incentive for people to use small shops instead of supermarkets is good, as far as I'm concerned and I think that lots of people who buy fairtrade might also be inclined to support local shops over supermarkets, if they sold the products they wanted to buy.

Went to Gordonbrock Primary School Fete on Saturday - well-attended event with lots of kids bringing their bikes for Dr Bike to check over. I understand that the rebuilding/repairs work for the school will be on the agenda at the next mayor and cabinet mtg, which I hope to attend. Made the mistake of staying to watch the penalties in the England v Portugal match on Saturday instead of going straight to the joint meeting of the African Families Federation and various local trade justice groups. Went for the last hour and there seemed to be lots of enthusiasm for different groups to work together and it was much more inspiring than the football!

Glad to see the government has put some extra money into cycling training for kids.

Council mtg, get cycling, hanging baskets, freecycle Lewisham

Went to my first proper meeting of full council on Wednesday. Main item on the agenda was the motion proposed by Darren urging the mayor to reconsider alternative sites for the new school and to accept the minority report written about the whole school/pool fiasco. Quite a lengthy debate with lots of heckling of the mayor and Labour members from the public gallery ;). The motion was passed, with all opposition members supporting it and every Labour member opposing it (predictably). Unfortunately, the mayor isn't obliged to do as the motion says, but hopefully he will at least consider it. It was the first time in donkeys years that Labour lost a vote in Lewisham Council. so quite a momentous occasion.

I also got a motion through calling on the council to redouble its recycling efforts. Not particularly controversial, though Labour did put an amendment asking me to remove the sentence about Lewisham having one of the poorest recycling rates in the country. It does have one of the lowest recycling rates in the country, but I was willing to accept the rewording to get a unanimous vote on the motion.

I also asked questions to the mayor and cabinet about Gordonbrock School, car pools and business recycling. Can post further details if you are interested.

We had our first street surgery on Saturday, on Adelaide Avenue and Brockley Rd. Have also been busy delivering our newsletters - keen to get our surgery and contact details out to everyone asap.

Went to the council-organised 'Get cycling' event at Wearside depot on Saturday - very well-attended and successful event, I thought. This week is bike week.

Also did an hour leafletting in Bromley on Saturday, helping out Green candidate Ann Garrett in her parliamentary by-election campaign.

The long-awaited hanging baskets were put up in Ladywell Rd on Friday - they look good, I hope we can have some on Brockley Rd and Loampit Vale next year too, but they don't come cheap. I think it would be nice to do some kind of community planting days next year, like FUSS do in Staplehurst Road. Maybe we could really go for it and enter Lewisham in Bloom? let me know what you think. Really pleased with the effort they have gone to at the car wash on Ladywell Rd to make it look nice. Spoke to Tony who runs it the other day and he also has plans to open a small sandwich bar in the shop for people waiting to have their cars washed. They've also applied to extend their licensing hours and to open 10-4pm on Sundays - doesn't seem controversial to me - but let me know if you disagree.

Glad to see some of the hoardings come down on Ladywell Rd, though loads of rubbish behind them to clear away.

Freecycle have now got a Lewisham group, as well as the London-wide list. The London-wide one has over 28,000 members and the number of e-mails per day is vast, so I'm glad there is now a separate Lewisham list. The idea behind freecycle is to give away things you no longer need to someone else who wants it, thus reducing the amount of waste that goes to landfill (or incinerator!). I've used it to get rid of a couple of bookshelves I no longer needed, and would recommend it. It also makes you feel all warm and virtuous!E-mail:
Lewisham Freecycle Group to join.

Oops, a week's gone by since my last entry.

Had my first planning mtg on Thursday, which was quite daunting as there is a lot to take in and I quickly realised that it's the kind of thing where you won't be able to please everybody all the time. Full training for new councillors on planning issues isn't until this Wednesday, but we did have a short training beforehand. A bit frustrating that none of the applications included any renewable energy schemes. There's an urgent need to add this as a planning requirement when the local development plan is revised, glad to see that housing minister Yvette Cooper supports this, though it's something that should have happened years back and that the government should insist upon, not simply urge.

Had a surgery at the Old Bothy on Saturday, to coincide with the farmers' market. Will certainly be a good location for a surgery over the summer months, and I guess we'll see how it goes in the winter! Met lots of people, handed out flyers with our contact details and picked up a few bits of casework to deal with. Also spent a while looking round Art in the Park, which was part of the Brockley Max Festival. Loads of things for kids to do, ranging from drumming to woodwork.

Our post-election newsletter is finally back from the printers and we started delivering it on Saturday. If you are willing to deliver to your street please let me know. Any offers of help most welcome.

Went to the closing night of the Brockley Max Festival at the Wickham Arms on Saturday evening and saw Brockley band 'The Hands' who were excellent.

Monday 12th is the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting, at which we will reconsider the minority report report on the decision making process in relation to the establishment of a new secondary school, aka the Ladywell Pool fiasco. Darren is proposing a motion to the full council meeting this Wednesday, calling on the mayor to reconsider the sites previously proposed by the opposition councillors. I'm proposing a motion calling on the council to redouble its efforts to increase the currently pretty dismal recycling and composting rates (11.98% in 2005/6).

Article on being green and saving money in the observer today which quotes Green Party member Noel Lynch: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/cash/story/0,,1794647,00.html

Unbelievably cynical response by the US to the news that three of the Guantanamo prisoners committed suicide, calling them a PR move.It really does beggar belief. These men might have been terrorists, they could equally have been innocent but as they were never even charged with any crime, let alone given a trial, I guess we'll never know. Meantime hundreds of others remained imprisoned without trial.

7 members of one family were killed while relaxing on a beach in Gaza, seemingly by stray Israeli rockets. Again and again innocent bystanders are being caught up in Israel's attacks on suspected militants, which only seems to act as a recruiting sergeant for more militants.

To end on a more positive note, I want to give a plug for the following event, which is to raise money for young people from Balata Refugee camp in Palestine to work with youth groups in London and create drama and dance together: Balata London Link Benefit Concert at Rivoli Ballroom on Thursday 29 June at 7.30pm. Attila the Stockbroker, David Rovics and Strawberry Thieves Socialist Choir. Fair traded Palestinian produce and handicrafts for sale. Tickets in advance £10 (£7 unwaged), on the door £12 (unwaged £10). Tickets and further information: strawberrythief@btinternet.com or 07723 015926.

London Sustainability Weeks and World Environment Day

Today marks the start of London Sustainability Weeks (4-18 June), and tomorrow is the UN World Environment Day. Lots of stuff going on, including a Green Gym on Hilly Fields (12th June), a cycling event (June 17th) and a composting day (June 14th) at Wearside depot. See London Sustainability Weeks website for further info, and search by borough.

Stag Beetle in my back garden!

Just spotted a stag beetle in my back garden. Unfortunately so did the ginger cat from next door. Tragedy was only narrowly averted due to eco-warrior action on my part. I think the beetle must have only just emerged from larvae status as it didn't seem to be able to fly yet. It will need to learn pronto if it wants to survive in my garden with all the feline visitors.

Lewisham is a bit of a hotspot for stag beetles, although they are very rare nationally. English Nature and the People's Trust for endangered species are doing a survey of stag beetle sightings, so if you see any, you can let them know here.

Surgery times and contact details, whinge about BT

One of the things that's been frustratingly slow in the first few weeks as councillor is the time it's taken to get the technological stuff sorted, ie e-mail and phone line. We wanted to hit the ground running and get our surgery and contact details out asap after the election, but have had to wait ages for access to council e-mail and to get the phone lines installed. Obviously council officers weren't able to order anything until after May 4th, then it takes an annoying length of time for everything to fall into place. I collected the laptop from council on Thursday and was finally able to access my e-mail (with a few casework e-mails I hadn't been able to access), but BT didn't turn up to install the ADSL line at home on Friday as arranged (having turned up unannounced a couple of weeks ago when I was at work!). V irritating because we have leaflets ready to deliver and it makes us look like we are slacking off post-election, whereas we're at the mercy of BT. Ute and Mike are supposed to get their lines installed tomorrow, so fingers crossed that the engineer turns up, no idea yet when they'll come to do mine.

Anyway, end of whinge, here are our surgery details:
2nd Saturday of the month, 11am – 12.30pm
The Old Bothy, Hilly Fields (next to the bowling green)

4th Saturday of the month, 11am – 12.30pm
St Andrew’s Church, corner of Brockley Road and Wickham Road

In addition, we will be holding area based street surgeries on the 3rd Saturday of every month. The idea behind the surgery in the Old Bothy is that it coincides with the farmers' market.

Our e-mail and tel nos, although not yet fully up and running, will be:
Cllr Mike Keogh tel: 020 8690 6130
e-mail: cllr_mike.keogh@lewisham.gov.uk
Cllr Sue Luxton tel: 020 8690 0905
e-mail: cllr_sue.luxton@ lewisham.gov.uk
Cllr Ute Michel tel: 020 8691 5212
e-mail: cllr_ute.michel@lewisham.gov.uk

Went to the opening night of the Brockley Max festival on Friday, where my friend from work, James D was playing in his band the Blinis. V good, hope to go to a few other events over the next week.

T-mobile have lodged another planning application to put a mobile mast on the water tower on Dressington Avenue. Mike and I are both on planning committees so all planning enquiries re this or other applications should be addressed to Ute, as Mike and I can't comment.

Newsshopper are running a feature on councillors who blog and their photographer Jo came round to take photos of me plus laptop on Friday, so I may be in the paper next week. Felt sorry for Jo, who has the task of getting photos of every new councillor in Lewisham, Greenwich, Bromley, Bexley, Lambeth and Southwark for their photo archive!

Car pools/Car clubs

I've had an enquiry from a resident about the possibility of setting up a car club in Ladywell. This seems an excellent way of reducing both overall car use and the number of cars parked in the area. We have a number of narrow streets with more cars than there is space for in Ladywell, and any way of reducing the need for people to have their own car should be welcomed.

Car clubs have been set up in a number of new developments in Lewisham, including one at One SE8 which was called Urbigo but may be Avis now? Londoncarclubs. Another company streetcar has a club in New Cross and a number of sites in Greenwich.

So my question is, if there was a car club near where you lived in Ladywell, would you consider joining it, and if you are a car owner, would you consider giving up your own car?

T-mobile appeal turned down!

I'm delighted to hear that T-Mobile's appeal re their application to put a mast on the water tower in Dressington Ave has been turned down. They applied for permission to install 6 antennae and a base station at Ladywell Water Tower earlier this year. Lewisham Planning Office turned the application down earlier this year and T-Mobile lodged an appeal with the Planning Inspectorate. This appeal has been unsuccessful.

The reasons given for turning the application down were that the Tower's potential has been exhausted (para 4), how further changes to the external appearance of the Tower would "undermine the architectural integrity of the listed building" (para 5), and how the proposed installation "would be inconsistent with the objectives of Policies URB11 and URB18 of the London Borough of Lewisham Unitary Development Plan 2001 as well as with advice in PPG8 and PPG15" (para 6).

Residents against the Mast (RAM) are of course delighted. They believe that Lewisham Planning Office can cite these as the basis for refusing any further applications they might receive and can't see how, unless the technology gets physically smaller, Lewisham Planning Office can ever give permission for another installation in or on the Tower.

Well done to all the residents who campaigned so hard on this issue.

Ladywell Safer Neighbourhood Panel Meeting

Thursday was the first mtg of the Ladywell Safer Neighbourhood Panel meeting. The group has been set up for Ladywell residents to tell the local police team what they think the local policing priorities should be for the next few months. Quite a green way of doing things, very bottom up. Interesting first mtg, with a fair amount of consensus among those present that there is a lack of youth provision in the area (which the closure of the leisure centre will exacerbate!), and concerns over motoring offences, specifically speeding and drivers using mobiles. Also discussed 'signal crimes' which means things like graffiti, which can sometimes be the first indication that someone is drifting towards crime. The priorities we set for the Safer Neighbourhood Team for the next 2 months are:

1.Speeding motorists in Ladywell Road
2.Communicating the existence of the team and the panel to the community
3.Graffiti and environmental crime.

With reference to point 2, we still need more members for the panel, particularly younger people and also to advertise its existence more widely. If you live in Ladywell and would be interested in joining the panel, e-mail Sergeant David Deuchar for more info (Ladywell.SNT@met.police.uk). The Safer Neighbourhood Team will be at the Hilly Fields Fayre on 24th June.

Any suggestions on what extra facilities there should be for young people in the area welcome!

Council AGM, committee appointments

Not v exciting posting, but I thought I'd mention what committees we're on, as decided at council AGM on Wednesday. As there are 6 of us, we have got on a good range:

Sue: planning committee A, pensions investment committee.
Mike: planning committee b (vice-chair), strategic planning committee, Healthier Communities select committee, Lewisham Environment Trust.
Ute: Health and Safety Committee, Public Accounts Select Committee and the Ladywell Centre.
Darren: Sustainable Development (Chair) licensing committee and licensing supplementary committee, elections committee, Marsha Phoenix Memorial Trust
Dean: Safer and Stronger Communities (Vice-Chair) planning committee b, constitution working party,
Romayne: Chidren and Young People, standards committee, Lewisham Community/Police Consultative Group,

plus we're all on the overview and scrutiny committee.

control arms, Save Ladywell Pool, baby birds!

Went to Nunhead Cemetary Open Day today - windy and showery, but well attended. I was there with my Lewisham Oxfam Campaigns hat on and we were collecting 'faces' for our million faces petition to control the arms trade. control arms. Over a thousand people are killed around the world every day in incidents involving small arms. There are around 639 million small arms and light weapons in the world today. Eight million more are produced every year.The campaign is calling for the UN small arms conference in June to work towards an international arms trade treaty. 960,000 people have signed up to the campaign so far, another 40,000 needed in the next 35 days!

Yesterday evening I went along to the Save Ladywell Pool Campaign meeting - one of the best attended of their meetings I've been to - people certainly aren't ready to give up now Steve Bullock has been re-elected. Interesting things planned, but I'd better leave it to the pool campaign to announce in due course. The opposition group will also be putting a motion to the June council meeting (can't do this at the AGM next week).

Popping along to 'Healthy Brockley' at Brockley Primary School tomorrow afternoon, an event organised by Brockley Community Church. Includes advice on healthy eating, wildlife walk and laughter yoga, which all sounds good. Visit Brockley Community Churchfor more info.

Off to Darren's 40th birthday party at Toad's Mouth Too now . . .

Wildlife update: baby Robin and baby blackbird in the garden this evening. I think something used one of the nest boxes I have on the wall, but I've hardly been in the garden this year so don't know if it was the robins or the blackbirds. At least they haven't built their nest within reach of the cats, which one lot of blackbirds did last year, with tragic consequences.

Anyone know where you can buy these stickers from? I think it's high time for a revival.

Walking Festival, Compost, First Surgery, Vivisection

The Lewisham Walking Festival kicked off this weekend and runs until 28th May - loads of walks planned, including one around Ladywell led by Mike. For further details see:
Lewisham Walking Festival.

I did my first surgery at Lewisham Library yesterday - at least it was one scheduled by the previous councillors and we thought one of us should go along just in case any one turned up. Someone did come along, so it's as well I did. We will be finalising details of our new surgery times and venues soon. General feeling seems to be that one or two surgeries a month are useful, but that street surgeries can be more effective for reaching more people, so we will probably do a combination of both. We're thinking of having a surgery in the Old Bothy on Hilly Fields on the second Saturday of the month, to coincide with the farmer's market, but details tbc very soon. I was also wondering whether to try a weekday evening surgery instead of just Saturdays. Would like a good venue in the middle of Ladywell, but finding somewhere with disabled access hasn't been easy. Any suggestions welcome.

Mike was helping with the clean up of the Ravensbourne River today, but I took some time catching up in my garden which has been suffering months of neglect while canvassing. I marked the end of National Compost Awareness Week with a ceremonial opening of my compost bin, to discover there was loads of excellent compost at the bottom - enough to last me through the summer hopefully. Campaigning for a green waste collection was part of Lewisham Green's local election manifesto and hopefully it will move forward as the mayor also pledged to introduce such a scheme. Nevertheless, composting what you can in your garden, if you have one, is still greener than all your kitchen waste being collected (less carbon emissions). You can either make your own compost bin or buy one at a subsidised (by the council) price from Shannon's Garden Centre for just £10 ( the council subsidises the cost) : composting .

Got a new local magazine through the door today - SE4U, which looks good. Lots of local info as well as the obligatory estate agents' ads. It's going to be published monthly.

Greens won their first seat on Scarborough Council in a by-election on Thursday, bringing the number of seats we've won in the past week to 21, and a total of 92 councillors on principal authorities in England. We've made excellent progress in these elections, but infuriatingly the media prefers to devote column after column to the BNP, even though we have double the number of councillors they do.

Other events in the news: I'm very worried by the announcement that the new environment minister is "open-minded on nuclear power" BBC article - it sounds like code for "pro-nuclear" and more compliant than his predecessor, Margaret Beckett, who I suspect has been removed from the post due to her lack of enthusiasm for nuclear power. Hope I'm proved wrong. BTW, did you know that there is a consultation on the council website about putting a wind turbine on Laurence House in Catford? wind turbine consultation. I think it's a great idea, and is a good start even if it's only a very tokenistic fraction of what's needed.

I'm also not impressed with the prime minister using the behaviour of a small minority in the animal rights movement as an excuse to dismiss the whole case against vivisection and portray the big pharma companies as the innocent victims. PM criticised over animal testing. I'm as disgusted as anyone else at the actions of a few extremists in using violence, intimidation and even digging up a grave, all of which are clearly counter-productive to the cause, but we need to shift away from focussing on these few and start looking seriously at alternatives to animal testing, which already exist. The government lacks the political willpower to reduce the number of animal tests - it seems it's much easier to attack animal rights campaigners than to face up to the might of big business. The Green Party has excellent animal rights policies, which can be viewed at: Green Party policy on animal rights

oops - only just realised there was a tab called 'moderate comments' with loads of comments waiting to be approved - thought I wasn't get much feedback for the number of hits the blog has been getting, d'oh! So sorry, spam deleted and other comments uploaded now. Thanks to everyone who has been in touch.

Tomorrow is the induction mtg for new councillors, looking forward to getting going with things, have a very ambitious to do list . . .

6 Greens elected in Lewisham!

Just a quick post to say that we won 6 seats in Brockley and Ladywell. Thanks to everyone who voted for us. Ladywell residents sent a strong message to Labour that they oppose the planned demolition of Ladywell Leisure Centre. Been awake for 24 hours now, absolutely shattered, time to get some sleep!

Sue

Happiness

Interesting sounding new series starting on BBC 2 from tomorrow called 'The Happiness Formula' about what makes people happy and why a higher GDP doesn't equal a happier nation.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/happiness_formula/4771908.stm

Chimes with part of the Green Party manifesto which reads "the pursuit of economic growth as a force driving over-exploitation of the Earth must cease to be an automatic aim of human societies. We should instead aim to develop sustainable economies, which improve well-being focused on human values rather than consumerism. Traditional measures of economic activity, such as GDP, should be replaced by new indicators that measure progress towards this aim."

That said, work life balance and a healthy lifestyle have completely gone out the window for me in the last few days of the campaign (although my mum has been here cooking for us :)) . The positive response we've been getting on the doorstep means that I'm feeling quite happy, but stress levels are high too! When the election is over I definitely need to start going for a regular swim in Ladywell Pool again having campaigned so hard to try and save it! I started off the year with very good intentions and went to the gym and pool for a few weeks, but then election campaigning took over.

Only one more day until election day, and it's looking very promising for us in Ladywell . . .

Carbon trading/Congestion charge

Typically rainy start to bank holiday Monday - hopefully it will blow over in time for us to do some more door knocking. My mum has arrived to help out over the last few days and with the polling day operation. She's also a recent new recruit to Worcester Green Party.

Just read an article on BBC news about how power companies are set to make an extra £1bn windfall profit due to the EU carbon emissions trading scheme. Don't know all the ins and outs of it, but it seems scandalous that shareholders are getting this 'free money' at a time when householders are seeing massive prices increases in their energy bills and when we really need to see a big investment in renewables. We need desperately need carbon quotas and tougher control on carbon emissions, but this seems to be benefitting big business more than people or planet:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4961320.stm

In another article, the BBC reports that the US Embassy now owes £271,000 in unpaid congestion charges in London. They are claiming diplomatic privilege. What a load of rubbish. It is a road toll, British diplomats pay road tolls in the US, if they want to dodge the congestion charge then they should switch to low emissions vehicles or take the bus like the rest of us. Also amazed that the diplomats from Nigeria, Sudan and Angola have run up such huge unpaid congestion charge bills - take the tube guys!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4960308.stm

Only 5 days to go!

Only 5 days to go until the elections. Campaign is in full swing and going well. Labour are out in force too, but I really feel that the momentum is on our side. No time to write much now, but please don't hesitate to get in touch with any questions/to request a poster etc. It's 10.45 Saturday evening - time to switch off the computer and go and watch Dr Who which Nigel recorded for me earlier, I think. More canvassing tomorrow!

CPZs , Cherie Blair's hair, ID cards

I've spoken to a number of residents who want a CPZ (controlled parking zone) in their street, particularly in Marsala Rd, Gillian St and Malyons Rd, where lots of commuters, town centre visitors and/or hospital workers park, making it difficult for local residents to find a space. A CPZ could help people on the worst affected streets, but it may only shift the problem to just outside the zone rather than reduce the overall problem of there simply being too many cars on the road. Not being a driver, I've never got that excited either way about CPZs, but if the majority of people in a local area wanted a CPZ, I would support it, providing there was proper consultation and a review of how it was working a few months down the line. I would be interested to hear other people's views on this.

Busy weekend as ever - lots of canvassing on Saturday, but a bit wet to canvass on Sunday - Ute thought we would look to miserable with rain dripping off our specs - she was probably right, so we delivered some of our newsletter instead. Postal voters received their ballot papers over the weekend, so a fair chunk of people will already have voted by tomorrow, but lots of other voters still to talk to. A couple more Labour posters have gone up in the ward over the last few days, but there are more Green ones. I'd like to get loads more posters up over the next few days, though, so if you live in Ladywell and would be willing to put a poster up for us, pls just let me know.

What else has happened? Well, our meeting on renewable energy was successful - well-attended and lots of food for thought. Keith Taylor made a convincing case for not going down the nuclear route and David Leal from CND had some great diagrams illustrating how much energy is currently used in various sectors and how much we need to reduce consumption to get our carbon emissions down to the targets set by Kyoto. It was also interesting to find out just how much energy is wasted by the current centralised system we have (leaked, lost in transit, stolen), compared to microgeneration.

I've responded to a letter from Lewisham No2ID - just for the record I think ID cards are a ridiculous waste of money, more so even than spending £7,700 on a hair stylist (Cherie Blair!), over a £1m doing up a school then demolishing it, or over a £1m on renovating a swimming pool then demolishing it, for that matter. See www.lewisham-no2ID.org.uk for details.

Vote Green, go Green!

Had a quick look on the Conservative Party website today to see exactly what their policies on climate change and other environmental issues are, in the light of their vote blue go green media launch today - couldn't find any policy. I know they are in some kind of consultation period, but no policy whatsoever? Did I miss it or is there really nothing on the website that outlines what they stand for, what concretely they will do if elected? There was a document detailing some achievements on Conservative-run councils, but nothing about what they believe needs to be done to tackle climate change etc. There was however something about the London Conservatives still wanting to abolish the congestion charge - quite how that will help reduce our emissions and the number of people dying prematurely from pollution-related illnesses in London I don't know.

I welcome the fact that the Tories are focussing on the environment in their local election campaign, but where's the substance? No wonder voter turnout is so low when the three main parties feed us so much spin.

If you want Green, vote Green. Accept no imitations.

Oh, BTW, for Green Party policy, see http://policy.greenparty.org.uk/ and for more London specific stuff: http://london.greenparty.org.uk/news/ and Lewisham www.lewisham.greenparty.org.uk.

Our 10-point plan for London:

1. Put a stop to the closure of our police stations and hospital wards.
2. Have libraries and post offices within walking distance for all.
3. Scrap new road building and switch funds to public transport, cycling and pavement repair.
4. Stop the back-door privatisation of our schools, promote safe routes, and put healthy food on our children's plates.
5. Promote local youth clubs and community spaces both in their own right and to reverse some of the causes of anti-social behaviour and crime.
6. Protect our local heritage, green space and wildlife from unsustainable development.
7. Enforce energy efficiency for new buildings and invest in 250,000 solar roofs for London.
8. Promote fair trade goods in local shops, and quality, wholesome produce in farmers' markets.
9. Run social services and housing to ensure equal access for those in most need.
10. Return local democracy to the streets by fostering genuine participation in decisions that affect our everyday lives.

Say NO to incineration

Quick bit of e-campaigning from the Friends of the Earth website, in response to the government's draft waste strategy which proposes a huge increase in incineration. Seems particularly appropriate for those of us living near the New Cross incinerator :(

Say NO to incineration
The multinational waste companies that build incinerators have been lobbying to build more. And now the Government has unveiled a draft waste strategy which promotes a huge increase in incineration as the answer to England's waste crisis. Incineration is not a green solution for dealing with waste. Incinerators produce huge amounts of fossil fuel derived CO2 which will contribute to climate change. Recycling saves more energy than that created by burning waste. Make sure the Government hears your voice as well as that of the incineration companies.
http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/waste/press_for_change/strategy_review/index.html#letter

Also, one million signatures needed for a European-wide petition against nuclear power:
http://www.million-against-nuclear.net/petition/sign.htm#

Gordonbrock and PFI, McDonalds and deforestation

It's over a week since I last posted here. Been busy out and about talking to people on doorsteps and delivering newsletters. A few things have happened lately.

Gordonbrock School has found out that it is not to get the rebuild/refurbishment money it has been promised for 5 years. Very disappointing for pupils, parents and teachers. It is a popular and successful school, but its delapidated Victorian buildings desperately need replacing. It all seems to boil down to there being insufficient money from the dreaded PFI. Why on earth the government thinks it is a good idea for the private sector to own our schools and lease them back to us is beyond me - it seems to be storing up trouble and higher costs for future generations. PFI seems an incredibly inefficient way of financing public services. See
http://tinyurl.com/lgom9 for more on the Green Party's stance on PFI. And as for spending public funds efficiently, the whole school/pool fiasco is surely a prime example of how not to do it.

A report published last week by an LSE academic, Tony Travers and London communications agency has predicted Green gains in the council elections in Lewisham, Hackney, Islington and possibly Camden (http://tinyurl.com/rlkny). In addition, a website set up to encourage tactical voting to maximise New Labour losses on May 4th also says to vote Green in Ladywell: http://tinyurl.com/lbo5v. It's the successor to the strategic voter website set up before the general elections last year. The Iraq war certainly isn't the key issue on the doorstep here in Ladywell, but it is clearly an important factor which is contributing to a lot of previously staunch Labour voters feeling disaffected and reluctant to vote Labour again.

Greenpeace have got evidence that meat used in McDonald restaurants has been fed soya grown on cleared rainforest land. I sent a letter to McDonalds and got a prompt response saying that they were investigating the claims. See http://tinyurl.com/jqrpr for details.

Recycled paper/Children's play area

Got a bit annoyed in WHSmiths today - I needed a new printer toner, printer paper and a pencil case (I'm a teacher). They'd run out of the toner cartridge (fair enough) and they didn't have any recycled printer paper. They told me they only received 1-2 reams of recycled paper a week, yet they had at least 100 reams of the cheap, non-recycled and non- FSC certified stuff in stock. Surely WHSmiths as one of the leading stationers should be doing its bit to support the recycled paper products market by promoting recycled paper as much as the non-recycled? I filled in a customer feedback form saying as much. As for the pencil case, mission accomplished, but only after sifting through dozens of logo/Disney/princesses/angels ones first!

While I'm on the subject, several parents have complained to me about the removal of the children's play area in Lewisham shopping centre. It was one of the few (if not the only?) indoor play areas in Lewisham for parents' to take their kids to. I'd like to see a commitment from the centre management to include a play area in the redevelopment plans and I've written to them today asking whether they have plans to reinstate a play area somewhere in the centre. I'll keep you posted.