As you’ll see below, Southwark Liberal Democrats have launched our manisfesto. However, the following are our manifesto pledges for what we will work towards in Peckham Rye:

• Work to install drainage on Peckham Rye Common, so that the community can use more of it all year round.
• Create new tree planting fund – 200 new trees, to be planted where residents want them.
• Zero Tolerance - on dog fouling, dumped waste, littering and abandoned cars.
• Provide more local allotments.
• Create new Home Insulation Fund – insulating worst offenders and cutting CO2.
• Encourage people to take their cars off the road – using better public transport, more cycle lanes and car clubs.
• Safer Roads – 20mph speed limits, review of junctions and new pedestrian crossings.
• Provide free property marking kits and small business alarms to reduce crime.
• Campaign for Transport for London to extend the 63 bus route to Honor Oak station.

These pledges are based on what you’ve told us to do. Our approach to local politics is different to Labour’s. We won’t just decide what we think is best for the area and try and impose it centrally from Southwark Town Hall (or indeed, Lambeth Town Hall if Labour get their way).

We’ve asked you what you want to see happen, and the above pledges are what you’ve told us. But these are just the start. The role of local councillors is to empower local people to create the change they want to see happen in their area. It’s about engaging all year round with residents. Community Councils in  Lib Dem areas of Southwark are lively, engaging events, where people are encouraged to attend and get inveloved, where there are frequent workshops and where local people are asked to decide how they want to spend their area’s money. We want to bring this energy and enthusiam to Peckham Rye.

Southwark Liberal Democrats have launched our 2010 manifesto which outlines the steps we’d take over the next four years to make the borough a Fairer, Greener & Better place.

You can read the full manifesto here: http://tinyurl.com/southwarklibdems

We’ve reproduced the introduction by Nick Stanton below, and here are the Six to Fix, the six pledges Southwark Lib Dems will be judged by in four years time:

A Liberal Democrat Council will:

1. Protect those on low and fixed incomes by keeping Southwark’s council tax below the London average.

2. Tackle overcrowding by making at least 1800 family homes available for rent via the council’s Home Search over the next 4 years.

3. Build a new recycling centre on the Old Kent Road so that recycling can increase by 2014 to more than 10 times the maximum level achieved under Labour.

4. Boost the opportunities for local young people to get a good education and meet the need for more school places by opening three more new secondary schools by 2014 and making sure children have a good primary school place within a mile of their home.

5. Give people more say over how their council tax is spent by handing over more local decisions and money to Community Councils.

6. Create a ‘Senior Citizen Support Team’ to help senior citizens with housing, money and health issues and make sure they access all the benefits and entitlements they are due.

Fairer, Greener and Better - by Nick Stanton 

Southwark has been transformed by the Liberal Democrats. In just a few short years the Borough has gone from one of the worst in London to one of the best. Prudent budgeting and financial competence has meant Southwark residents have benefited from below cost of living council tax rises or no rises, rather than inflation busting rises under Labour, local peoples’ satisfaction with the council has increased and the local environment has improved with people feeling much safer, with better street lighting, cleaner streets, a revolution in recycling and action to reduce greenhouse emissions with even tougher targets than the 10:10 campaign.

Over the last five years, Southwark Council has invested more than £370 million in council homes delivering refurbished homes and estates to a much higher standard than the Labour government’s basic standard – giving tenants what they want, rather than what they are told they need. And the schemes to regenerate Bermondsey Spa, Canada Water, the Aylesbury and The Elephant and Castle are – despite Gordon Brown’s recession – on track.

More Southwark children are getting a good start in life than ever before with record results year on year for both primary and GCSE pupils. A record that stands in stark contrast to Labour, who oversaw a schools system so dreadful that their own government had to privatise the education department and hand it to firm of road engineers to run.

It’s clear nationally after 13 years that Labour’s time is up – they’ve let down the people of Southwark and of the UK, but that doesn’t mean the Tories deserve support – they never stand up for everyday people. So it’s no surprise that more and more former Labour voters are realising it’s the Liberal Democrats who share their important values – helping the poorest and weakest in society, fighting injustice and discrimination and protecting vital public services.

In this programme for the next four years, the Liberal Democrats guarantee to make Southwark a fairer, greener and better place to live, work, visit and bring up children. As usual, the election across Southwark is between the Liberal Democrats and Labour – a vote for the other parties may just allow Labour to sneak back in.

In 2002 and 2006 Southwark Liberal Democrats created a list called “Six to Fix” – six cast iron promises which we promised to implement. We kept those promises. This year we are promising another Six to Fix. They are, if you like, the highlights of this manifesto.

Yours sincerely

Nick Stanton
Leader of Southwark Liberal Democrats

Families across Peckham Rye have been welcoming the Liberal Democrat team on Southwark Council’s decision to freeze council tax for the second year running.

We have always opposed council tax. It’s an unfair tax which takes no account of people’s ability to pay. Despite 13 years in Government, Labour have failed to address this unfairness at the heart of the tax system. This is why the Liberal Democrats are always committed to keeping council tax as low as possible. When a tax is made which doesn’t take account of a person’s ability to pay, it’s unfair for councils to increase it unnecessarily, as by doing so you take money from those who can afford it least.

The local Labour party unfortunately don’t share this view. In the final 9 years of their disastrous regime in Southwark, Labour increased council tax by a scandalous 95%, hitting the poorest hardest.

The freeze has been possible due to the money-saving initiatives taken by the Lib Dems. The closure of 60 small offices and moving of council staff to one central office has saved Southwark taxpayer’s millions.

Some Facts About Council Tax:

• The freeze keeps our council tax as the lowest in south east London.
• In the time the Lib Dem’s have run Southwark, increases have been kept down to just 12.5%, compared to 92.5% under Labour’s previous 8 years.
• In 2002, when the Lib Dem’s took over, Labour left Southwark with the 7th highest council tax in London. Now, after 8 years of the Lib Dems, it’s the 7th lowest.

The records speak for themselves. Labour can’t be trusted to keep council tax down.

After a massive response to our petition to extend the number 63 bus route to Honor Oak, we have formally submitted the petition to City Hall for Boris Johnson to now respond to.

Nearly 600 local residents have backed our campaign to extend the bus route, which currently stops at Forest Hill Road and would only need to be extended by three stops up the hill for it to connect with the new London Overground Line, saving residents time and a steep walk. This is a huge response for a local petition, and shows the level of demand there is in Peckham Rye for this service.

We have handed the petition to London Assembly Transport Committee Chair, Caroline Pidgeon, who has formally presented it to Boris Johnson, who now has to formally respond. Transport for London’s previous argument that ‘there isn’t the demand’ for such a service has been proven wrong. We’ll post an update once the Mayor responds.

With just a couple of months to go until the re-opening of the extended East London Line, I thought it would be worth sharing some links to websites giving a sneak preview of the new service.

The Guardian’s Dave Hill has an interesting blog on the new line here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/davehillblog/2010/mar/16/east-london-line-extension-promises-of-prosperity

And the excellent London Reconnections also has a nice collection of photos here: http://londonreconnections.blogspot.com/2010/03/ell-in-pictures-shadwell-hoxton.html

It will start running to nearby Honor Oak Park station from May 23rd, allowing quick and easy access to the City and tonnes of additional connections around London. In a few years time, Peckham Rye will also be brought into the network.

The new opportunities available from Honor Oak Park station make having a decent bus link there all the more essential. We will carry on lobbying Transport for London to introduce one.

Just posting the details of an event in Peckham Rye this summer.

The Festival Players Theatre Company are staging a production of The Tempest on 4th July at 7:30 pm outside the Café on the Rye.

There will also be a licensed bar and a BBQ. Tickets are £12.50 for adults, £9 for concessions, and can’t be bought in the café.

Should be a really good event, and it’s great to see things like this taking place in Peckham Rye. Hopefully it will be well attended and lead to more things of this kind happening.

Let’s just hope the evening’s weather doesn’t follow the pattern of the play… (although it would help make it all the more dramatic!)

Tetra Pak recycling facilities will soon be installed in Peckham Rye Park, after campaigning by Peckham Rye Lib Dems.

After listening to residents’ concerns highlighted on the Environment survey which we carried out, we’ve been demanding better local facilities from council officers, to allow local people to recycle more. The facilities are due to be installed in June, shortly after the comingled bins are introduced, which will allow all other recyclable material to be collected together.

Local people want to do all they can for the environment. Peckham Rye invisible Labour’s councillors have failed to raise this issue at Town Hall, so once again we’ve had to step in on behalf of residents and fight their corner. These improvements will help towards our target of recycling 10 times the amount Labour ever managed when they ran the council.

Creating a sustainable environment is at the heart of everything the Liberal Democrats do. Over the past 8 years we have increase recycling in Southwark to more than six times the level under Labour. We are currently investing in a he new recycling centre on the Old Kent Road to make sure Southwark recycles even more.

If we run Southwark after May, we are pledging to recycle ten times more by 2014 than Labour ever did. 36%, compared to the 3.6% they managed.

Recycling across Southwark is more difficult compared to other areas, due to the fact that 80% of our homes across the borough are flats. The limited storage space for bins obviously makes sorting and storing rubbish all the more difficult. Despite this, we’re determined to overcome any barriers. In a few months time, the Lib Dems will be introducing co-mingled recycling collections, where rubbish will no longer need to be separated (into glass, tins, plastic, etc). This will make recycling easier, especially for those with limited space.

We are also committed to introduce the recycling of food waste over the next few years, which is something that people have called for on our Environment Surveys.

Peckham Rye’s Labour councillors once again failed to all attend a community council together, and meet the people they are paid to represent.

Peckham Rye’s Labour councillors have pocketed over £120,000 of taxpayers money since the last election. Their final Community Council before they quit was last week and once again they failed to show up, with only one of them managing to attend.

So, one invisible Labour councillor didn’t attending a single community council meeting in years. Another has been caught out working as a tax avoidance expert in Somerset, 150 miles away (no wonder they had trouble making it to meetings…).

Local people are fed up with being taken for granted, and Labour still believe they deserve to represent the area – their arrogance is astonishing. Even if they had made it to their final community meeting, it is highly unlikely they would have had anything meaningful to say, after having nothing to do with the area for years..