Interesting what you find on Council Photocopiers now and again. Has the Leader of Labour Southwark been a good boy this year? Could this perhaps be his list of Christmas wishes?

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Dear Father Christmas, 

I have tried to be good this year, honestly, but it has been very difficult as Leader of Labour Southwark. It didn’t start off terribly well I have to confess and I carelessly lost three Labour councillors in as many months.

I tried to organise some presents for myself and my Labour friends during the year. We rather fancied a nice swanky wine terrace on the top of our home in Tooley Street. It would have been a lovely place for you and Rudolf to stop off for a mince pie and a glass of something on Christmas Eve. We would have got away with it had it not been for those pesky Lib Dems on the planning committee.

We also tried to organise a nice politically correct fireworks event in Dulwich, but for some reason no-one took to our idea of calling it ‘The Colour Thief – A Winter Extravaganza Celebrating the Changing of the Seasons’ and once again, thanks to the Lib Dems making a fuss, we had to run around organising a proper Guy Fawkes Night do in Southwark Park instead. Fortunately it turned out alright on the night, but I don’t think you should be taking any presents to Councillor Ward, the Labour cabinet member responsible for this one.

So Santa, if you are popping down the Tooley Street Chimney this year please could you bring me some or all of the following:

a)      A pocket calculator – those annoying Lib Dems keep telling me I’ve got lots of money in the council’s reserves and should spend it instead of making cuts. Sadly I can’t make head or tails of the accounts.

b)      Anger management classes for Cllr Wingfield, (you know, the Labour housing chap who wants my job) He seems to be getting very flustered every council meeting and I think he might burst if we are not careful. He’s got so bad that I’ve had to fork out £104k for a group of lawyers and consultants to do his job for him.

c)      A drinks cabinet and a set of wine decanters, because we are going to have to have our VIP receptions indoors now.

d)      A Fisher Price Boys Own Private Detective Kit – so I can carry out proper investigations to find out who’s been leaking all our secret plans about how we are paying for regeneration at the Elephant and Castle. It might also come in handy for checking out future Labour candidates so I don’t have the same problems with them that I had this year.

e)      Some lollypops to give to all the poor children where we have cut their school crossing patrols. That should keep them quiet.

f)        A new Chief Executive – I had a very nice one of those but she doesn’t seem to want to play anymore – can’t quite work out why.

I hope this letter gets to you. I won’t be able to put a stamp on it because they have locked away the council franking machine after I got caught using it for a Labour party letter.

Merry Christmas to you and Mrs Claus. I promise I will try to be a good boy in the New Year.

Yours sincerely,

Peter

Councillor Peter John

The Unluckiest Leader of Southwark Council since Dickens was a boy.

The year started badly for Councillor Peter John, the Labour leader of Southwark Council and it got steadily worse.

In January the Labour Cabinet Member responsible for Community Safety, Councillor John Friary was arrested on suspicion of grooming an underage girl to engage in sexual activity. The long standing senior Labour councillor was to be soon convicted and jailed for 15 months.

In February it was revealed that another Labour Southwark Councillor, Stephen Govier had served time in prison for shooting someone in the head, whilst living in the US.

And then in March one more Labour Councillor Keadean Rhoden resigned from the council after being convicted of benefit fraud.

To misquote Oscar Wilde, to lose one councillor may be regarded as a misfortune; Cllr John, but to lose three looks like carelessness.

Perhaps a little distracted Councillor John then introduced a package of savage cuts in council services whilst failing to notice that he had millions stashed away in the council’s reserves and contingency budgets.

In June Labour Southwark was forced into an embarrassing U-Turn after huge protests at its plans to cut lollypop school crossing patrols in Dulwich.

In September Labour Southwark unveiled plans to spend £120,000 creating an executive wine terrace at its Tooley Street headquarters. Fortunately Liberal Democrats on the local planning committee blocked the proposals.

Then Labour Southwark’s plans to create a politically correct fireworks night were ridiculed in the national media. Labour Southwark had planned to spend £55,000 on an event in Dulwich Park on November the 4^th entitled, ‘The Colour Thief: A Winter Extravaganza Celebrating the Changing of the Seasons.’ The plans were hastily withdrawn and a traditional bonfire night celebration was arranged in Bermondsey instead.

Finally, in December, Labour Southwark threw in the towel and decided to hand over the future of council housing in Southwark to an unelected quango at a cost of £104,000. Liberal Democrat Councillor Michael Bukola called for the money to be spent on electricians and decorators rather than lawyers and consultants.

Not surprisingly the Chief Executive Annie Shepherd has decided to leave the Council in the New Year. Councillor John will no doubt be looking forward to the Christmas break and hoping for a better 2012.

Every one of the hard working Liberal Democrat councillors who submits a question for the council assembly meeting has to receive a written reply. A quick scan through the answers, circulated at the Council meeting on bright yellow paper reveals some interesting new information.

A question from Rotherhithe Councillor Lisa Rajan revealed that the Labour council had hoped to pocket £370,000 from the proposed Olympic Marina at Greenland Dock. Once again Labour Southwark was putting filling its coffers ahead of local residents concerns. Fortunately the proposed 350 berths failed to get planning permission.

Councillor Mark Gettleston extracted the information that the Chief Executive gets 37 days holiday every year, that’s nearly seven and a half weeks (Nice work if you can get it – Ed.). although the Labour  Cabinet Member for Resources didn’t seem to have any idea how may days she had left before she leaves the Council next year.

Bermondsey Councillor Linda Manchester discovered that the council’s noise team received 5467 complaints about noisy neighbours since 1^st of April 2011. 320 of the complaints were received when the office was closed thanks to Labour Southwark cuts and residents had to wait until the following morning until anything was done. More worrying was that only one person has been take to court as a result and was fined a measley £250 as a result. Labour Southwark might talk tough on nuisance neighbours but they are clearly a pushover when it comes to action.

At the Council Assembly Meeting on the 29^th of November, the hard working team of Liberal Democrat councillors on Southwark Council asked a wide range of questions of the Labour run authority to highlight key issues that affect local residents.

Lib Dem Leader of the Opposition Anood Al Samerai kicked off the evening by asking about the financing arrangements for the Elephant and Castle regeneration programme. There have been a lot of negotiations behind closed doors for commercial and legal reasons and opposition councillors have been blocked from debating the arrangements in public.

Anood also asked the Labour leader of the council to support her in lobbying central government to encourage more green jobs in Southwark. The Labour leader was sadly very dismissive and defeatist in his response. Anood will be writing more about her plans for more green jobs in Southwark on her blog.

Chaucer ward councillor Poddy Clark won the first success of the evening with her question about the children’s playground adjacent to Strood House. Partly as a result of constant pressure from Cllr Clark, the playground has now finally been re-opened and is available for Tabard children to use again.

Shadow Cabinet member David Noakes asked about the plight of the elderly people who lost their lunch clubs thanks to Labour cuts earlier this year. The answers revealed that the council has been very slow in setting up personal budget payments for the people concerned. Nearly half of the elderly service users have still not had their payment plans fully processed.

Councillor Graham Neale spoke up for the members of the Latin American church who face losing their home as the Elephant and Castle leisure centre is revisited. Cllr Neale and Leader of the Opposition Anood Al Samerain plan to visit the group in the New Year to see if they can help them to find a new home.

Following the fire in Lucy Way earlier this year Bermondsey Councillor Paul Kyriacou asked about the fire safety precautions in the block and received a detailed reply.

The answer to a question from former Mayor Eliza Mann revealed that the number of households on the council’s housing waiting list has shot up from 16,651 in April 2010 to 19,844. Meanwhile, Labour Southwark are selling off council homes and have failed to build any more.

In a supplementary question, barrister and Walworth councillor Cathy Bowman exposed Labour Southwark’s plans to merge the popular community councils into fewer larger ones. This is in spite of the fact that the independent Democracy Commission, set up to look into the future of the community councils, has not yet met to discuss the issue.

But then the Council Clerk rang the bell and the time allowed for questions was brought to a halt, saving the Labour cabinet member responsible from the embarrassment of having to answer. ‘Saved by the bell!’

Lib Dem Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has outlined a £1 billion pound Youth Contract to tackle youth unemployment. The aim is to ensure that all jobless young people are earning or learning again before long-term damage is done.

• Over three years, the Youth Contract will provide at least 410,000 new work places for 18 to 24 year olds into work. Starting April 2012
• Including 160,000 wage subsidies and 250,000 new work experience placements.
• In addition, there will be at least 20,000 more incentive payments to encourage employers to take on young apprentices.
• A new programme to help the most disengaged 16 and 17 year olds – getting them back to school or college, onto an apprenticeship or into a job with training.

"If we have got £104,000 going spare we should spend it on builders, plumbers and electricians rather than lawyers and consultants.” said Cllr Bukola

Labour Southwark seem to have money to burn. Not content with trying to blow £55,000 on politically correct fireworks and £120,000 on a VIP wine terrace at their Tooley Street HQ they are now proposing to spend £104,000 on a pointless housing quango.

Labour Southwark’s Housing chief announced the plans in a letter to all councillors and is set to bring forward a formal proposal to the next Labour Southwark Cabinet meeting in December.

Liberal Democrat councillors have discovered that the commission will be chaired by a leading lawyer Jan Luba QC and will be made up entirely of ‘Housing Experts’. No elected local representatives will be allowed to take part. The commission will report in nine months time and will cost £12,000 per month. The commission will make recommendations for housing in Southwark for the period after 2015/16 after the next set of council elections in 2014.

Liberal Democrat Shadow Cabinet member for Housing, Councillor Michael Bukola said, “This is another ridiculous waste of money by Labour Southwark, hiring an overpaid lawyer and a bunch of so-called experts to tell us what we already know. If we have got £104,000 going spare we should spend it on builders, plumbers and electricians rather than lawyers and consultants.”

Liberal Democrat Shadow Cabinet member for Resources Councillor Tim McNally said, “I suspect that Labour Southwark are spending council tenants cash on consultants to give them political cover for their plans to sell of our estates. There are 63 elected councillors in Southwark and it is their job to come up with plans for the future of housing in the borough. It is an absolute disgrace from a Labour Council to be privatising the democratic process.”

Deputy Prime Minister addresses the Party Conference in Birmingham. You can read the full text of the speech here.

Thousands of Liberal Democrats gathered for their annual conference in Birmingham this week. They discussed what has been achieved in the first 500 days of Government and policies for the future. Highlights include:

• After decades of campaigning, and thanks to Lynne Featherstone: Equal marriage, straight or gay.
• More power for consumers over the energy companies
• Calling time on rewards for failure in boardrooms
• New powers to turn empty homes back into family homes.
• A £500m investment in growth.

Remember, remember the 5^th of November

Gunpowder, treason and plot.

Well not in politically correct Labour Southwark this year. Instead of the traditional bonfire and fireworks, Labour Councillors are tonight announcing plans to stage an event entitled “The Colour Thief, A winter extravaganza celebrating the changing of the seasons”, to be held in Dulwich Park on the 4^th November. The event will cost local council tax payers £55,000.

Dulwich Lib Dem Councillor Robin Crookshank Hilton has said, “This is a classic example of political correctness gone mad and what is worse they are blowing £55,000 at the same time as cutting funds for our local youth groups. We have been eeking along down here in Dulwich with patchy youth provision leaving our young people in the lurch. This is why we balk when we see large sums being spent on something ephemeral. The bottom line is that the basic needs of our young people aren’t being met, which is a situation that we must remedy.”

The plans for the event are due to be announced at a meeting of Dulwich Community Council this evening, inspite of concerns raised by representatives of local amenity groups, local councillors, and youth groups.

The Dulwich Community Council meeting will be held at Dulwich Library, 368 Lordship Lane, London SE22 8NB this evening from 7pm

Liberal Democrat councillors in Bermondsey last night blocked a controversial plan by Labour run Southwark Council to build a swanky new executive wine terrace at their council offices in Tooley Street near London Bridge.

Labour Southwark had planned to spend £120,000 to convert the roof of the Tooley St offices into a luxury terrace for VIP functions. The terrace would not be open to local residents or council staff. Instead the plan was to use it for the Labour Mayor and his or her Labour chums to hold fancy soirees with local bigwigs.

Labour’s bonkers plan comes at a time when the Labour run Council is cutting services like older people’s day centres and some council staff are facing redundancies. The plans were submitted to a Bermondsey Community Council Planning meeting last night but local Liberal Democrat councillors refused to grant the scheme planning permission.

Leader of the Opposition, Lib Dem Cllr Anood Al-Samerai spoke out forcefully against the plan at the meeting and said afterwards, “I am delighted that Liberal Democrat councillors in Bermondsey stood up for the residents of our borough and refused this outrageous Labour plan. This shows why it is so important that elected local councillors make planning decisions at local community councils rather than the centralised decision making which Labour wants. Liberal Democrats will continue to campaign against Labour waste and hypocrisy.”