Quiz the Councillors & Candidates - Local Election Q&A

[LocalEditorWandsworth]

The local elections are coming up on 22 May and we know from our talk boards that you all have thoughts and concerns about local services.

With this in mind, we've asked a panel of local councillors and candidates, including the Council's Education and Children's Services supremo (we figured there might be a lot of questions on those particular topics ) to pop in for a Q&A.

Taking part will be:

• Councillor Kathy Tracey, Conservative councillor for Wandsworth
Common and Council cabinet member for Education and Children's
Services
• Councillor Wendy Speck, Labour councillor for Latchmere Ward
• Councillor Antonia Dunn, Conservative councillor for Bedford Ward
• Sophia Parker, Labour candidate for Bedford Ward
• Fleur Anderson, Labour candidate for Bedford Ward
• Jon Irwin, Lib Dem candidate for Tooting Ward

[We asked representatives from both the Green party & UKIP to join us but they haven't replied yet.]

All you need to do, is POST YOUR QUESTIONS ON THIS THREAD over the next week and our 'panel' will be along to answer them on Friday 16th May.

Brief bios of all the politicians taking part follow, in case you want to ask specific questions of any of them.

Councillor Kathy Tracey, Wandsworth Common, Conservative Cabinet Member for Education and Children's Services
Kathy is responsible for Education and Children's Services throughout the Borough. She has lived in Wandsworth for 40 years and been a leading member of the Council for over 20 years. She has four children and is passionate about education and making sure all the local schools are as good as the best.

Councillor Wendy Speck, Latchmere Ward, Labour
Wendy has been active in local politics for many years, in Battersea and elsewhere. A former Head teacher and current school governor, she is passionate about education and giving all children the best possible start in life. She believes in fairness and treating people as we want to be treated. She works hard for her residents and like to get around to talk to and with them.

Councillor Antonia Dunn, Bedford Ward, Conservative
Antonia has lived in Wandsworth for over 20 years and has three children at schools in the Borough. She has been a councillor for 12 years and has also served as a school governor at three different schools. In addition she is a member of the Balham Town Centre Partnership and Bedford ward's Neighbourhood Watch.

Sophia Parker, Labour candidate, Bedford Ward
Sophia lives in Tooting Bec. She's got a 22 month old and a 5 month old so between looking after them and trying to get elected as a Labour councillor things are pretty busy! Before the children arrived, Sophia worked at the NSPCC where she campaigned to end child cruelty.

Fleur Anderson, Labour Candidate, Bedford Ward
Fleur has lived in Balham since 1998 and has four children aged between 8 and 16. She works for international aid agency WaterAid. Fleur has been involved in lots of local campaigns, including stopping cuts to Wandsworth One O'Clock Clubs for pre-schoolers.

Jon Irwin, Lib Dem candidate for Tooting
Jon has lived in Wandsworth since 2009 and is involved with various local groups campaigning to improve the area. He is currently leading a Safer Streets campaign in Tooting and is keen to crack down on fly-tipping and see the boarded up shops on our high streets put to better use. He says that if he is elected he will "make sure that local residents have a real voice that speaks up for them at the council".

Dear MrsMums, sorry forgot to answer the bit about the Belleville Meteor site.The Belleville meteor site was a special school that closed eight years ago. It was used by Paddock School temporarily for a couple of years while their school site was being rebuilt in Putney. It was built as a single story school. The school building was given to Belleville to increase the intake number as there was obviously, at the time,
a need for extra places in the area.

CJAG I was at the hustings and I saw the audience gasping in disbelie when Councillor Govindia insisted that council policies were ‘just guidelines’ and implied that there was no obligation to follow them. It is neither normal nor acceptable for a council to ride roughshod over its own policies and it is clearly happening too often these days – the Green party is particularly concerned about the failure to maintain the 35% affordable housing requirement the council has set itself. Among the 15 schemes going through the planning system at the moment In the Vauxhall Nine Elms area fewer than 17 per cent of the homes will be affordable and that just isn’t good enough.

Hi localparent, happy to answer the question about Labour pledging to freeze the council tax and keep it low. I'm as keen as anyone for the council tax to stay as low as it is. This one as it’s a key policy commitment for Wandsworth Labour! We believe that at a time when local families are feeling so squeezed, with prices rising and wages not keeping up, it was wrong of the council to raise council tax for 2013-4. I know they’ve frozen it for 2014-15, which we support, but it does feel a bit like a cynical election year ploy. If Labour ran the council we’d maintain a distinctively low council tax, freezing it until 2016 at least. Longer-term we’d ensure Wandsworth remained among the lowest council tax boroughs in the country.

Hi CIAG, i think you raise some important questions here - it's clear that some national planning policy is only guidelines, but some is most definitely not. Labour would update our local planning policies to bring the council into the modern world. For a start we'd respect the national obligation to ensure good quality design on new build. You only need to take a walk around the borough to see what's currently being allowed through planning committee to see this isn't the case now.

CaptainNjork, hi there - Fleur mentioned Labour's commitment to reopen four of the one o'clock clubs that have been closed recently - a really important pledge from us.

SW12, I was just down at the Triangle site today in the hope that it might have opened (I thought maybe there’d be an extra final push in the week before the election!) but sadly it’s still closed. So many of the parents I spoke to yesterday expressed their frustration at how long the site had been shut for, and were concerned about whether or not free stay and play would be on offer when it does eventually re-open.

As a mum of two kids under two I know what a lifeline one oclock clubs can be. At a really basic level they get me out of the house! More importantly they’re a way of meeting other local parents, and I’ve learnt a lot from the staff and support that’s on offer. I’m really proud that one of Labour’s pledges is to re-open 4 of the sites. They never should have been shut in the first place.

Lois is wrong about Free Schools not helping with the shortage of school places. The Tooting Free School in Franciscan Road is exactly where the places are needed and proving very popular. Rutherford House was hugely over subscribed this year. Parents like good Free Schools they not only help with pupil numbers but offer parents choice as well.

I have little kids and do worry about primary school places, but I think it is right that the problem is sort of one of success. The schools are oversubscribed because their 'outstanding' the main thing is to make them all outstanding then we won't have these little bubbles of high pressure around the best ones.

From Fleur: SW12 asks a really good question about the Triangle One O'Clock Club and when it will be opened. It was closed last August for works to be done to prevent flooding. These works were really delayed and in the meantime it flooded! It was meant to be opened in March, then April - but still no sign. Its such a shame as for me it was a real lifeline when I had small children. I think the local councillors should be asking serious questions about when it will be opened, and make sure the free, drop-in Stay and Play reamains a part of the service. Seeing what happened here is one of the reasons I decided to stand to be a Councillor in this election, and I hope who ever is elected will take this up straight away.

Sorry they're not their. Clearly didn't go to an outstanding school myself!

Lois I think you are quoting Cllr Ravi Govindia out of context with regard to planning. Wandsworth's Planning Department's deals with different sorts of applications. Where you have domestic conversions, planning officers have to balance the needs of both applicant and neighbour as well keep within national planning rules and our own local framework. On the larger applications - like Nine Elms - these are hugely complex. Over 23 different organisations own land within the area and the land is also divided between the Boroughs of Wandsworth and Lambeth. There is decent provision for affordable housing and if you take the whole area than I think it does come to around 35%. Happy to check this and come back to you. Furthermore the job creation opportunities are already coming through: 400 + of which JOBMATCH has secured employment for over 100 Wandsworth residents

Mumbleena, you are right 2020 is just around the corner as far as school place planning is concerned which is why the Council is already seriously looking for a suitable site.

When the council consulted parents over the re-designation one-oclock clubs back in 2012 they gave the impression that the spaces would remain available in the afternoons. They would never have got the community’s consent to re-designation if they hadn’t. Since then we have lost several One O’clock clubs with various excuses and misleading information about what was happening. One O’clock clubs play a vital role not just for our littlest residents and those who care for them but also in disseminating health and welfare advice and information that benefits the community as a whole. This provision is worth every penny it costs and should be re-instated immediately.

hi 1mzeta78, I completely agree, it’s so disappointing to see unused spaces when kids are crying out for safe places to play and explore. I know the council are saying that the spaces will be used for nursery provision for disadvantaged children but it’s really not clear to us why that required the closure of such popular and important resources that were open to all families. We’ve talked a bit about what Labour would do to reopen one o’clock clubs across the borough in response to CaptainNjork and SW12 – do reply if you want us to say more!

Hi mrsmum1. I think Sophia, Fleur and I talked about these issues in response to EarlsfieldDad. It is shocking how poor the planning process has been for the development of primary schools in the area, and so incredibly stressful for families every year. Part of the miscalculation is PROBABLY because the council were expecting more parents to use the private education sector, but the recession has reduced incomes and so more parents have reverted to the state sector. But that alone dosn't seem to explainthe scale of the squeeze on places.

Hi mrsmum1. I think Sophia, Fleur and I talked about these issues in response to EarlsfieldDad. It is shocking how poor the planning process has been for the development of primary schools in the area, and so incredibly stressful for families every year. Part of the miscalculation is PROBABLY because the council were expecting more parents to use the private education sector, but the recession has reduced incomes and so more parents have reverted to the state sector. But that alone dosn't seem to explainthe scale of the squeeze on places.

LondonFlower I too have been frustrated by the delay to the re-opening at the Triangle. However Tooting Common has particular issues with underground rivers. I am currently running a local history project and this is one of the topics! Fascinating stuff - do let me know if you would like to hear more about our findings! Nevertheless the One O'clock will open end June.

kathytracey thanks that is reassuring.

We are always being encouraged to walk or cycle for the school run but the roads around here seem to be getting more and more hazardous. Running the gauntlet of 4x4s with a buggy and a child on a scooter is not easy.

Not sure what the answer is but I think the Council needs to look at road safety.

Antonia D - yes do please check and let us all know. But also check your guidelines - I think its 35% in each project not across the borough as a whole. I don't see how you can do a borough wide calculation - which projects would you include? starting from when? And anyway the point of a quota on affordable housing is to make it available across the borough not just in the areas where the wealthy don't want to live.

Jaykwa the Lib Dem team have been really working hard on road safety. Over 2200 signatures collected in Tooting since last September. Do get in touch, as our team is serious about making real change.

Labour took 7 years for the petition on 20mph in Furzedown to reach consultation, the Conservatives are happy to pay people to go to the gym instead of making our streets safer so that more people can walk, cycle or scooter to where they need to go.

wandsworthlibdems.org.uk/blog/2014/05/15/over-2200-signatures-calling-for-safer-streets/

Hi OlimMeminisse
Rubbish is one of the things we get asked about a lot. It should be collected once a week, with residents to put it out not earlier than 6pm, in their garden/bin if they have one. We do need to monitor this more and Labour has a costed pledge for more staff for this.
On recycling, the Council uses a kind of conveyor belt machine that separates recycling, which I have visited.

Hello again.

I think it might be easiest if you stick to answering the questions by telling us what you would do/change as much as possible, otherwise this might descend into a bit of a spat

Thanks

Londonfleur interesting the Labour party are talking about reinstating the one o'clock clubs at Windmill, Bolingbroke, Coronation and the Alton, all these centres are running successful stay & play sessions as well as providing free places for the disadvantaged two year olds. What do the Labour party intend to do through them out?

Another Earlsfield Schools question.

Does the council regret supporting the Mosaic school? With no bulge classes and the new Atheldene school not being ready for a year, many of this year's Earlsfield children will have to travel a long distance to go to a school based on beliefs that are not their own.

What investigations were done before it was approved to check that there was enough demand for a Jewish school in the area?

LoisDavisGreenParty happy to check but in reality this piece of river frontage at Battersea Power Station was brownfield and parts were derelict. As a result of the US Embassy deciding to relocate other have now decided to invest in this new area of London. We will also be getting 2 new tube stations on the Northern Line spur. As they say success breeds success and without these schemes this site might have remained unused for years to come - so I believe it is a really positive opportunity for our Borough.