Author: gaillem

Hear from Dylan Evans about why he is campaigning for Labour in Penge

Growing up for the last 16 years in Penge and Cator has brought with it an array of unique experiences that come with living in one of the most diverse corners of South East London.

Unfortunately, I am also aware of the variety of problems that exist within our area. The failures of Tory austerity and Bromley Council are noticeable in many areas. The lack of a functioning local education authority has led to problems in our schools, exacerbated by drastic funding cuts by the government. The closure of the police counter on Maple Road is another serious consequence, at a time when knife crime is rising across London.

Many young people also have no hope of remaining in the area due to the lack of house
building that has seen rocketing prices across the whole of the borough. These are all failures that have an effect on both young people and the wider community.

The re-election of three Labour councillors in Penge and Cator, and hopefully winning seats elsewhere in Bromley can send a clear message to the Council that we are not satisfied with the way things have been done in the past and that we want them to change.

Whether it will be your first time voting in May or you are a seasoned voter, if you care about the future of this area, I urge you to cast your votes for our three dedicated Labour candidates.

Labour’s Penge and Cator candidates for local councillor, if elected, make these promises:

  Taking action together to tackle gangs and crime 

We’ll partner with local residents, groups and seek advice from experts to find solutions to prevent gang and criminal activity in Penge and hold the Council and Police to account.

   Affordable, good quality housing to buy and rent

We’ll continue to push the council to use their investment funds to build more social and affordable housing in Bromley, raise standards for housing associations and introduce a register of private landlords to ensure the condition, fitness and security of rental properties.

  Cleaning up the Council’s mess on our streets

We want to tackle the council’s failure to properly monitor street cleaning and waste collection contracts, to make sure you get the collection contracts, to make sure you get the public services your taxes pay for.

  Safer roads and fixing the Council’s parking mess

Instead of waiting until accidents happen, we would listen to local people’s concerns and introduce and enforce road safety measures, including 20mph speed limits, to make our roads safer.

  Protecting our NHS and Care services 

We’ll continue to support Labour’s national policies to protect and properly fund our NHS and social care services. We’ll put people before profits and fight to protect vital services from further Tory cuts.

Find out more about Labour’s local election candidates in Penge and Cator.

The number of affordable homes being built in Bromley is one of the lowest of all London boroughs. At the same time, it is currently taking more than two years to be able to get a housing association tenancy through Bromley council.

As a result, over 1,200 Bromley residents are in temporary accommodation. The majority of this is far outside of the borough, and is overcrowded and often substandard. Children are having to travel far across London to get to school and families are left without support networks.

The council is paying millions for temporary accommodation – more than double the average increase across London boroughs. Not providing affordable homes is costing the
council huge amounts of taxpayers’ money, whilst putting local families at risk of homelessness. The number of people in Penge and Cator either sofa surfing or on the streets has dramatically increased and the use of  foodbanks and homeless shelters has also risen.

It doesn’t have to be like this. Labour councillors call on Bromley council to increase social and affordable housing provision within the borough of Bromley.

Local residents and Labour take action

The increase in knife crime across London has not left Penge untouched. We have seen four fatal stabbings in our community in recent years. And with youth provision decimated by Tory Bromley Council’s cuts and the local police presence reduced by Tory
Government austerity, once again it’s down to local people to find solutions through our own voluntary efforts.

Sarah Armstrong is a local resident who decided to make a difference. She set up a charity, ‘Say No 2 Knives’, which aims to help vulnerable young people reject a way of life where knives are commonplace, and provides information and an advice line. For this work, Sarah received a Mayor’s Volunteer’s Award from Kathy Bance, Penge Labour Councillor and this year’s Mayor of Bromley.

All your Labour Councillors will continue to engage with and support Sarah’s vital work. And by liaising with the police and local traders, we aim to improve security in Penge, and make residents’ safety our top priority.

To find out more about Sarah’s work visit www.sayno2knives.co.uk or to get involved contact Sarah at Say No 2 Knives, Tel: 07590 414605 or email: Sarah@ sayno2knives.co.uk

Bromley council has signed up to a Government pilot scheme that means you will need to take identity documents with you to be able to vote in the Council elections on 3^rd May.

To be able to vote- you will need to bring a photo ID (such as a passport, driving licence or Freedom Pass) or two other documents from a list including your polling card, debit or credit card, birth certificate, a recent bank statement, utility or council tax bill. One of the documents (such as the polling card) must show the address you are registered to vote at.

While we agree preventing fraud in voting is important, your Labour councillors have heard of no evidence that this is a problem in Bromley and we are worried that these requirements could lead residents being unfairly prevented from voting.

If you are worried you or your family might not be able to provide the documents, you can make sure you keep your vote by registering for a postal vote or applying for a certificate of identity.

For more information on these requirements, go to Bromley.gov.uk and search ‘Voter ID’ or ‘Postal Vote’, or feel free contact us using the details below.

Labour’s vision for a better Bromley

Labour Councillors put forward an alternative to the Conservative’s agenda of cuts and poor public services for residents when Bromley council adopted its budget for 2018.

Sadly, but unsurprisingly, our proposals were once again rejected by the councils’ Conservative majority, but the Labour group presented our proposals for better services and prioritising Bromley residents over council profits.

Our budget accepted the same overall increase in council tax as the Tories; key proposals include the following key commitments (costed and funded from Investment and Save to spend funds):

• To establish a special purpose vehicle in order to build new council /social housing
• Set up register of landlords and act to protect private rented tenants / improve housing conditions
• Stop buying commercial properties outside Bromley and invest in people and services
• Introduce London Living Wage for all council staff and all new/renewed contracts
• Invest in prevention / early intervention / public health / food hygiene teams
• Full audit of all contracts >£250k to ensure proper management/monitoring / ‘savings’
• Implement road safety measures / 20 MPH limits at schools / air pollution monitoring
• Introduce business recycling

The vote for the Penge Business Improvement District (BID) has been successful.

The Penge Business Improvement District (BID) will lead to greater investment in our high street. Our local Councillors have supported our local business community to successfully secure this for Penge.

The Councillors thank the owners of local Penge businesses who have worked hard to achieve this success and continue to support them in their efforts.

An update from the Penge and Cator councillors on their work:

A controlled parking zone in roads around Penge East Station is being introduced, following community consultation.

As residents in the roads affected will already be aware, the rollout of the controlled parking zone by the Council has not gone smoothly. There have been various issues including charges within pay and display bays, incorrect signage and enforcement times.

Acting on complaints from affected residents, we raised these problems with officers and we were able to get the Leader of the Council to put a hold on the implementation until they are corrected. He has also agreed that charges for permits will only begin when the adjusted scheme comes into force.

The council have apologised for the mix up and we continue to feed in the concerns of residents.

Cllrs Kathy Bance, Kevin Brooks and Peter Fookes

NEW – MP surgery dates in Penge

Newly elected Labour MP, Ellie Reeves (pictured, centre), is holding surgeries in Penge from next week. The surgeries are a chance to speak to her face to face about local and personal issues you would like her advice and support with – for more on how Ellie can help, please see her website.

Holding surgeries in Penge is part of Ellie’s commitment to serve all areas within the Lewisham West & Penge constituency. Other surgeries will be held in other areas between these times, open to all constituents. All constituents can, of course, contact Ellie at any time in writing – see her contact details here.

It’s anticipated a lot of people will be keen to meet with Ellie at the surgeries so they are appointment-only for now. To book your appointment contact Sophie at Sophie.coker @ parliament.uk or call Ellie’s office on 020 7219 2668.

MP surgeries will be held in Penge on the following Saturdays, between 10-11.30am:

• 18 November 2017
• 16 December 2017
• 13 January 2018
• 17 February 2018
• 17 March 2018

Simon Jeal, our newly selected candidate for next year’s local council elections, blogs about why he wants to stand and some of the local issues he wants to tackle, if elected.

Simon is pictured here (far left) with Penge and Cator’s other candidates (and current Councillors) Kathy Bance and Kevin Brooks.

“I’m excited and really proud to have been selected to stand as a Labour candidate to represent Penge and Cator next May. I’ve lived around Penge since I moved to London to work and love the strong, diverse community we have- I’ll will work hard to support local residents and fight against the hardship caused by the Conservatives in both Westminster and Bromley council.

I joined the Labour party the day after the election in 2015 because, after reading all the coverage over who was to blame for Labour losing the vote, I went out for lunch with my ‘work buddy. She talked about an app she’d used to tell her which party’s policies she agreed with most to decide how to vote (she matched the Lib dems most, but couldn’t possibly vote for them, so went for the Tories.)

After I spent twenty minutes explaining what Labour’s policies actually were, she decided that actually she should have voted Labour instead. I realised that if I’d had the same conversation a day earlier, that was one vote I could have changed- so if I’d had ten conversations like that- ten votes, and so on. So the only person I should blame for not having a Labour government was myself, for doing nothing except voting and relying on other people to do the hard work. Back at my desk ten minutes later I signed up as a member.

Ever since I joined the party, I’ve been active in supporting the running of the branch, the constituency party and out campaigning for Labour victories in the elections and the Labour Remain campaign in the EU referendum.

As branch chair, I’ve worked hard to ensure that all members feel welcome at meetings, have the opportunity to raise local causes they believe we should be supporting and discuss the priorities they believe are important for Labour to be focused on locally and nationally. This past year has been pretty busy with Theresa May’s snap election. I did everything I could to make sure we ran a strong and active campaign in Penge for the general election, and we’ll be campaigning just as hard next May. I took on a large part of the work coordinating the campaign between the branch and the CLP, as well as organising for Ellie Reeves (our then candidate and now nep MP) to attend a public meeting in Penge to answer questions from local residents, giving them the opportunity to understand her experience and views on the issue that mattered to them. I was also out talking to Penge residents about the election week after week, right up until the day itself, and I’ll work just as hard candidate to keep Labour candidates as Penge and Cator’s representatives on the council.

I’ve seen the hard work Kathy, Kevin and Peter continue to put in as councillors to help residents and since I’ve worked with them helping organise the Penge Festival and as part of Penge Partners, the incredible amount of work they do to help organise local events like the festival, support vulnerable residents and keep community resources like Melvin Hall running. In addition to attending council meetings and supporting the Bromley Labour group, Penge councillors need to be active in the community, working hard to support residents and participating in local groups and community events- like the festival, Penge forum, Penge Day and supporting residents’ groups.

Over the past few years, the inadequate ratings Ofsted have given for Bromley’s youth offending service, adult education services and children’s services have made clear the damage their ideology has done- the stupidity of cutting service budgets and deliberately under-spending, only to have to spend far more putting money back when their cuts cause services to fail, or to be withdrawn because the council won’t properly fund them, despite having hundreds of millions in ‘investments’. While I won’t personally feel the impact of the loss of specialist services like Carers Bromley, many vulnerable and less fortunate people will and we can be pretty sure that, once they’ve safely got the election out of the way, further cuts will be coming. A few years ago I needed the support Beckenham Mind provides when I was going through a tough time, so I know how much of a difference local services like these make. I will passionately fight against further cuts in services, that would prevent others needing support like I did from being able to get it in the future.

After the general election success and the council’s repeated recent failings, I think it is crystal clear that Labour offers a better vision of a future, for Penge, across Bromley and nationwide. We will fight against the short-sighted cuts Bromley council make at the expense of residents while keeping their millions tucked away. We can implement policies focused on protecting local services, giving greater control to local people, focused on serving the community rather than running the council as a business.”

By Simon Jeal