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Rising numbers of people sleeping on our streets is a concern nationally and in Bromley. Labour councillors are working  hard to find practical solutions to support those who find themselves without a roof over their heads.

Labour Councillors have long been involved with Bromley Winter Shelter, and now Cllr Kathy Bance is working with them to expand the amount of help they can provide over the coldest months of the year.

The national Conservative government’s record on supporting those who have no choice but to sleep rough is shameful. The number of people dying whilst destitute on our streets has doubled on their watch over just 5 years.

Whilst Bromley council recently launched its homelessness strategy, Labour Councillors know this is a council which has often failed to even accurately count the number of people sleeping rough, let alone tackle the problem of hidden homelessness and the large
housing waiting list.

To provide immediate support, last year Labour Councillors took part in a sponsored sleep-out to raise money for Bromley Homeless Shelter, which provides meals and beds to local rough sleepers during the winter, they are taking part in the fundraiser again this year.

Councillor Kathy Bance has been working with the Shelter and local churches to begin operating a second shelter in the North of the borough, starting this winter. It will
increase the number of people the shelter can provide support to and get more people off of the streets during what can be very cold and wet winter nights.

It doesn’t have to be like this – Labour’s national manifesto would start by making 4,000 homes available for former rough sleepers (& 100,000 affordable homes overall), as well as stopping the damaging cuts to vital homelessness services which keep people warm, dry and alive. See Labour’s manifesto pledges for Housing & Homelessness.

One of our pledges during the local election campaign was to try and tackle the lack of affordable, good quality housing to buy and rent in our area.

Since the election we have been working through council committees and at Bromley’s (LBB) Homelessness Forum to try and deliver on our pledge. One area we have focused on is challenging developers who avoid providing the required amount of ‘affordable housing’ of new builds. Many developers use an ‘Independent Viability Study’ to argue that affordable housing isn’t commercially viable for them and instead offer what was called ‘Section 106 money’ (now the ‘Community Infrastructure Levy’) to go towards building affordable housing, in many cases however, the money is used for other purposes than building any housing! Bromley’s housing director has responded by saying that they are now robustly tackling this issue in order that more
affordable units will be built.
We are also liaising closely with Clarion Housing, who have been out with us on visits to local estates to resolve issues such as lack of repairs and responding to our residents. We are supporting Bromley’s Modular housing plans as LBB have identified sites so that good quality housing can be erected quickly and which will enable our residents to stay in Bromley. While they sold off all council housing decades ago LBB are also now committed to identifying empty buildings and land that can be used to meet this housing crisis, they have even indicated they may consider building housing again!

I’d be the first to be skeptical of a politician invoking Maya Angelou’s poetry in a speech. But Dawn Butler absolutely pulled off her reading of ‘Phenomenal Woman’ at the London Labour Women’s conference last weekend. Whether the participants, including myself and our chair Sarah Armstrong, pulled off the call and answer refrain of the poem’s title I’m less certain, but the point of empowerment and fun was made!

Dawn, the shadow Equalities Minister, was incredibly refreshing. A politician who chose not to make a speech!! One who apologised ‘in advance’ to all the first time attenders of a Labour meeting (of which there were many) for CLP meetings, but advised them to ‘stick with it’. One who admitted she ‘hates talking about Brexit almost as much as I hate Brexit’. And one, when challenged about having a crowd of controversial advisers, simply started with ‘I wish! I’ve just got one and all she does is moan about being over-worked, though she’s right to be fair’.

Although she was simply took questions from the diverse group of women, Dawn’s message came across loud and clear: Labour are ready to form a government. We have the people and the policies to do it. She gave the example of the gender pay gap  – the Tories have implemented our idea of paygap reporting but missed the vital ‘teeth’ in our policy to refuse public sector contracts to firms who don’t take action to close it. Personally, she made no bones about looking forward to being the first Cabinet Minister for Equalities, when (not ‘if’) the ‘Shadow’ in her job title disappears.

Her other message and that of the whole conference was also clear – women, especially BAME women, should go to their local meetings, speak up, take posts and put themselves forward for office.

Although the quality of our shadow Cabinet shone out, the rest of the conference was also excellent.

The workshop on public speaking had a leading adviser, who has worked with several Labour politicians and other high profile people, giving her top tips. Many of which were actionably specific, though I fear her main plea ‘don’t be boring!’ can be a tall order!

The digital workshop was super practical – as branch digital/social media officer I’ve come away with a ‘to do’ list (there’s a Labour wordpress template, who knew!? A new look coming here soon!).

The BAME Faces Matter workshop shared a number of new initiatives coming under Labour’s Democracy Review, including a Bernie Grant leadership programme for BAME activists and a toolkit of ideas for CLP BAME Officers.

Labour’s commitment to a Community Organising approach was exemplified in the Community Organising: Power and Negotiation workshop, which ran a training taster demonstrating the influence relational power exerted by a strong group of residents and activists can have.

The final panel session was also cheering. Which it needed to be as it was held in an exceptionally cold church. (Members of the local party shuddered as they reminisced about a fundraiser held there years ago where Neil Kinnock spoke at great length while they all froze!). Thankfully the panel kept it brief and interesting. They shared the passions that had brought them into politics (mostly to their own surprise in some cases) and answered questions on topics covering female leadership in the party, childcare at CLP meetings and pay gap disputes.

This was apparently the first event of its kind for a decade, which is testament to Maggie, the London Women’s Officer. Apparently over half of London Labour members are female, but there is apparently some way to go to making half of London Labour’s CLP posts female and especially Chairs.

So ladies, put yourself forward and encourage others to – whether that’s coming along to a first meeting. The Jo Cox Leadership programme (women) and Bernie Grant (BAME) leadership scheme are currently (or soon will be) open for a new round of applicants too.  As Maggie pointed out, Dawn Butler put her hand up at her first meeting at one point. You never know where it will lead…

The Penge and Cator Labour branch passed a motion last week to raise awareness of the devastating war in Yemen

Proposed by local Labour member Patricia Gilbert, it aims to raise awareness of the human costs of the war in Yemen. The motion, combined with other efforts across the country, will add to growing pressure the UK government to cease arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

The full text of the motion, which was passed unanimously and unamended at last week’s branch meeting, is below:

Emergency motion for branch meeting: The UK government must stop its complicity in the devastating war in Yemen, stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia and work towards an end to the conflict

On 15th October 2018, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen warned that the country faced the worst famine for 100 years (ref1) if airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition are not halted and stated that 12 to 13 million people are at risk of starvation within months.

Since the Saudi-led coalition commenced its military campaign against Yemen in 2015, after the Houthi rebels, now allied with former President Saleh, took power, civilians have been attacked with impunity and the country has been devastated. In 2017, the UN verified (Ref2) over 325 attacks on schools, health facilities, markets, roads, bridges and even water points and called for attacks against hospitals, schools and other protected civilian structures and facilities to stop immediately. On 9 August 2018, a Saudi bomb was dropped on a school bus (ref3) killing at least 40 children between the ages of 6 and 11.

Over three million people have been internally displaced and untold thousands have been killed, mainly as a result of the Saudi coalition bombing campaign. Last year the worst cholera outbreak in the world affected 200,000 people. Over 22 million people are reliant on humanitarian aid. Millions of children are unable to go to school.

While the Houthi rebels have also committed human rights violations, the UN reports that the Saudi Arabia-led coalition supporting President Hadi’s government continues to be the leading cause of civilian casualties in the conflict. Amnesty International reports (ref4) that the Saudi-led coalition has committed serious violations of international human rights law and humanitarian law with impunity, including sea, air and land blockades that have prevented the delivery of international aid, helped the spread of deadly diseases and led to acute malnutrition across the country.

Throughout this catastrophic conflict, the British government has refused to stop selling combat aircraft, missiles and bombs to Saudi Arabia, despite overwhelming evidence (ref5) that these are being used in violation of International Humanitarian Law. Amnesty International reports (ref6) that last year, the UK issued arms exports worth £2.94 billion to Saudi Arabia in a period of just nine months.

Other countries, including Spain and Germany, have stopped arms sales to Saudi Arabia. Lynn Maalouf of Amnesty International states:

“There is no reasonable explanation by states such as the US and the UK that would justify their continued support and irresponsible arms flows to the Saudi Arabia-led coalition, when there is extensive evidence that these have resulted in enormous harm to Yemenis for the past three years.”

In August 2018, our Shadow Foreign Secretary, Emily Thornberry, asked:

“How much longer is this Tory government going to continue arming and advising a Saudi air force that cannot tell or does not see the difference between a legitimate military target and a bus full of children, a family wedding, or a civilian food market?

Therefore, this branch/CLP demands that the UK government:

1. Ends its transfers of arms to the Saudi Arabia-led Coalition carrying out illegal and indiscriminate airstrikes in Yemen.
2. Supports the World Food Programme’s call7 for new entry points for humanitarian and commercial food imports and a free-flow of commercial and humanitarian food inside the country.
3. Pushes for an immediate and permanent ceasefire to the conflict in Yemen.

Proposed by Patricia Gilbert

REFERENCES

Ref1 Yemen on brink of ‘world’s worst famine in 100 years’ if war continues https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/oct/15/yemen-on-brink-worst-famine-100-years-un

Ref2 Report from UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/under-secretary-general-humanitarian-affairs-and-emergency-relief-coordinator-11

Ref3 The schoolboys on a field trip in Yemen were chatting and laughing. Then came the airstrike https://edition.cnn.com/2018/08/13/middleeast/yemen-children-school-bus-strike-intl/index.html

Ref4 Yemen 2017/2018 https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/middle-east-and-north-africa/yemen/report-yemen/

Ref5 UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia https://www.caat.org.uk/campaigns/stop-arming-saudi/arms-sales

Ref6: Exposed: British-made bombs used on civilian targets in Yemen https://www.amnesty.org.uk/exposed-british-made-bombs-used-civilian-targets-yemen

Ref7 Yemen: ‘Time is running out’ to head off devastating famine, warns UN food agency chief https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/09/1019752

 

Labour Councillors support local charities

Penge has always been a hive of charitable activity, and there’s plenty going on right  now. Over the summer, Bromley pupils were working with local care homes, charities, and vulnerable people, to raise awareness and money as part of the National Citizenship
Social Action Challenge. One team worked with the Kentwood Centre in Penge, raising
funding for art and craft materials, and helping change the way society views disabilities. Councillor Kevin Brooks lent support by serving on the Challenges panel.
Penge’s Labour Councillors are also involved in other initiatives, including the monthly
‘community lunch’ at Melvin Hall, for residents who need companionship or support. They plan to cater for thirty at the next lunch, and hope to increase the numbers as volunteer numbers and resources grow. The lunches are funded by local donations.

Labour Councillors ready to assist residents caught up in the Conservative’s bureaucratic mess

The Tory Government’s ‘Universal Credit’ rolled out in Bromley in recent weeks, replacing Jobseekers Allowance, Employment Support Allowance and Income Support.

It’s well known that claimants have to wait at least five weeks for their first Universal Credit payment – and that’s assuming everything goes well. But in areas where the system is now well-established, people have faced obstacles when making applications; delayed payments; and under-payments.

In some cases these delays and confusions have forced vulnerable people even deeper into debt. In the worst cases, claimants have been unable to pay their rent, and have been faced with eviction and homelessness, while waiting for their applications to be processed.

How we can help
Penge Councillors are committed to support local people facing difficulty as a result of
Universal Credit. They will be running surgeries to help residents with applications, and with any obstacles they may encounter. For more information on these surgeries,
contact your local Councillors. 

Peter Fookes made Bromley Alderman

Peter Fookes stepped down in May, as a Councillor, after 28 years of service to the people of Penge and Cator. He has been made an honorary Alderman of the London Borough of Bromley in recognition of his service.
On behalf of Kathy, Kevin and Simon, our members and local residents, we’d like to congratulate Peter and give our thanks for his work and unwavering commitment to Penge and local residents over three decades.

He will of course continue to be active locally, although he will be missed as a Councillor.

Bromley Conservative’s U-turn on policing is welcome news

Penge’s Labour Councillors have welcomed the recent U-turn affecting police coverage in Penge and Bromley.  As a result, Bromley police will retain their own Borough Command Unit, rather than being forced to pool resources in a so-called ‘tri-borough’ arrangement under Bromley Conservative council’s plans.

In addition, local police bases which were earmarked for closure will now stay open. This means that Penge will continue to have its own police team, operating out of Copperfield House in Maple Road.

This is good news, but there’s always room for improvement. Penge Councillors believe that the police ‘non-emergency’ phone service – the 101 service – is not working as well as it should. Reports of anti-social behaviour are falling, though we believe the problem is as bad ever. It often goes unreported, because people give up in frustration when they call 101 but get no response. Councillors will be taking the matter up on the Public Protection and Enforcement Working Group.

 

Fed up with litter around Penge? So are we! We’re trying to get the Council to improve, but we’re also taking more direct action to clean Penge’s streets!

 

We receive many complaints from residents that their streets have not been cleaned on schedule, or that roads like the High street or parks around Penge are not being cleaned often enough. While we continue to push Bromley council to provide a better level of service, we are not optimistic that the Conservatives will deliver any big improvement any time soon.

Until the Council requires their contractor to provide a better service, we think direct action is needed to keep our streets clean. So, as we have done in previous years and following McDonald’s successful ‘Love Where you Live’ litter pick in May, we will be arranging a litter pick on Saturday 1st September (after our street surgery)

Meeting at Melvin Hall, Melvin Road, SE20 8EU at 12:30 to pick up equipment, we will be heading out with groups of volunteers to try and clear as much litter from the surrounding roads as we can.

If you are able to come and help, we would love for as many residents as possible to join us to cover a larger area.