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Cllr John Fahy: In defence of the Mayor’s inauguration

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Local government, Greenwich Council in particular, has become easy prey for the TaxPayers’ Alliance and other pressure groups who seriously misrepresent the public sector.

While they are entitled to their view, they might reflect on a scale of one to ten where the greedy bankers sit alongside the commitment and dedication of public servants.

Column inches have recently been published about the costs of the Mayor of Greenwich inauguration at the Painted Hall.

This has taken place in the same venue for the last eleven years. As Mayor in 1999 I well remember the first occasion in which the event was held there.

Should the Council have an annual event? Of course.

Has anybody complained about the City of London’s annual Lord Mayor’s Banquet? Of course not, because it is a tradition that has been held in the City for hundreds of years. Local councils up and down the country hold similar events and rightly so.

The Painted Hall, part of the UNESCO World Heritage site, is a wonderful setting for such an important event. Hundreds of partners and stakeholders attend and it gives the Council the opportunity to showcase the heritage of the borough.

Of course there is a cost, but the difference between the event being held in the Town Hall or Painted Hall is minimal. We are always sensitive about costs for everything we do and this event is no exception. Mindful of the austerity measures, the costs of the event have been scaled down to reflect our commitment to saving money where we can.

We continue to be lectured by Government ministers and Eric Pickles (Secretary of State for Local Government) in particular. I was at a meeting in Portcullis House last week and was tripping over Members of Parliament sliding off to hospitality events. Has the Houses of Parliament locked up the wine cellar? No, because they see local government as an easy target.

I have not had a single constituent complain about this event. They understand the importance of civic life in which the Mayor plays a key role.

Cllr John Fahy is Greenwich Council’s Cabinet Member for Culture and the Olympics.

Paul Webbewood: Mayoral inauguration – cui bono?

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As has been noted elsewhere and despite rumours to the contrary, Greenwich Council has decided to go ahead with this year’s elaborate and expensive  Mayoral Inauguration ceremony in the Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College.

As a councillor I attended this event for the last five years but it is not just sour grapes at having fallen off the guest list that makes me call for the Council to save most of the £30,000 cost and do something cheaper this year when so much else is being cut.

The purpose of the ceremony is for the outgoing mayor, who is the official host, to hand over the baton to her successor.  Both make a brief speech and there is usually a pleasant musical interlude from local performers.   If this was all that happened then the Council’s recent claim that the Inauguration is a “determinedly non-political event” might have some merit.  However probably the longest single item and certainly the longest speech is always an address from the Leader of the Council Chris Roberts.

Chris can be relied upon to give an upbeat survey of what is happening in the Borough, reasonably dignified and non-partisan but with an “aren’t we doing well” flavour and thus clearly political.   Last year he greeted the change of Government with an assurance that there would be no 1980s style defiance or refusal to set a Council Tax while he was in charge – a welcome and sensible position in my view, but hardly non-political.   His speeches belong in the Council Chamber where they can be challenged and not at a “determinedly non-political” function.

The first time I attended in 2006 the two Opposition leaders also spoke but in subsequent years, for reasons never properly explained, they have not been allowed to do so.  Naturally this led to some ill feeling among councillors and to a suspicion that Chris Roberts now genuinely believes himself to be above politics or that – to paraphrase Tony Blair – he considers the Labour Party to be the sole political arm of the Greenwich people.

Greenwich Council has for example withdrawn support for the Blackheath fireworks, withdrawn its funding for Blackheath Halls and is threatening to close the zoo in Maryon Wilson Park.   It may be that these are unpleasant necessities so that it can continue providing life and death services to vulnerable people.  But they give pleasure to thousands whereas the invitation-only Painted Hall ceremony does not .

There are 40 Labour councillors –  will any of them be brave enough to publicly speak out against this abomination?

Paul Webbewood is a former Liberal Democrat councillor.

Interview with Cllr John Fahy – Part Two

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Greenwich’s regal connections will come to the fore next year when it becomes a royal borough. As the man in charge of the council’s culture portfolio, is Cllr Fahy proud of this honour?

“I am very proud of it – notwithstanding Henry VIII’s activities in Ireland and all of that, forget all that,” the County Cork-born councillor says, “It’s just an enormous benefit for the borough. It’s long overdue.

“We are a World Heritage Site, home of time and all of that. It’s a joy that we’ve been able to get it, and again it’s because of the hard work of the leadership of the council in pushing that agenda forward.”

Is a new logo for the borough in the offing?

“I think there’s some work going on but that’s under wraps at the moment. We have to fit into the palace agenda.”

But the bigger story for 2012 is the Olympics. Cllr Fahy is himself looking forward to the swimming, equestrian and shooting events and is in the lottery for tickets.

How does he think preparations for the events being staged in Greenwich are going?

“Absolutely terrific. It’s interesting that the silent majority are totally enthused about the Olympics and I just find it fascinating that there’s this hard core of objectors around Greenwich Park who are a serious minority.

“It’ll just be amazing…  the millions of people that will see the iconic vista from the top of the Wolfe statue right down, it will just be amazing.”

One of the angriest press releases I’ve seen from Greenwich Council, I tell him, came when the ticket allocation for local children was announced. Was he disappointed with what was available for local kids?

“In reality, we continue to press… our ambition is to secure a ticket to some event during the Olympics for every school child in the borough.

“Whether we achieve that or not will depend on a whole range of things. They’d be able to tell their children and grandchildren ‘I was there in 2012’. As people were saying in 1948, ‘I was there’.”

Cllr Fahy raises the idea of staging a concert in Greenwich Park in August, between the Olympic and Paralympic games.

“There is an opportunity between the  Olympics and Paralympics to use Greenwich Park. There’ll be a stadium in there which will be kitted out so what the hell, why can’t we use it?

“Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we had Bono in Greenwich Park in 2012? It’s a space that’s there and we need to talk to LOCOG and the police and all that about it to see if it’s possible to use it. It’s a thought.

“It would be a promoter coming in and we would be helping to facilitate it. We wouldn’t be dipping into our pockets.”

With next year set to be huge for Greenwich’s Mr 2012, there’s still a few highlights in this year’s cultural calendar to discuss.

News of a new addition to the Greenwich Festival season, the Peninsula Festival, first surfaced on the 853 blog. It is the brainchild of entrepreneur Frank Dekker and is due to run on the peninsula for several years, including the creation of a temporary beach.

Fahy welcomes the start-up’s plans.

“We are engaged in facilitating and enabling organisations and companies to flourish, and giving a helping hand.”

“I think it’s helped where private sector organisations come in, set themselves up in Greenwich and establish the peninsula as a cultural destination of choice for people who want to enjoy themselves. I think it will be just great.”

Cllr Fahy is especially interested in plans to bring tall ships to Greenwich in 2012, having been to a tall ships festival himself in Amsterdam – “it wasn’t a council jolly”, he is quick to point out.

“There was something like two million people in Amsterdam during that weekend. Absolutely amazing. If we can create that kind of opportunity within the Peninsula, it could become a vibrant place.”

Cllr Fahy tells me he is “very excited” by the National Maritime Museum’s new Sammy Ofer wing, which is due to open later this year.

“Full credit to Kevin Fewster and the team for achieving their objective of getting the building on time and it will be bring enormous additional value to Greenwich.”

But what does he think of the NMM’s decision to charge £10 to stand on the Meridian Line at the Old Royal Observatory?

“Well, I think it’s a bit of an overkill.”

Would he pay £10 to stand on the Meridian Line?

“No.”

Could a £10 charge to stand on the Meridian Line damage Greenwich’s reputation in the eyes of visitors?

“Yeah.”

He is clearly not comfortable criticising the decision and his answers are noticeably shorter. He does, however, say he understands that “what they’re trying to do is increase their income”.

The missing link for visitors to Greenwich at the moment is the Cutty Sark. The restoration of the famous tea clipper is nearing completion. But the council has had to find £3million to help rescue the project.

Is he convinced there would be sufficient return on the council’s investment?

“Absolutely. You guys may get a sense that the council sometimes feels like a cash machine and we just give away money.  There’s lots of discussion and debate and analysis before we make any decision.

“It needs to be recognised that we have high levels of deprivation and unemployment, so the council has a role to provide opportunities though investment to maximise employment opportunities.

“The £3 million will have achieved an important development in terms of the Cutty Sark in the longer term. It will stabilise the town centre and increase tourism income and everybody will benefit. That’s the role of the council as it attempts to regenerate its areas.”

What came through during the interview was Fahy’s enthusiasm and optimism for Greenwich’s cultural offerings over the next 18 months and beyond.

With his cabinet responsibilities touching upon many of the issues that local people care most passionately about, he will be under the spotlight to ensure that the end results match his optimism.

Read Part One of this interview

Interview with Cllr John Fahy – Part One

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As I sat down opposite Cllr John Fahy, I remarked that this would not be the first time his words would be recorded this week.

Our interview was taking place a few days after local journalist Darryl Chamberlain broke new ground by posting audio clips from the council chamber onto the internet.

But Cllr Fahy was not bothered by his sudden appearance online.

“It’s important we keep up with modern day communication strategies so I haven’t any hang ups about it,” he said.

“The council meetings are a public venue where people come along, quite rightly, and represent their interests and the interests of their community.

“We have the press there who can take notes, so what’s the difference, really?”

His relaxed outlook on what may prove to be an important step forward for council transparency is not atypical for the genial Irishman.

Hailing from a small village east of Cork, John Fahy moved to the UK at the end of the 1950s. He first made his home in Guildford, where he started a career in the trade union movement.

He moved to London in 1987 and was first elected to Greenwich Council three years later. He has been the cabinet member responsible for culture, including the Olympics, for four years.

We met at the café in East Greenwich Pleasaunce, a park he describes as “absolutely wonderful”. Getting people back into parks is one of his priorities – and cafés have a big role to play.

“I became interested in creating an environment whereby the parks would be successful if we had cafés so people had an opportunity to come, walk their dog or play sport.

“Having a café here also has the element of security because people are here, the staff are here and so it brings it all together in a positive way.

“We’ve got this café, we’ve got a café in Eltham Park South, we’ve got Avery Hill and we’ve been discussing the prospect of a café in St Alfege Park”.

“It will probably mean converting an existing building and we’re working with the friends of the park to achieve that.”

The improvements at  the pleasaunce in recent years have seen it handed a prestigious Green Flag Award.

Greenwich Council has five-and-a-half Green Flag parks – the half being Blackheath, shared with Lewisham. Does he have ambitions to increase Greenwich’s Green Flag tally?

“We’re aiming for twelve by 2012 but obviously we want to create more. For instance, the Friends of St Alfege Park are talking of achieving Green Flag status by 2013/14 so the Green Flag parks will continue in a very positive away”.

But with Greenwich lagging behind Lewisham – which already has 12 and a half Green Flag parks – is there a sense of competition with neighbouring boroughs?

“No, no, no – I talk a lot with my counterparts in Lewisham and Bexley so we’re up to speed with what others are doing but it’s not competitive in that sense.”

Greenwich and Lewisham had worked together for many years on the Blackheath firework display, but Greenwich abandoned the event at short notice in 2010. Lewisham was left to set up a public appeal to cover the shortfall.

Had he apologised to his Lewisham counterpart or been embarrassed at the way it was handled?

He begins defensively.

“I’m very keen to talk about the future rather than the past.

“Human frailties exist in councillors as well as everywhere else really. It seems to me that we could have reflected further on what were doing.

“But I think you have to put it in the context that we knew that whichever government was in power post the election, that there was going to be cuts so we deliberately took a decision to find savings where we could and build up some resources so that when it came to the cuts, we had a bit of a fair wind to seek to minimise the effects.

“I think we did reasonably well in terms of that, unlike Lewisham who are now closing five libraries and a whole range of other things.”

Do the Blackheath fireworks have a future?

“It will be difficult,” he says.

“I think there’s a balance to be struck between the private sector contribution and the council contribution and I don’t think in terms of the fireworks that the balance is sufficient. We’re happy to support projects. but in the next few years it’s going to be about doing more for less.”

Lewisham is looking at closing libraries and Cllr Fahy is proud that Greenwich isn’t doing the same. But with any internet-connected computer able to access more information than most libraries, I wondered about the future for libraries, and if the trend for usership was up or down.

“Before the fire in the Eltham Centre, figures were going up. But because the library was closed for a few months, we’ve had problems.

“With the opening of the new Woolwich Library, there’s going to be a significant improvement in IT provision so therefore the balance between readership and all of that will change.

“We need to develop life-long learning centres where it’s not only about taking out a book, it’s about going to the library, researching, using the IT. Kids going in after school to do research, improving their knowledge and all of that. That’s the thing we need to develop.”

The tech-savvy councillor says he is keeping an eye on the effect the Kindle is having on e-book reading and says he is “very interested in the concept” of people able to download music at libraries.

The council’s claim that no libraries are closing in Greenwich has been called into question after the Kidbrooke Kite blog revealed the library at the Ferrier Estate was closing and wouldn’t be reopened or replaced.

“Yes, but I mean, the library in the Ferrier was only open two days a week. It’s a bloody awful place in terms of the quality of the books we have in there so it’s not fit for purpose.”

Cllr Fahy points to “extensive library provision in Eltham… and increasing space in Woolwich”.

“The amount of floor space for libraries has increased dramatically across the borough,  and of course we’ve put significant investment in.”

Our meeting came just after the council increased the cost of tennis at its courts in line with inflation and, more controversially, decided to extend the enforcement of charging to Plumstead Common.

Local players were surprised to learn of the charges when a notice appeared and the courts were padlocked shut.

The councillor is aware of the criticisms that had surfaced on local blogs and a popular tennis website and anticipates my question.

Could he clarify the situation?

“Let me say this. The charges have only increased by the rate of inflation. The charges have always been there.

“But we have to look at these issues in the round, really, and we are developing a tennis strategy as we have been around a whole range of sports.”

He says the council is looking at ways to develop tennis across the borough and to create an elite tennis squad.

“Why can’t we provide opportunities for the next McEnroe or Murray to come from Greenwich or from Woolwich?

“But what we want to create is an opportunity for people, which has been the case for years at Plumstead, whereby mum and dad and the kids with a tennis racket and a few balls can come out and have some time on the courts.

“Would we charge for that? I doubt it because we would have to someone sitting there all day.

“I didn’t know the signs at Plumstead were going up. Was I aware, I would have probably said, well, you know, ‘we know what the score is’.”

It sounds like there won’t be an immediate change to the situation at Plumstead, I say.

He agrees, adding he was unaware of the courts being padlocked shut.

“Why do we need to wind people up like that? This is a tough call for all of us in terms of trying to achieve budget reductions.

“We don’t want to persecute people, we want to work with them to improve our sports.”

“Councils work like a bureaucracy and we need to be mindful… it is about collecting money but it’s also about making sure that we increase the number of people participating and if the barrier is one of finance, then we need to be flexible.”

Cllr Fahy says the council does need to improve revenues from tennis, and as with the libraries, he has an eye on greater use of technology.

“We have to find ways to maximising income within a flexible arrangement and I think a swipe card may be one way of doing it.

“We need to have different charges for different areas. The Greenwich Card may become a swipe card so a person who wants to engage in tennis can join on an annual basis, swipe their card and play.”

Read Part Two of this interview

Alex Wilson: Why I’m voting no to AV

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On 5 May the UK will go to the polls for our first nationwide referendum for 36 years. We are being asked whether we want to get rid of our current voting system (sometimes referred to as ‘First Past the Post’) and replace it with a different system called the ‘Alternative Vote’ (AV).

This referendum is being held because it was one of the things Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats demanded in return for their part in forming the coalition government. The Lib Dems will be campaigning for a ‘Yes’ vote in the referendum and a change to AV – while the Conservatives, along with over 100 Labour MPs, hundreds of Labour councillors, and a number of trade unions, are backing the cross-party campaign for a ‘No’ vote to keep our current system. Here are some of the reasons why:

  • AV is unfair. For generations, our elections are based on the fundamental principle of ‘One Person, One Vote.’ AV would undermine that, allowing the supporters of fringe or extremist parties to have their vote counted five or six times – and potentially decide the outcome of the election – while people who backed the mainstream candidates only get one vote.
  • AV is unwanted. Even the Yes campaigners don’t really want AV. Before the general election, Nick Clegg described AV as ‘a miserable little compromise’. Another senior Lib Dem, Chris Huhne, said that ‘it does not give voters real power’. Now they want it because it will help their party hold the balance of power.
  • AV is obscure. Only three countries in the world use AV for their national elections: Fiji, Australia, and Papua New Guinea. Fiji have plans to get rid of it, and in Australia, 6 out of 10 voters want to return to the British system.
  • AV is expensive. Holding this referendum is costing the country £90 million, and AV itself would make elections more expensive. Counting the votes would take much longer, either by hand or on costly new electronic counting machines – and local taxpayers would end up footing the bill.

As a case in point if last year’s general election had been held under AV, there would have been at least four rounds of counting before one candidate got over 50% of the vote in the Greenwich & Woolwich constituency.

That means the 65 voters who voted for the least popular candidate would have had at least 4 votes, and the 267 people who voted for the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition candidate would have had at least 3 votes.

But the 9 out of 10 mainstream voters who voted for the Labour, Conservative or Liberal Democrat candidates would have had their votes counted just once.

Please vote to defend our system of One Person, One vote, by voting ‘No’ on 5 May.

Alex Wilson is a councillor representing the Blackheath Westcombe ward and has been selected as the Conservative’s London Assembly candidate for Greenwich and Lewisham.

Greenwich Farmers’ Market

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Going to Borough Market is one of my favourite Saturday pleasures. I love to buy a good bottle of balsamic vinegar, saucisson, a lovely french baguette or ciabatta and some cheese. Heaven. However, heaven is a bit over-priced, extremely busy and full of lots of meandering tourists and parents with buggies who really should know better. Same goes for our beloved covered Greenwich Market.

But! There is another option… the local Farmers’ Market.

To my delight a flyer dropped through my letter box about a month ago telling me about the Greenwich Farmers’ Market at Halstow Primary School (currently running every Saturday from 10am to 3pm). Halstow is ten minutes walk from my house in Maze Hill and is just off the Woolwich Road near Westcombe Park station (the school has plenty of parking spaces too).

It is an easy walk from any part of east Greenwich and I was very excited to see what was on offer. The market is organised by the City & Country Farmers’ Markets who run about ten markets in London and the South East. They also run stalls at Borough Market but are very keen to bring fresh local produce to as many areas as they can.

My boyfriend and I made it to the market in the third week since its relaunch and we were pleased to see a good variety of cold food stalls (and a few hot) set up in the school’s playground. Fruit and veg, cakes, meat (including game), pies, olives, fresh juices, cheese (cow and goat!) and bread stalls were all there. Unfortunately there was no fish stall, this was a disappointment as we had gone to the market hoping to pick up some fresh fish for dinner that night. However, there was overall a good variety of stalls as well some specialised stalls like the chilli sauce and marmalade stall – a favourite of ours now*.

I understood from some of the more chatty stall-holders that a number of the stalls vary week to week, so I think that a few return trips would probably be a good idea to get a real understanding of the market and what it has to offer the community. We were very satisfied with our purple-sprouting broccoli, eggs, chilli sauces and french baguettes, and my stomach really enjoyed the sausage bap too. Also, we did not break the bank like we do at Borough Market!

These kind of markets need good local support to survive. Borough Market thrives on a lot of passing trade and the many tourists that visit the London Bridge area, whereas local markets need their communities as well as some good local advertising (hi!). I was very pleased to see that the CCFM did a leaflet drop in the local area and that there have been adverts in the council run Greenwich Time for the market.

Whilst researching for this article I discovered that the market has been run at Halstow School before and was previously at East Greenwich Pleasaunce, but for various reasons the market has not quite stuck. I moved into the area last June but this was the first time I had received a leaflet about it or seen any GT promotion. In addition there are a lot of local Greenwich, Charlton and Blackheath bloggers that write and tweet frequently and they could promote the market quite easily if CCFM sent them some free booze! I was also pleased to see a large banner for the market on Trafalgar Road, however this was at the entrance to Chevening Road rather than Halstow Road – not the best position for it.

Overall I was very pleased with my trip to the market, and for a windy grey day in March there was a slow but steady arrival of customers. As a local I really hope the market gets the support it deserves as trekking up the hill and over the heath on a Sunday to the Blackheath Farmer’s Market (run by a rival to CCFM by the looks of it!) is not what I want to do. Support your local Farmers’ Market and one of your local schools if you can.

*The couple that run the stall were so friendly, knowledgeable and good at selling their wares that they completely deserve a plug: Care Grow. We also spent £10 so that probably helped.

Greenwich Farmers’ Market is held every Saturday, 10am – 3pm, at Halstow Primary School.

Nick Raynsford: Why I’m supporting AV

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My personal opinion on the ‘first past the post’ FPTP electoral system, which has traditionally determined British Parliamentary elections, is that it has two principal advantages. Firstly, it has generally delivered a clear winner, and so ensured a decisive outcome to elections. Secondly, it ensures there is always a direct link between Members of Parliament and a constituency.

By contrast, more proportional elective systems can create uncertain outcomes and they do bring the risk that small and often unrepresentative parties can gain disproportionate influence.

Another disadvantage of more proportional electoral systems is that they depend on large, multi-member constituencies, which makes it difficult for elected politicians to relate closely to a local area. For example, MEPs who are elected on a proportional system to represent us in the European Parliament have to represent the whole of London between them, so are inevitably less well-known to electors in a single area such as Greenwich and Woolwich.

Having said that, there are serious downsides to the FPTP system, notably that governments are usually elected with less than 50 per cent of the votes cast. For that reason, I am personally supportive of the Alternative Vote (AV) system for Parliamentary elections, which allows voters to place candidates in order of preference (1, 2, 3 etc.) rather than simply putting a cross besides one name.

Under the AV system, only candidates who secure more than 50 percent of the first preference votes are automatically elected. In other instances, the second preference votes of electors whose first preferences went to candidates who secured the least support are redistributed until one candidate reaches the 50 per cent threshold, or until all other candidates are eliminated. This gives greater weight to the views of those who voted for losing candidates, whilst retaining the link between MP and constituency. I will therefore be supporting the introduction of AV for British Parliamentary elections.

I have in the past helped introduce a similar system of voting. As Minister responsible for the Greater London Authority, I put in place the supplementary vote system for the election of the Mayor of London. This is very similar to AV but limits voters to just two preferences to guard against the risk of a candidate being elected as Mayor without having secured a substantial number of first preference votes. I believe that these arrangements have generally worked well.

The Alternative Vote Referendum will take place on May 5th 2011. Greenwich.co.uk will soon have an article putting the case for the No campaign.

Review: April in Paris, Greenwich Theatre

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The fine revival of April in Paris, currently playing at Greenwich Theatre, isn’t going to set the world alight, but it will bring the warmest of glows to what is, at the moment, a gloomy old world.  The outlook is as bleak now as it was in 1992 when the play was written.  The play is set against talk of redundancies, job insecurity, pit closures and lack of money, themes that seem horribly familiar.  The outlook is grey, the set’s grey, the costumes are grey – even the tomato sauce bottle fails to provide any splash of colour.  Add into the mix a couple who have grown out of love and the play seems an unlikely source of comic entertainment.  The only pleasure for the husband and wife trapped in a black and white world comes from the dry, acerbic banter that Bet and Al have honed in the relentless drudgery of their lives.  At the start of the play their sharp overlapping dialogue provides the bleakest of humour, neither really listening to each other, and both seeking either the security of the garden shed, or the shoe shop, to hide from each other as their 25 year old marriage disintegrates.  A hint of relief comes in the shape of a competition entry, an escape route that Bet dreams of; it is a dream that comes true.

John Godber, the director and writer of the play, creates startlingly simple transformations of scenes as the audience effortlessly journeys with Bet and Al towards France after they win the prize of a romantic weekend in Paris.  The play literally brightens; colours are introduced into the costume and set as none- too-subtle symbols of Al and Bet’s transforming relationship.  The snappy dialogue jokes, that seemed pointed and vicious, become tokens of affection, and the warm glow that I spoke of earlier begins to fire up both the actors and the audience.   The second half begins with a dazzling scene change as a new set is revealed, comically echoing the cartoon-like style of the film An American in Paris; perhaps Godber toyed with A Northerner in Paris as an alternative title.

Wendi Peters, familiar from Coronation Street, returns to Hull Truck after many years to play the role of Bet.  She has a marvellously grumpy expression throughout most of the first act; there is something of Les Dawson about her curled lip and introverted body language.  In Paris she transforms herself, blossoming before the audience’s eyes, taking advantage of snatched moments offstage to effect a myriad of small but significant off-stage changes so that, eventually, she flowers in more than one respect.

Rob Angell’s changes as Al are rather more subtle. There are fewer evident visual alterations but at the end of the play we see a man who stands taller and who has gained self respect – even if his new found dignity is comically challenged by muggers in the Paris metro.  Godber has a romantic sensibility, a belief in the power of humans to transform, and Al’s development as a painter exemplifies this aspect of his work; perhaps it is the latent teacher in Godber that never likes to give up on a lost cause.

The pair of actors are pleasingly at home in the play and appear entirely comfortable with the style of the piece, dipping in and out of scenes to share their thoughts with the audience; they act as a perfect foil to one other.  Their use of mime can conjure steak tartare out of nothing, and their evident physical skill makes the disco on the P&O ferry one of the funniest scenes in the play.

Godber’s theatrical style will come as no surprise to anybody who is familiar with plays such as Up and Under, and Bouncers (Hull Truck’s last play to tour to Greenwich), but it is always a pleasure because it is unfailingly witty and gently humorous.  It is a shame that the audience for the show at Greenwich was so small, it deserves better.  Godber’s plays are never less than polished entertainment and frequently hold a very large mirror up to the audience so we can reflect on out on lives – in the politest and wittiest way.

April in Paris continues its run at Greenwich Theatre until Saturday 19th March.

Paul Webbewood: Need somewhere to live?

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Council housing has a long and honourable history in Greenwich.  According to Nikolaus Pevsner the earliest such housing in the Borough was the now highly des res Hardy Cottages off Trafalgar Rd built by the London County Council in 1901.  My grandparents lived for many years in an inter-war council semi near Eltham Green, with a back garden sufficiently large that any 21st century planning application would put three town houses on it.

So local politicians may well feel the hand of history on their shoulders when they discuss council housing.   Eltham Conservatives allege that Clive Efford’s successful defence of his seat was helped by misleading claims that a Conservative Government would increase rents and end security of tenure cease for existing tenants.

More recently Greenwich Council’s Cabinet member for Housing, Steve Offord, has appeared confused on whether the Council wants to be able to offer time-limited tenancies for new tenants

After many years when councils were unable to build any new housing, an excellent scheme from the Labour Government provided funds for small scale schemes on spare bits of land already in council ownership.   Greenwich took up this opportunity, sometimes using derelict garage areas without any problems.   However in a few cases the Council seemed in too much of a hurry to get building and chose to develop sites of doubtful suitability.  One such in my view was in Woodlands Park Rd SE10 where six houses have now been built.

Was I right to vote against this development?  Nos 63-73 Woodlands Park Rd are decent size family houses  and fit in quite well to the street scene.  However they were built on a piece of open space in a crowded area .  Although this space included a ball court which had generated complaints, as a whole it was valuable and is now lost for ever.   The new houses are also rather alarmingly close to the down platform of Maze Hill Station and I doubt that the residents will be keen to have their back windows open in summer.   On the whole I think I was right to oppose the development.

And there’s something wrong when the council is scratching around to build new housing on contentious sites, while its best buddy Berkeley Homes is openly boasting about marketing homes on its new Kidbrooke development to “in case their children want to come and study in London”.   Indeed while the new development will be twice the size of the old Ferrier Estate there will be significantly fewer homes on it purely for rent.    The balance of the social housing will comprise “intermediate housing” which probably won’t help anybody with a household income of under £20,000 a year.

Another recent development is Meridian Home Start Ltd. This is a new company owned by Greenwich Council (Director C.J  Roberts Esq) which will rent properties to tenants at significantly above the council housing rate but below the market rate.  Meridian started with a portfolio of 28 properties, five of which were ex-council houses which had been sold off over the years and now bought back on the open market.

This sounds a good idea.  However the remaining 23 were already owned by the Council.  These properties are dotted around the Borough with a concentration in Wyndcliffe Rd SE7 between Charlton Rd and Wyndcliffe School which were formerly used for temporary accommodation.  I’ve heard nothing to convince me why these 23 should go into the higher rented sector rather than be used for people on the council’s waiting list.

So all in all it’s good news if you’re in Singapore with money to spare, perhaps less so if you’re in housing need in Greenwich.

Paul Webbewood is a former Liberal Democrat councillor.

Paul Webbewood: Cuts – mind your own business!

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Although I am a supporter of the Coalition Government, I worry about its approach to local authorities.  While Nick Clegg fiddles around with alternative voting and House of Lords reform, Eric Pickles seems free to burn and slash his way through England’s town halls.

However after being given a chance to occupy the moral high ground Greenwich Council is determined to vacate it.  The Council seems reluctant to take local people into its confidence over proposed cuts in services or to offer any comprehensive strategy.   Its initial approach is to nibble at things which, although not life and death, add to the quality of life in the Borough – Blackheath Fireworks, Maryon Wilson Zoo and now Blackheath Halls – and at  least in the case of the fireworks the timing of the announcement to stop funding was  at best incompetent and at worst malicious.   And we still haven’t officially heard whether Greenwich will implement the one cut that almost everybody wants – the £30k spent on the invitation-only Mayoral inauguration.

Another example of the Greenwich Way occurred on 21st February when the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee (O&S) commenced a marathon task of hearing representations from voluntary bodies whose grant may be removed or reduced.  Effectively O&S has been asked to quality review the process adopted by the Council’s executive.

Now all credit to the O&S councillors for putting in the hours and there seems to be some merit in the idea.   However this was negated by a unanimous vote by Labour and Conservative members to sit in secret, using a procedural device usually adopted when a committee is considering commercial tenders.   Although there is an element of competition for the available funds, it seems far-fetched to claim that commercial confidentiality is involved when the Council decides how it allocates grants to voluntary organisations.  In the past similar representations have been heard in public.  However this time O&S chairman Councillor Mick Hayes (Labour) – normally a genial and popular figure – seemed rather put out when he was told that the Committee could vote on going into secret session, rather than meekly obey a recommendation to do so.

This seems part of a pattern of obfuscation.   On February 14th the BBC 10 o’clock News ran an item on the cuts with Greenwich as a case study.  There were contributions from voluntary sector supremo Naomi Goldberg, Mark Sesnan of Greenwich Leisure Ltd, a possible Big Society prototype, Union man Onay Kasab, plus Nick Raynsford MP.  No contribution from the Council who had declined to speak to the Beeb.  Don’t ask me why they passed up on the opportunity to address an audience even larger than the local blogosphere or that reached by Greenwich Time’s distribution network.

The Government’s answer to grumbles from Councils about funding is to say:

1) Pay Chief Executives less

2) Save money by working with neighbouring Councils.

In Lewisham Mayor Bullock has launched an all-party constitutional review which we are told will look at top salaries and whether the Borough needs its current number of councillors.  Greenwich’s sole constitutional reform so far is a mean-minded measure to make it harder for planning objectors to access councillors.

Greenwich Leader Chris Roberts has said that he isn’t that keen on joint arrangements across Borough boundaries and prefers closer links with other public sector organisations in Greenwich, although I am not aware of any practical suggestions on what this might mean.  Anyway Lewisham, our most obvious potential partner, perhaps scarred by the Blackheath fireworks debacle, inclines towards an alliance with Southwark and Lambeth.

Not for the first time I am tempted to conclude that, if London is Europe, then Greenwich is Belarus.