Death of a Cyclist in Southwark

Today (04.09.2013) is a most, most despairing day. The death of a cyclist in Southwark must make other Southwark Council Members weep as responsible for this continued deadly conflict & until we all fix it, now not tomorrow, more will die.

I spent from 07.10 am till 09.50 am preparing for a meeting, worried about a possible reduction in key space for cycling and safety of cyclists in my Southwark Ward.

Next, I spent time getting persuaded by Southwark Council Officers into acceptance of much of their draft, and thereafter emailed, if only one key issue of safety and space for cycling was addressed.

Soon afterwards emails arrived with much more detailed technical support highlighting my instinctive concerns to condemn the draft.

This a pre-consultation with elected Councillors so timelines narrow.

It was then knew a weakness, I gave in far too readily.

Such have been the attacks by my fellows, using the power of party group to control the Council machine, I had been made meek and less than I should aspire and humanly hope to be

Next, I learnt of the death of a cyclist in Southwark.

I cried.

I hope my fellows are just as ashamed of the lack of actions to protect cyclists in Southwark.

I gave in so easily and, in place of the robust strength of instinct, failed to stand up for all and a totally robust cycling modal solution.

Later, when I met with a few activists complaining about Southwark Cyclists and the London Cycling Campaign being pro-Labour, I have to say the suggestion that it was now impossible to get a rational and “Dutch” infrastructure adopted in Southwark did seem just vaguely plausible.

We are in dire need of a dedicated infrastructure to remove conflict between cyclists and motorists. This cannot be a piecemeal solution and anything short of a unified solution is to kill cyclists.

My emails with Fiona Colley in 2010-11 at least suggest she wanted such conflict as segregation must not be in the Local Plan.

Peter John proclaims Southwark will one day be the most cycle friendly borough and this is an aspiration I will work for.

Dearest Peter, these are great words but when the need actions?

I will now ask in Council Assembly just what the actions to make Southwark go Dutch are.

It is after all about making sure journeys are not made longer and less convenient as who wants to spend more of their time cycling around junctions with motor vehicles speeding ahead?  

No-one should have to choose between "safe" and "convenient.  

No-one should ever be encouraged to choose a less safe route across any junction that will kill if they're in a hurry.

I cannot comprehend why we still make the mistake of separating "less confident" cyclists and thereby promoting inferior cycling solutions that force people into such devil's bargains.

Build the infrastructure and cycle they will. But we must avoid the costly mistake of building infrastructure which facilitates conflict, danger and inconvenience.

How will all Southwark's Councillors be reassured about Southwark’s future for cycling?

Cyclists want to obey

Recent press coverage in Southwark about citizen cyclists not obeying the rules finds the problem rooted in individuals.

This simply fails to understand that fear of other traffic creates the behaviour.

No enforcement can address this fear.

Cyclists do not have adequate infrastructure, never mind the fact that they are forced to abide by a traffic culture and traffic rules promulgated to serve the car, a completely different transport form.

In Copenhagen, in the morning rush hour when a couple of hundred thousand people ride bikes to work it is very different.  At each and every traffic light cycle you see great groups of citizen cyclists doing something really weird.

They wait for the lights to turn green.

No need to break the rules because they have a well-designed infrastructure, and a whole network of it.

Few seek to break the law; they don’t want to be rogues of the urban landscape. All they ask is to go about daily life, get from A to B quickly, efficiently and safety.

I just wish that at the junction in question some basic observation and human design principles, as requested by me the Ward Councillor, were undertaken.

Cycling is not inherently dangerous and if word got out that 1.2 million people a year are killed in car accidents, just think about it that is a 9/11 every month year in and year out, people might start riding a bike.

The hackneyed view, supported by Southwark Labour, that the non-cycling public need to be persuaded cycling is safe through more enforcement and nervous individuals can be taught to cope through the medium of cycle training simply leaves open the question of what to do with motorists.

To demand all cyclists adhere to a car-centric status quo and obey rules designed to manage motor vehicle flow and parking is utterly wrong minded if we want to improve modal share for cycling.

Southwark Council invests in the issuing of tickets to those cycling on the pavement.

This treats naughty cyclists who have had to adapt to a deeply hostile cycling environment with utter contempt.

Build a safe and respectful environment for cycling and cycle people will.

What parent or lover is going to ask him or her to share the road with any HGV?

Cyclists have to pay full observation to motorists encased and protected by a missile-mass of hardened plastic, glass and metal. Can it be any wonder that they are mercilessly bullied onto the curb side and pavement just to survive
the road?

I refuse to call for the trivialisation of the constant killing of cyclists by implying an equivalent to cycling on the pavement and enforcement.

 

Stephen Govier

Independa(e)nt Councillor for Southwark.

 

Pu-erh Discovery Part One

Pu-erh Discovery

Pu-erh tea from Yunnan is a discovery never ending.  It is a type of tea in a category all of it's own.  In the past tea has been something I almost liked but never could be passionate about.  All that has changed since I discovered Pu-erh.

My partner drinks nothing but PG Tips and for me drinking a cuppa can even be a bit of a chore.  Think of the number of times you have sipped away and smiled through the awfulness!

This discovery continues on so many levels I doubt one blog will be enough.  It is worth beginning with a classification of tea as what we Brits tend to call "black" tea is classed by the Chinese as a red.  There are at least six types of tea: white, yellow, wulong, red and black.  And in many ways blending is an historical hangover from the days when expensive teas were added to cheaper ones to make money.  

Tea drinking around the world takes on a cultural dimension speaking volumes about place.  The British cuppa is seen as part of our cultural landscape and is the beverage central to afternoon and, especially in Scotland, evening meals.  Ceremony exists but lacks the understanding of the nature of tea found in the ceremonial of other places.

There is a scene in Director John Woo's "Red Cliffe - Three Kingdoms - One fate" when the outcome of war is determined by a tea ceremony.  You have to know tea at a fundamental level to appreciate just how likely it was for a General to hold off attending to battle!  

Some of the more alarming abuse to which noble tea is subjected does little but bring out the tannin in tea in much the same way as brewing for too long will.  Ruined!  So go ahead squeeze the last drops out of a tea bag of tea dust and prove you are a mad dog English person!! 

Today I am drinking 2012 Autumn sheng cha Yi Wu from the Canton Tea Co.  I can't tell you more than that based on the packaging and blurb.  This should be from Yi Wu mountain in Xishuangbanna prefecture. Looking at the cake I guess it is the purple varietal of Camellia sinensis.  Tea, like wine, digs into the earth and terroir, as the French call it, shapes tea just as much as it does wine.  

Yi wu is one of the more popular mountains for pu-erh lovers.  Autumn is a particular harvest due to anthocyanin, which changes colour along with cell sap acidity.  In order to resist damage from shortwave radiation, tea leaves produce anthocyanin, which can reflect away a portion of the UV light hitting the leaves.  High levels of acidity lead to red colour, while medium acidity is more purple, and high alkalinity tends toward indigo.  Ultraviolet light encourages the reaction as a natural selection at high elevations. 

Lu Yu in the "Cha Jing" evaluating the color of tea leaves, came to the early conclusion: "bright cliffs and gloomy forests, purple is the highest and green the second". 

This Yi Wu has a prominent fragrance and rich flavor.   Steep for 20 - 30 seconds and the third, forth and fifth steeping, so far, open the nature of this tea to relax, regenerate, and reclaim profoundly the world 

The deep experience of tea makes something else out of the mundane cuppa.

Trying to stop a garden grab at Planning

To very slightly paraphrase Planning Policy Statement 5 (PPS5), historic environment is central to our cultural heritage, and hence, a cultural, socio-economic and environmental (and I stress the word environmental) resource that should be sustained for the benefit of present and future generations.
Therefore, I have no hesitation whatsoever in agreeing with the Camberwell Society and local residents in asking that you refuse this application.
The design of the build is out of character and of poor quality and should be refused under policy 3.12 and 3.13 of the Southwark Plan and of course Planning Policy Statement 3 (PPS3) and Planning Policy Statement 5 (PPS5).
It is a rather low, mean and cramped scheme which does not integrate successfully into the Conservation area.
The proposal is out of place and incongruous. It will seriously harm and not preserve or enhance the character or appearance of the Conservation Area. As such it is contrary to policies 3.13, 3.15 and 3.16 in the Southwark plan.
The one vital feature of Grove Park, its central green square and long gardens, will be destroyed if this scheme is approved.
Southwark has adopted a Conservation Statement and nowhere in that statement is this location identified as a site appropriate for development and a change of land use.
Other sites duly identified in the plan have been developed without the overwhelming opposition of those whose direct amenity is affected.
There is little presumption that there is any appropriate development for this site in particular as it can no longer be in any way in planning law be regarded as a brownfield site.
It is green and it should stay green if we are simply to do our statutory duty to protect and enhance the historic and future amenity of Grove Park as a key element, perhaps even the very heart and green soul of the conservation area.
Comrades, Planning Policy Statement 1 (PPS1) says any development should improve the way places look and work.
Nothing about this design improves the look of the conservation area.
Our statutory duty is to ensure all developments protect or enhance the character or appearance of this conservation area, therefore a refusal of planning permission should automatically follow from any correct interpretation of Planning Policy Guidance 15 (PPG15).
It is the approach I ask you to take today. Please protect the existing recognized and highly valued qualities of Grove Hill as are clearly set down in the Conservation Area Statement and the Camber Well that springs forth from it’s summit.

Two of South Camberwell’s Councillors are Southwark Cabinet Members. Peter John is Leader of the Council and Veronica is Cabinet member for culture, leisure, sport and the Olympics. I know they will serve our Southwark with passion and excellence.

Some of the immediate challenges for the Cabinet include the terms on which Southwark enters into any deal for the regeneration of the Elephant and Castle; making every council home warm, dry and safe, and finding funding so that we can implement the pledge to introduce free healthy school meals for all primary school children in the borough.

I was elected by the Southwark Labour Group as a deputy whip and at the first full Council meeting appointed as Vice-Chair of the Planning Committee. Much of the first few weeks have been taken up with training and induction.

A number of organisations and individuals, on and off the record, have commented about how difficult it was to get a meeting with the old administration.

One essential for any elected representative is to listen and to know when to “shut up and listen”. As a community campaigner with strong views I know this will be my biggest challenge.

Southwark’s Labour administration are committed to building a fair future for all and they will be listening to what the people of Southwark have to say as we look to deliver in some key priority areas. I am very keen to see our green spaces protected and we must double recycling as an essential contribution to working for a non-carbon future. We will need to cut back on wasteful spending and protect frontline services and there will be many tough decisions ahead.

So with this in mind, we have decided to hold some Planning Committee meetings at Southwark’s Tooley Street offices rather than at the Town Hall. Many applications come from the north of the borough and it makes sense to hold meetings to deal with these applications at Tooley Street so that local residents can easily attend and take part in the process. The Planning Committee meeting scheduled for 29th June 2010 will take place at Tooley Street on the ground floor in a space that can accommodate the large numbers who turn up and are otherwise uncomfortably crammed into the traditional space at the Town Hall.

Yesterday, I attended the pre-hearing by the Inspector on Southwark’s Core Strategy. It was interesting to see so many familiar faces all keen to improve on the soundness of the Core Strategy.

Finally, it was a great joy to watch Tayo Situ installed as Mayor of Southwark. He has chosen Macmillan Cancer Support as his charity appeal

Cross border and Tom

Campaigning has stepped up a gear as we fast approach both general and local elections on May 6th.  But, in a break from campaigning on Thursday night I did attend the fun packed election fundraiser for Camberwell and Peckham Constituency Labour Party.  We raised a tidy sum to top up the campaign coffers! 

The highlight of the evening was meeting, for the first time offline, Labour blogger Tom Scholes-Fogg (Here is the link to his take on the evening:(www.tomscholesfogg.com).   Significantly, the event took place in Cambwerwell just on the border between Labour run Lambeth and Lib-Dem / Tory run Southwark at the Sun and Doves  Last year at a Camberwell Community Council meeting Lambeth offered to work cross-border with Southwark to cuts costs and protect frontline services.  The Southwark Lib-Dem leader simply dismissed the offer.  So it was very good to see announced this week, as Labour victories fast approach on May 6th in both Lambeth and in Southwark, that Cllr Steve Reed, Leader of Lambeth Council, and Cllr Peter John, Leader of Southwark’s Labour Councillors, have agreed to offer residents better value for money by sharing management costs and merging some services across both councils. Residents in other cross-border areas like Waterloo and Herne Hill will also benefit from more consistent services whichever side of the border they live on. 

When we win the elections on 6 May, Steve and Peter will bring senior managers from both councils together in a summit to identify where closer working will benefit residents and save money.  Savings could run into millions of pounds at a time when the government is expected to cut funding to local councils.  Lambeth and Southwark councils both provide many services that are identical, but do we really need to pay twice for separate sets of senior management and back-office support?  By merging some services we can save money to reinvest in the frontline, protecting services and helping keep council tax down. Labour is all about quality services.  In Southwark, we’ve seen the Lib Dems and Tories drive service standards down.  By working more closely with neighbouring councils like Lambeth we can guarantee better services that cost less, and that means a better deal for local local people.

On Wednesday (24 March 2010) I met up with Housing Minister John Healy, MP to discuss building and improving Council homes.  John is a very likeable man and he outlined some of the changes was he due to announce on Thursday.  I was able to tell him that locally Labour has pledged to make every one of 47,000 Council homes warm, dry and safe and outlined parts of our plan for improving housing services run down under the Lib-Dems and Tories.
Nationally, the bold new deal on council housing means councils can now keep all of the proceeds of social rents and council house sales. This will give councils some leeway to invest in building, improving and acquiring properties for social use. We desperately need more good quality, well managed and maintained council homes.
John told me that is a once and for all settlement seeking to bring council house funding into the 21st century. By giving local authorities the freedom to fund and run their council homes, without central Government subsidy, not a single penny from rents or sales will go to Whitehall and not a single penny will subsidize other councils as the current system dictates. The deal will release at least ten per cent more money in every council for maintaining and managing their homes. And it will create the funding capacity to build over 10,000 new council homes a year.