East Putney Councillors' Autumn Bulletin

Issues include Labour pay rises and recent traffic chaos

George and Ravi together

November 8, 2023

Welcome to the Autumn 2023 e-Bulletin from your East Putney Conservative Councillors, Ravi Govindia and George Crivelli

Shocking Labour Councillors’ pay rises

Ravi and George are shocked, as are all Wandsworth’s Conservative Councillors, that Labour have handed inflation-busting pay rises to their own Councillors, by voting in new and higher ‘special allowances’ that add over £120,000 to the Council’s annual pay bill.

Labour’s chief whip got a 172% pay rise to £40,000 a year with £8,000 in back- pay to April. Labour handed out £28,000 in back-pay and created three new ‘special allowances’ for their Councillors. The overall hike is 12%, well above inflation.

George says, “This is just wrong. I spoke against it and all the Conservative Councillors voted against it. It’s pure hypocrisy to talk about the cost-of-living crisis, but expect residents to foot this bill - on top of £1 million Labour have also spent on expanding their leader’s office. In doing this, Labour ripped up a pay freeze that had cross-party support. And they said nothing in their election manifesto about splashing this cash on themselves.”

Ravi says,“HMRC gives clear guidance to councils, specifically warning them against giving these ‘special allowances’ to a majority of councillors. But 33 of Wandsworth’s 35 Labour Councillors can now claim them. Back-dating the rises to April adds insult to injury. The Council says it will likely need to raid reserves to meet the overspends and deficits Labour have run up. Now Labour are also lining their own pockets, while hitting residents with higher charges and council rents. “

October traffic chaos

Just when we thought the traffic chaos from Wandsworth Bridge closure had ended, Putney was plunged in late October into one of the worst traffic pile-ups we’d seen for some time.

George says,“ Thames Water put barriers at the busy junction of Fulham High Street and New Kings Road, causing massive tailbacks in Putney. Shockingly - with the works set to last at least a week - neither our own Council nor Hammersmith and Fulham gave us any warning.

“Putney High Street was at a standstill; buses and ambulances couldn’t move; drivers were using the wrong side of the road, and journeys of a few minutes took an hour. After local outrage, Thames Water reduced their barriers from ‘multi-way lights’ to just one lane closed, which helped somewhat. But this was a shambles. I will be demanding better coordination between Councils, and better advice about roadworks that can cause chaos on major routes.”

Air quality

Meanwhile we’re not too pleased with the Council’s response to residents’ worries about air quality from the traffic on our High Street and Putney Bridge while Wandsworth Bridge was closed.

Ravi says, “My Conservative colleagues asked the Council about the impact on air quality, but got a vague reply. We were told there are four new sensors around Putney Bridge, but got no data on what these sensors showed. Instead of clear answers, the Council referred to a third-party website where probably only a scientist could interpret the data. We will keep pressing for simple and honest answers about air quality for our residents.”

High Street plans

Ravi says: “We’re also keeping an eye on the Council’s plans to further improve Putney High Street for pedestrians and cyclists. Labour are building on the work my Conservative administration did - we widened pavements and repaved, and put in more bike parking, better crossings and signals, more trees, new street furniture and more.

“But it’s vital to balance the needs of all road users - pedestrians, cyclists and drivers. We must ensure that bus journeys aren’t lengthened, and that the problem of stationary traffic on the High Steet is tackled.”

The plans aim to start in January on the part of the High Street between Putney Bridge Road and Lower Richmond Road. They aim for easier crossing, a northbound cycle lane from Felsham Road to Lower Richmond Road, a northbound bus lane over most of the bridge, wider pavement on Lower Richmond Road by the bridge, a wider northbound carriageway at the start of the bridge and a southbound cycle lane by Putney Bridge Road. The full proposals are here.

Meanwhile, Putney’s Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman Lee Roberts and Ellie Cox, the Conservative City Hall Spokeswoman for Merton and Wandsworth, will soon be running a Traffic Survey where residents will be able to have their say on issues like congestion and air quality.

Electric vehicle charging

In our Summer e-Bulletin we were happy to report that East Putney was being surveyed for 22 new charging points, but the picture’s not quite as good as the Council has suggested.

Ravi says: “The Council said it will install 525 more lamppost chargers from the summer, but I’m told only 273 are going ahead. Fortunately, 21 of them are in East Putney. Many sites were found unsuitable, often due to lack of power for both a street lamp and charger, and 86 sites raised objections. The Council is looking for other sites, so we shall see if 525 arrive after all. You can request one here , though for East Putney this would likely be for next year.”

Meanwhile Ravi and George have been tackling several problems for residents.

Kersfield flytipping

George has helped residents at Anne Kerr Court in Kersfield Road, who’ve been plagued by a phantom flytipper, dumping unwanted furniture on the pavement outside.

George says,“It’s totally unacceptable for this block on a residential street to be a dumping ground. I’ve pressed the Council to do something about it. R esidents wanted CCTV, but the Council refused. Signs and posters haven’t worked - dumping has continued under the signs. The fly-tippers haven’t been identified, so if local people have any idea who has been doing this, please tell me.”

Southfields Passage

Ravi helped a resident who had long wanted to make this footpath between West Hill Road and Southfields Road safer for pedestrians.

Ravi says: “We finally managed to get extra road markings to deter cyclists and e-bikers who were riding along this narrow walkway, causing an accident risk for pedestrians, including elderly people and children. The Council said the existing sign, which means ‘cycling prohibited’, was enough - but it clearly wasn’t. The Council at last responded with extra road markings to back up the signs.”

Anti social behaviour

Ravi got action on some nasty anti-social behaviour in Buttermere Drive. A man or men had been urinating in a residents’ car park and one had verbally abused a resident.

Ravi says, "The Council had done nothing: they said they could not install CCTV or barriers unless all other residents agreed. So I brought in the police, which finally seemed to prompt Council action. The Council have now put up warning signs. And after the police saw residents’ video footage, they said they would do some regular patrols and are looking into issuing Anti Social Behaviour warnings.”

Roads and pavements

If you spot road or pavement problems, please don’t hesitate to tell one of us.

George says: “ I got a displaced paving slab in Kersfield Road - a dangerous trip hazard - replaced this summer. Happily, it was sorted out pretty quickly after I alerted Council officers.”
Ravi says: “A resident told me about a dip on Putney Hill near the junction with Chartfield Avenue - a risk, particularly to cyclists. I raised it immediately with Council officers and while it took longer than I’d like, I was finally assured that an inspector had visited the site and authorised a repair.”

You can report issues like these on the Council’s Report Tool , but if one of your Conservative Councillors picks the issue up, that may get things fixed sooner.

Local police meeting

East Putney residents had their quarterly meeting with our local police team in September, and were joined by Lee Roberts, Putney’s Conservative Parliamentary spokesman.

George says, “Since July, we’d had 22 burglaries,13 stolen vehicles and 22 thefts from vehicles – not good news, but overall, crime in East Putney remains relatively low. Some good news is that the police team for ours and neighbouring wards will be bolstered by a further sergeant.”

Lee adds,“My own car has been broken into, so it was good to get advice on this: never leave ANYTHING in your car - windows have even been smashed to steal a phone cable! And leaving your glove compartment open can show it's empty. ‘Faraday bags’ to store electronic keys can thwart hackers and are cheap to buy, for example on Amazon.”

Our local police encouraged residents to send any clear video footage they have of crimes or suspicious activity, and explained how to do this.

* If footage shows suspicious activity, send it to: EastPutney@met.police.uk
* If it shows an actual crime, call 101 and report it - an officer should give you an email address to send the footage.
* If it shows a crime in progress, someone in immediate danger or harm, property in danger of being damaged, or likely serious disruption to the public, call 999.

Anyone in East Putney can attend these meetings: just call 020 8785 8874 or email EastPutney@met.police.uk

There’s more from Ravi and George, plus local community news, on Facebook.

Please feel free to forward this e-Bulletin to other East Putney residents who may be interested. To join our circulation list, residents can email heretohelp@wandsworthconservatives.co.uk

To contact your East Putney Conservative Councillors:

Cllr Ravi Govindia: cllr.r.govindia@wandsworth.gov.uk
Cllr George Crivelli: Cllr.G.Crivelli@wandsworth.gov.uk