September 2009

Greenwich West resident, Mary Harris, writes: “Residents deserve to live in a clean and tidy environment.

Greenwich Council has been allocated £7m to boost employment in the Borough. But Labour chose to use £4m to create 250 new positions lasting just one year. Of the remaining £3m, over half went on management and contingency fees. This means every new job has cost £17,200 to create and a further £4,160 to manage.

As the process of planning for the Olympics in Greenwich Park moves forward, local Conservatives have been fighting to ensure no damage is done by the events and there are long-term benefits to the borough. Simon Gallie

Various building work appears to have taken place on the Trafalgar Estate over the last year. Yet very little has been improved externally other than some half-finished wall rebuilding and the removal of the temporary fencing, lock-up container and building debris.

At the start of the year Peninsula Conservatives collected 154 signatures on a petition opposing Council plans to centralise all legal advice in Woolwich. As part of these plans Greenwich Community Law Centre would have to move to Woolwich.

Following last year’s ‘Run to the Beat’ half-marathon, Cllr Geoff Brighty raised concerns about the chaos caused by road closures and a lack of information to residents. This has led to a commitment that better information will be provided in 2009, with a letter to residents with full road closure details, alternative routes, timings and pre-event and on the day contact details.

Labour announced plans in February 2006 to demolish 1,000 homes in the Connaught, Morris Walk and Maryon Road/Grove Estates and decided not to undertake any upgrading of the homes on these estates as a result. Having first decided to demolish the estates in 2006, Labour decided that outline plans would be displayed publicly in summer 2008, but by summer 2009 not a single plan had been made.

Boris Johnson’s policing policy meant that this year a new policing team has patrolled around Woolwich Arsenal DLR station. The 9-strong police team is funded entirely by Boris-led organisations and is part of the Mayor’s commitment to increasing the policing of transport hubs all over the capital.

This year Greenwich Conservatives proposed to increase the number of police on our streets. We proposed an alternative budget to create one extra police team immediately and one later in the year. Labour put party politics first and voted against the plan.  

Greenwich Conservatives have been pressuring Labour about their failure to keep their  promise to build new secondary schools for our children. Labour had said all the schools would be open in September 2009, but not a single one has been built.  

Residents packed a meeting to hear Conservative plans to bring an end to uncontrolled immigration. The Shadow Immigration Minister, Damian Green MP, was invited by David Gold, Eltham’s Conservative parliamentary candidate.

David’s survey of local people indicated this was their number one concern. The Conservatives would strictly limit