Challenging Southwark Council's repairs service

Ever needed a repair from the council? How long did you have to wait? Was it done to a decent standard?

Following our own walkabout, we reported 11 communal repairs on the Rockingham Estate in one day. We believe our council, and their contractors, are failing to keep our homes safe and secure.

Chaucer Green candidate, John Tyson, says, “As a resident of 6 years on the Rockingham, I know first hand the terrible repairs service we have: weeks and months to get repairs done, poor quality, lack of follow up. As councillor, I’d ensure there was a thorough review, particularly focused on finding failing contractors, and reducing wait times.”

John wrote the petition with the Southwark Group of Tenants Organisations that kept the telephone repair line free to call.

John Tyson, the Green Party candidate for Bermondsey and Old Southwark, says: "The demolition of the Heygate Estate is the worst example of a council pushing out tenants and destroying communities, allowing absentee investors to benefit at the
expense of renters. We need better housing solutions."

The Green Party would:
• abolish the cruel Bedroom Tax,
• set up a Renters Union,
• refurbish, insulate and improve homes instead of demolishing,
• work with communities to find solutions that work for them.

On Saturday 25 March Southwark Greens, together with Tenant and Resident Associations from Rotherhithe, Bermondsey, Peckham and Walworth and many other local groups, took part in a march through the borough organized by Defend Council Housing to fight for an end to social cleansing.

When Sadiq Khan launched his Good Practice Guide to Estate Regeneration in December, the mayor proclaimed he was putting Londoners first. Sadly the Guide fails to live up to this promise. In its response to the consultation, Southwark Green Party sides with London Assembly member Siân Berry (pictured right, with members of Southwark Green Party), who described the Guide as 'useless'.

This week Southwark Green Party submitted comments to Southwark Council on the planning application under consideration for the Elephant & Castle area. SGP objected to the application on a number of grounds and fear that the application could be another failure by Southwark Council to properly follow their own planning guidelines and consult communities on development in their areas.

The following letter from SGP member Tracey Beresford appears in the current (winter 2016/17) issue of the Camberwell Quarterly, and is published by kind permission of the Camberwell Society. The CQ is widely available at local newsagents. See also the Camberwell Society's Facebook page.

Southwark Green Party has responded to Southwark Council's proposals for the Old Kent Road. We will be keeping a watching brief on plans for the area and working with local residents and businesses. The full response is below.

Questions:

1.     Do you agree with the overall vision for the Old Kent Road? YES/NO

Southwark Green Party welcomes the development of the Old Kent Road based on appropriately scaled development, backed up by improved transport infrastructure, sufficient social housing, high quality public spaces and built to zero carbon standards.

Southwark Green Party (SGP) stands in solidarity with Sisters Uncut, a feminist group taking direct action to defend services for victims of domestic violence. As a political party that campaigns for equal rights and better public services, SGP believes that Southwark Council has it within its power to prioritise a sufficient number of its empty council homes to provide refuge for all survivors of domestic abuse. We also call on the council to reinstate Black and Minority Ethnic domestic violence services, which have been cut.

The decision this week by the Government to reject Southwark Council’s application for a Compulsory Purchase Order laid bare how the Council has ignored community objections and prioritised the interests of developers.

Colin Boyle, Chair of Southwark Green Party, responded: “The Aylesbury Estate does need to be regenerated, but this needs to be done in a way that preserves the community, increases the level of social housing, and minimises the environmental impact.” 

The latest Canada Water Masterplan has confirmed local residents' worst fears. Colin Boyle, Southwark Green Party Chair and local resident, stated that: "The Rotherhithe we know will be lost, and in its place we will have a high-rise, densely packed urban landscape. We need to develop Canada Water, but this proposal is entirely out of keeping with the area and ignores the feedback that local residents provided in previous consultations."