The new Labour opposition leader on Croydon council is the individual ‘responsible’ for pushing huge vehicle jams into the Bromley part of Crystal Palace during the massive Auckland Road Low Traffic Neighbourhood fiasco / scandal.
News of Cllr Stuart King’s appointment came on Twitter by Croydon North MP Steve Reed who posted:
Sorry Steve, but Cllr King certainly didn’t stand up for residents in Upper Norwood over the Auckland Road LTN which Labour-controlled Croydon imposed on residents.
He even told one leading local amenity society that Croydon never intended “to divert traffic into streets in Bromley” – a claim later exposed as complete tosh by an official council public notice.
Cllr King’s claim to Norwood Society they never intended “to divert traffic into streets in Bromley” exposed as complete tosh
NFCP reported: Claims by Cllr Stuart King, Croydon’s cabinet member for transport, that “there was no intention to divert traffic into streets in Bromley” are exposed today as complete and utter tosh, News From Crystal Palace can reveal.
For the public notice announcing the road closures on Fox Hill, Stambourne Way and Sylvan Hill, clearly states: Whilst the closures are in force, the diversion routes for traffic will be via Auckland Road, Belvedere Road, Cintra Park, Patterson Road and Milestone Road, or via Auckland Road, Hamlet Road, Anerley Hill and Church Road.
PRP have been chosen as the architects for Central Hill estate in Crystal Palace – even though they weren’t the residents choice.
In their now traditional approach to so-called ‘democracy’ Lambeth Labour ignored the residents – as they have done for more than a decade – and picked PRP instead.
Here’s PRP’s own guide – what they refer to as “pioneering, pragmatic, Utopian, evolutionary and visionary.”
Dysfunctional, reactionary, ugly concrete blocks, carbon nightmares and extremely short-sighted might be more appropriate if the five photographs featured on their Twitter feed is anything to go by.
NEWS: we are delighted to announce the launch of our book on the future of estate-regeneration. The book describes 24 #regeneration schemes from across the UK from the 1990s to our modern era to inform future #design. prp-co.uk/news/press-rel
The two replies on their Twitter feed both come from Wornington Trees @TreesWornington
Residents of @savecentralhill are protesting outside @homesforlambeth ‘Meet the Architect’ event @PRP_News
where demolition is the only option in a #ClimateEmergency! Comments
Someone also needs to tell @HomesForLambeth that they should not be using single use plastics. Many of their posters seem to be very large and plastic. A Green motion banning single use plastics by @GreenPartyScott in January 2018 was passed.
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KWAJO
In our previous Political Diary we reported on housing activist Kwajo winning an award. Here’s a more detailed account of why he won it:
“A champion for vulnerable people living in squalid conditions, forcing landlords and housing associations to acknowledge their responsibilities and make urgent, necessary repairs” – award citation
Housing activist Kwajo Tweneboa won the prestigious Sheila McKechnie Young Campaigner Award 2022 for his work to shine a light on the appalling living conditions of some social housing tenants.
The Campaign
Kwajo Tweneboa knows what it’s like to live in squalid housing. Before his family moved into a permanent home, a social housing flat on the Eastfields estate in south London, they had lived in a succession of poor-quality temporary homes. His father had tried hard to secure permanent accommodation but, when they moved into Eastfields, their living conditions worsened. Despite repeated requests to carry out essential repairs, Kwajo says they received little support from their housing association landlord Clarion.
Sadly, Kwajo’s father became terminally ill, and the family nursed their dying father in a damp, vermin and fly-infested flat. It was so bad that Macmillan nurses caring for his father were unable to bathe him in the bathroom as it had no lights and the tiles were falling apart.
Kwajo turned his family’s awful experience into activism. He said, ‘I decided to put my foot down and say enough is enough, not just for myself but millions of social housing tenants across the UK. Over the last year I have been shaming landlords who have chosen to abuse and neglect vulnerable tenants in similar situations to mine and campaign for changes to regulation at senior government level.’
The Change
Kwajo has shaken up the social housing sector and become a campaigning powerhouse. At 23, he’s appeared on the BBC and ITV News, has been profiled in The Guardian, and featured in The Big Issue’s list of Top 100 Changemakers.
On Twitter, he publicises social landlords’ failures, highlighting issues and posting questions and photos directly to them. Eastfields residents’ association helped him with a mail-drop to every tenant and, within half an hour, he was inundated with shocking stories. He visits people who contact him, takes photos then uses his profile to hold housing associations to account. Tweets go viral, attracting attention from the national media.
He found Eastfields tenants to speak to ITV for an investigation into disrepair, after which Clarion apologised and carried out repairs on the estate. Since its public shaming, Clarion claims to have knocked on the door of ‘each and every home’ in Eastfields to inform residents of its plans for the area and opened a new on-site office. It announced a £1.3bn regeneration project in Merton, including the Eastfields estate and says it has completed more than 600 repairs on Eastfields since June 2021, as well as kitchen and bathroom replacements in 24 properties, as part of their investment programme.
The Future
Although he’s now studying at the University of Leicester, Kwajo continues to help thousands of families living in horrific conditions on his own estate and beyond, shaming landlords into carrying out necessary work. He wants landlords to receive sanctions for failures, and more strict and detailed regulation to prevent anything of this scale ever occurring again.
Dragons’ Den investor Steven Bartlett donated £10,000 to Kwajo and promised to give him camera equipment to carry on his work.
He met with Secretary of State Michael Gove and the Mayor of London to advise on policy changes to regulation when it comes to housing and tenants’ safety, which will help influence the forthcoming housing White Paper.
- Sheila McKechnie described herself as a ‘fully paid up member of the awkward squad’. This mind-set, combined with formidable research and a commitment to constructing watertight argument, meant that her campaigning powers were legendary.
She drew on these skills throughout her life – as a child, her mother remembered her ‘fizzing at injustice’ – resonating with most impact during her career at Shelter and the Consumers’ Association.
Her trade union career began in 1972 when she became Assistant General Secretary of the Wallpaper Workers’ Union. Two years later she went to the Workers’ Educational Association as tutor and in 1976 joined the Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs as National Health and Safety Officer. She was instrumental in turning health and safety issues from minor concerns into major issues.
This ability to make headlines came into its own when she joined Shelter as its Director in 1985. Sheila turned the organisation around to make it once again a strong and potent force in tackling homelessness and its causes. It was here that she co-founded the Foyer Federation, which has since provided holistic support to hundreds of thousands of young homeless people.
In 1995 Sheila moved on to become Director of Consumers’ Association, now Which? Her many successes include mounting campaigns on mortgage mis-selling and car prices, as well as tackling standards in the food industry. Her work on food issues led directly to the setting up of the Food Standards Agency in 2000.
She was awarded an OBE in 1995 in recognition of her services to housing and homelessness and in 2001 became a Dame of the British Empire for her work on behalf of consumers. Sheila died of cancer in January 2004 at the age of 55. (Source: Sheila McKechnie Foundation / Sheila McKechnie Foundation press release)
NEWS FROM CRYSTAL PALACE 