Re-re-cycling

Apropos Katherine's comment on my Re-Cycling piece...

I found it hard to believe that someone really managed to separate all the stuff in my green bin, into useful re-usable material. I still want to see the MRF myself (mainly just because I like big machines). But I'm convinced enough by the eye-witness reports from Robin Cross, Darren Johnson and others who did go and see it.

You should be able to read these yourself shortly - look out for the "Matters referred by the Sustainable Development Select Committee – A Scrutiny Review of Lewisham’s Dry Recycling Policy and Municipal Waste Management Strategy" report (I've seen a draft) that should be on the Council website for the Mayor & Cabinet meeting on 6th September.

The brief agreed by the Sustainable Development Select Committee was: "...to carry out a review into recycling, as a result of concerns raised by a number of residents in the borough. Residents in the borough have voiced some concerns about what was happening to the materials that they put forward for recycling. Many residents are of the belief that waste was simply being incinerated or exported to other countries and there was also confusion voiced over whether recyclables need to be separated or not.", and one of the conclusions: "The Committee's visit to the Greenwich/ Cleanaway MRF was particularly re-assuring and informative in helping to see what exactly happens to materials that residents put forward for recycling."

Basically, Lewisham is doing the right things (but not on a large enough scale yet), but we need to explain to people better what they are.

Academic Enthusiasm

I mustn't (certainly haven't) forgotten yesterday's other important event, which was visiting Christ the King College in the morning with Daniel, to collect his A-level results.

Being amongst so many teenagers, being so massively overjoyed, is a genuinely heart-warming experience - which I'm definitely not poetic enough to describe in words. I failed to spot any who were actually looking disappointed, so Lewisham must be helping yet again to bouy up those national stats about pass rates going through the roof.

And Dan got the grades he needed for at least one of his conditional UCAS offers - I think he surprised himself a bit!

Playing to the Crowd

Too much to catch up with... again...

Planning C last night, and in contrast to the last agenda we had (with only 2 items, both nice and simple), this one was hard-going, with a full house in the public seats.

Most people had come to object to a seemingly innoccuous, if ugly, rear extension on a pair of houses in Lee Green. Having listened, carefully to their spokesman (who started off behaving quite reasonably), it became clear (to me anyway) that it was one of those developments that we (the Council) would probably have to approve - or the developer would very likely win on appeal, and build it anyway. It was disappointing that Cllr Chris Maines decided to play the crowd-pleaser and vote against (followed microseconds later, and of course entirely coincidentally by his LibDem colleague) with no apparent valid reasons to do so. That left me to carry the can, so I predict something slagging me off in the letters page of next week's Mercury. I remarked that the conditions we'd imposed would at least slightly fetter the rampant capitalism evident from the developer, so at least the worthy people of Lee Green might 'insult' me with some compliments about my futile yearnings for a totalitarian socialist command-economy. What a damn good thing Maines came a poor second in the election for Mayor, or he'd be so busy trying to be popular that meltdown would be imminent already!

After the grumbling mob had left, muttering darkly, there were about 5 more fairly long cases (and a couple of those nice easy, obvious ones) and we weren't finished until after 10pm. Luckily I'd biked to the town hall, didn't have to pick Sarah up from swimming afterwards, and fitted in a (now rare) visit to The Ram and a couple of pints with Alan Hall and Ami Ibitson... and even got home on the bike unscathed!

There are a couple of other planning applications I need to get involved in, quite close to home in Perry Vale, which I can't blog about whilst they're sub-judice as it were.

Walls, and Chinese walls

Yesterday morning Mrs P spotted part of the wall in front of a house, seeming to be in some danger of collapse onto the pavement on Stanstead Road.

The 'boundaries' between "our" (Lewisham Council's) roads, and someone else's roads (in this case, Transport for London's, as it's the South Circular) ....and the 'boundaries' between public property (like the pavement) and private property (like someone's front garden wall) can generate nightmares of bureaucracy. With everything crossed I tried sending the details to Darien Goodwin, our Head of Highways, and he came up trumps! Having been around TfL ("not us, guv!"), I think it's now got the attention of one of our Environmental Health inspectors, who can decide if it's an immediate risk, and if necessary start the right proceedings to compel whoever owns the wall to make it safe.

Fujitsu are great!

I'd like to make it VERY CLEAR that this blog reflects my own personal views, opinions and experiences; and in particular that nothing contained within it should be interpreted as representing Lewisham Council policy, nor the views (etc) of any other member or officer of Lewisham Council. Silly me, for thinking that was obvious!

There is also, as it happens, no evidence of which I've ever been aware, that Fujitsu Services are in any way failing to deliver all that is required of them under their contract with Lewisham Council, nor any evidence to suggest that they will not continue to meet all such obligations in the future. My apologies if any previous blog entry appeared to suggest anything otherwise.

(And they have now fixed the forwarding of my email!)