Regeneration & Community Safety Committee Report

By Cllr. Billi Randall

Regeneration of Roehampton

The Tories have completely scrapped their plans to demolish sites in the centre of Roehampton. They claim that the project was only ever marginally viable, and given the current recession, it is no longer viable. Residents will feel relieved at this news, as they had been waiting for more than a year for the planning permission to be sorted out, leaving their homes blighted and local residents in a complete state of limbo.

Labour had severe doubts about the nature of this development. It would have involved decanting families from homes in the centre of Roehampton. Once the redevelopment had taken place, any resident who wished to return would no longer be Council tenants, but would have become Housing Association tenants. Also, the Council had only carried out the most cursory of consultation with local residents when they called in the estate agents Saville’s to draw up the planning application and they came up with the full demolition plan.

We welcome the withdrawal of the planning application, but remain committed to seeing the centre of Roehampton regenerated with the full involvement of local residents. Questions must now be asked about how much all this has cost the Council.

Reviewing Safer Neighbourhood Teams

The Council is going to review how the ward panels are communicating with local residents, with each other and how SNTs communicate with the Council and how they engage local businesses. We supported this initiative, as there is currently too much variation in the quality of the ward panels and of communication with local residents.

Crime in Battersea

Crime is higher in Battersea than in any of the other police sectors in Wandsworth. Overall crime has risen in Battersea over the last few months – although this is not the pattern for all crime types. Criminal damage and motor vehicle crime have remained fairly static. The report we received claimed that the recession was responsible for increases in crime, but the committee felt a good deal of scepticism about this, and did not feel that the evidence was really there to support this idea. I suspect that future reports about crime levels might make the situation clearer.

Drinking Banning Orders

These orders allow local authorities to act against individuals who misuse alcohol in public. Wandsworth Council has agreed to use these orders if they feel that they are useful where there is alcohol related anti-social behaviour and has delegated the power to make applications for these orders to the Director of Technical Services. However, these are likely to be used very rarely.