Leading Lines
Croydon Council Leader Mike Fisher's Reflections
Another stabbing
The murder in Thornton Heath of a 16-year-old youth from outside the borough coincided with a teenaged girl being cleared of murdering another teenager in Old Town.
In both incidents young people lost their lives as a result of being stabbed.
What is so worrying is the apparent readiness of young people not only to go out with knives but to be willing to use them knowing full well the potential for tragic consequences – to themselves and their victims.
Again, though, it is important to maintain a sense of perspective. Although more than 30 young people have been fatally stabbed in London in the first half of the year, none have come from Croydon. However, the media attention given to the accumulation of stabbing incidents causes widespread alarm among those who are never likely to be a victim. It also fuels public suspicion about any gathering of young people, no matter how innocent.
A few weeks ago the Conservative group members of the council spent a lot of time discussing these very issues. Probably those who called for a return of conscription did so out of a sense of frustration. However, it underlined the belief that many teenagers would benefit from greater parental discipline.
And for the authorities there is more to be done – particularly in early identification of youngsters with the kind of characteristics and background that experience shows could result in them going astray. Also, we need to give more attention to providing diversionary activities that give young people a serious alternative to hanging around and getting into trouble.
Sadly, as yet there don't appear to be any easy answers to a fashion in which going out with a knife has become the norm for far too many young men. I strongly favour measures to detect such behaviour even if it means more 'stop and search' activity by the police and powerful penalties for anyone found carrying something that could be used as a weapon. With that kind of deterrent in place, London may become a less intimidating place for the majority of young people who just want to go about their law-abiding business.
Olympics
The London Olympics continue to bother me. Rarely a week goes past without some new reports that Londoners will get less out of the event but it will still end up costing even more money.
Now here in Croydon doing more for less has become a way of life thanks to the unfair way Government deals out public money. Worryingly, though, the Olympics is already consuming much of the funding that would help support a great many good causes that people rely on. There are fears that this may continue for several years beyond 2012. In fact some host cities are still counting the cost of their two week jamboree.
In many ways I hope I'm proved wrong and that the feast of Olympic sport will inspire generations of athletes and leave not just a sporting legacy but also an infrastructure that Londoners can use and be proud of.
My fear is that costs will continue to rise and that security will be a nightmare. And when the competitors have gone home, and the flags have been packed away, Londoners will be left facing the prospect of paying the bills for years to come.
Tramlink
I'm really pleased that Mayor Boris Johnson has confirmed the takeover of our trams as one of his first priorities in City Hall.
It was the vision of the council that paved the way for trams to become such a wonderful asset for our town and so immensely popular with passengers. But management of the system could have been better and it's clear that there has been little investment since the network started up in 2000.
Transport for London's £98 million acquisition gives us serious prospects of route extensions – and not just a spur out to Crystal Palace.
I'm sure Boris will listen to us far more than ever his predecessor did. Ken Livingstone was considered by many to be a likeable rogue. He was always a formidable political opponent. But however much he may have mellowed over the years, he was a socialist at heart and retained an entrenched attitude towards control.
Boris, on the other hand, is already providing a fresh approach and a willingness to listen and learn. Just like Ken, he's inherited the trams but I'm a lot more confident about how the network will be able to move ahead under his leadership.
Community improvements
The Community Improvement Fund is beginning to make a difference around the borough.
This is the pot of money we have set up to pay for small scale improvements that local residents have been requesting but for which there was previously no budget.
Councillors have been looking closely at how a comparatively small sum of money might make a real difference and impact in their area. As a result we now have a boroughwide shopping list of worked-up proposals aimed at enhancing safety and improving the environment. It's a good scheme that you'll be hearing more about as projects are undertaken.
Secondary school review
The consultation that's begun into the future nature and location of secondary schools in the borough is one of the most important public participation events ever staged in Croydon.
With education standards and pupil behaviour being such big issues for so many families the review is a rare opportunity to make a major difference for our secondary school pupils and, critically, for those who will be of secondary school age in a few years' time.
It's vital that we get this right and that's why it is so important that everyone with an interest in education in the borough takes the opportunity to consider our proposals and give us their thoughts. The consultation is a genuine attempt to elicit feedback. The whole exercise is undermined if we don't secure a level of response that shows people care about something so vital to our young people.
Although we have set out what we believe should be done as a starting point for debate, there is absolutely no way that our minds are made up. The only certainty at this stage is that something radical needs to be done to make an improvement. We cannot allow our secondary schools to fail pupils. Higher standards must be achieved.
Frankly it is alarming that so many parents have such little confidence in our education system that they choose to send their children to schools outside the borough where they perceive they will learn more. It is also a matter of concern that so many pupils waste so much time travelling backwards and forwards across the borough because there are no local schools for them to attend.
If parents agree with us that things must improve then I believe we can funnel all the positive feedback into practical solutions that will ensure our young people receive the best education Croydon can provide. It was someone else who said the three things that really mattered were education, education, education. In this I happen to believe that Tony Blair was right. It's a shame that his party colleagues in the borough didn't share the former prime minister's ambition. Making up for 12 years of complacency will take a lot of effort - but it's an approach we believe is essential if young people in Croydon are able to make the most of their formative years at school. They are our future; we owe them an obligation to ensure their local school equips them for a productive lifetime.
Waddon
It's a shame to see Hyde Housing Association pull out of the Waddon regeneration project.
Clearly financial times are causing a great deal of hardship. Families and firms are worried about escalating costs and over-stretching themselves. It's hardly a surprise, then, that an organisation whose main business is the provision of housing should decide it doesn't want to remain a partner in a commercial venture.
Of course, Hyde were invited to be the council's partner long before the present administration was elected and called for the Waddon scheme to include a new pool. That will still happen. We've pledged a new pool in the Waddon area and that is what we will ensure happens. We have several options to consider and with Hyde now out of the picture we can take a fresh look at what local people really want from a regeneration scheme along the south east side of Purley Way from Fiveways junction.
Public views are always important to us. We know that the massing of the original project was a concern to some people and we'll be having another look at that. Essentially we're still in position to deliver a scheme that will please a great many local people.
Staff
Our human resources team have been in overdrive coping with the restructuring that's been masterminded by our chief executive Jon Rouse.
Jon has been in post for just over a year now and he's made quite an impact on the organisation. Streamlining the structure and making the council more efficient is something that has been going on throughout my years as a councillor. When I was first elected back in 1990 the chief executive was supported by a deputy and 18 chief officers. Now there are just five executive directors forming a corporate management team with Jon.
I am pleased that there have been well-deserved promotions for two of our existing chief officers. Nathan Elvery, now responsible for resources and customer services, and Hannah Miller who has added housing to her previous job heading adult services are both excellent appointments and show how it is possible for staff to progress to the top levels of the organisation.
We've also added some new blood. Tom Jeffrey has moved over from Sutton and is already settling into his role as executive director of community services. And our children, young people and learners department will be headed by Dave Hill who is currently working his notice at Merton.
While I am looking forward to working closely with the new team, I am also sad that a couple of old faces will be moving on. Mike Davis, our director of housing, is a top professional and deserves his retirement. Phillip Goodwin, as director of planning, has been responsible for the 'vision' blueprint that has seen so many new developments in Croydon. With the creation of a new regeneration department, Phillip has decided that he has reached a point in his career where it is timely to see what opportunities arise as a consultant. We wish Mike and Phillip, and other senior officers who are leaving all the best in what they choose to do after serving Croydon so well.
Lee Valley
Some of you may have heard that we are calling on the Government and the Mayor to end the long-standing farce whereby local residents have to pay for the upkeep of a park in East London that no-one from Croydon ever visits. Instead, the council is calling on that money to go towards the improvement of the Wandle Valley instead.
At present £384,000 a year disappears north from Croydon in order to help fund the upkeep of a 26 mile long strip of land that few residents have heard of and even fewer have visited. Overall the Lee Valley Park can count on more than £12 million of revenue from London taxpayers this year.
But here in Croydon itself interest in developing the Wandle Valley as an attractive and accessible regional park is mounting. Nearby Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth councils are also backing the green initiative which follows the course of the River Wandle from the centre of Croydon through to the Thames.
Its potential is just as great as the Lee Valley - but therein lines the rub. Each year Croydon Council is obliged under an obscure Act of Parliament dating from 1966, to pay a substantial levy towards the upkeep of the linear park that stretches from Ware in Hertfordshire, and runs through Essex before joining the Thames at the East India Dock basin. More than £3 is taken from every household in Croydon, and the Council calculates that in the last ten years some £3.4 million has gone to the north and east London amenity in a bizarre form of subsidy of other people's enjoyment. But this sum of money would go a long way to establish a similar initiative in south London.
The annual payment is itself around £60,000 more than Croydon spends on operating one of its leisure centres.
It's galling to see such a substantial sum extracted from Croydon each year to pay for something no one down here has a clue about. We want that money kept in South London to allow us to enjoy our own regional park, not subsidise somebody else's. It really is time for the Government to end this deeply unfair levy on Croydon residents.
