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Clapham Junction Riots

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Clapham Junction Riots

Residents survey the destruction

A night of rioting and looting left Clapham Junction residents shaken this morning as they surveyed the damage. Most of the shops around the Clapham Junction areas of St Johns Hill, Lavender Hill, Falcon Road and St John’s Road were damaged in last night’s disturbances.

Local people’s comments

I can hear the helicopters outside and police sirens. i am watching the news about what is happening. So sad that our high street is getting trashed. The news tells about 13 years old and young teenagers looting my local area.

I hope this is not something that happens all the time in London or anywhere for that matter. I am scared to take my child outside my flat now. its sad

Ah, just arrived back home to good olde Blighty (after a week in the Med) to the familiar sights and sounds of home. Yes, the welcoming sight of masked youths returning back to my estate after a hard days looting. And the soothing sounds of burglar alarms ringing at the end of the road mixed with the roar of police helicopters overhead. Yes it’s good to be back

The police need more resources to deal with this. If that means bringing in the army as well so be it. Having seen the You Tube footage of some of these events I don’t think a peaceful unified community

Yes, we pay our taxes and yes, we expect to feel protected but if it flares up again tonight is a peaceful unified community action out of the question given the extreme circumstances?

It will be 10 times worse tomorrow and 100 times more horrific next week. The police are already 3 hours late to react to any intelligence.

Smashed Windows in Clapham Junction

Smashed Windows in Clapham Junction

CJ Mum named Londoner of the Day

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London Star Hadas Hagos

London Star Hadas Hagos

Londoner of the Day goes to a Battersea mum for her work helping out at a self-help group for hard-pressed parents.

Hadas Hagos is a member of WOW, or Women of Wandsworth, a self-help group of local mums who meet weekly to discuss ways of improving their lives, and the lives of their children.

For three and a half years Hadas has helped WOW by balancing the books and by offering practical help however she can.

Hadas said ““I’m surprised. I suppose they must value my contribution. It is all about helping families with children from low income backgrounds to expand their horizons.”

“I have no family around me so this is like an alternative family. It’s very important. It’s makes me feel so good to help at WOW.” She added.

If you would like to nominate someone for a future Londoner of the Day mention you can email London24 editor Simon Bull at simon.bull@archant.co.uk

 

Falcon Lane Right Turn opens

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Clapham Junction Roadworks

Clapham Junction Roadworks

The long running roadworks on Lavender Hill by Clapham Junction are now more or less over, with the right turn into Falcon Lane now open.

This is part of a long term plan to improve traffic flow at the main crossroad by Clapham Junction Station. The new right turn allows traffic heading for Falcon Road, Battersea Park Road and York Road to avoid the busy Falcon Road/St John’s Hill.

Travelling along this stretch regularly, it certainly seems to have made a beneficial difference. Let’s hope the council doesn’t mess up the good work by littering the area with unneccesary traffic lights.

Pay to Play sparks Outrage

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Pay to Play Petition

Pay to Play Petition

Wandsworth council’s plans to start charging users of the Battersea Park Adventure playground have sparked outrage amongst local people. The scheme, due to start in October, would see weekend users paying £2.50 per child to enter the play area.

Opposition has come from local groups like Women of Wandsworth who have started a campaign – read more here, and an online petition is now available that runs until 4th June 2011. Other groups include Battersea Labour.

A council spokesman said: “”The difficult economic situation we face means we have to consider every aspect of the work we do and the services we provide. This fully staffed adventure play centre is a very popular but also very expensive facility to run”

York Gardens Library Saved

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Councillors are expected to endorse a series of “Big Society” proposals to save Battersea’s York Gardens library from closure.

An innovative rescue package has been devised that will see the threatened library continue to provide a children’s library service, alongside some adult provision, a homework club, public-access IT and internet facilities and a community space.

The key to the rescue plan is a Big Society solution involving local staff, the greater use of volunteers and utilising offers of help and support from a local private school foundation that wants to contribute more to its surrounding neighbourhoods.

Here’s the link to the Full Document on the WBC website.

Wandsworth Council approves Battersea Power Station plans

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Wandsworth Council’s approval of the planning application, the largest ever in Central London, is a major step towards realising the vision for Battersea Power Station, and follows one of the most comprehensive consultation programmes for a property development ever undertaken in the UK, consisting of over 300 meetings with local groups and stakeholders, 3 public exhibitions and over 16,000 visitors to Battersea Power Station.

Developer Treasury Holdings UK pledged to “protect” the disused 1933 riverside landmark, which will be restored to generate green energy in the future.

Battersea Power Station

But the chimneys will be demolished and rebuilt, as they are “beyond repair”

The next stage of the process will see the application referred to the Mayor of London and the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government for their consideration.

The development will also include a new tube station on the proposed extension of the Northern Line from Kennington to Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station. This will be the first ever privately funded extension to the tube network in Central London.

Construction on Phase 1 of the development is scheduled to commence in early 2012 with completion in 2016. The remaining phases, including the new underground station will follow, with the entire development scheduled for completion in 2024. More at BBC News

Victory in Asda Name Battle

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Campaigners have succeeded in persuading ASDA that their store is in Clapham Juntion, Battersea – not Clapham.  Various members of the Streetbook.com online community have lobbied ASDA head office over the inaccurate branding and eventually prevailed. Local Manager Mick Beck held a poll at the store and the results were conclusive:

  1. Asda Clapham Junction 374 votes
  2. Asda Battersea 350 votes
  3. Asda Clapham Junction Battersea 109 votes
  4. Asda Clapham 91 votes

Mike Beck was quoted as saying

“I’m delighted that we have finally come to a decision on the store name, we’re incredibly proud of our location and we would like to thank our customers who took the time to come in and vote – here’s to the new and improved, ASDA Clapham Junction, Battersea.”

Quite why ADSA believed local people thought they lived in Clapham remains a mystery. Perhaps it was a case of innocent ignorance?

Campaigners have pledged to remain vigilant, and will look out for any other CJ misnomers.

Residents up in arms over Asda Clapham claims

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A argument has broken out over the branding of the Asda store in Clapham Junction as “Asda Clapham”. The online forum of local website Streetbook which boasts around 800 local members has been detailing the correspondence between Asda corporate marketers and local people who are upset that the store brands itself ‘Clapham’.

The offensive Asda sign

he offensive Asda sign

As one says “Am I the only one hacked off that ASDA in Clapham Junction (The Heart of Battersea)claims to be in Clapham, Lambeth?”

Asda remain defiant: “if we were to change the name of the store it would lose it’s identity in the local area.” Clearly they miss the point. It’s not clear if these decisions are made locally or at head office, but a glance at a map would surely clear this up very quickly and simply.

What do you think?

Do you think the Asda store is in Clapham or Battersea or Clapham Junction? Does it matter? Please comment below.

Traffic Congestion at Clapham Junction

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Long awaited work to allieviate traffic congestion around Clapham Junction has started on Lavender Hill.

Roadworks at Clapham JunctionThe work will allow road vehicles coming down Lavender Hill towards Clapham Junction to turn right at Asda. At present traffic wishing to turn into Falcon Road has to queue up at the busy junction with St Johns Hill/Falcon Road/St Johns Road. The roadworks are currently causing tailbacks on Lavender Hill, and the new turning is not expected to open until Q1 2011.

The announcement was made over a year ago, but council politics have held up the work until now.

Click live traffic reports for an up to date report of the Wandsworth traffic news.

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New secondary school plans updated

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Some 2,000 parents have joined the Neighbourhood School Campaign (NSC), which wants to turn the old Bolingbroke hospital site into a secondary school by 2013.

Bolingbroke Hospital

At a stall in the Northcote Road Festival, campaign leader Jon De Maria told us that they have appointed ARK as the school provider. ARK is a private charity with a good track record in setting up Academy schools. He also announced that Wandsworth Council is now in talks with the NHS to acquire the Bolingbroke Hospital site. Bolingbroke Hospital closed in 2008 despite an extensive local campaign to save it. Since then it has remained empty.

According to the NSC campaign, the closest secondary, Chestnut Grove, received 777 applications for 150 places. The next closest, Salesian College, has a faith orientated admissions policy, and will close for a year soon anyway. The end result is that children in local primary schools (Belleville and Honeywell are the two largest primary schools in Wandsworth) have to travel far and wide when they move up to secondary school – Over the past four years,  pupils have ended up at 49 different schools.