While some residents noted the hard work of park staff, others have been told by IDVerde that the current contract and specific issues with staffing do not allow for extra or larger bins and staffing needed for busy periods such as last weekend. Bromley Labour Group Leader and Crystal Palace councillor Angela Wilkins contacted the council executive member responsible for the Environment, noting that this is not the first time the park has seen such issues, asking for a copy of the contract to confirm what standards are required by IDVerde and noting that, with the contract coming up for renewal, she has heard that IDVerde may be reluctant to put in a bid that would solve these problems out of fear the Council will reject them for a cheaper offer. (See in full below) We await his reply and will update with his response. We continue to raise litter issues reported to us and will be working to ensure any new contract will ensure sufficient resources to keep the park clean and open for families and all residents to enjoy. Organised by the Pesticide Action Network UK, the pledge for candidates running in the local elections (coming up Thursday) aims to make London the first UK city to go pesticide free!
The group’s research found that 41 different toxic pesticides were being used in UK towns and cities, being sprayed in parks, playgrounds and other green spaces, road verges, pavements and around shopping centres and schools. These chemicals being used have been linked to an array of health problems, particularly affecting vulnerable groups such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. They also have a devastating impact on the local environment and wildlife. There are lots of non-chemical alternatives available and hundreds of towns and cities around the world have already banned pesticides. Many towns and cities that have already gone pesticide-free! (Examples here and here) By pledging to make their borough pesticide-free, your Bromley Labour candidates are committed to supporting this campaign if they are elected onto Bromley council and to undertaking at least some of the following activities:
Meet your hard working Labour Candidates, finally together in one place to discuss ideas and their passion to improve Bromley Borough. To find out more about your candidates check them out at Meet your Labour Candidates.
Cat Smith MP visits Anerley to talk about the council’s decision that Bromley voters need ID to cast their vote. 23/2/2018 Mayor of london Sadiq khan's reply to request for him to call the BWSFB planning applicationRead Now"Dear Angela,
Thank you for your correspondence about the decision by Bromley Council planning committee to refuse the planning application for a new secondary school on St Hugh's Playing Fields in Bickley. I have receieved a significant amount of correspondence on this application in favour of and in opposition to the proposed school. To clarify the situation in relation to the requests to call in the application, the Mayor of London Order establishes a series of criteria against statutory categories that detirmine which planning applications submitted to London boroughs must be referred to myself. Once an application is referred, then I have a range of statutory planning powers, including
For all applications referred to me, at the initial stage (Stage One), I issue a consultation report to the council setting out an assessment of the strategic planning issues. Once the application has been considered at the council's planning committee, the requirement to refer it back to me is dependent on the category of the application:
In the case of Bullers Wood School, the application was referred to me on 13 July 2017 under category three of the Mayor of London Order. This means that I only have the power to direct refusal of the application should the council approve it, and have no statutory power to take it over for my own detirmination, should the council resolve to refuse planning permission at any point. I considered the Stage One report for Bullers Wood School on 23 August 2017. On 4 October 2017 Bromley Council resolved to approve planning permission, and on 17 November 2017, following referral by the council in accordance with the statutory requirements of the Mayor of London Order, I considered the proposal and concluded that I was content to allow the Council to detirmine the application itself and did not want to direct refusal. On 25 January 2018 the council considered the application at committee for a second time and resolved to refuse planning permission. As stipulated by the Mayor of London Order, I have no statutory powers to intervene in the council's decision to refuse planning permission, and the council is not required to refer this decision to myself for a further Stage Two. You can find further details on the City Hall website at: www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/planning/planning-applications-and-decisions/what-powers-does-mayor-have-planning. " Last week Sadiq Khan announced an additional £60 million per annum funding to protect frontline policing across London. An extra 1000 police officers will be made possible by this money and will help to protect Londoners in the face of massive cuts made by the Tory government.
Speaking on behalf of Bromley Labour Councillors, Group Leader Cllr Angela Wilkins said: “Whilst we have some concerns about the Mayor’s decision to merge police forces across Bromley, Croydon & Sutton, we have to recognise that this decision has been forced on Sadiq Khan by a Tory government that has already cut London’s police budgets by £700 million. Doing nothing simply wasn’t an option – but there is one person alone to blame, and that is Theresa May. What surprises me most is that the new Lib Dem voices popping up for the election don’t recognise the facts of what the government have been doing over the last few years. I note too that they don’t offer alternative proposals for the policing budget. Sadiq has repeatedly warned that with further savings needed, the Met is running out of options and that police officer numbers in the capital could fall significantly below 30,000 before 2021 – a dangerous low which presents a serious risk to the safety of Londoners. In announcing this extra money, which has been diverted from non-policing initiatives, Sadiq is putting as much money as he can into protecting the public. Quite simply, we have had too many victims of knife and other violent crimes in Bromley recently – and we have seen closures of police local neighbourhood offices. Now, thanks to Sadiq, our police numbers will not be cut even further.” Notes to Editors:
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