Saturday 30 July 2011

Jobs in Deptford and New Cross & Come the revolution

At long Last Come the Revolution is set to open end of August, it offers full and Part time jobs in Catering in the Short term, serving great Coffee, Teas and Amazing Ice Cream, Food and other snacks will insure Local People see this is a great place to eat, Drink, hang out or get active.. The Space will offer a Gallery, Meeting rooms, for free use to all Local community groups and campaigns, Will offer a book exchange, Cookery School to every local resident, from Basic ideas to use an Egg, to great healthy cooking on a budget, the school, will be open to all and will cost just £1. Each day the Cafe will offer tea and Crumpet for just £1, or a hot meal any time as the daily special for just £2.Gourmet Burgers with Salard and Oven Baked chips with a Drink will cost just £5, we are selling Organic and fair trade as much as possible, so prices are fast food, but you will get quality.the space will also offer free Advice centre and will have a proper Campaigns Office for Lewisham People Before Profit. the No to Convoy Wharf Campaign and many others will be based here.Wifi and Computers will be avalible and Opening hours are 6am-8pm Monday to Thursday. 6am-10pm Friday and Saturday. 7am-8pm Sunday.
The Spacev is open for Public meetings, Film Club, Poetry, Debating, Parents and Toddlers Groups, This Space by your Support will insue Local Jobs go to Local People and that the profit made will be given back to Community Projects so please support this venue, as a life long community campaigner, i have lostb track of the number of campaigns or resident groups that have failed due to lack of funds, this Venue, will not only give a huge boost to the area, but will your support will give much needed finacial support to groups fighting to protect not just local services, but also help individuals with problems, but also help us make legal challenges on Planning concerns. I have to declare that this is one on my pet projects, i had hoped to use this space as a peoples supermarket, but this idea was scrapped due to lack of local interest. Come the Revolution has come about after listerning and talking to Local residents, Students, community groups and Workers..

Friday 22 July 2011

Deptford & New Cross Planning

Deptford and New Cross Residents are getting organised to fight yet more planning applications set to go before Lewisham Council in the coming weeks. the Lord Clyde pub is the latest to go, as it owners seek to build yet more flats, at this rate we will see every street in the area becoming a building site. With Convoy Wharf about to take off, the Largest Development proposal in Lewisham History, already many groups are getting Organised, Both the New Cross Community Council and Lewisham People before profit have set up Planning Groups, so email me if you wish to play an active roll, or just to be kept up to date.the bad side of all this, is that commercial Landlords are pushing up rents,one Wharehouse full of artists in Creekside have been served notice, as the Owners seek to make more money from the improvements to the area, whilst i have lost track of the number of Local traders being forced to pay ever higher rents and rates. At the moment, all that we love about our neighbourhood is under treat. It is just Tragic, that Our Labour MP and Our Labour Councillors are only interested in the money these proposals bring to the Council, and care little for the impact on the enviorment or of the interests of the residents who live here.I hope people remember Labours Awful record in this area, when they next get to vote.Councillor Long, the New Cross Councillor who was exposed by the News Shopper News paper for taking Council money and doing almost nothing for it before the last round of elections, is back at her old tricks, Looking on Lewisham councils own website, she has only attended 3 meetings in over a year, but she has still claimed thousands of Council tax payers money. That works out at over £3000 per attendance...and if you think she bothers with Local Issues, i am happy to confirm, she is as invisable to the electors as she is with the Council Chamber.

Deptford and New Cross Planning applications increase 10 fold

Deptford Residents are set to see almost every road in the area, becoming a building site, the number of developments planned and proposed is at an all time high, even though the property market is in freefall in most areas, but in our neck of the woods, Developers see a fortune to be made. The negative part of all this, is that Commercioal Space rents, ie Shop and work space units are seeing the Owners give notice to long term tenants to charge upto 60% increases. the Artists in Creek Road have been given notice by the Works, to get out, and this week the Lord Clyde Pub in Deptford is set to go to be replaced by a block of yet more flats..Lewisham People before profit, will be setting up a working group on Planning, with Convoy Wharf about to be the Biggest Planning Battle for Residents in Lewisham Councils History, Being organised

Tuesday 12 July 2011

Labour party housing policy review

Had a really good meeting at the House of Commons today, as Labour seeks to get to grips with the real housing crisis, and the lack of affordable and social homes, it is clear that both Labour and the Goverment have no intention of building more homes, but are increasingly dependent on the private rental sector to take over the role.

Bankers present said that the problem is they could not afford to loan the money that is needed to meet the huge housing demand as the new banking regulations state they need to hold 8% in reserve. He was also quick to remind us that much of the financial crisis was caused by the buy to let market, and it would be some time before the financial sector would tackle lending.

I raised the Issue of better education for tenants, and the possibilty of ending evictions where families are kicked out from job loss or health issues, as the 75.000 households evicted every year all end up on the doorstep of local councils seeking help, and at huge cost.

...Caroline Flint MP, a tough cookie by all acounts, admitted that Labour should have done more in goverment, and that paying tenants instead of landlords was a mistake, as it lead to huge numbers of landlords withdrawing from the social sector.. in all a positive 2 hours, but lots of work still to do. We really do need to build more homes, but how we get our political leaders to agree a plan is another matter.

The meeting was chaired by Alison Seabeck, shadow housing minister, and what a good job she did. As you are all aware, I am no friend of the Labour party, but after today, I did feel that these 2 Labour MPs really do want to listen and get to grips with the issue.

Friday 1 July 2011

Labour Party a disgrace..Say Union Leaders

Are the public really happy to support the Goverments aim at putting public sector workers , against workers in the private sector?.Because clearly that is what is going on. I live with a Teacher, so have first hand experience at seeing how hard teachers work, not just during School hours, but at night, weekends and much of the School holidays. My partner had a choice, a great mind, and had the chance of working in the City earning big bucks or becoming a low paid teacher, teaching gives  real job satisfaction, the pay back, in retirement a decent pension for the low pay teachers earn. Much of the monthly pay goes to tax, and to put money into a secure pension, when you do not earn a lot, you cannot save as much as many in the private sector, so a pension for many is all they have. The private Sector pension market has seen thousands of workers lose life savings and pensions, Maxwell, Equitable Life and more. Is it therefore so wrong that we seek to Support teachers and reward them for the great work they do, of which we all benifit?
At yesterdays demos across London, from Deptford town hall to Westminister, every one was angry that yet again the Labour Party is not supporting the workers, The statement by the Leader of the ATL union, that the Labour Party was a disgrace was widely cheered and reported on BBC & Channel 4 News. Union Branch members across Lewisham and the Country are calling for Union subs to be no longer paid to the Labour Party, and that Unions Give money to groups who support workers Such as Lewisham People Before Profit, who already have wide Union support and active members from the Unions, some of which give money to the Group. Across the world People are demanding Change to the political System, saying it no longer represents them... This is Clearly not only the case in the Middle East,were we are seeing people standing up against tanks and bullets and laying in the streets, with death just yards away, how brave and insperational are these regular people, demanding to be listerned to, and willing to die. Or Greece,were we are loaning them even more money, money they can never afford to pay back, but the banks have to be seen to be paid, so they loan greece money to pay back the last loan they could not afford to pay, whilst the young and old pay the price of our rotton Capitalist system, that sees the Bankers and our Leaders get ever richer, on the backs and hard labour of the population, selling off every thing the Country owns just to Pay back the Banks, with no plans for Growth, will see the Debt never repaid.Greece like the UK, needs a new Political system. Iceland you all may recall, was Bust not so long ago, the UK bailed them out, the Goverment held a referendum but  Today Iceland has refused to pay back the money it does not have.. The world still goes on, Icelands People still have Food ,Homes and Jobs..