“I can’t place elderly in unsafe care homes”
Southwark News was right to draw attention to the difficult situation that vulnerable residents like Mrs Burke are in, due to the worrying state of residential and nursing care across the country (‘My deaf and blind Mum is being sent to the back of beyond’, Southwark News October 29th, 2015).
I feel for her and her family, and the council is working hard with the private sector companies that run our care homes, and with health colleagues, to drive up standards in Southwark.
However, it would not be fair to Mrs Burke nor to any vulnerable resident, to place them in a care home that is unable to meet their needs.
I cannot, in good conscience, recommend a placement that may be unsafe or substandard, and so for now our only option may be to find good quality care a few miles away in other boroughs.
However, longer term we want to ensure there are excellent care home places for Southwark residents in Southwark, and we are currently working on plans to give our most vulnerable residents comfort and security in later life.
Cllr Stephanie Cryan, Cabinet Member for Adult Care and Financial Inclusion
“Close Rotherhithe Tunnel to cars?”
So Rotherhithe is still full of traffic chaos, Jamaica Road complete chaos, Lower Road complete chaos.
You would think after all these years someone,Transport for London , MPs, councillors would deal with this problem.
Rotherhithe and Bermondsey is at a stand still every morning from 7am and then from 2pm every afternoon there must be a way traffic can be filtered using another newly built crossing to Essex or Kent as this is where most of the commuters live and travel to I am sure even they would welcome this as well as as the people who live here.
Another option would be to close Rotherhithe Tunnel to cars / vans etc and just have motor-cycles/cyclists and pedestrians /emergency services use only it would make Rotherhithe and Bermondsy a little less noisey well apart from all the building work and road closures.
Confused local, via email
“‘Bag It’ huge success”
Surrey Quay shopping Centre is delighted to announce that their shoppers managed to donate 872 bags to the British Heart Foundation (BHF) during their Bag It. Beat It. event.
The donated quality items will now go on to be sold in local BHF shops to generate vital funds which will help support life-saving research.
Surrey Quays Shopping Centre encouraged their shoppers to donate bags of unwanted items including clothes, CDs, DVDs and bric-à-brac. Every bag donated helps fund life saving heart research helping those affected from heart disease. The annual event also raises awareness of the devastating effects a sudden heart disease diagnosis can have on an entire family.
If you picked up a Bag It. Beat It. bag from our shopping centre but didn’t have time to drop it off, you can still donate to your local BHF shop.”
For more information and to find your local BHF shop visit bagit.bhf.org.uk.
Ian Moore, Centre Manager of Surrey Quays Shopping Centre
“Mayor Boris Johnson has lost the plot”
I am not surprised at all to read your front page in last week’s News (‘Crackpot’ Boris slammed after revealing plans to build underground road tunnel from Canada Water to Clapham).
Over the years, he has been gradually loosing the plot with his ideas getting more outlandish.
Remember the Routemaster? This was part of his election manifesto for his first term. Yes he delivered on that, much to the anger of disabled people but it was only a Routemaster in name only. All the original Routemaster purists who clambered for its reintroduction will have been left disappointed to see it was nothing at all like the original. But yet Boris wasted £millions of your taxpayer money on this and other failed projects like the cable car.
Boris Island Airport in the Thames Estuary and now this an underground road between Canada Water and Clalpham.
What’s next Borris? An underwater colony in the Thames Estuary for the expected increase in the future of the population of London?
Patrick Horan MSc, Chair Southwark Disablement Association
“TfL 10,000 new homes welcome but we need more”
I’m delighted to see that Transport for London (TfL) has announced that it will be making land available for the building of some 10,000 new homes over the next ten years.
We all know that demand for housing is oustripping supply, so announcements to build more homes are welcome. However, 10,000 new homes is just a drop in the ocean and while TfL tells us it will release more land for development over time, we need hundreds of thousands of homes being built now, not over the next decade.
There are stations which could have homes built above them, old yards which could be better used and unused buildings turned into homes. I urge TfL to work with developers to build more homes as quickly as possible.
Syed Kamall, MEP for London
“Clubs can pay for their own policing”
Our London neighbourhood police teams play a vital role across every part of London.
Police officers and Police Community Support Officers allocated to a specific area makes a huge difference in keeping our communities safe.
Yet there is a huge threat now looming.
Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, is now pointing out that huge cuts will soon have to be made, leading to thousands of police officers being lost as well as PCSOs. We could be returning to the days of a remote and inaccessible police service more like the 1970s than the 21st century.
Up until now the Met have managed to stave off cuts in neighbourhood policing with the help of selling off many properties, but this money from one-off sales won’t last for long.
Tough decisions are now needed. For a start the Met should be able to recover the full costs from policing professional football games. It is madness that football teams paying million pounds salaries to their players do not pay the full policing costs generated by their games.
However, we also need to go much further. If the Met is to retain neighbourhood police teams we have to ensure that the Met is properly funded.
Instead of cutting the council tax precept next year the better option might be to just freeze it to help prevent savage cuts to London’s police service
Caroline Pidgeon MBE AM , Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on London Assembly