The Greens show their colours!

In response to my questions about libraries, local shops and cycling and walking Labour Tom Chance from Southwark Green Party writes:

Here are our candidates' answers:

Libraries - yes, we would fight to protect libraries from public spending cuts. Whichever of the three grey parties form the next Government, all three are committed to large cuts in public spending and locally the axe often falls first on services like libraries. Whilst access to the internet is increasingly used as an excuse for neglected or shrinking library services, the reasons you cite in addition to the relatively low level of internet access in Peckham Rye make them all the more important.

Shops - the Green Party has long campaigned to protect local independent shops. We have published an action plan for Peckham town centre (http://southwark.greenparty.org.uk/peckham) and would apply the same principles to Lordship Lane, Forest Hill Road and other smaller arcades with handfuls of shops throughout Southwark.

Walking and cycling - we would press for three simple measures: first, actually implement the council's dormant policy of providing cycle lanes and infrastructure whenever road works are carried out, extending this to also include the widening of pavements for pedestrians where there is road space; second, prioritise roads on cycle routes such as LCN 22 and 25 when filling potholes and other road maintenance; third, more consistently implement a 20mph zone across the entire borough on all residential roads and ensure the police are taking road safety more seriously.

A Labour candidate answers

This is the reply I received to my questions about libraries, local shops and cycling and walking from Gavin Edwards, Labour Candidate for Peckham Rye:

1. On Libraries, All three of us recognise the importance of Libraries in our local community. I am a regular user of Peckham Library myself. We will all fight to defend funding for local libraries.

2. I agree entirely with the sentiment expressed in your question and this is precisely the approach that we would like to see taken in regard to both rents and the application of planning rules.

3. Yes. We think the cycle network in Southwark should be expanded. The more people we can encourage to cycle in our borough the better. If we were elected as councillors for Peckham Rye, this would be a policy that we would campaign for in the town hall. On a connected but slightly different issue, we have got involved in the local green chain walk. See here for more details: http://peckhamryelabour.blogspot.com/2010/01/peckham-rye-joins-green-chain-walk-try.html

A Conservative response

This is the reply I received to my questions about libraries, local shops and cycling and walking from Conservative candidate for Peckham Rye, Andy Tuck:

Libraries
We would wholeheartedly agree with you over their importance and recognise their role as invaluable intellectual resources for local communities. Therefore we would, if elected, fight to defend our local libraries from budget cuts and neglect.

It would be worth mentioning here that as a Conservative Team across Southwark we also plan to push for the refurbishment of Camberwell Library after the election.

Shops
We highly value small businesses and local enterprises in Peckham Rye Ward and throughout Southwark. We are keen to pursue policies that will help nurture and grow the local economy. Small independent shops are integral to this.

As part of our new purposed recycling scheme, through a voucher system, we would hope to encourage local people to spend money earned through their recycling in local shops. This will help keep money in the local economy and make small businesses more viable and competitive.

Walking and Cycling
To answer your questions in a word, yes. Encouraging walking and cycling is a great way of cutting down on both congestion and pollution. By expanding cycling routes and making sure that pedestrian needs are prioritised we would hope to achieve this.

Local Election Special

Well, I thought I'd come out of retirement to show my disgust at the total lack of attention being paid to the local elections here in London. OK, I know there aren't any exciting televised debates with audience participation and red buttons to press. Local politics often seems dull and all about such mundane subjects as refuse collection, recycling, planning control, parking, maintaining the roads and fixing broken paving slabs. (oh and education, social services, housing...)

But what councils do matters. It matters to the people who have the chance to choose who run them (but rarely use it) and it matters to the children who don't get to vote but do have to go to schools, some of which are actually still run by elected local authorities.

But following the themes of this blog and its forerunners, I decided to write to the local candidates for the parties standing in my ward (Peckham Rye) focusing on libraries, local shops, and cycling and walking:

Libraries: Public libraries provide not just a free leisure service but a vital lifeline to those who need internet access to apply for jobs and purchase goods, support for lifelong learning and a place to study. Children especially gain enormously from being able to choose and read the books they like, giving them the opportunity to acquire the reading habit early on. In times of recession, this service becomes even more important to help people retrain and get back into employment. If elected, will you fight to defend our local libraries (Dulwich and Nunhead) from budget cuts and neglect?

Shops: Lordship Lane is a shining example of the success of small shops providing a unique and characterful centre for the community. If elected will you ensure that independent shops are not driven out by high rents and prevent large chains from running rough-shod over planning rules?

Walking and Cycling: The cycling facilities in Southwark are reasonable but there's huge room for improvement. Will you ensure that the cycle network is expanded and existing routes improved. Will you ensure that all road schemes prioritise cyclists and pedestrians over through traffic?

So far the only party to reply is the Liberal Democrats. I'd like to hear what the others have to say.