Dear neighbour,

Welcome to our July e-newsletter.

With schools out for summer and many of us getting away, meetings at the Town Hall are also winding down over the summer. We will be having some time off, but are still around to help with issues that crop up locally.

It’s been a little over a year since we were elected as your local councillors, and it remains a huge privilege to represent you and do our bit to make our community an even better place to live and work. Official figures revealed at this month’s Council meeting showed that, between us, we completed 1,127 pieces of casework since May 2022 – the highest number of any council ward in Battersea. It’s been a pleasure to help with both the big and little things – from campaigning to bring back Northcote Road pedestrianisation and seeing the new Northcote Library through to completion and opening, to making sure that fly-tipping, graffiti and blocked drains are taken care of.

Please read on for:

1.    Return of the Northcote Road Summer Festival – and support for bringing back regular summer weekend pedestrianisation grows

2.    An update on our campaign for extended opening hours at Northcote Library

3.    Bolingbroke Academy receives a glowing Ofsted report: “This school could now be judged Outstanding"

4.    Northcote ward gets a new public square

Please help us spread the news about our local campaigns by forwarding this email to friends and family who live in the Northcote ward – it really helps our work as local councillors. 

And as ever, if there is anything we can be of help locally, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Best regards,

Cllr Aled Richards-Jones

Cllr Emmeline Owens 

Return of the Northcote Road Summer Festival – and support for bringing back regular summer weekend pedestrianisation grows

It felt great to have the Northcote Road Summer Festival back this month, and for an extended two days! As well as the usual food and crafts stalls, children’s games, outdoor eating and shopping, nothing quite beats the Wimbledon Men’s Final on the big screen on a sun-drenched Northcote Road afternoon.

The Festival was organised by the Clapham Junction Business Improvement District and the Northcote Road Business Network – our huge thanks to them for this extraordinary effort.  

The brief return of weekend pedestrianisation to Northcote Road has reminded many residents of the past few summers when the road was pedestrianised every weekend. Sadly, the new Labour Council has ignored calls to reverse its decision to scrap the regular summer weekend pedestrianisation scheme, despite the road’s businesses strong support for the scheme and our petition of local residents which now stands at over 7,000 signatures. At a recent meeting of the Council’s Finance Committee, Aled presented the latest petition and promised that Northcote’s Conservative councillors would continue to fight to have this scheme reinstated.

An update on our campaign for extended library opening hours

Last month, we wrote to you about our campaign to extend the opening hours at the new Northcote Library. The new library building was designed and built with cost-saving features, such as more efficient heating and insulation, and more commercial space for rent to local businesses and community groups. The idea was that this would enable the Council to finance longer opening hours than were possible in the previous inefficient 1960s building. However, when the new library opened earlier this year, it was revealed that it would be closed Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays. 

At this month’s Council meeting, we asked the Council’s Administration to consider extending the opening hours in Northcote Library. We noted that the Administration has recently extended opening hours in three libraries in other parts of the borough - Roehampton Library, Battersea Park Library and York Gardens Library – and we want to see at least the same treatment for Northcote Library, particularly as it provides important study space after school for Bolingbroke pupils.

In response to our request, the Council has said that “a new strategy for Wandsworth Libraries is under development and review of opening hours of all libraries across the borough will be undertaken as part of this work.” We will watch this review closely and make sure Northcote gets its fair share of extra resources.

Bolingbroke Academy receives a glowing Ofsted report: "This school could now be judged OUTSTANDING"

Bolingbroke Academy was visited by Ofsted for an ungraded inspection in May. The result was fantastic: Ofsted came to the conclusion that, had it been graded visit, then Bolingbroke Academy would have been upgraded to be deemed Outstanding.

This is hugely welcome news and a recognition of the tremendous hard work of Bolingbroke’s young people, our talented staff and the wider parent and carer community which plays such a vital role. It is all the more remarkable as Bolingbroke has recently celebrated its first 10 years as a school.

As headteacher Clare Edis says: “Ofsted has found what many of us have known to be true for years. Bolingbroke Academy is an exceptional school filled with courageous and compassionate young people as well as outstanding staff and a warm and welcoming community.”

As Northcote councillors, we have been proud to play our small part in the school’s success – Aled is a Governor at the school, and Emmeline is active in the PTA and regularly helps with fundraising events.

Northcote Ward gets a new public square

The square between Abyssinia Close and Northcote Road has now been permanently pedestrianised, concluding work which started in 2021. This will offer outside during the warmer (and not so warm!) months to gather, enjoy a coffee from Bluebird Brothers or something stronger from Northcote Records, and will host the Northcote Christmas tree during the festive period.

Published and promoted by Harry Todd on behalf of the Wandsworth Conservatives, all contactable at 1 Summerstown, SW17 0BQ.