Dear Neighbour,

We hope you’re enjoying the sunshine and are looking forward to the rest of the summer. There is a lot going on locally – including the return of the Northcote Road Summer Festival, which is back this year for an extended two days between Saturday 15 - Sunday 16 July!  

Read on for:

1. Our campaign for extended hours for our new Northcote Library: the new building should make it easier to extend opening hours
2. Update on challenging unfair Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs): we have now got over 100 of these overturned
3. Safer Neighbourhood Team Panel Meeting: our latest meeting with our local policing team held at the new Northcote Library
4. Nominations for civic awards: due by 8 September 2023 
5. Battersea Rise’s Old Church School at St Mark’s, finally being restored
6. Wandsworth Grant Fund: community groups can apply for Council funding by 31st July
7. Upcoming local events

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 

Campaign to extend opening hours

of our new Northcote Library

In April we reported on the opening of our fantastic new Northcote Library. As well as having a bigger and better fully modernised library, with children and adult floors as well as a dedicated space for teenagers, the new library incorporates a range of environmentally friendly enhancements which reduce energy consumption and maintain optimal temperatures within the building throughout the year. This means that the new library is more sustainable than its predecessor as it utilises solar energy and air source heat pump technology.  

As well as reducing energy costs, the design of the new building also includes spaces which can be let out commercially to local businesses and community groups as workspaces or meeting venues. 

These design options were deliberately chosen by the previous Conservative Administration so that opening hours in the new Northcote Library building could be extended beyond the hours offered in the old 1960s building, which was expensive to heat and had limited commercial space to hire out. However, when the new library opened in April, it was revealed that it would be closed Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays. 

We want to see the original aspiration of extended opening hours fulfilled. We are calling on the new Wandsworth Labour Administration to extend the library’s opening hours to at least 6 days a week. Please support our petition at www.wandsworthconservatives.co.uk/northcotelibrary

We’ve successfully challenged over 100 unfair Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) on behalf of residents

In recent months, Wandsworth Council has failed to send out its usual parking permit renewal reminders to many of its residents. This has meant residents have been hit with a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) for parking, unaware that their permit was due for renewal. 

We have made the case to officials that it is unfair to fine residents in these circumstances when residents have come to rely on regular reminders, and officials have agreed to reconsider PCNs issued in these circumstances. We have so far successfully challenged over 100 of these unfair PCNs, securing refunds for residents. 

What has been frustrating, however, has been that the Council has previously not been proactive in identifying those affected and seeking to rescind the fines. If you have been sent an unfair PCN, please let us know at northcote@wandsworthconservatives.com and we’ll do our best to challenge it.

Recent Safer Neighbourhood Panel Meeting: discussing concerns with our local policing team

The last meeting of the Safer Neighbourhood Panel was held on 22 June at the new Northcote Library. The panel brings together local residents and the local policing team to discuss concerns relating to crime and anti-social behaviour and to set local policing priorities. At the latest meeting Northcote Ward Councillors and residents made the police aware of concerns from across the community. 

Priorities highlighted at the recent meeting included theft of/from motor vehicles, something the local safer neighbourhood policing team are very aware of given this is an ongoing issue. Discussions included the possibility of installing more Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras in the ward to catch motor vehicle theft.

To sign up to the local policing team's regular e-bulletins, please email northcote@met.police.uk.

Nominations for the Wandsworth Civic Awards

Nominations for the Wandsworth Civic Awards are open for 2023. Do you know someone who makes a difference to life in Wandsworth who could be nominated? It could be someone, or a group, who has volunteered in the local community, coached a local sports team, organised an event, or carried out an exceptional act of bravery. More details can be found here. 

Nominees should be:

• Nominated for their contribution in a voluntary (unpaid) capacity in the borough
• Aged 19 or over (the Wandsworth Young Person awards celebrate our younger adults and children)

If you’d like to nominate someone from the ward, please get in touch. You can also send any questions about the awards to civicawards@wandsworth.gov.uk Nominations will close at 5pm on Friday 8 September 2023. 

Northcote has a fantastic track record at the awards. Two years ago there were three winners from the ward. We were pleased to nominate one of the winners - Jonny Dyson, chairman of the Northcote Road Business Network (pictured) - who’s given years of unpaid time to help make Northcote Road the thriving high street it is today, and helped us implement the summer weekend pedestrianisation, which we are campaigning to have reinstated.

Battersea Rise’s Old Church School

at St Mark’s finally being restored

Finally, we have some good news to report on Battersea Rise’s Old Church School at St Mark’s, which is finally in line for restoration. 

Built during the development of Clapham Junction in the 1860s, the small building is a rare and well-preserved example of a small church school. It was designed by Benjamin Ferrey, a prominent church architect of that time and a notable figure in the Gothic Revival movement. Sadly, with its use as a school long since redundant, the building has remained unused and in a near derelict state for many years.  

Former Northcote Councillor Gordon Passmore achieved its Grade II heritage listing twenty years ago. Recently, Wandsworth Councillors – including Emmeline, who sits on the Planning Committee - were finally able to sign off on the change of use for the Old Church School at St Mark’s on Battersea Rise in the Spring in order to allow the space to be redeveloped sympathetically for commercial use. Dow Jones Architects are expected to begin the work this summer to ensure completion by the end of the year.  

For those interested, the full planning application can be viewed here. 

Wandsworth Grant Fund

Community Groups can apply for Council funding by 31st July

Are you a local community group looking for funding for a project?

Established in April 2015, the Wandsworth Grant Fund (WGF) supplies small grants (£500 to £10,000) for community and voluntary sector organisations in the borough to undertake activities for up to 12 months.

The fund aims to support projects under seven themes:

1. Arts and culture
2. Environment and attractive neighbourhoods
3. Children and young people
4. Citizenship and civic engagement
5. Achieving aspirations and potential
6. Health and wellbeing
7. Recovering from the impact of COVID-19

As ward councillors, we have a long history of supporting and sponsoring successful local projects for funding. Earlier examples include securing grants for the Wandsworth Mediation Service, the Community Gospel Choir at St Michael’s Church, and the Sea Cadets!

Community groups can find out more about the scheme here. If you’re a local group looking for funding, and you think you may qualify under the WGF, let us know and we’ll be happy to help.

Upcoming local events 

Saturday 15 - Sunday 16 July will see the return of the Northcote Road summer festival. The Saturday will be a brief return to the former summer pedestranisation of the road, where businesses will be able to offer al fresco eating, dining and shopping. Sunday sees the return of the usual annual festival, with the Men’s Wimbledon Final once again being shown on the big screen. There will be the usual fantastic range of stalls and entertainment in the afternoon. 

This Saturday 1 July sees the return of the Belleville and Honeywell School Summer Fairs from 12 noon until 3 and 5 pm. Belleville’s Got Talent Show will be from from 2.30-3pm. There will be also games, raffles, drinks and a bite to eat for everyone.

Tickets are now on sale for the Battersea Ball on 24 November from 6.30pm until late – Battersea’s best charity ball! Don’t miss out on the early bird price, with all money raised going towards the Battersea Crime Prevention Panel. Buy tickets at www.batterseaball.org.uk.

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