Now the dust has settled, just a quick note to say that I’m no longer a councillor following my decision to stand down from Lewisham Council at the elections on 6th May, 2010.
The new Liberal Democrat councillors for Lee Green Ward are Cllr Pauline Beck and Cllr Sven Griesenbeck.
At time of writing, Pauline’s council contact details were still being finalised, but Sven can be contacted on cllr_sven.griesenbeck {at} lewisham.gov(.)uk or 8297 4826.
Many thanks to everyone I’ve worked with over my four years on Lewisham Council. It’s been an interesting experience – frustrating at times, but often extremely rewarding.
I will leave this blog as-is for the time being in case some of the archive is of use to local residents. I have been (slightly) bitten by the blogging bug so it’s possible this blog might re-emerge in another form at some point in the future.
Offer letters went out to parents of 4/5 year olds this week. I understand that a number of parents, particularly in Lee Green and Blackheath, haven’t got the school of their choice, and have received offers of places at schools some distance away. This of course, is a legacy of the lack of places caused by the Mayor’s decision to close Ennersdale Primary School in the first place.
My colleague Cllr Chris Maines is collecting examples so he can put together the full picture. If you’re a parent who is dissatisfied with your offer from the Council, please do drop Chris a line at cllr_chris.maines {at} lewisham.gov(.)uk – do copy me in, too.
As someone who’s old enough to remember Playschool, I was gutted to miss meeting Floella Benjamin when she dropped in to Lee Green yesterday in support of Pete’s campaign to become our next MP.
Floella met up with Pete, Pauline, Chris and other Lib Dem candidates and visit the Manor House Library and Manor House Gardens.
No, not me, but fame at last for Sven – he’s made it on to the Glum Councillors site, which celebrates the work of local elected representatives, and the odd photos they find themselves in as a result.
Follow Sven on the journey to the centre of the Earth, via Lewisham’s biggest pot hole, here.
It’s been brought to my attention that Ladbrokes are offering odds on the General Election here in Lewisham East. Interestingly, they agree with the Lib Dems’ assertion that Lewisham East is now a two horse race between Labour and the Lib Dems.
Labour 1/8 (fair enough in a seat they’ve held for 18 years)
Lib Dem Pete Pattisson 5/1
Conservative 12/1
Green 100/1
Bookies obviously consider Pete best placed to challenge Labour on May 6th. Votes for the Greens or Conservatives just risk helping Labour scrape in again.
I spent the weekend in Birmingham at Lib Dem Spring Conference. My partner’s originally from Moseley, so no opportunity is ever missed to take a trip up to England’s second city (more trees than Paris, more canals than Venice, I’m reliably informed). However, lovely as the canals and trees are, the highlight of the weekend was Nick Clegg’s speech. See for yourself:
