James Barber

Hi lozzyloz, The other ward councillors I've persuaded to allocate money toward crime prevention are Lib Dem colleagues in north Southwark. You could buy privately as I did from Selectamark and look for SelectaDNA (I bought myself one as felt a bit of a conflict of interest to give my self a kit paid for by tax payers). They cost ?50 retail. PS. nice photos on your website.

Hi Anna, The old wood yard used to owned by a Mr.Banfield. It now has planning permission for 6 x 3 bedroom houses. This permission was granted 26 June 2008 which obviously coincides with the recession. Hence no physical works on site. The planning permission was granted with eight conditions the first being that building work has to begin within three years else the granted scheme will lapse. Eitherway, I've ask council officers to get the site cleared up as we're going to have to live with nothing happening on this site for some time. I've also asked that the fencing be made secure. Officers will first contact the site owners and give them from memory 15 days to fix. If the owners don't then southwark fixes the problem and asked the site owners to pay for this. If they fail to pay then we have the costs charged against the land registry so any attempt to sell involves the council being paid back. As you can imagine this is painful, time consuming and costly. Fingers crossed the site owners go for the first option.

Property marking kits come with stockers for doors and windows saying the property within a house/flat has been property marked. The markings are unique to each kit and show up in UV light - you paint the stuff on. If the marked property is removed it will always have this marking. If the thief or recipients ever bump into the Police or have a visit from the Police they will be caught. Only truly stupid theifs ignore the stickers. Only truly stupid fences would'nt check for this. Hope that makes sense sophiesofa.

Hi Victoria, You paint a wonderful picture where all the decisions were taken by committee and Labour with the majority did'nt ever decide anything. Labour ran Southwark Council for 40 years. The Labour leadership proposed the outsource. The council was run by a majority of Labour councillors. That's how it worked. Please don't duck what Labour did when it was in power. Terminating Liberata. The contract is being terminated by a decision taken by a Lib Dem executive in charge of resources after Liberata failed to improve. With a two year termination clause this is a big decision and you have to have proven grounds to terminate. Yes it has proven harder to collect council tax since the recession started. The in year collection is bad hence the contract termination. The total collection hasn't dropped as bad once the post financial year is included. As it is, too many people have to be taken to court to pay. This is a sign of Southwark being one of the nations most deprived boroughs with residents finding it now even harder to pay.

Please do lock your side gate. This character is likely to come back. If you live in East Dulwich ward (east side of Lordship Lane for the area you've stated) we can give you a free property marking kit which dramatically reduces your chances of being burgled.

East Dulwich Xmas lights are coming up for replacement. Likely to use lots of LED's. Fingers crossed we can make the budgets work for 2010 allowing this.

How is 10:10 progressing amongst London's local authorities? Time Out 10:10 map of London Last week the Greater London Authority also signed up to 10:10. It nearly did this in September but the Conservative members walked out blocking the debate. Guess they did'nt feel they could block climate change measures in the same month as Copenhagen.

To place christmas lights every lamp column used has to be checked structurally to ensure it can take the extra weight at the top of the lamp post. Also, the electrics have to be checked to ensure they can pass the extra load. We've agreed to arrange for these checks to take place. It wont happen before christmas this year but expect late winter/spring and then we'll know what the cost of ensuring christmas lights for Upland Road 2010 will be. Any other East Dulwich locations that should have Cristmas lights?

Hi Acid Casual, The lighting is definately better than it was. Horrid weak yellow lighting and fewer lamp posts. Greendale needs a holistic review to resolve the bordering land uses - derelict land attracts problems. The fencing of this derelict land for a while. The anti social activities have reduced in terms of the number of problems I get to report. Happy to meet anyone interested on Greendale and talk through the issues and how we can resolve them.

Southwark has over 120 open spaces/parks/gardens. Those that are locked at night snd reopened early in the morning suffer from less vandalism etc. We spend much more now locking and unlocking parks & gardens to protect them as we've spent so much time and effort making them nicer. Record number of Green Flags. At this time of the year is gets light late and dark very early. Equally, to unlock lots of gates takes some time or considerably more people. So compromise between the two. I'll happilly check if any change of policy has taken place and report back.

Hi Bic Basher, Southwark doesn't use Capita. Housing benefit and council tax used to be done in-house by Southwark until around 1997/98. It was then outsourced by Labour to CFL. CLF were so outrageously bad that it was one of the 2002 local election issues - Housing benefit cases taking over 6 months to decide resulting in council tenants being evicted. Truely awful. Lib Dems won 2002 local elections sufficiently to run a minority adminstration. CFL then became Liberata with new people. Lots of priority to improve things by the Lib dem adminsitration - reviewing every complaint, etc. they then improved and became award winning. Recently they've not kept up with how others have improved. The contract agreed in over ten years ago has two year termination notice period. Very clever for local government as politicians elected onfour year terms. Eitherway we issued that contract termination earlier this year. Preperations for taking this over are in hand. Hope that clarifies things for you Bic Basher.

Hi ontheedge, I was quoting figures for East Dulwich ward. This is a smaller area than the one we all think of as East Dulwich. Their have been two one month blips which where houses with flats was burgled BUT we've also had months with zero burglaries. So the average is now dramatically down. However, the effects are wearing of hence the extra 1,000 kits. Crucially we'll be reminding previous recipients that they need to use the kits to have an affect. If you want to dramatically reduce your chances of being burgled then get in touch either directly with the East Dulwich Police Safer Neighbourhood Team [email protected] 020 8721 2447 OR ping me an email with your contact details - name, address, phone number. I applied for similar funding in neighbouring wards but local Labour and Conservative councillors declined to fund such schemes for Village, College, South Camberwell The Lane or Peckham Rye. One view expressed to me is that 'burglary is the Polices problem'. I'll try again but don't hold out much hope.

Hi Acid Casual, Greendales is in South Camberwell ward. This summer all the lighting was replaced (at great expense). Still a few gaps of darkness between lamp posts but it has been improved. Lots of little bits that all contribute to making this path less desirable. I'm a regular user and report graffiti about once a fortnight. It will always feel forbidding as it has little passive surveillance and few people use it after dark. QED. To make it first class would need a lot of cash. Would it increase walking and cycling and be value for money? I'd say yes. One of the flagship policies for the Lib Dems running Southwark Council is that each area gets around ?350,000 a year to spend on improving things - making the footpath wide enough so pedestrians don't walk in the cycle path, more lighting columns, improving ther junction with the path to Sainsburys, improving the path to Sainsburys, improving the path to Bessemer Grange. Hopefully the Camberwell councillors will decide to prioritise Greendale this year. To prod them apply for Cleaner, Greener, Safer funding.

I'm a little concerned at the randomness of the funding allocations. Southwark had 2.5 bulge classes this year. 1 in north Southwark 1.5 in Dulwich area. We get ?12m for more school places. Lewisham and Lambeth had 6 bulge classes each and respectively get zilch and ?9m. Next Friday 18th I'll be meeting the executive member of Southwark's education and officers to try understanding all this.

I'm sorry you've all missed me. I've been busily beavering away in the background. We now have another 1,000 SelectaDNA property marking kits to give away to local East Dulwich ward residents. Last year we bought and distributed a 1,000 of these kits. Burglary has nose dived from 10-12 per month to around 2 now. To lock this in I've arranged the purchase of second tranche of 1,000 kits.

Last year we bought 1,000 residential property marking kits and another 50 for schools and similar. The local Police and Community Wardents helped distribute them free to locals. The affect on burglaries has been startling. Generally before 10-12 burglaries in East Dulwich ward and now around 2. To ensure we lock in this success we've just arranged the purchase of another 1,000 such kits. If you'd like one let me know - tell me your name, address, contact number.

Hi TownleyGreen, I'm a regular user of Greendale cycle and pedestrian route. Technically it's in South Camberwell ward. Its lighting was completely replaced over the summer and it is now better lit but still has a few gaps between lamp posts. Several other improvements to the ends to ensure more often clear of traffic. So its better than it was but would more lighting make it feel safer? YES. The proposed Super Cycle Highway is along Lordship Lane and Dog Kennel Hill in recognition of the Greendale fear factor. How can we get more lighting? One route would be for you to apply for Southwark Council - Cleaner, Greener, Safer funding. I could apply but often different party councillors in different wards take humbrage. So me applying is likely to generate a clear no - subtext don't interfer with my patch.

Hi Amelie, Before the Lib Dems gained control of Southwark Council in 2002 the Council tax collection was outsourced to Liberata. Liberata at the time held quite a few such contracts and over time have moved the work outside of the borough. Amazingly the contract negotiated pre the Lib Dems allowed this. So Liberata employ people in Barrow in Furness, Bromley, etc. The service Liberata provides for in year collection is not acceptable. They collect some after the financial year but overall we're not happy with their performance. So the decision has been taken to terminate the Liberata contract. From memory this is a long two year process. Liberata to some degree are being shadowed and I hope that many of the jobs will return to the area with time. As for breaching the laws you quote. This seems unlikely as the point back office work takes place would'nt be covered just the front office and we still have counter services in Southwark.

Hi Sue, Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. Exceptionally busy 4 weeks at work, home and councillor. Can you tell me the detailed location of this tree that hasn't been properly replaced and I will chase it up. Also, useful to have any reference number or your full name and address to tie your query with my query.

hi Sue, COuld we meet at this park and you share your knowledge of Green Flag criteria and what would be required. Thep anting is so unimaginative, the maintenance minimal.

Southwark Council has put up many thousands of Christmas light across Southwark. I'm sorry the request for lights along Upland Road has come so late. I will find out whether any are held back and can be used and whether surplus budget exists to install, maintain and remove them.

During November Southwark Council agreed it new Core Strategy - the local planning bible. I ensured a revision so that it includes a presumption that London Bridge railway station will serve Southwark located railway stations. Considering the community dislocation all the viaducts and cuttings the rail lines provide mostly for the benefit of non Southwark residents such a presumption seems reasonable. Hopefully Network Rail will have a requirement to submit a planning application for London Bridge station before the South London Line is closed. Such a planning application would be tested against this new requirement. As things stand the Dept of Transport has not directed Network Rail to provide sufficient platforms after its redevelopment to keep all currently terminating services and the extra through services linking home counties north and south of London. Hence the planned South London Line closure. If you walk to the end of platforms 14-16 and look back you can see the original engine shed which is now used for Network Rail car parking instead of the original platforms 17-21. Plenty of room for more platforms than the Department of Transport has told Network Rail to provide.

Amazing how pious Labour are about the Lib Dem - Tory coalition running Southwark Council. As part of that coaltion the Lib Dems negotiated two exec roles for the tories. Labour offered 3 but tory central command blocked it. As part of the Lib Dem - Tory coalition it was agreed that every single Lib Dem manifesto commitment - and we had over 50 pages - was part of the deal. Tough choice - deliver all our Lib Dem manifesto commitments using tories OR be in opposition and deliver none.

This is really naughty and adds confusion for parents. This money is not for a new school in East Dulwich. The money has been provided as a result of a funding application by Councillor Nick Stanton leader of Southwark Council. Today Nick said, ?I am delighted that we have been awarded this substantial amount of money to provide more primary school places in Southwark - particularly in the south of the Borough where the shortage has been most acute. I am particularly pleased the government has recognised Southwark's very strong case and our record of delivering new and improved schools over the last seven years. ?We will be using the money to expand ? either permanently or temporarily ? the most popular schools, once we know where parents are applying to send their kids next year. That way more parents will get a place at a local school they really want. We?re working with all the schools in the south of the borough to get their agreement to this more flexible approach and so far the indications are very positive. And my thanks go to them ? and the three schools who took on extra classes this year. ?The Executive ? supported by Cllr Colley?s Scrutiny Committee ? agreed this approach last month so it is now somewhat surprising that Labour is now calling for a new school. They should know how much a new school would cost and how long it would take to open. We don?t have the money or the time and I know East Dulwich parents want action now. Labour clearly haven?t learned from when they last ran the council when they messed up schools so badly their own government had to privatise the education department. They haven?t changed and it?s clear they still don?t know what they are doing.?

Hi sian, All London councils run several thousand services. The Southwark Life council monthly magazine to every home has been found one of the cheapest ways of telling people about those services. In the past leaflets were left in council building and libraries. That didn't work. Advertising in newspapers didn't really work as such a low proportion of Southwark residents read local papers. From memory it costs less to run Southwark Life and means overall less is now spent on communicating with Southwark residents. Less than monthly, after advice, would mean it wasn't often enough to be noticed. The twice monthly approach of Lambeth Council seems excessive.