Hoey To Join Team Boris
Boris has just said that if he wins the election on May 1st, Kate Hoey will join his mayoral team as a non-executive director advising Boris on sport and the Olympics.
Hoey, Labour MP for Vauxhall and Chairman of the Countryside Alliance may face expulsion from the Labour Party as a result despite Gordon Brown’s ‘big tent’ exercise of last summer. Kate Hoey has long been seen as a potential defector with centre-right views and a healthy dose of euro-scepticism. She served as Sports Minister, has worked for several football clubs and is a former Northern Ireland High Jump champion.
Boris said “I am delighted to announce that Kate Hoey will join me in my administration if I win on May 1. She and I agree that there is much more that can be done to promote sport and to develop sporting facilities across London. Kate has a huge and well-known commitment to sport and to London, and I am determined to bring talent from across politics and the community to a new administration.”
There has been speculation over the last few days if Hoey would defect following an event at which she was due to appear with Boris but pulled out last minute. When asked if she was supporting Boris for Mayor, she answered “I am a Labour MP, I am not endorsing anyone.” Scant comfort for Ken then!
I see that she is the one of the most rebellious of all Labour MPs according to Public Whip and has made plenty of noise about councils closing swimming pools. It’ll be interesting to see what she makes of the LibDems’ handling of Cheam Baths when Lead Councillor Graham Tope contradicted himself in a single letter to the Guardian, starting the letter saying that there were no plans to close the pool but finishing off by calling for a rational debate about what to replace it with. All of this schizophrenic behaviour whilst the Council are ploughing £500,000 of our money into the pool with no future. No doubt they’ll be trying to fill it up without putting the plug in next.
Light At The End Of The Tunnel
I bumped into the chairman of Carshalton Athletic FC yesterday who gave me some very welcome news. The club will be submitting a planning application to replace the floodlights at the War Memorial ground in Colston Avenue this week.
Residents have complained about the old lights for a number of years as they shine into their bedrooms, especially in the winter when the trees are bare. The new lights should reduce this problem considerably as well as reducing energy costs and providing more effective lighting for the club. Sounds like everyone might be a winner.
Carshalton also avoided relegation this week so congratulations all round.
Back To Moderation
Part of the problem with getting anything done in politics is that often it is the few that shout loudest that attract the attention to the exclusion of everyone else. This blog, the first in Sutton, is an attempt to exchange views with people who are interested in Carshalton and the Borough of Sutton but don’t normally get involved.
I usually respond to comments quite quickly as it is important to have a dialogue rather than a polemic blinkered approach. Unfortunately one regular correspondent does not take this approach instead spending an inordinate and quite frankly unhealthy amount of time on waging a personal vendetta. This is not the place for it. I don’t want to put off people that want to debate issues that affect our everyday lives but this is not a club for disaffected politicians. One of those has been set up elsewhere to continue the one-sided discussion.
Some may consider this censorship, some may wonder why I didn’t do it earlier. I’m only too aware that most people in the Borough would shrug their shoulders and not care. Either way, I haven’t got time to concern myself with people who are what civil servants call a vexatious persistent correspondent. I’ll concentrate on trying to change Sutton for the better for the rest.
Caring About The Community
This afternoon, I spoke at a public meeting organised by the Queen Mary’s Christian Care Foundation. It was open to all candidates for the London Assembly or a representative. Steve O’Connell was busy at a prearranged event in Croydon so I stepped in. Only David Campanale from the Christian People’s Alliance joined me. The third person in the photo standing in the middle is Dr Richard Cooling of the Foundation.
They have a vision for a care village located on part or all of the Orchard Hill site in Carshalton that you can read about here. At present, there are two main plans being considered for the site, just housing and the new Stanley Park High School plus some housing. There are some fundamental issues that have to be resolved before anything can happen. Firstly, the NHS Primary Care Trust own the land. Their finances are not looking too clever at the moment so they need every penny to reprovision the service for the current residents of Orchard Hill. Secondly, Sutton Council have agreed that the proposal should be considered as part of the supplementary planning document which will determine what development will be allowed on the site, yet issued a document that fails to mention the Foundation. Finally, if the land is sold for housing, it is lost to public services forever. A care village can evolve over time as thoughts about service provision changes. Breaking up the plot into small parcels of privately-owned land precludes this.
Residents of Sovereign Park are happy to see this take shape. As a Governor of Stanley Park, I can see synergies between the new school and the centre with shared facilities and opportunities for vocational training and as a local politician, I would welcome any initiative that improves access to such services. The group have proved their committment over a number of years in pushing the Council and PCT to consider making them a preferred purchaser, giving them a level playing field. They are not asking for a step up. They are a good example of a group of organisations and committed individuals seeking to offer a service that Whitehall or even the Civic Office cannot provide. I say, trust people not bureaucracy to deliver.