The Council has recieved a planning application for the demolition of Our Lady of Lourdes School which lies at the rear of Cedars Close and the construction of 9 five bedroom houses.

The application encludes the construction of a new pedestrian access to Christ the King sixth form college to run from Belmont hill ,together with a new single storey security lodge and the construction of a new vehicular access from Cedar Close to Christ the king college.

Details are available on the Council website

DC/09/73230/X

http://acolnet.lewisham.gov.uk/LEWIS-XSLPagesDC/acolnetcgi.exe?ACTION=UNWRAP&RIPNAME=Root.PgeResultDetail&TheSystemkey=58667

DC/09/73231/X

 http://acolnet.lewisham.gov.uk/LEWIS-XSLPagesDC/acolnetcgi.exe?ACTION=UNWRAP&RIPNAME=Root.PgeResultDetail&TheSystemkey=58668

 Your local Liberal democrat Councillors are suggeting a meeting should be held with local residents and the school’s agentsto establish the impact on existing properties.

Please ensure your views on the plans are sent to the Planning information service,L B Lewisham,5′TH Floor,Laurence House,Catford Rd,London.SE6 4SW

Tel:0208  314 7400

Email: planning@lewisham.gov.uk

Happy Lunar New Year

My heart goes out to all those suffering  and I strongly urge all of us to make a difference and donate what we can .

http://www.dec.org.uk/donate_now/

Wishing you all a blessed Christ Mass ,

 A prosperous and peaceful new year

Lewisham Council last night (Wednesday 16th December) held an extraordinary meeting to discuss the council’s failure to progress towards the government’s “decent homes” standard.

In 2001 and 2005, the Labour government was elected with a manifesto commitment to bring all social housing in the country up to a decent standard by 2010.  But Lewisham Council will have hundreds of homes not moving towards this standard until 2011 at the earliest.

Cllr Chris Maines said: “It’s disgraceful that local social tenants are being let down like this.  In 2006, the Mayor promised to meet the decent homes standard by 2010 – this isn’t the sort of thing where ‘slippage’ is acceptable.  Only 11 councils in the whole country are as far back in this process as Lewisham.  If the Labour Mayor cannot organise an ALMO to get government funding from a Labour government, then the least he should do is apologise to the residents.”

The chamber erupted into uproar when the Conservative and Labour groups joined forces to silence Cllr Pete Pattisson (LD-Whitefoot), who was attempting to inform the council about a constituent who had been living in a friend’s front room with two young children for four years.

Cllr Brian Robson (Lib Dem) said: “7 out of 10 of these Lewisham homes will not be decent by 2010 – the Mayor promised they all would be.  If Lewisham Homes had achieved a 2 star rating, like Lib Dem run Islington, these homes would be at a decent standard by now.  With that record, I think these tenants deserve an apology”

ALMO: Arms Length Management Organisation, a way of running social housing.

The Liberal Democrat motion read as follows:

“This Council deeply regrets the fact that Lewisham’s social housing will not reach the decent homes standard by 2010, despite this being a government target first set in 2000, and an election pledge by the Mayor in 2006.

Council deplores the Mayor of Lewisham’s failure to achieve Decent Homes standards in Lewisham and the recent decision by the housing minister, John Healey MP, to withdraw £150million of decent homes funding from 12 ALMOs, including Lewisham Homes, who have yet to reach the required ‘2 star’ standard.

Council believes:

i). That the withdrawal of this cash is yet another blow for Lewisham’s tenants, who have suffered from years of mis-management and underinvestment.

ii) That this decision by the Government puts in doubt whether adequate government funding for Lewisham properties will ever be received.

iii) That this cash would have been received and spent by now had the Mayor not failed to improve housing management standards in the borough.

Council joins with the other affected ALMOs to call on the Government to

reverse this cut and it calls on :

1) The Chief Executive to write to John Healey setting out the Council’s

disappointment with his decision

2) The Mayor to apologise to tenants through the Lewisham Homes ‘Home’ magazine.”

The motion was defeated.

All freedom pass users will need to apply for a new pass early in the new year between January and Febuary 2010 as the current passes will cease to work on 31 March 2010 .

The entitlement to the pass will not change as part of this process.

The application form for the senior citizen pass will be available from 4 TH January2010 ONLINE AT www.freedompass.org or from a post office branch.

People eligible for the disabled person’s Freedom pass ,will be contacted by their local council in the first instance.

The new freedom passes will have additional features and will take up to ten days to produce from the date off application and will mean that  the passes will be sent through the post and and will not be able to be issued over the counter as in previous years.

for more information visit www.freedompass.org or call the telephone support line 08452757054 / 02079349633 (Mon-Fri 9.00am to 5.00pm).

“I wish one and all a happy Hannuka and may we all be blessed with a miracle in our life time”.

“My good wishes to all of you  that will celebrate this special day “.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23770995-commuters-fury-as-key-morning-trains-are-cut.do

The leader of the Liberal Democrats in Lewisham is calling on the government not to proceed with an increased air passenger duty that will hit the Caribean community.Full details can be found at the following link.

www.lewishamlibdems.org.uk

May I take this opportunity to wish all of you who are celebrating this day a happy Diwali.

At this time of Yom Kippur ,I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your families a good signing “Hatima Tova” and an easy fast “Tzom kal”.

Nick Clegg with key campaigners, LibDem Bournemouth conference, September 2009

“In the last eight weeks, 28 British soldiers and Royal Marines have been killed in Afghanistan. However easy it may be to forget, we are a nation at war. Already more than 75,000 British men and women have done tours of duty in Afghanistan.

Thousands upon thousands of our compatriots, putting their lives on the line in the burning heat and the frozen winters of a country on the other side of the world. I want to pay tribute, on behalf of all of us, to the tenacity, bravery and extraordinary professionalism of every one of them. Their families, too, have borne with incredible fortitude the separation, the fear, and the anguish of bereavement. We salute them.

I’m afraid the hardship has been deepened, for all of them, by the enormous difficulties of this war. After nearly 8 years, victory not only seems more distant than ever, failure seems inevitable unless we change course.

I know some of you believe we should call for British troops to withdraw now. If things continue on the present disastrous course, then sooner or later that is a judgement which we may need to make. That is why we must change course. We have one more chance, one only, to turn things around.?

Success cannot be secured through military means alone. Development assistance must be bigger and faster. Talks with moderate elements of the Taliban network must commence. The international community must at last agree to a single plan in place of the present patchwork of duplication, disunity and muddle.

The threadbare legitimacy of the government in Kabul must be strengthened by reaching out across ethnic and tribal divisions. And here at home Gordon Brown must change gear, too.  He must now show the leadership and conviction that has so far been so disastrously lacking in making the case to the British people.

?You cannot win a war on half horse power. We owe it to the young men and women serving in Helmand to give them all the political leadership and all the resources they need to do the job. We should either do this properly or we shouldn’t do it at all. So I say to the Prime Minister: time is running out.

Unless you change course, there will be no choice but to withdraw, and that would be a betrayal of the servicemen and women who have already made such enormous sacrifices on our behalf. I do not want British troops to come home defeated by political failure. I want them to come home, mission successfully completed, with their heads held high.

Today is the beginning of real change in Britain

Let me tell you why I want to be Prime Minister. It’s because I want to change our country for good.

Because I want to live in a country where prejudice, insularity and fear are conquered by the great British traditions of tolerance, pluralism and justice. Where political life is not a Westminster village freak show, but open, accessible and helpful in people’s everyday lives. Where fine words on the environment are translated into real action.

Where every child can grow up safe and secure, able to flourish, no matter their background, their income, or the colour of their skin. Where we make sense of the complex, globalised world of our times and play a creative role in shaping it.

Where rights, freedom and privacy are not the playthings of the government but safeguarded for everyone. I want to be Prime Minister because I want to be the first Prime Minister in my lifetime to be on the side of the weak against the powerful, on the side of freedom against conformity, on the side of human innovation against government decree.

I want to be Prime Minister because I have spent half a lifetime imagining a better society. And I want to spend the next half making it happen.

I was lucky enough to be brought up in a large, warm family that had almost no time at all for the status quo. By parents who encouraged us, required us, as children always to ask why. Always to assume that there is a better way of doing things. If you only bother to look for it. That’s the spirit I found in the Liberal Democrats. It’s why I joined, and why I wanted to lead our party.

Friends, this has been quite a week for us. I’ve been called a number of names. Even “a good leader”. By Evan Harris. I am never going to duck asking the important questions, however difficult they are. But I am immensely proud to lead a party that actually debates things, openly and democratically. Let’s always remember: we are in this together.

So let us not look back any longer. Let us look forward. From this point on, keep your eyes on our goal. Let today mark the beginning of real change in Britain.

These are extraordinary times. A global recession. Mass unemployment. A broken political system. Government finances in crisis. And still: inequality rising and climate change spinning out of control. Faced with these extraordinary challenges; We need an extraordinary government.

Blue-Red, Red-Blue

Because one thing, above all others, is certain. The way we got here is not the way out. The blue-red, red-blue politics that got us into this mess cannot clear it up. The way we got here is not the way out. Britain needs a change of direction. Let today mark the beginning of real change in Britain.

Look at what the old red-blue politics offers. Back in 1997, Peter Mandelson told us to judge Labour after 10 years in government. It’s been twelve years. And we have made our judgement.

If you’re poor, you’re still far less likely to go to university than if you’re better off.

If you’re from an ethnic minority, you’re more likely to be stopped by the police, even when you haven’t done anything wrong.

If you’re a woman, you’ll probably be paid less than the men you know. And if you’re a child born in the poorest neighbourhood of my city, Sheffield, you will probably die 14 years before a child born the same day, just up the road, in a more affluent part of town. We have made our judgement of Labour. They betrayed the best hopes of a generation.

People are hungry for change. So the question now is: what change? David Cameron talks about change. But is it real change?

He talks about broken Britain but campaigns for tax breaks for the very rich. He says he cares about the environment but then teams up with climate change deniers in Europe. He claims he wants to clean up politics but won’t tell you whether his biggest donor pays taxes in Britain. That isn’t real change, it’s fake change. And Britain deserves better.

To be fair, the Conservatives do have one belief. That it’s their turn to govern. They think power should come easily. You get the sense from so many of them that they became Conservatives mostly because it looked like the simplest route to a job in the cabinet.

I chose the Liberal Democrats. Not because I thought it would be an easy route to power. I knew it would be hard. But because I wanted to fight for what I believed in, however hard, however long it took.

The Conservatives want to inherit power; I want us to earn it.

The thing about David Cameron is – the PR might be good, but what’s behind it? It’s like my grandmother would have said. There’s less to him than meets the eye.

As for me? Well, occasionally I’m a bit too blunt in interviews – but at least you know I’m not just spinning you a line. I speak out.

On the Speaker of the House of Commons.

On Afghanistan.

On bankers’ bonuses.

On citizenship rights for the Gurkhas.

And I am so honoured that some of you have been able to be here with us today.

People are turning to the Liberal Democrats. Because they see there’s something different about us. It’s our pioneering spirit.

It was a liberal, Gladstone, who helped develop the concept of universal human rights. It was a liberal, Lloyd George, who introduced the world’s first universal state pension. It was a liberal, Beveridge, who invented the NHS.

Ours is the party of Paddy Ashdown, the first person to put climate change on the national agenda. Ours is the party of Charles Kennedy. Of Ming Campbell. Who used all the courage of their convictions to oppose the illegal invasion of Iraq. Ours is the party of Vince Cable, the first to see problems brewing in our economy, the first with a vision of how to take us to recovery.

It’s because Liberal Democrats are different that, when Gordon Brown let casino investment banking loose on our economy. The Conservatives said yes, and only Liberal Democrats said no.

When Gordon Brown let house prices rocket and personal borrowing get out of control, the Conservatives said yes, and only Liberal Democrats said no. When the contracts were being drawn up for new polluting runways. When our civil liberties were being torn up. When our troops were massing on the borders of Iraq. The Conservatives cheered from the sidelines, and only Liberal Democrats said no.

We are the only party that offers real change at the next election. Labour is dying on its feet. We are replacing them as the dominant force of progressive politics. We are the alternative to a hollow Conservative party that offers just an illusion of change.

Make no mistake. There is only one party that will bring real change to Britain. The Liberal Democrats.

The Challenge

The biggest challenge for the next government will be sorting out the public finances. It’s a challenge neither exhausted Labour nor fake Conservatives are fit to take on. This year’s deficit is likely to be one of the highest in Europe. We will borrow £175bn this year alone – £5,550 every single second.  Total national debt could hit £1.2 trillion next year – £20,000 for every man, woman and child.

I’ll be straight with you. There is no easy solution. There isn’t a serious economist in the world who agrees with the Conservatives that, right in the grip of recession, with two and a half million unemployed, we should pull the rug out from under the economy with immediate spending cuts. But, once the economy recovers, we are going to have to control spending tightly for many years to come.

We were right, in years gone by, to campaign for new spending to help people, to support them, as children, as young adults, as parents and as pensioners. As Charles Kennedy rightly says: our commitments demonstrate generosity of spirit. And those manifestos were right for an age of plenty. Now something different is needed.

But let me make something very clear. I am not going to abandon our vision for a better Britain because money’s tight. It makes me more determined. Balancing the government books isn’t a maths test.

Fiscal discipline is not an end in itself. We offer discipline for a purpose. Not just austerity, but progressive austerity. Reducing the deficit, yes, but also building a fair society and a green economy. Still driven by generosity of spirit, but fit for the circumstances of the day. It’s the only way to deliver real change in Britain.

That’s why our approach is completely different from the two other parties’. We aren’t going to salami-slice budgets like Labour and the Conservatives. Pretending that you can save billions of pounds just by using fewer paperclips and putting up the price of Parliamentary salads.

It isn’t true, and everyone knows it isn’t true. We know what happens when you simply squeeze budgets, across the board, until the pips squeak. We know, because we lived through it before, under the Conservatives. We remember the tumble-down classrooms, the pensioners dying on hospital trolleys, the council houses falling into total disrepair. We remember, and we say: never again.

Liberal Democrats will do things differently. Not shaving a bit off everything, but asking fundamental questions about what the government should and shouldn’t be doing. Working out, openly and publicly, what works and what doesn’t. So we can completely cancel the things that don’t work. In order to protect, and even in some cases extend, investment that really matters. That is progressive austerity.

We’ve already identified big areas where substantial long-term savings can be made. Reducing the bureaucracy of Labour’s centralised state, databases and agencies. Cutting the cost of politics - changing our electoral system and having 150 fewer MPs. Reforming tax credits so they go to the people who really need them. Spending less on defence procurement.

We heard yesterday Gordon Brown is considering taking one of the Trident nuclear submarines out of service. I welcome that step in the right direction.  But if you want to lead nuclear disarmament around the world, you need to be more decisive. That is why we say no to the like-for-like replacement of Trident.

Some people have asked me why we’ve talked so much about identifying cuts. I know it doesn’t feel comfortable some of the time. But we’re doing it because we know that the more we save, the safer our schools and hospitals will be. And we know that if we save enough, we will still be able to include in our manifesto, despite these difficult times, some of the pledges for new investment that we hold so dear.

Because if we end the child trust fund, we can pay for smaller classes for five, six and seven year olds. If we stop the waste of money on the useless NHS IT system. We could improve maternity services so every new family gets a great start.

If we substantially reform politics, with fewer MPs, government ministers, departments and quangos, we could save billions. And we could put the money into insulating homes and improving public transport, creating thousands of new, green jobs. Building up Britain’s infrastructure not our bureaucracy.

Many of these decisions will be difficult. Taking them is the price of fairness. But if we are brave enough to take them. It will be the beginning of real change in Britain.

I want to say something to teachers, doctors, nurses, police officers, social workers, in fact to everyone who works in our public services. Britain depends on people like you and the services you provide. I know these are anxious times for you.

Everyone is talking about cuts. But neither Labour nor the Conservatives has come clean about what that means for you. They’re not treating you like grown-ups. I want to work with you, hand in glove, to agree the way forward on pensions and on pay.

On pensions. Of course, we will guarantee every penny of entitlements you’ve already built up. But we do need to have a proper, independent review of what’s fair, not just for public sector workers, but also for the taxpayers who pay your salaries. Let me reassure you: my particular focus will always be on the gold-plated pensions enjoyed by senior civil servants, quangocrats, judges – and MPs. At a time of pressure for everyone, it’s only right for those with the broadest shoulders to take the greatest weight.

Next: pay. We will never go back on an existing pay deal. That would be a betrayal. But in future, we need to work together to agree strict, disciplined limits. Again, I believe people with the most generous salaries should take the brunt of cuts so their lower-paid colleagues don’t have to. But if it comes down to discipline on pay or mass redundancies. I think we all agree: protecting jobs must come first.

Young people are bearing too much of the burden of this recession. Imagine how it must feel to have slogged your way through school, college or university, maybe racking up thousands of pounds in debt, only to find there isn’t a job, any job, at the other end. This is supposed to be one of the most hopeful, optimistic moments in your life.

Imagine sitting at home day after day, no money, nothing to do but wait for your fortnightly appointment at the JobCentre. We used to worry about getting our children onto the property ladder. Now we have to worry whether they’ll ever get a job. There can be nothing more dispiriting at this formative moment. It destroys your self-confidence, perhaps for good.

I want to say, to young people. I am sorry. I am sorry that you have been, already, let down so many times. I am sorry that you will spend your working lives burdened by the debts of a previous generation.

But sorry isn’t good enough. Our job isn’t to feel bad about problems, it’s to fix them. My commitment to the next generation is simple. The Liberal Democrats will not fail you.

A New Promise

So today we make a new promise to young people that they will not be unemployed for longer than 90 days before we find them work or training. Let me spell out what that would mean: If you lost your job today, we’d find you work, training, or a paid internship by Christmas. Right now, we would cancel Labour’s VAT cut and use the money to invest in young people’s futures.

We would pay for 10,000 more university places and 50,000 more college places this year. And we would introduce a new “Paid Internship” scheme to give people real job experience. With an allowance of £55 a week. Young people would get experience that could make all the difference when it comes to looking for a job.

And you know. We could pay for 800,000 placements. for 800,000 young people. For the cost of just one weekend’s VAT cut. If it’s between 15p off a cinema ticket and a decent future. I know what we should choose.

I have always believed that you can’t make progress as a society unless every generation tries to do better for its children. That’s an idea that’s at the core of Liberal Democrat values. Providing opportunity for our children, even as we provide dignity and security in retirement and old age.

To build a fair society, you have to start with children. And you have to start young. In Britain today, a poor, bright child will be overtaken by a less intelligent, but wealthier child by the time he is seven. This has to change. The first few years are the most important in determining a child’s future. Those first few years when their character, their personality are being shaped.

The first few years are the most important ones. That’s why we’ve always said: scrap the Child Trust Fund, which gives people a cash handout on their 18th birthday. And invest the money when it can really make a difference. With classes of just 15 for five, six and seven year olds. The beginning of real change in Britain.

If you want to know how fair a society is. Look at its tax system. Britain’s is painfully unfair. The poorest pay a bigger slice of their income than the richest. Polluters are allowed to get away with harming our environment without paying for the clean-up. And we lose as much as £40 billion a year to tax dodgers.

That’s why the Liberal Democrats are going to reinvent the tax system to make it fair. Not changing the amount we raise, but changing who pays.

We will raise the income tax threshold to £10,000, funded by closing loopholes that the wealthy exploit. And by making sure polluters pay for the damage they cause. I’ll be honest. If you’ve got a house worth over a million pounds. If you fly trans-Atlantic a couple of times a month.  If you get a seven-figure bonus paid in share options to get round income tax. You will pay more.

That is what is fair. Why on earth should you get tax subsidies paid for by people whose salaries are just a tiny fraction of yours? I don’t want to penalise people who work hard. If you can make it big: all credit to you. But what it should win you is respect, not exemption from your tax bill.

In exactly the same way as on public spending. Many of these decisions on tax will be difficult. Taking them is the price of fairness. If we are brave enough to take them. It will be the beginning of real change in Britain.

So if there’s one policy you take away from this conference. One policy to mention on every doorstep, in every phone call, in every leaflet. Let it be this one.

We will deliver fair taxes Under a Liberal Democrat government, people will not pay a single penny of tax on the first £10,000 they earn. Millions of people will find themselves with an extra £700 in their pocket, and up to four million low earners and pensioners will pay no income tax at all. The beginning of real change in Britain.

After the expenses scandal, people are crying out, rightly, for something different at Westminster. Labour and the Conservatives have betrayed them.  They offered warm rhetoric about change when the scandal was at its height. And then did nothing. They will defend the status quo to the last breath.

Only the Liberal Democrats will clean up Westminster, reform expenses, end big donations and elect the Lords. Only the Liberal Democrats will give people the right to sack MPs who are found guilty of serious wrongdoing.  And only the Liberal Democrats will secure, once and for all, fair votes for everyone.

That means radical electoral reform, argued for from first principles. Not just some minor tinkering, put forward by a dying Labour government as a last, desperate attempt to save its skin.

We must do away with safe seats. Did you know, nearly half of Britain’s constituencies have elected the same party in every election since I was born? These are seats where you could put a red or blue rosette on the back end of a donkey and it would still win. Only when every MP has to do a decent job and win the trust of the people they represent will we ever clean up politics for good. It will be the beginning of real change in Britain.

Imagine a Liberal Democrat Cabinet

Imagine a Liberal Democrat cabinet. Maybe the odd heated meeting. But imagine Liberal Democrats at work.

Dr Vince Cable, of course, in his office at the Treasury. Ushering in fairer taxes.

Cutting the banks down to size. Tearing up the Treasury red tape that strangles local government. And that’s all between breakfast and lunch before he rattles off another book for the day.

I tell you, when it comes to bankers’ bonuses, I can’t think of anyone better to send into the negotiating room. You think Vince would listen to those reckless bankers demanding their millions? He’d say what we all believe: There will be no bonuses for failure, not today, not tomorrow, not ever again.

Then there’d be David Laws at the schools department, hunting down all those boxes and boxes of bureaucratic rules and paperwork that get in teachers’ way, and throwing them out. I mean, recycling them. And if the civil servants say the pupil premium is too complicated. They can’t work out how to invest the extra money to the benefit of the most deprived children. You know David will do the maths himself.

Chris Huhne at the Home Office. Restoring the civil liberties so shamefully discarded by this Labour Government on his first day with a Freedom Bill. Cancelling ID cards to help fund 10,000 more police on the streets. You know Chris won’t be put off by technocrats saying it can’t be done. He’ll produce volumes of statistics showing he’s right and look sternly over his glasses until they cave in.

Norman Lamb reinventing our NHS for modern times, giving communities and patients a real say. Professor Steve Webb getting to work at the crack of dawn to improve pensions for women. Sarah Teather and Norman Baker, building Britain’s infrastructure – the homes we need and the public transport we deserve. Julia Goldsworthy, devolving so much power to local communities she finds she can halve the size of her department.

And, Simon Hughes, taking charge of environment and energy policy. This is a man who’s faced death threats to bring a killer to justice. Who’s been involved in every environmental campaign you can think of since the 1980s. He isn’t going to listen to vested interests who say “it’s too difficult”. He’d set our course for the zero carbon future we need. The beginning of real change in Britain.

The Beginning of Real Change for Britain

Climate change is the greatest challenge of our age, no doubt about it. But it’s also, very much, a challenge of our age. Like so many of the problems governments have to deal with. From financial regulation to terrorism and internet crime.

It crosses borders.

You can’t stop the weather at the cliffs of Dover. That’s why the big deals, the ones that matter, are struck at international forums – like Copenhagen this December. A summit that must, must agree an international plan of action to keep global warming not just below 2 degrees, but below 1.7 degrees. Because that’s what the best science tells us is now needed to prevent catastrophic climate change.

Who do you want representing Britain at a crucial summit like that? Labour? They have let us down internationally. It wasn’t just Iraq. It was their disregard for European colleagues, refusing to attend summits, grandstanding about how superior they were. It was their disregard for international law. Their backroom deals with Saudi Arabia over BAE, with Libya over Lockerbie, with America over torture.  Labour has undermined Britain in the world.

But what’s the alternative? William Hague? David Cameron and William Hague think the nineteenth century state still makes sense in a twenty-first century world. They simply do not understand that in an age of globalisation power must be exercised by nations together, not squandered by nations going it alone.

William Hague gives speeches about the enduring importance of the English speaking world. When everyone knows the new power centres are China, India and Brazil. A Cameron-Hague foreign policy would be the most insular and self defeating in modern times. How much influence would they have in Berlin, in Paris, in Brussels?  Not a gram. Or even an ounce. And because they wouldn’t stand tall in Europe, they would count for little in Washington too.

But there is a third option. Imagine Liberal Democrats around the negotiating table.

Ed Davey, our outstanding shadow foreign secretary. Drawing on the wisdom of Shirley Williams. Paddy Ashdown. Ming Campbell. We would secure Britain a stronger role in the world. By putting us at the heart of the European Union and committing us to abide fully by international law.

The beginning of real change for Britain.

Go with Your Instincts: Vote Liberal Democrat

You know, before I went into politics I managed development aid projects in Central Asia. I led negotiating teams on international trade deals with China and Russia.  I worked on new rules to help create the largest single market in the world, here in Europe. I’ve seen how different things could be if Britain would only play its cards right.

I know there are people who agree with a lot of what we’ve got to say. But who still don’t vote Liberal Democrat. You don’t think we’re contenders. I urge you to think again.

If you don’t agree with our policies. If you don’t want big change in Britain. Then don’t vote for us. But if you like what you hear. If you share our vision for a different kind of future. Then go with your instincts; vote Liberal Democrat.

Elections are decided by your cross on the ballot paper. Power is not any party’s to be inherited. Power is yours to give to whoever you choose.

So don’t turn away, don’t stay at home, don’t vote Conservative just because you think it’s the only option. This is Britain. We don’t settle for second best because we think it’s inevitable. We don’t compromise on our beliefs because people might not agree with us. We stand up for our values with our heads held high.

So when you enter that polling booth, choose the future you really want.

Make no mistake: the Liberal Democrats will do things differently in Britain. But if you want real change in Britain, you have to take a stand. If you want what we propose, you have to vote for it.

If you want tax cuts for ordinary people, paid for by closing loopholes for the very rich. If you want the right to sack your MP if they’re proved corrupt. If you want children to start out at school in classes of just 15. Then vote for it.

If you want our prisons to work, so there’s less crime. If you want a lasting job in a new, green economy. If you want Britain to stand tall again in the world. Then vote for it. This is a vital moment in the history of our country. And you have the power to shape it.

Labour is lost. They haven’t the ideas, energy or vision to start again. If you voted for them in the past, you have a choice. You can give away your vote to a fringe party. You can stay at home in despair. Or you can join with the Liberal Democrats and make the difference.

If you supported Labour in 1997 because you wanted fairness. You wanted young people to flourish. You wanted political reform. You wanted the environment protected. Or you simply believed in a better future. Turn to the Liberal Democrats.  We carry the torch of progress now.

The choice at the next election is fake change from the Conservatives. Or real change from the Liberal Democrats. At a time like this.

A time of real crisis. Britain cannot afford to be taken in by David Cameron’s illusion of change. Britain needs leadership from a party with real passion, and it’s the Liberal Democrats.

There is hope for a different future, a different way of doing things in Britain, if we are brave enough to make a fresh start. So let today be the first day of the future of British politics. It may be only the beginning. But it is the beginning. The beginning of real change in Britain.

If you want things to be different, really different, choose the party that is different.

Choose the Liberal Democrats.

The next General Election will be fought over the economy: who can be trusted to deal with the legacy of financial collapse and recession?  There are those who would have the British people believe that there are only two options:

One is to trust the people who led us in to the present mess to get us out of it: but this would be a triumph of hope over experience.  There are only so many ways of saying that Labour is finished and they’ve already been said.

The question the country is asking is whether they can trust instead a team of young things who have no beliefs or convictions, beyond a sense of entitlement to rule and a mission to look after their own. And whose life time experience of business is confined to managing their Bullingdon Club bar accounts.

The fact is that the country faces enormous economic challenges: tackling rising unemployment, the failed banking system, falling tax revenues and rising public spending; balancing economic recovery with environmental imperatives. These are big jobs for people who’ve been tested in the real world of work. 

Our economy has experienced a massive heart attack, with the banks at its centre.  It has survived in the Intensive Care Unit and is now showing signs of life thanks to modern economic medicine. Interest rates have been slashed. Vast amounts of monetary steroids have been pumped in the system thanks to quantitative easing. Enormous fiscal deficits have been incurred. The banking system rescued and part-nationalised across the globe. The clinicians, the Central Banks, and governments, deserve praise for prompt action.  But serious damage has been done.  Life will not be the same again.  Lifestyles have to change. 

So let me set out the practical steps to recovery: what I would do if I were Lib Dem Chancellor. Urgent action is required on unemployment.  At least three quarters of a million more people have been made unemployed since this time last year. A million young people under 25 are now jobless. Let me give you a quote ‘The most urgent problem of all is unemployment – it is bad business. It injures the morale of hundreds and thousands of young people who have not gained the habit of work.’ Not my words but David Lloyd George’s in the 1929 general election. Who would have believed that we would be back there again? Or indeed, reliving the tragedy of Thatcher’s Britain when a generation of workers were thrown on the scrapheap. What is to be done?

We have got to stop private sector jobs bleeding away as good, credit worthy companies are throttled by the banks.  The banks have lurched from the irresponsible, binge lending which caused the crisis to the equally senseless hoarding of capital which is now destroying jobs and suffocating enterprise.  The banks which have been rescued or underwritten by the taxpayer must be treated as the servants, not the masters, of the economy. 

The unemployed must be found productive work.  We should learn from the experience of Scandinavia and other countries where the alternative to long term unemployment is a guarantee – and a requirement – to work, or for young people train or study.  There is no shortage of socially useful tasks – improving homes, environmental projects, care work – which can be undertaken on the basis of voluntary sector and local government initiatives. There are also some imaginative private sector schemes like the plan to create half a million IT jobs. There must also be more apprenticeships to ensure that the next generation learns skills and trades: real, not financial, engineering.

And commonsense suggests that it is more rational to pay people to do something useful rather than pay them to sit idle, on benefit and paying no tax. It is why we fundamentally disagree with the Conservative approach which is to sit still and watch unemployment grow. 

But once recession recedes we have to tackle the next big challenge: managing the massive and unsustainable public sector borrowing.

We should not be taken in by the hysterical nonsense about the country being bankrupt. It isn’t. But there is a big problem. The public doesn’t need George Osborne’s imaginary, secret documents or conspiracy theories to work out that the public finances are in a bad shape. The government is living beyond its means and has absorbed the massive cost of the financial collapse. Government tax receipts as a share of national income, have collapsed to a level lower than at any time since Harold Macmillan was Prime Minister half a century ago. The enormous budget deficit isn’t just because of recession. There is a structural problem. Public spending expanded on the back of tax receipts from financial services and an inflated housing market: temporary windfalls which were treated as permanent. The Government deficit will need to be cut substantially. If it isn’t there will be a risk of escalating borrowing costs and a debt trap.

Spending first. If public spending is cut in the usual way – slash and burn – there will be great damage to local and national services.  Good will be cut with bad. Front line services will be butchered and lower paid workers will bear the brunt of cuts. There will be particular damage to public investment in areas like social housing which we need desperately to rebuild houses to rent.  So what are the alternatives?  So, we have to set priorities and decide what government should and shouldn’t do.  I don’t pretend that the task will be easy or popular. But I have a few ideas as to how we would start.

We must stop civil service bonuses and the culture of massively inflated salaries. A freeze in the total pay bill is better than cuts in services. There are far too many government officials and quangos overseeing local government, the NHS and teachers.  There is no need for the vast central government databases, like the ID card, the so called ‘super database’ and the NHS scheme.  Tax credits extend too far up the income scale.  There are too many unaffordable defence commitments and procurement contracts including new Trident submarines.  Civil service mandarins – and MPs – enjoy very generous subsidised public sector pensions which desperately need reform.  This system is grossly unfair when the basic state pension is less than the poverty level; when the pension age is to rise to 68; and occupational pensions in private firms have been cut to shreds.

Then the industrial welfare state absorbs billions through Regional Development Agencies and other quangos of questionable relevance. And we all love the NHS but no-one can seriously claim that it couldn’t be better run. All aspects of public spending have to be looked at critically, as our councils have to do as a matter of course.

There is no credibility and no future in being the last of the big spenders. Don’t get me wrong.  I can, personally, think of lots of things that it would be desirable to spend lots of money on: mental health, adult education, childrens’ hospices - and bee research and science in general - are things I have campaigned for.  But economic reality means that if more is spent on some items there is less elsewhere.  Politicians offering their expensive freebies will be treated with the same contempt as bankers lapping up their double cream bonuses, year after year, succeed or fail.
No-one does political cynicism better than the Tories. They pose as tough guys cutting spending sooner and deeper than anyone else. But we have just exposed them as committed to a massive £53 billion of extra spending - more than the total defence budget. If we did that we would be accused of being fantasists or dishonest or indisciplined. But these people are so arrogant they think they can cruise into Downing St without anyone noticing.

The Liberal Democrat approach to spending, is fundamentally different from the Tories.  The Tories propose cuts, carried out in secret behind closed doors after the Election, if they win.  We want an open, democratic debate about priorities.  They want to control everything from Whitehall – just like Labour.  We believe in local government.  Local decision making is more accountable and more efficient.  This requires lifting the dead hand of centralisation and scrapping the command and control quangos who treat local elected representatives like children.  We would give additional roles to councils through health commissioning.  And with that duty should go responsibility including more local revenue raising powers including business rates.

The Liberal Democrat approach to tax is also fundamentally different from the Tories.  The Tories top priority is to cut taxes on millionaires.  Our top priority is fairer taxes for those on lower and middle incomes.

It would be dishonest and unbelievable for me to say that taxes overall should never rise. But the Liberal Democrats’ starting point is to aim for fairer not higher taxes. I would do this by lifting tax thresholds, providing an incentive to work and to save.  It is wrong that people on the minimum wage should be dragged into tax.  Lifting the threshold to £10,000 would mean that 4 million low paid workers and pensioners would no longer have to pay any income tax.

So, my priority would be to cut income tax for those on low and middle incomes. Any such tax cut would be paid for by closing tax loopholes and privileges enjoyed by the relatively wealthy: the big differential between top rate income and capital gains tax; the exceptionally generous tax relief on large pension pots; and the blatant abuse of tax haven status including businesses paying stamp duty offshore. A programme due to be screened this evening will expose complicity on a large scale in tax dodging by Lloyds: a bank part owned by the tax payer. This must be stopped, now.

You may also recall that I proposed a small annual levy  - half a penny in the pound – on property values over one million pounds. Since then we have seen the super-rich pouring their money not into job creating businesses but into acquiring mansions. And remember too that under our unfair council tax Messrs Mittal and Abramovich in their £30m palaces pay the same as a band H family home though their properties may be worth 40 or 50 times as much. That small levy alone would lift 300,000 low paid workers and pensioners out of tax.

We must also lead the debate on tax reform as a Liberal government did a century ago with the People’s Budget. We should aim to shift the tax burden further from income – work, savings and innovation – onto pollution – the green tax switch. Switching taxation onto financial pollution – questionable transactions of no social and economic value. And onto land values instead of penalising productive investment. But at the heart of our tax plans must be a commitment to social justice. 

We have a seriously distorted economy, over dependent for growth and revenue on financial services.  Gordon Brown’s unwillingness to take on the vested financial interests is pathetic. The principles should be clear. Full compulsory disclosure of all pay, bonuses and perks for those earning more than the Prime Minister. The break up of the big banks which are currently too big to fail so that the taxpayer is no longer underwriting casinos. Casinos belong in Las Vegas not in banking. We want straightforward, simple banks which do the basics well; not laboratories for financial rocket scientists.

We need a financing mechanism which can meet the investment needs of big long-term projects which will lie at the heart of a green economy: tidal power, high speed rail, carbon capture and storage, telecommunications infrastructure.  Bank finance and the stock market are, on their own, too short term.  Yet there is billions of pounds worth of potential private investment looking for a safe long term return on equity or bonds. There are frustrated British small savers looking for a better outlet for their money.  What is needed is a British version of the European Investment Bank or Obama’s US Investment Bank which can bring together private capital and professional management under government sponsorship. 

Britain’s economic heart attack has been traumatic and life threatening.  But it also serves as a warning to change lifestyles in a radical way.  The Liberal Democrats under Nick Clegg’s leadership have a duty as well as an opportunity to press home the message about fundamental rather than superficial: political and economic change.  The other two parties, like the banks, are desperate to return to business as usual.  But that is no longer an option.

The country now faces a bigger set of economic and political challenges than at any time since the Second World War. Gordon Brown’s government is exhausted: it is like an extinct volcano. We have a so-called official opposition which is callow and pitifully ill-equipped – politically, morally and intellectually – for the task ahead. By contrast, the Liberal Democrats have the expertise and the commitment to fairness so obviously lacking in the other parties. If there were ever a time for the Liberal Democrats, this is it.

10,000 more police officers on the beat would lead to more than 90,000 more arrests each year, according to research by the Liberal Democrats. The party has today published figures showing where the extra officers, funded by the £1bn saving from scrapping the ID card scheme, would be stationed across the UK.

 The figures, contained in annual reports, also show that:

• Officers in England and Wales made an average of 10.3 arrests each last year. If the new officers put on the street by the Liberal Democrats made the same, there would be an additional 92,352 arrests each year.
• Officers in England and Wales cleared up an average of 9 crimes each last year. If the new officers did the same, an extra 82,265 crimes would be solved each year.

Nick Clegg our leader says that.

“10,000 more police on the street would mean a longer arm for the law. Labour has shown us their tough talk on crime act has not worked, criminalising our young and packing our prisons, while crime doubled under the last the Tory Government.  

 “We have to take action to combat knife and youth crime. By providing every region with more officers we can focus on crime hot-spots, have higher visibility policing and instigate more intelligence led operations.

“The Liberal Democrats are the only party who wants to catch more criminals by putting more police on the street.”

May you be incribed and sealed for a good year

• How to use your skills and learn new skills through volunteeringEntrance is free. Food and refreshments will be provided.

Redbridge Liberal Democrats Welcome New Councillors

“We are the fastest growing Party in Redbridge”

Councillor Hugh Cleaver, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on Redbridge Council, and Councillor Farrukh Islam, Chairman of Ilford South Liberal Democrats have welcomed the decision of two Labour Councillors to join the Liberal Democrats in the borough.

Commenting on the development Councillor Cleaver said: “the addition of two more experienced and able Councillors from the south of Ilford will add significantly to the strength of the Liberal Democrats on Redbridge Council. This means that the Liberal Democrats are in a strong position to make further advances in the 2010 elections. We are the fastest growing political party in Redbridge and we have shown we can play a key role in the running of the Borough for the benefit of all our residents.”

Councillor Farrukh Islam, Chairman of Ilford South Liberal Democrats commented: “the experience of Councillors Satnam Singh and Dr Faiz Noor will add great value to the Liberal Democrats standing in Ilford South, giving us the opportunity to better serve our residents. Liberal Democrat wins in by-elections in Clementswood and Valentines shows that the party has the support of wide sections of local communities in Ilford South. The Liberal Democrats, with the addition of these two experienced Councillors, have consolidated this support and we expect to make significant gains in the 2010 elections. Liberal Democrats strongly believe in serving the residents of Redbridge and will make every effort to deserve their trust.”

The Climate Camp was set up on Blackheath on Wednesday 26 August.  The Council had no prior knowledge that the Camp was going to be established at this location until their actual arrival on Blackheath. Throughout the time the campers have been on Blackheath, the London Metropolitan Police has been the lead authority on this matter.  However, Lewisham Council has been liaising closely with the Metropolitan Police as well as other partners including Lewisham Police and Greenwich Council.  We have also maintained close contact with residents and the campers themselves.

As soon as the campers arrived last week, legal advice was sought about the Council’s responsibility in relation to the site.  We were advised the campers were in breach of the Council’s by-laws in setting up camp without permission, but that we also had a duty of care to them whilst they were there.  This duty of care covered health and safety and we needed to satisfy ourselves they had made reasonable provision for themselves or else provide it for them.

We were, of course, clearly also aware of our ongoing duty of care to residents and to the heath itself.

We conducted the first of our daily official site visits on Thursday 27 August to check whether all necessary arrangements were in place for the health and safety of the campers as well as local residents, and the protection of the heath.  The site appeared well organised but there was no provision for removal of domestic waste and recycling.  On this basis, the Council agreed to provide refuse and recycling bins and a regular collection service. The campers agreed to pay for this service and they have provided us with invoicing details.  We intend to invoice them in due course once the exact costs have been calculated.

A fire inspection was carried out separately by the London Fire Brigade and the camp’s water supply was provided by Thames Water at the request of the Police.  University Hospital Lewisham and the PCT made their own arrangements for contingency in case of illness or injury at the site.

One of our concerns was over possible noise levels.  During our first site visit we made it clear that our expectation was that the Camp should not create a noise nuisance for residents especially after 11pm.  Although some late night events had been planned, the campers responded positively to our request and made some adaptations to their activities.  In the event, the Council received only 3 complaints (from 2 separate residents), all related to noise nuisance before midnight.  These complaints were dealt with by out-of-hours noise staff in the normal way.

The Council also expressed concerns about any possible damage to the heath.  The campers seemed very sympathetic to this and had made provision to replace and repair any damaged areas.

The Council carried out daily site visits, meeting with campers on each occasion.

When the campers originally set up Climate Camp, they expressed their intention to dismantle and vacate the site on Wednesday 2 September.  Due to poor weather conditions the site clearance has taken longer than anticipated but the campers finally left the site on Saturday 5 September.

The campers have carried out a comprehensive litter pick up and the Council is now satisfied the campers have cleared and tidied up after themselves in a way that is not anticipated to cause any long-term damage to the heath.

Whilst fully endorsing the need to highlight concerns and raise awareness about climate change.I do hope that the climate camp organisers will protect the local environment as residents do have real concerns about the damage that may be caused to what is a precious open space.

Hopefully we  will not have  a repetition of some of the scenes witnessed at the G20 protest and that  the police  have learnt lessons  in order to keep this a peaceful and safe protest,allowing residents and visitors to go about their daily business without interference.

All parties concerned  are urged to keep local residents informed as much as possible.

May I take this opportunity to wish everyone a very happy and peaceful Ramadhan

A new free service for residents, to deposit garden waste at key sites around the borough, has just been launched in the Borough.This new service is free and means that residents can get rid of their bulky garden waste .The four locations,  open to residents from 9am to 12noon on Saturdays and Sundays, are as follows .
 

        Riddons Road junction with Mayeswood Road, Grove Park

      Girton Road Car Park, Sydenham

      Kitto Road, outside Orange Café, Telegraph Hill

      Laurence House Car Park, Catford

Residents should ensure that garden waste is presented in plastic or reusable bags to dispose of flowers and plants, grass clippings, hedge trimmings, leaves, twigs and branches up to four inches in diameter.

The service is free, but residents should bring along proof of address and ID, otherwise they may be refused access to the service.

Garden waste can also be taken to the Reuse & Recycling Centre, Landmann Way, New Cross. Green garden waste bags can be purchased from any Lewisham library and arrange collection through CallPoint.

For further information, contact CallPoint on 020 8314 7171 or visit www.lewisham.gov.uk/recycling

Pete Pattissson has been selected as the prospective parliamentary candidate for The Lib Dems in Lewisham East .

Pete who is a councillor in the constituency  and a former local teacher ,has been working With local people and the lib dem team on many community campaigns.

To find out more visit  his web site . There is a link to it in the usefull Links

 £10,000 has been allocated to Blackheath Ward to fund action or activities that will directly benefit the neighbourhood.  My colleagues  Cllr Chris Maines, Cllr Mark Bennett and Cllr Pete Pattison and I welcome  suggestions on how this money should be spent. 

In previous years the Locality Fund  has gone on youth projects, information panels, new benches and bins on the heath as well as school playground improvements, a donation toward the Christmas Lights and grants to local organisations for the elderly.

As before, your Councillors welcome suggestions that would not ordinarily be met from Council expenditure.  It is important to bear in mind that the amount involved is limited to £10,000 for the entire ward. 

A decision about how the money is to be spent will be made at a future Assembly the next meeting of which is on Saturday 30^thSeptember. 

St Margaret’s Lee TerraceParish Office 020 8318 9643 

FLOWER FESTIVAL‘The Life of Our Church’17 – 19 July 2009 

Flower arrangements using mainly British grown flowers and  illustrating life at St Margaret’s –  services and festivals,  groups from the crèche to Darby and Joan and  helpers from coffee makers to church wardens – in short, the patchwork of a normal church life!  

Friday 17 July 5 – 7pm 

Saturday 18 July 10am – 5pm tea, coffee and simple lunch available;  7.30pm Concert by St Margaret’s Choir and friends 

Admission Free  

Sunday 19 July: Eve of St Margaret’s Day 12noon – 5pmServices at 8am & 10.30amOur speaker at 10.30 will be

The next Blackheath Assembly will be on Tuesday 9^th June 2009  at St Matthew Academy, St Joseph’s Vale off Lee Terrace SE3. 7.30pmThe main business will be to decide how to spend the asembly  Community Fund (formerly known as the Mayor’s Fund).  Details of the proposals will be on the Council’s website shortly at  tp://www.lewisham.gov.uk/CouncilAndDemocracy/ElectedRepresentatives/Councillors/LocalAssemblies/BlackheathAssembly/ .

The Community Fund is to be spent on the priorities identified by the Assembly.  For Blackheath Ward these are traffic through the Village, parking, licensing issues, litter and facilities for young people.  The proposals we will discuss on Tuesday will provide new facilities for young people in our area.

In addition, Envirowork Lewisham will explain their proposal for a mobile chipper/shredder that they hope the Council and other assemblies will fund.  Further information about the organisation can be found on their website www.enviroworklewisham.co.uk.

 South Eastern Trains had  also   been  invited  to attend so that they can explain their proposal to close the side exit from Platform 4 of Lewisham Station.  Sadly, no   one is available but we will be setting aside some time for people to air their views.

The next Assembly meeting will be on

7 ^th September and will include an update on the 20mph zone in Blackheath Village

On Saturday 25^th April, a model and design proposals for the re-development of Sparta St, Lethbridge Close and part of Blackheath Hill will be on show from noon until 4pm in the community hall at 58 Lethbridge Close.  Staff from the Council and Family Mosaic Housing Association will be on hand to answer questions.  It is likely that a planning application will be submitted in the summer.

A planning application (DC/09/7126/X) has been submitted to build 788 flats, a leisure centre and shops in Loampit Vale which is just outside Blackheath Ward.  Full details can be found on the Council’s website http://acolnet.lewisham.gov.uk/LEWIS-XSLPagesDC/acolnetcgi.exe?ACTION=UNWRAP&RIPNAME=Root.PgeResultDetail&TheSystemkey=56410.

South Eastern trains will be consulting during the summer about whether the side entrance to Lewisham station should remain open.  The train company wants it closed once the work on the automatic gates and step-free access has been completed in about July.  The exercise will be conducted by Mike Gibson who is South Eastern’s public affairs manager based at Friars Bridge Court, 42-45 Blackfriars Rd SE1 8PG. 

The Council will be conducting a review of the 20mph zone in Blackheath Village during June and July.  They will be writing to all households and businesses in the zone.  We expect to receive an update on the results at the Blackheath Assembly to be held on Monday 7^th September.

The campaign against the use of Greenwich Park for the 2012 Olympic equestrian events has released a report about the cost of using the park. The report produced by No to Greenwich Olympic Equestrian Events (NOGOE) can be found on their website www.nogoe2012.com.

A review of the BHA Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) was carried out some time ago.  The main outcome was that some extra parking spaces were identified.  Work on this should be completed over the summer.

The next meeting of the Blackheath Assembly will be held on Tuesday June 9^th.  Details of the location will follow as soon as practical.

 INVITATION

Please join us in celebrating the

Year of the Ox at a  

Chinese New Year Banquet

on Thursday 12 Feb 2009

7.00 pm for 7.30 pm

at Top of the Town Restaurant

37 Gerrard Street, London W1D 5QB (nearest tube Leicester Square)

Guest of Honour:   Lynne Featherstone

chairing a lively Debate between Liberal Youth members

on the motion: The Year of the Ox - a year of Stability?

Cover price: £30 per person (or £15 for students)

includes 12-course Chinese banquet and wine.

Dress code: Lounge suit                  RSVP 07808 480550                                                info@chineselibdems. org.uk

__._,_.___

Happy new year to all and may it be a peaceful one.

We at Lewisham start the new year with a new leader due to Mark Morris having to step down to taking a job which prevents him from standing as a councillor.

We also said goodbye to Simon Carter who due to work had to relocate to Holland.Both he and Mark where Councillors for Downham Ward.

Mark Morris said, “It has been a tremendous privilege representing Downham since 2002. I have been offered a job with the Greater London Authority, but unfortunately the law prevents me continuing as a local councillor. It has been a difficult decision but I need a full time job, and given the state of the economy I cannot turn down this offer.”

Simon Carter said . “I have always endeavoured to carry out my council duties fully and my job moving will not allow me to continue to do so. Sadly I have to stand down.”

A by-election to election new councillors for the ward is expected on February 19TH.

The newly elected leader of the Liberal Democrat councillors on Lewisham Council is Blackheath representative Chris Maines. He said, “Both Mark and Simon have worked hard on behalf Downham residents and should be proud of their achievements. We hope that residents will elect Liberal Democrats councillors to continue this work.”

The Liberal Democrats are the major opposition to Lewisham’s directly elected Mayor and Cllr Maines promised to maintain pressure on the administration over the coming weeks. “The Mayor is about to set next year’s budget. The Liberal Democrats know many Lewisham families are already suffering under the Labour Government and the recession, so we shall try to ensure people are not hit by further cuts or an unaffordable council tax hike.”

I am grateful that in my life time I have witnesed such a great event.

A friend recently told me a poem that they had heard which I feel truely sums up all that I feel.

Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther King could walk

Martin Luther King walked so Obama could run

Obama is running so our children CAN FLY!!!!

The dream is still alive.