Councillor Gerry Ryan responds.

Councillor Gerry Ryan responds to my letter.




















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Tags croydon, greenparty

Reaction to dispersal zone at the Rec

Comment given to Croydon Advertiser regarding the dispersal zone at the Rec.

New dispersal powers have certainly made a difference to Thornton Heath Recreation ground BUT unless they are part of wider strategy then I am not convinced perceptions of the park will permanently change.

Link here to online version

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Tags croydon, greenparty

Cuts in services - council lobby videos

Demonstrators lobbied the last council meeting. Greens were there in force.
The facts are that the Council is planning to cut upto one third of its workforce and to privatise many services. As many as 2000 jobs could go as the Council tries to cut its budget by £70 million over the next few years.







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Tags croydon, greenparty

Letter on mobile phone masts

08.10.10

Dear Editor,

I was recently one of five hundred households to receive a letter from Croydon Council advising me of plans to erect a mobile phone mast outside Boulogne Road Recreation Ground. Despite an OFCOM report advising a precautionary approach to mobile phone masts around schools, the mobile phone operators have chosen a spot outside one nursery and across the road from another.

When I lodged an objection via the online planning portal I noticed that only four other objections had been registered. Yet when chatting with neighbours I became acutely aware that many people were very unhappy about this situation. Work commitments meant that I had limited time, nevertheless I notified your paper, organised a demo and collected signatures for a petition. However, a few days later I was dismayed to receive a letter saying that the application had been approved.

It is clear to me that if we had collected a thousand signatures we could have applied enough pressure on the council to throw out this application and ask the mobile phone operators to find an alternative location.

The area around Boulogne Road is not a hotbed of community activism: there is no active residents association on the scale of Spring Park, for example, and people around here seem to feel powerless. Hence, it is incumbent on Selhurst’s Labour councillors, who are paid to represent us, to ensure our views are not ignored. They would have known about this planning application but they did nothing - hardly surprising since they have been elected in a safe Labour ward and hence have a job for life. They can depend on habitual Labour voters to re-elect them regardless.

Yours sincerely

Shasha Khan

Croydon Green Party

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Tags croydon, greenparty

10km Stiletto Walk

On Saturday 9 October, CCAT supporters will walk 10km in stilettos through central Croydon to raise money and awareness of our campaign to help the victims of human trafficking in Croydon.

We estimate it will take around 3 hours, or just a tiny proportion of the working day of a young woman forced to sleep with men, every day, week in, week out.

To get involved, or to sponsor our 10km stiletto walk go to:

www.theccat.com

Did you know?

Ø Croydon is one of the biggest 'ports' for human trafficking in the UK

Ø Over 2 million people are trafficked across international borders each year,

70 percent are female and 50 percent are children.

Ø The majority of these victims are forced into the commercial sex trade

Ø Human trafficking in the second largest source of illegal income worldwide

exceeded only by drugs trafficking

Help us free the slaves of human trafficking in our town!

Croydon Community Against Trafficking (CCAT) exists to raise awareness about human trafficking and encourage action against it.

Grace Onions, Green Party candidate in Waddon, has just forwarded me the above!
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Tags croydon, greenparty

A mobile phone mast to be erected adjacent to two nurseries.

Upon receiving a letter from the council about a proposed mobile phone mast around the corner, I decided to view the application online. The location map accompanying the application identifies the site as being opposite a pre-school and yards from a nursery.

There is evidence to suggest that mobile phone masts are safe. There is also some evidence to suggest the contrary. The Stewart Report which can be found on OFCOM's sitefinder website (an initiative recommended by the report) advises a 'precautionary approach', and has a section on base stations around schools. The report states:

We suggest therefore that a better approach would be to require that the beam of greatest RF intensity (see paragraph 4.32) from a macrocell base station sited within the grounds of a school should not be permitted to fall on any part of the school grounds or buildings without agreement from the school and parents.

Indeed some countries forbid the erection of base stations on sensitive locations, such as schools. Additionally, if a child uses a mobile phone whilst adjacent to a mobile phone mast then the power directed to the mobile phone from the mast is that much greater.

When considering all of the above I decided to lodge an objection and raise awareness of what was being proposed.

Comment sent to local papers:

"Mobile phone masts have become part of our cityscape. We all use mobile phones. Nevertheless, that should not mean masts can be erected almost anywhere, especially in front of two nurseries. The Stewart report that appears on OFCOM's web site recommends the precautionary principle until gaps in scientific knowledge are filled. That is why we feel the mobile phone operators should find an alternative location. However, to do this we need the Planning Committee to reject this application. The mums and dads and local residents urge them to throw it out"

Despite the objections I received this reply:

Dear Sir/Madam,


Application No:- 10/02698/DT Applicant:- Vodafone Ltd and Telefonica O2 UK Ltd

Details of Application: Erection of 11.5 metre high telecommunication mast with 6 antennas attached and ancillary equipment housing at: Boulogne Road Recreation Ground, Boulogne Road,
Croydon, CR0 2QT

With reference to the correspondence about the application described above, I write to inform you that the Council has reached the following decision on the proposal:

Decision: Approved

Please note that a schedule will be shown overleaf if any conditions/reasons or informatives are part of the decision.

Please quote the application number in any future correspondence.

Yours sincerely,

Rory Macleod
Head of Planning Control

I have since sent the comment below to the papers:

"This is a liberty too far. Given that the OFCOM' report advises a precautionary approach to mobile phone masts, especially around schools, I feel the council may have underestimated the risk. There is no doubt in my mind I could have collected 1000 signatures if I had the time. Sadly due to work commitments, I couldn't devote enough time to this campaign. If we had collected 1000 signatures for our petition, maybe then the council would have recognised the strength of feeling about this proposal.

"As usual the three Labour councillors have done nothing. They should be ashamed of themselves. They are paid to represent the residents in Selhurst but because they have been elected in a safe Labour ward they can sit back knowing they'll be re-elected in four years time. If they had come out to speak to the residents, as I did, they would have known the anger that everyone feels about this mast.

"It will be an absolutely tragedy if in the future we find the science behind the health effects of mobile phones and masts has been suppressed, as it was for cigarettes. It is important to remember that mobile phone operators contribute billions of pounds to the government through taxation every year. With that comes massive lobbying power.

"As I have only just received the council's response, I will seek advice and speak with the local residents and parents about what we should do next."

The Croydon Advertiser has been running a story about our campaign and today reported on the decision.

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Tags croydon, greenparty

Operation Refresh

Croydon Police have announced their latest initiative: Operation Refresh. Refresh focusses on the wards of Thornton Heath, Selhurst, Bensham Manor, Broad Green and West Thornton. A dedicated inspector, five sergeants and eighteen constables will be deployed in to this area which has experienced an increase in street robberies. A report by the Croydon Advertiser notes that the spike in street robberies corresponds with a decrease of similar crimes in the town centre. Whatismore, in what appears to be a combination of breathtaking spin and unrivalled diplomacy, the local Superintendent regards the new initiative as a response to the "high population and excellent transport links."

My comments were reported in the Croydon Advertiser (above) and here (online).

I gave a verbal comment and a written comment (below) to the newspaper

"Whilst I welcome an increase in visible police presence, I feel that Operation Refresh will fail to address the underlying issues and simply shift the problem elsewhere.
It appears that Operation Safe For All may have contributed to the increase in street robberies in the north of the borough, something which might have been easily predicted. I'm also concerned a zero tolerance approach could create tensions between the community and the police."

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Tags croydon, greenparty

New train line in Croydon

Link to online version with comment from Chris Sciberras.

At Saturday's local party meeting, Croydon Greens backed Chris Sciberras' take on the proposed BML2 line. On the surface it seems unusual that our local party would not be supporting another railway line. In principle we support increases in capacity for public transport - of course we do. However, it is a question of priorities.

Full comment from Chris :

Mainline Railway through Addiscombe

Network Rail plans to build a new mainline railway running from Sanderstead through Addiscombe to join up with the Elmers End to London Bridge line. This would form part of the proposed BML2, an alternative rail route from London to Brighton.

More rail capacity is definitely needed between London and Brighton due to congestion especially at East Croydon Station. Expanding public transport is also a Green party priority.

However, the proposals as they stand would mean reconstructing of part of the Croydon tram network, demolishing some houses and blighting the lives of thousands of Croydon residents especially in Addiscombe where a high level bridge would be built above the tram tracks.

Instead Croydon Green Party calls for improvements to expand the capacity of East Croydon by the addition of more platforms and a redesign of Windmill Junction to be priortised.

The BML2 proposals were unearthed by Chris Sciberras, transport spokesperson for Croydon Green Party, who passed the details on to the Croydon Advertiser. Chris added: ‘Surely Croydon Council should take an active role in planning Croydon’s future transport needs. With big decisions on the development of the East Croydon site due shortly, can we really afford to have a Council sleeping on the job?’

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Tags croydon, greenparty