April 2007 Archives

IC South London reports on the ceremony to unveil a memorial to the two men who died when a crane collapsed in September 2006.

Michael Alexa, 23, and crane driver Jonathan Cloke, 37, both died in the incident in Battersea. Their families will be joined by Martin Linton MP, who will unveil a plaque to the two men on Thessaly House, Thessaly Road, at 9.30am.

The Wimbledon Guardian had coverage of the ceremony the following day.

As well as the families, representatives from Barratt Homes, Wandsworth Council and the police attended along with Battersea MP Martin Linton and the minister for health and safety.

Another roundup of the latest news from Martin Linton's official site.

Leave the museum where it is
Battersea MP Martin Linton has congratulated campaigners and thanked local benefactors Michael and Dorothy Hintze for their £2 million donation to save Wandsworth Museum, but told them the money should not be squandered on moving the museum to West Hill.

More room on peak-hour trains
Battersea MP Martin Linton welcomed the Government’s decision to create 3,700 new peak-hour places on trains going through Clapham Junction by expanding the Gatwick Express service.

And the Eggscar goes to...
Pupils at John Burns primary school in Battersea let their imaginations run riot in their annual competition for the best decorated Easter Eggs.

Crime rates fall again
Battersea MP Martin Linton welcomed the crime figures out last week which showed that crime rates have fallen by 5% in Wandsworth over the past two years and by 9.2% in London as a whole over the same period.

Another blog post about the threatened closure of the BAC.

This time the target of the Tory cut spree was Battersea Arts Centre (BAC) in Wandsworth. The centre came under threat from the Tories despite its reputation for award winning and innovative work. Tory Wandsworth Council did a double-whammy on the centre by trying to cut its funding and put up its rent at the same time! In numbers that meant withdrawing funding of £100,000 a year, and raising the centre's yearly rent by £270,000!

Labour MPs Martin Linton and Sadiq Khan took up the cause of the centre. They attended a mock funeral for BAC to raise awareness of the threat and tabled this Parliamentary motion in support of BAC. Despite the motion getting support from Tory, Labour and Lib Dem MPs, one of Wandsworth's MPs (suprise, suprise Tory Justine Greening) couldn't bring herself to sign it. Even far-right Tory Andrew Rosindell supported the motion!

The Wimbledon Guardian quotes Martin Linton in a story about Network Rail's plans to spend £8m on Clapham Junction.

Battersea MP Martin Linton has praised these new developments.

He said he has been campaigning for disability access ever since he was elected.

Mr Linton said: "I have constituents that live in Falcon Road, Battersea, who say to me they have to get a taxi to Victoria before they can get on a train because access at Clapham Junction is so hard."

Please pardon a brief piece of self-referentiality.

Over on my own blog, I report on the success of the pledge to send a copy of The God Delusion to all Westminster MPs. I've sent a copy to Martin Linton. I have had confirmation that the book has arrived, but so indication as to whether it has been read or enjoyed.