At Ease with their consciences?

Below is a note that was sent this very evening to all signatories of our previously mentioned ‘change.org’ petition which fights against the closure of the well-loved Battersea Sports Centre.

17 Mar 2015 

Again, thanks very much to all who have signed this petition. It is indeed one of several electronic petitions that have been instigated. But ours has attracted attention both near and far. And already has been brought to the attention of Wandsworth Borough Council.  

This week we learn that the many disabled and elderly users have only just been advised of the imminent demise of their Battersea Sports Centre. For these already physically, socially and psychologically vulnerable individuals the ‘Terminators’ of Wandsworth Borough Council have now gone one step too far.

They must be brought to book.  

Indifferent to the past, uncaring about the present, eyeing only the future.

Are they at ease with themselves and their consciences?

They are certainly at ease with ‘E’s’ when it comes to Embassies, Formula E and Eviction.

Please encourage others to sign this petition so that Wandsworth Borough Council will become ‘Ex-Terminators’.

Thanks, again.

John Fowler

Changing Rivers or Tales of the Riverbanks ….

This week one of the editors of THE WANDSWORTH VOICE will be publishing from the banks of the Danube in Belgrade as opposed to from the banks of the Thames in Battersea.

Over the next three days observations and comparisons will be made between the ways that two bustling capital cities make use of and allow access to the wider community amenity that are their river banks. 



Belgrade proudly boasts of the confluence of the Danube and the Sava – Wandsworth and the Thames compete a little less grandly with the supermarket-trolley and car tyre-laden inflow of the Wandle and the sensitively culverted Falcon brook.

Both however are embracing change – is Belgrade as indifferent to its fluvial and riparian past as London sometimes appears to be ….?

Our words will flow with the rivers as our investigations continue ….

Sad news as Battersea Arts Centre is ablaze. 

Bad news for the new home of the Wandsworth Museum.  



MSN UK – Outlook.com formerly Hotmail, Skype, Bing and Latest News

via MSN UK – Outlook.com formerly Hotmail, Skype, Bing and Latest News.

Doing the sums and Making the Cuts

Over 300,000 people live in Wandsworth Borough.

We have 3 MPs who represent us on a national level. (2 of whom also have government jobs, the other one being a senior opposition spokesman).

We have 60 councillors who represent us on a local level.

So …. do we really need 20 times as many councillors as we have MPs?  

Especially at these times of cost and budget cut-backs …

We allow our readers to draw their own conclusions.

Let there be light …. or even more accurately  …. Let there be lights …

Continuing our rib-tickling ‘Brighter Borough’ theme …

Surely our ‘Brighter Borough’ should ensure that all our street and road lamps are working properly.

Prime example of this not being the case is the Wandsworth Roundabout end of Trinity Road as it goes under the railway bridge.

On each side of this dual carriageway there should be 4 working lamps.  Yellow or white. 

Essential for the safety of pedestrians, cyclists and road-users alike.

Guess what – illuminated most of them are not. 

If our local South West London readers come across further such instances then they can report them to the luminaries of Wandsworth Borough Council on …..

https://forms.wandsworth.gov.uk/ufs/ufsmain?formid=REPORT_STREET_DEFECTS&ebd=0&ebz=1_1425943774520

They’ll probably be advised that some of the lighting problems are the responsibility of that noble and august body … TfL.

So that’s alright then …

Wandsworth has always promoted itself as ‘The Brighter Borough’. 

And right now it wants to be even ‘brighter’ …. with its ambition to place 3 very, very large electronic ‘posters’ at the top of East Hill in order to entertain and educate drivers as they enjoy the grind of the South Circular Road.  Indeed a noble and worthy aim. 

Clearly, as a former ad-chap, I can’t be against the use of posters as such, but they do have to be both intelligently and appropriately sited.  Just as advertisers and their agencies are very sensitive as to which print, digital and broadcast media they buy – so are the audience and the environment  equally crucial.

To my trained eye, such large scale poster sites in this fairly intensive domestic housing area are totally inappropriate. 

Their physical size and visual scale – and extremely intense 24-hours-a-day luminosity – simply do not ‘fit’ the proposed location.  

And the intended positive communication of brand values could well be negated by these ‘in your face/in your windscreen’ sites.

To name but one …. Mr Clooney will look more than a little smug and complacent with his delicate demi-tasse of Nespresso. 

‘It’s alright for him, but I’m stuck behind a 37 bus and assorted giant multi-wheeled supermarket trucks’ may well be the reaction from disgruntled drivers. 

Others will certainly write about ‘driver distraction’, ‘light pollution’ and ‘road safety’. 

Our start point is different – but our goal is the same. 

No electronic/digital posters on East Hill, please.

If our many readers are at all motivated to know more – they should take a look at the Wandsworth Borough Council Planning Application website – 2015/0507.  

See what you think …. and then please say what you think.

Earlier this week we started a petition against the closure of the Battersea Sports Centre on ‘change.org’

It is indeed one of several petitions that have been created these last few days – both ‘on-line’ and ‘paper copy’ – and they all have one thing in common …. a formal declaration of protest against the possible closure of the well-loved and well-used Battersea Sports Centre. 

Standing in (the optimistically named) Hope Street this morning, talking to both users and residents, it became very clear that there is something very special about the Battersea Sports Centre. 

People aged from 7 to 70 are using it. And not just local people.  Individuals and families are coming from all over London to use its indoor and outdoor facilities. The fact that the mooted ‘replacements’ are neither appropriate nor fit-for-purpose nor likely to be ready within the next 5 years shows a dreadful disregard by Wandsworth Borough Council for the staff, users and supporters of the Centre.

We thank all the signatories to date for letting THEIR voices be heard.



I couldn’t have put it better myself …. Even though I did of course try ….

Saving Battersea Sports Centre 

Here is the petition site 

https://www.change.org/p/the-planning-committee-of-wandsworth-borough-council-re-consider-the-closure-of-battersea-sports-centre?recruiter=242931576&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=share_email_responsive

Please sign or pass on.

Thanks very much.  



A surprisingly good headline from one of our local papers.