A week of highs and lows
This week has been a week of real highs and lows in Greenwich. While there are regular tasks and activities on my radar, quite often there will be a whole range of unexpected challenges to deal with.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, I was notified that anti-Semitic and racist graffiti had appeared in Blackheath. Seeing the images of what had happened was like something out of a history book. Quite quickly other residents got in touch to report additional incidents of racist graffiti.
To say that the graffiti was evil is an understatement and throughout the night our street cleaning and parks and open spaces teams removed some of it.
On Sunday afternoon, myself and officers from our community safety team had spoken to the Police and developed a joint plan about our response. And within 12 hours, I’d spoken to the Mayor of London, our three MP’s, London Assembly member, councillors, residents and partners from across the borough. It was so reassuring that that one message of hate had generated so many more messages of solidarity, compassion and kindness.
Holocaust Memorial Day
On Monday morning, we gathered in a packed Woolwich Town Hall for our Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration ceremony. School children, faith leaders and colleagues from across the borough came together.
Given the events of the night before, the event had even more poignancy and relevance. It was also a stark reminder that 75 years after the Holocaust, anti-Semitism and race hatred remains in our world and this must be challenged.
On Wednesday, we had our full Council meeting and I was really pleased to work with Cllr Matt Hartley, the Leader of the Opposition, to propose a joint motion which was supported by all 51 of our councillors. As Matt said on the night, we’ve seen people try to sow divisions and spread hatred in our borough before, and they’ve never won.
I’d like to thank everyone who got in touch and working to challenge racism and hatred in all its forms.
Making a small difference
If you talk to most politicians and ask about their motivations, they will usually say “making a difference”. It can be a really hard thing to achieve, particularly on a large scale, so when it happens it’s a truly heart-warming experience
On Tuesday, I joined Cllr Chris Kirby, Cabinet Member for Housing, and ward councillors as we welcomed residents to our new council housing in Duckworth Terrace, Abbey Wood. It was brilliant to meet Jacqui and her partner who had just moved into these beautiful new properties specifically built for people aged 60 and over and funded by the Right to Buy scheme.
We also visited some of the new council homes we’ve built in Charlton opposite The Valley which have received lots of positive comments online. They’ve been designed by Peter Berber and are truly eye catching.
With such unique designs and environmental performance, it feels good to know that we’re building council homes that are truly fit for the 21st century. Both social housing developments form part of our commitment to providing homes for local residents on lower incomes, a commitment bolstered by the announcement of Greenwich Builds, the Council’s biggest programme of home building in a generation which will deliver 750 new homes across the borough.
Making a big difference
As well as working hard to change the lives of individuals, a lot of work goes into having a much bigger impact across a whole service, scheme or area.
You may have attended one of our schools or a children’s centre, but you may not know that we have hundreds of people supporting children and families in real need. Whether it’s supporting children in our care, or a family whose child has special educational needs, this is a truly life changing part of the work the Council does with nearly one third of our entire budget spent in this area each year.
Before Christmas, Ofsted arrived to inspect our services. From our child protection arrangements to the support we provide to foster carers, this is a high-pressure area where we simply cannot get it wrong. The lives of some of our most vulnerable children depend on what we do.
I’m absolutely delighted (and somewhat relieved!) that this week the results of that inspection have been published and our children’s social care service has once again been rated ‘Good’ in all categories.
There is absolutely no room for complacency either and we are already looking at what we need to do to make these services even better. If you are currently using any of these services, I’d love to hear from you about your experiences and any suggestions you have about what we could be improving on.
Please get in touch with me via Twitter.