The Labour Party are facing calls for an investigation into their campaign tactics after a postcard campaign targeted 250,000 women at risk of breast cancer, saying that a Conservative government would scrap two-week specialist referral for suspected breast cancer patients. Apart from being completely untrue, this type of scaremongering is downright shameless.

Locally, too, Labour have been fighting a nasty campaign with one of their candidates in Knights Hill ward putting up a poster in the window of her £400,000 house saying ‘Don’t vote for rich Tory toffs’.

We think that this is all getting a little silly. There are plenty of important issues to campaign on without resorting to these types of petty stunts. The Labour Party has big questions to answer (such as how come Britain has ended up with a £1 trillion national debt!) and they should focus on answering those questions rather than wasting time on irrelevant negative campaigning.

Some of the issues that Kemi highlighted included:
1. Restoring the link between average earnings and pensions.
2. The shortage of affordable housing for elderly people and pensioners.
3. Conservatives’ plans for the BBC and the licence fee.

“Ensuring pensioners get a fair deal will be a key priority for the
Conservatives,” explained Kemi to an audience of nearly 100 pensioners.

“People should be rewarded not penalised for being responsible and that pensioners
themselves, rather than the state, know best how to manage for their
retirement.”

She also used the opportunity to reject claims that the Conservatives were thinking about taking away the freedom pass from the elderly.

Kemi Adegoke is the Conservative parliamentary candidate for this constituency (Dulwich and West Norwood).  She will be answering your questions at the Constitutional Club, East Dulwich Grove, London, SE22 8PW

Find out more about why Kemi wants to represent Dulwich and what she plans to do for us if elected to Parliament.

This is a fantastic chance to ask her about local and national issues that matter to you. Whether it be on local schools, transport issues or anything else that you want to get off your chest.

Where: Constitutional Club, East Dulwich Grove, London, SE22 8PW

Date: Thursday 25 February

Time: 7:30pm to 9pm

In recent months there has been a spike in robberies across the area and we encourage anyone who wants to make their home more secure to take part. The scheme is being run by Help the Aged/Age Concern (now Age UK), but it is available to people of all ages.

For more information, call the Clapham Park Project on freephone 0800 085 2378. The answer phone service will ask for your name, address and contact details. Someone should then call back to give you more details.

If you have any concerns about your safety, the Gipsy Hill Safer Neighbourhood Team are also available to help. CLICK HERE for more details.

The Mixtape Project is being run by the Crystal Palace Community Development Trust and gives young people the opportunity to take part in various workshops that include MCing, vocal recording, DJing and sequencing software producing.

Each day-long workshop is run by CRB-checked youth workers and offers a brief overview that covers:

• Sequencing – A basic audio/midi introduction to sequencing programs
• Sound synthesis – Demonstrating the basis of how to create a track using midi-sequencing
• Sampling/remixing – Cutting, pasting and editing music to create samples and remixes
• Recording techniques – Recording vocals
• Post production techniques
• DJ skills – Beat matching and cueing

There are only a limited number of places available, so contact Andrew for more information on how to apply by telephone (020 7926 2449) or email (agibson@lambeth.gov.uk).

Opposing Labour's plan to put local families at the back of the queue for school places

Extra school places are to be provided from September 2010 at Kingswood Primary School, Gipsy Road.

But Labour-controlled Lambeth has proposed plans to place local children last in the queue for places. Priority will be given instead to residents as far away as Crown Lane and the Streatham borders at the request of their Labour councillor (even though they have a school on Crown Lane).

We oppose Labour Lambeth’s plans for queue-jumping, which discriminate against Gipsy Hill residents.

Under Labour’s plans, places for Kingswood will be allocated as follows:

• Categories 1-3: Special cases, such as a brother or sister already at the school
• Category 4: Children from as far away as Crown Lane/Streatham borders
• Final category: Children who live near the school

A copy of the map is shown below. The shaded part is the ‘priority area’. Notice how Labour has excluded many houses next door to the school in favour of others much further away. PLEASE NOTE: Lambeth Council changed the boundary of the proposed zone on 12 February 2010 and this map is the most recent version.

Labour’s queue-jumping plans are now out for consultation (ends March 1st).  CLICK HERE to download more details from the Lambeth Council website.

The Council has no plans to anyone about this consultation by post. Also, Labour’s election candidates recently put out a letter welcoming Kingswood’s expansion, but – disgracefully – they didn’t tell you about the consultation or that Labour would place this area’s children at the back of the queue.

Sign our petition below against Labour’s bare-faced cheek and leave your comments on these proposals too.

UPDATE: Labour’s MP for Dulwich & West Norwood has been distributing a letter opposing these plans a week after we first alerted residents.  We welcome her support for our campaign and hope that Labour councillors at the Town Hall will see sense and reach the same conclusion.

The biggest concern among the local residents who filled out the survey was road safety in Poet’s Corner and surrounding streets.   Being a Railton Road resident myself, I asked the council to take action.

Unfortunately, they refused to address the problem.  There are currently no road safety measures planned for Poets’ Corner, so I’ve put up a petition here, for local residents who agree with us to sign.

Please Support our campaign for Lambeth to investigate Road Safety Measures in Poets’ Corner and Railton Road.

Find out more about why this local resident wants to represent the people of Herne Hill and what she plans to do for us if elected to Parliament. This is a fantastic chance to ask her about local and national issues that matter to you.

A photo of the Cambria, courtesy of Ewan-M at Flickr.

Details

Where: The Cambria Pub, 40 Kemerton Road, London SE5 9AR
Date: Wednesday 17 February
Time: 7:30pm to 9pm

We have asked Lambeth Council to tackle this issue by putting up fixed penalty signs on the most severely affected streets and robustly enforcing them.

 Research in other London boroughs has indicated that fixed penalty notices are an effective deterrent; reminding irresponsible dog owners that it is against the law to leave dog faeces in public spaces. 

Lambeth’s current response is handing out bags to dog owners, distributing educational information and sending letters to local residents. We believe more can and should be done to address this problem now.

We are demanding that they put fixed penalty signs’ where required, supported by proper enforcement of this law.

We live in Herne Hill and feel it is failing to realise its potential. Dog fouling is just one example of the small scale persistent anti-social behaviour that holds this area back. It is filthy, annoying, and ruins the streets for everyone else.

After a couple of weeks of hard campaigning and early starts handing out surveys at Herne Hill, Tulse Hill and Loughborough Junction stations, I’m really pleased to say that First Capital Connect (FCC) customers using travelcards can now claim the refunds they deserve for the poor service we received in December and January.

It’s great to know that our hard work achieved something. Lots of us in Herne Hill rely on FCC trains to get us to work and where we need to be. We deserve a better service and we deserve the same refunds as First Capital Connect Season Ticket holders when we don’t get that service.

It was great to see that even the CEO accepted that the service they provided was poor. Click here and here to see the letter she sent in response to my original letter of complaint .

Here’s how you can claim your refund -

You can claim if:
- You have a First Capital Connect or Thameslink season ticket
- You have a weekly or monthly Oyster or Travelcard purchased from any FCC train station
- You bought a ticket on a day when there were delays and you still have that ticket

Click here for more information about who can apply for a refund or discount and how to apply.

For all paper tickets, oyster and travelcards, proof of purchase may be required.
If you have a season ticket – click here for the discount refund form or print out and post this form
If you do not have a season ticket – click here for the single journey delay repay claim form