Southwark News, Thursday February 23 2023
NEWS 13
herbie@southwarknews.co.uk Private and public landowners could join forces for the public good thanks to Southwark Council’s land commission - the second of its kind in the UK.
Cllr James McAsh is one of the key brains behind the scheme
Currently no one knows who owns all the land across the borough “Yet again Labour are trying to mark their own homework. For Labour to appoint their own parliamentary candidate to this important position is a direct conflict of interest,” he said. He added: “Southwark Labour must not be allowed to use public money and platform to raise the profile of a local prospective parliamentarian and gain undue advantage.” Cllr McAsh said: “Miatta is eminently qualified for the role. She wasn’t appointed on the basis of her political affiliations… in fact I don’t know what most people’s political affiliations are.
“I can imagine if there was an election coming up and if it was a contentious constituency it might be more contentious but Miatta is clearly very qualified.” Dr Fanhbulleh said: “I have worked on housing and land issues at national and local level for over fifteen years. I agreed to chair the Southwark Land Commission because I wanted to bring this experience to this important piece of work. And I am determined that as a commission we engage with all parts of the community and work on a crossparty basis.”
There have also been criticisms that environmental groups are underrepresented on the commission’s board, which Extinction Rebellion (XR) Southwark said was a “concern”. An XR Southwark spokesperson said: “We also noticed with concern that there were no community groups on the land commission from an environment and climate perspective. “The design of urban spaces is one of the most effective tools we have in both adapting to and mitigating climate change,” they added. Cllr McAsh said it was “in part a fair
criticism” and that the commission was looking at bringing in a board member with more environmental expertise. The commission is the second of its kind in the UK after a similar initiative was launched by Liverpool Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram in 2020. Southwark Council has appointed planning consultants PRD, We Made That and PMV Planning to help oversee it. The group will have its first meeting later this month to decide the scope of the project. By July, it hopes to make a set of recommendations to Southwark Council.
Exclusive
The News understands that Bright Horizons nursery, streets away on Tabard Street, made the decision to close this year due to rising costs too. Last August, the National Day Nurseries Association warned that nurseries had endured a “disastrous” year. From April to July 2022, 65 per cent more nurseries closed compared with the same months in 2021, it said. Purnima Tanuku, Chief Executive of the NDNA, said: “Most nurseries are small businesses and, similar to the picture in other sectors, these are hugely impacted by rocketing fuel costs, inflation and chronic underfunding. But nurseries have also had to pay unfair business rates which tax the space they give children to grow, explore and develop. We are expecting minimum wages to go up again as low paid workers grapple with inflation in double
figures. Meanwhile qualified early years practitioners are leaving the sector to take up better paid work elsewhere, leaving nurseries struggling to recruit.” “All nurseries’ challenges can be sourced back to government policy, offering parents so-called ‘free’ childcare places, then paying only part of the cost of delivering them. If your biggest customer isn’t paying the going rate that makes it difficult to survive.” Earlier this month, 1st Place nursery in Cambridge House, Camberwell, almost closed permanently after it failed to reach a new lease agreement with its landlord EatWorkArt. Parents were locked out of the premises before EatWorkArt reopened them, saying it recognised “the upset” caused by the “temporary unavoidable closure”. The 1st Place nursery is still expected to close in the coming months.
Two more nurseries to close due to the cost-of-living crisis Banana Moon Nursery, Borough.
By Herbie Russell herbie@southwarknews.co.uk
Two Borough nurseries have been forced to close due to the cost-ofliving crisis.
Banana Moon nursery, on Trundle Street, closed on February 2 after the business “became unsustainable”. In a letter to parents, the nursery said that rising operational costs and fewer families being able to afford professional child care were to blame. Mark Bates, managing director of the Banana Moon franchise, said: “Unfortunately, business at Banana Moon Southwark became unsustainable and the nursery has had to make the difficult decision to close its doors.”
Photo by Paul Dobson- APGPhotography (Wikimedia Commons)
Ground-breaking land commission aims to free up space for building in Southwark
By Herbie Russell
The land commission, comprising a panel of local stakeholders and planning experts, aims to explore how different institutions can partner to make the most of local space. However, Southwark Liberal Democrats have criticised the commission, saying future Camberwell and Peckham Labour candidate Miatta Fahnbulleh shouldn’t have been made chair. Cllr James McAsh, cabinet member for the climate emergency and sustainable development, said: “Southwark council is a major landowner but there are lots of other landowners like TfL, non-public institutions with social purpose like faith groups, and other private sectororiented groups. Our goal is to bring these different groups together.” Elaborating, he said local authorities’ “standard model” was to build on land it already owns and find a private developer to help fund it. But he said the land commission could help the council to team up with other institutions, like community and faith groups, to explore opportunities for collaborative developments that benefit both parties. For example, Southwark Council could work with a church to build a community centre that straddles both their land, something which wouldn’t normally be considered possible. Mr McAsh said this was not a survey of land ownership in Southwark, which he said would “cost vast amounts”. “Land ownership is very secretive in Britain. Even the Land Registry doesn’t know the ownership of all the land in the country,” he said. But he added that private landowners would be asked to share that information if they wanted to participate in the commission. The board comprises approximately fourteen members, each from a local stakeholder or bringing some expertise. More members could be added. They will be chaired by prospective Labour candidate for Camberwell and Peckham and New Economics Foundation Chief Executive Miatta Fahnbulleh. Southwark Liberal Democrat Leader Cllr Victor Chamberlain criticised her appointment, saying Labour was “marking their own homework”.
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