Dear Neighbour,

We wish you all a happy Christmas and New Year! This year has surely been the best Nine Elms Christmas yet, now that we are post-pandemic and the iconic Battersea Power Station has made the area the latest must-visit destination in London!

Please see below for a community update on our recent work for our community, including:

• Nine Elms Christmas
• Success on our hire bikes campaign
• Cost of living support
• Stopping Illegal Car Washing
• Supporting Small Businesses and Cultural Organisations

As ever, please don’t hesitate to get in touch if there is anything you think we can be of help with locally.

Cllr Matt Corner and Cllr Mark Justin

Your local Nine Elms Conservative Councillors

cllr.m.corner@wandsworth.gov.uk

cllr.m.justin@wandsworth.gov.uk

Success on our Hire Bikes Campaign

Lime bikes block the pavements by Chelsea Bridge, making it difficult for the disabled or those with buggies and prams to travel safely. It’s important that the Council and Lime work together on a longer term solution

On Wednesday 14th December we presented a petition signed by hundreds of residents across Wandsworth urging Wandsworth Council to take action on irresponsibly parked hire bikes.

As Nine Elms councillors we have raised local residents' concerns over the dangerous parking of hire bikes across Nine Elms. Local people have raised complaints about pavements becoming an obstacle course for those with mobility needs.

We are pleased that the Council has now started impounding irresponsibly parked hire bikes. But it is now important that they work with the bike companies to install proper bike parking infrastructure, which would provide a long term solution.

Cllr Matt Corner said: 'as a cyclist myself, I really want it to be easy to cycle around Battersea, but bikes need to be parked responsibly. It’s time for the council to work with bike hire companies to put in place proper parking infrastructure.'

We’ll keep up the pressure on the Council to adopt our full plan. In the meantime, if you haven’t already done so, there’s still time to sign our petition here.

Cost of Living Support

We know that many people locally are struggling with the soaring cost of living pressures. When seeking out support, it is important to look to trusted sources and avoid some of the unscrupulous scams that are sadly operating around cost-of-living support.

The Government has produced a consolidated list of what Government support is available to help with the cost of living. This includes income and disability benefits, bills and allowances, childcare, housing and travel. You can find this here.

Wandsworth Council has also launched a Cost of Living Hub, bringing together support offered by the Government as well as local schemes (including the School Uniform Support Scheme to help with the cost of expensive school clothes and a Discretionary Energy Rebate Scheme to help people with fuel bills) and support offered by local charities. You can find this Hub here.

Stopping Illegal Car Washing

A picture showing illegal car washing activities block roads in Nine Elms

Over the last few weeks we have worked with council officers and Riverlight residents to get action taken against the illegal car washing operation. Action taken includes towing vehicles away and issuing fines, but the issue still continues.

It is important that this illegal activity stops as the car washing reduces space for pedestrians and drivers and floods the road with soap suds and cleaning chemicals. It also restricts access for the emergency services, who have had to use the road to park on when attending the Riverlight Quay area, as you can see from the picture above.

Our petition asks for Wandsworth Council to:

• Ensure there are more parking warden patrols around the Kirtling Street area, to combat illegal parking
• Install signs to warn drivers that parking illegally may result in their vehicle being towed away, and tow away the offending vehicles when necessary
• Take other necessary action to combat unlicensed vehicle cleaning activities in the area that results in a health and safety problem and/or dangerously block the roads
• Monitor the road on an ongoing basis to ensure the problem does not return, or ramp up enforcement if required

Please sign the petition HERE

Supporting Small Businesses

and Cultural Organisations

Cllrs Matt Corner and Mark Justin at the opening of World Heart Beat with

government minister Paul Scully MP

As local councillors we are working to promote local businesses and cultural organsiations so that Nine Elms becomes one of the best town centres in London.

We were delighted to attend the opening of World Heart Beat in Embassy Gardens.

World Heart Beat is a community organisation that provides music lessons to young people across the borough, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds. It provides a venue for concerts, recording and access to musical instruments. Do check out their work HERE.

The charity was previously based in Southfields but Conservative councillors were able to negotiate a new home for the organisation right here in Nine Elms. £800k of government funding was secured to pay for the move.

Cllr Matt Corner visits Moyses Stevens florists at BPS, grabs a coffee at Over Under and drops in to the popular Battersea Brewery on Small Business Saturday this month

We are also supporting small businesses this month. In Nine Elms, we are incredibly lucky to have a wide range of small businesses opening up. This is part of the Nine Elms regeneration’s commitment to promoting a diverse local economy.

Wandsworth Council is also providing support to local businesses across the borough. Did you know Small and micro businesses make up 98.9% of firms operating in Wandsworth so they are the backbone of local town centres?

They also play a crucial employment role in the local economy, with 93 per cent of the borough’s businesses employing nine people or less. Read more about the support available HERE.

The opening of the Battersea Power Station this year has massively increased footfall, meaning that existing Nine Elms businesses have had the opportunity to massively increase their customer base. It’s really great to see that Nine Elms is thriving post-pandemic.

Take a read of Cllr Matt Corner’s recent article on how the Power Station development has boosted the local economy HERE.

Published and promoted by Harry Todd on behalf of the Wandsworth Conservatives, all contactable at 1 Summerstown, SW17 0BQ.