CJAG YouTube Channel

3 mins read

CJAG has setup a channel on YouTube to host our videos. It includes:

  • Public meetings organised by CJAG
  • Special events and meetings
  • Council speeches
  • Planning application decisions
  • …and some others that we find relevant to our campaigns

You’re welcome to subscribe (and click on the notification bell to be alerted of new uploads).

You can already find on the channel videos related to our articles and campaigns:

Planning Reform: Response from the Conservatives Leader (spoiler alert: derogatory language!)

Back in 2018, the Clapham Junction Action Group published a list of aspirations for planning reforms to be discussed. In drafting those pledges/aspirations, we have consulted with resident associations, community groups and Societies in the borough. We listed 9 areas of improvement in 3 larger categories: Meaningful public consultations, Planning Application Committee (PAC) representation and transparency, Local plan properly non-ambiguous and enforced.

During the full Council meeting on 15 December 2021, Councillor Ravi Govindia, leader of Wandsworth Council, gave his view on planning reforms:

“New approach to planning? My ass!”

Article: New approach to planning? My ass!

In order for you to hear the full context and the Labour’s approach to planning (which is not really proposing much change in our views!), watch here:

Conservatives voting to protests and XR actions on climate change

Extract from the full Council meeting Conservatives where Conservatives Cllr Peter Graham called for all councillors to vote a motion to condemn protests, XR actions and against all disruptions to transport caused by activists raising attention on climate emergency. He criticised a series of Labour Councillors. You will see their responses in the second part of the video, after Cllr Tony Belton raised the point of order.

NB: In a pompous and patronising way, Cllr Graham named Labour Councillors Walker and Rigby as supporting Extinction Rebellion activists, while appearing to make a link between supporting XR and questioning the holocaust:

“With the depressing but familiar attitude of those on the radical left Mr Hallam is on the record describing the holocaust as an almost normal event. Mr Hallam is the funder of Extinction Rebellion. […] The same Extinction Rebellion that Councillor Walker has repeatedly thanked and described as love and kindness. The same Extinction Rebellion that advocates direct action; the same direct action that has been backed by Councillor Rigby”

Context: As reported in an article in the Guardian, Mr Hallam said that in the context of other genocides that happened in History, the Holocaust was “almost a normal event … just another fuckery in human history.” He later claimed his comments were taken out of context. Extinction Rebellion UK and Germany have clearly distanced themselves from his comments. 

Conservatives celebrating the success of Nine Elms

Nothing come from nothing“, Conservatives Councillor Humphries said, and “What better example have we had of what we’ve achieved in Battersea Nine Elms […] there is a genuine sense of community“.

The truth is that Nine Elms is an area into big trouble currently, where developers’ ubris has collated with Wandsworth Council blindness. We have wrote several articles on the area:

Debate on tall building in the parliament

In April 2009, Battersea MP Martin Linton called a debate in Parliament to discuss the issue of tall buildings. The debate was recorded on Parliament TV, in Westminster Hall, Wednesday 29 April, 4pm. In his speech he was talking about the number of tall building applications in Wandsworth borough.

Twin skyscrapers at Clapham Junction: Public Meeting (2009)

On the 28th of January 2009, we organised a Public Meeting, with the help of the Battersea Society, in order to talk about the Clapham Junction redevelopment proposal submitted by Metro Shopping Fund. We had a fantastic audience, 3 great speakers with Tony Tuck, Kate Williams and Martin Linton.

The Future of York Road (2015)

On the 1st of November, more than 90 people attended the Public Meeting organised in York Gardens library by CJAG, in order to talk about the developments planned for York Road, Lombard Road and Clapham Junction area. This was also a very good opportunity to talk about the general planning strategy, implementation of planning policies by the Council. 

We had 4 speakers: Tony Belton (Labour Councillor for Latchmere Ward), Philip Whyte (chair of the Planning Group in the Wandsworth Society), Andrew Duncan (Plantation Wharf resident) and myself, Cyril Richert (chair of the Clapham Junction Action Group). Councillors of St Mary’s Park were invited several time but they either declined or ignored the emails.

Ram Brewery: The Inquiry (2009)

After the approval of the Ram Brewery redevelopment project, including 2 skyscrapers, by Wandsworth Borough Council last year, the planning was stopped by the government as the Communities Secretary called for an inquiry.

Did you like reading this article? Help us write more!

Clapham Junction Insider (formerly known as the CJAG website) has been publishing local news for over 14 years and remains committed to providing information about the local community and engaging in public interest journalism.

Our goal is to feature a wide range of community campaigns and initiatives, local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, and provide assistance to residents.

We have always been dedicated to these endeavours and have no intention of changing. In fact, we would like to expand our efforts further.

Until recently, all the stories, analyses, and reports published have been made possible with the invaluable help of many volunteers. However, it requires a significant amount of time and effort, and we are frustrated that we cannot do more. There are numerous topics we would like to cover, but we require financial resources to provide regular information.

Therefore, we kindly ask our readers to consider offering financial support to sustain these efforts. Any contributions made will help support community and public interest news, as well as the expansion of our coverage in this area.

2 ways of supporting our project

Do you think what we are doing is helping the community and you want to encourage us to do more? We have set up two ways of supporting our project:

  1. Paypal: For one-off contributions, you can just use your bank card. However if you wish to encourage and support us regularly with a small amount, you will need a Paypal account to set up a monthly subscription. Click here to donate.
  2. Patreon: this is a well-known membership platform that connects content creators with supporters. Mainly, it offers financial tools that let supporters subscribe to projects that give creators a predictable income stream as they continue to create content. Click here to subscribe and support us regularly.

If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor.

CJI editor and Clapham Junction Action Group co-founder and coordinator since 2008, Cyril has lived in Clapham Junction since 2001.
He is also funder and CEO of Habilis-Digital Ltd, a digital agency creating and managing websites and Internet solutions.