SIMON EMMETT . net

At last, after an extremely busying week I’m back, and events in Shooters Hill have taken a very interesting turn.

It’s been a well known fact that that the local Labour party here in Greenwich have been going through their selection of candidates for next May’s local elections. Also, as usual, their have been a few “rumours” as to movements. I had resisted on blogging about the rumours, mainly because I couldn’t confirm any of them. But now that Andrew Gilligan posted about the selections on his blog (click HERE), it’s clear for all to see that Labour seem to be worried.

The biggest of the movers is that of Chris Roberts the council leader himself. Mr Roberts is on the move from his ward, Peninsula, where he has the lowest personal polling of ANY councillor! His next location is to a safer seat in Glyndon ward.

But, it’s the selection in Shooters Hill that obviously interests me the most. Of the three sitting Labour councillors, it appears the names on the ballot paper for my ward will be very different, so I will go through them individually. The first is councillor John Kelly, who I am led to believe is standing down in May from the council altogether.

Then there is Cllr Denise Hyland. Cllr Hyland was made a cabinet member a little while ago, and it seems that she has ambitions to stay in that role, as she applied to move to the much safer ward on Abbey Wood. As a resident of her current ward it looks on the face of it that she thinks more of here council career, than the views of the residents that first elected her. Her move has also meant the sitting councillor, Cllr Sekhon, who was awarded an OBE for her services to public life has been eased out.

That leaves the antipodean explorer Cllr Thorpe, who we all remember disappeared for a year down under.

So in Shooters Hill we find that we have a Councillor that doesn’t want to stand here anymore to protect her council career, and another who didn’t want to serve the residents of this ward for a quarter of his elected term.

Is nice to know that Labour care so much about the residents of my ward!