Sheila Griffin

All those who knew Mike will miss him a great deal.  Our thoughts are with Judith - she faces a bleak Christmas this year.

The funeral took place on 28th December in the Methodist Church, Chessington.  There were over 200 people in attendance.  Mike and Judith's children read tributes to Mike.  Tears welled up in the eyes.  Mike would have been very proud of them, also of Judith in the dignified way in which she conducted herself.  It will be sad not to see him again. 

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Posted by: sheilag    in: My entries

Modified on January 9, 2008 at 4:31 PM

Each year the Council has a 'State of the Borough' meeting.  The Leader. Opposition Leader and the public get their opportunity to have their say about the Royal Borough of Kingston.  Then it is the councillor's turn - below is my speech

The State of the Borough

There are a large number of reasons why I think I am lucky to live in the Royal Borough of Kingston.  Amongst them are the good shopping centre, the riverside bars and restaurants, the cinema, soon the Theatre and good schools. 

Even though I taught in Coombe Girls' School for 20 years and became aware that there were families who were not so well off as most of the local population in this prosperous borough.   It wasn't until I became a councillor did I become aware of the terrible conditions in which some of our residents have to live.  During the first two years I thought the cases I saw were rare, I thought just a home or two which had slipped through the net.  The longer I am a councillor the more aware I am that this is not so.

So many houses are in terrible conditions.  Black mould in the bathrooms, kitchens and around the windows. I was told it was ‘life style'.  The fact that some of the houses were so damp that tiles and paper will not stick to the walls could not be put down to life style. It is not something that has happened overnight but the stock has been deteriorating for at least 20 years and probably longer.  Many houses are extremely draughty with ill fitting windows and doors.  Any chance of meeting the Decent Homes Standard is in my opinion very remote.

Overcrowding is also a great problem.  Boys sleeping with their sisters even when one, the other, or both is a teenager. Several children to a room.  The parents told to sleep in the sitting room.  This problem cannot be overcome except by having more 3, 4, & 5 bedroom houses.  It was difficult for me to believe when I found that there was opposition to building such houses on Ely Court, a brown field site.

Whilst I know that overcrowding cannot be answered by stock transfer I did agree with and supported the campaign for stock transfer when the ballot was held about 4 years ago.  As the years have passed I realise how desperate the situation has become.  We have lost 5 years of work on the properties.

I hope we all agree and speak as one body that we must find a way out of the unacceptable state we are in and it must be to the advantage of our residents.   We are having to pay the government £6m this year, the amount rising each year, we just will not have the money to do essential repairs in the houses, leave alone replace lifts,  other needs and meet the government's Decent Homes Standard. 

To finish, whilst I think the borough is a great place to live, we must remember that there are large numbers of residents for whom the experience of living in Kingston is not at all pleasant.