The only story that anyone’s talking about  in Southwark this week is that the attendance records of all Southwark Councillors has been released.

Three councillors had a perfect attendance record at all meetings they were due to attend, of which I was one  - having attended 31 out of 31 meetings. My Lib Dem colleague Paul Noblet  (19 out of 19) together with Conservative Robin Crookshank Hilton (21 out of 21) also  scored top marks. But I attended more meetings than them in total, so I am claiming the best record on goal difference.

And since I’ve decided that, in this regard at least, modesty is not  the best policy, I am also pleased to report that Liberal Democrats top the party poll too.  

Overall turnout by Liberal Democrats for the period until the end of March stood at 83%. The figure for Labour Party councillors was 75.9% and for Conservative 78.7%. The bottom three slots were filled by Labour councillors. Two Labour councillors failed even to attend half of the meetings at which they were scheduled to be present. 

Liberal Democrats have succeeded in fighting off Labour’s worst plans for high density developments in
East Dulwich. 

As previously reported, we have been fighting off the Mayor’s plans for high density development coming to
East Dulwich.   The local Labour party said we were telling ‘porkpies’ but  recently, the Labour Government directed Southwark Council to designate our area as suitable for buildings up to seven stories high.  

The Lib Dem led Council refused to cave in to demands from Labour’s Ruth Kelly that high density developments should be allowed in
East Dulwich and recommended a legal challenge to the Government to force the Government to re-consider her decision. 

In a last minute climb down, the Government has now agreed an upper limit of four storeys – still one more than we wanted but a clear improvement on where we were just weeks ago.

We have secured the best deal we could for local people. The worst excesses of Labour high rise plans have been stopped. But I remain of the view that our case was sound and in a sane world we would have been able to come to our own conclusions without this ludicrous and politically motivated interference from politicians who should have more important things to do with their time.