April E-Newsletter

We will scrap the ‘gagging bill’

I am very pleased to confirm that, if elected, Labour will scrap this terrible piece of legislation - in line with the wishes of the hundreds of you who wrote to me about it. The ill-conceived legislation - dubbed the ‘gagging law’ by campaigners - will be replaced by real reform of the lobbying in-dustry and moves to ensure transparency in elections and to protect freedom of speech. We will scrap the Act, replace it with a universal register of all professional lobbyists backed by a code of conduct and sanctions, and consult with charities and campaigners about the reforms that are needed. Labour will repeal the Act and will instead legislate for the reform that our politics needs. As things stand, the lobbying reforms in the Lobbying Act are so weak that they essentially amount to a charter for lobbyists, and there is a very real danger that they might make a bad situa-tion worse. They have achieved the feat of uniting both lobbyists and campaigners for lobbying transparency against them. We will make the lobbying industry more transparent by introducing a universal register of all professional lobbyists backed by a code of conduct and sanctions. Labour will implement those changes in the legislation to repeal the Act in the next Parliament. We fiercely opposed Ministers’ attempts to gag charities and campaigners because - unlike this Government - we recognise the important contri-bution of civic society to a healthy democracy. We will consult widely about the reforms our politics needs to ensure transparency and a thriving democratic debate. We will work closely with the broad coalition that formed in opposition to the Bill, which included groups as disparate as the Taxpayers Alliance, the Royal British Legion, 38 Degrees and Friends of the Earth.

Time for safer streets Over recent months, a real head of steam has been building up over the issue of road safety. Whether the local campaigns are focused on new crossings, “time to cross” or lower speed limits, more and more people want to make our city safer, especially for pedestrians and cyclists.

Along with Councillor Dimoldenberg, and ward councillors, schools and residents, I have been pushing particularly hard for improvements in the following areas:

Saltram Crescent

Many local people have contacted me to express safety fears about this stretch of road and I called on the Council to take action last month. We have had some progress and officers from the council have been asked to look seriously at introducing traffic calming measures and a chicane of trees has been mentioned as a possibility. Local councillors and I would be very interested to hear your views on whether this could be a worka-ble solution. Please email any comments to harrowroadlabour@me.com.

Harrow Road and Chippenham Road

In a campaign led by St Peter’s Primary School on Chippenham Mews, parents are calling for measures to protect children travelling to and from school. This has already resulted in the Council agreeing to a new crossing, but parents want more to slow traffic around the Chippenham Road/Mews area. The Council are now looking at the feasibility of putting in better signage and planters to narrow the carriageway and I am pushing for action to be taken as soon as possible. Elgin Avenue, Maida Vale

CAMPAIGNERS are calling for a 20mph speed limit to be introduced on a busy Westminster road where a pensioner was killed by a tipper truck two weeks ago.The truck, which was loaded down with rubble, was leaving a site in Tamplin Mews where contractors working for Thames Water are excavating tonnes of earth to make way for vast water chambers that will reduce the risk of flooding in the area. A petition has been launched calling on Westminster Council to introduce a 20mph speed limit in Elgin Avenue. It states that the “road is becoming more dangerous as drivers speed up and down to the detriment of pedestrians and cyclists". Both Camden and Islington have already implemented a 20mph limit throughout the borough, and we can see no reason why similar speed control measures should not apply in Westminster.The petition can be found here.

Sutherland Avenue

Having heard concerns expressed by parents and residents, a petition has also been launched, calling on the Council to take action to improve road safety at the junction of Sutherland Avenue and Randolph Avenue outside St Joseph's School

Please sign the petition here.

Do you know anywhere else where traffic speeds, rat-runs or inadequate crossing times are an issue? Please let me know.

New figures confirm fall in police numbers

Safer Neighbourhood policing was a hugely positive, and popular, change to the way policing operated, with its central aim of linking teams per-manently to a local area in order to develop local links and knowledge. When many of London’s police stations closed last year (including our own St John’s Wood and Harrow Road stations) and the new ‘police model’ was brought in, we were promised safer neighbourhood policing would be even stronger. In fact, new figures released by the Mayor of London show that 463 police officers have been cut in Westminster, a drop of 28% since May 2010. The number of borough-based police officers in Westminster has dropped from 1628 in May 2010 to 1165 in January 2014. Across London, the number of police officers has declined by 3,111 (9%). Many of our local teams have been drastically cut back, with fewer staff and more duties- but without the back-up we were told they could call on. According to London Assembly member Murad Qureshi, the Mayor has already admitted that there may be flaws in his new community policing plan and the inspectorate, HMIC has reported that the Met now has the third lowest visibility of officers in the country. The Mayor needs to act on his promise and get officers into our neighbourhoods. The statistics for police numbers by borough is attached. These were taken from the Mayor’s datastore, see here. At a policing plenary on 5th March, the Mayor admitted that "there may be unintended consequences of the Local Policing Model that are leading to problems on borough boundaries". At the same meeting, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe confirmed that he would be reviewing the model in the coming months. The transcript can be found on page 12 here.

Jubilee Sports Centre update While we wait for the Moberley and Jubilee proposals to go to Planning committees in Westminster and in Brent, I am continuing to press West-minster for a better deal on both the affordable housing and sports provision parts of the scheme. The Council should be rethinking its strategy is the light of strong local opposition to the proposals as they currently stand.

Meanwhile the ‘Save Jubilee’ group has been running a series of video clips highlighting the concerns of local residents.

And here is the video clip I made for them

And the clip made by Queen’s Park Neighbourhood Forum chair Angela Singhate

If you would like to know more about the campaign, here is a link to the campaign facebook page

Plea to stop any relaxation of the rules to limit 'short term' lets Too many Short-term lets can seriously reduce the quality of life for more permanent residents of blocks of flats, or streets. The Westminster Amenity Societies Forum has written to me to ask for help in ensuring that the Government does not relax the rules to make it easier to convert more homes into short-term lettings, and I have written to the Department of Local Government and Communities to make the case.

THE WESTMINSTER AMENITY SOCIETIES FORUM

I am writing on behalf of the eighteen amenity societies and three affiliates of this Forum, which is officially recognized by Westminster City Coun-cil.

We would ask you to make representations on our behalf on the Housing Minister Kris Hopkins' discussion paper on 'short term' lets, entitled “Review of Property Conditions in the Private Rented Sector”, relating to Question 22 on page 19 of this, which is seeking comments as to wheth-er the legislation should be reviewed or updated.

Short-term letting is causing a major problem for some permanent residents in a number of these amenity societies, particularly in cases where short-term lets are regularly made. There can be real problems of anti-social behaviour (and even intimidation), noise, refuse collection problems and similar issues. The Council’s dedicated ward budget, which reflects the wishes of a particular ward community, has in three cases set aside funds to tackle the problem. Furthermore short-term letting removes accommodation for long-term lets, a worrying problem for people to live and work within Westminster, and of course leaves hotels emptier than is desirable.

We are most concerned that the existing legislation won't be amended.

Adding to the cost of living crisis We hear a great deal about Westminster’s Council Tax freeze. But that isn’t of course, the whole story; The Council has also raised rents for their own tenants by over twice the rate of inflation. Yet again, Council rents are set to rise above the inflation rate. For 2014/15 Council rents will go up by 4.52% (£5.28 per week) over twice the current inflation rate of 1.9%. Car parking charges on estates will go up by 2.5%.

Westminster Council have raised Residents’ Parking permits by a whopping 16.5%.Parking charges are now more important than the Council Tax in raising money for the Council. Westminster makes a profit of £52 million a year from parking charges and fines, whilst, the Council Tax raises £46 million a year from the 110,000 households in Westminster. At the very least, we need to look at the impact of all these charges, and not just pick out one!

In Parliament Low pay and the economy

London has suffered particularly badly from the fall in earnings in the last few years. I do not believe that a low wage economy is a a healthy econ-omy . I also know that low pay is one of the factors driving the rise in benefit expenditure, which has risen particularly sharply for working families.

Here is my speech in the budget debate on this important issue, linked here.

Childcare

The costs of childcare in London limit parental employment opportunities and take a huge sum out of working parents’ pockets. I also spoke re-cently in the debate on Childcare in London, linked here and wrote an article on this issue for the Westminster Chronicle, linked here. I have also released a survey on Childcare and would welcome your involvement. Please follow the link.

Local news round up Thames Water

Recurrent flooding problems in W9 have made it essential that Thames Water relieve pressure on local sewers, but residents and business owners have been understandably concerned about the disruption of the works being done in Formosa Street, Chippenham Road/Tamplin Mews Gardens and on Westbourne Green.

With these works now over-running, I have written to Thames Water to express my concern. I am pressing for a commitment to get parks and roads open as soon as possible.

Joe Strummer underpass

London Citizens have been campaigning on the safety of this underpass, along with students from City of Westminster College. I met with them to hear about their concerns, and have taken up the issue with the police and Council.

Burglary in Maida Vale

After a run of both commercial and residential burglaries in shops and some mansion flats in Maida Vale, I asked the police to raise their local visi-bility and to provide advice and reassurance locally. The excellent Ward Sergeant Lawrence Knight, has been very helpful, and arranged increased patrols, as well as bringing the mobile police station to the area last week.

Westbourne Green

Residents on the Warwick will shortly be voting on a proposal to re-develop parts of the estate. The plans offer an opportunity to make much needed improvements and replace some poor quality housing. However, Westbourne councillors and I are concerned that too much of the new housing (around 290 additional properties) will be unaffordable to local people. The scheme on the Amberley Road, on the other side of the canal from the Warwick, has been marketed at £890,000 for a one-bed flat, which prices out most people from the local area.

If residents have to put up with years of construction work and a significant increase in housing density, there has to be real value for them, in the form of new homes for families in housing need, such as those who are over-crowded. Local councillors and I believe the proportion of social housing and cheaper intermediate homes for local people needs to increase in the final scheme to directly benefit more residents.

There should also be clearer commitments that the Council will actually be able to deliver the much wanted supermarket and free cashpoint, as well as reassurances about potential security concerns around the proposed new bridge over the canal and the planned underground parking. We also want to see clearer evidence that the proposed new enterprise and job opportunities directly benefit Warwick and Brindley residents and that the new children’s centre is affordable for local families.

Grand Union

Residents from Grand Union close are at the end of their tether after many years of poor housing management by Genesis housing. Complaints of damp, pest infestation, lack of security and more have not been properly dealt with. I organised a meeting with Genesis and Westminster Coun-cil’s excellent Environmental health team to force some action to improve people’s living conditions.

Wharncliffe Gardens, St John’s Wood

I met with the Wharncliffe residents' committee to hear their concerns about the costing and management of the planned major works. Given the history of works here and elsewhere in Westminster, they are right to be insistent of greater clarity of information and stronger project manage-ment and accountability.

And finally:

Interested in knowing what your area looked like 100+ years ago? Here’s the site for you:

http://www.itv.com/news/london/2014-03-03/how-your-part-of-london-looked-in-victorian-times/

Thank you for reading

Karen Buck MP

Website: www.karenbuck.org.uk

Twitter: KarenPBuckMP

Facebook: KarenBuckMP

Promoted by Robert Atkinson on behalf of Karen Buck MP at 4G Shirland Mews, Maida Hill, London, W9 3DY. The information used to supply this email is for the use of Karen Buck and will not be passed on to any third party organisation.

Contents

1. We will scrap the ‘gagging bill’

2. Time for safer streets

3. New figures confirm scale of cuts to police numbers

4. Jubilee Sports Centre update

5. Plea to stop any relaxation of the rules to limit 'short term' lets

6. Adding to the cost of living crisis

7. In parliament

8. Local news round up