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8/2/2019 News Bulletin from Greg Hands M.P. #329
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Subject: NewsBulletinfromGregHandsM.P.#329
Date: Friday,9March201218:31:03UnitedKingdomTime
From: GregHandsM.P.
In this edition:
Greg Hands M.P.’s Diary Website of the Week:“Stop Them ShaftingFulham” Photo news:Lobbying Boris againstSuper Sewer National Citizen Service is agreat opportunity for 16-year-olds in Chelsea &Fulham Popular schools in RoyalBorough over-subscribed Photo news:Hands on patrol with theLondon Ambulance Service Local Councillor slamsscaremongering by Labour M.P. Photo news:Campaigning for Boris Tri-borough programme
boosts savings target to£40m Residents thanked for helping to cut Council Taxin H&F - to below the levelin K&C Kensington & Chelseafreezes Council Tax Hands in the papers:MPs attack vision of brutalLondon in New York Times Hands in the papers:Commons Whispers How to contactGreg Hands M.P.
Issue 329 – Friday 9th
March 2012
Since the last edition, Greg:
· Led a delegation of Fulham residents to see London Mayor
Boris Johnson to voice concerns about Thames Water’sproposal to site the main drill shaft of the Super Sewer inCarnwath Road, Fulham. In a very encouraging 45-minutemeeting, Boris told residents "I will totally defend CarnwathRoad and reject any damage to the quality of life of residentsin Fulham" and said about the wider Thames Tunnel projectthat "we may need to re-think the whole scheme.”
· Joined the Fulham branch of the London Ambulance Serviceon patrol for three hours through both H&F and K&C,
delivering patients to Charing Cross and Chelsea &Westminster Hospitals, and meeting with management tolearn more of the issues facing the service.
· Welcomed pupils from the Chelsea Academy to the House of
Commons for a Question & Answer session about Greg’swork as their local MP.
· Attended a round-table meeting hosted by Freshfields and the
CityUK on improving UK-German trade in financial services,addressed by the German Ambassador to London.
· Met management of housing association Affinity Sutton to
discuss issues with their proposed partial demolition of the
Sutton Estate in Chelsea, which is fiercely opposed by someresidents.
· Attended the Budget Council Meeting of Hammersmith &
Fulham Council, where the Conservative Council set arecord-breaking 3.75% cut in Council Tax for the coming year.
· Led a team of Conservative MPs campaigning for London
Mayor Boris Johnson to leaflet commuters at Sloane Squaretube station. Greg is charged with organising all MPs’ mutualaid for Boris in the ongoing election campaign.
· Attended a Redcliffe Ward Conservatives function at the
home of Professor Ken Howard OBE in Chelsea, whereProfessor Howard told us of his work and love for art.
· Attended a reception at Number 10, Downing Street, for key
members of the London Conservative Party.· Was guest speaker at the Oxford East Conservative
Association Annual General Meeting, at the Oxford SpiresHotel, Oxford.
· Had a full schedule of activity as a Government Whip in and
around the chamber of the House of Commons, includingministerial meetings and organising votes and standingcommittees. Greg is currently piloting the Financial ServicesBill through the House of Commons.
· Held a weekly surgery for Chelsea and Fulham residents at
Fulham Town Hall. Greg’s surgeries are held generally everyMonday at either Fulham Town Hall or at Peter Jones, SloaneSquare. To ask for an appointment, [email protected] or call 020 7219 5448.
Website of the Week:
www.fulhamrats.moonfruit.com The website of the Fulham campaign group“Stop Them Shafting Fulham”, which campaignsagainst the main drill site of the Super Sewer coming to Carnwath Road, south Fulham.
Photo news:
Lobbying Boris against Super Sewer
Mayor Boris Johnson receives Greg Hands M.P., H&F CouncilDeputy Leader Nicholas Botterill and Fulham residents in hisoffice at City Hall this week to hear local concerns about the
Super Sewer, or Thames Tunnel. In a very encouraging meeting,Boris told residents "I will totally defend Carnwath Road and
reject any damage to the quality of life of residents in Fulham" and said about the wider Thames Tunnel project that "we may
need to re-think the whole scheme.”
National Citizen Service is a great
opportunity for 16-year-olds in
Chelsea & Fulham Greg Hands has welcomed the launch of the second year of NationalCitizen Service. The national scheme for 16-year-olds was firstproposed by David Cameron in 2005 and has now been introduced bythe Coalition Government. It brings together young people fromdifferent backgrounds in the summer after they have taken their GCSEs. After three weeks of team-building and outdoor activities,participants spend 30 hours helping to improve their communities. There will be 30,000 places available on National Citizen Service thissummer and The Challenge Network will run 195 places inHammersmith & Fulham and Kensington & Chelsea. By 2014, therewill be 90,000 places available nationally. It is envisioned that thescheme will keep expanding until all 16-year-olds have a place.
Commenting, Greg Hands M.P., who met recently with the ChallengeNetwork in the House of Commons, said: “National Citizen Service isa fantastic idea and a great thing for young people to do. “It is all about giving young people the chance to come together fromdifferent backgrounds, have new experiences, learn new skills,understand how to work as a team, and give something back to thecommunity. It’s also great news for the rest of us, as all young peopletaking part spend 30 hours making our community a better place. “I am very pleased that there are 195 National Citizen Service placesavailable locally. I hope that, eventually, all children will be able to
benefit when they reach sixteen.”
Popular schools in Royal Borough
over-subscribed Secondary schools in the Royal Borough continue to be exceedinglypopular and heavily over-subscribed as parents from across Londonvied for a place for children due to start in Year 7 next autumn.
Figures released last week (Thursday 1st March) show that there were
3,325 applications, an increase on last year, for the borough’s fivesecondary schools, Cardinal Vaughan, Holland Park, Chelsea
Academy, St Thomas More Language College and Sion Manning. Kensington and Chelsea’s schools are amongst the best in thecountry and this fuels demand from parents. Last year 73 per cent of GCSE students in the borough’s schools achieved 5+ A* to C GCSEsincluding English and mathematics. Councillor Elizabeth Campbell, K&C Cabinet Member for Education,said: “Kensington and Chelsea Council invests heavily in education.To cope with the increased demand we are planning to build a new secondary school in North Kensington and expect to submit a
planning application later this spring so that more local children canbenefit from an excellent Royal Borough education. In 2009 weopened Chelsea Academy in the south of the borough and this hasquickly proved to be an extremely popular school.” This year over half of children applying got into their first choice schooland 83 per cent got at least one of the top three choices on their application form. Greg Hands M.P. commented, “I am proud to represent in the Houseof Commons the two boroughs, Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham which score respectively 1st and 6th inBritain for the quality of education they provide to poorer pupils in thestate sector. In Chelsea, we have seen the groundbreaking Chelsea
Academy making great progress even in its early days, and I congratulate all of head teachers, teachers, support staff, parents and the Council in these strong achievements.”
Photo news:
Hands on patrol with the
London Ambulance Service
Greg Hands M.P. with staff from the Fulham branchof the London Ambulance Service, who he went on patrolwith for three hours through both H&F and K&C, delivering
patients to Charing Cross and Chelsea & Westminster Hospitals, and meeting with management to learn more
of the issues facing the service.
Local Councillor slams
scaremongering by Labour M.P. The consultation zone for the Earls Court regeneration schemeincludes large parts of Chelsea and Fulham. NeighbouringLabour M.P., Andrew Slaughter, has been sending highlymisleading letters to local residents. This is the response of North End councillor, Tom Crofts.
A pro forma letter which has been sent to all residents on the WestKensington and Gibbs Green Estates by their M.P., misleadingresidents as to the facts regarding the potential West Kensington andGibbs Green Estates redevelopment. Here are the straightforwardanswers to his claims:
1. It is wrong to state that the council has been forced to consultwith residents on the two estates. The council has alwaysstated that it would consult with everyone and will onlyproceed if redevelopment is the right thing to do for peopleliving on the two estates, the wider neighbourhood and theborough as a whole.
2. It is wrong to say that the council wants to sign a contract witha developer to sell both estates for £100m. The priority for thecouncil is to negotiate replacement brand new homes for people living on both estates; additional affordable housingand the council must also get a fair price for its land before itcan agree to proceed. Any money received by the council
would be ploughed back for the good of the borough.
3. It is wrong to state that the Conditional Land Sale Agreement(CLSA) will be a secret document. The CLSA will be a publicdocument when and if the agreement is finalised. However the basic terms affecting tenants and leaseholders arealready public as part of the current consultation.
4. It is wrong to claim that this is about making money for richand powerful people. The council has no interest in makingmoney for rich and powerful people. This redevelopment isabout the opportunity to provide new homes, attractthousands of new jobs and investment to the area.
5. It is wrong to state that residents will end up on a building site
for up to 20 years. Redevelopment of the estates is plannedto take place in phases and the first phase on Seagrave Roadproviding 200 new homes has already received planningpermission and will be built over the next 2-3 years.
6. It is wrong to say that the council has not told tenants wherethey will be offered a new home. The council has statedclearly that all residents will be offered a brand new homewithin the redevelopment site and vulnerable private tenantswill continue to be protected under the homelessnesslegislation.
7. It is wrong to claim that tenants in houses will inevitably losetheir gardens and be forced to downsize. Tenants who have ahouse and need one will be offered a brand new house as areplacement.
8. It is wrong to state that leaseholders and freeholders will haveto move away. All leaseholders and freeholders receivegenerous compensation packages and an offer of a brandnew home in the new development at a significant discountwithout an increase in costs.
9. It is wrong to insinuate that the developer will not have toproceed with building the new homes. If the developer fails toperform then the council has the right to terminate theagreement with the developer.
10. It is wrong to say that the council would get £100 million
upfront. The council would receive payment for its land inphases over a number of years.
11. It is preposterous to state that the council is running down theestates to try and demoralise residents. The council is aresponsible landlord and has just completed a £10 millionDecent Homes programme on both estates.
12. Finally it is shameful of him to claim that the council is preyingon weak and vulnerable people. The council is fully committedto protecting the rights and interests of council tenants andleaseholders and giving the residents a once-in-a-lifetimeopportunity to get a brand new home.
Mr Slaughter should be ashamed of himself for spreading fear, liesand confusion in the ward that I represent, purely for his own politicalgain. He is playing politics with people’s lives, but sadly, I am notsurprised that he would stoop to this level. Cllr Tom CroftsNorth End Ward
If the Earls Court scheme goes ahead, it will bring hugeimprovements to the neighbourhood and wider area, changingthe lives of thousands of people for the better. The Council’sconsultation closes on 12 March 2012. Have your say here:www.lbhf.gov.uk/westken.
Photo news:
Campaigning for Boris
Greg Hands M.P. with London Mayor Boris Johnson,other M.P.s and local activists campaigning in this year's London
Mayor elections.
Tri-borough programme boosts
savings target to £40m
An ambitious shared services programme between Westminster,Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington and Chelsea councils hasscaled up its savings target to £40million a year across the threeboroughs by 2015/16, up from £33million a year forecast previously. The three London councils announced their ambitions for the extra£7m of savings, which have been identified within the corporateservices portfolio, in a new tri-borough progress report which was
tabled on 7th March during a meeting between the three councils’leaders and Communities Secretary Eric Pickles. The report highlights a number of key achievements by the threecouncils one year on from their original plans to share services,including:
· Reducing the number of senior and middle managers across
the three boroughs by 50% and have dramatically reducedthe cost of the executive pay bill
· Made funds go further. They announced the first £1m of
savings in October 2011 and are on-track to deliver theoriginal target savings of £7.7m by 2012/13 and £33.4m by2014/15. They are also ambitious that they will save a further £7m a year by 2015/16.
· They have protected front-line services by combining children’s
services, adult social care and library services across thethree boroughs, and have started to share environmentservices across Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington andChelsea councils. Nearly four in five (79%) of tri-boroughresidents are now satisfied with the way their council isrunning the area, up from 77% from the start of 2011.
· They have shown how honest comparison across three
sovereign authorities can help identify new and better ways of working and increasing pace across three organisations.
Commenting on the latest tri-borough achievements, CommunitiesSecretary Eric Pickles said: “This report shows how councils canmake sensible savings through sharing back office services, joining forces to procure and cutting down on middle management whilst
protecting frontline services. “The success of the tri-borough programme is testament to theinnovation and forward thinking of Westminster, Hammersmith &Fulham and Kensington and Chelsea.”
Westminster City Council leader-elect Cllr Philippa Roe said: “The tri-borough programme is already providing significant savings by allowing us to reduce management and back-office costs. The fact wehave now scaled up our savings target to an ambitious £40m a year by 2015/16 illustrates just how much potential there is within this
programme to respond to tough budget challenges while helping us protect, and in many cases improve, the frontline services we offer toour residents.” Hammersmith & Fulham Council leader Stephen Greenhalgh said:“We have reduced management costs by 38% including sharing achief executive. Through shared contract arrangements, we aredriving down the price of the services we buy. These back-officesavings mean we have been able to cut council tax in Hammersmith &Fulham and our partner boroughs are freezing theirs, all without theservice cuts seen elsewhere. At a time when other councils arelooking to close libraries, we have kept all our libraries open.” Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea leader Sir Merrick Cockellsaid: “The decisions we took to share services have resulted insignificant savings which is good news for our residents. What is alsogood news is that we have identified new ways of working that meanwe should be able to improve the quality of some of the services that we are providing our residents.”
Residents thanked for helping tocut Council Tax in H&F - to below
the level in K&C The council is saying 'thank you' to residents for their help indelivering the biggest council tax cut in the country. Hammersmith & Fulham Council (H&F) agreed to cut its council tax
bills for the fifth year out of six on 29th February 2012, and says thecut was partly made possible by local residents throwing away less,recycling more, dropping less litter and using the council’s website
more. H&F Council has been cutting council tax faster than any other localauthority and is today launching a major campaign to thank residentsfor helping cut bills - while urging people to do more.
A digital advertising van is touring the borough to thank residents for doing their bit and a YouTube video has been released covering TheScaffold’s song ‘Thank you very much’ - better known as theCadbury’s Roses theme tune - with council staff singing the praises of local taxpayers. The move to shave 3.75% of the annual precept is the biggest cut inthe country with the average H&F council taxpayer now £243 better off compared to the average Londoner... based on five years of taxcuts when average council tax bills in the capital have risen by £73. On top of the savings so far, the council says it expects to saveanother £1.6million in 2012/13 in reduced back office costs, as 50,000residents have been using online accounts instead of turning up atcouncil buildings. It is estimated that at least a further £17million per year could besaved across the capital in reduced refuse collection costs if just onein ten people did a little more. Residents are also being encouragedto:
· Use street litter bins for rubbish, including cigarette butts
· Recycle more
· Use the council's website more to get information, access
services or to report problems. That saving would be enough to clean the whole of Singapore, one of the cleanest countries in the world, for a whole year. Last year Londoners saved £30million by recycling and if everyone in Londonrecycled everything they can at-least £60million per year could besaved, according to Recycle for London. The news comes as H&F is reducing management and overheadcosts by 50% by combining some services with neighbouring
Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea Councils - which will savetaxpayers £33million by 2014/15. Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh, H&F Council leader, said: “The council isdoing its bit by slashing management and overhead costs and wewould like to thank the residents who have been recycling more and using our website more for doing their bit too. Sometimes a relatively small change in behaviour can result in significant cash savings for usall and that is what we are seeing in Hammersmith & Fulham.” While cutting tax, H&F Council has agreed to freeze parking charges,keep all its libraries open, maintain weekly - or even twice-weekly -refuse collections and plough £1.3million into extra town centre police.
It is also one of just two councils in London offering homecare topeople in the ‘greater moderate’ as well as ‘substantial’ or ‘critical’banding. H&F boasts some of the cleanest streets in London, six of its parkshave received the prestigious ‘Green Flag’ award for their quality andits schools have scored the borough’s best ever GCSE results. Theborough, which recently saw three new schools open, has more statepupils going to top universities than any other place in Britain. For the first time in 26 years the council's historic debt, which wasonce as high as £176million, is below £100million, meaning that debtrepayments have been reduced by £7.1 million a year. View the ‘Thank you very much’ YouTube clip here or for more budgetinformation visit www.lbhf.gov.uk/waystosave.
Kensington & Chelsea freezes Council Tax The Council of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea set itsbudget for the next financial year at its meeting in Kensington Town
Hall on Wednesday 7th March. The meeting heard that despite the UK's slow recovery from
recession, and necessary reductions in Government funding for theborough of £9 million, the Council would seek to protect its services,maintain financial stability and continue to make the Royal Borough abetter place to live. Nor will the 2012-13 budget rely on increases in council tax to fill thegap. In fact council tax will be frozen for the third year in a row, thanksin part to a ring-fenced grant from the Government. Leader of the Council, Sir Merrick Cockell, said: "Although we have toreduce our spending, we are doing all we can to deliver services of good, often excellent, quality, making sure they are targeted at thosemost in need. Last month, 85 per cent of residents told us they weresatisfied with the way the Council is working for them, up from 80 per cent in 2011. "To maintain these high standards, we are sharing services with City of Westminster and Hammersmith & Fulham wherever that makessense. This will make a big contribution over the next four years and beyond. We can also maintain an ambitious capital programme,including the new Kensington Aldridge Academy and the rebuilding of Kensington Leisure Centre."
Hands in the papers:
MPs attack vision of brutal Londonin New York Times Jonathan Prynn, Evening Standard
Friday 2nd March 2012
A New York Times article portraying London as a brutal, strife-torndystopia has been condemned as "extraordinarily inaccurate". The 4,000-word essay by science-fiction writer China Miéville, entitled"Oh London, You Drama Queen", was particularly critical of theOlympic Park.
He pointed out that part of the site was built on the route of a former sewer, observing: "We watch from the route of effluent." The author,who lives in London and is a member of the Socialist Workers Party,says that the park is in danger of turning into a "charnel ground of Ozumandian skeletons", and says the ArcelorMittalOrbit sculpture islike a "snarled Gaian hernia". But Greg Hands, the New York-born Tory MP for Chelsea andFulham, said: "As someone who knows both cities very well I find theNew York Times piece extraordinarily inaccurate in everything from itsportrayal of the police to relations with London's Muslim population tothe impact of the Olympics." Olympic organiser sources pointed out that New York bid againstLondon for the 2012 Games but came second from last in the voting.Shadow Olympics minister Tessa Jowell said: "We bid for theOlympics because we believe London is the greatest city in the world -the most diverse and the most tolerant." She said the pledge to regenerate east London had already seen45,000 people benefit through work on the park, with another 10,000permanent jobs in Westfield Stratford City. Boris Johnson, also born in New York, said: "There's been plenty of articles in that paper saying exactly the opposite. I'm inclined tobelieve them."
Hands in the papers:
Commons Whispers Evening Standard
Monday 5th March 2012 "Since 1997 there have been five MPs for Chelsea and nine footballteam managers, so the politicians have the edge on longevity," musesthe Blues' local Conservative MP Greg Hands.
5 ways to contact Greg Hands M.P.:
By Phone: 020 7219 5448
By email: [email protected]
By post: Greg Hands M.P.House of CommonsLondon SW1A 0AA
In person: Click here for details of howto book an appointment at
Greg Hands M.P.’s weeklysurgery
www.greghands.com
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Greg Hands M.P. – a strong voice for Chelsea & Fulham
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