7/28/2019 News Bulletin from Greg Hands M.P. #378
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In this edition:
Greg Hands M.P.s DiaryWebsite of the Week:Hammersmith &
FulhamCouncilGreg Hands M.P. opposesHeathrow Airport'sproposals for
massiveexpansionCrime fallen by 10% underthis governmentH&F
Council debt thelowest in living memoryH&F and K&C
Councils
publish "Summer in theCity" programme foryoungsters in London
thisSummerCentral London Librarieslaunch Summer ReadingChallenge
2013Greg Hands M.P.ssubmission to the AirportsCommission, chaired
by SirHoward Davies, on longterm capacity proposalsHow to
contact
Greg Hands M.P.
Issue 378 Friday 19th July 2013
Since the last edition, Greg:
Met the members of the Independent Reconfiguration Panel
(IRP) who are making an independent assessment of the case
for A&E reconfiguration in North West London. Greg made
the
case for keeping full Accident & Emergency services at
both
Chelsea & Westminster Hospital and at Charing Cross
Hospital.
Attended and addressed the Executive Council meeting of the
Kensington, Chelsea & Fulham Conservatives.
Met local residents concerned about the future of Charing
Cross Hospital.
Welcomed German CDU MP Detlef Seif MdB to the House ofCommons
for discussions about the future of the Eurozone and
this years German elections.
Attended a farewell reception for H.E. Dejan Popovic, the
Serbian Ambassador. Dr Popovic returns to Belgrade after 5
years in London, which featured in 2008 he and Greg jointly
opening the new Serbian Library housed in Fulham Library.
Attended the Redcliffe Ward Conservatives summer event at
St Mary in the Boltons church garden, with guest speaker
Richard Harrington MP.
Had a full schedule of activity as a Government Whip in and
around the chamber of the House of Commons, including
ministerial meetings and organising votes and standing
committees.
Conducted a surgery for local Chelsea and Fulham
residents at Fulham Methodist Church. Gregs surgeries are
generally weekly, at either Fulham Methodist Church, Fulham
Broadway, or Peter Jones, Sloane Square. To make an
appointment, email [email protected] or telephone 020
7219 5448.
Website of the Week:
www.lbhf.gov.uk
The website of Conservative-run Hammersmith & FulhamCouncil,
which has just announced that Council debt has fallento its lowest
level since 1986.
Greg Hands M.P. opposes Heathrow
Airport's proposals for massive expansion
CGI of Heathrow's four runway expansion proposal.Greg Hands M.P.
and Hammersmith & Fulham Council todaycondemned proposals from
Heathrow Airport to expand the number offlights at the airport from
480,000 to 740,000 a year.The airport's proposals were made as a
submission to the DaviesCommission, which is examining the case for
expanding runwaycapacity at airports in the South East.Greg said:
"These proposals - increasing by more than 50% thenumber of planes
flying over central London - are both reckless andmisguided. The
new third runway would bring thousands of myconstituents directly
under the flight path, as the route would likely beover Sloane
Square, Earl's Court and central Hammersmith. I amstrongly opposed
to these proposals, and met Sir Howard Davies twoweeks ago to give
him this view face to face."Residents lives will become a daily
misery if a fourth runway is built at
Heathrow, according to Hammersmith & Fulham Council Leader,
CllrNicholas Botterill.Reacting to the publication by Heathrow of
its long-anticipatedproposals to expand the airport to, not just
three but, four runways,Cllr Botterill says; For the three million
people living under Londonsflightpaths, Heathrow have today [July
18] spelt out their recipe forsleepless nights and constant noise.
Our residents will be horrified.The airport has revealed plans for
three potential locations for its nextlanding strip - each of which
would create new flightpaths over themost densely populated part of
the UK.
2M, which is a campaign group of more than 20 councils
includingH&F, is challenging the airport's claims that it can
reduce noisesuffering while increasing the number of flights over
London.The councils say that noise nuisance data used by the
airport is 30years out-of-date and understates the number of people
who sufferunder the existing and proposed flightpaths.Cllr
Botterill adds: To claim they can reduce noise while increasingthe
number flights over London is a complete sham and wont standup to
scientific scrutiny. They grossly understate the number of
peoplewho suffer under their existing flightpaths and continue that
trend with
these projections. We calculate that around three million people
willbe affected by aircraft noise if the airport expands to four
runways.They offer nothing new to solve the surface access and air
pollutionissues which scuppered their previous third runway plan in
the HighCourt. This is a fight they cant win.Heathrow revealed its
latest expansion plans in a submission to theGovernment's aviation
commission.2M has consistently argued that Heathrow will not stop
expanding ifgranted a third landing strip. Its main European rivals
have four ormore runways and Heathrow will seek to match their
capacity. Charles
de Gaulle, Heathrow's nearest rival, has four runways. Frankfurt
andBarajas (Madrid) also have four and Schiphol (Amsterdam ) has
six.2M GroupThe 2M Group is an all-party alliance of local
authorities concernedabout the environmental impact of Heathrow
operations on theircommunities.Members are not anti-Heathrow but
work together to improve theenvironment and protect the quality of
life for local people.
The group, which took its name from the 2 million residents of
theoriginal 12 authorities, now represents a combined population of
5million people.Runway 3 court victoryThe previous government
approved Heathrows plans for a thirdrunway in 2009. In 2010 the 2M
Group challenged that decision in theHigh Court on environmental
grounds and successfully overturned thegovernments ruling.Lord
Justice Carnwath ruled a third runway 'untenable' because:
The area around Heathrow already exceeds EU pollution limitsdue
to aviation emissions and congestion on surrounding
roads.
The additional rail infrastructure required to support
additional
runway capacity has not been identified.
A credible, contemporary measure for the onset of community
annoyance from noise has not been established.
2M asserts that a robust assessment of Heathrow's noise,
transportand air quality impacts will rule out new runways, rule
out moreintensive use of existing runways and highlight the need to
phase out
early morning flights.
Crime fallen by 10% under this government
Recorded crime is down by more than ten per cent under
thisgovernment, and the independent survey shows that the
publicsexperience of crime is at its lowest level since records
began.The figures released today show falls in crime in every
police force in
England and Wales. There have also been significant falls
invandalism (down 13%), vehicle-related theft (down 15%)
andpossession of weapons offences (down 16%).Savings in back
offices and a renewed focus on the frontline havemeant that police
forces have risen to the challenge of making savingswhile still
cutting crime. This government has played its part byslashing red
tape and giving the police one single target: to cut crime.
A College of Policing has also been set up to ensure the police
arebetter equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to fight
crime.
England and Wales are safer than they have been for
decades,national crime fighting capability continues to improve and
theNational Crime Agency will be fully operational later this
year.
H&F Council debt the lowest in livingmemory
H&F Council reserves out-strip debts for the first time in a
generationas the amount owed by the town hall falls below
80million, it wasrevealed today.The town hall has cut its debt to
below 80million while reserves areup to 82million, according to
figures released by the low taxborough.
By selling under-utilised buildings, like Fulham Town Hall and
TheSands End Community Centre, Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F)
says ithas managed to reduce its debt to 78.4million, which is the
lowestlevel since the 1980s. By reducing its longstanding debt
costly interestrepayments to the banks have been reduced and
taxpayers cash caninstead be spent on vital public services,
according to the council.The amount owed by the authority has been
falling steadily since itspeak in 2004 when the council owed an
eye-watering 176million costing 9.5million a year in interest
repayments.Meanwhile 50% fewer people are directly employed by the
council,according to the councils work force monitoring system
which was
brought in seven years ago.While 62% of respondents to the
councils annual residents surveysay the authority provides value
for money (up 10% from 2010), thenumber of staff directly employed
by the town hall has halved from4,523 (including H&F Homes)
seven years ago to 2,250 staff in Maythis year.Local Government
Minister, Brandon Lewis, said: This is good newsfor the hardworking
families in the borough. This impressive effortshows just how far
we have come. Hammersmith & Fulham is settinga fantastic
example to others - showing strong leadership, providing
high quality services, delivering savings and putting taxpayers
first."Some of the jobs have been outsourced to private companies.
Forexample, Serco now collects bins in H&F, while Quadron keeps
theboroughs award-winning parks spick and span and Pinnacle
runscaretaking and cleaning on housing estates.Senior management
posts have also been cut as a result of sharingmajor services with
Westminster City Council (WCC) and the RoyalBorough of Kensington
and Chelsea (RBKC) as part of the Tri-borough arrangements. H&F
and RBKC also share environmentalservices and a chief executive.
The three councils are on course tosave 40million a year by
2015/16.
Council tax bills fell for the sixth year out of seven last
April meaningH&F taxpayers pay the third lowest council tax in
the UK.A strong town hall requires a strong balance sheet and I am
proudthat, for the first time in living memory, we have cash
reserves greaterthan our debts, says H&F Council Leader, Cllr
Nicholas Botterill. Wehave been able to cut council debt while
reducing council tax toamong the lowest levels in the
country.Meanwhile the slimmed down town hall is half the place it
used to bewith excellent front-line services being delivered by
fewer people. Thecouncil has never been so lean and taxpayers are
getting a biggerbang for their buck.
Greg Hands M.P. added: "I am enormously proud of what
myConservative colleagues on H&F Council have achieved. This is
anastonishing record of success, that might match that of any
municipalauthority in the world. I congratulate Nick Botterill and
his team, andhis predecessor Stephen Greenhalgh."In 2013/14 the
council is planning to save 22million in total, of which
just over 5m is a result of sharing services with WCC and
RBKC.To read more about the councils finances click on:
www.lbhf.gov.uk/debtometer.
H&F and K&C Councils publish"Summer in the City"
programme for
youngsters in London this Summer
Summer in the City is published today, detailing hundreds of
summerevents, groups and clubs for children and young people in
central andwest London.Now in its third year, the 128-page guide
has become a must-havesummer planner for working parents and young
fun-seekers alike.Read the guide onlineIt is being sent to 60,000
school pupils in Hammersmith & Fulham
(H&F), Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) and is
jam-packed with things to do during July and August.Children and
young people in all three boroughs can now choose froma huge range
of social events, arts and music projects and sportingfun, across
all three boroughs.Summer in the City is just one of the major
success stories resultingfrom Londons three leading councils
sharing services, says CllrHelen Binmore, Cabinet Member for
Childrens Services in H&F.Nearly all the exciting activities
are free and by producing onecombined guide instead of three
separate ones, we have slashed
production costs, just one example of how sharing services
hasenabled the three councils to achieve three of the lowest
council taxrates in the country.I hope everyone taking part in
activities, joining groups and playingsport has a wonderful summer
and that this guide will help make theirholidays interesting and
memorable.Summer in the City is also available online
atwww.lbhf.gov.uk/summerinthecity.
Central London Libraries launch SummerReading Challenge
2013Children in central London are being invited to keep up a good
habit ofreading out of school through a national programme run
through locallibraries.Libraries in Hammersmith & Fulham,
Kensington and Chelsea andWestminster are inviting children, aged
four to 11, to complete theReading Agency's `Summer Reading
Challenge' which tasks theyoungsters with reading six books during
the six-week summer break.
Launched by `Spooky Spooky House' children's author Andrew
Wealeat Kensington Central Library on Thursday 11th July, the
challengesets out to encourage children to keep reading regularly
when theschools are closed.During the challenge children are tasked
with reading six differenttitles borrowed from their local library
over the summer break.They will then discuss aspects of each book,
such as plot lines andtheir favourite character, with library staff
or one of a hundredvolunteers helping out with this year's
challenge across the threeboroughs.
The programme is flexible, allowing children to complete each
book intheir own time and drop in during any of the library's
opening hours torecord their progress as they work towards
completing the challengeand receiving a medal and certificate
marking their achievement.Cllr Emma Will, the Royal Borough of
Kensington and Chelsea'sCabinet Member for Libraries, said: "The
Summer Reading Challengeis a fantastic initiative and goes from
strength to strength each year."I'd like to encourage as many of
our young people as possible to getinvolved and discover the
pleasure that reading a good book canbring."
Cllr Greg Smith, Deputy Leader of Hammersmith & Fulham
Council,said: "We hope as many local children as possible will
accept thisexciting mission and enjoy a summer of reading."Literacy
is a fundamental cornerstone of a modern society andinitiatives
such as this get kids to open up their minds to a world
ofreading."Cllr Steve Summers, Westminster City Council's Cabinet
Member forCommunity Services, said: "We often hear how the literacy
levels ofchildren who don't keep up the habit of reading during the
summer
holidays can drop over the six-week long school break."This is
obviously a concern for parents and teachers alike, but theSummer
Reading Challenge helps to address this by encouragingyoung people
to keep reading regularly over the holidays andfamiliarise
themselves more with our libraries in doing so."The challenge is
something which those who take part really enjoyyear-on-year, but
importantly, it provides our children with anopportunity to
improve, or at least maintain their literacy levels overthe summer,
allowing them to progress come the new term inSeptember, rather
than play catch up."
The Tri-borough libraries launch of the Summer Reading
Challengecomes ahead of the Get Reading Festival in Trafalgar
Square which isbeing held by the Evening Standard and Mayor of
London.Five librarians from the boroughs of Hammersmith &
Fulham,Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster will be on hand at
the eventworking with colleagues from the Reading Agency in
encouragingyoungsters to sign up for the challenge.
Greg Hands M.P.s submission to the
Airports Commission, chaired bySir Howard Davies, on long term
capacity
proposalsI met Sir Howard in person on 3 July when I was able to
outline,at length, my concerns at Heathrow expansion in person. I
addthis written submission to explore a few further points.
As Member for Parliament for Hammersmith & Fulham since
2005and Chelsea & Fulham since 2010 as well as a local Fulham
residentsince 1990 aircraft noise is a regular source of complaint
in my
constituency.
Chelsea & Fulham, like many other areas across west London,
mustface, on a daily basis, more than a thousand planes coming in
to landat Heathrow. This includes night flights which land before 6
am anddisturb the sleep of a number of residents every night.With
the disruption the airport currently causes my constituents, whichI
will outline in my submission, I do not believe there is a case to
builda further runway at Heathrow when more economic and less
invasivesolutions to our nations airport capacity problem are
available.Indeed, I note that Heathrow Airport proposes an increase
in annualair movements from 480,000 per annum to some 740,000,
anincrease of more than 50% on top of an already intolerable
situation.A Distributed HubThe debate over increasing airport
capacity has primarily focused onthree proposals. Building a third
runway at Heathrow; an extra runwayat either Stansted and/or
Gatwick; or a new hub airport located in theThames Estuary.However,
like New York City, I believe that London can have three ormore
major international airports, which do not necessarily have to
behub airports. In New York, La Guardia Airport serves
destinations
within the United States while JFK and Newark have a mixture
ofdomestic and international routes. Newark is something of a hub
forContinental Airlines, but not their most important one.
An additional runway at both Gatwick and Stansted on top of the
tworunways currently at Heathrow might address the capacity problem
fordecades to come, in my view.The owners of Heathrow currently
argue that Britain requires onemega hub, based at their airport,
which can pool demand fromacross the country in order to fly to
emerging markets. They arguethat to do otherwise would leave the
country economically damagedand lagging behind other airports on
the continent in offering routes.
Here, the evidence is mixed. Looking at the BRICS countries as
aleading indicator of connections with the developing world,
Frankfurtdoes have presently better connectivity with Russia, and
marginallywith China, but Heathrow is surperior on connections with
India, South
Africa and Brazil. This is even before considering some of
theconnections offered by Londons other airports to
importantdeveloping world destinations.Heathrow currently offers
flights to four destinations in China, havingthis year added
Guangzhou, with Gatwick also providing a route toBeijing. Eight
cities in India are also accessible from Heathrow with
routes to Vietnam and Russia added in recent years to
Gatwicksportfolio.The addition of these routes show that airports
can adjust whendemand increases even when close to capacity. More
importantly,new routes have not been focused on Heathrow but also
on Gatwick,dispelling the myth that flagship airlines do not wish
to fly intoLondons other airports.To support possible expansion at
Gatwick and Stansted, more shouldbe made of our current
infrastructure with the aim to cut travel time tocentral London and
to each airport. In addition, connections to othertransport modes
such as Crossrail, HS2 and the Underground will be
of benefit to all Londoners, not only airport passengers
visiting theCapital or transferring flights.The Future of
FlyingInternational air travel is changing. The launch of Boeings
787Dreamliner and the Airbus A380 show two very different visions
ofhow passengers will travel in future. The long-range,
lower-seatnumber, Dreamliner is a point-to-point aircraft which is
designed totake passengers from regional airports direct to their
destination. Suchan aircraft makes a hub less meaningful as there
is no need totransfer passengers on board.
To date 800 Dreamliners and 617 Airbus A350s have been
earmarkedfor service on long-haul routes. In contrast, only 260 of
the bigger
A380s have been ordered which are primarily designed for use to
hubdestinations.Expanding Heathrow and creating one mega-hub does
not appear tobe the direction airlines or air travel are expanding
in. Passengers, ingeneral, wish to travel from a nearby airport and
onward to their finaldestination, not through a hub airport. The
A350 and the Dreamlinerappear to cater to that desire. It is
therefore not obvious that there is aneed to build a third runway
at Heathrow, with such uncertainty overthe future need for
hubs.
Heathrows shortcomingsThe issue of Heathrows current location
was perfectly illustrated tome on a British Airways flight I came
across a comment in the in-flightmagazine, BA High Life, May 2013,
from a pilot who wrote how Ialways enjoy flying over London,
because there are so fewapproaches over cities. No other major city
in the world allows aircraftto over-fly it in the same way as
London and it is Londoners who paythe price with noise pollution
and the constant, if small, safety riskposed by aircraft.
As a constituency MP I have received correspondence from
hundredsof residents who have been woken by flights early in the
morning orhad their evenings or weekends ruined by noisy aircraft.
More than766,000 people suffer considerable noise from Heathrow,
whichamounts to 28 per cent of those impacted by aircraft noise in
Europe.
An additional runway at Heathrow would, of course, mean
additionalnoise over west London and thus more disruption for my
constituents.I understand that current proposals envisage a new
flight path wouldcreate significant noise over Sloane Square and
the Earls Court areaand, in total, blight three million homes
across the Capital with noisefrom aircraft. When alternatives are
available I find this proposal to beunacceptable.
Expanding Heathrow would also increase the risk to Central
Londonof aircraft accidents. Thankfully, aviation disasters are
very rare andthis country has an excellent airplane safety record.
However,accidents do still occur and should aircraft collide over
Central Londonor be destroyed by a terrorist device the effects on
the ground, as wellas in the air, would be devastating. The
Lockerbie disaster in 1988and the Air France Concorde crash in 2000
showed theconsequences of an explosion or crash in a built-up area
and theresulting tragic loss of life on the ground. To continue to
fly aircraftover London is an error which would be compounded by
the additionof another runway and the corresponding rise in
aircraft numbers.
Considering the detrimental environmental impact and the safety
risksexpanding Heathrow is not a long-term, viable solution.
ConclusionI believe that current debate on the future of Londons
airport capacityhas mistakenly drawn links between it and other
European cities suchas Frankfurt and Amsterdam. Instead, New York
should provide uswith a working example of how a city can have
three major airportsserving different routes and complementing each
other, without theneed for a single hub airport. Indeed, in terms
of size of the city andits position geographically at the edge of a
continent, London is far
more akin to New York than it is to Amsterdam or Frankfurt.For
both safety and environmental reasons an additional runway
atHeathrow would lower living standards for my constituents and
disturbhundreds of thousands of Londoners.Heathrow, Gatwick and
Stansted all have a place to play inmaintaining or expanding
Britains global connections and securingtrade for British industry.
A distributed hub would provide the extracapacity airlines need,
the routes businesses desire; without afflictingwest London
residents with additional noise.
I therefore strongly urge the Commission to reject further
expansion ofHeathrow Airport.
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
atGreg Hands M.P.s weeklysurgery
www.greghands.com
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