Residents First with Greg Hands MP
Posted by Greg Hands, MP for Hammersmith and Fulham, at 11:59, Fri 11 November 2005:
I am delighted to take part in this trial. I attach below my regular weekly e-newsletter, delivered every Friday to thousands of PCs of Hammersmith & Fulham residents. If you would like to receive this weekly bulletin, please email me at mail@greghands.com . To make an appointment to see me at one of my regular weekly surgeries, please telephone 020 7835 5446. Or log on to www.greghands.com
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Issue 63 – Friday 28th October 2005
In this edition:
- What Greg Hands MP has been up to since the last edition
- Website of the week: HACAN Clear Skies
- Labour climb down on Bishop’s Park astro-turfing
- Hands speaks out in the Commons over licensing chaos
- Greg Hands Praises Local Further Education
- Greg Hands MP’s Speech to HACAN Clear Skies Rally Against Night Flights
- View from the House
- 4 ways to contact Greg Hands MP
News from Greg Hands since the last edition:
- Along with thousands of other Borough residents, welcomed the decision by the Labour Council to withdraw their plans to Astroturf over Fielder’s Meadow in Bishops Park, and lease the popular park to the Fulham FC Community Sports Trust. The climbdown came after a massive campaign led by local residents. For more, see below.
- Addressed a central London rally organised by HACAN Clear Skies to protest against the Government’s plans to increase night flights over Hammersmith & Fulham and across West London. Greg was joined by other nearby Conservative MPs, and the text of Greg’s short speech is given below.
- Spoke out in the House of Commons against the administrative chaos caused by the Government’s new licensing laws (see below).
- Participated in a round table discussion and dinner with senior Deputies from the Russian Duma, on their visit to Westminster. Greg is the Treasurer of the All-Party Russia Group.
- Attended an inaugural meeting of the Hurlingham Area Neighbourhood Watch meeting in south Fulham. Strong concerns were expressed over the rising rate of violent crime in the area.
- Welcomed a group of local nuns to the House of Commons, who lobbied Greg over reducing poverty in the Third World. As a result of the meeting, Greg has tabled questions to Ministers over the drought in Malawi, and also to check whether the Government has lived up to its promises made at the time of the Gleneagles summit in July.
- Met with a representative of the Methodist Church public issues section, who spoke with Greg over their concerns over the new gambling laws, the arms trade, terrorism, religious hatred laws and other matters.
- Met with a representative of Hammersmith-based pharmaceuticals company Eisai, who are protesting the Government’s (NICE) decision to withdraw their popular anti-Alzheimers drug Aricept.
- Led a team to distribute thousands of further leaflets either side of the Munster Road in SW6 to oppose the Labour Council’s scheme to Astroturf over Bishop’s Park.
- Spoke out in the House of Commons against Clare Short’s private member’s bill, calling for parliamentary approval for future armed conflicts.
- Attended a board meeting of the North Fulham NDC.
- Door to door canvassing in Fulham Broadway ward, meeting residents concerned over poor quality Council street cleaning and drink-related disorder around Fulham Broadway.
- Held, as every Monday, a weekly surgery for all Hammersmith & Fulham residents, from 9 am to 11am, at Bishop Creighton House, Lillie Road (close to the junction with Fulham Palace Road). To make an appointment, call 020 7835 5446.
Website of the Week:
www.hacan.org.uk
The website of HACAN Clear Skies, the campaign group against night flights and Heathrow expansion. Greg is opposed to night flights, but is ready to judge Heathrow expansion proposals on their merits, recognising that aviation is key to London’s economy.
Labour climb down on Bishop’s Park astro-turfing
Hammersmith & Fulham MP, Greg Hands expressed his delight today as the Labour Council finally admitted defeat over the Bishop’s Park astro-turfing planning application.
This development came as a direct result of the massive local campaign to stop the proposal. Greg assisted the campaign by raising a number of questions in Parliament, unearthing the 1884 Covenant document from the Bishop of London and putting out thousands of leaflets opposing the development.
A statement from the Leader of the Labour Council announced that the Council had changed its mind on the proposal, following the massive public opposition to the scheme.
The Council have been involved in secret negotiations with the Sports Trust for over six months. As recently as 4th October they made a supportive statement on the application, describing the scheme as an “enhancement of a public facility”.
Greg said: “I would like to thank Karin Cardiff, the leader of the residents’ campaign, and the scores of local volunteers who have fought relentlessly to prevent this ludicrous scheme. It has been one of the most impressive local campaigns I have seen in the borough.
“Credit must also go to Bernard Bunting, who campaigned to bring the matter to the attention of the Bishop of London after it was discovered that this proposed development contravened the 1884 Covenant.”
Greg added: “This is second time in recent years that this Labour Council has attempted to sell off one of our local parks. I am pleased that common sense has prevailed but this situation could so easily have been avoided had they have offered better advice to the football club from the start.”
ENDS
Hands speaks out in the Commons over licensing chaos
This week, Greg Hands MP has re-affirmed his opposition to aspects of the Government’s new licensing laws, which are due to come into full effect on 24th November. Conservatives in Parliament have been seeking to block the implementation of some of the controversial changes.
The new Licensing Act will allow pubs and night clubs to apply for whatever opening hours they wish, and give local people few rights in determining the outcome of the applications. The new laws come at a time when violent attacks across Hammersmith & Fulham have risen by 7% in the last three years.
The news came as Greg spoke out on the floor of the House of Commons over some of the chaotic bureaucracy brought in by the new Act. Holding up a local newspaper headline “Booze Chaos”, Greg outlined how much trouble the world-famous River Café in Hammersmith had been subjected to, after the Council wrongly declared for two weeks on its website that they had an “invalid licence”. The restaurant, famous for launching Jamie Oliver, was besieged with calls from the media, intrigued at the possibility of its impending closure.
Although responsibility for licensing is being transferred from magistrates’ courts to local authorities, councils have very little discretion to refuse late licences.
- Applications are automatically granted unless an objection is made, but only certain people are allowed to object. Residents can only object if they live in the immediate ‘vicinity’.
- Councillors are not allowed to object to applications in their ward in their own right.
- Councils must follow the 180-page Whitehall guidance, which prevents councils from staggering closing times across an area.
- Councils cannot object to ‘Temporary Event Notices’, such as for controversial raves or festivals for up to 500 people.
- There are few powers to hold pubs and clubs responsible for rowdy or drunk customers once outside their premises, even if the nuisance was caused by the serving of alcohol.
Greg explained: “At a time when violent crime is rising, weakening the laws on late licensing threatens to increase crime, nuisance and disorder even further. I am all in favour of people having a good time out. But a licensing ‘free for all’ threatens to create not a café culture, but a yob culture.
“Labour’s new licensing laws fail to give local residents and councillors a strong enough say to decide what’s best for our local community. The whole legislation needs a complete overhaul to stop the upsurge in yob behaviour, and give elected councillors far more discretion to take into account the concerns of local people.”
ENDS
Greg Hands Praises Local Further Education
Greg Hands was recently invited as the elected MP for Fulham to Ealing, Hammersmith & West London College as part of a programme to ensure that all local MPs are fully briefed on the work of the college, and the actual and potential contribution it makes to the education, regeneration and economic development of the community.
During his visit, the local Conservative MP was shown around the Gliddon Road site and met a variety of students from different departments. Starting in the Hair and Beauty salon, Greg met students who are studying Hairdressing and was then shown how the excellent facilities within the Hospitality and Catering Department have attracted top TV chefs such as Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsey for training purposes for shows such as Hell’s Kitchen and Jamie’s Kitchen. Staff and students were on had to answer questions and demonstrate their culinary skills.
In addition, Mr Hands was introduced to the highly successful ‘in-house’ florist, Routes, Education to Employment which is run by students with moderate to severe learning difficulties and disabilities. The shop is designed to introduce students to a range of confidence building skills with the aim of preparing them for the further accredited learning and employment.
Commenting on his visit, Greg Hands said: “I was really impressed with Hammersmith & West London College. I am a strong backer of vocational training. Student funding is also a big issue in Parliament at the moment, so it was useful to get to see the issues at ground level. I commend the College for their work.”
Adding to Greg Hand’s comments, John Stone, Principal at Ealing, Hammersmith & west London College said: “We were particularly pleased to welcome Greg to the college to give him an opportunity to meet students and see at first hand the work that we do. Greg was well received by the many students and staff he met on his visit and we were happy to have the opportunity to discuss the positive and not-so-positive impact the current government policies are having on the college and the prospects for the Further Education of his constituents.”
ENDS
Speech by Greg Hands MP to the HACAN Clear Skies rally against night flights, Westminster Central Halls, 24th October, 2005
Background – a cross London rally against night flights at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports, organised by HACAN Clear Skies, featuring around 20 short speeches from, amongst others, Greg Hands MP, Justine Greening MP, Brooks Newmark MP, Adam Afriye MP, Alan Duncan MP, Tim Yeo MP and Roger Evans AM.
Greg’s short address:
“Can I first thank HACAN for organising this important rally, and also to thank many of my Hammersmith & Fulham constituents for attending this evening, and to thank my fellow speakers here.
Like my fellow Hammersmith & Fulham residents, I live directly under the Heathrow flight path, but until a few years back I didn’t have a strong view on this matter. I am both someone who flies and someone who is woken up by aircraft noise.
So I entered this debate as someone without a fixed view, and happened to be speaking with Justine Greening (the Conservative MP for Putney) about this, and she said ‘why not come along to some meetings on it?’
Anyway, to cut a long story short, we had a meeting with British Airways, who argued to us that night flights were needed for passengers from Hong Kong and Singapore in particular. The argument ran that planes depart from the Far East at around midnight and it is their few flights that arrive in London before 6 a.m. It was put to us that it would be highly inconvenient to these passengers for them to board after midnight. This I can understand – business between London and Hong Kong is very important – and nobody wants to board a plane in the middle of the night.
But this is the nub of the problem – the argument for night flights revolves around the convenience each night of a few thousand passengers. Unfortunately, the convenience of millions of London and South East residents under the flight paths is sacrificed.
It seems to me that the balance is all wrong. It is time to stop night flights, and give us some peace!”
View from the House as published in the Hammersmith & Fulham Gazette
Children spend an average of seven and a half hours a day in front of a TV or a computer screen watching screen entertainment. That is according to a new book by a local author, Louise O’Flynn and her sister. Earlier this month, I was delighted to host the launch in the House of Commons of the book, called “A Media Diet for Kids”.
The book offers a practical guide to parents on how to keep their children away from the screen. Clearly, computers are also an educational tool, but these seven and a half hours are just those spent on TV, computer games and MSN – not including education.
The great thing about the book is that it has no moralising or condemnatory tone. Rather, it accepts that screen entertainment is here to stay, and can be helpful, but it needs to be kept in perspective. Simply put, seven and a half hours for kids in front of a screen is too much. The book shows parents how they can take back control. Next year, I will be joining the ranks of local parents, so I know that I shall soon be trying to put the book’s message into practice!
I was also delighted to be given a tour this month of the Hammersmith & West London College in Barons Court. This is one of Britain’s largest FE Colleges, and serves thousands of local youths, adult students and part-time students. The FE sector doesn’t always get the best of press, but I was genuinely impressed by the facilities and the students. Its offer of vocational courses accords well with my own views on improving secondary education. Particularly impressive were the hairdressing, culinary and beauty care sections, offering West London youths a strong vocational grounding.
On a final note, I was saddened to hear about the death of Fulham legend Johnny Haynes. I am too young to have seen him play, but I was delighted to sign a motion in Parliament paying tribute to the former England and Fulham captain. May he rest in peace.
4 ways to contact Greg Hands MP:
By Post: Greg Hands MP, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA
By Telephone: 020 7219 5448 – Parliamentary Office, 020 7835 5446 – Constituency Office
By Fax: 020 7219 6801
By email: mail@greghands.com / www.greghands.com
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