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Andy Slaughter's eNews #38

Posted by Andrew Slaughter, MP for Ealing, Acton and Shepherd's Bush, at 18:04, Fri 14 November 2008:

HEATHROW - NO TO R3 With a decision on the Third Runway expected before Christmas, opposition has been growing and coming together this week. And I have been doing my best in public and in private to coordinate opposition to the plans for Heathrow expansion - particularly R3 which would be built north of the existing 2 runways with a flightpath directly over Chiswick, Hammersmith and Shepherds Bush. We want this stopped.

On Tuesday I led a deputation of west London MPs to meet Gordon Brown and express our opposition not only to R3 but also Mixed Mode – the ending of runway alternation which would bring all-day misery to those currently under the flight paths but granted a half-day respite.

We were received warmly – it was our second meeting on the subject in three weeks – and it was clear the PM was well-briefed, receptive and understood the arguments. Whether that is enough to change a government strategy that has developed over many years remains to be seen. (full story here: http://iwc2.labouronline.org/166818/heathrow)

Later the same day the Commons debated the issue of Heathrow expansion for some seven hours. You can read my speech by clicking on the link http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2008-11-11b.641.0&s=speaker%3A11559#g730.0

On Wednesday, having been drawn to ask a question of the Prime Minister for the first time this year, I used it to rub in the message on Heathrow (http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2008-11-12a.760.3&s=speaker%3A11559#g768.4). His reply suggested there may be some movement on environmental if not economic criteria.

LAP DANCE VICTORY The council’s licensing panel unanimously threw out the application for a strip/lapdancing club at the Fox Tavern last week.

Full story: http://iwc2.labouronline.org/166818/victory_for_residents_over_lapdancing_club

This is a great victory and a tribute to the organisation and erudition of local residents who came together very quickly to fight the plans. But it may only be the first round in a longer battle. While we await news of any appeal by the owner to the magistrates’ court, I am lobbying ministers to bring forward a change in the law regarding such premises as soon as possible, so that it is easy for local councils to refuse them permission.

The Fox has attracted national attention. I spoke at a meeting in the House of Commons last week organised by the Fawcett Society. Also present were other MPs and campaigners from around the country who have opposed similar venues.

My attempt to build an all-party consensus on this issue has failed however. My opponent has this week written a letter to local residents claiming Labour that gave permission for the Secrets club in Glenthorne Road, and the Tories opposed this. He knows – if only because I have told him - that the decision to allow lapdancing at Secrets 10 years ago had the support of the Tory representative on the licensing panel. This was based on legal advice that the existing license for the premises made it impossible to refuse. Residents will make their own mind up as to whether telling lies and scoring political points helps this campaign as it goes into its second phase.

HOUSING

On a busy Tuesday this week I also spoke in a debate on the perilous state of housing in London now that Boris Johnson has abandoned Ken Livingstone’s plans for 50% affordable housing.

Full story: http://iwc2.labouronline.org/166818/victory_for_residents_over_lapdancing_club

Later I attended the AGM of the White City Residents Association and spoke about the council’s scandalous plans for a full-scale redevelopment of the estate and a drastic reduction of the amount of housing that local people could afford. This controversy over 179 homes on the White City Health Centre site rumbles on. Residents expressed their disappointment that the leader of the council, who had been invited, did not turn up to give his side of the story and answer their many questions. I have also written a letter to residents explaining the Tory double-cross on this, and calling on the council to come clean on their proposals.

More here:http://iwc2.labouronline.org/166818/andy_calls_for_more_housing

REMEMBRANCE To mark the 90th Anniversary of the Armistice, I joined veterans, Mayors, ex-Mayors and others who wanted to pay their respects, on the Remembrance Sunday March to Shepherds Bush War Memorial. It was a poignant reminder of the sacrifice and suffering of troops past and present. I was particularly moved by the participation of Alex Cottrell, a 95 year-old veteran of WW2, who, though no longer able to march, was still present and laid a wreath.

CROSSRAIL As a member of the APPG on Crossrail, I attended a meeting to get an update on the plans for building this vital transport link. Some impressive figures are involved. The Crossrail team say that half of the £16billion cost will be offset by gains in efficiency, by reducing congestion and overcrowding on the roads and railways, making this one of the most cost-effective civil engineering projects ever.

They intend to use the existing Post Office tunnels and the river to remove the spoil, which, with the help of the RSPB, will be used to restore and secure nesting sites in the Thames Estuary, which have been eroded over the years.

Crossrail also have a training programme and are working with 800 schools throughout London. Of course, Crossrail is a project ten times the size of our own local leviathan, Westfield, but is still an example of how environmental and employment benefits can accrue from major schemes when sympathetically managed. This does not appear to have happened in Westfield’s case.

On the downside, because there is no new station in Hammersmith and Fulham, it looks to benefit less than other London Boroughs from reduced travel times and congestion. I believe there should be a station in the borough to provide an interchange with the West London Line, so I will be trying to get the council to support this proposal which they currently do not. What they are pushing for, is the far less attractive option of a Willesden Junction crossrail connection as part of their Mitre Bridge development plans.

ANY VOLUNTEERS? I was delighted to be able to help Hammersmith and Fulham Volunteer Centre with their latest project to improve Fulham Palace. Marion Schumann and her team are doing a fantastic job, enlisting the help of local firms and making a real difference to this historic local amenity.

BRITISH-POLISH CONFERENCE With Ealing North MP, Stephen Pound, I attended an impressive seminar on British-Polish relations. We heard speeches from the Polish Ambassador, the Federation of Poles in Great Britain’s representative Wiktor Mocszinski, and Ewa Brzeska, chairman of our own local Posk Centre.

SPEECH DAY AT WILLIAM MORRIS SIXTH FORM This is a college I helped set up in 1994 in the teeth of opposition from the then Conservative government. It now ranks as “outstanding” and has superb exam results. And no allowance need be made for the fact that many of the pupils are refugees or asylum seekers or have English as their second language. Afterwards I talked to students about their experiences and heard their ideas about how we could use the government cash from the Building Schools for the Future programme to improve the fabric of the school.

They had arranged for me to debate with my Conservative opponent, Shaun Bailey, in the afternoon. What they clearly hadn’t told him was that many of the 150 students were studying A-level politics, so his attempt to describe Barack Obama as the candidate for the right wing party(!) didn’t quite come off. As Abraham Lincoln, a former US President from Chicago, famously said, “You can fool some of the people all of the time…”

STOP PRESS #1 - POST OFFICES SAVED At lunchtime today we received news from James Purnell, Work and Pensions Minister, that the Post Office card account contract was going to stay with the Post Office, securing the future of the Post Office branch network. Full story: http://iwc2.labouronline.org/166818/postofficecardaccount

Earlier this week, Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary held out the prospect of post offices expanding their business by increasing the range of financial services they offer. It is clear the government intends the post office network not only to survive, but thrive over the coming years. This is particularly good news in Hammersmith & Fulham, where we fought the best campaign in the country to keep the existing network with five out of the eight branches which could have closed staying open. 11,500 sub-post offices will remain across the country under the government plan and the now have a bright future. Compare this with Tory proposals to give full commercial freedom and no subsidy - to which local Tories gave their support in a public meeting earlier this year. This would have meant reducing the network to 4000 branches. This is great news for both individual postmasters trying to make a living and customers, many of whom rely on the service.

You can see James Purnell’s statement by clicking on the link below: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmhansrd/cm081110/debtext/81110-0015.htm#08111027000253

STOP PRESS #2 - BOTTOM OF THE CLASS: H&F TORIES FAIL THE TEST ON SCHOOL REBUILDING Through sheer incompetence and poor planning, Hammersmith and Fulham’s Tory Council has lost out on its share of £1.75bn of new money for primary schools rebuilding. The full story is on the BBC website here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7722119.stm Ed Balls, the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, announced the new money at John Perryn Primary School in my constituency this week. However, next-door Hammersmith and Fulham Council won’t be seeing any of the money for a while – the Tory council have failed a simple competence test and will not be allowed to receive its share of the money until government inspectors are assured it can be competently spent. Following the controversy over their plans for secondary schools earlier in the year, when attempts to close Hurlingham and Chelsea School and merge Henry Compton and Fulham Cross Schools met opposition from parents, teachers and pupils alike, this shows that they simply cannot be trusted with education at any level.