Residents First

Late surge for Royal Wedding street parties

The Evening Standard splashes on a late surge in official street  parties for the Royal Wedding. In Hammersmith and Fulham the number planned has now reached 34.

The report says:

A council spokesman in Hammersmith & Fulham, where there will be 34 official parties, said: "We've been taken aback by a massive surge in the last few days before the deadline. We were in the low 20s with four days to go but it seems a lot of people tried to get things going at the last minute."

The most "royalist" borough is Richmond upon Thames, with 85 parties, followed by Wandsworth on 79 and Newham on 67, according to Local Government Association figures.

Susan Weintraub, who is helping to organise a party in Aldensley Road in Hammersmith, said: "I've only had one door slammed in my face. Apart from that everyone has said, 'What a great idea for bringing everyone together'."

The street event will attended by two camera crews - from US network ABC News and a German channel - covering "typical" London celebrations.

St George's Day invitation from Boris

 

Plans for children’s centres approved

* Council confirms its commitment to children’s centres
* All centres will remain open
* Parents able to access a wide range of services from across the borough

A new children’s centre is set to open after Hammersmith & Fulham Council this week approved plans that will reshape how services are delivered in the borough.

The decision takes the total number of centres to 16 and was made following a major consultation on the future of the borough’s centres.

It means parents and carers will have more choice as they will be able to attend any of the centres across the borough, no matter where they live. The borough’s most vulnerable families will also benefit from the changes, and ensure residents have access to a full range of services across the borough.

Six of the centres will increase in size to become ‘hubs’, with each of them seeing their annual council funding rise..They will work with the other ten centres or ‘spokes’. All sixteen centres will be run by schools or specialist voluntary organisations and receive varying amounts of funding depending on a number of factors such as levels of local need, size and location.

Backlash over Thames Water drilling rig

Thames Water has provoked an angry backlash after covertly floating a giant drilling rig next to Hammersmith Bridge without notifying local people.

Residents and local councillors have hit out at the ‘arrogant and aggressive’ approach from Thames Water after they shipped in offshore drilling equipment into the river close to Hammersmith Embankment earlier this week.

It is understood that Thames Water’s engineers need the rig to drill underwater boreholes to test the soil conditions beneath the river before the final construction sites are selected for the water company’s controversial super sewer project.

Record Tube passengers underlines importance of upgrade

A record 1.1 billion passengers travelled on the Tube last year, according to figures released today.

The figures, which show 42million more people travelled on the Tube last year compared with the previous year, underlines the importance of the current Tube upgrade programme which was secured by Mayor Boris Johnson following tough negotiations with central Government.

The figures also reveal there has been a 40% increase in Tube usage over the last 15 years, highlighting how badly it was neglected under the disastrous PPP contract, which cost Londoners billions of pounds, left aging track and signalling equipment dating back to the 1920s.

School sports day under AV

 

Football clubs to manage traffic

Two of Hammersmith & Fulham’s high-flying football clubs are set to manage traffic and road closures on match days - saving the borough’s taxpayers more than £100,000 a year.

From August, when the new season begins, Fulham and Queen’s Park Rangers football clubs will become fully responsible for traffic management on match days around their respective grounds, Craven Cottage and Loftus Road. The clubs currently pay nothing for this service, which includes closing roads to motorists, except for residents living in nearby streets, and keeping traffic flowing safely in the area.

Since 2002, the job has been carried out by the Metropolitan Police, with major support from Hammersmith & Fulham Council, which pays for all traffic management costs. The council has been providing and putting up parking suspension signs and road barriers, and also has had to send a lead officer to each match to help deal with parking and safety issues.

Council funds breaks for disabled children

Hammersmith & Fulham Council last night agreed to spend an extra £270,000 on a scheme that pays for disabled children and their families to take a short holiday or receive respite care.

The short breaks scheme gives parents and carers of severely disabled children, who need direct and constant one-to-one support, the chance to get some time to themselves.

The £2.5m scheme will benefit up to 500 children and their families in H&F, and ranges from support for a few hours in the family home to respite care overnight. Parents can also choose to take a direct payment from the council which they use to buy their own short break, specialist play provision or specialist support.

Boris strengthens his top team

The Mayor of London Boris Johnson has today announced a number of changes to strengthen his top team that will take him through the 2012 Games and beyond.

Isabel Dedring is to become Deputy Mayor for Transport, to ensure that the unprecedented investment in the network the Mayor has secured delivers a better and more reliable service for Londoners. Daniel Moylan will increase his time commitment as Deputy Chairman of Transport for London from two to four days a week, supporting Isabel in this task and working with the Mayor on the delivery of his key projects.

Kulveer Ranger has been rewarded for his successful delivery of the cycle hire scheme, increased Oysterisation of the transport network and the promotion of river transport, by being promoted to Director of Environment. He will have the task of delivering a cleaner, healthier London and long-term improvements in quality of life. He will also take charge of the Mayor’s digital agenda, to ensure Londoners get the full benefits of the Internet and new technology.

A sure future for Sure Start

Cllr Helen Binmore, presented the Sure Start proposals as follows, at last night's Cabinet Meeting:

We are committed to Sure Start and we are not proposing to close any Centres.

Some councils have simply decided to close centres, eg four in Liverpool.

But we are determined to avoid that by identifying new ways of working.

The alternative proposal offered of cutting Children’s Centre budgets across the board, it is just not a viable alternative.

It would result in hitting the most vulnerable the hardest:

• No centre would be able to cater for families with the most complex needs.

• It would go against the spirit of Sure Start which the Government wants us to focus on, and

• It would go against the majority view in the consultation that resources should be targeted at the most vulnerable families.

Our proposal ensures that our most vulnerable families will still have access to the full range of services across the borough.