Residents First

Back Boris campaign comes to Hammersmith

Yesterday saw over a hundred young campaigners for Boris Johnson in Hammersmith. As well as setting up stall in Lyric Square there were teams that fanned out across the Hammersmith Broadway Ward in canvassing teams making contact with over a thousand voters.

Bill Bailey (picture) was one of Ken Livingstone's celebrity backers last time. But Bill welcomed the abolition of the C-Charge Extensiuon. Will he switch to Boris next time.

Thanks to everyone who helped make the day such a success.

Author visit

Author Dan Waddell will be visiting Hammersmith Library later this month to discuss genealogy and crime fiction.

Dan Waddell has written more than a dozen books. He wrote the bestselling guide that accompanied the hugely successful BBC TV series, Who Do You Think You Are? This gave him the idea for a series of crime novels based on genealogy. The first book in the series, The Blood Detective was the UK's bestselling ebook and nominated for CWA New Blood Dagger, and the second, Blood Atonement, was released in 2009 to critical acclaim both in the UK and USA. The third in the series will be released later this year and Dan is also writing a thriller set on the doomed Titanic to be released in spring 2011, as well as a series of books aimed at children.

The event takes place at Hammersmith Library, Shepherds Bush Rd, on Thursday, June 16, from 6.30pm to 7.30pm and coincides with National Crime Writing Week.

For more information and to register interest please email elin.jones@lbhf.gov.uk or phone 020 8753 3812.

Recycling scheme for flats

Recycling for residents who live in flats is set to become even easier!

Flats make up around 70 per cent of properties in Hammersmith & Fulham but the recycling rate from flats is estimated at just 10 per cent.

H&F Council is set to launch a brand new scheme to make it easier for flat dwellers to recycle using Smart Banks.

From this summer, all households with access to Smart Banks will be given a new re-usable bag to make it even easier to store recycling in your home and transport it to the recycling bank. Selected locations
will also benefit from other improvements including:

• Converting some refuse chutes so that they can be used for recycling - this approach trebled recycling rates on one estate in Westminster.
• Installing recycling banks on each floor.
• Providing extra Smart Banks where coverage is limited.

Wormwood Scrubs Fun Run

Wormwood Scrubs will be the venue for a four mile fun run on Saturday, June 11.

The event is free and is open to everyone to take part in.

The race starts at 9am and will then take place every Saturday at the same time meeting near the Linford Christie Outdoor Sports Centre car park.

Everyone is welcome to attend the free weekly four mile timed run, jog or walk open to all abilities. Whether you are interested in taking part as an established runner, wannabe runner or simply to improve your health and fitness.

Cllr Greg Smith, cabinet member for residents’ services, said:

“Wormwood Scrubs is the largest park in the borough and this run will help people to keep fit while enjoying a beautiful open space.”

For more information visit www.parkrun.org.uk/wormwood-scrubs

Council calls for car club comments

Hammersmith & Fulham Council is calling on residents to help shape the future of car clubs in the borough.

Earlier in the year, the council created four parking spaces dedicated solely to car clubs, which allow members to hire cars from an hour up to a few weeks. The trial aims to relieve parking stress in the borough’s streets and give residents who do not own a car the opportunity to use one.

Four companies – Zipcar, Streetcar, City Car Clubs and Connect by Hertz – are currently able to park a car each in spaces in Nasmyth Street, Ravenscourt Road, Paddenswick Road and Beavor Lane.

But now the council needs residents and local businesses to share their views on the pilot scheme to help decide whether or not the current parking spaces should be made permanent and whether more parking spaces should be created as part of the scheme. Residents who are keen to join a car club are also being asked to suggest new locations for car club bays.

Cllr Nicholas Botterill, deputy leader of the council and cabinet member for environment, was similarly enthusiastic:

The cost of AV referendum

Letter to this week's Fulham & Hammersmith Chronicle:

Dear Sir,

Paul Kennedy of the H&F Liberal Democrats wishes to thank the 17,000 people in our borough who voted yes to AV. I would like to particularly thank the 24,380 who voted No. Although I was also pleased by the higher than expected turnout of 39% which has resolved the issue. I leave it to your readers to decide who which campaign was "personalised" - the Yes campaign put out desperate leaflets advising voters that as Norman Tebbit was voting No they should vote Yes. But we along with the rest of the country have shown resolve to maintain our democratic system of first past the post with one person, one vote. It is our most important export.

But while pleased with the result I do believe that demanding such a referendum at this time when public finances are in such a chronic state shows misplaced priorities. Holding the referendum cost Hammersmith and Fulham Council £249.481. This specific sum was reimbursed by central Government but had we not had the referendum then the cut in the general central Government grant could have been smaller. When the Lib Dems, and the Labour MP Andrew Slaughter who backed this unnecessary referendum, complain about cuts they might like to reflect that they are responsible for the situation being more severe than it otherwise would have been.

Yours sincerely,
Cllr Harry Phibbs
(Ravenscourt Park Ward. Conservative.)
Hammersmith Town Hall,
King Street,
W6 9JU.

Utilities fined a million pounds for botched jobs

Utility companies in Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) have been fined more than £1m over the last three years for botched jobs and overrunning road works.

Firms who fell foul of the scheme and were fined for not finishing repairs on time or carrying out shoddy works, delaying residents and causing hold-ups to motorists, included Thames Water, National Grid and EDF. Between 2008 and 2010, collectively utilities companies have been forced to cough up £1.1m. This money was then pumped back into maintaining the borough’s highways.

The figure is revealed on the same day as the publishing of a report reviewing the first year of the London Permit Scheme (LoPS) – a highways programme where companies must buy a permit before they begin digging up a borough’s roads. Hammersmith & Fulham has been leading the scheme since it began in January 2010, having carried out the original pilot project in 2009.

The report shows how LoPS has led to a decrease in journey times, less disruption for residents and motorists, and created more opportunities for companies to carry out collaborative works. It has also, perhaps most importantly, given local authorities more control over when and how road works are carried out in their borough.

The scheme has helped save H&F motorists from 61 extra days of disruption at 441 individual sites. This equates to a 400 per cent cut in the number of days spent working on the roads, while across London, nearly 150,000 days worth of disruption were saved overall.

H&F Council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for environment, Cllr Nick Botterill, said: “The scheme been vital in controlling and coordinating works in the borough and it has helped reduce journey times, as well as giving utility companies something to think about. However, we do not think it goes far enough.

“We are expecting the Department for Transport to bring in new legislation with a lane rental system where companies will have to pay per day for working on our key roads. If they were to run over, there
would be high cost implications, and we are sure that this would make companies finish their repairs in the shortest possible time.

“As part of our transport campaign, Get H&F Moving, we are trying to do all we can to free up our roads, which are the most congested in London, and a more robust system would go a long way to helping us do that.”

Thirty-eight per cent of traffic delays in London are caused by road works – at an estimated cost of nearly £1 billion a year. It is thought that approximately £2.7m has been saved through the LoPS, with fewer people being stuck in traffic.

At the start of this year, H&F Council launched Get H&F Moving in a bid to improve the borough’s transport network and has been calling on residents to tell the council what they think and what improvements they would like to see. For more information on the campaign and to read residents’ views, visit the council’s website: www.lbhf.gov.uk/getmoving, Twitter: www.twitter.com/LBHF or facebook: www.lbhf.gov.uk/getmovingfb.

To see the full report on the LoPS, visit: http://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/policylobbying/transport/publications/roadworksconsultation.htm

Labour councillors demand endless meetings - but skip the ones we already have

Last night annual Council Meeting saw vociferous demands by Labour councillors for more meetings. They wanted more Scrutiny Meetings and more Full Council meetings. They even voted against the Council Calendar.

Cllr Andrew Jones said there needed to be more meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Board. Cllr Stephen Cowan was also keen on more meetings - adding that they were a "ridiculous farce." (The food in this restaurant is disgusting - and such small portions.)

Cllr Cowan also said their manifesto last year had "radical plans" to improve scrutiny arrangements. But where is their manifesto? The Conservative Manifesto can be seen here. Labour prudently made sure that you Google in vain for their manifesto.

New mayor for Hammersmith and Fulham

Cllr Frances Stainton was elected the new Mayor of Hammersmith & Fulham at last night’s council Annual General Meeting.

Cllr Stainton succeeds Cllr Adronie Alford in the role, with Cllr Belinda Donovan serving as her deputy mayor.

Cllr Stainton first became a councillor in 1990 and during her council career has served first as chief whip and cabinet member for regeneration in 2006, and subsequently as cabinet member for parks,
culture and heritage.

The chosen mayoral charity is Braveheart - a military charity dedicated to the relief and healing of the psychological and emotional scars of war both with serving members of the armed forces, and with veterans. It is funding a five-year long scientific research project with Oxford University, which began this spring, that uses neurological technology to study how the brain is affected by combat related post-traumatic stress disorder.

Speaking after last night’s AGM about the year ahead and her charity, Cllr Stainton said: “I am looking forward to carrying out the role. I am going to ask everyone to help my chosen charity with all their hearts. I felt that many charities were helping soldiers with prosthetic limbs and giving counselling. They are superb. Braveheart looks at the causes of post traumatic stress, which is immensely valuable.

“I have a number of military friends and have seen evidence of this disorder. Having met some people who have been affected by this issue in the Sir Oswald Stoll Foundation in Fulham, I feel they have given so much and they deserve all the help we can find for them.”

Cllr Stainton oversaw the regeneration of Fulham Palace where she also held an exhibition of the borough’s treasures past and present. She has also sent some of the finest pieces from the Cecil French bequest of pre-Raphaelite paintings to exhibitions around the world. One is in Japan and Australia and the other, called The Cult of Beauty is currently at the V&A and runs until July 17. This will then continue to Paris and Los Angeles.

As cabinet member for culture and heritage she was instrumental in bringing Lottery Heritage funding to the borough for the much-wanted restoration of Bishops Park, Fulham Palace grounds and the ancient moat. She added: “I am looking forward to the completion of this project and the full unveiling of the Fulham Palace grounds and Bishops Park.”

Cllr Stainton has exhibited her oil paintings in Paris, London and Rome, and in her spare time she enjoys sport and sailing, in particular in Turkey. Her late husband was Suffolk MP, Keith Stainton, and Cllr Stainton has a very large family.

Cllr Stainton’s consorts are William Proger, Comte Edouard de Guitaut and her mayoress is Pauline Lyle-Smith.

The new council cabinet was also announced at last night’s meeting:

   Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh - Leader and Cabinet Member for Economic
and Housing Development
   Cllr Nicholas Botterill - Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for
Environment and Asset Management
   Cllr Mark Loveday - Cabinet Member for Strategy and Chief Whip
   Cllr Helen Binmore - Cabinet Member for Children’s Services
   Cllr Joe Carlebach - Cabinet Member for Community Care
   Cllr Harry Phibbs - Cabinet Member for Community Engagement
   Cllr Andrew Johnson - Cabinet Member for Housing
   Cllr Greg Smith - Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services

100 achievements of Conservative-run Hammersmith & Fulham Council

This evening sees the annual Council Meeting in Hammersmith and Fulham. Here are some of the achievements of the Council since the Conservatives gained control five years ago.

1.Cut Council Tax from £917 in 2006 (at Band D) to £812 now. Under Labour the Council Tax by an average of 7.7% a year between 1993 and 2006. Hammersmith and Fulham now has the fourth lowest Council Tax in the country.
2. Reduced the Council's debt from £169 million to £123 million.
3. Fewer Looked after children. The number has fallen from 394 to 260.
4. More police. Spending more than £1.3 million per year to pay for the three enhanced town centre squads - more policing than anywhere else in Britain.
5. A grot spotting drive has resulted in a reduction of graffiti and enforcement against derelict property eyesores.