Residents First

Busy night for parks constabulary

A gang of vandals and the owner of a marauding mutt have been snared in a covert operation by the council’s parks constabulary.

On Friday June 3, parks constabulary officers spotted 18 young people breaking into the walled garden at Fulham Palace. Some of the youths were seen climbing into a mechanical digger that was parked in the garden as part of the ongoing Palace regeneration work.

The council-funded officers were keen to intervene but decided to hold back until their colleagues had returned from a job on the other side of the borough at Wormholt Park. Here, officers were busy arresting a man for encouraging his dog to strip the bark of a tree – a common technique used by the owners of fighting dogs to make their animal’s teeth sharp.

Super-sewer costs set to skyrocket despite Government pressure

The colossal price-tag for Thames Water’s controversial super-sewer will ‘inevitably increase’, according to the company's own Chief Executive.

Martin Baggs, Thames Water Chief Executive, told respected trade journal The New Civil Engineer that the £3.6billion price tag is "simply an indicative 2008 price used to bench mark options and so will inevitably increase once project risks and the financing cost is added in".

The astonishing admission comes despite Caroline Spelman MP demanding that the Thames Water Chief Executive puts a halt to the spiralling cost of the project. In September last year, Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) Council Leader Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh reported to the GLA’s Health and Public Services Committee: "When I saw Caroline Spelman she described getting hold of the Chief Executive of Thames Water, grabbing him by the lapels and saying, “It won’t cost any more money, will it? You will absolutely assure me that it will not cost any more money.”

A year as Mayor

Cllr Adronie Alford writes

In May 2010 I was privileged to be elected by my fellow councillors to be Mayor for the forthcoming year. As the first citizen of the Borough, which is how the mayor is known I was privileged to represent the borough at over…..events. I also choose as the mayor charity for the year the RNLI. The section of the Thames which runs though Fulham and Hammersmith is the second busiest RNLI station the whole of the whole of the United Kingdom.

Some of the many and different events I attended in the borough included Open Day at Worm Wood Scrubs, the Norman Park Dog shop, Polo at Hurlingham and the opening of the Hungarian Gate. I was also able to attend many celebrations at the Bhvan Cultural Centre. I also tried to visit the schools in the borough particularly for Academic and sports celebrations and I was delighted by the very warm welcome I received.

I was also able to attend our citizenship ceremonies which welcomed many new member of our community. Throughout the year it was a pleasure to attend so may different and events and to meet so many residents of the borough. there were so many high lights that it is not possible to mention them all, but was delighted to host the children’s parliament in the Town Hall and to speak about the mayoral duties. I have failed so far to give the weight of the Mayoral regalia.

We have two set s of regalia one for Hammersmith and the other for Fulham, which date from the inauguration of the metropolitan boroughs in 1900.

The many duties out of the borough that I attended including services at Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral, and the Brompton Oratory. I also attended the Dragon Boat Race, the Great River Race and the Boat Race.

I can only say that to have been Mayor of Hammersmith and Fulham was a great honour and my time as mayor as one that I shall never forget.

Tune in to the council

Residents can now listen to all of Hammersmith & Fulham’s full council meetings by logging onto the council’s website.

The council is recording all six full council meetings that happen each year and residents can listen and download the entire meeting to hear what happened that night.

Residents can listen to or download audio recordings of meetings since last June at www.lbhf.gov.uk/transparency.

Andrew Slaughter accuses his assistant of plagiarism

Caught in a hole the Labour MP Andrew Slaughter has decided that the best policy is to carry on digging.

After the HF Conservatives world exclusive on him grandly having his tweets written on his behalf by an underling he has offered this explanation to the Evening Standard:

"I think that Imran simply put out the same tweet to his own followers so that more people would see them."

This explanation streches credulity. Leave aside the astonishing speed with which Imrtan achieves this supposed arrangement. Those in the Twitter community will know that the proper arrangement is to Re Tweet. Not to pass off someone else's tweet as you own.

Outstanding, outstanding, outstanding

A Shepherds Bush primary school has been classed as ‘outstanding’ across the board in a recent inspection, becoming the first primary school and only the third in the borough ever to do so.

St Stephen’s Church of England Primary School, in Uxbridge Road, was given an outstanding review in all categories by Ofsted inspectors when they visited the school in May. It is only the third school to receive such an inspection in Hammersmith & Fulham, along with Sacred Heart High School and London Oratory School.

The most recent inspection statistics, from September to December last year, show that nationally, only four other schools received outstanding across the board, and among them there was just one primary school - Brandlehow Primary School in Wandsworth - that achieved the accolade.

Green Party's misguided attack on estate revelopment

Cllr Harry Phibbs writes

Jenny Jones, a London Assembly member for the far left Green Party, visited the West Kensington estate this week. A home owner in a smart residence in Camberwell she declared that there was no need for estate redevelopment of the "useful" tower blocks - by which she means they are good enough for other people to live in.

She talks about the opposition of residents to estate redevelopment - but the leading opponent is an unpleasant individual called Jonathan Rosenberg who lives in Westminster ("hothead" is how his friends describe him.) His agressive scare mongering is not motivated by concern for the welfare of residents.

The irony is that the proposed estate redevelopment should be welcomed by the Green Party if they were to consider it in objective environmental terms rather than through political prejudice.

The Earls Court proposals include 23.5 acres of public open space, including the five acre Lost River Park.

Capco and its partners have a strategy for a ‘very low carbon’ footprint for Earls Court. The housing currently on site at Earls Court will be replaced with a more coherent, planned layout, with a massing and form and at densities exhibited by 21st century cities; accordingly many more people will live on less land (but at proven liveable and enjoyable density – per LBK&C, Belgravia, Pimlico, Westminster, Islington, Paris, Central Copenhagen, Stockholm etc…), the buildings and infrastructure will be super-efficient.

The mix of local activities and land uses which the plan provides for will reduce the need to travel and proximity of public transport nodes and routes mean that the carbon emitted in travel will be less. The new High Street opens up an accessible new route for people living at the western edge of the land to Earls Court underground station

The developers have demonstrated that a CCHP powered heat network is viable with the larger scheme and will reduce regulated emissions by 40% for thousands of new residents; this would be much more difficult to afford and implement without the area—wide approach to place-making adopted for Earls Court.

Furthermore a series of other measures are being introduced to provide a "culture of living sustainably" on the proposed develoment to achieve the deeper cuts in carbon footprint. They include a walking plan (with companion designs), bike culture (companion designs), electric charging for vehicles, food culture (promoting local markets and local food production) and abundant greenery.

Car clubs will be promoted and there wll be a financial contribution to improve public transport to reduce pollution.

The buildings will have energy efficient light fittings and lighting controls, heat and rainwater recovery systems, solar photo voltaic panels on roofs to produce hot water and smart metering.

Collectively and over time when these actions are taken Earls Court will be the lowest carbon place in London and arguably among the lowest in the developed world (Scandinavia included) even as many more thousands of people are housed and jobs accommodated.

In opposing this exceptionally green scheme are the Green Party merely ignorant? Blinded by anti capitalist ideology? Or guilty of the most shameless political opportunism?

Borough schools impress judges

Two schools in Hammersmith & Fulham have impressed judges of two national educational awards.

Sir John Lillie Primary School in Fulham, wowed the judges of the inaugural Education Blog Awards 2011 to be the first to win the Whole School Blog of the year award.

The school scored highly, particularly on their commitment to galvanize the community by allowing parents as well as teachers and children to blog.

Sir John Lillie School's headteacher Sue Hayward said:

"I'm really chuffed about this award. I've watched the blog grow and grow, and now parents use it and the whole community has got involved. In fact there are people across the world reading it! It really is an achievement for the school and for Lee who helped set it up. We're very proud!"

Sir John Lillie School beat off 303 other schools to be short-listed in the top ten before going on to win their outstanding triumph.

Archives relaunched

Hammersmith & Fulham Council’s archives and local history centre have relaunched.

The Council announced earlier this year that it would be closing the reading room as a result of the national debt crisis. However, a deal has been struck to keep the base at the Lilla Huset, Talgarth Road
open.

The arrangement sees a professional archivist from the London Metropolitan Archives man the centre, with the support of volunteers. Access to the archives' store room will be restricted to the professional archivist who will also monitor the condition of the collection and be in attendance whenever the reading room is open. The deal will save the council £70,000 a year.

Super sewer threat to homes

Fears that homes could be bulldozed to make way for Thames Water’s controversial super sewer emerged this week after the water company approached dozens of property owners with a ‘land interest
questionnaire’.

Concerns that the intrusive eight page form could be the prelude to a series of compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) have been voiced and the council is advising residents to refuse to fill out the form.

Thames Water’s questionnaire asks a series of detailed questions ranging from who has an interest in the land or property, whether the land is subject to any mortgage and questions about who may ‘acquire
an interest’ in the property.

Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) Council warned last month that the Carnwath Road site, in the heart of residential south Fulham, is 40,000 sq ft too small for a sewer construction compound, according to Thames Water’s own published criteria.