Another step towards creating thousands of new jobs and homes at Earls Court was taken at H&F Council's Cabinet meeting on July 18.
Councillors have agreed to enter into an ‘exclusivity deal’ with, EC Properties Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Capital & Counties (Capco) which could eventually lead to a development bringing new, modern homes for people living on the West Kensington & Gibbs Green estates.
The parties will work exclusively for the next year on a potential land sale agreement to include the estates in the redevelopment area. In order to enter into the exclusivity agreement, EC Properties will pay the Council £15 million, £10 million of which is refundable if a deal is not agreed within the one year timeframe.
Controversial proposals to withdraw trains from the Olympia branch of the District Line on weekdays will be debated at a public meeting at the end of the month.
Transport for London (TfL) wants to increase capacity on the Wimbledon branch of the District line, through Fulham, by scaling back services on the Underground to Olympia – which it argues is ‘underused’.
However, concerned residents around Olympia are worried about the loss of their local service – especially as the station is the only one in the area that provides easy step-free disabled access.
Hammersmith & Fulham Council has backed the improvements on the Wimbledon branch but does not want them to be at the expense of the Olympia service. The connection could become even more critical, to residents and visitors alike, as the current owner of Olympia Capital & Counties (Capco) has submitted plans to redevelop Earl's Court and intends to consolidate their existing conference and exhibition business at an enhanced Olympia venue.
Now residents, local businesses and affected groups have the opportunity to let TfL know what they think face-to-face at a public meeting with Underground bosses at 7pm on Tuesday, 26 July in the Pillar Hall of Olympia.
Council Cabinet Members, the local MP, and ward councillors are all expected to attend to press London Underground for a satisfactory solution.
Councillor Nick Botterill, H&F Council Deputy Leader, says:
“TfL needs to be brave and come up with a solution that works for the whole borough.
“Councillors have met with TfL to insist that the enhanced service on the Wimbledon line should not result in fewer trains to an important venue and area like Olympia. We persuaded them to extend their consultation and now we need them to agree to protect the Olympia service while maintaining their improved plans for the Wimbledon branch.
“Improvements to the Wimbledon branch have been welcomed by many residents in the south of the borough but we do not want this to come at the expense of people living around Olympia.”
TfL says it has increased the number of off-peak Overground services to Olympia to five an hour and that that the Olympia Underground service will continue to run at weekends and when major events are on at the exhibition and conference centre.
To have your say on the District line proposals call TfL on 0845 330 9880
All teachers will be expected to meet new standards of competence and conduct from September 2012, following an independent review of the skills that teachers should possess. They are a key part of the Government’s ambition to ensure the status and quality of the teaching profession continues to rise.
In March this year, the Government asked Sally Coates, Principal of Burlington Danes Academy in Shepherd's Bush, to lead a review of standards for teachers. The standards place a sharp focus on the key elements of teaching – including subject knowledge, managing behaviour and teaching pupils with a variety of special needs – and will set a clear and unambiguous benchmark for teachers, regardless of whether they are newly qualified or have been in post for many years.
The Government has accepted the review’s recommendations including:
Improving the rigour of teaching standards and ensuring they focus more on the essential teaching skills required in the classroom.
Recommending a single set of standards for all teachers, replacing the current duplication of different standards issued from different bodies – reducing them to just eight standards for teaching from 33 standards for QTS and 41 for Core and to just three standards for personal and professional conduct from the eight principles in the GTCE Code.
Setting a clear expectation that teachers must not undermine fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect, and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.
The Government launched the review because the existing standards are not fit for purpose. More than a third of teachers do not feel they provide a good definition of teacher competence and 41 per cent believe they do not make any difference to the way they teach.
In place of the old ambiguous and vague system, the new standards are practical and clear about the competencies that all teachers should have.
They will:
help headteachers assess teacher performance
provide clear requirements on teachers having skills to tackle bad pupil behaviour
make sure that teachers are able to teach the core basics of reading and writing, including understanding systematic synthetic phonics.
Sally Coates, chairman of the review, said today:
Nothing has more impact on a child’s achievement than the quality of teaching they receive and in the new standards for teachers we have prioritised the importance of classroom practice and subject knowledge.
I hope the review’s recommendations will ensure the benchmark for entry to the profession is rigorous and firmly based in teaching. I want every teacher to consider these the standards of expectation and build upon them in their career.
Michael Gove welcomed the recommendations:
The old standards placed a premium on bland statements and platitudes over practical use for teachers and they had to be improved. Sally and her team have produced a new set of standards with real teeth. They set clear expectations about the skills that every teacher in our schools should demonstrate.
They will make a significant improvement to teaching by ensuring teachers can focus on the skills that matter most.
Review panel member Roy Blatchford, Deputy Chair and Director of the National Education Trust, commented:
The new Teachers’ Standards give an unequivocal message that highly effective teaching is what matters in this profession.
The Review Group has seized the opportunity to raise the bar for current and future teachers. Our nation’s children and young people deserve no less.
Greg Wallace, Executive Principal of the Best Start Federation of schools in Hackney, said:
We’ve been using synthetic phonics as our primary ‘learn to read’ strategy for the last decade. Over that period I’ve consistently seen synthetic phonics serve children with a very wide range of needs incredibly well.
Given what we know about the effective teaching of reading, the expectation that all primary teachers should know how to use this method expertly is long overdue. I am thrilled to see the use of synthetic phonics enshrined in the new national standards for teachers because all children have the right to be taught to read as early – and as quickly – as possible.
The second phase of the review, starting this month, will look at the standards required for advanced skills teachers and excellent teachers.
Queen of Shops Mary Portas is bringing a new lease of life to local businesses after dozens of firms signed up to her retailing master classes.
The training sessions are being run by Hammersmith & Fulham Council’s Work Zone service, and more firms have completed courses in the borough than anywhere else in London.
The council is targeting independent, local retailers who want to raise their game in challenging trading conditions. So far local firms including Jumbucks in Shepherds Bush, Jamie’s Italian in Westfield, The Happiness Centre in Shepherds Bush and luxury crafts company Thomas Lyte in Fulham have all taken part in the Mary Portas training.
Alexis Garnaut-Miller, owner of health and wellbeing company The Happiness Centre, said the courses not only provided great training but also a perfect opportunity for other small business owners to share their ideas.
She said:
“Mary Portas’s show is one of the few things I watch on television, so when I saw the Council was bringing her classes to the borough I thought it was a fantastic idea.
“Small businesses have to improve the way we do things, it’s the only way we can thrive right now. People are happy to spend money but we’ve got to do a lot more to convince them to do it with us.”
The Council offers seven ‘Mary Portas master classes’ that help retailers learn skills such as how to display goods to maximum effect, how to size up a customer as soon as he or she walks through the door so you provide a tailored service and having a vision for the future.
Another step towards creating thousands of new jobs and homes at Earls Court is to be decided at the next H&F Council Cabinet meeting.
Councillors are being asked to take a decision on whether the council should enter into an ‘exclusivity deal’ with, EC Properties Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Capital & Counties (Capco) which could eventually lead to a development bringing new, modern homes for people living on the West Kensington & Gibbs Green estates.
If approved by both the Council and CapCo’s board, the parties will work exclusively for the next year to see if the final details of a land sale agreement to include the estates in the redevelopment area can be concluded. In order to enter into the proposed exclusivity agreement, EC Properties would pay the Council a non-refundable deposit of £5 million, and £10 million which is refundable if a deal is not agreed within the one year timeframe.
Council leader Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh gave evidence to the Transport Select Committee (chaired by Labour MP Louise Ellman) on june 28. Here is the transcript.
Witnesses: Councillor Stephen Greenhalgh, Leader, Hammersmith & Fulham Council, John Dickie, Director of Strategy & Policy, London First, and Daniel Moylan, Deputy Chairman, Transport for London, gave evidence.
Q162 Chair: Good afternoon, gentlemen, and welcome to the Transport Select Committee. Could I ask you to identify yourselves, please, with your name and organisation?
John Dickie: John Dickie. I am the Director of Strategy and Policy at London First.
Daniel Moylan: Daniel Moylan, Deputy Chairman of Transport for London. I am speaking for the Mayor.
Stephen Greenhalgh: Councillor Stephen Greenhalgh, the Leader of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
Q163 Chair: What would you say are the strongest and weakest points in the case for high speed rail?
Stephen Greenhalgh: I would start off by saying that one of the strongest points is the economic regeneration potential within my borough. The previous witness talked about the connectivity at Old Oak. Old Oak is one of the forgotten parts of Hammersmith & Fulham. It is landlocked railway sidings. In fact, I only got a site visit for the first time last week. I pass it every day virtually in the train but, yet, you do not notice it. It has the economic potential to create a new city for London, bigger than Canary Wharf, to unlock thousands of jobs and 11,000 homes. What excites me is the economic impact to transform one of the most deprived communities in the country.
Askew Ward Labour councillor Cllr Lisa Homan has been chosen as a Labour candidate for next year's London Assembly elections. The only problem is that the London Assembly constituency she is standing in is London South West. This covers the three boroughs of Richmond, Kingston (neither of which have a single Labour councillor) and Hounslow. That will be her focus.
So if Askew Ward residents find she is a bit distracted for the next ten months (despite her continuing to pocket her £8,940 annual allowance to represent them) they will know why. The heartening news is that she is most likely to be defeated on May 3rd 2012 and so should have greater availability after that date.
How did Lisa manage to get selected? She has two websites (here and here). But sensibly she failed to mention any endorsement from the Labour MP for Hammersmith, Andrew Slaughter.
For some time Hammersmith and Fulham Council has faced claims from the Labour MP Andrew Slaughter that it is closing Children's Centres. This claim has been made on the principle that if you repeat a lie often enough people will believe it.
The truth is that a decision has been made to focus limited resources more effectively on the most vulnerable families and to provide universal access for all children under five via 16 (rather than the existing 15) venues across the borough.
The Judicial Review requested by a parent from Cathnor Park was withdrawn at the High Court last Friday once the claimant was reassured that the proposed future offer would provide, as previously planned, at least nine sessions per week for families in the local community.
Slaughter will be pleased that the Chronicle and Chris Underwood have fallen for his spin that this out come was a "spectacular defeat" for the Council. But can any of them explain exactly what the Council is supposed to be doing differently as a result of legal action?
Plans for a London-wide ‘super-sewer’ that is set to add £10 a month for life to the bills of 14 million Thames Water customers will be probed by an independent commission it was announced today.
A team of internationally renowned experts, led by Lord Selborne, will examine the case for the massive 20-mile long sewer – which will be larger than the Channel Tunnel if it is built.
Thames Water claim the tunnel is needed to avoid EU fines and clean up the River Thames but growing numbers of residents, councils and MPs are questioning whether the super sewer, which is also known as the Thames Tunnel, is the best solution.
Cllr Marcus Ginn, of Palace Riverside Ward, gave the following speech at last week's Council meeting
Thank you Mayor. I would like to speak in support of special motion 2 and congratulate the borough’s schools for their achievements.
I was disappointed to hear opposition speakers talk down the achievements of our schools, and by association our hard working teachers and pupils. I am in favour of challenging complacency, not that I see much of that amongst the administration. Perhaps what you meant to say, but failed to articulate, is that we should continuously strive for higher standards and for greater opportunities for our young people. And I would not disassociate myself from that thought.
This motion refers to the administration’s desire to narrow the gap between rich and poor. Since becoming a cllr I have been pleased to see this motivate much of what the administration has done, for example in Cllr Carlebach’s efforts to reduce health inequalities. And if there is any area in which we can create genuine opportunity and change lives for the better, surely it is education.
H&F is so fortunate to have extraordinary leadership in many of our schools and to have great incentives from the LA. There are so many examples of great headteachers; it’s impossible to describe all their work. I feel it right that I should mention a few.
80% of our Special Schools are rated as outstanding. They are led by some incredible teachers such as Olivia Meryick at Cambridge School, Peter Harwood, at Woodlane School and Seamus Oates who runs The Bridge nd we have Terry Baker who runs the Virtual School for Looked After Children.
Then there are those heads that we read about in the papers such as Jude Ragen, head teacher of Queensmill school for autism, who received her OBE from the Queen last year for her commitment to the education of Special Needs Children and Sir William Atkinson at the Phoenix School in White City, which has achieved one of the highest Contextual Added Value (CVA) scores in the UK.
And there is Sally Coates who is fast becoming famous for her success in turning around Burlington Danes. In a single year she improved GCSE pass rates at grades A*-C 9 (including English and Maths) by 20%. She has taken her school from special measures to a good Ofsted rating and the school is a finalist for this years TES ‘Outstanding School of the Year’.
At St Stephens Primary Michael Schumm has taken his school from Special Measures to an across the board Ofsted 1 rating. During an enjoyable conversation with him recently, it was clear to me that he had achieved this through hard work, ambition and creativity. He didn’t accept that the challenging demographics of his pupils, or a recent history of underperformance at the school should mean low standards. He has made the school a fun place to be, with a regular programme of arts events. In fact if any of you are free on 12-14th July, I have promised to plug their upcoming production of My Fair Lady.
These heads aren’t just great teachers, or able leaders. For the changes they are making to young people’s lives they should probably be thought of as heroes.
With the challenges that so many of our residents face in their lives, this borough needs as many heroes as possible. Seamus Oates, Head of The Bridge Acadamy in my ward, is one of only 100 teachers from across the county to be selected as a National Leader of Education. Seamus refuses to allow pupil’s backgrounds to pre-determine their futures. I visited the school recently and heard how pupils who have been excluded are going on to make a success of their lives, such as Sade who was excluded but now has 9 GCSE’s and will go to University next year.
The theme that I see therefore, amongst our best schools and teachers, is boundriless thinking. I see a refusal to accept mediocrity or to let the circumstances of a child’s background govern their future. I hope that all of our schools will show the highest level of ambition for their pupils. Whilst supporting those that do, we should always challenge those that don’t.
I’d particularly like to thank at this time the schools who are staying open during the upcoming strike, including Queenmill, St Augustine's, St Marys, St Stephens, William Morris and Woodlane High.
A number of other schools are finding ways to partially open and offer some classes or childcare for hard working parents, and these include: Canberra, John Betts, Miles Coverdale, New Kings, Normand Croft, Phoenix, Randolph Beresford, The Bridge Academy and Wormholt Park
In H&F some of our teachers are heroes. It is right that we should congratulate them, and the achievements of their hard working pupils.
The Government has accepted the review’s recommendations including: