Residents First

Beware of metal thieves

We have all seen news reports about metal thefts of railway signal cables and sheet lead from church roofs. But very few people realise that council homes in Hammersmith & Fulham have not been immune from the problem.

Dramatic increases in raw material prices have also brought increases in the scrap value of not only lead and copper, but also in iron and aluminium too.

As a result, the thieves have turned their attention to smaller items and the council has suffered from a number of incidents recently. Lead flashings and gutter linings have been stolen from the roofs of blocks
in White City resulting in costly repairs to consequent leaks. Copper condense pipes from boilers have been stolen in a number of areas, too.

Mass Accident and Emergency closure threat across west London

Plans for the mass closure of A&E units across north-west London are being attacked by Hammersmith & Fulham Council.

The proposals, which have just surfaced and are due to be consulted at the end of the month, could see north-west London NHS bureaucrats close four of nine A&E units in a top-down reorganisation of hospital services.

The consultation will look at a substantial downgrade of Central Middlesex which would lose its A&E unit. While ‘straight choices’ will be made between Hammersmith or St Mary’s, Ealing or West Middlesex, and Chelsea and Westminster or Charing Cross.

Under these plans west London residents in Ealing, Hounslow and Hammersmith are likely not have any A&E services based locally. Currently, Hammersmith & Fulham has two hospitals with 24/7 A&E units (Hammersmith and Charing Cross) – both of which are likely to close.

What Boris's nine point plan means for H&F

Boris Johnson has a nine point plan for his second term as Mayor of London to build on his achievements in the first term

How would it apply to Hammersmith and Fulham?

Freezing City Hall’s share of council tax for three successive years and cutting it this year, benefitting 82,330 Hammersmith households and putting an extra £445 back into pockets.

Investing in local high streets and supporting small businesses with £3 million of funding for Hammersmith & Fulham from the Mayor’s Regeneration Fund to help repair damage caused to high streets and town centres during last summer’s riots.

Investing in local transport by expanding four stations for London Overground in Hammersmith & Fulham and building a new station at Imperial Wharf, rolling out Oyster cards onto national rail and
funding £15 million to boost local transport.

Boris is also supporting local pensioners by reversing the previous Labour Government’s decision to stop those at 60 getting the Freedom pass until 65.

Fast Track joy

Voluntary groups from across the borough have reacted with joy to the news that they have won a share of a £300,000 cash windfall from Hammersmith & Fulham Council.

This year, the council is awarding three times more than last year through its popular Fast Track small grants scheme which provides individual grants of up to £10,000.

In total, 53 local community groups have been allocated a total of £143,000, with a further £157,000 to be allocated later in the year.

The winning groups come from all walks of life and represent the rich diversity of the borough.

H&F Council is one of the most generous boroughs in London in terms of voluntary sector budgets, with a total grants pot of almost £4 million. That equates to £21.60 per head.

Fraduster jailed for multiple offences

A DJ has been jailed for two years and four months after facing the music for a string of offences including benefit fraud.

Disk jockey Adrian Prince, 37, cheated Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) Council out of more than £15,000 by claiming housing and council tax benefit that he was not entitled to.

Prince, of Stebbing House, Shepherds Bush failed to tell the council that he had started working as an DJ, spinning records for cash at various gigs, and was therefore no longer entitled to Job Seekers
Allowance.

Because he did not declare this change in his circumstances or his real income, the council was unaware that he was no longer entitled to the maximum entitlement for housing and council tax benefit. Prince was sentenced to four months in prison at Isleworth Crown Court on Monday, March 12. At court he was also given a two year sentence for handling a stolen Rolex watch and possessing cocaine, diamorphine and cannabis.

Council calls on schools to stay open on Wednesday

Hammersmith & Fulham Council is calling on teachers and staff to do everything they can to keep their schools open during next week's strike.

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) has called a strike on Wednesday in London, along with the University and College Union (UCU).

The council is advising schools in H&F that they should consider making up the time by replacing an inset day with a full day’s teaching, so that no children lose out.

Cabinet member for children’s services, Cllr Helen Binmore, said her top priority was the education of children in the borough and that local pupils should not suffer as a result of the industrial action.

76 new trees planted on council estates in H&F

A total of 76 new trees have been planted on council housing land
across the borough. 26 of them have been funded by the Mayor of London.

Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) Council has spent £8,750 on the trees which include birches, limes and London planes.

Councillor Harry Phibbs, cabinet member for community engagement, said:

“Trees bring life to our streets and make neighbourhoods even better places to live. A greener borough improves lives for residents and visitors so I am delighted that we have been able to plant so many new ones recently.”

A further 250 street trees have also been planted on the pavements of the borough. Approximately 100 of these are new trees in new locations and the other 150 are replacements for street trees that have died.

Hammersmith & Fulham is fourth in London for the number of trees per square mile, with over 8,700 street trees in total.

Full list of trees planted:

Alice Gillatt Court, Fulham - 1
Arlington House, Tunis Road, Shepherds Bush - 2
Batman Close, White City - 3
Bayonne Estate, Fulham - 13
Cheeseman's Estate, Star Road - 1
Chelmsford Close/St Alban's Terrace, Hammersmith - 2
Clem Atlee Estate, Fulham - 6
Ethel Rankin Court, Fulham - 3
Kelmscott Gardens, Hammersmith - 1
Lancaster Court, Fulham Road - 7
Lintaine Close, Moylan Road, Fulham - 2
Margravine Estate, Hammersmith - 3
Mortimer House, North End Road, Fulham - 3
Queen Caroline Estate, Hammersmith - 6
Springvale Estate, West Kensington - 6
Standish House, Hammersmith - 2
Vereker Road, West Kensington - 2
Waterhouse Close, Hammersmith - 2
Wormholt Estate, White City - 10

Staff mutual to cut costs for tri-borough councils

Council staff are setting up their own company to take over school support services for three London boroughs.

In the latest local government innovation to provide public services at lower cost to taxpayers, the employee-led mutual will save more than £1 million over four years.

Hammersmith & Fulham, Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea councils are already sharing many services, enabling them to reduce back office costs in order to protect frontline services from the public spending squeeze.

Now, staff involved in supplying support services for schools across the three boroughs are putting the finishing touches to plans to set themselves up as an employee-led mutual.

49 burglars caught in H&F sting operation

 

Homes and vehicles in Hammersmith & Fulham have been equipped with recording equipment to capture thieves who commit these invasive crimes.

The roll out of Operation Glatton in June 2011 has been part funded by the local authority and has been responsible for the conviction of 49 people.

This zero-tolerance approach is a first for London and as you can see, would be thieves' movements are captured in detail, a fact which has led to the 100% conviction rate at Court.

Since Operation Glatton started nine months ago over £5,000 of stolen property has been returned to Hammersmith & Fulham residents or visitors, and those convicted have received a combined total of over 8 and a half years in prison.

Hammersmith & Fulham is the first Borough to run a successful sting house operation which follows on from the previous success with its decoy vehicles.

Chief Superintendent Lucy D'Orsi, Hammersmith & Fulham Borough Commander said:

“We are committed to catching burglars and car thieves on this Borough and will use all methods and technology available to us to bring them to justice. I would encourage those people who think
they can get away with burglary and theft to study the quality of the video clips and reflect on the potential custodial sentence and criminal record. The next car or home you break into may be one of ours and we will do everything we can to get you before the courts.

"A large proportion of burglaries happen in properties which are insecure. The Police and local authority are working hard to reduce burglary but it is also important for residents to lock their doors and windows and never leave anything valuable in view.”

Cllr Greg Smith, H&F Council Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services said:

“Every crook that eyes up someone else’s property in our borough now needs to question whether it is a sting house rigged with Police cameras. Criminals who do chose to steal other people’s property will find a huge array of evidence against them when we take them to court. So far we have 100% conviction rate so the odds are heavily stacked in our favour."

Fisking Cllr Stephen Cowan

Cllr Harry Phibbs writes

In a recent blog post the Labour opposition leader  on Hammersmith and Fulham Council, Cllr Stephen Cowan, highlighted a long list of items he claimed were in the budget for the Council and which he judged to be either unreasonable and extortionate "stealth taxes" or that he alleged constituted "harsh cuts to front line services."

 How unfortunate that before making his scaremongering comments abou the vulnerable being under threat, Cllr Cowan did not bother to check the details about the budget changes he was objecting to.

What is the truth?

1) 4.9% extra charge to meals on wheels pushing up food bills to many of our elderly neighbours.

Our charges (£4.30 from April 2 – up from £4.10) are in line with other boroughs and some authorities charge markedly more than us and some do not provide a service at all. We do ask meals on wheels users to make a modest contribution towards the price of their meal however it costs the council £10.34 to provide each meal so you can see that there is still a hefty taxpayer subsidy. On average the council provides around 820 hot meals on wheels per week. That is more than 42,000 meals a year.

Nonetheless meals on wheels have been taken up by fewer and fewer people every year in Hammersmith & Fulham mainly because people are able to cook their own good quality hot meals using microwaves. Demand has fallen from 600 service users in 2002 to around 150 today. Despite this, the council is continuing to provide a hot meal delivery service to residents’ doors.