Residents First

Award as Goldhawk Road railings are removed

A project to improve one of Shepherds Bush’s busiest roads has been given a prestigious accolade at the Hammersmith Society’s annual environment awards. The railings on Goldhawk Road have been removed - ending the "Berlin Wall" dividing Hammersmith and Shepherd's Bush.

Councillor Nick Botterill accepted the ‘Nancye Goulden award for a smaller scheme’, for improvements to Goldhawk Road, on behalf of the council and the London Community Foundation. Local resident and actress Vanessa Redgrave presented the awards.

The award, named in memory of a founding member of the society, is given to a project that makes a significant contribution to the borough’s environment.

New Council Leader for tax cutting trailblazers

The council which has cut tax faster than any other in Britain has appointed Cllr Nicholas Botterill as its new Leader.

Cllr Botterill, was named Leader of Hammersmith & Fulham Council at a Full Council meeting last night. He succeeds Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh, who has been proposed by Boris Johnson to be London’s new deputy mayor for policing.

Flagship authority H&F became renowned over recent years for providing the best possible services while relentlessly cutting costs. Council tax has been cut by 3% or more in five years out of six – including the biggest cut in the country (3.75%) this year.

Local residents are enjoying excellent services, with residents’ satisfaction at an all time high (75%), and the authority was officially judged UK ‘Council of the Year’ by the LGC (Local Government Chronicle) in 2010.

Cllr Botterill said:

“It is an honour and a privilege to become the Leader of one of the best councils in Britain. Providing the very best possible services at the lowest possible cost is what drives this council and this will not change.

“There will be no let-up in our zero-tolerance approach to cracking down on crime and we will continue to fund the police so that they can deploy extra officers onto our streets. We have some of the cleanest streets in London, six of our parks have prestigious Green Flag awards for their quality and more parents are sending their children to local schools than ever before.

“Ensuring that these services are maintained and, where possible, improved while keeping overheads at a minimum will be at the heart of this administration.

“H&F taxpayers now pay the third lowest council tax in Britain while millions of pounds have been freed up for frontline services as debt interest repayments to the banks has been slashed thanks to a dramatic reduction in the town hall’s debt burden.

“While H&F has a strong track record as a trail-blazing council there is more to do and connecting with residents and listening and learning to find the areas where we can improve will also play a valuable role.”

98 per cent of the borough’s streets are cleaned to the Keep Britain Tidy Standard and children’s services have been rated by Ofsted as ‘excellent’.

The council has also helped 700 families into home ownership, kept all its libraries open and maintained weekly, or even twice-weekly, refuse collections. It is also one of just two councils in London offering
homecare to people in the ‘greater moderate’ as well as ‘substantial’ or ‘critical’ banding.

The council has also combined some services and management costs with the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster City Council in order to save £40million a year across the three areas by 2015/16.

Cllr Nicholas Botterill has lived in the borough for more than 25 years, and has served as a councillor since 1996. He has appointed the following members to serve in his cabinet:

Cllr Greg Smith - deputy leader and cabinet member for residents’ services

Cllr Marcus Ginn - cabinet member for community care

Cllr Helen Binmore - cabinet member for children's services

Cllr Mark Loveday - chief whip

Cllr Andrew Johnson - cabinet member for housing

Cllr Victoria Brocklebank-Fowler - cabinet member for transport and technical services.

Cllr Botterill will also hold responsibility for cabinet member for regeneration, asset management and IT.

White City Right to Buy Roadshow this weekend

White City residents are being urged to visit the Right to Buy Roadshow when it visits the estate this weekend.

So far, over 500 council tenants have attended roadshow events where they have been able to find out if they are eligible for a discount of up to £75,000 on the price of their council home.

As a result of the extended discount, there have been 92 Right to Buy applications in the last year in this borough, compared to just 39 in the whole of the previous year.

The next Right to Buy Roadshow event is on Saturday, May 19 at the White City Community Centre, India Way, from 10am - 2pm.

At the roadshow, the council’s dedicated Home Buy team will be able to calculate the discount that you are eligible for and tell you everything you need to know about buying your own home and all of the responsibilities that entails. Independent financial advisors will also be on hand to offer their thoughts.

Cllr Andrew Johnson, cabinet member for housing, said:

“The extended Right to Buy discount is truly fantastic news for anyone who has ever dreamt of purchasing their own home but never thought that it would be financially possible. I would like to urge White City council tenants to visit the Right to Buy roadshow so that they can find out all the details and make an educated decision about whether the Right to Buy is the best thing for them.”

One person who attended the first event was mother of three, Maria Afonso. Maria, 38, of Cathnor Road, Shepherds Bush, said: “It was a very good event. There was lots of information available and I was able to find out everything that I needed to know about buying my own council home. My husband and I will be applying because it really is a huge discount and a fantastic opportunity to do something positive for our family.”

If you are unable to make the road-show but are interested in finding out about Right to Buy in Hammersmith and Fulham email h&fhome-buy@lbhf.gov.uk or telephone 020 8753 6464.

To qualify, residents must meet certain criteria. For example the tenant must have been living in the property for at least five years. The property must also be the tenant’s only or principal home. Other conditions apply.

Building a Housing Ladder of Opportunity

A radical revolution in the way that social housing is allocated and tenancies granted in Hammersmith & Fulham is aimed at rewarding hard working residents with a local connection to the borough, who make a positive contribution to the community.

Hammersmith & Fulham Council has unveiled a range of measures to drive housing growth, tackle the social and economic divide in the borough and improve council housing services.

The council has a strong track record of protecting local vulnerable adults, such as people with dependency issues and victims of domestic violence. The proposed new strategy will ensure that the council continues to meet their housing needs.

Hammersmith & Fulham has one of the highest proportions of social housing in London, with around 33 per cent social rented. That compares to a London average of 25 per cent and a West London average of 21.5 per cent. Just over two per cent of the borough’s housing is intermediate.

H&F is also one of the first councils in the country to get back into building homes, after a 30 year absence. These properties will be sold at a discounted market rate to those on low to middle incomes who live or work in the borough and might struggle otherwise to get onto the property ladder.

Free schools mean levelling up not down

By Cllr Harry Phibbs

Michael Gove's speech to Brighton College this week on the impact of schooling in promoting equality of opportunity was hard for Labour to refute. His speech encapsulates the argument for increasing equality of opportunity through levelling up, rather than the traditional socialist approach of levelling down.

via conservativehome.blogs.com

Future council housing in Hammersmith & Fulham only for those earning less than £40,000

At a Cabinet Meeting for Hammersmith and Fulham Council on Monday evening we will be considering a new Housing Allocation Policy. It has been written about this morning in The Times (£) and the Daily Telegraph.

via conservativehome.blogs.com

Cllr Nick Botterill nominated as new Leader

A new Leader has been nominated at Hammersmith & Fulham Council as Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh has been proposed by Boris Johnson to be London’s new deputy mayor for policing.

Cllr Nick Botterill was last night nominated by his group as Cllr Greenhalgh's successor, subject to a vote at full council on May 30. Cllr Greg Smith has been nominated as his deputy.

Seen by many as one the most influential council leaders in the country, Cllr Greenhalgh will formally step down as Hammersmith & Fulham Council Leader on May 30 and is set take up his new role running the Mayor’s Office for Crime and Policing during the Olympics and beyond. He will stand down as a local councillor subject to his new role being confirmed.

Cllr Greenhalgh, who announced his intention to step down before Christmas, has been H&F Council Leader since 2006 and led the local authority as it cut council tax for five years out of six – including Britain’s biggest cut (3.75%) this year.

Working with the local Police, H&F was the first council in the country to introduce and pay for extra round the clock beat policing in the three Town Centres. Gun offences have halved in the past 12 months and overall crime is down in H&F for the sixth year out of seven, according to the latest Met Police figures. This year’s decrease means that in total there have been 13,198 fewer crimes in H&F since 2006.

Capital Clean up coming soon

Residents can help to keep Hammersmith & Fulham cleaner than ever before by taking part in a ‘Capital Clean-up’ event.

The campaign, run by the Mayor of London, is now in its sixth year of helping Londoners take part in the maintenance of the places where they live and work.

Clean-ups will take place at:

• Wormwood Scrubs Local Nature Reserve - Saturday 19 May, 10:00am - 2:00pm
• Bishops Park, Fulham - Saturday 19 May, 10:00am - 2:00pm

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

“In this borough, we are lucky that there are so many people who take pride in where they live and refuse to see the borough treated like a giant rubbish bin.

“I would like to thank the army of residents who help the council to keep the borough clean and urge all like-minded people to take part in the two Capital Clean-up events on May 18.”

To register for a Capital Clean-up email capitalcleanup@groundwork.org.uk or call 0300 365 9950.

White City care centre building work begins

Building work on a new state-of-the-art health and social care centre for White City has begun.

The first brick was laid on the borough’s new one-stop-shop for health, social care and children’s services today by officials from the local council, NHS, Fulcrum Infrastructure Management Limited
and Galliford Tri partnerships who are building the new facilities.

The White City Collaborative Care Centre, in Bloemfontein Road, will open its doors to residents, in an area with some of the worst health problems in Hammersmith & Fulham, from 2014.

Costing £13.6million the cutting edge new facilities will provide a wide range of health and social care services and have capacity to register 10,000 GP patients initially - growing to 25,000 if required.

Boris says: "Thank you"

On Saturday  I signed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office at City Hall which confirmed me as the Mayor of London for the next four years.

In my speech, I repeated my thanks to the people of London for giving me a second mandate and I promised everybody in this city that I and my team will work our socks off to deliver on our vision and our programme for the capital.

I especially want to thank those of you who have helped me over many months now. Without so many people from every corner of the world’s greatest city who knocked on doors, delivered leaflets, made the phone calls, forwarded the emails, tweeted in support and backed me throughout the campaign I would not have succeeded in this quest.

I am honoured and grateful. I feel like some overweight Alpinist carried on the shoulders of others to the summit of a great mountain.

Your efforts and support carried me to victory and I say “thank you” for everything that you have done.

I will deploy every sinew of my body in the task of driving London forward with the 9 point plan I took to the people of London - ensuring growth, jobs, investment and a better future.

Thank you. The work begins.

Best wishes,

Boris Johnson