Subject: News

 Bulletin  from  Greg  Hands  M.P.  #297

Date: Sunday,  8  May  2011  19:57:14  United  Kingdom  Time
From: Greg  Hands  M.P.
To: [email protected]

In this edition: Issue 297 – Sunday 8 th May 2011

Greg Hands M.P.’s Diary

Since the last edition, Greg:
Website of the Week:
Hammersmith & Fulham · Campaigned at tube stations, on King’s Road and Fulham
Food Bank Road, and door to door to urge Chelsea and Fulham
'No' vote prevails in both residents to vote No to AV. The proposal was
H&F and K&C in bigger- comprehensively defeated nationally and locally, by 60%-
than-expected AV 40% in Hammersmith & Fulham and 68%-32% in
referendum turn-out Kensington & Chelsea. For full local results, see below.
Photo news: · Questioned Transport Ministers in Commons Question Time
Foodbank on Government efforts to improve Heathrow airport and
about the RMT’s crass proposal for 6 days of tube strikes
Changes to rubbish
collections in K&C over 2 individual employees. For more, see below.
· Agreed with the Prime Minister in the Commons that
Football clubs to combined services between Councils represent the future for
manage traffic
service provision in London and elsewhere, at Prime
Photo news: Minister’s Question Time. For more, see below.
Welcoming Osun State · Welcomed Chelsea Pensioner and World War Two veteran
politicians to the Sgt Stan Pepper to the House of Commons for tea. Greg is
House of Commons
proud to represent the Chelsea Pensioners at the Royal
H&F in the papers: Hospital.
Sewer protest group · Attended the one year anniversary of the Hammersmith &
formed as row between
council and firm Fulham Foodbank, at Sainsbury on Townmead Road. For
escalates more, see photo and the website of the week.
· Attended a service at All Saints’ Church, Fulham, to
H&F and K&C in the
papers: Details of councils'
commemorate 400 years of the King James Bible.
merger begin · Attended a lunch in honour of German Finance Ministry
to emerge State Secretary Steffen Kampeter at the German Embassy
in London.
Hands in Parliament:
Hands and Cameron · Met senior representatives of the City of London
unite to praise H&F and Corporation in Parliament to discuss issues facing UK
K&C Councils' combined financial services.
services
· Welcomed the Hon Jide Omowarare and other senior
Hands in Parliament: representatives from Osun State in Nigeria to the House of
Hands raises constituency Commons. Greg met Hon. Jide when he was in Nigeria in
concerns over Heathrow
2006.
Hands in Parliament: · Welcomed human rights campaigners to the House of
Hands asks Transport Commons to discuss the worsening situation in Eritrea.
Secretary to condemn
RMT tube strikes
· Was interviewed by the Austrian Press Agency (APA) on
the occasion of the one year anniversary of the UK’s
Hands in Parliament: Coalition Government.
Hands attacks Labour over · Ran a surgery for residents of Chelsea and Fulham at
Fred Goodwin knighthood
Fulham Town Hall. Greg’s surgeries are generally every
Hands in Parliament: Monday, at either Fulham Town Hall or Peter Jones, Sloane
Hands questions Ed Square. To make an appointment, call 020 7219 5448 or
Miliband over "dancing on
Thatcher's grave"
reply to this bulletin.

How to contact
Greg Hands M.P.

Website of the Week:

www.hffb.org
The website of the Hammersmith & Fulham Food Bank.
Greg helped launch the project last year, and this year attended
the one year anniversary event, at Sainsbury on Townmead
Road. Hammersmith & Fulham foodbank is part of a national
network of foodbanks giving out nutritionally balanced
emergency food to people in crisis who have nowhere else to
turn, working with H&F Council and other local services.

'No' vote prevails in both H&F

and K&C in bigger-than-expected
AV referendum turn-out
Voters in both Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington and
Chelsea resoundingly rejected a possible new voting system in
Thursday's referendum.

Turnout among the electorate in Kensington & Chelsea was 34.4%

with around 30,000 people in the borough turning out to vote on the
possible introduction of the Alternative Vote (AV) system. Of the
30,000 who cast their vote, 9,696 voted for a change, while 20,332
voted to keep the current First Past the Post system.

In Hammersmith and Fulham 41,101 residents turned out to vote

(37.8 per cent), with 24,380 (about 60%) voting to keep first-past-
the-post and 16,998 (40%) voting for AV.

The turn-out was almost double what some commentators were

predicting.

Photo news:
Foodbank
 

Greg Hands M.P. with Daphine Aikens at the one year

celebration of the H&F Foodbank this week.

Changes to rubbish collections in K&C

Kensington & Chelsea Council is making changes to the way it
collects your rubbish and recyclables. They expect the changes to
result in a more efficient service that saves time and fuel.

Councils need to reduce costs in response to public spending

reductions, so will no longer collect rubbish three times a week as
K&C does in some areas. Instead – as from later this year - they will
collect rubbish and recycling from everyone twice a week. They will
either collect your rubbish and recycling on Monday and Thursday,
or we will collect it on Tuesday and Friday. There will no longer be
rubbish collections from households on Wednesdays or Saturdays.
The Council are not making any other changes and collection crews
will still ‘pull up’ rubbish and recyclables from your storage area in
the usual way.

The Council believes this new arrangement will get rid of any
confusion about which days are your collection days and hope that
simplifying collections will help keep your streets as free from
rubbish as possible. They ask residents who have storage areas in
their properties always to put their rubbish and recyclables in those
storage areas – not on the pavement. If you do not have a storage
area, please put your rubbish and recyclables on the pavement
before 7am on the morning of collection (not the night before),
outside your own property.

Any change like this will cause residents uncertainty at first, and they
will make sure officers are on hand to give you help and advice.
Their aim is to to help all residents to remember their collection days
and to help keep their streets clean.

The Council also knows that rubbish dumping is irritating and

upsetting to some residents, and it is a persistent problem in some
streets. Unfortunately some people will keep dumping rubbish on the
pavement at the wrong time, even after they have given them
advice. K&C Council have to take enforcement action in these cases
in order to protect residents who store their rubbish properly. We
believe that nearly all residents support the council in protecting the
local environment in this way.

They are not making any changes to business waste collection. This
is why you will still see collection lorries on our shopping streets on
Wednesdays – they are picking up ‘trade waste’ and will continue to
work with businesses to make sure they put their rubbish and
recyclables out for collection neatly, and at the right time.

The Council will trial these changes across the borough over the
next few months, starting in April. They may need to adjust certain
collection rounds as a result of these trials. They then aim to finalise
the routes in the summer, and publicise these changes again at that
point. Please see this spreadsheet to find out if your street is
affected by the trial. Your collection days will change for only one
week if they are affected.

K&C Council have paid careful attention to detail when planning

these changes so that you do not experience any adverse impact.
You can be assured that the Royal Borough, in conjunction with their
contractor, SITA, will continue to strive to provide high quality waste
collection services for you.

New materials recovery facility

There is also some good news about the destination of K&C

borough’s waste. The Princess Royal formally opened the new
Materials Recovery Facility at Western Riverside on 10 March. This
state of the art facility sorts your recyclables so they can be sent for
processing into new products. In addition, K&C will soon stop land
filling your non-recyclable rubbish. Instead they will send it to an
Energy from Waste plant in Bexley. This will produce enough
electricity to power 60,000 homes.

Football clubs to manage traffic

Two of Hammersmith & Fulham’s high-flying football clubs are set to
manage traffic and road closures on match days - saving the
borough’s taxpayers more than £100,000 a year.

From August, when the new season begins, Fulham and Queen’s
Park Rangers football clubs will become fully responsible for traffic
management on match days around their respective grounds,
Craven Cottage and Loftus Road. The clubs currently pay nothing for
this service, which includes closing roads to motorists, except for
residents living in nearby streets, and keeping traffic flowing safely in
the area.

Since 2002, the job has been carried out by the Metropolitan Police,
with major support from Hammersmith & Fulham Council, which pays
for all traffic management costs. The council has been providing and
putting up parking suspension signs and road barriers, and also has
had to send a lead officer to each match to help deal with parking
and safety issues.

H&F’s budget for traffic management last year was £138,000 but,
since December, stewards at both Fulham and QPR have been
taking part in trials where they have been responsible for all aspects
of traffic management. The trials have proved so successful that the
council has already saved £30,000 between those two clubs, and
recent trials by Chelsea FC around Fulham Broadway means H&F
has saved another £24,000.

Cllr Greg Smith, H&F Council’s cabinet member for residents’

services, said: “It is good news for local taxpayers that the football
clubs are playing ball. It is no secret that councils across the country
are tightening their belts and if this pioneering scheme was brought
in for all English football league teams, collectively, local authorities
could save taxpayers a small fortune.”

Chief Inspector Steve Riley, of the Met Police, said that they would
no longer be able to continue because it is a matter for the clubs to
deal with. They will however still have a presence around the
grounds and will carry out enforcement.

Ch Insp Riley said: “Football matches are private events and, rightly,
the management of traffic and supporters linked to those matches is
an issue for the clubs to deal with. Police will continue to provide
support to clubs at matches across the borough. The change will
mean that more officers are able to concentrate on their core role of
policing the borough 24/7. Police will continue to work with the clubs
and local authority to make sure the transition is effective.”

Rangers could well be on their way to the Premier League and if

they get promoted this could lead to some small changes around the
club’s ground. This would include occasionally suspending extra
spaces for television transmission vehicles on Loftus Road, between
Uxbridge Road and Ellerslie Road. Any closures or suspensions
would still be clearly flagged up to residents with advance warning
signs.

There will be no major changes for residents and those wanting to

gain access to their roads will need to carry identification and valid
residents’ parking permits or visitors SMART cards, as they currently
do.

H&F Council is also working with Chelsea FC and the police to come
to an agreement on managing traffic and road closures in the
Fulham Broadway area. Club stewards have already been carrying
out trials, and these have been successful, but no decision about
how traffic management will be carried out in future has yet been
made.

Residents can contact Ian Hawthorn with comments by emailing:

[email protected].

Photo news:
Welcoming Osun State politicians to
the House of Commons

Greg Hands M.P. with visiting Nigerian politicians Senator

Hon Jide Omoworare and the Osun State Governor.

H&F in the papers:

Sewer protest group formed as row
between council and firm escalates
Adam Courtney, Hammermsith & Fulham Chronicle
Thursday 5 th May 2011

Riverside residents in Fulham have formed a protest group against

the proposed construction of the super sewer in their area, as the
war of words between Thames Water and Hammersmith and Fulham
Council escalated.

The group – Residents Against Thames Sewer (RATS) – is

desperate to stop Thames Water building a section of the 20 mile-
long sewage tunnel from a huge shaft in Carnwath Road, south
Fulham.

It says the project, which could take up to seven years to complete,

will generate unbearable noise and pollution from digging equipment
and is completely unsuitable for a built-up area.

And it has support from the council, a vehement opponent to the

scheme, which says the brownfield site is too small – according to
Thames Water's own specifications.

In the latest bout of claim and counter-claim between the two

parties, the authority, which is worried the project will disrupt its
plans for the area's regeneration, cites a document drawn up more
than a year ago in which the utility firm said it needed construction
sites sized between 18,000-20,000 square metres. Carnwath Road
is 16,000 square metres.

Accusing Thames Water of 'not doing its homework', deputy leader

Nick Botterill called on the company to 'see sense' and abandon its
plans for the area.

Thames admits it did originally think it needed a bigger site – but

says changes to the proposed diameter of the tunnel between
Fulham and Acton, as well as its research into the riverbed's soil,
now means it requires no more than 15,000 square metres for a
construction shaft.

A spokesman said the project is evolving all the time and denied a
further council allegation it was earmarking other sites in Fulham in
case it decided against using Carnwath Road.

He added: "We would not be considering the Carnwath Road site if

we did not believe it was suitable."

Thames did confirm it would have to build a 15 metre-wide jetty

towards the centre of the river to allow construction boats to
continue working while the tide is out.

Meanwhile, RATS spokeswoman Alex Schniewind, who lives in

Beltran Road: "We can't let big business dictate a decision that will
harm our health, our quality of life and our property values - all paid
for from our own pockets with absolutely no chance to have our
voices heard."

· Thames Water will launch the second phase of their

consultation later this year.

· To find out more about RATS, whose next meeting happens

on May 11, email [email protected]

H&F and K&C in the papers:

Details of councils' merger
begin to emerge
Adam Courtney, Hammermsith & Fulham Chronicle
Wednesday 4 th May 2011

Details are emerging of how the merger of Hammersmith and

Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster Councils will
save a mooted £35m.

Officials from the three authorities will meet at separate cabinet

meetings over the next week, and will be told that:
· Combining fostering and adoption services with the creation
of a Local Safeguarding Children Board would save
£199,000 a year by 2014/15
· Plans to combine library services would save £1.4m
· A 48 per cent reduction in senior management (14 posts) in
the environment management teams at H&F and RBKC
Councils would save £1.5m.

Other departments which look set to be combined are adult and

corporate services, with a final decision to be made in June.

The multi-million pound savings will stem from the culling of up to

500 management, back office and support staff.

H&F Council leader Stephen Greenhalgh said: "This is a common

sense way of dealing with the big financial pressures facing councils
up and down the country.

"Combining services is not only more cost effective but would also
allow us to improve services in many areas such as allowing
Hammersmith residents to access libraries in Westminster and vice
versa."

The councils insist the merger will not affect frontline services and
have signed a 'Sovereignty Guarantee' to safeguard local autonomy.

Each of the authorities will retain their own councillors and decision
making processes.

Westminster Council leader Colin Barrow said: "The three boroughs

will not see any change in the way these services are delivered."

Hands in Parliament:
Hands and Cameron unite to
praise H&F and K&C Councils'
combined services
Wednesday 4 th May 2011

Greg Hands (Chelsea and Fulham) (Con): This week, the three
top-rated councils of Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and
Chelsea and Westminster are discussing extending their combined
services to save £35 million a year while still improving front-line
services. What can the Prime Minister do to encourage this
approach rather than that of Labour-run Hounslow, which is closing
day care centres, squeezing parks maintenance and cutting mental
health services in a slash-and-burn approach?

The Prime Minister (Rt Hon David Cameron): I think this is a very
important point and I hope that councils up and down the country will
look at it. Three large councils are coming together and saving £35
million because they are sharing back-office services, executive
teams and so on. Frankly, if they can do it, as large councils that
have big responsibilities, many other councils should be doing it in
London and elsewhere. Until we see that happening, I do not think it
is realistic to say that it is necessary for councils to cut front-line
services.

Hands in Parliament:
Hands raises constituency
concerns over Heathrow
Thursday 5 th May 2011

Greg Hands (Chelsea and Fulham) (Con): What improvements his

Department is seeking to achieve in respect of the passenger
experience at UK airports.

The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Mrs Theresa

Villiers): The south-east airports taskforce is looking at ways to
improve efficiency, tackle queues and reduce delays at Heathrow,
Gatwick and Stansted. It is due to report in July.

Greg Hands: I commend the Secretary of State and the Minister for
their active and robust campaign to improve the passenger
experience. I think that it has improved in recent months, particularly
at Heathrow, but I polled my constituents and many of them
disagree. Greg Taylor said:
“Compared to Asian airports…Heathrow is a disgrace”,

and James Max complained about

“bad baggage reclaim…expensive food and parking…poor
public transport”.

How can my constituents get more involved in the process of

improving the experience at Heathrow and other airports?

Mrs Villiers: My hon. Friend is right to give credit to Heathrow for

real improvements over recent years. Although terminal 5 started
pretty badly, it is now a high-quality facility, and the airport will be
investing in a major redevelopment of other terminals, hopefully to
bring them up to the same standards. But more needs to be done,
which is why we will modernise the airport regulatory framework to
put passengers at the heart of the system, to give the Civil Aviation
Authority the power to intervene where airports fail their passengers,
and to incentivise the sort of investment in improvement, to baggage
handling and terminals, for example, that his constituents clearly
want. We are also introducing a new consumer panel at the CAA to
improve passengers’ ability to influence the regulation of the airport.

Hands in Parliament:
Hands asks Transport Secretary to
condemn RMT tube strikes
Thursday 5 th May 2011

Greg Hands (Chelsea and Fulham) (Con): Will the Secretary of

State join me in condemning as obscene and irresponsible the
proposed six days of tube strikes by the National Union of Rail,
Maritime and Transport Workers next month over only two individual
employees? Will he also condemn Labour’s candidate for London
Mayor, who has singularly failed to condemn the action, and, indeed,
his deputy, who even appears at RMT protest meetings?

The Secretary of State for Transport (Mr Philip Hammond): I

absolutely agree with my hon. Friend that the series of strikes is
highly irresponsible. As I said last night, no one in the Government is
spoiling for a fight with the unions, but the unions appear to be
spoiling for a fight with London. I say to the RMT and other unions
that that sort of irresponsible strike action, when an alternative,
proper remedy—an ongoing employment tribunal—is available, only
strengthens the hand of those, including the Mayor, who call for
tougher industrial relations laws.

Hands in Parliament:
Hands attacks Labour over
Fred Goodwin knighthood
Wednesday 4 th May 2011

Mr Speaker: Order. There are far too many private conversations

taking place in the Chamber. It is very discourteous, and I am sure
that the House wishes to hear Mr Greg Hands.

Greg Hands (Chelsea and Fulham) (Con): Thank you, Mr

Speaker. Will the Minister join me in welcoming the report by the
Independent Commission on Banking, under Sir John Vickers, and
can he remind the House who, in the last Parliament, awarded Sir
Fred Goodwin a knighthood for services to banking?

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (David

Mundell): My hon. Friend’s interventions at Scottish questions are
always welcome. He is quite right to suggest that it was the Labour
Government who not only awarded Sir Fred Goodwin his knighthood
but involved him in virtually every other initiative that they pursued in
Scotland. The Vickers report is to be welcomed in Scotland, as it is
elsewhere in the United Kingdom.

Hands in Parliament:
Hands questions Ed Miliband over
"dancing on Thatcher's grave"
Thursday 5 th May 2011

Greg Hands (Chelsea and Fulham) (Con): May we have a debate

about the decorum of senior Members of the House participating in
other elections? Did my right hon. Friend notice the extraordinary
sight of the Leader of the Opposition appearing at a campaign rally
with a Labour council candidate sporting a T-shirt in appallingly bad
taste, which said:
“A generation of trade unionists will dance on Thatcher’s
grave”?

The Leader of the House (Sir George Young): I believe the

Leader of the Opposition has recognised that that was an
unfortunate conjunction, and has expressed regret and said that in
future those T-shirts should not be worn by anyone representing that
political party. There is a message there for us all. We should be
very careful who we are photographed next to, and take note of what
they happen to be wearing at the time.

5 ways to contact Greg Hands M.P.:

By Phone: 020 7219 5448
By email: [email protected]
By post: Greg Hands M.P.
House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA
In person: Click here for details of how
to book an appointment at
Greg Hands M.P.’s weekly
surgery

www.greghands.com

More news from Greg Hands M.P., coming soon…

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