Labour doorstep

On the Doorstep in Boston Manor

For the last two Saturdays we've been meeting residents in and around Boston Manor Road and have had a very good reception.  Key issues that we have been asked to take up are; fly-tipping in the back alleys, overgrown street trees, parking and speed, the potential impact of being under the landing path of a third runway, and the fear of the Reynard Mills development getting the go ahead from Eric Pickles.

None are straightforward - the alleys aren't public highway, but are private paths jointly owned by the freeholders of the houses that have access rights, which means cleaning an maintaining them is technically the responsibility of householders.    However as the alleys are long, and have several access paths, it is very difficult to for residents to agree who would be responsible for what stretch the alley.  I am going to see whether the Council could run an alley-gate scheme, where the Council identified places that gates could go, and then help to set up an agreement between householders for the cost of the gates and access arrangements.  In less financially stretched times, I know that Hounslow and Ealing has contributed to the costs in the past, but this could be difficult with budgets being slashed..

We all love trees, and know what they contribute to the environment, but right outside your door rising above the height of the house, splattering sap on your car and potentially uprooting garden walls or worse?  I've put in several requests for local trees that are causing problems to be pollarded and for the roots to be looked at.

Parking is one of those tricky issues - some people want a residents parking scheme to ensure residents can park outside their homes during the day, but others resent having to pay for a permit they see as having little benefit.  We only support new ResPark Schemes where a majority of people in a road want one following a consultation, and we only initiate that consultation when there is a clearly demonstrated demand, such as from a petition.  As to reducing speed in local roads - we have some funding and will ask officers to look at options for reducing vehicle speeds in Boston Manor Road, Swyncombe Avenue and (surprisingly) Boston Gardens.

If Runway 3 were built then Boston Manor would suffer the fate of much of the rest of the borough, being under the landing path and having flights overhead every minute or so.  We will follow the work of the Davies Commission on Aviation Capacity with interest, and indeed will be submitting evidence!

And finally Reynard Mills - so much for Localism, this development will be determined by Eric Pickles, the Secretary of State for the Environment.  Two applications for almost 300 flats on Windmill Road were refused by Hounslow's planners, not on principle, but because of over density and some design concerns.  However , the applicants have appealed and there is a public Inquiry going on now in front of a Government inspector.  Pickles has announced that he will make the final decision - why?  Not because it has any national significance, but because he has announced that he wants to overide local authorities who "drag their feet" on determining applications.  Hounslow has a good record of determining applications, and Brentford is a good illustration of how many new homes have been given planning permission in recent years.  I suspect Pickles is driven more by the opportunity to attack a Labour Council, than any real interest in planning issues round here, and he certainly has no interest in the residents of Manor Vale, Manor Place and Windmill Road whose homes will be towered over by the resulting flats. 

Multi-million street improvement scheme - starts next year.

The list of the of roads to be resurfaced in Hounslow next year is now available.  This is the first stage of the £800m contract signed by between the Council and VInci Ringway in September, which will see all borough roads  improved over the next five years,  starting with those in the worst condition.  The contract  includes resurfacing of roads and footways, new street lights, street cleaning, removing graffiti and flytipping, as well as taking care of trees and verges and winter gritting.   

We have been working on this joint public-private scheme for 10 years now, such is its complexity.  It might have been dropped by the Tory/independent Council leadership when they led  the borough from 2006 - 2010 but to their credit they didn't;  so what we started, we can now roll out.  

Brentford roads due to be resurfaced in the 2013/14 financial year are: Boston Gardens, Boston Manor Road (part), Brentwick Gardens, Carville Crescent, Brook Lane north, Ealing Road, Enfield Road and Walk, Hamilton Road, New Road and the Ride. New footways include Apple Garth, Chestnut Avenue, Carville Crescent (part), Ealing Road (part). Several more roads are getting new street lights in the next year too.

 

The works will mean safer, more accessible streets.  Street clutter will be sorted, and drop kerbs will be installed on all corners where there are none—such as this once being pointed out by Councillor Mel Collins. 

The contract means the environment will be better, particularly for  disabled people and those with buggies.

I have been pressing for the work to be an opportunity to make more significant improvements to roads such as traffic safety schemes, widen some footways, or install in-set parking bays on roads such as Lionel Road where there are wide pavements but not enough space for parking.  And if you think improvements could be made to your street environment through this scheme - please let me know (or your local Councillor if you're not a Brentford ward resident)

For more details of the project in the Isleworth & Brentford Area, see the October 201 agenda for the Isleworth & Brentford Area Forum meeting 30th October 2012 on www.hounslow.gov.uk

Hounslow Citizens Advice Bureau AGM

This week I joined many of our CAB's staff, volunteers and trustees at their AGM where we heard just how busy the CAB service is now, and what the future holds for local people.  Hounslow's CAB, along with all CAB's is going through an unprecedented growth in "business".  Ours is one of the few CAB's that has seen its Council grant increase to meet the challenge, but even so it struggles to keep on top of the problems.

Our 3 bureau at Chiswick Hounslow and Feltham saw over 8000 new clients last year, with 24,000 queries.  The top 3 presenting issues are Benefits & Tax Credits 31%, Debt (25%) followed by Housing (11%).  However many people have more than one interrelated problem they are seeking to solve.  On top of that, an increasing number of clients have mental or physical disabilities, an/or stoical and language isolation. 

Many common themes come up again and again in the casework including DWP repeatedly making wrong assessments or wrongly applying the law, and people with mental health problems struggling to manage finances and claim appropriate benefits, even contemplating suicide as the only way out of their debt problems.

The AGM heard from Christie Silk, of the CAB National office, explaining how the further changes to the Welfare Benefits system will mean two million people in this country will be worse off.   The people with most to fear are severely disabled people living alone, families with high childcare costs, and lone parents with disabled children (a very high proportion of disabled children live with a lone parent).

The AGM was a meeting of mixed emotions for me: anger at what the Government policies are doing to low paid and disabled people in this country, admiration for the work of the CAB staff and volunteers, and determination to do what I can to ensure the limited Council resources are used in the best way to reduce the impact on residents of Hounslow. 

Housing: Fraud Success and Tackling Voids

The current edition of Hounslow Homes News that goes to Council tenants and leaseholders in the borough has two welcome pieces of news.

Over the last two years since the Tenancy Fraud Initiative was launched, 96 Council Homes have been recovered by Hounslow Homes, 18 through the courts and 78 where tenants handed the keys back once proceedings to terminate the tenancy have been started.

It's a good result, and shows that the additional investment in staff to take action has more than paid its way by freeing up more much-needed homes to those in housing need.  Information about suspected fraudulent tenancies come from a variety of sources, but neighbours raising concerns can be key to an investigation being initiated.


Secondly, it's good to see the Void times finally starting to improve.  Lead members, myself and then Steve Curran, have been pushing Hounslow Homes and the Council teams to work more closely together to get systems in place to cut down the time taken to re-let homes.  It's not rocket science, but needed some "lean" thinking to get the avoidable glitches out of the system, and I'm glad that work is now seeing results.

Speech On Housing delivered to Labour Party Conference

I am Ruth Cadbury – Association of Labour Councillors , the first ALC delegation at conference following  the rule change last year
–speaking in support of Composite 5 on Housing.
Conference - Many people see my name and ask if I am related to the well known Quaker and Chocolate family

Yes I am, and that is why housing is in my DNA.
At the turn of the 20th century, at a time before local government had a role in delivering housing, my forbearers recognised  the vital need to address the appalling slum conditions prevalent in Birmingham. As employers they created Bournville , a community for working people and their families, of good quality, affordable housing
 - a historic example, one might say of One Nation, in practice

Not long after that, local government took on the role of delivering affordable, quality housing by building, enabling, and regulating;
And today Labour Councils are leading the way in addressing both the overall shortage of homes, and the desperate shortage of affordable homes.

First let me nail the myth that the planning system is holding back the overall supply of housing– no it isn’t.  Local authorities have approved 400,000 new homes, and building hasn’t started on half of those plots –why? -   because the banks aren’t lending.

Now to what Labour Councils, are doing in their communities to deliver good quality  homes with rents that people can afford.

Conference Five times as many council and housing association homes for affordable rent, are being built in Labour authorities, than in Tory ones.

here are just a handful of examples of the work of Labour Councils large and small

- My own Council – Hounslow will have delivered 2500 new affordable homes in the 4 years to 2014, including 124 COUNCIL houses,   of which 18 are zero carbon homes.
Blackpool  – will deliver100 new affordable homes per year
and Liverpool's current programme is 3500
 - Stevenange is building level 6 zero carbon Council houses as part of their significant council housing programme

And Labour Councils are using a range of powers and partnerships to leverage in funding for new homes - Manchester is using the pension fund and Council land to invest in 240 new homes.
Glasgow, Oldham and Hastings are stimulating the private sector to build homes by launching mortgage scheme that enable first-time buyers to access up to 95% mortgages.

And to develop skills and future employment  my authority,  like others, requires construction training to be provided in all new development projects
And Labour Councils are playing an active role in improving the growing private rented sector;
-Oxford  and Newham have introduced licensing schemes of private sector landlords to drive up standards for tenants and drive out the rogue landlords.

But  Conference  - Labour Councils cannot address the mountain of outstanding housing need alone – we need a Labour Government
– a Labour Government that will use the £4bn 4G dividend to build 100,000 affordable homes,
- and a government whose economic policies gets banks lending,
builders developing,
buyers borrowing
and construction workers building the new homes that this country so desperately needs