And bad for the country
Not necessary because the short-term need for deficit reduction doesn't justify a long term change in Higher Education funding which will be bad for universities and not save any public money. They've chosen to cut higher education teaching by 80% when other public services are being cut much less.
Not fair because graduates will now have to pay the whole cost of most degrees (simply replacing the cut in funding), instead of sharing the costs with the taxpayer. Graduates will pay much more, and pay for 30 years. Middle income graduates will be hardest hit.
Not good for higher education. England’s world class university system has been built on a public investment and trust in the professional academic leadership of universities. This will be replaced by a market in higher education in which many students will be put off university and forced to choose the cheapest rather than the best course.
The Labour Party says:
* We would not make such a big cut in Higher Education teaching grants, so high fees would not be needed to replace lost income.
* Graduates should share the cost of higher education; by moving towards a graduate tax the highest earning graduates would make a fairer contribution
* We believe that universities should remain public institutions, receiving significant public funding
Monday, 6 December 2010
Friday, 26 November 2010
First New Council Housing for over 20 years ready for letting
Convent Way in Heston is the site of 20 NEW COUNCIL homes - the first to be built in Hounslow for over 20 years. I was so pleased and proud to be at the celebration yesterday to see the houses before the first tenants move in by Christmas. Councils haven't been able to build Council housing since Thatcher's time, but the Labour Government started the work to make that possible for Councils with high-performing ALMOs (Arms Length Management Organisations that manage our Council Housing). We met Yvette Cooper to thrash out the details when she was housing minister around 2004, and my only regret is that it has taken so long for the first ones to get built and let. Initially the legal complexities took forever, but now that is sorted we have a whole lot under construction and should be ready for letting next year.
After these though, the future is bleak. Capital funding for most affordable Council and Housing Association new-build is dependent on Government funding, via the HCA (Homes and Communities Agency). Their future funding for London has been halved from the last budget, and most of what they have is already allocated. It looks as though ever more families will be living in high-cost private rented and/or overcrowded housing. This government has absolutely no interest in London's fundamental housing problem - that "the market" delivers homes only at or above the level that many earn - compare private rents with, say the London Living Wage. Good quality affordable housing is more necessary than ever.
After these though, the future is bleak. Capital funding for most affordable Council and Housing Association new-build is dependent on Government funding, via the HCA (Homes and Communities Agency). Their future funding for London has been halved from the last budget, and most of what they have is already allocated. It looks as though ever more families will be living in high-cost private rented and/or overcrowded housing. This government has absolutely no interest in London's fundamental housing problem - that "the market" delivers homes only at or above the level that many earn - compare private rents with, say the London Living Wage. Good quality affordable housing is more necessary than ever.
Monday, 22 November 2010
Six Months leading Hounslow
CON/DEM ATTACK ON HOMES, INCOMES AND SERVICES
Another week, another government announcement that was never trailed in any manifesto. Together they are set to throw people out of work, hold back economic growth and damage the public services we all rely on. The Tories and Lib Dems have broken their promise to be fair; with tax increases and benefit cuts that will hit hardest at the people who can least afford them.
BENEFITS AND HOUSING CUTS
• Capping Housing Benefit for private tenants when there is a shortage of homes, so landlords will find non HB tenants and many will be made homeless
• cuts in HB for those occupying a large home, anyone unemployed more than 12m, those with non-dpendent adults living with them
• Cuts to benefits for disabled people
• Halving the capital budget for new Council and HA housing
• Cuts to working family tax credits
• Ending of Educational Maintenance Allowance (for over 16s staying in education)
• Forced free labour schemes for those long-term unemployed
• Ending of the Building Schools for the Future scheme
FIGHTING FOR HOUNSLOW
The Labour team now leading Hounslow Council have vowed to do whatever it can to protect local services. We are working hard to protect our most vulnerable residents and will do everything we can to prevent these cuts causing lasting harm to our residents. It won’t be easy and we are going to have to make some difficult choices.
The October spending review hit local Councils hard. Hounslow expects to need to find savings of around £60m over 4 years, and that this must be “front loaded” ie £18m in each of the next two years and around £12m in the subsequent ones.
Efficiency savings are not going to deliver £18m savings, we will have to agree to service cuts. Whilst we will do what we can to protect jobs, at this level of cut, redundancies will be inevitable. We have met the staff side Unions and have agreed a severance scheme that is more generous, and fairer than the one used by the Tory/ICG administration.
We have a timetable that ensures proper consultation including a residents' panel meeting, briefing meetings in each area, and a special edition of Hounslow Matters.
We are also going to be using You Choose – an online public participation tool that allows residents to “play” with different budget options (eg spending more on parks and less on childrens services.) It described what the impact of your choices would be both on those service, but also on the Council Tax. We will be launching the Hounslow version very soon but you can see the Redbridge one on www.redbridge.gov.uk.
We welcome constructive comments on the choices we have to make - what services could be cut back and which should be protected at all costs?
Another week, another government announcement that was never trailed in any manifesto. Together they are set to throw people out of work, hold back economic growth and damage the public services we all rely on. The Tories and Lib Dems have broken their promise to be fair; with tax increases and benefit cuts that will hit hardest at the people who can least afford them.
BENEFITS AND HOUSING CUTS
• Capping Housing Benefit for private tenants when there is a shortage of homes, so landlords will find non HB tenants and many will be made homeless
• cuts in HB for those occupying a large home, anyone unemployed more than 12m, those with non-dpendent adults living with them
• Cuts to benefits for disabled people
• Halving the capital budget for new Council and HA housing
• Cuts to working family tax credits
• Ending of Educational Maintenance Allowance (for over 16s staying in education)
• Forced free labour schemes for those long-term unemployed
• Ending of the Building Schools for the Future scheme
FIGHTING FOR HOUNSLOW
The Labour team now leading Hounslow Council have vowed to do whatever it can to protect local services. We are working hard to protect our most vulnerable residents and will do everything we can to prevent these cuts causing lasting harm to our residents. It won’t be easy and we are going to have to make some difficult choices.
The October spending review hit local Councils hard. Hounslow expects to need to find savings of around £60m over 4 years, and that this must be “front loaded” ie £18m in each of the next two years and around £12m in the subsequent ones.
Efficiency savings are not going to deliver £18m savings, we will have to agree to service cuts. Whilst we will do what we can to protect jobs, at this level of cut, redundancies will be inevitable. We have met the staff side Unions and have agreed a severance scheme that is more generous, and fairer than the one used by the Tory/ICG administration.
We have a timetable that ensures proper consultation including a residents' panel meeting, briefing meetings in each area, and a special edition of Hounslow Matters.
We are also going to be using You Choose – an online public participation tool that allows residents to “play” with different budget options (eg spending more on parks and less on childrens services.) It described what the impact of your choices would be both on those service, but also on the Council Tax. We will be launching the Hounslow version very soon but you can see the Redbridge one on www.redbridge.gov.uk.
We welcome constructive comments on the choices we have to make - what services could be cut back and which should be protected at all costs?
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
Thames Water and the High Street/London Road
Message:
On behalf of the Leader of the Council and local Councillors, I met with Thames Water yesterday morning to let them explain the background to the two bursts on the London Road/Brentford High Street (and one in July which forced the Council to close the Civc Centre for and afternoon), their response, and the likelihood of it happening again.
TW head of external relations, Richard Aylard, and their local government link person, Hilary Murgatroyd were there plus 3 senior Council officers.
1 I expressed how serious the impact of the 2 bursts had been on people living and running businesses in the area. That those who have suffered go far beyond those whose homes or businesses were flooded - these include: residents of Danehurst sheltered unit having to walk a mile to get a bus or pay for taxis, and of course businesses losing trade.
2 TW explained the teckie stuff (but full details at Housing and Environment Scrutiny Panel on 30th.) The pipe is one of 4 old mains (1890s) running the length of the High St/London Road. The main mains (lets call them the arteries) are more robust, and have been better maintained over the years, than the “capillary” mains going down side roads that were replaced as part of the recent Victorian water main replacement scheme. That is why this main was not replaced then. TW’s risk assessment did not put it high on the risk register, yet it burst twice in less than 4 weeks. Now this has happened, they are investigating it for leaks - hence the plant remaining at the scene with nothing apparently happening. They are putting a probe along and listening for minute leaks, and installing a real-time surge monitor.
3 From now on TW will monitor for leaks and manage the pressure in the pipe so it does not build up as it did before the burst. It’s now on the risk register. The implication being that it’s likely that we’ll have the hassle of its replacement before long . . .
4 On compensation, they are leaving it all to their loss adjusters Douglas Jackson, but implied it’s an insurance issue ie they’re not going to be dishing out stuff/funds unless there is a viable insurance claim. Distress, inconvenience etc are not issues they show any interest in.
5 I asked if they would compensate businesses for lost trade and reputation – their response was - if you can prove loss of takings connected to the flooding etc you may be able to claim on our Insurance. On my suggestion, they said they would organise a meeting of local businesses to discuss this issue.
Watch this space
Ruth Cadbury
Brentford Ward Councillor
Deputy Leader - LB Hounslow
Sunday, 5 September 2010
Celebrating Runway 3 Victory at Sipson
Last Saturday gave us a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the decision to cancel the building of Heathrow's Runway 3 in the centre of Sipson. The communities of Sipson and Harmondsworth would have been destroyed had the runway been built - and the rest of us would have suffered yet more noise, pollution and transport congestion. Hillingdon Council hosted a community festival at Sipson Rec, so many local residents were there. But it was also great to catch up with people from all the key partner organisations involved in the campaign - John Stewart (pictured) the Chair of HACAN www.hacan.org.uk, Geraldine Nicholson of the No Third Runway Campaign www.notrag.org, Councillors and officers from the local authorities around Heathrow, Friends of the Earth, Aviation Environment Federation etc etc.
Friday, 3 September 2010
Collection for Victims of Pakistan Floods
On Saturday Hounslow's Pakistan Welfare Association organised a street collection on Hounslow High Street. We collected an amazing two and half thousand pounds, which the General Secretary is going to use to buy essential medicines and take them directly (at his own expense) to flood victims in one of the worst-hit areas. PWA is also fundraising in the longer-term for the building of a much-needed new school. In the photo I'm with (l-r) the general Secretary, Cllr Pritam Grewal, and Mohammad Choudhry (PWA Chair).
Look out for details of a major fundraising event for flood victims on 25th September at the Lampton Park Conference Centre.
Saturday, 28 August 2010
Leading a Borough under a hostile Government
It’s been three months since Labour took back control at Hounslow after four years of the Tory/ICG administration.
THE TORY/ICG LEGACY
We have come into an organisation whose staff have been deeply demoralised by the past four years of Tory/Independent control, where £50 million has been removed from the revenue spend without any thought of the impact on the services, and where staff are not respected, nor encouraged to use their initiative to address local problems, and their employment rights are undermined. The Council’s partnership with key players in the borough – Police, Health, the Voluntary Sector, Business etc has been reduced to little more than a series of poorly attended talking shops. The businesses seeking to invest and create jobs in Hounslow tell us they felt the borough was “closed for business”.
We have told our officers that we will support them in turning round the culture of the Council.
CON:DEM GOVERNMENT ATTACKS
We have been told the rebuilding of five secondary schools and one special school in the Building Schools for the Future programme will be axed. This is only one of a raft of decisions being made by the Government in the name of economic necessity but is in reality an ideological attack on public services.
A series of grants in Hounslow for services for vulnerable children, young people and families have been already cut by Government - and this well before we hear about the main cuts to the Council's core grant - anything between 20 and 40% - at the October comprehensive spending review.
The cuts announced so far have fallen disproportionately on areas of deprivation – Newham’s cuts are six times those of Richmond’s. Hounslow has been told to expect at least a 25 per cent cut in direct funding over the next four years with the worst to come next year. We can only save so much from efficiencies and will have no choice but to withdraw services that people rely on in their daily lives.
We anticipate that the rate of building of desperately-needed affordable homes will fall to an all-time low. The HCA grants that subsidise the build programme may be one of the victims of October’s Comprehensive Spending Review.
On top of that the proposed rise in VAT, cuts to benefits and pensions and the withdrawal of tax credits will fall hardest on those with the lowest incomes Even people on middle incomes will struggle with their mortgage and childcare payments, and those in the public sector have the added fear of redundancy hanging over their heads.
I fear we could be returning to an era when homeless families were lucky if they got into a hostel. Local Councils, with less funding, will be expected to up the pieces.
THE TORY/ICG LEGACY
We have come into an organisation whose staff have been deeply demoralised by the past four years of Tory/Independent control, where £50 million has been removed from the revenue spend without any thought of the impact on the services, and where staff are not respected, nor encouraged to use their initiative to address local problems, and their employment rights are undermined. The Council’s partnership with key players in the borough – Police, Health, the Voluntary Sector, Business etc has been reduced to little more than a series of poorly attended talking shops. The businesses seeking to invest and create jobs in Hounslow tell us they felt the borough was “closed for business”.
We have told our officers that we will support them in turning round the culture of the Council.
CON:DEM GOVERNMENT ATTACKS
We have been told the rebuilding of five secondary schools and one special school in the Building Schools for the Future programme will be axed. This is only one of a raft of decisions being made by the Government in the name of economic necessity but is in reality an ideological attack on public services.
A series of grants in Hounslow for services for vulnerable children, young people and families have been already cut by Government - and this well before we hear about the main cuts to the Council's core grant - anything between 20 and 40% - at the October comprehensive spending review.
The cuts announced so far have fallen disproportionately on areas of deprivation – Newham’s cuts are six times those of Richmond’s. Hounslow has been told to expect at least a 25 per cent cut in direct funding over the next four years with the worst to come next year. We can only save so much from efficiencies and will have no choice but to withdraw services that people rely on in their daily lives.
We anticipate that the rate of building of desperately-needed affordable homes will fall to an all-time low. The HCA grants that subsidise the build programme may be one of the victims of October’s Comprehensive Spending Review.
On top of that the proposed rise in VAT, cuts to benefits and pensions and the withdrawal of tax credits will fall hardest on those with the lowest incomes Even people on middle incomes will struggle with their mortgage and childcare payments, and those in the public sector have the added fear of redundancy hanging over their heads.
I fear we could be returning to an era when homeless families were lucky if they got into a hostel. Local Councils, with less funding, will be expected to up the pieces.
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