Hounslow's 2012/13 Budget Passed - Zero Council Tax Increase, and a growth fund for Improvements

Tonight's Council meeting ended with the passing of Hounslow's 2012/13 budget.

•  - Council Tax Freeze for the 6th succesive year
• -  a £2m growth fund to deliver our pledges, and improve efficiencies

The Government has cut £62m from our overall budget over four years, and they will impose more in future years as they intend to continue to make the public sector pay for their failed deficit reduction policies.  Despite the challenge we  set a budget that achieves the required savings and allows for growth. There will be no closure of children’s centres or other services..The £16m savings for the next financial year are all efficiency savings -  such as on assets, contracts, shared services, transport and staff restructuring.

We have also created an element of growth:
-headroom to support growth in jobs and support for those needing  good quality work opportunities.  With 3 staff Hounslow must have the smallest Economic Development team, with no capacity to attract investment in borough and little scope to support to the vibrant but often fragile small business community
- better support to those 100s of families being tipped into real poverty as a result of this Governments tax and benefits policies. We are beginning to see the impact of some of these, and the Universal Credit will further exacerbate it.  Better advice and support, fair and affordable loans, good quality training.
- Investing in improvements to childrens and older people's services to better serve the most vulnerable in Hounslowl
- an Improvement fund that can be drawn on to invest in IT, training, re-organising and changing systems and processes to provide better run services, at lower cost to residents and the tax-payer.

All this on top of the achievements of the last year:

• no closure of children’s centres
• Transforming and modernising our processes
• Recruited 10 additional police officers and over 100 special constables,
• schools results continue to improve and remain above national average
• 330 Reception places 60 year 1 last September and another 90 next September.
• 1000 affordable homes completed or under construction, and 50 empty homes
• Grimebusters hotline
• Improvements to Hounslow Town Centre and the Masterplan agreed,
• Vacated 10 buildings to ensure better use of fewer buildings.
• Supporting those in Debt by funding the CSB to provided new and extended services,
• Innovation Grants for the voluntary sector
• A dedicated Olympics officer to ensure the borough makes the most of the Games coming to London

The Tory opposition had, for the first time brought along an alternative budget. They proposed a cut of £23.99 for a band D tax payer, around 50p a week.  They criticised us for tokenism when we did the same when in opposition.   Their budget deleted Labour's growth options, and made the mistake of suggesting a one-off VAT refund could be used for recurrent spending.  Sadly their lack of financial literacy was exposed at this point - you cannot fund recurrent costs from a one-off source.   In the end they supported half of the recommendations in the budget paper, and voted against the other half.

Leader Jagdish Sharma said  “We can look forward to a year of investment and progress - a year when our staff  earn the London Living Wage as a minimum,, when we’ll see the Hounslow town centre masterplan start to become a reality, when we will open our new Sandbanks resource centre with new residential and day places for older people, and we will build further on the good progress we have made on our pledges.”

Hammersmith Flyover Closure - how long for?, why? so what?

The closure of Hammersmith Flyover has brought logjam to the roads in Chiswick and Brentford since Christmas   despite the partial re-opening on Friday (13 Jan) to small vehicles.  Large lorries and coaches are jamming up Chiswick High Road, and 9 bus routes are affected.  All vehicles driving within or through west London have had to factor in longer journey times.  The A4 is the major road route between Heathrow/the Thames Valley corridor and Central London, so the impact on the economy, not to mention the impression it gives to overseas visitors, is insurmountable.

 Why did this happen? Could TfL have helped the Council to reduce the impact on Chiswick, Brentford and beyond? And why SHOULD the closure of one road have such a devastating impact?

TfL’s  David MacNeill TfL said at yesterday’s public meeting (14 Jan) that they were caught by surprise.  They had been monitoring it since the summer, but the tensioning cables that hold the bridge together started “pinging” at an unprecedented rate in December, meaning the cables would not be strong enough to cope with the pressure particularly of heavy vehicles trundling over the bridge.  Reassuringly it’s probably not about to collapse, according to this technical explanation of the structure. 

TfL hope to replace the cables and have the flyover fully open within 4 months – which is cutting it fine for the Olympics.  David reckoned it could then have another 20 years life.  Boris and the Hammersmith Tories suggest it's then replaced with a cu-and-cover tunnel, eastbound entrance - Chiswick!?

In Chiswick, thanks to the prompt action of Hounslow’s Labour Council, we have:

·         Converted the  current 7am-7pm (and other part-time) bus lanes to 24 hour 7 day operation to maintain bus operating speeds and provide protection for cyclists.
·         Extended of current Monday-Saturday waiting restrictions to Monday-Sunday, and extended the evening restrictions by an hour, to 8pm

This has cost the borough in the region of £4000 plus an inordinate amount of officer time, some of it struggling to get facts and dialogue with TfL. The Council has not yet been provided with compensation for these costs.  Yet we are mandated by TfL, through the strategy Local Implementation Plan to maintain bus operating speeds on key corridors. 

We are very concerned that TfL’s response to the flyover closure has focussed more on protecting their Red Routes than considering the impact on local roads – there are no signs to draw vehicles away from Chiswick High Road -even when the Chiswick section of the A4 sometimes is flowing more freely than CHR.  Furthermore, in encouraging people to use public transport, TfL fail to promote their own tube and Overground services in their media releases but suggest as alternative travel options as First Great Western trains!

This “crisis” caused by the closure of one key part of London’s complex road network shows how vulnerable London’s road system is to complete overload, and how wrong Boris’ pro-car policy is.  West London’s traffic was mad before 23^rd December – gridlock on many roads at busy times.  The system is operating significantly over- capacity, closure of one element brings chaos, impacting on our lives and our economy.  Every past experience shows that the more you do to accommodate rising road use, the more road congestion you get.  Only a long-term vision centred around affordable public transport will achieve the much-needed modal shift.  Whilst Crossrail will change London’s transport landscape, it’s not enough.  We need to massively increase investment in rail, light rail etc.  I seem to remember being told that 5% of journeys shifting off the roads make a massive improvement to vehicle flows on a congested road system.  5% - that’s a minority of those car drivers whose  journey  probably could be taken by train tube or bus.  As HS2 and Crossrail show, the economic situation doesn’t stop the UK investing in major transport infrastructure, so let’s do more to improve the situation in West London –next on my list of big projects would be AirTrack, from Waterloo to Heathrow.  And if Boris really wants to help the motorist, he’d pledge to invest in better public transport to create space for those who cannot or won’t get out of their cars.

Alan Keen MP

It's been a sad week for all of us who knew Alan, the news of his passing came almost without warning.  It seems not so long ago that Jagdish and I met him at Portcullis House, and again at BA Engineering.  At those meetings he was full of energy but we now know that his remission was just a short respite. 

Alan and I were first elected onto Hounslow Council together in 1986, but he served just the one term and went on to Parliament in 1992, where he was one of our 2 Labour MPs (with Ann) ever since.    
Alan was down-to-earth and great fun with a mischievous sense of humour.   As a politician he was Labour to his core, without being a tribalist.  He understood there were seldom two easy sides to an issue and this sometimes got him into trouble!  He always wanted the best for his constituency and for the borough, and he cared deeply about the needs of the people he represented.  

Ann, David and all the family, our thoughts are with you.

 - I will really miss your "Aya"

Aviation Debate - Westminster Hall 15 November

Both Labour and Conservative front benches have moved considerably in the last few months, and "get" the needs of our residents who woud experience continous overflying if it was not for runway alternation.

With thanks to John Stewart - HACAN for putting this together.

Theresa Villiers on the trials in yesterday’s Commons debate on aviation:

Theresa Villiers "we are trialling the tactical use of greater operational freedoms at Heathrow. This is very sensitive, because those freedoms mean that occasionally there will be some incursions into the respite period, with occasional use of both runways for departures, or, occasionally, use of both runways for arrivals. However, I emphasise that that is not mixed mode and the Government remain committed to runway alternation and the benefits it brings. Very careful consideration will be given to the impact of the trial on local communities. I emphasise that the measures being trialled are only to be used to improve resilience, and prevent or recover from disruption, and not to increase capacity, which remains capped at current levels".http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm111115/halltext/111115h0002.htm

Other highlights from the debate:

Aviation Minister Theresa Villiers: Heathrow 3rd runway "absolutely wrong approach to the UK economy" http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm111115/halltext/111115h0002.htm

Labour's Maria Eagle confirms opposition to Heathrow 3rd runway and calls for tougher national emissions targets:http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm111115/halltext/111115h0002.htm

Strong performances from Mary MacLeod & John McDonnell in yesterday's Commons debate on aviation:http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm111115/halltext/111115h0002.htm

Yesterday's Commons debate: Theresa Villiers says interested in working on 'cross-party' basis on aviationhttp://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm111115/halltext/111115h0002.htm

Heathrow - the speech I didn't make in full at Borough Council last night

HEATHROW - the Speech I didn't make in full at Borough Council tonight.


This Council has had cross-party support for many years, for policies to protect the interests of borough residents in the face of continuing pressure to expand Heathrow.

In recent years we have been joined with other boroughs in 2M, and by the Environment lobby of Greenpeace and WWF, and as a result of our work, one of the first announcements of the Coalition Government was to stop the building of Runway 3, and retain runway alternation at Heathrow.

But make no mistake, we cannot sit back and relax. BAA were devastated by that decision, and have been working tirelessly and expensively to get it reversed. They are lobbying, they are seeking relaxation of the alternation regime with the first trials in November, and they are attempt to soften up the business sector – such as the articles in the Telegraph last weekend.

Most of our residents suffer the noise of plane noise every 60 seconds for half the day when the airport is operating on Westerlies, and those within a couple of miles of the perimeter fence have noise almost continuously irrespective of the wind direction. We have around 16 747s arriving every morning before 6am. Surely the noisiest environment in the UK, yet Heathrow provides the worst noise insulation schemes of any UK airport.

Whilst we know residents who say they don’t notice the planes overhead, I have never had any doubts about the insidious effects of continuous plane noise and of night flights. Remember, in the UK, only Heathrow has communities living in a built up area right up to the perimeter. And there is a growing body of knowledge of the health impacts of living close to a busy airport and Heathrow in particular. Cardio/respiratory, mental health, children’s learning, not to mention the long-term effects of living in an area of very poor air quality

In November we will see the first trials of the "Operational freedoms" – we have to ensure this is not mixed mode by stealth – we are demanding proper monitoring, proper information and survey of the communities affected, and the ability to contribute to the design of the trials. They start in November, to date we have not had a proper response to our demands on this.


-This is why the respite that runway alternation brings is so important,
- This is why a ban on night noise is essential
- And this is why a proper insulation scheme that is at least as generous as the other other UK airports is only fair to our residents.

We will continue the work I started in 2002 to lobby politicians in all 3 main parties of the case for better mitigation for our residents, a decent night’s sleep, that period of peace that alternation brings, and decent insulation. I met about 15 senior Lib Dems on Sunday and yesterday at their conference and will meet many senior Labour people in Liverpool. Cllr Reid will be in Manchester talking to senior Conservatives. This work paid off off over the years but it takes time but – we are up against the million pound communication budget of BAA and BA which used in promoting a set distorted economic arguments. Remember that in the night flights court case, they could produce no economic data to support their case.
They tell us that the UK economy will fail if there isn’t another runway in the South East to take the growing demand from the Far East – yet they fly half empty planes across the Atlantic on a daily basis and hundreds of short-haul flights that could be replaced by rail journeys.

The majority of passengers are transfer passengers, contributing little to the UK economy. And our local economy is so over-dependent on the airport that firms in other sectors struggle to compete for land, appropriately skilled staff and road space, Furthermore, as we know when ash clouds or snow close the airport, many thousands of local cleaners, baggage handlers, and catering staff are the first to lost their jobs, sometimes with a few hours notice. It is an unhealthy over-dependence on a single employment source, which has no need to expand further. But it does need to improve its offer to the local workforce;
- more local recruitment,
- better training and apprenticeships,
- supply chains with local small and medium businesses.
Hounslow sits where the Silicon Valley meets London – our economy can afford, and indeed needs, to diversify.
We seek to have as our neighbour, a better airport, not a bigger one.

Boundary Review - Weakens Political accountability

The boundary review retains Brentford and Isleworth parliamentary constituency more or less intact (just losing Hounslow Heath ward), but Feltham and Heston disappears altogether.  Its ten wards will be split 3-ways with the 3 Heston wards, Cranford and Hounslow West going to Ealing Southall; Feltham North and West and Bedfont wards go to a new Feltham and Hayes constituency; and finally Hanworth and Hanworth Park go into a new Teddington and Hanworth constiuency, where Hounslow Heath will also go.

This means that Hounslow will be represented by four MPs instead of the current two.  What's more, 3 of them will face outwards to the borough where the majority of their voters live, ie Ealing, Hillingdon or Richmond upon Thames.  Hounslow's residents will therefore be poorly served by their MPs, as the Council will now need to brief and work with 4 MPs, not two, made more difficult when 3 of the MPs have their majority interests in other boroughs.  This obsession with equally-sized constituencies ends the assumption that there is co-terminosity of constituencies with local authority areas, and weakens democratic accountability.  Is it too late to revise the basic criteria?

Message from the Leader of Hounslow after last nights disturbances

 
The statement from Councillor Jagdish Sharma, Leader of the Council, is as follows:
       
"The scenes from around London over the last few nights have shocked and saddened us all.
 
"These actions are purely criminal and have devastating consequences for the innocent bystanders who have seen their homes and businesses destroyed. Very dangerous situations have developed across London and have quickly become life and death situations.
 
"We worked with the police last night to monitor the situation across the borough of Hounslow and will continue to do so for as long as is necessary. We, alongside the police, the fire service and other partners, will do whatever we can to provide support to residents and businesses.
 
"I want to urge young people and other residents right across the borough to continue to refrain from taking part in this kind of criminal behaviour - either here in Hounslow, or anywhere else. I also urge everyone who has an influence in our communities - whether as family members or community leaders - to help maintain calm across our borough."