Yesterday there was an astonishing admission from Andrea Leadsom MP on the floor of the Commons about delaying DEFRA’s application of its NO2 plan, something many had been waiting several years for now including the EU. 

Ministers are now also accused of bullying judges over delay to toxic air curbs. So we have the government of the day delaying putting a plan into place that legal action had been taken against them and won twice before. It was finally meant to have been lodged with the Supreme Court on monday but the government appealed for postponement till after the election itself when these plans should have been in place in 2010! 

Since 2010 our knowledge of air pollution adverse impact to our lives in our cities particularly the young, old and sick has increased substantially. The governments lack of action and abandonment of their responsibilities had now made sure it has become a major issue in the General Election 2017. Seven year delay in responding to the requirements of having a NO2 plan is not good enough. By not getting on with the business of government, it will now become a General Election issue, thats for sure. 

I noticed the old buses on No 2 bus route are being replaced by new hybrid buses in my neighbourhood at their turning point on Hayes Place when they head back down to South London. This is of course welcomed in the fight to reduce air pollution from the emissions from the buses as the logo Hybrid CleanAir for London (HV 297 ) indicates but why are all the hybrids diesel? 

So far all the new hydrids on this route l have seen are run on diesel as the cap on the HV 297 illustrates well in the photo below but we do know hydrids can also be run on other sources like CNG ( concentrated national gas ) as in Barcelona, hydrogen in Tokyo or even RNG ( renewable bio-methane ) resourced potential from London’s food waste. Whatever else, maybe even petrol would be better than diesel now that its well established it contributes much more to NOx than other energy sources on the road. 

Some go further and suggest that many in the business know that these diesel hybrids end up running on diesel more often than not. So Transport for London (TfL) need to explain to us why the over reliance on diesel hybrids when other well trodden paths exist with other energy sources in the hybrids, to help us with London’s air pollution crisis. 

Appropriate graffiti at Lisson Gallery for Council consultation on Building Height in the City

Westminster City Council has started its consultation on skyline of the City via the launching of its document Building Height: Getting the right kind of growth for Westminster.  It is worth bearing in mind a major consideration it doesn’t acknowledge at all in the consultation documentation, what the population density within the borough of the city is already when the population of the City is projected to grow from 226,000 to 262,000 by 2036 requiring some 21,000 homes. 

We should thus not make these particular wards anymore dense then they are already certainly unless fully compensated with a lot more open space and better management of communal space ( both private and public ) by the council and developers in line with the rest of London, at least. For example in the most dense ward of the City it has only one bit of public space, Broadley St Gardens in Church St Ward. Are we really going to make that ward more dense without at least some more open space?  

We should be also mindful of the pattern within the City as well as the list of most dense words looks like below;

It is noticeable that the wards with the lowest population density in the City are St James and Knightsbridge & Belgravia, with densities quite a bit lower that the London average of 51.3 per hectare. While wards like Church St & Harrow Road have almost five times their population density. So its quite clear on the basis of population density where the skyline and thus the population density of Westminster should be increased, without actually affecting the skyline unduly and accommodating the further growth of the City.  

Existing population density should be an important considerable in determining the building height of the City and getting the right kind of growth for Westminster yet in its consultation document its not a major consideration at all. Indeed it is a major admission of the consultation. 

Its all very well Boris Johnson arguing for tough new sanctions at his G7 meeting against Assad & Putin now that he is Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Office but as Mayor of London, he didn’t give money laundering and sanction against it much attention when l raised it with him at the London Assembly as a lot of it in recent time would have involved Middle East & Russia monies going into London property market. Please see attached link showing how much of the time he and his office were in denial about the matter.  

The recently released update on the situation in London from Transparency International UK called Spring Cleaning, refers to the Assad regime in Syrian and their assets in London. It suggests that the personal wealth of Bashar Al-Assad and his associates are estimated at £4.4-5.2 billion, with no corrupt Syrian assets ever being seized in the UK, illustrating a very poor UK-Syrian asset recovery record. 

Can we now expect the Boris Johnson to act on the issue now that he’s creditability as Secretary of State is up rather than when he had been in denial about it initially as Mayor of London? 

So much for supporting  your local continent now!

After Article 50 was triggered yesterday, 3.3 million EU citizens in the UK and up to 1.6 million UK citizens living in Europe have been turned into bargaining chip. 

They came here under freedom of movement and were denied a vote in the EU referendum are now in limbo worrying about their futures. A million EU citizens live in London alone. They are Londoners, they contribute hugely to our economic, social, cultural life. They have partners,friends and family in the UK. They deserve to be left in no doubt that they will be able to continue living here. The PM said securing their rights was an “early priority” yet stopped short here and now offering a cast iron guarantee. Equally, the EU should offer the same guarantee to UK citizens living on the continent. These are people not bargaining chips. 

The government must end this now. Britain didn’t vote to treat migrants as second class citizens, yet migrants’ voices clearly not been heard. We have some 36,000 EU nationals ( 2015 figures ) living in the City of Westminster, so we must ask the council to call on the government to immediately and unconditionally secure the rights of EU migrants, their families and dependents. 

If we fail to support  EU citizens in the fight to defend their rights, we will fail to protect the rights upon which our futures depend as well. 

Siege in Sylhet, Bangladesh by their army against Islamist militants.

I woke up yesterday shocked to hear on Radio 4 about the Jihadi cell in Sylhet ( its my family ancestral home ) and the siege on Bangladesh Independence Day. Six have been killed and 50 Injured In Twin Blasts with an Anti-Terror Operation under way. 

After hearing the details l was left thinking why would ISIS or All-Qaeda be at all interested in Sylhet, Bangladesh?  As we can not say that the plains of Bengal are part of where the “last days” are meant to happen. So this must be the fantasy of some jumped Bengali jihadists! After all not even the Pakistani Army was able to take Shah jalal mosque in Sylhet during the liberation of Bangladesh. 

More seriously is the possibility that there maybe a London connection to these attacks and all these other possible links above are just a cover for this. Naturally that is more alarming, so l will be keep an eye on Bengali TV and news outlets for further information of who’s actually behind these attacks. So watch this space on these developments in the investigation. 

Noise may not be top of ever ones priorities but its a big issue for many. For example on the Heathrow expansion the chief environmental concern is not CO2 emissions or poor air quality but aircraft noise affecting a further 2 millions residents. But lets not forget other sources of ambient noise from the transport infrastructure like our tube system. Judging from the responses to my previous blogs on tube noise, its clearly an issue for many Londoners even before the night service came along. 

So let me make the following points in the London context; 

• The GLA Act requires the Mayor to produce a strategy for ambient noise and the first strategy – “Sounder City – Mayor’s Ambient Noise Strategy” was put in place by the first Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone in Feb 2004. It is now 12 years outdated and required urgent updating.
• That first strategy covered many aspect of noise from transport from rail, aircraft noise & along rivers and canals. Also on the roads on the buses, taxis’s and freight vehicles. But it does not cover the tube system in London particular those actually underground. This is a major admission and must addressed by the Mayor.
• If TfL can accept responsibility for ambient noise via its regulation of black cabs & private hire vehicles and managing its own buses and boats and overground services why not also the Tube system itself?
• With the increasing tube noise complaints over the past 12 years particularly with the onset of Night Tube service, it is not time TfL took on this responsibility as well and at least accept it as potential a statutory nuisance their tube activities causes? 

It was good to see the Environment Committee at the London Assembly, City Hall give a hearing to many frustrated Londoners with tube noise concerns last week, so I look forward to a response from TfL and Mayor’s office on this front. 

A small terrace of properties in my neighbourhood along Bell Street, NW1 have been lying empty in a locality desperate for family housing.  

While prime housing market has gone down in Central London somewhat since certainly Brexit, it also leaves empty many other developments which were going on the tails of that sub-market like those along Bell Street, NW1. The above four 3 bed houses had originally been offices which were converted into residential something l welcomed since the offices were lying empty for many years. But since the residential conversion was completed last November the new homes have also been lying empty in a locality where 3 bed homes are in urgent need. This has meant the number of office conversions have gone down in Central London, so it will be interesting to see how developments in Marylebone like 66 Chiltern Street now progress in the market while still in the construction phase. 

Unfortunately the rent levels of social housing in Central London do not financially permit social housing provider to pick up the properties either at the asking prices nor at the probably costs incurred in building them. So we are left with a terrace of empty properties which are neither being rented out or sold on to owner-occupiers, after their conversion. 

This is at the same time as other prime mega developments like the one being developed in the old Battersea Power Station are trying to convert some of the development into alternative use other than residential which can supplement it well like offices. 

It’s safe to say that whilst the prime housing market is so volatile, such properties along Bell Street are likely to stand empty for a lot longer than is good for anyone.