Last weeks parliamentary vote to recognising the state of Palestine, is the least we could have down given how complicit the British state has been in the plight of the Palestinians from the outset.

Under the Palestine Mandate, we allowed the nakba to happen in 1948. The ethnic cleansing of Palestinian villages under the eyes of British troops over 1948, heralding their exodus and for many the status of refugees  with no confirmed right to return. British colonial laws are still used to this day like administrative detention to subjugate Palestinians in the West Bank to house arrests and indefinite arrest, alarmingly particularly to school kids. More recently during the assault on Gaza over the summer, Britain continued to supply arms to Israel.

The least we  can do for them is to recognise them as a state along with the other 138 states who have already done so in the UN, giving the two-state solution more impetus on the basis of current British Foreign policy to the illegal occupation of the Palestine by Israel. Indeed when Balfour Declaration was made in 1917 giving Britain’s backing for the creation of a Jewish homeland, the then Foreign Secretary, undertook to uphold the civil and religious rights of the native population of Palestine. On October the 13th, the UK’s parliament voted by 274 votes to 12 to recognise a Palestinian state and has began doing just this albeit almost a century later and not binding on the present coalition government’s position.

In the meantime, a mount of trouble increases in Jerusalem over the holy sites as Jewish redicals are upsetting the fragile religious balance in the holy city.

This is the presentation l did for the CIBSE HSCE Event at Building Design Centre, WC1 this week.

A very useful evening engaging with Building Service Engineers in how to reduce the carbon emissions of our buildings.

Landmark Hotel astonishingly refused listing in 1979

Today during a catch-up meeting at Marylebone station with Chiltern Railway, l was reminded of the battle to Save Marylebone Station (SMS), 30 years ago.

Network Railway’s predecessor, British Railway in all their wisdom wanted to sell off the station as a coach station similar to Victoria Coach Station instead of investing in it as a rail station.  The idea was supported by the government of the day and quite surprisingly by the City of Westminster Council. Campaigners including local residents, councillors and union bosses rallied together to stop the move and we should be thankful for their actions.  Without their opposition, Marylebone station would have become a lost gem which now stands at the heart of the local community. The campaign was essentially lead by the St Marylebone Society with its last St Marylebone Society Newsletter, summarising well the campaign and how the battle was eventually won.

Astonishingly, just before the campaign 30 years ago, an attempt to list the Station along with 222 Marylebone Road (now the Landmark Hotel) and the horse carriage porch in-between the two buildings was refused. Personally, I can think of few other buildings more worthy of a listing!

 The London Assembly has just published its annual report highlighting its the work over the past 12 months, across all its committees. It helps tell Londoners what work has been done on their behalf over the year.  That’s from our regular question and answer sessions with the Mayor ( known as MQTs )  and other senior figures in London government ( at Plenary ), to investigating a raft of important London issues, to dealing with thousands of Londoners’ concerns, Assembly Members have been your voice at City Hall through correspondence, as well as meeting Londoners at Peoples Question Time (PQT) and other public meetings.

As one of the 25 elected Assembly Members of the London Assembly at the same time as the Mayor, we hold him and his agencies like the Met and Transport for London to account between elections. This is done through regular questioning of him through MQTs and detailed investigations by the relative Committees. During 2013/14, we met on 102 occasions , held 73 investigations, produced 27 reports and issued 16 letters and consultation responses to the Mayor and Government.

At a cost of a pound a year for band D properties in Council Tax, its a pound shop bargain amongst Regional Assemblies and all the Committee at the House of Commons which just might now and again touch on London matters.

So happy reading & keep in touch

Labour London wide Assembly Member Murad Qureshi AM] today responded to Macmillan Cancer Care analysis which found Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust was the third worst NHS Trust in the country in terms of the quality of experience it provided to cancer patients.

The Macmillan Cancer Patient Experience League Table, which was drawn from the 2014 National Cancer Patient Experience survey of just over 70,000 cancer patients, found that eight of the bottom ten NHS Trusts for cancer patient experience were in London. The report did however recognise the “enormous efforts” of London Trusts to improve their patients’ experience of care.

Murad Qureshi AM welcomed Macmillan’s work to highlight the concerns of cancer patients but criticised the Government’s focus on bureaucratic NHS reorganisations rather than the services such as cancer care which patients rely upon.

Labour London wide Assembly Member Murad Qureshi AM, said:

“Patients in Westminster will be concerned that eight of the bottom ten performing NHS Trusts for cancer patient experience are in London with their local Trust coming third from bottom.

“Cancer is a deeply debilitating disease and can be devastating to those diagnosed as well as their families. The NHS needs to be able not only to treat patients in an effective and coordinated way, but also improve its early detection rates.

“Instead of wasting millions on an unnecessary and disruptive re-organisation of the NHS, the Government should be focusing funding on improving these kind of frontline services which matter most to patients and the public.”

ENDS

Notes

–         Details of Macmillan’s Cancer Patient Experience League Table are available here.

–          Murad Qureshi AM is a Labour London wide Assembly Member.

Government changes which would mean offices, light industrial, and warehousing could be converted into housing without any need for planning permission have come under fire from local London Assembly Member Murad Qureshi AM who has warned that they threaten employment space and jobs in Westminster. 

Qureshi attacked the policy which is currently the subject of Government consideration and highlighted the Mayor of London’s failure to stand up for London after exemptions originally granted to parts of the capital look set to be removed. 

The Government proposals would allow property owners to convert employment spaces – offices, light industrial facilities, and warehouses – into flats overnight without the need for planning permission. The policy was originally introduced for offices on a temporary basis last year but is now set to be made permanent, having already resulted in the loss of half a million square metres of office floorspace in London, most of which was occupied by businesses and organisations. 

A national survey by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors found that permitted development contributed to the largest reduction of commercial space since records were kept. Now the Government proposes making the policy permanent, removing exemptions that were granted under the temporary measure, and extending permitted development rights to any light industrial and warehousing use.

Murad Qureshi AM, Labour London wide Assembly Member, said: 

“The Government’s plans are a clear threat to jobs and businesses in Westminster. Allowing property owners to convert offices, light industrial, and warehouses into flats without the need for planning permission is a reckless measure which sacrifices jobs. It results in the wrong types of and sub-standard housing in the wrong locations, and without any contribution to affordable housing or consideration of local infrastructure such as schools.

“There is a huge amount at stake for Westminster and the rest of London. Permitted development drives up the land value of employment space – even where property owners don’t convert, they will use it as a reason to increase rents, forcing businesses to close or to leave London.

“The Government regularly boast about London’s economic recovery but unless they back down on this change that fragile progress will be under threat.”

Ends 

Notes 

–       Murad Qureshi is a Labour London wide Assembly Member

–       The RICS UK Commercial Market Survey for Q2 2014 showed that the nationwide availability of commercial property declined at its fastest rate in the history of that data series . The survey blamed number of transactions of commercial properties being sold under the PD rights, and respondents said the problem is most acute in London and the south east. The survey can be found at: http://www.rics.org/uk/knowledge/news-insight/news/offices-converted-into-residential-drives-up-commercial-shortages/

Labour London wide Assembly Member Murad Qureshi AM has called on Boris Johnson to explain why tickets for the London New Year’s Eve fireworks display were being resold by online ticket touts for up to £500 each; fifty-times their face value of £10. The Mayor recently took the decision to make this year’s event ticketed for the first time since it was established in 2003, and since tickets went on sale last Friday, touting websites have been cashing in, with tickets on sale over the weekend for £500 each.

When questioned about measures to stop touting prior to ticket launch, the Mayor was unable to say whether a strategy had been put in place. The Greater London Authority issued 100,000 tickets for the event to limit numbers around the River Thames during the display, with the Mayor arguing that the £10 cost of each ticket would “barely cover the cost of the ticketing”.

Last week, Murad Qureshi’s colleague Fiona Twycross AM wrote to the Mayor to ask why no system appeared to be in place to prevent the public from being ripped off by touting, particularly given anti-touting procedures are now common for many events and were implemented successfully during the London Olympics.

Labour London wide Assembly Member, Murad Qureshi, said:

“Last year the New Year’s Eve fireworks attracted half a million people, yet the Mayor has only released 100,000 tickets for this year’s event. With 400,000 people set to be disappointed, it is clear there will be massive unfilled demand – making this event a ticket tout’s dream.

“This is a celebration funded entirely by the public through their taxes. It is bad enough that Boris Johnson wants to exclude many families who live in London from this event who will not be able to afford a £10 ticket; but it is absolutely shameful that no protection appears to have been put in place to prevent touting.

“Touting was successfully prevented during the London Olympics, so it would highlight an extraordinary level of carelessness if it emerges that these same policies weren’t automatically applied to this event as well. As a result of this failure we are seeing tickets gobbled up by touts set on cashing in on this fantastic event.”

ENDS

Notes

1. Tickets for the New Years Eve firework display were reported as being on sale for £500 each on the Seatwave website over the weekend, only days after they went on sale.
2. A copy of Fiona Twycross AM’s letter to Mayor Boris Johnson is attached.
3. At Mayor’s Question Time on the 17^th September Len Duvall AM challenged  the Mayor on measures to stop ticket touting:

Len Duvall AM: Mayor, I recognise why you are taking the steps for this but, look, half a million people attended last year and we are offering 100,000 this year.  The price of a £10 ticket will quickly escalate.  I presume we will have a strategy of stopping ticket-touts or having non-transferrable tickets. 

Mayor Boris Johnson: You raise a very good point, Len.  Clearly, we will have to see how demand goes.  However, my information is that the cost of the ticket for everybody is basically going to cover the cost of the ticketing system.  I cannot give you the full information, but it may be that some of that cost is going towards the kinds of controls and measures you described.  I would be very happy to give you further details as soon as possible.

4. Further details of the New Year’s Eve fireworks ticketing arrangements are available here.
5. Murad Qureshi AM is a Labour London wide Assembly Member.



Like 14 million other men and women of all ages in the UK, l suffer with a bladder problem, This is the figure estimated by the Bladder & Bowel Foundation and at its worst, the condition can result in incontinence for some sufferers. So, knowing where to find your nearest convenience is not only handy but an essential part of being able to get around independently. So a year ago, I asked TfL, what it was doing to inform customers where the toilets are located on the tube network. The response l got to my written Mayor’s Question showed, in my view, a lack of appreciation of the problem. It referred to the Mayor having met his commitment to “populate data fields” and “open data feed being made available on the website in the ‘Station Facilities’ section”.   When you need to go, this is not the sort of advice you need to hear. The best thing by far would be to use a simple symbol on tube maps to highlight which stations have toilets.

TFL have since written to me congratulating themselves in having now available a list of all public toilets on TfL’s network for app developers to use free of charge. (See attached press release) Now quite honestly when you are bursting to go, particularly the elderly and those less technically savvy, the last place you’ll want to check is a mobile app. Signage on the tube system is by far the better way to communicate.

We have too few public toilets anyway, so the ones we have within the system need to be more clearly identified. So not surprisingly I’ve been left wondering whether TfL are taking the **** having ignored my calls for simple signs for those caught short underground.

At a packed fringe meeting on sunday night at Labour Party conference, l called the Mayor of London a “frack-head” as  he suggested he ” ……would leave no stone unturned in London, to find shale gas”. He is also using the development of this new fossil fuel to cover his holes in delivering energy efficiency measures in our homes and missing his own planning targets for buildings getting their energy from decentralised sources.

But lets not forget the big environmental risks involved in shale gas as well. With water contamination there are potential high risks concerning groundwater & surface water contamination as the US Environment Protection Agency find increasing evidence of this while fracking has expanded considerably in the USA. As for air pollution, many air pollutants have been found near shale gas wells in the US, like non-methane hydrocarbons, 35 of them which can affect the brain and nervous system. Moreover emissions from shale gas wells can also cause photochemical smog increasing susceptibility to asthma. So not surprisingly Friends of the Earth believes that tougher regulations can make fracking safer, but it can’t make it safe.

As for jobs, whilst it may recreate many but its usually done at the expense of jobs in agriculture and tourism in the immediate locality of the tracking sites. Moreover, a future based on energy efficiency and renewable energy can provide more jobs. It is estimated that 71,000 new jobs can be created by 2015 with an energy efficiency programme and 400,000 with renewable energy by 2020.

As for climate change, shale gas is just another fossil fuel at the end of the day, and l’m not sure its going to help us with the challenges involved on this front.

So this dash for shale gas by the coalition government is similar to the mistaken dash for diesel that we have seen with vehicle emissions in recent time by the EU and others. One which we are back tracking from right now as the evidence mounts of its cost  causing air pollution.

Finally l was glad to see that we had a People’s Climate March in Manchester on sunday afternoon after feeling bad about not being around for the London one, l went along to join it. During the march l did see one banner which caught my eye, saying ” Manchester – a city united against fracking”. Clearly the North-West is more worked up about the issue than we are in London. I hope we can say that London can be united against fracking as well in the near future.



• Figures obtained by Murad Qureshi AM suggest where 588 frontline staff are set to be cut from across London Underground stations, with some stations losing up to 58% of staff.
• More than 42% of visible staff set to be axed from Turnham Green station in Hounslow.    

Analysis of TfL staffing plans by Labour London wide Assembly Member Murad Qureshi AM, has shown that under current proposals staffing levels across London Underground stations are set to be cut by an average of almost 16% from January.

In Hounslow, the following stations will see major staff cuts:

• Turnham Green – 42% (or 4.6 full time equivalent staff)
• Hounslow East – 35% (or 2.5 full time equivalent staff)
• Gunnersbury – 34% (or 2.4 full time equivalent staff)
• Osterley – 31% (or2.1 full time equivalent staff)
• Stamford Brook – 23% (or 1.4 full time equivalent staff)
• Hounslow Central – 21% (or 1.5 full time equivalent staff)

The projected changes show that 216 stations will have their staffing numbers cut, with around 588 staff due to be shed in total across the network.

The staff cuts will come as part of the planned closure of all the capital’s tube station ticket offices, despite the Mayor previously pledging to protect all ticket offices from cuts. The staff cuts vary across the tube station network with some stations losing over half their staff.

Murad Qureshi AM, said:

“It beggars belief that, with tube fares due to rise by 2.5% in January; Boris Johnson has the nerve to cut front line staffing levels at stations by an average of 16% across London. In Hounslow we will lose 42% of staff from Turnham Green Station for example, leaving passengers being forced to pay more money for less staff support.

“Politicians are often in the business of demanding more for less. It seems in this case Boris Johnson is happy with tube passengers getting less for more.

“The issue isn’t necessarily whether staff are based in ticket offices or on the station concourse, but whether staffing levels can provide all customers – especially the disabled and elderly – with a good service. I am calling on TfL to address this issue and to await the outcome of TravelWatch’s consultation survey before finalising plans. It is deplorable that TfL is not carrying out its own station by station consultation, so it is even more important that they take TravelWatch’s findings into account.”

ENDS

• Murad Qureshi AM is a Labour London wide Assembly Member.
• Proposed staffing changes to all stations across the Underground network can be viewed online here, and a ranked version of the full data, sorted by level of cuts, can be found here.
• Stations suffering the highest levels of cuts include:

o   Barons Court – reduction of 58% (or 6.5 full time equivalent staff)

o   Edgware – 58% (6.9 staff)

o   Finchley Central – 57% (5.8)

o   Kilburn – 56% (6.2)

o   Dagenham Heathway – 56% (5.6)

o   Parsons Green – 56% (5.7)

o   Plaistow – 55% (6.4)

o   Stanmore – 55% (6.4)

o   East Ham – 54% (7.4)

o   Southfields – 53% (5.1)

o   Golders Green – 53% (6.9)

o   Upton Park – 51% (5.4)

o   Hammersmith – 50% (5.4)

• In 2008, Boris Johnson ran for Mayor on a promise to oppose all ticket office closures, even signing a petition ‘Nick Clegg tuition fee style’ in front of the cameras.
• London TravelWatch’s consultation on London Underground ticket office closures can be accessed here.