Westminster church goers said NO to proposed weekend & evening parking charges

 

Following Cllr Colin Barrow’s tip toeing exit from office as leader of Westminster Council, rumours are rife about who can actually lay claim for his departure.

 

Very few council leaders are subjected to the sort of onslaught which beset him following the fiasco over the proposed parking charges in the West End. Pretty much everyone, cross party, locally and nationally were against the idea.  I’m sure even the Pope would have had a word or two to say if asked; which brings me nicely to my point.   Because, contrary to popular belief it was not the well run Evening Standard or the flurry of other media campaigns which dealt the final blow. I’m pretty clear it was the churches. Had the ex council leader not messed with the Sunday worshippers, then he may just have got away with it. Thank goodness he didn’t!

This whole episode reminded me of my days as a councillor a few years back when I attended a centennial dinner to mark the formation of the City of Westminster. During the event, I noticed a very strong clergy presence from places like Westminster Abbey & Westminster Cathedral. When l asked why this was, l was politely told that before the Council came into being, the churches ran things for 400-500 years in the City. You only have to look at the primary schools in the borough, to be reminded of their past roles and continuing presence. So, well before the local press, businesses and celebrities jumped on the evening and weekend parking band wagon, it was the churches and their congregations which mobilised to fight the cause.

If there is a lesson to be learned for local politicians, it is, don’t dare to take on the churches on such matters although the whole of Westminster has much to thank them for; bless them.

Westminster City Council’s planning committee last night (Thursday) backed an application by Transport for London to build a station in Abingdon Street at the junction with Great College Street.

The idea had attracted support from some enthusiastic MPs and the Conservative Party deputy chairman Michael Fallon, who said it was “frustrating” that there had been no bike hire docking points built close to Whitehall and the Palace of Westminster.

Any MPs wishing to travel by the Barclays Cycle Hire vehicles have had to walk for at least 10 minutes to racks in Horseferry Road.

The committee gave unanimous backing to the plan, against the advice of city council officers.

In 2010 Labour London Assembly member Murad Qureshi criticised the council for having rejected more docking stations than any other authority but Robert Davis, cabinet member for the built environment, said: “The only reason that we may have refused more applications than elsewhere is because a greater number of applications were made to us”.

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Just when we thought Bangladesh was safe from the military coming back into power as it clearly appears to be in Pakistan, we hear confirmation of the rumours that have been going around over the recent christmas break of a coup attempt.

Senior military officials made their annoucement today and ably reported by Bdnews24.com that middle ranking officers attempted a coup of the civilian government of Shiekh Hasina, Awami League on the 22nd of December.  Many of them were members of the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir Islamist group. We also hear allegation of non-resident Bangladeshi (NRB) involvement as well by the senior officers of the Bangladesh army. More strangely, a bizarre facebook page exists amongst the middle  ranking officers threatening to bring change very soon. To make things more tense politically, it was noted that Khalida Zia of the BNP opposition during recent demonstrations had made suggestions that army officers should be freed from arrests and court marshall.

It appears Bangladesh can never sleep quietly from the threat of mutineers, assasins & war criminals.

Schedule 7 proposed lorry routes

On the last working day before the Christmas break, Crossrail’s planning submission for additional lorry movements was accepted by the City of Westminster for consideration in the new year. 

  

More than three years since he became Mayor, Boris Johnson is still tinkering at the edges of a growing public health issue. He has:

• Delayed phase III of the low emission zone by fifteen months
• Imposed an age limit on black cabs that is actually higher than most cabbies choose to replace their vehicle currently
• Decided three years into his mayoralty to encourage drivers not to leave their engines idling.

Labour’s environment spokesman on the London Assembly, Murad Qureshi, said "The Mayor is seeking praise for his latest air quality measures, but yet again they are too little, too late, from a Mayor who just doesn’t seem to understand the problem, and who seems more concerned with a shiny press release than in tackling this devastating public health time bomb."

Murad added:

"This is far too late in the day and while the mayor has dithered London’s air has remained lethal. No one has benefited from this delay but everyone has suffered. More people are dying from London’s pollution than are killed in road accidents – this can’t continue in a supposedly advanced capital city."

Ends

Notes

For further information please contact Alison Marcroft on 0207 983 4363

Murad Qureshi is a London-wide Assembly Member and the Labour environment spokesperson on the Assembly.

At the last full authority meeting of the London Fire Brigade, l asked the chairman Cllr Brian Coleman AM whether he is planning to privatise the fire service, given he is on record as saying all public services could be undertaken by the private sector.  In my verbal supplementary we had an exchange which strongly suggested the chairman is not for turning from his ideological position, to use his own chosen words.

So it was with much interest that l watched the exchange between the mayor and a fellow Assembly member Darren Johnson at the very end of the questioning of the mayor on this same subject at the last Mayors Question Time ( MQT ). The mayor gave a considered response to the question on privatisation of fire service and clearing stated l do not want to privatise the fire service.

So it appears that the political boss of the fire chief of  london has completely different views from the mayor on the privatising of the fire service. So the mayor has clearly hand bagged the Fire chief from his ideological stance as an end of year reminder of whos the boss.  

Are Thames Water reducing leaks & sewage flooding enough?

With a drought order issued for the South-East today, it made me think about the exchange of views at the last MQT  (pages 42-44) when the Mayor himself was asked by Mike Tuffrey AM about what he was doing to reduce water demand in London.

Interestingly, the Mayor emphasised the problem of leakages and appeared to be complaining bitterly about Thames Water’s road works not actually dealing with the root of the problem.  He suggested that they were merely repairing instead of replacing them, which is contrary to what Thames Water’s seemed to be advertising along the roads where the works are taking place.

The Mayor also suggested the need to “have a discussion” with The Officer of Water Services (OFWAT), their regulator, as well as the possibilty of appointing a Water Commissioner to deal with the problem.  Intriguely enough, the Mayor began his political term with approving their desalination plant in Beckton which was a source of grief for Ken. Both of them have been strong supporters of the Thames Tideway Tunnel.  However, the sentiments expressed at the last MQT indicate that he had now most definitely fallen out of love with Thames Water and now possibly even at war with them over the issue of road works at least.