A&E cuts demo in H&F reaches Hammersmith before reaching Lillie Rd Rec for rally

Over the weekend l joined the demonstration & rally over the cuts in the accident & emergency services (A&E) in Hammersmith & Fulham to show some solidarity as a resident of City of Westminster. Little did l realise a good family friend’s experience of the A&E services in the borough over the weekend would confirm my worst fears. That my local A&E will have difficulty coping with the additional demands of these cuts, let alone the ones it has already got.

London is set to lose 8 A&E’s if all the changes proposed by the NHS across London are implemented going from 25 in 2010 to 17 after the changes. This change is particularly acute in North West London NHS covering boroughs in NW London (Hounslow,Hillingdon, Ealing, Brent, Harrow, Hammersmith & Fulham, RBKC & City of Westminster) where we go from 9 to 5 and in particular Hammersmith & Fulham where both the A&Es are being lost and residents will be expected to go to neighbouring boroughs A&E hospitals. In particular Charing Cross, south of the borough is being proposed for closer in favour of Chelsea & Westminster and Hammersmith in Shepherds Bush in favour of St Mary’s in Paddington.

This at a time when the population is rising fast with an estimate that London’s population will grow from 8.17 million to 9 million in 2020. With the present figures each A&E will serve just under half a million or a extra 154,000 extra people. That’s almost the entire population of the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea(RBKC) extra joining the catchment of each and every A&E across London. So where is this additional capacity coming from? What will be the health outcomes from such a dramatic reduction? And what will this do to A&E waiting times?

At the rally my local MP and colleague Karen Buck spoke first and explained how her other half, Councillor Barrie Taylor had been turned away from St Mary’s A&E only the previous night as beds were not available to keep an eye over him. He was asked to go to Central Middlesex A&E instead which is being considered for closure!  At the best of times St Mary’s can just about cope but if this is a sign of things to come then we are all in big trouble. The irony is that Barrie has been sent to another A&E raising questions of whether St Mary’s will cope with the additional demands of patients from H&F for A&E services, as it has difficulty now coping with the demand of residents in the City of Westminster.

This is why we have to oppose all the cuts in A&E’s in London particularly those in the North West and Hammersmith & Fulham in particular. As these A&E cuts in North West London will affect everybody including those who live in City of Westminster who may think we are not going to be affected. As a result l made a point of signing and going to see the petition being handed into the NW London NHS Trust office along the Marylebone Road this afternoon. The petition is also been handed into Downing St .

Kenyan campaigners celebrating the Court decision this morning

Today, at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, we witnessed the best and the worst of British justice at work.

In the morning, there was the historic decision in favour of the three victims of the British Colonial authorities during the Mau Mau suppression.  In essence, British courts told the world that where our government had breached the human rights of people around the world, then providing the victims were still alive, they could still have recourse to justice in theUK.

In Kenya we know there are thousands of people, still alive who suffered torture and abuse at the hands of the old Colony and thankfully, these people will be able to benefit from this ruling today.  The judgment also gives hope to those people who suffered ill-treatment during the colonial eras at the hands of British officials or soldiers in other countries like Malaya, Cyprus, Aden & Palestine as well as in more recent times in Iraq & Afghanistan.

It is truly a historic judgement which will have repercussions for years to come and I’m sure the Foreign and Commonwealth Office won’t like it one bit.  It is, nonetheless, an important signpost to the world showing that we do have a justice system that is second to none.  

In the afternoon however, British subjects Babar Ahmad & Talha Ahsan were denied the same access to the British Justice system as their appeal to the High Court failed to stop their imminent extradition to the USA to be tried for terrorism charges.  Many would say this is simply outsourcing criminal justice system when we have a legal system which is world renowned.

In my view, these extraditions bring shame on Britain and our legal system.  However unpopular the accused and whatever the nature of the charges, if the offences are alleged to have been carried out here and evidence has been gathered by the British police then there is no reason whatsoever why these two British suspects, who live in London should not be brought to justice here and punished accordingly if found guilty. Could you imagine if the accused were US citizens wanted by the British for terrorism offences committed on US soil being extradited to the UK! Of course this would never happen and in doing so the British courts have surrendered UK sovereignty to the US.

Disappointed campaigners against the extradition Babar Ahmad & Talha Ahsan

These three local authorities represent half a million Londoners in the air pollution hotspot of London, and cut across the political divide between Labour and Conservative.

They have done all they can to tackle the problem and are now appealing to the Mayor of London who has powers over bus investment; regulation of taxis and air pollution responsibilities covering the capital.

All three believe mayor Boris Johnson has a real opportunity to deliver significant improvements in the air quality of central London and to this end, wrote to the mayor thinking he would seize this opportunity.

Take, for example, the heavy traffic along the Marylebone, Euston and City Road corridor.

This is just one specific black spot of poor air quality in central London with the monitoring station on the Marylebone Road regularly exceeding limits for PM10 (particulates) and NOx (mono- nitrogen oxides) particularly during the spring and summer.

Earlier this year, research at 100 monitoring sites by King’s College London found limits for harmful nitrogen dioxide (NO2) were breached at the majority of locations close to roads, with the worst pollution levels ““ over three times the limit ““ measured in Putney and Brixton.

The King’s College research also found limits for PM10 ““ which is linked to respiratory and cardiovascular conditions ““ were exceeded at two kerbside monitoring sites, three roadside sites and one industrial monitoring site.

These statistics are a startling reminder that the capital has a long way to go before it meets European Union limits devised to protect people.

The Mayor of London’s own short-term measures like stopping idling of engines, green walls and dust suppressant measures have had very limited impact, if at all.

This is not surprising given the lack of enforcement of idle engines around the rail stations; only one small green wall being installed on the side of Edgware Road tube and the mysterious dust suppressant being sighted by residents.

All these were designed as short-term measures at getting the readings at monitoring stations down and also the EU off their backs.

We have for too long heard about a raft of measures designed to tackle air pollution, but the results are as elusive as any long-term measures.

So how did Boris Johnson respond to this coalition of local councils urging him to do more? Disappointingly.

He reacted by simply restating what he’d done in his first term, positively lacking enthusiasm for the modest proposals put forward by the three councils to go further in his second term.

This, despite, their very achievable wish-list which included a better deployment of retro-fitted buses in central London, age limits on taxis with the offer of a car scrappage scheme, and a fifth phase of the Low Emission Zone (LEZ) which would cover black carbon and PM 2.5s for pollutants currently not registered.

Nevertheless, the mayor remained unmoved.

Recently the chair of the Barbican Association also wrote to the Mr Johnson about the impact of poor air quality in their estate and was given a short rehash of old measures which have simply not gone far enough.

Reading between the lines and judging by his responses to recent questions, it appears that the emphasis in his first term has been to appease various interest groups like "white van man" and London cabbies. He has yet to take on board the interests of residents in central London.

Unfortunately, this response comes as no surprise.

His manifesto for his second term makes no commitments to improving air quality despite its huge health impact on Londoners. Poor air quality is responsible for 4,300 premature deaths every year and is the second biggest public health threat in London after smoking. Quite simply, it is scandalous that the Mayor is adopting a laissez-faire approach to such an important issue which affects every single living, breathing organism in this city. As these three councils have recognised, more needs to be done now.

“¢

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Murad Qureshi is a Labour member of the London Assembly

Holy trinity for better air quality in Central London

Rarely do you see central London boroughs of different political colours unite for their residents. Central London’s poor air quality, however, has managed to bring together the unlikely union of City of Westminster, Camden Council and City of London Corporation.

These three local authorities represent half a million Londoners in the air pollution hotspot of London, and cut across the political divide between Labour and Conservative. They have done all they can to tackle the problem and are now appealing to the Mayor of London who has powers over bus investment; regulation of taxis and air pollution responsibilities covering the capital.   All three believe Mayor Boris Johnson has a real opportunity to deliver significant improvements in the air quality of central London and to this end, wrote to the Mayor thinking he would seize this opportunity.

And how did he respond? Disappointingly . He restated what he’d done in his first term, and lacked enthusiasm for the modest proposals put forward by the three Councils to go further in his second term.  Their achievable wish list included a better deployment of retrofitted buses in central London, age limits on taxis with the offer of a car scrappage scheme, and a fifth phase of the Mayor’s Low Emission Zone (LEZ) which would cover black carbon and PM 2.5’s for pollutants currently not registered. But, the Mayor remained unmoved.

Unfortunately, this comes as no surprise. His manifesto for his second term had no commitments to improving air quality despite its huge health impact on Londoners, being responsible for 4,300 premature deaths every year. Poor air quality is the second biggest public health issue after smoking in London.  It is scandalous that the Mayor is adopting a laissez-faire approach to an issue which affects every single living, breathing organism in this city. As these three councils have recognised, more needs to be done.

 If you’d like to view the latest exchange I had with the Mayor at Mayor’s Question Time, see here.  Scroll down to London Assembly meeting 19 September 2012 and view webcast at 51 minutes.

A extended version of the blog can be found in an article for the CNJ  this week.

Could Paddington Green police station seriously be sold?

Rumours are circulating that both Marylebone & St Johns Wood police stations are for the chop by the Met. Such front counter closures could lead to the police retreating from local communities – this is the last thing Londoners we want or need particularly in Marylebone & St Johns Wood.

We are calling for the Mayor to keep his pledge for a public consultation all front counter and police station closures. If a police front counter is closed it must be replace with a suitable, alternative like-for-like service.

Boris Johnson admitted at last weeks Mayor’s Question Time that it would be ‘difficult’ to keep his promise to maintain police numbers at 32,000 in light of government cuts to the Metropolitan Police. The Mayor also faced questions over his plans to change the structure of the Metropolitan Police whereby some borough’s police services would be merged, and plans to close police stations and front counters.

The Mayor admitted getting the numbers back up will not be easy, adding “even though it is important for us as a city to keep the police, to keep the public focussed on that high number – because if it goes down then ultimately there will be a difficulty in getting enough police out there.”

The plans, which will be publicly consulted on in October, will also see some boroughs sharing services but it is not yet clear what services will be shared or which boroughs will be affected.

The changes also downgrade the Mayor’s promise to replace any police stations and front counters that he closed down. His new commitment is to maintain a minimum of one 24/7 front counter per borough.

These are yet more broken promises from the Mayor and shows that a commitment from Boris isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. Ensuring public safety and access to police services  for Westminster’s residents should be critical, especially at a time when robbery, burglary and sexual offences are rising.
 
These cuts are deeply worrying. We need effective partnerships between our borough police forces and their local councils, community groups and residents. These changes will lead to the thin blue line becoming ever thinner. The loss of stations and front counters could lead to the Met retreating from local communities and making it harder for residents to access police services. Any plans must be subject to a full and transparent public consultation.

The riots last year showed us that we need enough officers for a range of situations to keep us all safe. The best way of doing that is to keep police numbers as high as possible.
 
Reductions in police numbers are due to central government cutting too far, too fast. It appears that the Mayor and his Conservative colleagues in government only have a plan to cut police, not crime.  

The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) figures show affordable housing starts falling dramatically during the first year of the new affordable housing programme. This is the first negotiated by Boris Johnson, the previous programme was negotiated by his predecessor.

The figures come at a time when in <city w:st=”on”><place w:st=”on”>Westminster</place></city>:

·         There are 9350 people on the council house waiting list

·         Zero affordable homes were started in 2011/12 compared with 318 last year

·         Last year 602 homeless families were accepted by the council

The HCA statistics follow the publication of figures last month by the Department for Communities and Local Government that showed only 780 new affordable homes were started in the capital between April and June 2012 – the lowest quarterly figure for a decade. 

Local Labour <city w:st=”on”><place w:st=”on”>London</place></city> Assembly Member Murad Qureshi said:

“Boris Johnson has claimed great credit for administering the affordable housing programme he inherited from his predecessor. Now it’s clear his own record is less than impressive, with affordable housing starts falling off a cliff.

We are in the midst of a housing crisis in <place w:st=”on”><city w:st=”on”>London</city></place>, exacerbated by a chronic shortage of affordable housing. In <city w:st=”on”><place w:st=”on”>Westminster</place></city> alone there are 9350 families on the council housing waiting list. What is the Mayor doing for these people?

It is unacceptable that the Mayor has allowed affordable house building to fall so dramatically, with zero homes started this year compared to 318 last year.

“The Mayor’s failure to build more affordable housing is contributing to the rising cost of living, where private sector rents increased by 8.8 per cent for the poorest Londoners last year and energy and transport fares are increasing. Londoners need the Mayor to get a grip of the new programme and to get delivering new affordable homes.”

Ends

Notes

1.      Murad Qureshi is a Labour London wide Assembly Member.

2.       HCA and DCLG affordable housing start statistics can be found here: http://www.homesandcommunities.co.uk/sites/default/files/aboutus/national_housing_statistics_june_2012_tables_rev1.xls and here: http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/xls/2145739.xls 3.       Homelessness and council waiting list figures can be found here: http://england.shelter.org.uk/professional_resources/housing_databank/results?area_selection=H%2C00AB%2C00AC%2C00AD%2C00AE%2C00AG%2C00AF%2C00AA%2C00AH%2C00AJ%2C00AK%2C00AL%2C00AM%2C00AN%2C00AP%2C00AQ%2C00AR%2C00AS%2C00AT%2C00AU%2C00AW%2C00AX%2C00AY%2C00AZ%2C00BB%2C00BC%2C00BA%2C00BD%2C00BE%2C00BF%2C00BG%2C00BH%2C00BJ%2C00BK&data_selection=A1%2CA6&selected_min=2000&selected_max=2012

The Mayor admitted getting the numbers back up will not be easy, adding "even though it is important for us as a city to keep the police, to keep the public focussed on that high number – because if it goes down then ultimately there will be a difficulty in getting enough police out there."The plans, which will be publicly consulted on in October, will also see some boroughs sharing services but it is not yet clear what services will be shared or which boroughs will be affected. The changes also downgrade the Mayor’s promise to replace any police stations and front counters that he closed down. His new commitment is to maintain a minimum of one 24/7 front counter per borough. Labour <place w:st=”on”><city w:st=”on”>London</city></place> Assembly Member Murad Qureshi AM said:

“These are yet more broken promises from the Mayor and shows that a commitment from Boris isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. Ensuring public safety and access to police services  for <place w:st=”on”><city w:st=”on”>Westminster</city></place>’s residents should be critical, especially at a time when robbery, burglary and sexual offences are rising.  “These cuts are deeply worrying. We need effective partnerships between our borough police forces and their local councils, community groups and residents. These changes will lead to the thin blue line becoming ever thinner. The loss of stations and front counters could lead to the Met retreating from local communities and making it harder for residents to access police services. Any plans must be subject to a full and transparent public consultation.”The riots last year showed us that we need enough officers for a range of situations to keep us all safe. The best way of doing that is to keep police numbers as high as possible.  “Reductions in police numbers are due to central government cutting too far, too fast. It appears that the Mayor and his Conservative colleagues in government only have a plan to cut police, not crime."  EndsNotes1.     Murad Qureshi AM is a Labour London wide London Assembly Member. For more information please contact Research and Support Officer Nikki Salih, on 020 7983 4400. Number not for publication.

Cllr Papya Qureshi for Westbourne Ward at the footbridge without lights in Little Venice

As the evenings draw in and the winter months are fast approaching, we need to make sure street lighting is up to speed with the seasonal changes so that residents and passers by feel secure on their streets in the evenings.  But it’s not just along our streets that we need effective lighting.  There are also other significant points of access in our neighbourhoods, for example, the footbridges across the Grand Union canal in places like Little Venice.

It’s been noticed by many including my sister Papya Qureshi ( Councillor in Westbourne Ward ) that the lights have been out on the footbridge at the end of Formosa St crossing over to the Warwick Estate during much of the summer.  Not a problem during the summer months when the late sun sets but clearly is when the winter months draw in.  Residents should be able to cross the tranquil waters of the Ladbroke Grove arm of the canals without fear of having to walk in the dark but this won’t be possible if the lanterns remain unlit over the footbridges.  Perhaps the disappearance of the lamps is a sign of our austere times which would be a big price for local residents to pay for a relatively small cost.  

Both footbridges at Little Venice and Queens Park are used heavily in the summer, as the photo above illustrates.  I just hope this is not allowed to continue throughout the winter months and that the lantern lights are replaced and maintained either by the City of Westminster council or the Canal & River Trust as soon as possible.  I also hope these two organisations don’t get into a scrap about who should be providing the lighting facility because ultimately, if the lights remain off, then it’s the residents who will lose out.  They won’t be able to continue their safe journey home in the evenings without having to walk around the whole of the canal network in Paddington and that would be quite a shame.

London Assembly Member Murad Qureshi, who lives in Marylebone and is a former Westminster Labour councillor, wants the day and boarding school to allow nearby comprehensives to make use of its playing fields in Vincent Square.

Mr Qureshi, who attended Quintin Kynaston School, St John’s Wood, said educationist Lord Adonis mentioned Westminster School on BBC Radio 4 when talking about a campaign to encourage independent fee-paying schools to open up facilities for comprehensive pupils to use.

Mr Qureshi said the fields were “possibly the best sports space in Westminster”.

He said: “The difference between me and Andrew Adonis is that where he would seek to persuade Westminster School, I would actually take away their independent status if they do not comply.

“Tax relief on social exclusion is just not on. Pimlico Academy is the nearest comprehensive and there are primary schools around there that could probably do with the facilities. Something like 37 per cent of the Olympic stars come from fee-paying independent schools. It’s about availability of facilities.”

A section of the Westminster School website describing its history tells of how its ethos “resides in the enduring values expressed in the 1560 Charter of Westminster’s Elizabethan foundation. On its re-foundation by Elizabeth I Westminster was des­cribed as a school for “˜40 poor scholars’.”

Christopher Silcock, an administrator at the school, said it was not possible for other schools to use the Vincent Square pitches as they were already “overused”. They were used by pupils in all age groups.

He said: “I’m afraid it is a hard fact of life. We just can’t.

"There isn’t a time in the programme to do it, and to reinforce the point, on any one day when football is going on, half our teams are renting pitches in Battersea and Paddington Rec.

"It’s not that we’re being mean, it’s quite simply the case that we don’t have nearly enough for ourselves never mind anybody else.”

Mr Silcock said Westminster School also had playing fields in Kent that were “surplus to capacity” and which it had leased to a Haberdashers’ Aske’s-sponsored academy school for a peppercorn rent for the next 100 years.

He said increased congestion and journey times meant it was no longer practicable for Westminster School pupils to be taken to the Kent pitches.

Mr Qureshi insisted that Vincent Square was often empty. He said: “Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Maybe an ex-pupil like Nick Clegg could do something about it.”

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The Commissioner revealed that the cost of operating a fire station with one fire appliance is £1.4million per year. This means that 15 fire stations and appliances are at risk of closure this year with up to 25 next year. There are currently 112 fire stations in <city w:st=”on”><place w:st=”on”>London</place></city>.

The London Fire Brigade is facing steep cuts due to the government cutting the fire budget by 25%, this is even deeper than the 20% cut to the police’s budget.

Local Assembly Member Murad Qureshi said:

“It’s unclear whether <city w:st=”on”>Westminster</city> will be affected but with so many stations at risk and 3 stations in <city w:st=”on”><place w:st=”on”>Westminster</place></city> I fear that we will be hit.

“Today’s news confirms our worst fears, in total up to 40 fire stations are at risk of closure in the next two years, along with their fire appliances. If we lose such a large chunk of our existing fire cover it will impact on public safety.

“We understand that savings have to be made, but the level of cuts forced on the London Fire Brigade by government are truly reckless. They are cutting too far, too fast. They are hitting front-line services and putting public safety at risk.

“The mayor needs to come clean on fire brigade cuts and tell Londoners what he is planning to close.”

Ends

Notes

1.       Murad Qureshi is a Labour London wide Assembly member.

2.       The London Assembly Plenary meeting on the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority took place on Wednesday 12th September 2012 at 10am at City Hall. You can watch a recording of the session here: http://www.london.gov.uk/who-runs-london/the-london-assembly/webcasts