Fire cuts in London and consultati​on - Hillingdon meeting this Tuesday

A public meeting on the Mayor's propsals to get rid of 12 fire stations, 18 fire engines and 520 fire fighters across the capital, will be held in Hillingdon at 7pm, Tuesday 2 April,  at Middlesex Suite, Hillingdon Civic Centre, High Street, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 1UW

The Labour London Assembly Members of the London  Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) voted against Mayor Johnson’s proposals.

Despite the Fire Authority voting against the cuts, as they will risk the lives and properties of Londoners, Mayor Boris Johnson issued a directive to overrule this vote and proceed to consultation on his plans. This consultation is running from 4 March until 28 May.

The Mayor tried to stop the Fire Authority consulting the public through public meetings for each Borough, but the Authority are going ahead with meetings despite his wishes and twenty-four public meetings are being held in different London boroughs.

The implications of the Mayor’s proposals are very serious – it will take longer for a fire engine to reach 4.7 million Londoners when they need one. Every second counts in a fire as a domestic fire can quadruple in intensity every 2 minutes.

London’s fire chief has said the cuts are driven by financial considerations but we think the safety and security of Londoners should come first. Boris Johnson wants to cut the council tax by the equivalent of just 1p per day for a property in Band D. Labour’s GLA members think most Londoners would prefer him to put the penny towards the fire brigade instead.

For more information on how the cuts will affect you click here.

To have you say on the consultation click here.

Next Constituency Meeting 8.00pm Wednesday 27 March

The guest spreaker at the next Uxbridge and South Ruislip CLP  meeting is Christian Wolmar, a well respected transport journalist and contender for the 2016 Labour London Mayoral candidate.

 

 

 

 

Room 9, Christ Church, Redford Way, Uxbridge UB8 1SZ

 

on

 

 Wednesday 27th March 2013, 8pm - 10pm

For more details click here

All Labour Party members and supporters welcome

Why Labour opposes the Bedroom Tax

On 6 March Liam Byrne launched Labour's campaign against the Bedroom Tax, visiting some of those effected in Hull.

See this video to understand why the Labour Party is opposing the Bedroom Tax.

"This  policy is unfair and will cost more than it saves"

Tell David Cameron to stop the Bedroom Tax at http://bit.ly/XKNd4E

Tories Plough Ahead On Green Belt Land

In a press release issued today the Hillingdon Labour Group has accused the Tory led Hillingdon Council of unnecessarily building on valuable Green Belt land when suitable brownfield sites in the Council's ownership are available.

 "After the Central & South Planning meeting on 5th March 2013 no one should be in any doubt that the Labour Group in Hillingdon believe that every child in Hillingdon deserves a decent school place and that where we differ from the Conservative administration is that we consider our parks, open spaces and common land to be priceless, whereas they consider them to be worthless.

 Petitioners, Ward Councillors and John McDonnell MP highlighted different aspects of why the Green Belt site of Lake Farm Country Park and Botwell Common should be protected from development.  There were strong arguments put forward that demonstrated that the additional school places required could be provided without the need to build a new school on this site, if the political will was there to do so.

 Objectors mentioned the proposals for a new 4 form of entry primary school at the nearby Guru Nanak Academy and a proposed new 2 form of entry primary school at Hewens College, but the committee did not take these into consideration.

Other suggestions that were offered up for consideration, and also turned down, were to allow Rosedale Primary school to expand and also to make use of the old Hayes swimming pool site that the Council is selling off to a property developer. 

So the decision to plough ahead with proposals to build on this piece of common land in the Green Belt comes down to a political decision made by the administration, based on the fact that they own the site, so the land will cost them nothing.

After the meeting Cllr Peter Curling, Leader of the Labour Group, said

 “As the meeting went on it became very clear that the additional primary school places equating to 3 forms of entry could be accommodated without the need to pour concrete over Lake Farm Country Park.

 We, in the Labour Group, fully sign up to ensuring that every child has a decent school place and tonight it was demonstrated that this could be achieved without the need to destroy Lake Farm, so the proposal to build a school there is clearly driven by a political decision, rather than educational need.

What we are seeing is a Tory administration cashing in on the sale of Brownfield sites and then building on Green Belt land within their ownership.  This is more to do with money than children's education, and it shows that the Tories consider open Green Belt land to be worthless, whereas we consider it to be priceless.”

More than half of children living in poverty in Hillingdon do not receive free school meals

A new analysis undertaken by the Children's  Society reveals a stark picture for children living in poverty across England. Their figures indicate that in the London Borough of Hillingdon  more than five in 10 children in poverty are not getting a free school meal. In some other areas more than two-thirds of children in poverty missing out on free school meals.

 The Children's Society, through their Fair and Square campaign, are calling on the government to make free school meals available to all children in poverty and urge all people to contact their MP to support this call.

 Nearly half of teachers surveyed in 57 constituencies said they often saw children going hungry in school.

For some children, a free school lunch may be the only proper meal they are getting.

 Matthew Reed, the Children Society's Chief Executive, said: ‘It is shocking that huge numbers of children in poverty across the country are missing out on a free school meal. Every child in poverty should be entitled to this vital support.

'We know from the families we work with up and down the country that parents are struggling to make ends meet. Right now, the government is reconsidering which children will be entitled to get free school meals. We urge the government to take this opportunity to make sure all children in poverty can get a free school meal.'

 

Across the country every day, more than half of the 2.2 million school children living in poverty in England miss out on a free school meal. Of these, 700,000 are not even entitled to one – often because their parents work, regardless of how little they earn.

In collaboration with 38 Degrees, they have already gathered more than 90,000 signatures in support of the campaign. With the introduction of changes to the benefit system under Universal Credit, the government has an important opportunity to make this happen.