London’s deputy mayor, Victoria Borwick, paid tribute to Royal Brompton’s children’s intensive care teams when she visited the hospital on Wednesday (yesterday).

Click here to read the rest of this article on Kensington & Chelsea Today.

Victoria Borwick Assembly Member held the Mayor to account regarding the screening out of crimes, and push for full investigations.

Welcoming the news that the Metropolitan Police Service will now offer all victims of crime a home visit by a police officer Victoria asks for less crime to be "screened out" from being fully investigated.

Deputy Mayor Lady Victoria Borwick speaking at the Mullivaaykkaal Remembrance Day in Trafalgar Square.

Victoria Borwick, on her first engagement as Deputy Mayor of London, joined cadets and parents of 46F Kensington Squadron, Air Cadets, for their Annual Parade at their Brompton Road Headquarters.

The cadets, who range from 13 to 20 years old, put on a fine display of skills including a marching band and obstacle course demonstration with parents fully participating in the event. The display was followed by presentation parade and many young cadets received various certificates of accomplishment including Duke of Edinburgh awards, gliding scholarships and BTECs.

Cadet Sergeant Maddie Butler, 16, was presented a Best Cadet Trophy by the Deputy Mayor. She said, 'the Air Cadets has provided me with the opportunity to have unique experiences that I couldn't elsewhere'.

The Squadron, formed in 1939, is entirely manned by volunteers and has been based at their Brompton Road location since 1979. The cadets have large sports hall, a flight simulator, a gym and various classrooms where they study for BTEC in Aviation Studies. Air Cadets participate in a range of challenging activities from flying and gliding to rock climbing and canoeing. There' something for everyone and as their motto says.. Venture Adventure!

(The Squadron meets on Monday and Friday evenings 020 7591 0146)

Creating the first "Virtual Hub Airport"

Read the full report here
Article on london.gov.uk

London Assembly member, Victoria Borwick, has said this morning that the time for building a new airport in the Thames estuary has passed and that the Government should look at quicker alternatives to boost aviation capacity in south east England.

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A report on Channel 4 News about a high-speed railway connection between Heathrow and Gatwick.

Click here to view the video.

Heathrow-Gatwick Rail Link in the media
Sky News
Financial Times
Mail Online

The London Assembly questions to the Mayor which took place on September 14th.

Click here to read the article on MayorWatch.

This is a covering report to the Civil Liberties Panel review into the National DNA Database and the use of DNA in the Metropolitan Police Service.

Click here to read this report.

Social landlords back Crossrail bid.

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Victoria Borwick has called for plans to build a new airport to be looked at again.

"60 percent of the delays at Heathrow are caused by jets circling over London. They do this for a cumulative total of 55 hours per day and emit more than 190 tonnes of carbon dioxide while they are doing so."

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Victoria Borwick speaking on BBC Radio 4 about the resignation of Sir Paul Stephenson.

Click here to listen

Boris Johnson was urged today to revive plans to build a second runway at Gatwick to increase the capital's air capacity.

Victoria Borwick, a leading Tory member of the London Assembly, backed the Mayor's call for a new airport in the South-East but said his idea for a floating hub in the Thames Estuary is likely to be a "longer term aspiration"

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The London Assembly today heard that the nature of London's housing makes it particularly difficult to tackle fuel poverty, which is linked to thousands of deaths every year in the capital.

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The London Ambulance Service today told the London Assembly that its five-year programme involving £53 million of savings and 890 job losses ^[1] will not affect patient care ^[2].

Members of the Assembly's Health and Public Services Committee heard that around 150 front line staff - paramedics and ambulance technicians - leave every year. Under the London Ambulance Service's plans, the majority of these staff will not be replaced.

However, Michael Dinan, Deputy Chief Executive of the London Ambulance Service, said it hoped to deliver improved care more efficiently through new ways of working. He said not having to meet response time targets for non life-threatening calls gives the service more flexibility over handling calls, for example giving health advice over the phone, and treating people where they were, would reduce the number of ambulance trips to A&E, and so should enable it to make the savings it needs without affecting patient care.

The Committee heard how the service is not just about taking people to hospital but sees itself as the mobile arm of the health service, with crews increasingly making decisions about where best to take or refer patients to, which might not always be the nearest Accident and Emergency unit. The London Ambulance Service and London Fire Brigade also told Members they would welcome more opportunities to share facilities and procurement to increase efficiencies.

Victoria Borwick, Chair of the Health and Public Services Committee, said; "The London Ambulance Service plays an essential and wide-ranging role in looking after the health of Londoners and so it is reassuring to hear that patient care should not be harmed by the planned changes.

"However, it remains to be seen whether the quality of its services can be maintained, and so we will continue to keep an eye on developments to ensure any efficiencies and innovations bring benefits to the healthcare of Londoners as well as help balance the books."

Notes for Editors:

1. See the London Ambulance Service press release issued on April 11
2. Watch a webcast of the meeting
3. More details about the Committee's investigation into the challenges for the London Ambulance Service
4. Victoria Borwick AM, Chair of the Health and Public Services Committee, is available for interview. See contact details below.
5. As well as investigating issues that matter to Londoners, the London Assembly acts as a check and a balance on the Mayor.

For media enquiries, please contact Lisa Moore/ Julie Wheldon on 020 7983 4228/ 4283. For out of hours media enquiries, call 020 7983 4000 and ask for the London Assembly duty press officer. Non-media enquiries should be directed to the Public Liaison Unit on 020 7983 4100.

Various schemes to reduce traffic congestion and improve the pedestrian experience in one of the world's premier shopping destinations may not be enough, prompting a call for more radical thinking.

A report published today by the London Assembly Transport Committee - 'Streets ahead: Relieving congestion on Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street' - notes that despite its phenomenal popularity with shoppers, the area continues to be divided by what has been described as a "slow-moving procession of buses and taxis".

At the heart of the problem is the conflict between the need to provide a pleasant shopping and leisure environment, and meeting the demand for transport links through the West End.

Victoria Borwick AM, who led the investigation on behalf of the Transport Committee, said:
"The wall of slow-moving metal running along Oxford Street tarnishes what should be a world-class shopping experience – delaying and endangering residents, workers and visitors.

It is a complex situation but we are talking about a vital retail destination that generates £5.5billion a year for the UK economy. There has to be a better way to strike the balance between the needs of shoppers and pedestrians and the demand for transport links.

A number of our contributors expressed concerns that current efforts to fix the situation are progressing slowly and ultimately may prove merely to scratch the surface. It's time for the agencies involved to stop talking about solutions and actually put the work into a radical re-examination of central London bus routes so genuine improvements become a reality."

Click here to read the full release.

IN THE PRESS
BBC News
London Evening Standard

Victoria Borwick, Metropolitan Police Authority member, spoke at the Association of Police Authorities conference in Nottingham on Wednesday 25 November and addressed the debate on police accountability and public redress.

Victoria Said: "In London the Mayor is now Chair of the Police Authority. He was elected with a clear mandate to fight crime. The MPA has responded to this by setting out our plans for the future and the role a visible police authority can play in achieving a balance between local accountability, the Home Office and the police. "

Click here to read the review in the Metropolitan Police Authority website.

Click here to read the speech.

Click here to view the latest newsletter from Victoria Borwick.

Join me as we take the London Assembly around the Olympic Park for a progress update.

Click here to watch the video

Victoria supported and campaigned for Boris Johnson the Conservative Candidate for Mayor and is delighted that he won.

"I was a Conservative list candidate and was also elected on 1^st May as a London Wide member for the Conservative Party."

"Once I have been allocated my new roles within the London Assembly I shall be putting up more information."

Click here to read the Press Release.

• US-style policing to tackle rising violent crime
• Zero tolerance of even minor crime and more police on the beat
• Recruiting a top US police chief as London's crime tsar to advise the Mayor
• Police to patrol singly, not in pairs
• Cut the Cost of Ken from its present £290 a year
• Cut at least 100 jobs at overstaffed City Hall
• A separate City Hall tax bill so you can see how much the Mayor costs you
• Scrap the congestion charge and its extension to the West of London

Victoria says: “Since 1990 in New York, murders are down 76 per cent, rape down 48 per cent, assault down 61 per cent, and robbery down 76 per cent. Serious crime has more than halved in New York - a city of 7 million people just like London - in 16 years.

“Yet look what's happened in London - big increases in violent crime. We are losing the war on crime when cities in the USA, every bit as challenging as ours, are winning the war on crime.”

"Victoria is a strong champion for Londoners"
Sir Malcolm Rifkind QC MP

Victoria Borwick was interviewed by
conservativehome.com.

Click here to read the interview.