November 2006

Talking about Terrorism

At the end of last month we had a meeting with the police "Talking about Terrorism" There were a list of questions that the police are taking around residents groups across London to gauge public opinion. Since "9/11" There have been 70 ongoing investigations, 90 persons awaiting trail and 7 major convictions. The theme was "communities beat terrorism" and the terrorism hot line is 0800 789 321. This is a confidential hotline and members of the public are urged to ring in with anything that they believe may be suspicious.

The police wanted to know how our lives had been effected by the effect of the bombings on 7 July 2005, did we feel any safer and what were the current feelings in the community in respect of the terrorist threat and the counter terrorist threats?

Kensington & Chelsea political boundaries

The boundary commission in their wisdom have decided to reorganise the parliamentary boundaries. Kensington will now return to having its own MP, as will Chelsea, which will be combined with the southern part of Fulham, and Hammersmith will be a separate constituency and will need to select a parliamentary candidate. I have been elected Deputy Chairman of the new Kensington Constituency, with my fellow Abingdon Ward Councillor James Husband as Chairman. The Council boundaries will remain as they are, but of course will no longer be the same as the Parliamentary boundaries.

Tube Security

I went to see Patrick Mercer OBE MP, and I thought you might be interested in an article from him regarding tube safety - I have printed the full article on my website.

"Look carefully the next time you are on the Tube at what instructions exist. There are notices telling you what to do when you want to pull the red handle, you are told not to put your feet on the seats opposite, you are told not to eat smelly food and you are asked to keep your personal stereo system as quiet as possible. But no where are there any instructions about what to do in a catastrophic emergency.

I am also told that each platform has a supply of stretchers. But again, where are they and should I, as a regular traveller, be ready and prepared to help to carry the injured? I am perfectly capable of it and I would be more than willing to help. Why am I not told what to do? I also found it reassuring after 7/7 and 21/7 to see frequent police patrols that were often accompanied by sniffer dogs. Where are they now? If you go to the Rome underground you will find not just civilian security personnel but also armed Caribinieri there. When was the last time the Roman underground was attacked? I don't think it has been, probably because terrorists are deterred

Our enemies bombed the tube successfully. They failed to do it again last July and I suspect that at least one more attack has been thwarted. Now, whilst there have certainly been numbers added to the British Transport Police and more dogs are in the process of being bought, it should be pointed out that the British Transport Police's Charter does not allow them to be armed!

So you are "protected" by a different force with a different command structure when you are underground as to when you are in the street - is this the right way to protect Londoners?"

Governing London

Several local councillors attended this event, Chaired by Brian Coleman AM, to listen to Neale Coleman, director Business, Planning and Regeneration at the GLA; Sir Robin Wales, Mayor of Newham; Liz Meek from the Government Office for London; Manny Lewis from the London Development Agency and others update us on the recent developments in London Governance. Merrick Cockell, Leader of Kensington & Chelsea and Leader of London Councils giving us a cross London view.

This debate enabled us to question the GLA and GOL and be forthright in our views - including complaints about the new Volvo buses going through totally inappropriate narrow residential streets; who is going to pay for the Olympics Legacy? - us the local London residents. We also heard about the overseas offices for the GLA who now have offices in Brussels, Beijing and Shanghai - funded by Londoners.

Mayor's question time

I went to City Hall to listen to Ken Livingstone being questioned about the Olympics and the cost for Londoners. We all know that the cost has now escalated far in excess of the original "back of an envelope" budget and we now need to know what the final costs for Londoners will be for the Olympics.

Local Planning issues in Kensington

The Odeon Cinema, Kensington High Street - new proposals have been submitted and are out for consultation with local residents

Holland Park School - this is a major rebuild of the school, including selling off part of the site to pay for the development, the estimated costs are in the region of £68 million. This will be an 8 storey modern construction and the plans are available for viewing at the Town Hall

In the Warwick Road:

"Tesco Tower" a major development of flats on the corner of Warwick Road with proposals for 433 flats

163 Warwick Road, with approximately 330 new dwellings

The old Telephone Exchange in Warwick Road is also up for re-development with 220 flats

So this is almost 1,000 new dwellings on the Warwick Road - and where are these people going to shop, to go to the doctors, dentist and most importantly for families where can they go to school or play? There is no open space on this road at all. Local residents are very concerned that these developments are all proposed without a cohesive infrastructure to support this amount of redevelopment.

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