The cross-party team including Councillors Pat Healy and Bob Mingay from St Charles Ward, and Cllr Todd Foreman from Notting Barns where the pub is located, met a huge and angry group of local residents at the pub to kick off the campaign. Concerns range from the threat to other local convenience stores, loss of a highly valued local amenity, to increased parking problems from ‘drive-by’ shoppers. Various ideas were discussed and will be pursued: a petition to Council demanding they refuse a change of use class is being organised.

Cllr Foreman said “The North Pole pub is a landmark in North Kensington and its loss would be a huge blow to the community. To make matters worse, if the premises turned into yet another chain supermarket outlet then the survival of nearby small businesses would be threatened.”

Cllr Healy said : ‘I have been approached by many local residents and shopkeepers who are outraged at this threat to the community. The degree of anger was palpable at the meeting as scores of people crowded into the pub to have their say.’

Cllr Mingay said: ‘The loss of the last remaining pub in this part of the Borough to an unwanted supermarket would breach RBKC’s Core Planning Strategy. We will pursue every avenue in Planning Law to stop what local opinion clearly regards as an outrage.’

British Telecom are planning to open new telephone kiosk ATMs on Portobello and Golborne Road Market.

Following the closure of the HSBC Bank and their ATMs in Portobello Road last December that was bitterly opposed by Councillors, market traders, shops and local residents, North Kensington Labour Councillors worked hard to have the lost ATMs replaced. Colville Councillor, Dez O’Neill, has worked with HSBC, the Council and several local property owners to find alternative ATM sites. And Golborne Councillor Pat Mason contacted other banks and providers including British Telecom who operate the public telephone boxes on our streets.

The HSBC ATMs were used every weekend by thousands of visitors to the Portobello and Golborne Market. These visitors often needed cash for small sales it was not financially viable for traders to make by credit card. And Golborne Road visitors and traders have long complained that there is no bank and ATM facility there.

This week, British Telecom made planning applications to RBKC to replace their existing telephone boxes at Talbot Road and Golborne Road with new models that will include an ATM service.

Colville Councillor Dez O’Neill said, “This is welcome news since cash machines assist visitors to spend their money on Portobello and Golborne Market, and are very important for the local economy”.

Golborne Councillor Pat Mason said, “Visitors now have less money to spend because of the recession, and if putting these new ATMs on the market helps them to spend more, then that will be a good thing”.

14.5.12

Plans to close local accident and emergency units were debated by councillors in Kensington and Chelsea. Observers were shocked at last Wednesday’s Council meeting when Conservative and Liberal Democrat councillors rejected a Labour proposal supporting the retention of full accident and emergency Services across west London and condemning secret discussions about cuts and changes to west London’s health care services that won’t be revealed until after the May 3 Mayoral and GLA elections.
Labour Councillor Robert Atkinson, who proposed the resolution, commented: “I would never claim that any aspect of the NHS is beyond improvement, but the idea of closing emergency departments across west London when Londoners, especially those without cars or really accessible doctors’ surgeries, cannot easily get emergency health care, is outrageous. We need more, not fewer, walk-in services and if we go ahead and close or downgrade emergency services at the St Mary’s, Hammersmith, Charing Cross or Chelsea and Westminster hospitals, people will die”.
Councillor Pat Healy, Labour spokeswoman on health, added: “we are supposed to be in a period of ‘pre-consultation’ consultation, which means that professional people are summoned to semi-secret and expensive meetings at places like Lords Cricket Ground to decide on reorganisations and closures behind closed doors. This is treating patients like children and stifles debate to prevent it becoming a key issue before the London-wide elections on 3 May”.
These semi-secret meetings have been told that it will take up to 58 minutes longer by car to get to the nearest A&E if these closures go ahead. Ambulance journeys will take 6 – 23 minutes longer. Cllr Healy said: “we were told that people ‘may have to travel longer but they will get better care when they arrive’ – well yes, but only if they survive the journey.’
Ken Livingstone and Labour’s GLA team have made some very sensible suggestions about the strategic health needs of Londoners and the importance of involving voters in the debate so that they can make their wishes clear. The silence from both Boris Johnson and the Tory and Lib Dem councillors in Kensington and Chelsea speaks volumes.”

After a bad-tempered Council meeting on 18 April,  Labour opposition councillors have expressed their disgust and shame at the ruling Conservative group’s decision to dilute further the Council’s standards regime rather than introduce additional protections proposed by Labour. Changes to the standards regime are required as from 1 July under the Localism Act.

In the wake of the conviction of former Conservative councillor Andrew Lamont on child and animal pornography charges, Labour argued that it was essential to introduce a more robust system in Kensington and Chelsea to address any possible similar situations.

Lamont, who was convicted and placed on the sex offenders’ register on 2 April, told the Tory Leader and Whip in November 2010 that he was facing accusations of downloading extreme pornography and that obscene magazines had been found in the house by his wife. The Council leadership kept these accusations quiet in view of his protestations of innocence. Almost a year later, Lamont resigned the day before he went to Court. In the meantime he was allowed to continue as a member of the Council, including an appointment as governor of a nursery school.

The Opposition challenged the secrecy Lamont had enjoyed, first through the standards committee and subsequently on review, but were told that the Council had followed the procedures correctly. However, they remain firmly of the view that the failure to address the situation immediately had brought the Council into disrepute.

After Lamont’s conviction, Labour restated their concerns, citing the action of the Mayor of London, who required a colleague in a similar position to resign immediately and in advance of any prosecution. Labour’s view is that more robust standards are now necessary in Kensington and Chelsea to protect vulnerable residents and children.

However, rejecting Labour attempts to tighten up the regime, Council Leader Sir Merrick Cockell insisted that a ‘sensible light touch’ is all that is needed, with Deputy Leader Cllr Nicholas Paget-Brown claiming that it was ‘not until Lamont was charged with a criminal offence that any decision could be made’.

Labour Group Leader Cllr Judith Blakeman said: ‘we are shocked that this Council, which has faced three resignations of Conservative councillors in less than two years on matters relating to child pornography, has nevertheless decide to dilute rather than strengthen its standards regime. We have to question whether the leadership understands the importance of robust child protection in this age of social media.”  Deputy Leader Cllr Emma Dent Coad said: ‘A light touch will not protect our children. The council must review these procedures, and do it now.’

At the full Council meeting on 18.4.12 the Labour Opposition Group proposed an amendment to a Tory proposal about a new Standards regime. In our opinion, given the huge reputational damage done to the Council by the Lamont case, a new regime would have to provide every possible legal protection with transparent and impartial scrutiny by a panel of independents. We proposed a regime that should then be put out to public consultation so that K&C residents could comment, have genuine input, and feel that the Council has learnt its lessons and that in future any Councillor facing possible criminal charges would be suspended until justice had taken its course. This would be in sharp contrast to the Lamont case, where the charges were kept quiet for nearly a year, and the Councillor remained in post (though not undertaking his responsibilities), and remained as Council-appointed governor of a nursery, until the day before he went to Court.  

Incredibly this entirely sensible proposal was voted down, with senior Tory Councillors recommending ‘a light touch’, which is frankly bizarre and potentially puts the Council in an impossible situation were a similar situation to recur. Shame on the Royal Borough.

The Kensington and Chelsea Labour Opposition Group will not comment on the outcome of this criminal trial, except to say that  justice has taken its course and former Cllr Lamont has been found guilty of some of the charges he was accused of, that relate to child and animal porn.

However, the Labour Group believes it is time for the Council to review the procedures and protocols covering Councillors who may face criminal charges. As in any other area of public life, a person who has been arrested and faces possible criminal charges should immediately be requested formally to withdraw from his or her duties. This can be done either by resignation or by an agreed suspension of duties. It is simply not enough, as in the case of former Councillor Lamont, to make a private agreement that the individual ceases to attend meetings.

The Labour Group challenged the Council leadership through the Standards Committee, and subsequently at appeal, suggesting that existing procedures were not followed, the Code of Conduct was breached and as a consequence the Council had been brought into disrepute. The Standards Committee response, given on 28 February, stated that no further action would be taken as the Council had followed its existing procedures correctly. The response said that the Committee ‘could not establish how matters might have been handled differently, however unsatisfactory this might have appeared to other Members or members of the public’.

However, the implication of this decision is that, should any other Councillor be arrested and face possible charges and subsequent conviction, the alleged criminal could remain as an active Councillor until the day before s/he goes to Court.

Labour Leader Judith Blakeman said: ‘Residents expect more of the Council. There must now be a thorough review of procedures to put a more transparent process in place. Allowing a possible criminal to stay in post for almost a year and keep it secret until the day before he was charged is simply not good enough.’

Deputy Leader Cllr. Emma Dent Coad said: ‘Kensington and Chelsea’s lack of action contrasts badly with the Mayor of London, who faced a similar situation and demanded the immediate resignation of his colleague. The Council says it prides itself on openness and transparency; it must live up to this ideal or suffer the consequences at the ballot-box ’.

Further information from: Emma Dent Coad 07773 792736.

New figures* naming Golborne in North Kensington as the joint poorest ward in London on ‘extent measure’ has prompted local Councillors to propose urgent cross-party action.
Cllr Emma Dent Coad, who brought the report to light at a rowdy Council meeting last week, states: ‘Extent measure is possibly the most devastating as it shows how widespread is the depth of deprivation. K&C Tories may be surprised, but for Councillors working in this vulnerable area who have already seen endless cuts – not to mention those for the coming year – it is no surprise at all. We are seeing appalling dental health in young children, people of all ages economising on food, threats of eviction, debt, ill health and depression.’ Cllr Dent Coad is already working with local groups who are experiencing cuts themselves, to see how best to work together to target the most needy.
As a longer term measure, at the next Council meeting in April, Labour Councillor Pat Mason will propose setting up a cross-party working group to review how a North Kensington Crossrail station – to be named Golborne Station – can be used to regenerate the area. Building on the ruling Conservative Group’s proposal for a Kensal Crossrail station, Labour Councillors will take this further with a new plan that would inspire real community engagement and enthusiasm.
This plan considers some earlier ideas from Golborne Councillors for a more modest renewal of the former Kensal gasworks, and links them with plans to tackle some of the obstacles that may delay or obstruct the development of the new station. Cllr. Pat Mason said: “the ruling Conservative Group have some broad proposals around the provision of a Crossrail station. We want to push this forward and hope that both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats on the Council will work with us to realise our ambition to improve long-term the living conditions and life chances of North Kensington residents”. The Kensal site is to be used as a worksite for Crossrail until 2018, so there is time for a broad and all-encompassing consultation.
Labour’s regeneration plan includes new social rented housing to deal with local over-crowding, unhealthy dwellings and hidden homelessness. New key worker homes will also be built, along with market properties for sale. The site will include The William Rogers Centre for Health and Well-being, named in memory of a respected local resident who sadly died when Edenham Residential Care Home was demolished. The Sainsbury’s store will be relocated to a better position on the site. Shops and business units to let at reasonable rents will be included for local entrepreneurs, including students who will have graduated from the new Kensington Aldridge Academy, with its focus on developing entrepreneurial skills.
Labour Councillors are hoping to work with all parties on the Council to pursue this vision. Cllr. Emma Dent Coad said: “The Council has already earmarked some £30m of its reserves for this development and we are asking them to release some funding now to complete preparatory work and ensure that we are ready to go in 2018 when the station site becomes available for redevelopment”.

*The latest report from the GLA Intelligence Unit ‘Ward Level Summary Measures of Indices of Deprivation 2010 update January 2012’ states that Golborne is the joint most deprived ward in London, with Northumberland Park in Haringey, on ‘extent measure’.

The revelations about Malthouse’s intervention were contained in evidence to the Leveson inquiry from the former Commissioner of the Met, Sir Paul Stephen. Stephen said, “On several occasions after Operation Weeting had started and I had returned from sick leave, the Chair of the MPA, Kit Malthouse, expressed a view that we should not be devoting this level of resources to the phone hacking inquiry as a consequence of a largely political and media driven ‘level of hysteria’.”

Foreman is standing against Malthouse in the upcoming London Assembly elections on 3rd May. West Central includes the City of Westminster, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.
Foreman said today,

“Residents of West Central should be very concerned by today’s revelations about their London Assembly Member. It is completely unacceptable that Kit Malthouse sought to use his position to interfere in the police investigation of the phone hacking scandal. The phone hacking scandal is deeply serious, and the police need adequate resources to conduct their investigation. Furthermore, Malthouse’s intervention appears to be politically motivated. I agree with Chris Bryant and Ken Livingstone that Kit Malthouse should resign from his position as deputy mayor for policing, or Boris Johnson should sack him.”

Foreman added,
“West Central residents deserve much better than this sort of representation by Malthouse. Voters should send him packing in the upcoming London Assembly election on 3rd May.”

ENDS

Notes:
Contact Cllr Foreman on 07920 267 118. www.toddforeman.org.uk.
Sir Paul Stephen’s written evidence is contained here (see paragraph 89): http://www.levesoninquiry.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Witness-Statement-of-Sir-Paul-Stephenson2.pdf

Plans include replacing the Mayoral Bentley with a Prius

-  brutal cuts are proposed by Kensington and Chelsea, ‘the richest borough in Europe’

A £.5m Youth Fund, £5m Housing Benefit hardship fund, £.5m for the voluntary sector to support employment opportunities, and free swimming are some of the highlights of the K&C Labour Opposition Group’s alternative revenue Budget. The alternative capital Budget funds the renovation of Grenfell Tower, creates new social rented homes, researches the feasibility of a Heath and Well-Being Centre in Golborne,  and of attracting the Dyson School of Design Innovation, and sets up a shop for the new credit union. All expenditure is fully funded from existing resources.

In advance of the Budget meeting at full Council on 7 March, the borough’s Labour Opposition has attacked many of the cuts this year as ‘unnecessary and vindictive’, stating that the poorest and most vulnerable residents will be hit ‘worst and first’. This year for the first time, Golborne in North Kensington has been declared the poorest ward in London for multi-deprivation, jointly with an area of Haringey.

Deputy Labour Group Leader Cllr Emma Dent Coad said: ‘There is no excuse for such depths of poverty in the borough. This Council is so rich that its Reserves have Reserves; this is no exaggeration. Added to that, every year they bump up the running costs and put ‘underspends’ into a Capital Reserve. That may be acceptable in times of plenty, but when government funding is being reduced and our poorest are getting poorer, these practices are indefensible.’

Every year the Labour Opposition Group writes an alternative Budget that focuses on their top priorities, presenting a fully balanced budget from  savings made elsewhere and judicious use of Reserves. Rather than the Council’s proposals which cut nursery and early years provision, play services and homework clubs, youth services, adult social care, home care, mental health and learning disability provision – as well as sports for schools – the Labour Group has reversed many of these cuts and bolstered others sorely needed in time of continuing economic uncertainty and unemployment.

The counter these cuts, the Labour Opposition Group is proposing to:

-      Pay a one-off efficiency dividend of £50 to Band A to Band D Council Tax payers

-      Set up a £500,000 Youth Fund to replace EMA

-      Set up hardship funds for: those unable to afford community alarm and telecare services; those facing Housing Benefit cuts; and a voluntary sector regeneration fund to help residents into work

-       Reinstate free swimming for children and the over 60s

-      offer financial help to the poorest families for early years services

-      enhance some mental health services

-      renovate Grenfell Tower next to the new Kensington Academy

-      build new homes for social rent

-      research possibilities for the William Rogers Health and Well-Being Centre in Golborne ward

-      and work with the Dyson Foundation to find a possible site for the proposed Dyson School of Design Innovation

Labour Group Leader Cllr Judith Blakeman asks: ‘Why are we still planning to subsidise Opera Holland Park to the tune of £1m a year, paying £800 a day to clean Exhibition Road, and running two polluting and extravagant Mayoral cars, while residents in private sector housing are being evicted daily and our young people are economising on food to get to school or college?

‘There was room in our Budget to fund a cut in Council Tax, but we decided against as it would have had to be re-instated in future years. Our alternative Budget establishes hardship funds for those most damaged by Coalition government policies that disproportionately attack the poorest people, and reduces cuts to front line services.’

The Council’s most unwelcome cuts over the past two years can be seen on this googlemap:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=205639043824952439521.0004987e92215751ebe89

I think almost every young woman in London knows the feeling of unwanted attention on a night out. However, it’s one thing to feel intimidated by the a group of men who are making suggestive remarks on a busy bar-lined street, it is a different type of intimidation to be walking alone to a bus stop with the same group of men walking behind you.

Few will appreciate more keenly the cut in police numbers than those young women who rely on them to keep the crowds in order and to be patrolling the streets all through the night. The Mayor’s cuts to police numbers, of course, leave all Londoners at a greater risk of crime, a fact that is particularly worrying as we head into the Olympics. But as it is, London’s women find themselves in danger every night.

Poor street lighting, less staff manning tube stations, and increased parking charges in central London have resulted in a perfect storm forcing women onto public transport at night with fewer police officers around to protect them. And with wage freezes, VAT increases and fare rises, fewer will have the disposable cash now for that lifeline on a night out – the taxi home.

But we must not fall into a trap of dividing London between the raucous centre and leafy suburbs. The argument that we should beef up police numbers in zone 1 at the expense of police in outer boroughs has no weight given the widespread and terrifying rioting we saw last year across the capital. Boroughs like Ealing are just as exposed to the rise in crime. In the last two years Ealing has lost 26 police officers. 2,245 total theft offences were reported, an increase of 15%. Shockingly in the past year sexual offences increased by 16% in Ealing. The crimes young women worry about most – rape, assaults and muggings – are crimes of opportunity. We must not present those opportunities to criminals and it should be the Mayor’s first priority to ensure that we have more police on the streets especially as the Justice Secretary has admitted he anticipates a rise in opportunistic crime as a direct result of government policy.

I don’t think Boris Johnson has consciously put London’s young women in danger. I just don’t think he has ever stood in the cold at 3am, waiting for the bus home after five buses have gone past that are ‘Not in Service’, with a group of leering drunk men.

Ken Livingstone will reverse Boris Johnson’s police cuts. London’s young women deserve a Mayor who will make their safety his priority.

Mabel McKeown, CLP chair and candidate for London Assembly

A short bus ride away are four of the poorest areas in the country. In Golborne Ward, 51% of the children live in poverty, residents endure high levels of disability and ill health and life expectancy for men is 71 years, compared with 89 in the richer parts of the borough. Exhibition Road is sited next to Queens Gate, the most affluent ward in the country. Labour is incensed that the North Kensington residents they represent consistently fail to get a fair share of funding from Kensington and Chelsea Council to provide services and support.

Labour Leader Cllr Judith Blakeman said: ‘we are facing a brutal package of cuts. One pensioners’ health and social care centre has already shut down; mental health day centres are closing, a Children’s Centre is to go and nursery provision will be “rationalised”. The Council is ruthlessly cutting sports for schools, homework clubs, youth centres and the vital voluntary organisations that help vulnerable residents to live independently. Despite holding reserves of over £170 million, Kensington and Chelsea Council, chooses to spend its money on Exhibition Road rather than the poor and vulnerable of the Borough. That says it all’.

Labour planning spokesperson Cllr Emma Dent Coad said: ‘Spending £25 million on a paving scheme and £175,000 every year just to keep it clean would be obscene at any time. To do so when savage cuts are being made to essential services in the north of the borough is indefensible. The spectacle we have seen today is a slap in the face for our poorer residents, many of whom can’t even afford the bus fare to the Museums. The performers alone must have cost more than the after-school clubs that have been cut; how appropriate that a white elephant is on parade today. There can be no justification for this level of frivolous spending in these difficult times.’

Listen to this audioboo by Rob Dyson, Guardian blogger: Comments at Exhibition Road opening event

CUTS AND SPENDING AT RBKC

SAMPLE OF PROPOSED CUTS 2012/13

Early Intervention Service                                              -£350,000

High Need Adolescents                                                   -£200,000

Play Services                                                                       -£100,000

Early Years provision                                                       -£1m

Youth Services                                                                     -£520,000

Care leavers                                                                         -£468,000

Voluntary Organisations                                                  -£40,000

Supporting People                                                            -£500,000

Adult Social Care                                                               -£601,000

Home Care Services                                                         -£950,000

Mental Health                                                                     -£260,000

Learning Disability/Short Breaks                                 -£116,000

Learning Disability/Day Services                                 -£203,000

Sports for schools                                                             -£279,000

Street cleaning                                                                   -£336,000

ADDITIONAL CLEANING EXHIBITION ROAD                      +£175,000

Unbelievable? Read it here: http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/pdf/Budget-Proposals-2012-13DRAFT.pdf