Home grabbing: London Council pricing community out of existence

Posted by GLA Conservatives in BlogShare

May
30

• East London residents offered significantly less than market value to make way for redevelopment
• Resident offered less than what he bought for, wiping out savings
• 70 year old who has lived in home for 38 years is left £100k out of pocket

 
Leaseholders in Hackney’s Colville Estate will see their homes demolished under plans to redevelop the area by the local council. Under the Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) process, in which property can be obtained without consent from the owner, homeowners have been offered well under the market value, meaning they will no longer have the financial means to remain in the area.
 

Andrew Boff, Londonwide Assembly Member, has taken up the cause of these homeowners and says:

Delivering the Colville Estate masterplan cannot be at the expense of fairness and justice. Colville leaseholders have done the right thing by saving up to buy their own home and investing in improvements and up keep. Now they are being offered way under market value for their properties. One resident I spoke to will in fact be given less than what he paid for the property in 2007, meaning his savings will be completely wiped out. Buying a home in the new development will not be an option for many of them as the cost will be too high. Hackney Council are wrong to grab people’s homes and price this community out of existence. They should immediately offer a sensible settlement to all those affected.

 
read more

Tony Arbour questions the Mayor on why London’s sanction detection rate is so much lower than national figure

Posted by GLA Conservatives in BlogShare

May
22

Average sanction rate for London over last year was 14% compared to 27% nationally

 
At today’s Mayor’s Question Time, Tony Arbour, London Assembly Member for Richmond, Kingston and Hounslow, will question Boris Johnson on why the sanction detention rates for the Metropolitan Police is significantly lower than the national average of 27%. In addition, figures show that the MPS has the lowest victim satisfaction rate in England and Wales.

Tony Arbour said: “The Met Police do a lot of good work fighting crime in London. That said, we should always be looking for ways to improve our performance. It is worrying that public satisfaction is low, and I would like to see the introduction of “Track My Crime”. This service allows victims of crime to access the progress of the investigation of their crime as well as contact the officer leading the investigation. Through a website all new information will be uploaded and victim automatically alerted to updates on the case.”

29K criminals escape with a caution including robbers, rapists and drug traffickers- And that’s just in London

Posted by GLA Conservatives in BlogShare

May
13

28,998 cautions were handed to criminals in private by the Met (the UK’s biggest police force) in 2012/13 – a quarter* of all solved crimes in London. Almost 500 robbers, rapists and drug traffickers escaped justice.

According to Met figures exclusively obtained by London Assembly Member Tony Arbour;
· 5,843 criminals have been let off by the police for violent attacks with injury
· 180 cautioned for GBH/wounding
· 131 robbers have avoided punishment with a caution
· 318 offenders have escaped justice for drug trafficking
· 165 cautions have been handed out for sexual offences
· 5 rapists were handed a caution

read more

Richard Tracey: Integrate Oyster and extend rush hour service to capitalise on 6K river journey success

Posted by GLA Conservatives in BlogShare

May
13

Richard Tracey, London Assembly Member for Merton and Wandsworth, has welcomed the initial success of the new Thames Clipper river service running between Putney and Blackfriars, but urges TfL and Thames Clipper to capitalise on its growing popularity. Over 6,000 journeys have been made during rush hour in the first month of operation, with a steady increase week on week.

Richard Tracey said: "It is fantastic that the first month of the new service has seen over 6,000 journeys being made during peak times. We now need to build on this by integrating Oyster onto the Clipper service so passengers receive a discount. I would also like to see the rush hour service extended to longer times. The planned new pier at Battersea and the increasing number of new apartments will mean there is a ready market for this mode of transport."