Time to end social tenancies in tower blocks
Posted by GLA Conservatives in 
Andrew Boff: Councils pushing families into high rises causes isolation and cripples communities
25th April 2013: London Assembly Member Andrew Boff will be calling for an end to councils housing families in tower blocks at today’s Housing and Regeneration Committee meeting.
Andrew will ask Mayor Sir Steve Bullock, Executive Head of Housing, London Councils and other committee guests to confirm the long term costs of housing tenants in tower blocks, as well as the impacts on quality of life, compared to low rise housing.
“In the 21st century, in a highly developed city such as London, it is nothing short of a scandal that some councils are still pushing families into tower blocks. Tower blocks fail to create strong communities, lead to isolation and a poor standard of living. Families with children need gardens and neighbours they can interact with. It is time for all London councils to commit to ending this practice once and for all.”
• The Housing and Regeneration Committee takes place at City Hall on Thursday 25th April at 10:00
• Andrew Boff is Housing spokesman for the GLA Conservatives and author of ‘Radically Normal: Olympic Park Housing’. The report can be accessed at: glaconservatives.co.uk/rn
Richard Tracey commends increased accessibility in South London’s rail infrastructure
Richard Tracey Assembly Member for Merton and Wandsworth this Thursday attended the formal opening of Earlsfield station. Earlsfield station is part of Network Rail’s critical new moves to improve step-free access in South London. The station includes two new lifts as part of a £5.6 million scheme to improve the facilities and accessibility of the station.
Richard Tracey AM comments;
"This is a great improvement in accessibility at a key commuter station for the Capital. I hope it leads to more and more people finding it possible to use the rail network not just for their journeys to work but at other times too through step-free access elsewhere to other services.
"That's important to help reduce congestion on the system and to ensure the best possible use of available capacity."
London: One sex worker attacked every week yet two thirds won’t go to police
The first nine months of a database pilot shows London having the highest number of reported crimes against sex workers in the UK. The ‘Ugly Mugs’ scheme has seen 58 incidents since July 2012 – half of them (26) being rapes or sexual assaults. Yet, less than a third of the victims (18) have been willing to report it formally to police.
Andrew Boff, Leader of the GLA Conservatives, author of the Silence on Violence report, and national champion of the Ugly Mugs scheme said: “London is increasingly a safe place but it is unacceptable that sex workers see it as increasingly dangerous. The Ugly Mugs pilot shows that we’re talking serious crimes such as rape, violence, homophobic and racist hate crime, yet very few victims go to the police. The police must start regularly and formally engaging with sex workers to remedy this. There must be standard codes of police engagement with sex workers in place, and crimes against them should be termed as ‘hate crime’. Westminster Council’s report on sex workers details the cost benefits of improving sex workers’ safety – so those who oppose acting on this no longer have a leg to stand on.”
"Police and TfL must urgently clamp down on dangerous driving as London’s buses hit 2 people a day"
Alarming figures reveal over 15 pedestrians and cyclists are hit by London’s buses every week.* London Assembly Member Roger Evans is urging the Met Police Commissioner to see what can be done to cut down on the number of road accidents.
Roger Evans said:
“These figures are shockingly high. Since 2007, TfL buses have hit just under 2 pedestrians on average every day, and one cyclist every other day. If any other organisation had a similar road safety record I think we would be asking many more tough questions. That’s why I am asking what more the police can do to reduce these accidents. We also need re-assurance on how they can work together with TfL to ensure their drivers are operating safely. No organisation or individual should feel invincible when driving dangerously, and we must allay any concerns Londoners have about the quality of driving on our roads.”
*Collision data provided by TfL shows: since 1 April 2007, there have been over 145,533 collisions involving TfL buses, of which 3591 have involved pedestrians and another 1219 have involved bicycles. That means that, since 1 April 2007, there has been an average of 1.6 bus-pedestrians collisions every day and a bus-cyclist collision every other day, an average of over 15 pedestrians or cyclists per week are involved in collisions with TfL buses.
Peer Courts can slash youth reoffending and revolutionise the way we handle teen offenders
James Cleverly, London Assembly Member, is calling for dramatic change in the way we handle teenage criminals. He will ask the Met Police Commissioner to introduce ‘Peer Courts’ – a programme outside the formal criminal justice system where teenagers, including ex-offenders, sentence their peers for minor offences. Sitting just beneath the justice system arm, they offer first time offenders an alternative to the criminal justice system.
James Cleverly said:
“Peer Courts, when organised effectively, have been shown in the US to dramatically reduce reoffending, with some programmes cutting re-offending rates to less than 10% – for those that complete their program. As well as delivering solid results, Peer Courts help young people avoid the criminal justice system, and are significantly cheaper as they are largely run by volunteers. When budgets are tight and when the Mayor has ambitious aims to reduce youth re-offending by 20 per cent, we have to think radically about how we handle young offenders.”
Andrew Boff: Scrap West Ham stadium deal immediately and save our taxpayers extra £25M
Copyright: Ghetty Images
Andrew Boff, London Assembly Member, Olympic Spokesman and Hackney resident says: “The decision to give West Ham the Olympic stadium means Londoners and the nation’s taxpayers have been landed with a poor deal. It is a disgrace that another £25 million from the public purse will now be used to prop up this agreement. I argued from the start that the commitment to retain the athletics track in the stadium would mean more public money being sucked into propping up this developing white elephant. It is disappointing that sound economics has been ignored in the interests of delivering a legacy not fit for purpose. The deal should be scrapped immediately and a commercially viable alternative explored as a matter of urgency.”
Richard Tracey secures Boris Johnson support for Crossrail 2 to Wimbledon and beyond
Crossrail 2 could slash journey times by half
Richard Tracey AM, London Assembly Member for Merton and Wandsworth, has welcomed Boris Johnson’s support for the Crossrail 2 project and urged him to do all he can to persuade the Government to start building in 2018.
Commenting Richard Tracey said: “There are two potential routes for Crossrail 2 and although both routes would travel via Wimbledon, Tooting Broadway and Clapham Junction and be of great benefit to my constituents in Merton and Wandsworth, I am pushing for the second option, which would continue beyond Wimbledon to Kingston, Surbiton and Twickenham. I was delighted that the Mayor agreed with me when I raised this with him at Mayor’s Question Time
Redbridge could become "mini Holland" of cycling
Roger Evans, London Assembly Member for Havering and Redbridge, is calling for Redbridge to be awarded ‘outer London’ funding to transform the borough for cycling.
Roger Evans said: “The Mayor’s recent Transport Vision promised that between one and three outer London boroughs would be given the funding to become ‘mini-Hollands’ of cycling. The aim is that by concentrating spending in relatively few boroughs they can become as cycle-friendly as the Dutch equivalents. At this week’s Mayor’s Question Time I made the case for Redbridge to be one of those boroughs as I think it is ideally suited to become a beacon of cycling excellence.”
The subarban “mini-Hollands” scheme aims to cut down on the number of short car trips. The scheme includes funding for potential cycling routes into central London, quietways through back streets and cycle super hubs at local railway stations.
- Can thieves and burglars rest assured police will ignore their crimes? Check out Roger Evan's blog on @HuffPostUKPol http://t.co/4VifMHggLS
- "Stop supermarkets swallowing up pubs" urges Steve O'Connell http://t.co/3ZTjTgWZRi #Sutton #Croydon
- Check out Richard Tracey's letter in today's Daily Telegraph on why #Heathrow cannot be a globally competitive hub airport. (P19)
- "Scrap horrendous #Heathrow expansion and look east" says Richard Tracey in today's @guardianletters (P35)