The Bristow Blog

Pride in our Young People

This is a little late but I wanted to congratulate the young people in our local schools that have just received their GCSEs and A levels results.  Opinions always fly around at this time of year about standards slipping and exams becoming easier.  Whatever the merits of these arguments, I think it is important that we recognise the achievements of our young people.  This should be a time for celebration and excitement in many households.

GCSE results were published last week and A levels the week before.  There was plenty to be proud of:

More students than ever before have gained A and B grades in their A levels.  Nearly 60% of passes were at A-B grade.  Overall pass rate A-E was also up and above the national average.  Similarly, students also achieved the borough's best ever GCSE results. 

It is thrilling to see students being rewarded for all of their hard-work.  It is important that as many of our students as possible get the opportunity to progress further into higher education, if that is what wish to do, and ultimately into satisfying and well paid jobs.  Our children are our future.

Finally, we should also use this opportunity to thank teachers working in our schools for their hard work and professionalism.  I admire them and greatly appreciate all of their efforts.

See below for our borough's results:

Percentage of pupils gaining five or more GCSE passes at grades A* to C, including English and maths:

London Oratory   91 (83)

Sacred Heart   83 (85)

Henry Compton  37 (27) 

Fulham Cross  43 (33) 

Phoenix High  43 (26)

Lady Margaret   82 (84)

Burlington Danes   36 (33)   

Hurlingham & Chelsea  37 (25)

Overall borough figure   56 (49)

A Level percentage pass rates at grades A-B

            

Lady Margaret School   77.9 (80.8) 

London Oratory School   65.8 (61.5)   

William Morris Academy   38.3 (37.7)

Overall borough figure   58.4 (56.6)

National overall figure  49.7 (48.1)

Ever wanted to be a tube driver?

I have found these youtube vidoes on the Hammersmith Today website. 

They are filmed in the driver's cab and gives the viewer the driver's perspective as the train proceeds along the track.  The first video covers the journey from Hammersmith to Paddington on the Hammersmith & City Line - the second is from Paddington to Hammersmith.  A significant proportion of the journey is in our borough.  You can see H&F landmarks as the train stops at Goldhawk Road, Shepherds Bush and travels out of the borough across the Westway on it's way to Latimer Road.  I thought people might find these interesting.

A big thanks to Jim Lawes who found these - Enjoy!

Notting Hill Carnival

Yesterday I hit the Notting Hill carnival.  I have been every year for the last few years and have really enjoyed it.  It takes place just a few stops away on the Hammersmith & City Line in North Kensington and you can actually hear some of the music as you get on the tube at Shepherds Bush.

I went with a group of friends and met lots of interesting and fun people (including the groovy owners of a juice bar near Portobello Road).  For the most it was a fun and safe event where everyone seemed to be having a good time.  Processions of brightly dressed participants in elaborate costumes danced in the streets and the music was lively. I do feel quite sorry for local people and businesses who must have to go away for the weekend and the streets are simply crammed.  However, entreneurial types must have made a small fortune selling drinks and charging £1 a go for revellers to use their toilets.

For the part I felt safe at all times and was impressed that I did not come home with a broken foot after deciding to wear flip flops because the weather was so wonderful.  Sometimes the carnival gets a bad rep as many of the friends I went with did so for the first time and were apprehensive after hearing stories of trouble.  Nevertheless, after a few drinks and a dance they were thrilled that they came.  Over a million people took to the streets and the number of arrests are relatively small. 

That being said, I think there should have been more police at the event.  Officers served 11,000 shifts over the two days but there were times you had to look hard to find the police.  The police who were there though were professional and helpful.

As we were leaving we saw large gangs pusing their way through crowds aggressively and I have heard about the tragic shooting of a 14 year old and a stabbing.  These mindless acts of violence give ammunition to those who would seek to limit or cancel the carnival (Livingstone would see it re-locate to Hyde Park and be much smaller).  For me, I would like to see it stay in North Kensington.  I know it costs our neighbours in Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster a lot of money and it will be unpopular with locals.  However, this is the second biggest street party in the world after the Rio carnival in Brazil.  It should stay as a fun celebration albeit with a larger police presence.

H&F Unsung Heros - H&F Credit Union

Hammersmith & Fulham could soon have a credit union.  An application has been submitted to the Financial Services Authority for such a union.  A decision is expected at the end of August.

The new scheme would offer affordable loans to residents who can be taken advantage of by unscrupulous lenders, and a way for savers to invest in their community.  The credit union will also provide free financial advice.  Anyone living or working in Hammersmith & Fulham will be able to join.

It will be owned and managed locally and will operate on a not-for-profit basis with the surplus being returned to members.  It will hopefully mean an end to doorstep lenders or loan sharks that charge outrageous levels of interest who are often the only option for residents who need money quickly.

The union has my full support.  The split between rich and poor in our borough has never been bigger - a third of residents earn less than £10,000 a year.  It will give those at the bottom end an opportunity to access good financial products and become a voice they can trust.  This sort of scheme allows people to better themselves and promotes social mobility.  Anything that gives people the confidence to progress and obtain a stake in the economy is a good thing.

The union has received 1400 pledges of support so far. To find out more visit www.hf-creditunion.co.uk or call 020 8357 4855.

How much money has the congestion charge raised?

The congestion charge was introduced in central London in February 2003 and originally cost motorists £5 a day.  It was increased to £8 a day in July 2006 and was most recently extended to our borough's borders in February 2007.

After all this time, and nearly £930 million of cumulative revenue, how much profit do you think the scheme has made?  How much money do you think is available to reinvest back into public transport infrastructure?  The answer - a rather pathetic £14million.  See the table at the bottom of the post - you can click to enlarge.

I have picked up this information from a local councillor in Ealing - Phil Taylor - who also runs a blog and has a reputation for giving TFL and Ken Livingstone a hard time on waste and inefficiency - http://philtaylor.org.uk/?p=726.

I accept the primary purpose of the congestion charge scheme is to prevent congestion and encourage the use of public transport.  However, when £7.88 of the £8 charge is spent on administering the scheme, there is something very wrong.  I bet the executives of Capita (the private firm who are paid to run the scheme) are laughing all the way to the bank.

Living with 3 Football clubs

Hammersmith & Fulham is unique in the fact we have three professional football clubs located in our borough.  This is despite being one of London's smallest boroughs.  Chelsea have their home next to Fulham Broadway, Fulham FC are in the south west of borough close to Bishops Park overlooking the Thames, and Queens Park Rangers are situated in the north of the borough next to the White City estate. 

Having three football clubs here has it's obvious benefits.  They act as focal points for the community and are an important part of many people's lives.  I am originally from York and support York City. I can appreciate how strongly people feel about a football club.

However, having three clubs in the middle of an urban community is not without it's challenges!  One of these is the parking stress caused by football supporters and the impact this has on local residents living close to the grounds.  For some residents the football season heralds the start of trawling the streets looking for a space to park amid supporters on match days and nights.

As a result, H&F council will begin a new trial scheme where residents will be able to reclaim streets on match days.  There will be a one-hour maximum stay for non-residential match day visitors on Saturdays and week nights.  On match day evenings, parking controls will be extended to ensure more parking is available for residents.

This scheme will be trialled in the areas closest to Craven Cottage, Fulham Football Club's ground.  The start date for the new scheme could be as early as this November.  If local residents close to the ground want to discuss this trial - please contact your local councillors - Cllr Minnie Scott-Russell or Cllr Donald Johnson - minnie.scottrussell@lbhf.gov.uk or donald.johnson@lbhf.gov.uk.

New White Lights in Fulham

New whiter lighting, which can cut crime by up to 20%, has been installed in parts of Fulham – and is due to be introduced in other wards over the next five years.

Home Office figures show the whiter, clearer lighting can lead to the number of street robberies other crimes being cut by a fifth.

The new lighting is also more energy efficient – so saves the environment and helps to keep council tax down at the same time.  Shottendane Road, Elmstone Road and Harbledown Road, near Fulham Broadway, are the first to be covered by the new scheme, which means residents can now see more clearly at night and feel safer as well.

These streets have had their 70 watt high pressure sodium lights replaced with 60 watt white light bulbs. The white light bulbs produce a clearer light with less energy needed.

The new lighting is due to be introduced across other Fulham wards over the next five years.  I shall be pressing council colleagues to ensure that parts of Fulham Reach ward are at the very top of this list.

This scheme will help ensure that criminals cannot rely on the cover of darkness to prey on vulnerable residents. It will also help residents to feel safer at night

Frank Banfield Park

After 10 years of different developers putting forward plans for Frank Banfield Park and the associated building plot, plans for this site finally have become clear. 

Railings and CCTV are amongst safety measures planned for this park.  Frank Banfield is at the very north of Fulham Reach between Winslow Road and Chancellors Road, and it is an area that has been plagued by street drinkers and anti-social behaviour.  Local residents have for years put up with noise and scuffles from people who use the park to sleep overnight. 

The new plans also include plans for new planting of trees, sculpted paths, and a welcoming scene for recreation.  Six different planning applications dealing with new paths, children's play equipment and railings are now before the council's planning committee. 

This has been a long time in coming.  These improvements has been talked about ever since I was selected as a candidate for the Conservatives and when I used to live in Lochaline Street behind Winslow Road.  I have met with developers about these plans and am pleased with what is proposed.  The Hammersmith Embankment Residents' Association have also closely monitored these plans and have pressed for these improvements.  I really appreciate all of their efforts.  I am looking forward to when work begins and the park is rejuvenated.   

Oil Palm and orang-utans: What you can do to help

A week or so ago my friend Mark came to stay with me after spending much of the last few years in the jungles of Borneo working to preserve the habitat of orang-utans in the wild.  I mentioned him on this blog a few months ago when he was on U.S television. 

I admire Mark's work, and I support his campaign.  He knows far more about what we can do here in the UK to support his preservation work.  Therefore I asked him to write a piece for this blog:

Like a growing number of people across the country, I am sure that many of people living in Hammersmith & Fulham will have noticed the increasing concern over the plight of the orang-utan and the threat to it posed by the oil palm industry. The orang-utan is one of our closest relatives (sharing almost all of our DNA) but yet numbers only around 60,000 wild individuals and populations are declining rapidly, meaning that orang-utans now face a very real threat of extinction in the wild within our lifetimes. The number one cause of this current decline is the oil palm industry, which destroys the orang-utan’s forest home through both the clearing of forest for plantations and forest fires purposefully started in oil palm plantations. It may seem like there is little we can do here in London, but this is wrong….

The oil palm industry is fuelled largely by demand from the West. No demand = no clearing of forest for plantations. By helping to stem this demand, you really can make a difference in the fight to save the orang-utan. There are two main ways you can do this. The first is by looking at the ingredients/constituents labels in all products you buy from supermarkets etc. (around 10% of supermarket products contain oil palm, but public pressure is causing this figure to fall) and buying alternatives if the product you normally buy contains oil palm.

The second is by pressing politicians to oppose new laws to increase the use of biofuels sourced from unsustainable oil palm in the transport sector. If there are enough voices, they will be heard. Ironically, the use of oil palm in fuels not only destroys the orang-utan’s forest home, but actually releases more carbon than conventional fuels, due to the felling of tropical forest (which absorbs carbon) involved in the manufacturing. Some “green” fuel that is!!! So do your bit by starting at home and not using oil palm products, and help us save the orang-utan! 

If you want to know more, I am sure Mark would love to hear from you. 

Mark E. Harrison, Wildlife Research Group, University of Cambridge - harrison_me@hotmail.com

Livingstone gears up for another fight with West London

Livingstone has picked fights with local residents on the congestion charge, bus routes, and on the Uxbridge Road tram.  Just as the tram dispute seems to be coming to an end - another row begins, this time over housing.

The new Conservative administration at Hammersmith town hall came to power last year with a clear commitment to extend home ownership opportunities through shared ownership.  We want to give low and middle income families the chance to own property in a borough with the fourth highest property prices in the country.  Too many people are being squeezed out. 

The council therefore have drawn up a new 'Local Development Framework' that will govern housing buillding policies in the borough.  We want to see 40% of new developments as affordable housing with priority given to shared ownership, low cost homes to buy, and schemes for first time buyers.  This replaces a rigid plan by the previous Labour council that only classed 'affordable housing' as socially rented homes or local authority housing.  Our percentage of 'affordable homes' is much higher than some Labour councils and this in a borough where already well over 30% of housing is socially rented.

However, these much needed plans have been rejected by the Mayor.  Moreover, the Government have insisted we keep a previous Labour plan (which is unique in London) that stops developers using brownfield sites for anything other than social housing.

Incredibly, the Mayor did not tell us this in a meeting or through direct contact with the council - he preferred to give us notice through a press release.  There is no doubt that Labour locally have been lobbying their friend at City Hall to put the breaks on.  This is politically motivated.

What is sad is that this plan is needed now.  Too many young people and families are being condemned to renting or leaving the borough because of Labour's block.  We are in danger of becoming a borough out of reach to hard-working families.

We have some very rich people in the borough who can afford to buy property here.  Additionally, we have one of the highest percentages of social housing in London (higher than Newham).  However, we have very little for those on low or middle incomes.  These are the people who have been let down by Livingstone and Labour, and these are the people we are determined to stand up for.