Labour campaigns for 24/7 police cover in North End

According to figures from the Metropolitan Police, crime in North End rose almost 3% in the last year. That is why North End Labour candidates have joined H&F’s Labour Councillors in a commitment to deliver the investment needed to provide North End with 24/7 Police Task Squads.

During the last two years, the Tory-run H&F Council have only provided £750k per year in police funding out of a total £189m budget - which is far less than they spend on their advertising, PR and propaganda programme. This low funding means that 14 out of 16 wards in H&F, including North End, do not have 24/7 police cover.

Cllr. Lisa Homan (Lab), the Shadow Cabinet Member for Crime & Anti-Social Behaviour underlined what would happen if the public elect Labour to form the next Administration after the local elections in 2010, saying "Hammersmith and Fulham was the leading crime fighting borough in London under Labour. Now, under the Conservatives it is languishing behind Lambeth, Waltham Forest and even Richmond. The Conservatives actually spend more of the Council's budget on advertising, PR and propaganda than they do on policing. That can't be right and it doesn't reflect the public's priorities. We will change that, if elected to form the new Administration next year and commit to providing the necessary investment to ensure all sixteen wards in the borough gain extra 24/7 Police Task Squad cover".

Tory Council Pressing Ahead with Demolition Plans

This June, the Tory-run H&F Council published its future strategy for the Borough. It stated that a number of council estates, including West Ken and Gibbs Green, are not decent neighbourhoods.

Instead of working to improve these neighbourhoods, as Labour did in Cheeseman’s Terrace when it was in power, the Tory Council proposes that:

1. Your homes in Gibbs Green and West Ken will be knocked down.

2. Residents will be forced to move, whether council or housing association tenants, freeholders or leaseholders. As the Tories are not building any new social housing, this means residents—many of whom have lived in H&F all their lives—will be forced to leave the borough and be relocated elsewhere.

3. The areas will be developed as luxury private flats and – in West Ken – a conference centre.

Reacting to these plans, Labour MP Andy Slaughter said “I am disgusted that your landlord, who is also your local authority, should hold this community in such contempt as to brand the neighbourhood not decent. And I am horrified that their solution is to demolish your homes and to destroy the existing community.”

Labour’s council candidates, together with Andy, believe that residents should decide the future of your community. It is clear that some areas of the West Ken need improvements, but these should be designed to help the residents of the estates, not to enrich property developers and drive hard working people out of the borough. The best way to stop Tory councillors knocking down your homes is to vote them out of office next May.

Tory Stealth Taxes Fuel Fly-Tipping

Figures from the Environment Agency reveal that H&F has seen a significant increase in the amount of rubbish fly-tipped on the boroughs streets last year and that this has cost us all an extra and unplanned £1.3million to clear up.

There has been an increases in dog-fouling, littering and fly-tipping. Fly-tipping incidents alone have increased from under 6,000 per year in 2005/06, when Labour was in power, to over 9,000 2007/08 after the Tories took control. These increases are driven by Tory policies such as:

• cutting the street cleaning and refuse collection budget by £1m
• cutting the number of street wardens who were to meant to seek out and stop the people from dumping litter or allowing their dogs to foul our streets
• cancelling the garden waste removal service
• a new £15 stealth taxes for removing unwanted bulky household items

The increased fly-tipping has led to an unplanned £1.3m cleaning cost. Max Schmid, Labour candidate in North End, commented, “short-sighted Tory cuts are leading to worse services for North End residents and larger overall costs to residents. The barrage of new Council stealth taxes and increases in rubbish on our streets are two consequences of a misleading obsession with creating notional decreases in Council Taxes.”