Campaigns

Updates

London Living Wage

Londoners need a living wage and I welcome the increase 25p increase recently announced to £7.85 per hour.

The minimum pay per hour pay now stands £2 higher than the national minimum wage of £5.80 per hour.

There is still a long way to go in reducing inequality and child poverty as one in seven London employees is paid less than £6.65 per hour.

London's poverty profile, compiled by the City Parochial Foundationi and the New Policy Institute, suggests housing costs account for much of the difference between povery and inequality levels in London and the rest of the country. The changes to Housing Benefit announced by the Coalition Government are going to put more people into poverty.

London 2012

As part of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games delivery programme Greenwich Park has been chosen to host the Olympic Equestrian and Modern Pentathlon events. For more information on the events on our doorstep please visit - www.london2012.com/greenwich-park/home.html.

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Climate Change

I fully supported Gordon Brown's pledge of £1.5 billion over the next three years to fund anti-global warming initiatives. Following the climate change summit in Copenhagen I hope that a legally binding treaty can be agreed over the next few months. As a first step we have the Copenhagen Accord with international backing of avoiding a rise of more than 2 degrees celcius. Joan Ruddock, the former Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change, was working on how we can change behaviour across UK society and reach an ambitious global agreement to reduce our carbon emissions in a fair and effective way.

I support a low carbon future that involves global co-operation in the use of energy and efficient emissions reduction. Please take a look at Ken Livingstone's report on Climate Change printed in October 2007 showing what we can do in London.

To find out what you can do please visit the Act on CO2 web site.

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Safer and Stronger Sydenham

I've been campaigning for local people to have a real say in decisions that affect them for many years. As a local councillor I have a keen interest in sustaining and building stronger communities and I have been holding quarterly meetings for the past ten years. We started the Sydenham Assembly in 2008 as a focus for people to have a say in issues that affect their lives. Please see the Delivering for Sydenham page and the Sydenham Assembly page for more about our local priorities.

Sustainable communities are about the things that matter to people: decent homes at prices that they can afford, good public transport, schools, hospitals, and shops; local residents able to have a say on the way their neighbourhood is run; and a clean, green, safe environment. I want to engender a greater sense of ownership and investment in our communities. To achieve this I think that decisions should be taken by, or as close as possible to, the people affected by them. This means that we need to give local people more opportunities in decision making whilst developing the role and functions of local government to be more responsive to local needs.

Local Voices Local Choices

I hold quarterly meetings with the residents of Sydenham - following the Sydenham Community Regeneration Partnership we now have the Sydenham Assembly meetings.

I am commited to giving citizens more power over local liveability - to foster a shared sense responsibility for improving communities and to develop the capacity of residents to change their neighbourhood for the better. My role as a front line councillor is to work with members of the Sydenham community and agree the priorities for improvement.

The top five priorities agreed at the Sydenham Assembly are: • More activities for children and young people including a youth centre • Improving community safety and tackling anti-social behaviour • Vibrant high street • Environmental improvements to provide a cleaner and greener Sydenham, • Transport improvements for Sydenham

The outcome of the Mayor and Localities Fund is shown on the Sydenham Assembly page under Get Involved.

Quality Homes

I believe that everyone should have the opportunity to live in a decent, affordable home. The quality of our social housing stock has risen rapidly, through the Decent Homes Standard which by the end of 2010 will have improved 3.6 million homes, benefiting eight million social tenants, with investment of over £40 billion. Lewisham Homes is working towards the two star rating by the Audit Commission that would enable them to access Decent Homes funding in 2011/12. The inspection has taken place and we awaiting the results.

We now need to look to increase provision of decent and affordable housing to meet future needs. I support energy efficiency measures in the home as well as landscaping to provide a green environment.

As part of getting the street properties upgraded Lewisham conducted a ballot amongst tenants in the Sydenham, Forest Hill and Perry Vale area. As a result just under 2,000 homes will be transferred to London and Quadrant Housing Trust.