Chuka has signed up to Greenpeace’s airplot campaign to stop the third runway at Heathrow.

The airplot is a strip of land on the proposed site of the new runway with over 50,000 beneficial owners, which Greenpeace hopes will provide an obstacle to the expansion scheme.

A third runway at Heathrow would mean an additional 350 flights a day, making the airport the country’s single biggest CO2 emitter.

Join Chuka in becoming a beneficial owner at Greenpeace’s airplot website.

Labour-run Lambeth Council and Chuka Umunna, parliamentary candidate for Streatham, have both signed up to the 10:10 carbon reduction campaign, committing to reducing their carbon emissions by 10% in 2010.

The 10:10 project aims to encourage individuals and organisations to take action on climate change by reducing their carbon footprint. It has already been taken up by 16,000 individuals in the UK and over 600 businesses since its launch earlier this month. This includes every member of the British cabinet.

Lambeth council has pioneered sustainable building projects, such as the new Michael Tippett School which is one of the most sustainable school buildings in the country.

Chuka Umunna is a supporter of Sustainable Streatham, which works to minimise our area’s impact on the environment. Earlier this year he visited Hyde Farm Climate Action Network on Radbourne Road, which operates a successful local food-growing programme involving over 150 households.

Commenting on the campaign, Chuka Umunna said:

“Climate change presents a huge challenge to all of us, and that’s why I am making the 10:10 pledge.

“Although the government has made great strides in tackling climate change, for example with carbon budgets, individual choices are also crucial.

“10:10 allows our individual actions to have a clear, measured impact on carbon emissions. I urge others to find out more about the campaign and to sign up.”

Chuka Umunna, Labour parliamentary candidate for Streatham, has pledged to secure Streatham’s nine Sure Start centres, which are under threat from cuts by both opposition parties.

Sure Start children’s centres are ‘one stop shops’ for parents with children under five providing services including childcare, healthcare, parenting advice, family support and helping parents get back into work or training.

The Conservatives have identified the Sure Start programme as a key area for future cuts, and want to slash its national budget by £200m per year – the equivalent of closing one in every five Sure Start centres.
This week Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg caused controversy by speaking of the need for ’savage and bold’ cuts at his party’s annual conference in Bournemouth, sparking a debate about which areas of government spending should be protected.

The threat to Streatham’s Sure Start centres comes just as local families
need them most – it provides local free childcare for all three and four
year olds.

Last week was national Sure Start Children’s Centres week, celebrating the success of the programme and promoting the services which children’s centres offer.

Commenting on the threat to Sure Start, Chuka Umunna said:

“Although it is clear that the government needs to rein in spending where it can in the current economic climate, we must not undermine the achievements of the past decade, of which Sure Start is one of the proudest.

“Sure Start makes a huge difference to the lives of parents and children in Streatham every day. We must not put that in jeopardy with all this talk of ’savage’ cuts.”

UCATT is the UK’s only trade union specialising in construction and its national headquarters are based in Clapham, in the Streatham constituency. UCATT is campaigning on behalf of workers who have suffered from exposure to asbestos. Two years ago, the House of Lords ruled that pleural plaques – scarring of the lungs as a result of prolonged asbestos exposure – does not constitute a compensatable medical condition.

There are many cases of former construction workers who suffer from pleural plaques (watch the video above). As a result of the House of Lords’ decision those workers are unable to make a claim for compensation, only being able to do so if complications that result from pleural plaques such as mesothelioma develop, by which time treatment may come too late. Even in such cases, winning compensation is made more difficult by the fact that many of the construction companies involved have gone into liquidation, and finding the relevant insurer takes considerable time.

UCATT is campaigning to stop this injustice, and has launched a postcard calling on the Secretary of State for Justice to allow sufferers to claim compenstion. Please support the campaign by downloading and sending a campaign postcard (postage free) or signing the online petition.

Last weekend, Leader of the House of Commons and Minister for Women and Equalities Harriet Harman joined Chuka campaigning in Streatham.

In this video she discusses the government’s Equality Bill, currently going through Parliament, which will reform existing laws to promote equality and fight discrimination.

The Equality Bill includes measures to increase transparency in the workplace, ensuring that gender wage inequalities are no longer hidden, whilst also requiring public bodies to consider the needs of all the communities they serve when drawing up policies.

This week, Brixton launched its own currency – the Brixton Pound. The currency is designed to help local shops and market stalls in the recession by encouraging shoppers to spend money locally, whilst also promoting the area.

The currency is pegged to Pounds Sterling, and is accepted in over fifty business in the area.

The idea was developed by the community-led Transition Town Brixton project, which works to make the area more self-sufficient.

Local currencies have been launched elsewhere in the UK including the towns of Totnes, Lewes and Stroud, but Brixton is the first inner-city area to do so.

To find out more, check out the project’s website, or read this BBC News article about the new currency.

This month, the government is for the first time topping-up the Child Trust Fund accounts of every seven-year-old in the country by £250, with a further £250 payment being made to children of low-income families and in care.

Child Trust Funds are initially set up with a total of £250 when a baby is born and are topped up again by the government at the age of seven. The funds were launched in 2005 and backdated to all children born from September 2002 onwards, so this month the oldest trust fund holders will reach the age of seven and receive the additional payment. In Streatham, 7,360 children hold Child Trust Funds and stand to benefit.

Child Trust Funds are designed to help families save for their children’s future, ensuring that every eighteen-year-old leaves education with a financial asset. Families are able to add to the fund, and given the growth the investment makes over eighteen years adding as little as £10 per month means the fund will be worth as much as £4,500 on maturity. If the maximum amount is added each month, it could eventually be worth as much as £37,000.

The funds also help young people get into the habit of saving and experience in running personal finances, being able to take control of investing the account at the age of sixteen but the money being locked away until they are eighteen.

Both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives oppose Child Trust Funds. Vince Cable, Liberal Democrat treasury spokesman described them as “unnecessary” and has identified them as a possible cut.

Commenting on the trust fund boost, Chuka Umunna said:

“Child Trust Funds are a fantastic way of saving for our children’s future, giving families a nest egg for when their children reach adulthood.

“The funds allow children to invest in their aspirations, with the most help going to those from the poorest backgrounds. Without a Labour government we wouldn’t have this help for families. Child Trust Funds have been consistently opposed by both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.”

Chuka Umunna, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Streatham, has signed up to become a beneficial owner of a plot of land on the proposed site of Heathrow Airport’s third runway as part of a Greenpeace campaign against its expansion.

Greenpeace’s ‘airplot’ is designed to act as an obstacle to the proposed third runway and is collectively owned by over 55,000 people who have signed up to the campaign.

The legal owners of the plot include impressionist Alistair McGowan and actress Emma Thompson, who described the Heathrow expansion plans as a “slap in the face for every citizen doing their best to cut back on their emissions.” Greenpeace has turned part of the plot into an allotment for the benefit of the local community which will be dispersed and cease to exist if the plans go ahead.

The Heathrow third runway would mean an additional 350 flights a day at the airport, increasing annual passenger numbers from 66 million to 82 million. It would make Heathrow the biggest single emitter of CO2 in Britain, at nearly 27 million tonnes a year. This is equivalent to the emissions of the 57 least poluting countries in the world combined.
Commenting on the campaign against Heathrow expansion, Umunna said:

“A third runway at Heathrow would undermine the great strides the government has made in tackling climate change.

“As well as increasing our carbon emissions, expanding Heathrow would significantly increase the number of flights over Streatham, creating more noise and pollution.

“We need to fight BAA’s plans, and I urge residents to follow me in signing up to Greenpeace’s excellent campaign.”

Every day unions help thousands of people at work. This includes negotiating for better pay and conditions, campaigning for a fair deal at home and abroad and working with employers to expand training and development programmes. Last year unions also won £1 million in equal pay claims – an average of £15,000 per member.

This excellent video highlights the positive impact trade unions have made for society as a whole.

Transport for London has announced that it is now considering extending the Bakerloo line to Streatham, following a high-profile campaign to bring the London Underground to the area led by Labour parliamentary candidate Chuka Umunna.

This week Transport for London (TfL) confirmed that it is now considering three options for the southward extension of the Bakerloo line, where previously it was only considering one, to Bromley in Kent via Lewisham.

One of the options now on the table is an extension to Streatham via Camberwell and Herne Hill, with preliminary investigations being made. A third option of extending the line to Catford is also now under consideration.

Chuka Umunna, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Streatham, launched the campaign to bring the tube to Streatham with local residents in July, after TfL confirmed that it was considering plans to extend the Bakerloo line to Bromley and Hayes in Kent. He and local people argued that it was unfair for Streatham to be left out of the Bakerloo discussions.

London Mayor Boris Johnson was accused of political bias in neglecting the transport needs of inner London. A petition was launched demanding that TfL also consider an extension to Streatham.
The Bakerloo line is considered the best option for bringing the London Underground to Streatham because of the capacity constraints which exist on the Victoria and Northern lines. TfL expects any Bakerloo extension plans to come to fruition after 2025.

Commenting on TfL’s decision, Umunna said:

“I am delighted that TfL is now considering a tube extension to Streatham. It is testament to the depth of feeling here in Streatham and the fact that so many local residents have got behind our campaign.

“However, the battle for the tube has only just started – Streatham is an “option” and we need to turn this into a reality. So far we have hundreds of signatures – we need thousands so I’d encourage every resident to go online and sign the petition.

“It is important that we continue to make the case for Streatham as Transport for London begins its investigation. The more local people who get behind bringing the tube here, the more chance it has of becoming a reality.”