Today, the Prime Minister visited the New Testament Church of God in Brixton for a Sunday morning service and addressed the congregation, paying tribute to the contribution of faith groups to British society.

On Saturday Chuka spoke at a Living Wage action lunch at Windrush Square in Brixton, organised by South London Citizens, a grass roots charity working with local people to organise for change around local issues.

As well as promoting the living wage, the event celebrated the ongoing work that Lambeth Council is carrying out with South London Citizens on street safety and youth opportunities.

Chuka Umunna said: “I am a big supporter of the work of London Citizens. The National Minimum Wage, which Labour introduced, was a groundbreaking step and has benefitted millions of people.

“A Living Wage would build on this by adequately reflecting the high cost of living in London, which would help further the fight against low wages and poverty.”

The Labour Party Manifesto was the only to commit to introducing a living wage for all Whitehall employees.

This commitment to a living wage would be combined with and supported by measures that Labour would introduce to address high pay in the Public Sector. These commitments ensure that the Public Sector continues to lead the way in promoting a fair and equal working environment.

London Citizens welcomed the commitment from Labour and suggested that other parties have to play catch up on the issue.

If you are interested in getting more involved with the London Citizens there is a South London Citizens section that always welcomes volunteers.

In this video, Chuka discusses the government’s New Deal for Communities programme and the difference it is making to the Clapham Park Estate.

Having been designated as one of the government’s New Deal for Communities (NDC) zones, Clapham Park has benefitted from £56 million of regeneration funding. The programme is focussed on neighbourhoods suffering from multiple social deprivation, taking a holistic approach by improving housing, tackling crime and anti-social behaviour, improving transport links and opportunities in education and training.

The project is controlled by local residents, empowering the community to make choices on how to make the area a better place to live.

Residents have been provided with entry phones to reduce anti-social behaviour, the area has benefitted from a new bus route to Brixton and Balham and new and improved housing is currently being built.

Mentoring and skills training is also being provided to help people into work. Neighbourhood wardens have been introduced to improve safety and security for local residents.

In December 2009, it was announced that Clapham Park had been shortlisted for £9.5 million of additional funding through the government’s Kickstart Programme to support the building of new homes.

Commenting, Chuka said:

“I share residents impatience for the rebuild and renovation of homes in the area. But, unlike opposition parities, we have not sat back and moaned but worked hard to get more government investment into the area so these essential works can continue.

“Clapham Park Homes has got £27 million in extra money into the estate – to make sure that they can continue to fund their programme of refurbishment and rebuild. Locally Labour worked hard to convince the Housing Minister that CPH could turn this money into new homes without delay.

“We will share residents’ delight when, in a few weeks’ time they are able to move into the new building on Clarence Crescent and the refurbished Picton and Rigg Houses in Clapham Park West.

“I am clear that Clapham Park Homes still has more to do to improve the service to tenants and leaseholders. That is why myself and local Labour councillors meet regularly with the CPH Chief Executive, to voice our concern over some of the service standards and to raise individual problems that people have brought to us.

“It is also why we continue to support the many community initiatives that have developed since 2001 such as the Over 50’s club and the youth work done by Clapham Park Project (CPP).”

When Boris Johnson was running for Mayor in 2008 he included a pledge in his Transport Manifesto that said he would halt “the proposed Tube ticket office closures”, and ensure “there is always a manned ticket office at every station”. During his campaign he signed a petition that condemned plans to close Tube ticket offices and drastically reduce the opening hours of many others.

However, recent proposals from Transport for London suggest that the permanent closure of eleven ticket offices is under consideration and dozens more could face drastically reduced opening hours. The proposals would affect tube stations including Brixton, Clapham South, Clapham Common and Balham and result in hundreds of jobs being axed.

Under the proposals, Clapham South station ticket office would see its opening times cut by 46 hours per week, while Clapham Common station’s ticket office would be open for 32 fewer hours each week.

While currently Clapham South’s ticket office closes at 9.30pm on Saturdays and Sundays, under the Mayor’s planned changes it would be without a ticket office after 3.45pm on Saturday and 4.00pm on Sundays.

The ticket offices at Balham and Clapham Common will close at 7.45pm from Monday to Friday and Clapham South’s at 7.15pm, also closing for most of the afternoon, between 1.30pm and 5.00pm on weekdays.

If you would like to register your disappointment with the current proposals then you can contact to Transport for London at enquire {at} tfl.gov(.)uk, we will post any consultations on the proposals as soon as they are available.

Chuka Ummuna, who is opposing the planned reduction in ticket office opening hours, commented:

“Thousands of people use our underground stations on a daily basis and they form a vital connection with central London.

“The Mayor’s drastic cuts to opening times would see our local tube stations without ticket offices for hours on end at peak times.

“As well as the loss of customer service for tube users, I am concerned about the impact the changes could have on the safety of stations, particularly late at night.”

Brixton Windmill is to be reopened to the public after funding for its restoration has been secured from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Around £400,000 is being provided by the fund after campaigning by Lambeth’s Labour Council and local residents, in addition to almost £200,000 contributed by the council itself and Friends of Windmill Gardens.

With this long-awaited project becoming a reality the windmill – which is a unique historic landmark and a source of great local pride – will now be restored, given a secure future and maintained for the enjoyment of future generations. Its interior, which is currently closed, will become accessible to the public.

The Heritage Lottery Fund grant will also be used to fund educational and community activities at the windmill, alongside a new exhibition demonstrating the mechanical parts of the mill in operation.

The Grade II* listed windmill, which was built as Ashby’s Mill in 1816, is the only one of its kind in inner London.

Jean Kerrigan of Friends of Windmill Gardens welcomed the news:

“This is tremendous news and we are so excited that all of our hard work has been rewarded.

“We would really like to thank our friends and the community in Brixton, as well as Lambeth Council for the support and help they have given us in taking this meaningful project to the next stage. Brixton Windmill now has a glorious future for generations to come.

To find out more about the windmill and its history, visit the Friends of Windmill Gardens website.

Recently Chuka visited the brand new Windrush Square in Brixton on its inaugural weekend, which included live music and celebrations to mark its opening.

To see more pictures, please visit Chuka’s Facebook photo album.

Brixton’s brand new Windrush Square will open this weekend, with celebrations on Saturday and Sunday including live music and a lantern-lit procession by local children.

The development is a part of the wider Brixton Town Centre programme, which is enhancing the local urban environment alongside upgrading the area’s roads and pavements to improve access and safety.

Creating a new focal point in the heart of Lambeth, the new town square will also be a venue for community activities and events, joining together the old square with Tate Gardens to create a single pedestrianised open space.

The square’s name was chosen in 1998 with help from local residents and businesses to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush from Jamaica on 22 June 1948 which was a landmark event in the development of our modern multicultural society.

The rejuvenated square has been built with a new fountain, improved lighting, wider crossing points and improvements such as cycle stands to encourage more people to cycle. It also features 21 new trees. Added to this there will be high quality landscaping and surfacing and sculpted granite seating, creating what will be a thriving centre for our area.

In this video, filmed after the recent Q&A with Ed Miliband MP and local people organised by Chuka at Lambeth Town Hall, Chuka talks to the Climate Change Secretary about the event and the UN conference on climate change currently taking place in Copenhagen.

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.

Brixton has been announced as one of ten low-carbon areas across London. It will pioneer a number of groundbreaking green projects and become a showcase for how London can become a low-carbon city.

The resulting projects include low-carbon heating for King’s College Hospital and improvements to Brixton’s community buildings to make them more energy efficient.

Brixton will aim to reduce its carbon emissions by over 20% by 2012, with residents, community organisations, businesses and Lambeth working together. The area will receive £200,000 of funding from the London Development Agency.

Brixton was selected by an expert panel following an application by Lambeth’s Labour council.