The People’s Question Time event which Chuka is holding on the Streatham Hub has been moved to Thursday 22nd July at 6.30pm, still at Dunraven School.

The reason for the change of date is that Lambeth council is due to release a paper on the Hub development next week, and this will give everyone time to digest the report and ensure that everyone is fully up to date before the meeting.

Today, Chuka attended the annual Kite Day held on Streatham Common. With excellent weather and a keen wind, the event was a great success. A wide array of kites of all shapes and sizes flew in the skies over Streatham.

To find out more about the Kite Day and see pictures from previous events, visit the Kite Day website.

Over the weekend, Chuka joined local residents to protest outside the Tesco supermarket on Streatham High Road.

The protest was held to put pressure on Tesco to keep Streatham Ice Rink open and to uphold its promises on the Streatham Hub project.

Tesco’s board is due to meet later this month to agree proposals for the Hub, and will present these to Lambeth council in advance of its cabinet meeting on March 22.

In 2007, Tesco promised that the existing ice rink would not close until a newly-built ice rink is opened, but refused to guarantee this at a public meeting held in October 2009.
 
Concerns have also been voiced over the current state of the ice rink and Tesco’s failure to invest in the building’s maintenance.

If you have not yet done so, sign Chuka’s petition to Keep Streatham Skating

Chuka Umunna, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Streatham, joined local residents in a protest outside the Tesco supermarket on Streatham High Road on Saturday 27 February.

The protest was held to put pressure on Tesco to keep its promises for the Streatham Hub development, maintaining continuity of ice provision while a new ice rink is built.

There was cross-party support for the protest against Tesco, which is due to put forward proposals to Lambeth council later this month on the future of the Streatham Hub project following a board meeting.

Commenting, Mr Umunna said: “The numbers present at the protest and its positive reception demonstrate the depth of feeling of local people on this issue.

“We got the message across on Tesco’s doorstep that the supermarket cannot take the local community and its customers for granted.

“It is crucial that there is a viable Plan B in place which must be implemented if Tesco come back with unacceptable proposals later this month.

“Equally, if Tesco do come forward with plans allowing for the continuity of ice provision, the council must ensure that they are legally bound into these commitments.”

Chuka Umunna, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Streatham, has called for Tesco to be given a firm deadline within which to come forward with revised proposals acceptable to Streatham residents to develop the Streatham Hub.

At a public meeting in Streatham held by community organization Streatham Action, Lambeth council cabinet members and officers gave local residents an update on the future of the Streatham Hub project.

The Streatham Hub Project is intended to provide a new ice rink complex, leisure facilities, a new supermarket and affordable housing for the Streatham area. Under proposals agreed with Lambeth Council in 2007, Tesco promised that the existing ice rink would not close until the new complex is opened, but refused to guarantee this at a public meeting held in October 2009.

Councillors revealed that negotiations with Tesco, which owns the Ice Rink site, are still ongoing. Councillors were not in a position to announce the results of the ongoing negotiation with Tesco, but did indicate that should it not be possible to reach agreement, alternative options would be considered.

Councillor Lib Peck, the Lambeth Council Cabinet member for housing and regeneration outlined the main principles underpinning the council’s approach to the ongoing negotiations with Tesco, including importantly continuity of ice provision until a new ice rink is built.

The board of Tesco PLC is due to meet in mid March when the chief executive, Sir Terry Leahy, will put forward proposals for the Streatham Hub for approval before the retailer reverts back to the cabinet of the council with its final position. In turn, the council officers will prepare a report either recommending that the Tesco proposals be approved or not by the meeting of the Lambeth council cabinet on March 22 2010.

Commenting on the current state of negotiations, Mr Umunna said: “If Tesco comes forward with proposals which are acceptable to the community and the council, it is crucial they are legally bound into their commitments. Any contract entered into with them must have teeth, and they should not be allowed to renege on any promises made.

“If Tesco do not come forward with proposals which are acceptable, the council should walk away from any deal and look to immediately progress the development of the Streatham Hub project on its own. We cannot keep waiting for the retailer to come good – The fact they did not even bother to send anyone to speak on their behalf at this important meeting is indicative of their poor attitude to local people.

“I am most concerned that the ice rink, which is already in a parlous state, will be left to rot by Tesco. As a sign that they are serious about moving forward from the present impasse, they should take all action they can as owners of the ice rink to invest in it so that it is viable and can be used while we wait for a new ice rink to be built.”

Local people are holding a demonstration to make their views heard by the retailer outside Tesco Express on Streatham High Road from 11am on Saturday 27 February 2010.

Support Chuka’s Keep Streatham Skating campaign by signing the petition and joining the Facebook group.

Above is a video of the recent topping out ceremony at NHS Baldry Gardens, a fantastic new health facility in Streatham.

The £3.86 million primary care centre is located near Streatham Common and will open in the summer, providing a new home to the Drakewood GP practice and offering primary healthcare services including nursing, foot health, therapy and midwifery.

Keith Hill, Labour MP for Streatham took part in the ceremony, along with Chair of NHS Lambeth Caroline Hewitt and Dr Jim Hill, a GP at Drakewood Surgery.

Our local area has also benefitted from new and improved health facilities at the Streatham Hill Group Practice, Streatham Vale Surgery, Whittington Health Centre and Streatham Hill Clinic thanks to Labour government investment.

For more information about NHS Baldry Gardens, visit this page

London Mayor Boris Johnson has announced a major consultation on the future of London transport, which includes the potential scheme to bring the London Underground to Streatham.

Following the publication of the Mayor’s Transport Strategy, Londoners are being asked to register their views.

This is an important opportunity to let the Mayor and Transport for London (TfL) know what a difference a tube extension to Streatham, currently under consideration, would make.

The Mayor’s Transport Strategy recognised the lack of transport connections in South London, describing the “paucity of the Underground network” in the area and the need for “better public transport connectivity between inner north and inner south London”.

It also confirms that TfL is looking into a number of options to extend the Bakerloo line southwards with the route currently being under development. The report pledges that the Bakerloo extension will serve “areas with poor transport accessibility”.

Despite these positive developments, we need to keep up pressure if we want a Streatham tube extension to become a reality.

The decision on where to build the tube extension will take into account the views of residents and you can take part in the consultation at http://www.london.gov.uk/shaping-london/ before it closes on January 12th 2010.

Registering views online only takes around 5 minutes and could help determine whether the Tube comes to Streatham or elsewhere.

If you haven’t yet signed the petition to bring the tube to Streatham, do so here.

This week, I launched a campaign with local people to get Tesco to guarantee Streatham Ice Rink stays open whilst the Streatham Hub scheme is developed in the south of this parliamentary constituency. You can read about the scheme here: the Streatham Hub.

At a meeting held earlier this month to update local residents on the scheme, I was concerned when Tesco representatives refused to guarantee that our ice skating provision would continue without interruption.

Tesco owns the ice rink site and under deveopment proposals agreed with Lambeth Council two years ago the company promised that the current ice rink would stay open while a new one was built.

However, the retail giant is citing the credit crunch as a reason for submitting revised proposals a few weeks ago. It is currently in talks with the Council, with an announcement due in December.

It is essential that Streatham does not lose access to ice – the ice rink hosts the Streatham Redskins ice hockey team and numerous school groups. It is also currently being used by skaters aiming to compete in next year’s Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Tesco has the financial resources to stick to its original pledge and ensure that Streatham keeps skating while the Hub site is developed. You may have seen that earlier this year the retailer announced record breaking sales of more than £1bn a week and annual profits of more than £3bn, despite the impact of the global downturn.

To put pressure on Tesco to keep to its promises on the continuity of our ice provision, please sign the petition calling on them to keep Streatham Ice Rink open – the petition can be signed online here: Keep Streatham Skating! petition

A related ‘Keep Streatham Skating!’ Facebook group has also been set up which you can join too: Keep Streatham Skating! on Facebook

Tesco say they take into account the interests of local communities, in addition to their desire to return a huge profit, when making decisions. If they genuinely care for this community as they claim, they must ensure the continuity of our ice rink provision here in Streatham.

We need lots of local residents to sign the petition to send a clear message to Tesco – they need to know how strongly we, the prospective customers of the new Tesco supermarket they want to build as part of the Hub scheme, feel about this issue.

Chuka’s letter on primary school places was published in the Streatham Guardian on 6 August 2009, in response to a previous article:

Parents understandably want their children to attend a good local school – I know because I am a governor of one. Increasing demand for school places is an issue across London, with population shifts, increases in the birth rate and pressure on sites for school buildings.

With reference to your article, “Lambeth school space crisis” (9 July 2009), the government is taking action to create more primary and secondary school places by expanding existing schools and building new ones. Nationally, Labour is investing £21.9 billion on school buildings between now and 2011. Locally we have already seen the fruits of this with the establishment of new secondary schools such as Lambeth Academy and new primaries such as the Jubilee School since 1997.

However, though all those who applied on time for a primary school place received an offer in a Lambeth school this year, it is true that the ability to meet parental preferences in each case is still a challenge and more places are needed in the future.

That is why Keith Hill MP and I are meeting with ministers and working hard to ensure central government provides further investment so we can provide more places for our children, for example by converting the Woodfield Centre in Streatham, an old Special School, to provide a new primary school in the area. We will keep residents posted on our progress.

Chuka Umunna
Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Streatham

This week, Chuka launches a campaign to bring the tube to Streatham. He and local campaigners are calling on Mayor Boris Johnson to ensure that Streatham is considered in any future plans to extend the tube southwards, and an online petition has been set up for supporters of the campaign.

In February, Mayor Johnson stated that it is his ambition to extend the Bakerloo line southwards to Lewisham and beyond. Last week we obtained confirmation that TfL is working on these plans, looking into the feasibility of such a scheme.

Chuka is demanding to know why Streatham is not being considered for any possible southwards extension of the tube when Lewisham, for example, is already well-served by the Docklands Light Railway extension which opened in 1999.

The Bakerloo line could instead be extended southwards from Elephant & Castle via Camberwell and Brixton to Streatham. This would have the added benefit of relieving congestion on Streatham High Road.

However, The Bakerloo line is only one of the options available for bringing the tube to Streatham. The planned Crossrail 2 scheme, running from Chelsea to Hackney, would considerably relieve congestion on the Victoria line, creating the potential for an extension of the Victoria line to Streatham from Brixton.

Commenting on the launch of the campaign, Chuka said:

“I have lived here for most of my life and people have been talking about the desirability of having the tube in Streatham for as long as I can remember.

“This campaign is a long term project. Public finances are going to be tight for the next few years but we need to build up a head of steam behind this now so that when there is more money about, we are in a good position to demand it is used to finally bring the tube here.

Streatham residents’ hopes of getting a tube extension have a long history of false starts and disappointment. In the original plans for the Victoria line included in the 1946 London Plan, it was intended that the line would run to Streatham and on to Croydon. This scheme even received approval in Parliament, but was never built because of a lack of finance.

Chuka said,

“Streatham has been ignored for far too long while other areas have benefited from better transport provision. It is bad enough that our direct Thameslink connections are under threat, but the fact that TfL is looking at extending the Bakerloo line without even considering our area as a station destination, is not on. We deserve better.”

“This area would benefit hugely from a tube station. As well as obvious
benefits for local residents, it would give a massive boost to the regeneration of Streatham and the local economy.

“We are going to work together to put pressure on TfL to consider Streatham a top priority for tube improvements in South London.”

You can sign up to the petition to bring the tube to Streatham here: Bring the tube to Streatham petition