Weir Estate Residents Association (WERA) recently interviewed Chuka – to read the Q&A, follow this link.

WERA is one of many tenants’ and residents’ associations across the Streatham constituency: democratically elected organisations which play an important role in representing tenants and residents and ensuring the needs and concerns of local people are met.

A new community website for the Thornton area, which includes Clapham Park and parts of Balham, has been established. Maintained by local Labour councillors and campaigners, the site features local information and updates on issues affecting the area.

Minister for Housing and Planning John Healey visited our area on 14 January to see the Clapham Park Estate, one of the government’s New Deal for Communities (NDC) zones.

Mr Healey met local residents and community leaders from Clapham Park Homes, a community led housing association that now runs the estate.

Clapham Park Homes was founded by the Clapham Park Project, an initiative that has received £70 million investment from the Labour Government since 2001.

Recently the Clapham Park Estate was earmarked for £9.5 million of Government funding to provide good quality housing as part of the Kickstart house building programme.

In addition the money has been provided on the condition that Clapham Park Homes provide schemes for local labour and apprenticeships, ensuring continued investment and opportunities in the area.

The redevelopment of the estate will consist of the refurbishment of existing blocks alongside the construction of new housing. As well as Government funding, the project will be funded by the sale of new homes.

Good quality, well managed and maintained homes are in the process of being built in an area revitalised with a network of new parks, open spaces, better transport and good schools.

Commenting on his visit, during which he inspected the new housing, Mr Healey said:

“I am delighted Chuka asked me to come and visit Clapham Park so I could see how the money we have ploughed into the area is being spent and so I could talk to local residents about what more we could do.

“The residents Chuka and I spoke to told us that they were pleased to see the Government investment in the area, building homes and supporting jobs – that is what we have been doing since 1997 on the Clapham Park Estate and we will continue to do so.”

Chuka highlighted the improvements to the local area, saying:

“The Clapham Park Estate has improved massively from when I was growing up in the constituency and I will work tirelessly to ensure the investment and improvements continue.”

You can visit the Clapham Park Homes website and find out more about the project here: www.cph-online.co.uk

Housing Minister John Healey MP has announced that Clapham Park Homes has been shortlisted for £9.5million of funding to support the building of new homes in the Clapham Park area and to provide new local jobs and apprenticeships.

The government’s Kickstart programme aims to support housebuilding sites which have experienced difficulties progressing in the difficult current economic climate. Housing associations like Clapham Park Homes have found it hard to secure bank credit for developments following the Credit Crunch.

The £9.5million earmarked for Clapham Park Homes is part of the second round of special Kickstart funding and follows £450million already released nationally to build 11,500 homes.

The funding announced comes on tough terms. 50% of it is recoverable by government and Clapham Park Homes would have to provide schemes for local labour and apprenticeships to secure the monies.

With half of shortlisted homes set to be for affordable rent or sale, this is a boost for first time buyers and prospective Clapham Park Homes tenants.

The project will now go through a rigorous final assessment by the Homes and Communities Agency to determine whether the Clapham Park funding will get the green light. As the funding is intended to support the housebuilding industry when it needs it most, Mr Healey has made clear that one of the key factors will be the ability to complete building work by March 2012.

Commenting on the announcement, Chuka Umunna, Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for the Clapham Park area, said:

“I was delighted when the Minister’s office contacted me to let me know that Clapham Park had been shortlisted for these monies which will help bring new homes, jobs and apprenticeships to our area.

“This money is in addition to the £56million that we have been spending on regenerating the Clapham Park area since 1997.”

Housing Minister John Healey MP said:

“We are using the power of Government investment to build homes and support jobs at a time when the housebuilding industry needs it most.

“I’m making it a condition of getting this Government money that all builders offer recruitment of local people and apprenticeship schemes.

“With this money we’re kickstarting stalled developments, supporting new jobs, training future generations of construction workers and building the quality homes we need.”

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

Recently, Chuka visited the community garden set up by Hyde Farm Climate Action Network on Radbourne Road, and was shown around the site by co-founder Adrian Audsley.

Hyde Farm CAN was established in 2007 and includes over 150 households on the Hyde Farm estate in Balham. It is a grassroots organisation which puts into practice reducing the community’s carbon footprint. The Radbourne Road gardening project has recently been established to create capacity for local food growing, allowing local residents to grow their own vegetables. Alongside this, Hyde Farm CAN has helped residents insulate their homes for the winter to reduce fuel usage and energy bills.

The organisation is inspired by the transition towns movement, which involves urban areas finding ways to adapt to the challenges of climate change and rising oil prices. Hyde Farm CAN’s ‘think global, act local’ approach is to be applauded, and provides an excellent example of how, by working together, urban living can be made more sustainable.

For more information, check out Hyde Farm CAN’s website.

Many of my fellow PPCs have signed up to these ethics pledges that Progress, the independent organisation for Labour party members, has put together - I agree with them and pledge to observe them. However, I think we need to go further (which is not to say that others do not) if we are to restore trust between voters and political representatives. In the article below, which appears in today’s Guardian, I advance some suggestions on how to do so with my friend and colleague, Cllr Mark Bennett, who serves Streatham South.

The collective reputation of MPs has been burned to ash and the clean-up begins not a moment too soon. MPs of all parties have been shamed, but it has been most galling when associated with people on the left, who were first elected by telling voters they would change the rules – in politics and beyond – to make Britain better and fairer. Labour activists who go door to door for them have been on the receiving end of public anger and are themselves furious.

The mantra often repeated is “my claims were within the rules”, but this is a complete irrelevance when the claims do not stand up to moral scrutiny. How can they not see this?

It appears they have been deafened to political reality by the siren songs of vested interest, manifested in the deference of Commons police and staff, the patronage of the whips, the Speaker’s offices and the indulgence of the fees office. To the public, it seems they have been rewarded with TVs, kitchens, massage chairs and imaginary mortgages for doing so. If politics in Britain is to have a future, all this must change.

Another future is possible. We are two Labour politicians but there are many more of us – parliamentary candidates, councillors and activists – who still believe in what Harold Wilson called the “moral crusade” of our party. We are all putting our hearts and souls into it and a better future for our communities.

Most of our politicians are idealistic and well-intentioned. The corrupt are few, and now is the time for them to be driven from office by the many who want to rebuild trust in what should be an honest and open vocation.

As the Commons considers what to do, Labour’s next generation has a duty to make a contribution if it does not wish to inherit the public’s contempt.

We must start by recognising that if we want to dismantle the “gentlemen’s club”, we must tackle the machine ¬politics out of which it was born. Root and branch constitutional reform is a prerequisite. We must elect the Lords, make the voting system more ¬proportional and end the degraded adversarial culture of Westminster, as exemplified by the so-called theatre of prime minister’s questions.

The Labour party must change too. MPs who have acted within the rules but outside the bounds of public acceptability should be deselected. There is a moral and political imperative to do so – we will not retain seats where we are offering damaged goods. The higher education minister David Lammy has mooted introducing primaries as a way of making parliamentary selection more open, and to involve the public. The clamour for this is growing.

But first, changes to MPs’ expenses and the election of the Speaker are imminent. Gordon Brown’s proposal of an independent parliamentary standards regulator, responsible for pay and allowances, is welcome. Expenses should now be fully published online and investigated without further delay, with absolute application of the law towards MPs found to have broken it.

Whatever shape the new expenses system takes, one principle should win out: there must be an end to any privileges that set MPs apart from the people they represent – no first class travel, no London congestion charge reclaim, and no claims for anything that is not directly related to the work of being an MP.

In 1994, the then Labour leader, John Smith, said: “The opportunity to serve our country – that is all we ask.” Service. That is what our parliamentarians need to remember as they consider reform. The time has come to serve the people, not politicians.

Dear Resident

Like the public in general I have been horrified at the evidence of abuse of the parliamentary allowances system. As an MP representing an inner London seat, with my home in Streatham, I knew nothing of the scope for manipulation of the second home arrangement and was amazed to learn of the £400 monthly food allowance. I eat all my meals in the week at the House of Commons and it had never occurred to me that an MP would not pay out of his or her own pocket for them.

I wanted to be an MP because I believed it to be a noble and decent activity and I have always tried to do the right thing. Now, alas, we are all contaminated and I shall retire next year from a tainted institution.

However, because the elected House of Commons is the lynch pin of our democracy we must act firmly to establish its integrity in relation to expenses and salaries. The Committee on Standards in Public Life, under the chairmanship of Sir Christopher Kelly, is due to report on expenses in the autumn. It seems likely that it will recommend an independent body to determine the nature and size of expenses and their independent audit – I shall support such proposals.

It seems to me blindingly obvious that MPs should not be voting either on their allowances or on their salaries. Indeed, in the mid 1990s I was one of the MPs who voted for their pay to be decided by the independent Senior Salaries Review Board and this was also the recommendation in Sir John Baker’s report on MPs’ salaries last summer. I hope we can stick with the independent determination of MPs’ pay instead of governments repeatedly meddling.

I have written at greater length about this issue on my website and would invite you to visit it at www.keithhill.org.uk for further details. However, I write now simply to reassure you that there has been no abuse of parliamentary expenses here in Streatham. Our local Labour Party is not of great means. Chuka Umunna, a local boy and our new parliamentary candidate, has spent just under £15K on his campaign to date, less than one fifth of that spent by other political parties in this area. His campaign is mainly funded from small donations from local people, with additional funding from local trade union members. That is the way it should be.

As ever, I am at your service. Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you need assistance.

Best wishes,

Keith

Rt. Hon. Keith Hill MP
Member of Parliament for Streatham

The parliamentary constituency of Streatham covers Streatham and parts of Clapham, Balham, Tulse Hill and Brixton.

Chuka’s letter on the issue of wheel clamping was published in the Streatham Guardian on May 13th, in response to a letter of the previous week:

In response to your article (“Streatham wheel clampers are ‘out of control’ say local residents”, 6 May 2009) on the issues people are facing with wheel clampers, I would like to reiterate my support for local residents against overzealous and rogue wheel clamping and draw attention to action the Government is taking on this issue.

Wheel clampers should not be allowed to get away with unacceptable practices and abuses such as those alleged in the article. The Government is planning to make it mandatory for all clamping companies to be licensed, thus ensuring that they sign up to acceptable standards of conduct which can be enforced if they are not met. The compulsory standards will demand that a proper appeals process exists, that all signage is clear and visible and will set reasonable limits against excessive penalties for releasing cars. Additionally, there will be requirements for evidence that a parking infringement has taken place.

Establishing clear and compulsory industry standards linked to licensing
will improve practices and, I hope, bring peace of mind to local people who have suffered sharp practice from clamping firms in this area.

Chuka Umunna
Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Streatham

Last week’s Budget prioritised supporting employment, families and the housing market and the government’s commitment to tackle climate change. Its emphasis was on helping people through these difficult times and taking steps to build for our future, growing our way out of recession rather than cutting our way out.

One of the most important elements of the Chancellor’s speech was the promise that our young people will not be disregarded given the risks of long-term unemployment. While in the Thatcherite 1980s a generation became trapped out of work, this week’s Budget guaranteed that everyone under the age of 25 who has been out of work for 12 months will be offered a job or a place in training. Families will also be given extra help, with a significant increase in tax credits per child. Across Streatham, this will benefit 13,740 families and 23,900 under-16s. Opportunities for tax-free savings through ISAs will be extended as the annual investment limit rises to £10,200 next year.

Budget 2009 will also reassure homeowners and buyers. To meet demand for housing and make affordable homes available for those taking their first step up on the housing ladder, the chancellor pledged a £600m funding package for the building of new homes. Additionally, this will help create jobs and boost the construction industry. The Stamp Duty holiday for homes worth under £175,000 has been extended until the end of the year to help new buyers.

This was the world’s first Carbon Budget, as required by the Climate Change Act. Accordingly, we saw large invesment in renewable energy, with a programme of £5bn funding for wind and solar energy. Low-carbon industries will benefit from £1.4bn of support, while £375m was allocated to increase energy and resource efficiency in businesses, public buildings and households over the next two years. These measures will lay the foundations of Britain’s low-carbon economy, enabling us to meet our ambitious carbon emissions targets.

The focus of the Budget reflects the need to help people and build for the future right now, rather than cutting back when people need support most.

Gabriel Huntley