My October E-Newsletter

1. What you have been writng to me about

2. Police numbers plunge by nearly a third between 2011 and 2014
3. Basement excavatons-they go on, and the percentage refused carries on falling
4. Fly-tpping-a growing concern
5. New fgures show 43% of Westminster children are below the poverty line
6. Why we need more for the NHS-and how to pay for it
7. Local round up/what I have been doing this month

What you have been writing to me about
I contnue to receive several hundred e-mails a day, ranging from requests for help with a wide range of
problems, requests for tours of the Houses of Parliament, to leters about the big issues of the day. Here are
my responses to the most popular issues of the last few weeks:
Recall of MPs
Afer Scotland - why we need a Consttutonal Conventon for the whole country- my artcle for the Wood
and Vale
Recogniton of Palestne
Police numbers plunge by nearly a third between 2011 and 2014

Overall, there has been a long-term decline in crime, which is very welcome. Despite this, there are numer-
ous hot spots which present a challenge to the police, council and community - from street drinking in
Maida Hill market to ant-social behaviour issues in Church Street, Hall Place and Queens Park. In recent
weeks consttuents have also contacted me about robberies in St Johns Wood and burglaries in Maida Va-
le. The old Safer Neighbourhood police model, which involved a dedicated local police team of at least 6 in
each ward, no longer exists. However, and, despite the promises made when St Johns Wood and Harrow
Road police statons closed, the total police strength in Westminster fell by almost one third between 2011
and 2014. I have writen about this issue on my website here.
Basement excavations-total tops 800 and the percentage refused carries on falling
We are stll waitng for new Westminster Council guidance on basement excavatons to come into force, as
the number of applicatons in the last 6 years has topped 800. While we are waitng, the percentage of ap-
plicatons contnues to fall, with just 12% refused in the last year. See here for more detail:
htp://karenbuck.dreamhosters.com/index.php/karenb/artcles/basement_excavatons_-
_the_story_contnues/
Fly-tpping-a growing concern


Reports come in from all over the consttuency illustratng the problem of fy-tpping, rubbish dumping and
over-fowing bins. We need to get the message out that this is an unpleasant and ant-social actvity - but
Westminster Council also need to see what steps they can take to improve enforcement, especially as it is
obvious that some the tpping results from building works and is obviously done by building contractors.
You can report illegal waste via: www.westminster.gov.uk/report-it-waste
Dont forget also that if you are on a low income, you may be able to have bulky items collected free.
Just 4 prosecutons for dog owners who dont clear up!
On the topic of dirt and everyday nuisance, few things upset people more than irresponsible dog-owners! It
now turns out that only 4 people have been prosecuted in Westminster over the last year! Cllr Dimolden-
berg found out that:
In the last 12 months 4 penalty notces have been issued for failing to clear dog fouling from the public
highway, 2 of which have currently been paid and 2 are stll pending. In additon only 10 verbal warnings
have been given for failure to dispose of bagged dog waste correctly, although this is a key issue in some
wards.
Cllr Dimoldenberg says: This everyday problem needs more atenton and more resources to tackle those
irresponsible dog owners who make life difcult and unpleasant for everyone else. The Council and the po-
lice need to take tough acton against those who do not abide by the law. This may not be the most high-
profle issue but it is one of the most common problems raised by residents right across Westminster.

New fgures show 43% of Westminster children are below the poverty line

Westminster is a borough of extremes, and many people from outside the area are astonished to hear that
child poverty levels are the 7th highest in the whole country. Some wards, like Church Street and Queens
Park have exceptonally high levels, but even in places like Maida Vale, the fgure is 1 in 3. Why? Too many
people in low paid work, very high housing costs, expensive childcare and relatvely high levels of mental ill
health. What can we do? Raise the Minimum Wage, promote the London Living Wage (as many employers
could pay more), build more afordable homes (rather than permit just luxury housing everywhere) and
ofer more hours of free childcare.
Heres the report so you can look up the fgures anywhere in the country:
Low pay and its costs
Heres my speech from Parliament last week setng out why Londons low pay crisis is bad for workers, bad
for the economy and bad for the welfare budget. Amazingly, the number of working households forced to
rely on Housing Beneft is set to double as a result of current policies!
Why we need more for the NHS - and how we can pay for it
The NHS is facing the toughest fnancial squeeze in its history, not helped by the 3 billion cost of the Gov-
ernments re-organisaton. Doctors, nurses and health charites are warning that we are close to breaking
point. Even with a major new drive to improve public health (and I would support much tougher acton lo-
cally on things like air quality and road safety), even by bringing health and social care together to work
more as a single service, we need to fnd more money.
Our plan is to raise 2.5billion a year, on top of the spending plans we inherit, for an NHS Time to Care
Fund. This will support an additonal 20,000 nurses and 8,000 GPs. Our extra funding means we will guaran-
tee patents in England will wait no longer than one week for cancer tests and results by 2020.
This extra cash injecton for the NHS is to come from a levy on tobacco frms, acton to tackle tax avoidance
and close loopholes, and a new charge tax on prime value propertes worth more than 2million at todays
prices.

Why do this and how will it work?
It seems increasingly unfair that the owners of propertes whose worth now stretches to 100m or more
(think of One Hyde Park, which went for 140m! ) pay the same annual property tax as someone whose
home is valued at 320k (the current Band H threshold for Council Tax.). Even a report commissioned by
Westminster Council this year into Prime propertes proposed a number of additonal property tax bands
to refect the changes at the top end, refectng this inequity.
It is fair to ask those people in the most expensive Prime Propertes - less than 0.5% of the total - to con-
tribute some more - and help deal with the severe and growing fnancial pressures on the NHS. However,
there will be tough safeguards, especially for the minority of owners who are very long-standing who have
lived in the area for many years and whose homes have risen in value over tme. The safeguards include
permitng everyone (except top rate tax-payers) to defer payment untl sale at a tme of their choosing. No-
one whose home is currently worth below 2 million will be afected which will exclude almost 90% of
Westminster propertes. And that threshold will go up annually in line with high value property prices. Addi-
tonally, the charge will be banded so that those whose homes are worth just over 2 million will pay much
less that the charge on propertes worth many tmes that amount - the charge for a home worth between
2 and 3 million is to be 250 monthly
Heres Ed Balls artcle in the Evening Standard setng out the argument.
Local Round Up
Acton on speeding cars on Saltram Crescent


I have been supportng the campaign to reduce trafc speeds in and around the Saltram triangle. Ward
Councillors met with Cllr Argar, Martn Low and other trafc ofcers from Westminster Council on 18th Sep-
tember to take forward optons for improvement - the idea is for a series of 'give way' bays along Saltram
Crescent. Councillors have said that the residents must be consulted on this and a meetng is being held at
St Luke's Church, Fernhead Road, W9 3EH on Wednesday 26th November 2014 from 6:30pm.
There is also a petton calling for a 20mph speed limit in the area. Please fnd the link here
Advice for Leaseholders


Leaseholder issues are a major concern for many of my consttuents. If you are having problems with your
lease it is important to get good advice quickly. I organised an advice event for leaseholders living on Maida
Vale, putng around thirty residents in touch with the Leasehold Advisory Service, a government body
ofering free and impartal advice on residental leasehold law. For more informaton or to contact LEASE,
visit www.lease-advice.org
Turned away- speaking at Crisis conference on single homelessness
I spoke at the Crisis conference on homelessness on the problems facing single homeless people, who are
ofen not found to be in priority need and are frequently turned away with no help. I quoted local exam-
ples, such as a young man with psychosis who the Council has been turning away for over a year as non-
priority, a young man sleeping in a car because of family breakdown in the chronically over-crowded fat,
and a 74 year old woman who has been wrongly advised by 3 diferent councils.
Bike repair project
Working with Stuart Marshall, the CWH ofcer responsible for responding to crime and ant-social behav-
iour in Queens Park, I have helped secure a number of bikes for a youth project, in which young people will
mend and re-furbish old bikes. Well done, Stuart, for your hard work on this.
Rosh Hashanah


I am once again grateful to the children from St Johns Wood Liberal Jewish Synagogue for designing my
Rosh Hashanah card, and for invitng me to present prizes to the winners.
Results of my Thames Water Survey
Around 140 people responded to my survey about the Thames Water works taking place in Maida Hill and
Litle Venice and the full results are available on my website here
Overall feedback has not been positve and you have told me about poor communicaton from Thames Wa-
ter, frustraton with delays and many problems including noise and environmental issues, worse trafc and
increased difculty getng around the area.
Based on residents responses, I have writen to Thames Water to ask them to take acton to improve the
situaton for local people. I have requested an assurance that works can be completed in line with the cur-
rent deadline, beter and more frequent communicaton, help for those living right next to the work sites
and, given that my survey found that residents in Maida Hill had been most disrupted by the project, major
improvements to Tamplin Mews Gardens as a form of recompense.
Dora House
In recent weeks my ofce has been contacted by dozens of Dora House residents with their thoughts about
the imminent Dora House demoliton and refurbishment. In response to the concerns I have contacted
landlord Central & Cecil and Westminster City Council to raise these with them. Many residents also wanted
to meet with me to discuss their thoughts in person, and so I have arranged to meet with residents and
Central & Cecil on Friday 24 October. The meetng will be held at Dora House between 3-5pm and will be a
chance for residents to discuss their concerns with me and to have their questons answered by Central &
Cecil. I feel this meetng is especially important as it would seem from the number of people that have
goten in touch that several residents do not seem to have fully engaged in this very disruptve process and
so creatng this forum I feel is important.
Thank you for reading

Kind regards,



Karen Buck MP

Website: www.karenbuck.org.uk
Twiter: KarenPBuckMP
Facebook: KarenBuckMP
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