July E-Newsletter 1. Government to relax rules on ‘holiday lets’

2. Paddington Festival 2014-it’s here

3. What do I think about…? Giving you feedback on what you have been writing to me about

4. A word of advice

5. Westminster Council want ‘more luxury housing’ as housing crisis deepens

6. West London’s NHS under pressure

7. Ramadan Mubarak

8. A ‘postie’ for the morning:

9. Round the houses - some issues from the constituency

Government to relax rules on ‘holiday lets’

Despite cross-party opposition from inner London councils, including Westminster, and the deep concerns expressed by amenity societies, like the South East Bayswater Resi-dents' Association, the Marylebone Association and the Maida Vale and Paddington Waterways Association, the government has now gone ahead with plans to loosen con-trols on short-lets.

Ministers argue that householders should be free to let out rooms for up to 90 days a year without asking for permission, and it is certainly true that no-one wants to see peo-ple prosecuted for a fortnight’s holiday homeswap or something similar.

However, places like Bayswater, Lancaster Gate, Maida Vale and Marylebone are already under huge pressure because so much money can be made from letting properties to short term visitors, as it is, Westminster has had to take around 500 enforcement actions a year to keep a check on the problem.

Gloucester Place

The short-term let business reduces the number of inner London homes available for people to actually live in. On top of this, residents in blocks where this is already a prob-lem report higher levels of nuisance, noise and rubbish, and with fewer permanent residents, it is harder to keep a sense of community.

Here’s my speech in Parliament

My article in the Wood and Vale

And a powerful blog from the Marylebone Society

What do you think? I am very keen to hear about your views and experiences.

Drop me an email at buckk@parliament.uk or do my survey online here.

Paddington Festival 2014

Enjoy the events taking place this summer under the “Paddington Festival” banner...There’s loads going on, lots of it is free.

Here’s the guide telling you everything that’s going on and don’t forget to support your local markets.

We have two, of course - Church Street, and now the re-launched Maida Hill Market-at the Prince of Wales junction on Harrow Road. We are all delighted with the new mar-ket, but it needs your support. Please come on down!

What do I think about…

Every month, hundreds of constituents contact me about issues they are concerned about, that may have been in the news, or are to do with laws being put forward by the government.

Here are some of my replies to recent queries: Fracking

Recall of MPs Sharing taxation data TTIP Negotiations Breast Cancer awareness

A word of advice

My caseload shows that the need for advice and assistance continues to grow, but even as Paddington Law Centre has moved out of North Westminster after forty years. New figures show what has been happening to legal aid all over the country:

In 2013-14 there were 1.8 million acts of assistance supported by legal aid compared to 2.3 million in 2012-13, a fall of 20 per cent.

Dramatic falls happened in

• Criminal legal aid work, especially in respect of Magistrate’s Courts

• Family Law-which saw a 60 per cent drop in one year, equivalent to 30,000 cases

• Housing, more than halved since 2010, from 126,000 to 55,000

• Debt, down from 128,751 in 2010 to 81,993 last year

But even though services are getting more stretched, it is still important not to leave it till the last minute to ask for help: Here are some places to go:

Advice Plus sessions at the Church Street Library on Wednesdays 10-12 and the Beethoven Centre, Third Avenue W10 on Mondays 1-3 (Beethoven session includes a Job Club)

Westminster CAB link here

Law Centre sessions in North Westminster by appointment. For more information click the link Councillors surgeries for Harrow Road, Queen’s Park, Church Street, Westbourne Councillors and Cllr Begum can be found through this link here. For all other details call: 020 7641 2230

Voluntary Action Westminster has joined new local local charity called 'One Westminster' and they a offering volunteering workshops and volunteer opportunities. All their information is on there website linked here.

And here’s a map of local advice sessions:

Westminster Council supports more ‘luxury housing’ as housing crisis deepens

You might think we were doing alright for luxury housing in inner London, and neede to build some more affordable homes for sale and rent.

Yet a ‘sales brochure’ distributed to participants at the London Real Estate Forum held in Berkeley Square on 11th-12th June says the Council’s ‘development opportunity ar-ea in north Westminster offers space for future growth, only moments from the West End’.

Labour council leader Paul Dimoldenberg has said that, as part of a plan to “encourage development and increase density”, the council is planning the demolition of council homes and their replacement with luxury apartments and new office developments, which will extend the West End northwards into Paddington and the rest of north West-minster.

We can already see this happening, with luxury flats on the site of the former Adult Education Centre in Amberley Road (marketed for £890,000 for a 1-bed flat), the now-closed police stations in St John’s Wood and Harrow Road, the Jubilee sports centre and more.

Meanwhile, more and more people are priced out of both local home ownership and renting, over-crowding intensifies, homelessness rises and the council introduces tough-er rules (again) for homeless families.

West London’s NHS under pressure

St Mary's Hospital

Many of you will be aware that there are plans to close a number of Accident and Emergency Units across West London, concentrating these emergency services at St Mary’s. Hammersmith and Central Middlesex A+Es are due to close in the autumn. Last month, the Evening Standard ran a worrying story which suggested that St Marys would be stretched so severely by this extra demand that they would have to routinely use the beds they reserve to cope for exceptional winter pressures.

I met with Imperial to discuss this and seek reassurances that emergency services will not reduce elsewhere unless and until we can be confident St Mary’s can cope.

They assure me that they will be able to manage, but I will obviously be wanting to monitor this very closely.

This is what I wrote to them about my concerns:

Here is Imperial’s reply to me:

We all agree that we want to reduce the pressure on hospitals, such as Accident and Emergency admissions, by improving GP and community services. I was, therefore, con-cerned to discover that Westminster Clinical Commissioning Group has also had to contribute £10 million towards meeting the financial pressures on outer London areas. This is on top of Westminster Council’s further cuts to social care budgets, which were estimated at £2.9m this year. If social and primary care are to improve to relieve hospital services, they will need adequate investment.

Westminster residents need to know that St Mary’s will not be under unacceptable pressure from emergency admissions as other Accident and Emergency units close in West London and I will continue to make this case locally and nationally.

Ramadan Mubarak

To those marking the holy month of Ramadan.

Here’s Ed Miliband’s message:

I was pleased to catch up with everyone at the Regent’s Park mosque last week, to discuss issues of concern to the Muslim community.

Karen and Murad Qureshi

A ‘postie’ for the morning

Royal Mail invited me to become a ‘postie’ for the morning earlier this month, and I was pleased to do it, especially as my office has been getting complaints about poor post-al services, especially from the new providers TNT. I spent several hours in the main sorting office in Kilburn, talking to managers and staff, and then went out on an NW8 round.

I was very concerned by some of the reports of post being left on doorsteps or with neighbours who were not asked or even known to the mail recipient!Healthy competition is one thing, but Royal Mail can’t be undercut on quality, and we must make sure that we don’t end up undermining the universal delivery service if competitors ‘cherry pick’ only the profitable delivery areas.

Local round up

Thames Water Works Survey

Unfortunately the Thames Water works that are being carried out in the W9 and W2 areas have been further delayed. While these works are essential to prevent regular flooding of homes on Shirland Road and in Little Venice, I am disappointed that the schedule of works has already slipped so much. It is concerning that much needed local green space will be out of use for even longer than anticipated and local businesses are suffering due to a decline in passing trade.

Road closures will divert buses and other traffic 6, 187 and 414 down Elgin Avenue and up Chippenham Road, contributing to congestion and noise and adding to well-founded pedestrian safety concerns. The pedestrian crossing at the junction of Elgin and Chippenham was recently the scene of a tragic accident and I am anxious about the effects of another large influx of vehicles.

I am surveying residents in the most affected areas to find out which problems are causing the most disruption locally. I also want to find out what action you feel Thames Water or the council could take to improve the situation for the remainder of the works, which are not due to be fully completed until at least Spring 2015. I invite anyone with views on this issue to complete a survey on my website at www.karenbuck.org.uk

Elmfield Way

I am very pleased to be able to report that the council now appears to be taking local concern about parking and traffic management on Elmfield Way seriously. Council offic-ers are seeking estimates of the cost of upgrading the carriageway, a pre-cursor to taking control of the road, and one of the current owners, the Department of Health, has agreed to make a contribution towards the cost. Although negotiations are not yet complete, at the moment it looks like the upgrading and adoption of Elmfield Way will fi-nally happen.

Saltram Crescent traffic calming

Speeding traffic remains an issue at this location. Complaints from residents continue to come in and I have witnessed several near misses recently. The council were looking at what traffic calming measures might be feasible and I am pushing for an urgent update.

Warwick Avenue and Maida Vale Station engineering works

I have received a number of complaints from residents living near these two stations about excessive noise and vibrations, sometimes very early in the morning. I am keen to hear from local residents who have experienced this noise and learn how you have been affected, so I can raise the issue with TfL.

Edbrooke Road Gardens

Following complaints of noise and anti-social behaviour in the gardens after dark, I have been working with residents, the Police and the council to improve the situation.

Better lighting is now being trialled to make the park feel less secluded at night time, the Police Safer Neighbourhood Team have agreed to carry out extra patrols during the warmer summer months and anti-climb paint will soon be on the fences. I would appreciate any comments on how you feel these measures are working.

St Peter’s Primary School

After much campaigning by parents and Mews residents, the council have finally agreed to look at measures to calm speeding traffic on Chippenham Mews. New signage alerting drivers to the school is soon to go up and the council are looking at other measures to slow traffic, such as a line of planters along the Mews to force traffic to slow down. Unfortunately progress has been slow, but I am pushing the council to take further action.

Harrow Road Pedestrian Crossing

I am very pleased to see work starting on the improved pedestrian crossing at the junction of Harrow Road, Chippenham Road and Windsor Gardens. Works are scheduled to be completed by the August Bank Holiday. This should improve pedestrian safety on what was a dangerous section of road and goes to show that when residents come to-gether to push for change, we can get the council listen to us.

Eaton Plaza Maintenance Issues

I recently visited the Eaton Plaza estate along with local councillors. We were shocked by the number of residents who wanted to tell us about disrepair issues and poor maintenance services from Stadium and L&Q. Some of the flats we saw confirmed that many tenants here are not receiving the service they expect from their land-lords. What makes this even more disappointing is that the estate is relatively new, so it should not be difficult to keep it in a good state of repair. If you have been affected by this issue, please do get in touch.

Wharncliffe Gardens Major Works

I met with the Wharncliffe Residents’ association at a committee meeting at the end of June, to discuss resident’s concerns about the timetabling of the scheduled major works. I’m supporting residents in pressing CityWest Homes to move quickly with providing advice on payment options and hardship schemes. I hope to have further infor-mation to share with concerned residents very soon and will be sure to provide updates as and when I receive them.

Graffiti in NW1

Several local residents have contacted me about their concerns regarding graffiti popping up at a few locations in the area that had not been removed for several weeks. I contacted the council who sent local wardens to the sites to inspect the problem. The council inform me that their contractors have been alerted to the problem and should have the graffiti removed within seven working days. This is good news and hopefully will mean local residents can continue to enjoy their local area.

Rubbish collection

We seem to be dealing with a worsening problem of fly-tipping, overflowing rubbish and recycling bins in several places. I have been pressing for improvements to collection/enforcement around them before they become health hazards.

Prostitution in Westbourne Park

I have sent further reports of activity and an assault in this area to the police and Westminster Council, after residents from Aldridge Road and Leamington Villas contacted me again. The police are aware of the issue but neither they nor Westminster believe it is sufficient to justify measures such as CCTV. I am happy to keep pressing if residents report what they see to me (or copy me in to reports to the police).

Thank you for reading.

Karen Buck MP Website: www.karenbuck.org.uk

Twitter: KarenPBuckMP

Facebook: KarenBuckMP

Promoted by Robert Atkinson on behalf of Karen Buck MP at 4G Shirland Mews, Maida Hill, London, W9 3DY. The information used to supply this email is for the use of Karen Buck and will not be passed on to

any third party organisation.