Andrew Dismore

At the December Plenary, I questioned the Deputy Mayor for Housing over landbanking, in the process exposing the slow pace of building Millbrook Park in Mill Hill.

The Mayor has published a draft new guide on estate regeneration, which if it had been in force at the time of some of Conservative Barnet’s worst excesses, might well have prevented them. A real rebuke to the Barnet way of doing estate regeneration.

 

The Assembly Regeneration Committee meeting held on 7 December 2016 was a session on the future of regeneration funding and on the Mayor’s review of the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation. The draft minutes and transcript is here.

 

At MQT, I again raised the need for key worker housing for emergency service workers.

 

In December, Sadiq Khan set out plans for a £50m fund to help homeless people, including former rough sleepers and victims of domestic abuse, by delivering properties specifically earmarked for people needing to move on from hostels and refuges. The move-on accommodation will help homeless people, including young people and women, who are ready to move into a home of their own after spending time being supported in hostels and refuges.   The funding is available to housing providers as part of the Mayor’s £3.15bn Affordable Homes Programme. The Mayor invests a further £9m annually in services for rough sleepers in London, and recently launched his ‘No Nights Sleeping Rough’ taskforce – bringing together government, boroughs and key agencies to focus on how to prevent rough sleeping and help entrenched rough sleepers.

 

Turning to planning, you may be interested in these slides, presented to us at a briefing on the development of the next London Plan, which also explains why it takes so long to put it in place.

I have submitted objections to the plans for Hasmonean Boys’ School to move to Copthall, due to the loss of a substantial slice of green belt land.

Finally please see my Housing Plenary Written Questions and Answers.

6 Environment

For many years we have been pushing as the GLA Labour Group for a London-wide version of the Islington and Camden. SHINE Fuel Poverty Referral Scheme, in which residents who are considered to be at risk of fuel poverty are referred to council officers for a full energy audit. They also are then put in touch with other agencies who do benefit entitlement audits, smoke alarm checks and so on. The SHINE scheme is now be able to take referrals from anywhere in London, including Barnet as well as Camden, so this could make a significant dent in fuel poverty locally. So if you are concerned about fuel bills, or know somebody who is, go to http://www.shine-london.org.uk/

 

I have continued to support the campaign over the loss of diving facilities at Copthall pool: see my letter for publication.