Green Deal

Yesterday Liberal Democrat Chris Huhne announced details of the Green Deal, a new and radical way of making energy efficiency improvements available to everyone – whether people own or rent their properties. The Green Deal will enable everyone to have a chance to save energy, cut their bills and tackle climate change, just as the Lib Dems promised in our manifesto.Over the next two years, we will almost double insulation rates, ensuring an extra 3.5 million homes benefit from new installations with targeting for the most vulnerable and low-income households, so that those who need it most can say goodbye to heat leaking lofts and chilly drafts. Apart from saving the planet it will help keep people well.

The Green Deal should also create 100,000 new jobs making Britain greener.

Then from 2012 the Green Deal will enable ALL householders to improve their homes with no up-front cost, with the work being paid back from savings on energy bills. Householders will be protected by an independent energy survey and accredited installers to ensure that installation standards are high.
As a Liberal Democrat I believe that no one should miss out on warmer homes. Unfortunately many private tenants were let down by Labour. In

East Dulwich ward alone of the 3,500 roofs 649 have zero loft insulation. Crazy with many due to landlords having no interest in energy efficiency. This is bourne out nationall with over half a million private rented homes have the very lowest F or G energy rating, and yet they benefited from only two per cent of the previous Labour insulation schemes.The Green Deal will change this. Landlords will face no upfront cost and will benefit from improved properties. By 2015 every tenant should be able to be warm in their home. I hope and expect that landlords will respond positively to the Green Deal. But if the evidence shows that they are failing to take up this once-in-a-generation opportunity, Chris Huhne has made it clear the national government will respond. If necessary he has stated he will create powers so that by 2015, any tenant who asks for a Green Deal cannot be refused. Potentially giving local authorities the power to insist that landlords improve the worst performing homes. The fight against climate change and chaos took a huge step forward this week.

Have you insulated your home?

Could you do more?Will you join in with the Green Deal?Click here to find out more about the Green Deal

Southwark Alcohol Profiles

The Liverpool John Moore University Centre for Public Health published the latest Alcohol Profile for England – http://www.cph.org.uk/showPublication.aspx?pubid=661

The lead headlines are a 65% increase in English hospital admissions in the five years to 2008/09 – which equates to an EXTRA 825 people admitted to hospital a day. Around 15,500 people a year die as a consequence of alcohol.

Across England 415,059 crimes were attributable to alcohol with 12.2 crime per 1,000 residents in London – roughly 10% of all crime.

One of the drivers for all this is felt to be the price and the availability of alcohol.

To see local representation of this date: http://www.nwph.net/alcohol/lape/ where you click on the map and then select and change the area to Southwark. Southwark is shown as significantly worse than the regional average for male mortality from Liver disease, male hospital admissions from alcohol. What I find even more troubling is that Southwark is significantly worse than the London average for alcohol attributable recorded crimes, violent crimes and sexual offences. What’s sad is this is repeated in Lambeth and Lewisham.

In Southwark we have Alcohol Licensing Saturation zones in a few parts of Southwark. I can’t help feel that we need all Southwark to be treated as saturated to stem this alcohol induced crime wave. That licences in Southwark need to find a way to stop price promotion of alcohol. That this should especially apply to shops and supermarkets.

Free milk

Amazing to see no.10 react so quickly when the Health Minister Anne Milton suggested reviewing stopping the free 189ml milk for nursery kids every school day. Apparently this would save £50m. Free milk is also given to private schools.

It seems entirely sensible to review whether this policy is getting the best results for kids.

Is full fat milk the best idea we can can come up with for £50m per annum for the health and development of our children?

Is their a soya milk alternative for kids who don’t like or are allergic to cow’s milk. Is this policy as much or more to do with ensuring custom for the milk industry.

Apparently in Finland they rapidly went from the highest heart issues and cholesterol to some of the lowest in Europe. They stopped having full fat milk – adults and children stopped. They have skimmed milk.

Do you think free milk for kids is the best way to help them? Has this policy been developed with nutrionists views or the politics of keeping farmers happy and folksy science?

School meals

Just been reading about a charity www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk who have a process they take schools through where tiny small changes can dramatically increase the proportion of school kids choosing to eat school meals. This clearly also makes free school meals more attractive.

One change was allowing key stage 2 pupils to have self-service recognising their increasing desire for independence and also reducing waste.

Another school introduced grab-bags so pupils taking school meals could grab a bag with a good school meal in it and sit with friends who brough lunches in.

This month the School Food Trust is arranging free training for local education authorities on how to promote school free meals.

Southwark Labour party are planning to introduce free school meals. Without following the School Food Trust type changes these meals will miss the mark with many Southwark school kids. Equally with such changes offering free school meals is an over reaction.

East Dulwich Cleaner, Green, Safer 10_11

The East Dulwich councillors have selected the following schemes for Cleaner, Greener, Safer funding:

– Traffic calming in East Dulwich bounded and including Lordship Lane, East Dulwich Grove and Melbourne Grove specifically including Matham Grove. £25,000.

– East Dulwich Carbon Fund funding measures to reduce CO2 and fuel proverty in East Dulwich. £30,000. First £25,000 allocated to addressing the 647 homes without loft insulation in East Dulwich which is the most cost effective way of reducing CO2. Last £5,000 to try other ideas.

– Goose Green school greenwall planting along Grove Vale. £5,000. Reducce the visual impact of Goose Green school on Grove Vale and as important create a much better play environment for school kids both visually, but also green wals absorb pollution and noise.

– East Dulwich Crime Prevention Fund. £10,000. Further projects to build on the huge success of preventing crime in East Dulwich.

– Gating alleyways. Installing more alley gates in East Dulwich specifically on Northcross Road and Shawbury Road. Eliminating more anti social hotspots.

– Street trees. £12,400. Planting more street tress in East Dulwich. So far around 220 tress planted in last four years. Plan to experiment with planting them in new build outs further from peoples homes and calming traffic.

– East Dulwich station extra covered waiting area. £6,000. Matched funding with Southern Railways. Make using East Dulwich station into central London more comfortable and pleasant to use.

– Bicycles for Schools. £8,000. Offer every East Dulwich school access to bicycle pools.

– Eco dry cleaners. £2,000. Encourage East Dulwich dry cleaners to become eco dry cleaners. Currently dry cleaners use Perchlorate chemicals which can be carninogenic. Other chemicals can be less eco damaging.

 I had also applied to other wards for CGS projects which were rejected:

– Expanding Dulwich Library £5,000

– Crime prevention funds for Village ward, College ward, Peckham Rye ward. Really disappointed by this as easy cheap measures to reduce crime have not been adopted. Some fellow councillors seem to view crime prevention as purley a Police matter.

Missing 50,000 residents

One of my councillor colleagues testified to the London Regional Parliamennts Select Committee regarding the 2011 census. The MPs heard a unified message from Newham, Southwark and Westminster councils about how hard it is to count residents.

Each resident attracts roughly £600 of funding from central government.

Currently central government believes 270,000 residents are residents in Southwark. Southwark currently has 320,000 people registered with GPs. That means roughly £30M of central government grants are not being made to Southwark.

It seems unlikely as planned the 2011 Census will close any of that gap. Worringly it could well open it up further.

Improving the NHS

Earlier this week the Liberal Democrats launched its Health Policy.  

Our first priority will be protecting frontline care in tough financial times in areas such as cancer care, mental health treatment, maternity services and dementia treatment. We will also give patients more control over their treatment, by radically cutting central spending at the Department of Health and electing Health Boards to make key decisions about local services. And under the Liberal Democrats if patients do not get treated on time by the NHS we will pay for them to be treated privately. 

We are also showing our commitment to carers in England. We believe that people who selflessly provide care to their loved ones deserve a break.  If you are in employment you are entitled to paid holidays but for a huge number of carers that simply isn’t an option. We believe that respite care is a lifeline – not just for carers but for whole families.  That’s why we will provide a week’s break from caring every year to the 1 million unpaid carers who provide more than 50hrs care each week.

Getting healthcare right is hugely important to all of us. Only our party has the values and principles that can deliver the NHS our country deserves.

Neighbourhoods that can kill

Reading the latest New Scientist 16 January 2010,  article about collaborative research between sociologists and biologists looking at two neighbourhoods in Chicago comparing populations from Clearing (well to do area) with Englewood (very poor crime ridden area). Suggests that residents of Englewood are contantly under  stress and being on the alert and in a heightened state of readiness with high levels of cortisol. That this means such residents are much more prone to malignant breast cancers  at +68%. That standard anti cancers drugs don’t work.

Suggests that social isolation and fear of crime cause an overload of stress hormones that actually change human cell biology and that social interventions may be the best way to fight such cancers.

Reported that others have hints of stress and social deprivation causing greater diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Similarly research into prostate cancers has found that prognosis is worse for black men without the support of social networks from families or friends.

What does this mean for Southwark with its very deprived areas? Do we have such social isolation to cause such terrible illness?

Friern Road bus stands

The bus stands at the junction of Friern Road with Lordship Lane represent the terminal points for the number 12 and 40 bus routes and any buses from routes 176, 185, etc that are turned around earlier. Over the last ten years bus numbers have increased – all great stuff.

BUT this terminus has no facilities. No toilets for bus drivers. This means when desperate the bus drivers have had to ‘go’ wherever they can. This has spilled into anti social problems for the residents in Rycott Path and Friern Road. To such a degree that the Police are involved.

Transport for London obtained planning permission 2007 for a drivers toilet to be installed. I’ve finally tracked down the hold-up. EDF power lines. Council officers have agreed to waive the normal notice periods and try geeing up EDF a major supplier to Southwark Council.

Hopefully within the next eight weeks the toilet can be installed and the area become just a little bit more civilised.