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CLLR IAN CLEMENT WRITES
Bexley needs better public transport.
We need it to support our growing communities and to help generate new jobs.
And we deserve it because public transport in Bexley is less developed than anywhere else in the capital.
Bexley is currently the only London borough without a tube, tram or light rail link. And the Government currently has no plans to change this.
Kent Fastrack and Greenwich Waterfront Transit are great transport schemes – but they are set to end either side of our borough. We’re pressing for a new North Bexley Transit system to join them up. It would create a high quality public transport ‘spine’ through the north of the borough.
The DLR is scheduled to arrive at Woolwich Arsenal in 2009 – just short of Bexley. We’re pushing for it to be extended to Thamesmead, which would go a long way to tackle the area’s isolation.
And the planned Crossrail service is set to end at Abbey Wood. We’re pushing for it to be extended across Bexley to Ebbsfleet, giving local commuters a connection to Canary Wharf and the City.
It’s not just new routes we’re after. We’re also putting pressure on Network Rail and South Eastern Trains to introduce 12-carriage trains on our local lines, to help tackle overcrowding. We’re told that adding extra train services would be difficult, but it would be relatively simple to add more carriages to the trains that are already running. And it would make a real difference to the thousands of people who travel on them during the rush hour.
The list of improvements we’re pressing for is a long one, but that’s because Bexley’s public transport needs have been neglected for too long.
They would deliver social, environmental and economic benefits that would more than justify the investment involved. Benefits to Bexley and the wider Thames Gateway.
I will be working as hard as I can to put Bexley’s case to anyone I think can help – and anyone who will listen. And I won’t give up until Bexley gets the public transport system it needs – and it deserves.
MP John Austin Writes
It has been an exciting few weeks at Westminster in the run up to and the hand-over of power from Tony Blair to Gordon Brown. And we are in for an interesting and exciting few months. There will certainly be a new style of government under Gordon Brown and as someone who has known him over the years, I know that he is a man of integrity, with a serious commitment to building a more equal society – here at home and internationally.
He has been the most successful and longest serving Chancellor of the Exchequer in modern times – he has delivered the strongest economy in Europe and the regeneration that has enabled the largest ever investment in our health and education services. I am pleased that he has now put affordable housing high on his priorities.
I am proud to have nominated him for the Leadership of our Party.
I supported Hilary Benn for Deputy Leader and naturally I am disappointed that he didn’t win; but I am pleased that he has been given one of the most important jobs as Secretary of State for the Environment. Tackling climate change and environmental pollution and degradation is probably the biggest challenge facing us for the future and I can think of no person better-suited to do this job.
But while the eyes of the world have been on Westminster, there have been important things happening locally. I was very disturbed to learn a few weeks ago that the Neighbourhood Nursery situated at the Bexley Business Academy is threatened with closure. The nursery serves a high need area, including parts of Slade Green, Erith, Belvedere and Thamesmead and it would be a major blow to many working parents if it were to close.
The Academy says that it has only recently discovered that it is in financial difficulty; but all the evidence suggests this isn’t so and they must have known about the situation for months, if not years and yet they failed to tell the council or the government, both of who could have put in measures to remedy the situation.
It seems the Academy expects the government or the Council to bail them out. That was certainly the impression I got when I spoke to their Chief Executive. She was, however, unwilling to allow me to attend a meeting which had been organised with parents. She even prevented the parents from taking an independent observer with them to the meeting. The Academy has received almost £500,000 from the government to set up the nursery plus several hundred thousand pounds from other government and local council funds. They signed up to a business plan whereby the nursery would be self-funding after 3 years but their business plan and their monitoring went badly wrong. I wonder if they should still call themselves a “Business Academy”?
I am currently engaged in discussions with the Minister and the Council to see how we can resolve this matter to ensure that the Nursery remains open. I hope to have some good news by the time the next Gateway News comes out.
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Jamelia will be headlining this year’s Trust Thamesmead Summer Festival which co-insides with Thamesmead’s 40th birthday. Keeping in theme, acts from the last four decades, including Showaddywaddy, The Real Thing, Sybil, Antony Costa, The Honeyz and Trust Thamesmead’s T Factor winners Audio Hawk will all be performing on stage.
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