Hello!

It has been a busy few weeks since the election, and I’m beginning to get used to parliamentary life as my commons office gets up and running.

First of all, I want to remind PutneySW15 readers of how they can contact me with any issues or concerns:

Email:  greeningj@parliament.uk

Phone Contacts:
Constituency office on 0208 944 0378 (to get an appointment at my weekly surgery)
Westminster office on 0208 2198300

By writing to me at:
House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA

I hold a weekly surgery, and if you’d like to attend, give my constituency office a call on 0208 944 0378 and we’ll book you an appointment at the next surgery.

I’ve already raised a number of local issues in Westminster and have met with our local police chief Joe Royle, and District Line manager Bob Thorogood – those meetings will continue.  If residents have crime issues or District Line issues that they would like me to raise in future meetings, I would urge them to get in touch with me and let me know.

District Line:  We’ve good news on the District Line.  At my first meeting with Mr Thorogood he confirmed to me capacity will be added in June 2006 to our stretch of the District Line.  We’ll have more tubes serving Putney and Wimbledon every hour, which should relieve some of the over-crowding we all experience daily.  This comes after three years of campaigning, so I am very pleased that we are making some progress at long last.  It’s a step in the right direction, and I’ll keep pressing for more improvements over the coming months.  As other District Line users will know, the service over recent months has been particularly poor.  Some repairs to points and signalling was done over May, but if residents using the District Line can let me know whenever they have a problem with it – whether at the station, or on the tube journey – that will help me continue to press the case for the improved service we need.

Aircraft Noise:  There is a Night Flights Consultation happening right now – the closing date for residents to comment is 16^th September.  Have your say before the deadline.  You can get a copy of the consultation from the Department for Transport website on this link  

The proposal is for 10% more night flights – totally ignoring residents’ views - so we’d see the current 16 night flights rise to 18 night flights on average.  That’s bad news for residents who live under the flight path and I’ve already pressed Karen Buck, the Aviation Minister to think again and put residents’ views at the forefront of the decision instead of in the background.  This new regime will start from October 2006.  Instead of increasing night flights, we should have a proposal to see them stopped altogether and that’s what I’ll be battling for in Parliament.

Policing:  I meet and am in regular contact with Wandsworth Borough Commander, Joe Royle on local policing issues.  We now have two safer neighbourhood police teams in Roehampton and West Hill.  I hope they will be successful in preventing and reducing crime.  I’m pleased that we’re starting to catch up our lost police resources, though we still have fewer trained police officers in Wandsworth than in 1997.  I’ll be pressing to get more police back out on the beat to bolster Joe Royle’s team in Putney.  We need to make sure whether you live in Putney, Roehampton or Southfields, it’s a safe place to live – day and night.

Robin Hood Gate:  The final decision by David Lammy MP, Parks Minster was to keep the gate shut, in spite of public opinion to reopen it.  Lots of residents have written to me protesting about this and I’ve raised this issue with Mr Lammy on the floor of the House of Commons.  Interestingly he has visited Richmond Park since then, which may suggest he is rethinking the decision.  I think if he was coming to the area he should have met with residents and myself as MP, but I will nevertheless keep pressing for the gate to open again and relieve the congestion and pollution its closure has caused.

I’ve also spoken in Parliamentary debates on issues such as housing and mobile phone masts, but I’ll leave those for another update.

Don’t forget to get in touch if you need my help or you are concerned about a local issue – I’ll do my best!

Justine Greening MP
Putney, Roehampton & Southfields