Bush Village Hall saved?

Following lengthy negotiations, Shepherds Bush Village Hall in Bulwer Street has been sold to the Wigoder Family Foundation, allowing the council, it says, to spend the proceeds of the sale on front-line services.

In February 2011, the council chose to sell the hall and seven other buildings in order to reduce its historic debt, which at the time stood at £133 million.

The building is occupied by several popular community groups, including the Shepherds Bush Families Project, West and North West London Vietnamese Association and the West London School of Dance.

During the last year, the council has worked closely with these groups to find a solution that would keep the centre open and has even offered them first right of refusal. When a deal proved out of their reach, the groups made contact with the Wigoder Family Foundation, who has now signed on the dotted line after agreeing a price with the council.

The Wigoder Family Foundation was established with an endowment from Charles Wigoder, one of the UK's leading entrepreneurs, with the aim of supporting a wide range of charitable causes.

Cllr Joe Carlebach, cabinet member for community care said:

“In the true spirit of localism, the council pledged from the very outset to work with the current occupiers of the building to find an amicable solution. We said all along that we would not just take the money and run, so I am delighted that we have found a way to keep the hall open while reducing the burden on taxpayers.

“The unprecedented nature of the current economic climate means that if we are serious about protecting libraries, voluntary sector grants and services for the vulnerable we need to look elsewhere to make savings. Taxpayers have told us that they would prefer us to sell some buildings and I am sure they will be pleased that we have been able to keep the centre open at no cost to them.

“We are hugely proud of the contribution that the groups based at Bulwer Street make to the borough and we are delighted that they shall be remaining.”

A Widgoer Family Foundation spokesman said:  

“The foundation was deeply concerned when it heard about the intended closure of this much loved community resource, which had been providing space to a number of extremely worthwhile causes for over 20 years. Working closely with Hammersmith & Fulham Council, we are delighted to have been able to secure the purchase of the Village Hall, and thus provide the occupying charities with long-term accommodation on an affordable basis.”

The West London School of Dance currently hire out the ground floor hall of the building and will continue to do so to the existing hirers under the new arrangements.

The school’s director, Anna du Boisson, said:  

“It is absolutely wonderful that the council has recognised the importance of ballet and dance in the community. We are now in the process of creating a world class studio in an extraordinary space. It is great that Shepherds Bush will now be put on the map as a centre for classical ballet.”

Pollution in the Bush: 9/10 for dirt

People in Shepherd's Bush have been suffering under a cloud of pollution in recent weeks as the combined impact of stationary traffic, warm weather and a sheen of smog that covered London for much of the last fortnight produced a cloying fug that registered 9/10 for pollution in W12 on March 23rd.

I have the excellent BorisWatch blog to thank for alerting me to the reading, and the pollution monitoring site itself which is hosted by King's College London. Might be worth checking back there throughout the summer, especially if you have asthma.

It comes as Wood Lane has started to resemble a car park for large periods of the day, as it struggles to cope with the hordes of Westfield and some roadworks under the A40 bridge by White City, and shows no sign of easing off any time soon.

So what to do? Living in London you have to accept a degree of dirtiness, it's called the Big Smoke with good reason. But pollution has risen steadily under the last four years of Boris Johnson, who's only response to date has been a bizarre notion of "glueing" the pollution to the roads. An idea that Professor Frank Kelly of King's College called a "waste of public money". London's pollution continues to exceed European Commission standards and is responsible for thousands of deaths every year.

Ken Livingstone's endorsement by the Green Party was in part, they said, because of his own plans to tackle air pollution. But details on what precisely those plans are are hard to find.

Simon Less of the Guardian wrote a balanced view of Boris & Ken's approaches here and reached the conclusion that neither had really gone all out to do something meaningful about it - so you might want to keep an eye on what each of them say between now and polling day. And in the meantime keep checking back to find out just how dirty the air really is around you.

0900 UPDATE - The LibDems on the Greater London Authority have been in touch to pin the blame for the current pollution firmly on a lack of action by Boris ... on black cabs. The taxis, they say, are among the worst overall polluters in the city and an action plan launched with great fanfare by the blonde one to cut their emissions and transfer to clear air vehicles two and a half years ago has never actually been delivered. In fact it hasn't even started.

The 'Cleaner Taxi Fund' was planned to enable drivers to purchase new clean-air vehicles and cut the emissions dramatically. But Mike Tuffrey, of the LibDem Assembly Group said this:

"It's astonishing that nearly two-and-a-half years after first promising action to clean up London's taxi fleet the Mayor has failed on two of this key promises. Poor air quality in our capital accounts for an estimated 4,300 premature deaths each year, with taxis being the single biggest polluting vehicle in central London.

"The Mayor's dither and delay over these issues has been scandalous. It's clear the Mayor is failing in his duty to protect the health of Londoners"

0930 UPDATE - Blimey - the Daily Telegraph have also picked up on the story today and are running a story highlighting how, instead of actually trying to fix the problem as he promised, he has tried to mislead people instead. When the Torygraph is beating up on you like this in an election battle I think it's safe to say you haven't really got a leg to stand on.

Normally when I write stories like this the local media pick up on it later in the day - we shall see...

607 Trolleybus film: 1960, Shepherd's Bush

This is perfect for Friday - Shepherd's Bush is on show in the first minute or so of this film, in colour, from 1960 as the 607 trolleybus as it was then trundles through W12. Enjoy.

Ken Livingstone Battle Bus in Hammersmith

Ken Livingstone will be in Hammersmith this afternoon with all the whizz bangs you would imagine at the height of an electoral campaign which is still neck and neck. Ken and the bus he calls the Fare Deal Express are visiting all 32 London boroughs over two weeks with the message 'you're better off with Ken', highlighting the Labour candidate’s key pledges to ease the squeeze on ordinary Londoners.

Specifically, he promises an across the board fares cut which he says will be worth over £1,000 to every Londoner. 

The bus, balloons and the man himself will be at Lyric Square at 12.00 today, just in time to hit the lunchtime run in Hammersmith. Lucky, lucky shoppers.

 1400 UPDATE - Well, Ken came, he saw, and he tried to conquer! Actually he used this stop to launch a new pledge, packaged as a "voucher" for voters, pictured above,  to cut what he says will be over £1,000 from all of our annual fare bills. Here's what he had to say:

“I make no apology for the fact that the focus of my transport policy is to make it cheaper for Londoners to get around. This election is a referendum on who will make Londoners ‘better off’. Under my Fare Deal, the average fare payer will save £1,000 over the next four years - many will save much more.

‘Today I am launching my ‘London Travel Voucher’. I am saying to Londoners – keep hold of this voucher so that you have physical evidence of my promise to cut your fares. The voucher will be available online from today, but will only be valid if I am elected as Mayor on 3 May. Londoners who want to save £1,000 need to use their vote to cut fares.

‘Under Boris Johnson, millions of Londoners have been hit in their pockets and purses by the rising cost of living. I recognise the squeeze Londoners are feeling and alongside my fare cut I will freeze the Congestion Charge for 4 years and protect the Freedom Pass from age 60.” 

Ken then went on to buy himself a pasty in Hammersmith, from a stall on a sunny Lyric Square, before referring not just to the national story on the VAT rise on pasties introduced in the budget but also our very own fight in Shepherd's Bush to save A Cooke's Pie & Mash from H&F Council.

 Ken said:

"Like most Londoners I can't understand why the Tories want to introduce a new tax on pies - putting 20% on the cost of pasties and sausage rolls .

'London is famous around the world for pie and mash. We have some fantastic pie and mash shops in London from Romford to Shepherds Bush - I believe we have the best pies in the world.

'Thousands of Londoners work in the catering industry - why do the Tories want threaten their jobs? If Boris Johnson won't stand up for London on this issue I will."

When I last interviewed Ken, during his visit to Cooke's Pie & Mash, he said much the same then. Traders and shopowners in Shepherd's Bush who want to save this aspect of the Bush now know who to vote for. 

Hammersmith Bridge plaque for Marine Sam Alexander

The Plymouth Herald has the story that fallen Marine Sam Alexander, who was from Hammersmith, will have a plaque unveiled in his honour on Hammersmith Bridge this morning at 11am.




Mr Alexander, 28, was killed by an Improvised Explosive Device, after having won the Military Cross for charging a Taliban gunpost to provide cover for a wounded comrade. He and his family lived in Plymouth, the Marines being based there, and they along with others will be travelling to the ceremony this morning.

It is only the second such plaque to be fixed to the bridge, the first having been in honour of another soldier who in 1919 died attempting to rescue someone from the water.

Marine Alexander's mother told the Plymouth Herald:

"It is a tremendous solace to Sam's family and friends to have this memorial to him in so fitting a place. 

"His indomitable spirit, love of adventure and courage were evident at a very young age; as was his loving nature. 

"It is the wanting to make a better life for others that took him to Afghanistan, where he sincerely believed in the job that he was doing. 

"I am incredibly proud of him, but still miss him terribly."

The mayor of Hammersmith and Fulham, Councillor Frances Stainton, added:

"Sam Alexander has become a name to conjure with. 

"He stands for all that is best in our young men. He stands for the courage that goes way beyond what is asked for and for that unique love and loyalty soldiers in combat under fire discover."

New trees planted across H&F

76 new trees have been planted throughout the borough in recent weeks, including 10 on the Wormholt Estate in our own neck of the woods. 

Of the £10,000 provided by the Housing & Regeneration Department of our Council a total of £8,750 was spent on 15 new and 29 replacement trees on estates across H&F while 26 additional new trees were planted on housing estates in the central Hammersmith area funded by the Mayor of London. A further 6 new trees on the Clem Atlee Estate were funded by Aviva Insurance (as compensation for the removal of a line of mature poplars standing in Queens Club Gardens.)

The tree planting programme took place across the winter period and is now finished, with local contractors having spent a total of £10,000 - the remaining £1,250 from the original £10,000 having been used on the planting of scattered clumps of native whips (very small trees) and fruit trees.

All good stuff - as we're all noticing the sun makes a huge difference in how people seem to feel about themselves, and in an inner city borough like ours any green space is precious. One Councillor that clearly gets this is our old friend Cllr Harry Phibbs, who sent me the above details, and once invited you out on a tree walk around the borough. I disagree with much of the (mainly planning) decisions this Council takes but I have a lot of time for people like Harry, who clearly wants to spend time making a positive difference to people's surroundings. You don't get the big political credit for it a lot of the time, which is why many politicians don't really bother, but things like this really count. So well done him, and the Council. 

Now then, when's this work on Bush Green going to be over with?!

Heathrow third runway back on

The Government has been busily briefing Sunday journalists this week about a possible u-turn on their opposition to a third runway at Heathrow airport, which formed a key plank of their campaign to win votes here in West London.

At the time local Tories in H&F lampooned Andy Slaughter MP for having been a member of a Government who were committed to the introduction of a new runway and the extra flights and flying hours that would come with it. This is despite the fact that he had actually resigned his Ministerial position in order to fight the scheme. 

Our Council too produced leaflets and other materials in opposition to the Heathrow plans and pleged to die in the ditches before the runway came to pass. Leader of the Opposition David Cameron promised voters in Hammersmith that he would never let the runway pass. Boris Johnson, characteristically, came up with some new scheme involving a random island he’d found in the Thames Estuary which was immediately christened “Boris Island” – yielding acres of personal PR which was presumably the aim of the scheme. At the time I praised our Council 

How times change.

The stories that appeared in today’s Observer and Independent were placed there by Tory spin doctors acting as a classic “softening up” strategy from what I can see. The aim is to get people used to the possibility, see what sort of reaction they get and then press ahead with further announcements that will probably seek to blame the recession on having little option but to open London to other markets.

In the wake of today’s revelations the Conservative MP Greg Hands, of the neighbouring Chelsea constituency, has been uncharacteristically silent on the issue. He is normally the quickest to tweet and comment on local issues, but comment there has come none. Could this have something to do with the fact that as a Government Whip he has to support the idea or resign? Something tells me Mr Hands isn’t minded to resign.

But the real victim of all of this may well be Boris. As Ken Livingstone’s campaign descends into shambolic in-fighting in the wake of revelations about his own tax affairs we have now seen not just the Cash for Cameron affair on the national stage but now questions about whether or not Boris supports the idea of expanding Heathrow – and the worse thing about that for him is that he has to provide the answer before polling day.

Voters living under the flight path may wish to pay special attention, and vote accordingly.

MONDAY UPDATE - Late yesterday afternoon I received a response from both Greg Hands MP and Cllr Harry Phibbs from our Council, and also Boris Johnsons' camp on this story. Boris appears to be unequivocal while Mr Hands is a little bit on the fence but here they are -

Speaking to me on Twitter Mr Hands said:

Hmm - doesn't answer why George Osborne's media people decided to brief journalists that there was perhaps a case for the third runway after all.

Also speaking on social media Councillor Harry Phibbs re-iterated H&F Council's firm opposition:

But then, intriguingly, he added:

Meanwhile Boris Johnson's own camp weighed in with a very firm riposte indeed, with a spokesman releasing this statement to the same media that had been briefed by others in the Tory ranks that a third runway was a possibility:

"Boris Johnson said: ‘Heathrow has a great future as a key UK airport. But we cannot endlessly expand it, and cram a quart into a pint pot. 

A third runway would be an environmental disaster. It would mean a huge increase in plans over London, and intolerable traffic and fumes in the west of the city – and it will not be built as long as I am Mayor of London. 

That is why the Government is right to look at all new solutions for extra aviation capacity except the third runway at Heathrow. I look forward to engaging with Justine Greening’s consultation this summer. 

By contrast, Ken Livingstone’s useless anti-business policies would mean no extra aviation capacity anywhere in the south east. 

He offers no hope to British business that needs direct flights to Asia and Latin America.
His delusional programme seems to mean grounding the business community in London – but spending huge sums of taxpayers’ money for himself and his cronies to visit Hugo Chavez. That is no way to grow the London economy."

Note - 'while I am Mayor of London' - even if the scheme was given absolute go ahead within Boris' second term it would not, of course, be built while he was Mayor of London. So, as ever with Boris, when you look beneath the bluster all is not quite as it seems. 

Askew Road Stabbing

Forensics officers take photographs of crime scene

A man was stabbed in the Askew Cuts barber shop on the corner of Askew and Goldhawk Roads at around 6pm this evening according to witnesses and other sources I have spoken to at the scene. I am reliably informed that a weapon has been found and that the chief suspect for the stabbing has handed himself in at a police station and is now in custody.

Witnesses stood outside the scene told me of their shock at what they'd seen with one man, a resident on nearby Greenside Road, having seen what he described as a “gang of around a dozen or fourteen young men” who were banging on the window of the barber shop urging those inside to put hoods over their heads. The witnesses, who wanted to remain anonymous, told me that they were unsure intially what was going on and quickly left the area worried for their safety but then ventured out again when the police arrived. They were, and I spoke to three sets of them independently, visibly shaken and quite unsure of what to do with themselves. Several drifted off to a nearby pub.

Greenside Road sealed off for fingertip search

The gang of men banging on the window of the barber shop during the incident were described to me as both black and white with their ages estimated as being in their early twenties.

There is a very heavy police presence indeed and specialist forensics officers are scouring the scene, taking photographs of the shop and surrounding road. It is likely that a fingertip search will follow that so the disruption to traffic, which has calmed down after the initial response blocked the road, will continue for much of the evening.

Speaking to me on the scene the officer in charge of the investigation on the scene, who I took to be CID since he was in plain clothes, told me the Police were unable to officially confirm or deny the facts I have reported but I am confident of both the witness accounts, since I had three which independently corroborated each other, to report the above.

Police incident team manage early criminal investigation

I would anticipate the official version coming to me shortly which I will also share.

For the time being, stay safe – I've never actually known an incident like that in that particular part of W12 and despite the inevitable sensationalism that this sort of thing is sometimes reported with it is still a very unusual thing to happen. And having accompanied our Police on their work I can vouch for how good they are. The last major incident like this was the murder of Jaabe Roberts a bit further up the Askew Road back in June 2010 - the area has moved on significantly since then, but sadly it seems not enough.

0730 SUNDAY UPDATE - I understand the victim was stabbed in the torso and that his injuries are 'serious' but not life threatening. He remains in hospital. The official police account of the incident is still yet to be published. Which is not great. 

1200 SUNDAY UPDATE - The police have just given me the below statement:

"Police were asked to attend an incident at Seven Stars Corner which is on Goldhawk Road at its junction with Paddenswick Road where approximately 10 males were believed to be fighting. Police units arrived at 1906 and were directed to a Barbers Shop at 256A Goldhawk Road, W12 and found the victim, a 24 year old black male from W12, with wounds to his abdomen and left lower and upper arm. He was taken to a local hospital and following an operation his condition was described as not life-threatening. At 1921 Greenslade Road at the junction with Goldhawk Road was closed up to Leysfield Road and buses were prevented from turning right from Paddenswick Road. A male was arrested at Shepherds Bush Police Station a short time later and interviewed regarding this matter, he has not been charged at this time. The Crime scene was closed at 1529 on the 24th"

STUNG: Police vid of H&F crims in act

Crims in H&F have been caught red handed by houses and vehicles left deliberately equipped with cameras ready to capture passing villains who want to try and break into them. This video, which boasts that the scheme has yielded a 100% conviction rate and over 8 years worth of sentences, is well worth a watch if only to catch a glimpse of who these people are that think it's OK to smash their way into your car or home.

H&F I'm told is the first borough in London to actually have properties set up in this way and the stats tell their own story in terms of success against thieves. Watch until at least half way through when you see a particularly well dressed crim who's crawled through a window and tries to make off with the telly - he spends half his time looking in the mirror - gotta look good when you're a-thievin, innit.

It's part of Operation Glatton and continues a trend in H&F of "sting" or decoy vehicles set for the purpose of catching wrong-do-ers. It's this sort of innovation that has started winning the Police in Shepherd's Bush national awards. I had the chance to see their work for myself last year. Carry on the good work.