Met's "most wanted" arrested in Shepherd's Bush

I've just been told by the local Police that they've had a bit of a result. In fact an excellent result with the arrest on our streets of one of the Met's top 20 most wanted men.

On Wednesday 25th May officers from the Shepherds Bush Green Safer Neighbourhood Team and the Extradition Unit based at New Scotland Yard forced entry to an address along St Stephens Avenue, W12 where Tomasz Galas, aged 28, was arrested and taken to Fulham Police Station. He's currently being held at Wandsworth Prison waiting extradition.

Mr Galas, left, is accused of attempted rape on a woman (adult) in October 2001 in Radom, Poland. He held a knife to the victim's throat and ripped her clothes off before being disturbed by passers by. He is also wanted for trafficking 3600 grammes of Marijuana through Poland between May and August 2001.

This is a great result and further evidence, to me at least, of why the so-called frontline of our local police need to be supported rather than cut, as they are now being by Mayor Johnson and our Council. While the big incidents like the Lakeside Road murder or Hammersmith bus station stabbing grab all of the headlines, the safer neighbourhood team in Shepherd's Bush has been quietly getting on with making W12 safer. And full credit to them for that.

7th JUNE UPDATE - The Chronicle are now reporting this story here 

Greenhalgh to Government on housing: "I really need your help"!

"I really need your help on this!" is the scrawled note from a Council Leader trapped in a bind between residents of the West Kensington Estate who do not want to be removed from their homes so that ... guess what ... a developer can move in - and the Governments' own drive to hand power to local communities as part of the Prime Ministers' vision of a Big Society.

Inside Housing magazine has managed to use the Freedom of Information Act to get hold of this extraordinary letter which pleads with the Minister for Decentralisation Greg Clark MP to stop the Government's plans to allow tenant-led stock transfers - or in laymans language the right of residents to get together to become landlords of their own estates instead of, say, the Council. 

The Government's legislation is driven by the belief that if people develop a real stake in their areas, including by becoming owners or managers of the places that they live, it will lead to much more vibrant and involved local communities. And there is also a clause in the legislation that relates to "rogue landlords", which the legislation is aimed at freeing tenants from. In the case of residents from West Kensington and Gibbs Green estates that is what they are using to try to evict H&F Council from the position of being their landlord, as they made clear at this meeting in Parliament last year. They have already served H&F Council with a "notice to quit", as set out in the provisions of the legislation.

If that goes through it would mean that the proposed redevelopment of Earls Court, which under the current plans involves the West Ken estates being "redeveloped" would be halted in its tracks because the residents have made it very clear that they don't want to be turfed out of their homes. And a lot of money would no longer come the Council's way. 

On the Council's part they have given "cast iron" assurances that tenants would be re-housed but are vague about where. And presumably the cast iron used to forge these assurances comes from the same material as the assurance that was given to the owners of the Goldhawk Terrace of shops that if they didn't want to be knocked down to make way for developers Orion they wouldn't be. That assurance, though made in person by Cllr Greenhalgh in a public meeting, appears to be made of plasticine.

In fact, according to Inside Housing, our Council has even formed a rival residents group and sent a new contract around the 750 households to try to undermine the opposition. This was described by Jonathan Rosenberg, a housing campaigner who has been advising the residents as "a desperate attempt by the Council to intimidate them."

In fairness to the Council, and as Cllr Greenhalgh makes clear in his letter, the proposed regeneration would lead to a greater number of affordable homes which are desperately needed. But he then goes on to appear to suggest that the provisions for stock transfer should only apply once the regeneration has finished. In his letter Cllr Greenhalgh says poetically: "It is not a chioce between regeneration and localism but a question of timing and opportunity." In other words don't let the buggers get their hands on their homes till we've finished with them!

On balance, I'd say the tenants are likely to win this latest residents v Council/Developers tussle if only because for the Government to respond to Cllr Greenhalgh's plea would be to undermine the whole concept of the Big Society by making exceptions for old friends. If the Big Society is really about local people, now is the time to show it.

0930 UPDATE - Cllr Greenhalgh has been in touch about this article with a forthright defence of the Council's position which I'm happy to reproduce. He said: 

"I make no apology for raising this with Ministers. The Earls Court redevelopment is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If it does go ahead this would mean all tenants on the West Kensington and Gibbs Green Estates getting brand new homes at the same rent, building 1,500 much needed new affordable homes and providing thousands of new jobs, new education and health facilities and transport links. Once the regeneration process is complete Hammersmith & Fulham Council will strongly support tenants seeking a stock transfer under these new provisions. It is not a choice between regeneration and localism but a question of timing and opportunity."

Credit to him for the early response, more to follow no doubt.

1200 UPDATE - Dave Hill of the Guardian is now reporting this unfolding story here - and it seems the Minister is not minded to give way to Greenhalgh's entreaties.

1300 UPDATE - A fast moving story this one, Ken Livingstone, Labour's candidate for Mayor, has this afternoon come out in support of the residents, offering his "full backing" for their camapign. More to follow.  Thanks to Dave Hill for letting me know.

1500 UPDATE - Ken has just sent me a comment. He says this: "The Gibbs Green and West Kensington residents have my full backing in seeking to stop their homes being demolished by Conservative Hammersmith council"

1800 UPDATE - The Fulham Chronicle are bringing up the rear by catching up with the story this evening here - can't imagine where they read about it. You know where you read it first, folks.

Swimathon for disabled people in H&F!

One of our best local charities, Hammersmith And Fulham Action on Disability (HAFAD) is inviting local people to put on their swimming caps and raise money for our essential services. 

Swimmers can choose the distance they want to swim and together will swim 26 miles. Their goal is to raise £10,000 for HAFAD – a very ambitious target but they are confident that with your support they can do it! 

HAFAD have been changing the local experience of disabled people in our borough for the last 30 years, and the last dealings I had with them were over the shocking lack of any care shown by our Mayor and Transport for London in the way they decided not to bother installing a lift in the brand new central line station at Shepherd's Bush. I won't be here for 30 years and in any case I'm not disabled but organisations like HAFAD will, and their voice is crucial even today, as the fiasco over our tube shows only too well. Equality is nowhere near close, as the experiences of my own disabled mother is reminded daily. So please help them - and have fun - if you can.

The event will take place at Fulham Pools from 8am to 8pm on Sunday 10th July. You will be asked to challenge yourself to swim your chosen distance. Whether it is 2 lengths, 50 lengths or 5 miles together altogether entrants will swim a minimum of 26 miles in 12 hours. 

To register please contact James Coke james.coke@hafad.org.uk or 020 7471 8515). You will receive a sponsorship pack including a training programme, tips on fundraising and everything you need to get started. 

To donate online: please go to https://mydonate.bt.com/charities/hafad, 

To donate by text: text the message SWIM07 and the amount in pounds you want to donate to 70070 

Fulham Pools has a ramp into the pool if you need assistance on the day HAFAD can provide a volunteer PA. Refreshments on the day are sponsored by Schweppes Abbey Well and PowerBar.

Wormholt Park: Have your say

Users of Wormholt Park, Shepherds Bush, can now have their say on what improvements they would like made to the park. Hammersmith & Fulham Council is working with environmental charity Groundwork London and speaking to residents, businesses, community groups and voluntary organisations in the area about refurbishment options.

As part of the consultation, a questionnaire is being distributed to 4,000 households and available in community facilities around the area. The information collected will form part of a Masterplan for Wormholt Park. My own questionnaire dropped through the door a couple of days ago, its a chunky old thing.

There will be two public meetings where you can come and learn more and also give us your views.

• Saturday, June 18, 11.00 am – 3.00pm, Wormholt Park - Open space participation event. Lunch and refreshments will be available 
• Saturday, September 23, 12.00pm – 5.00pm, Wormholt Park - Drop-in session at the park to see the results of previous workshops and the Masterplan options. 

You will be able to vote for your favourite options.

Everyone is welcome to attend, although it is essential to RSVP as numbers are limited for the workshop. If you would like to attend the events, please contact Amy Lee on 0208 762 0323 

Cllr Greg Smith, cabinet member of residents’ services, and Twitter legend said: 

“This borough is home to numerous parks and open spaces and we look forward to making a number of improvements to Wormholt Park. I encourage as many people as possible to take part in the this consultation.”

This is a welcome initiative by the Council so good on them. Although it's always Shepherd's Bush Green or Ravenscourt Parks that get most of the attention, green spaces like Wormholt are just as important, and play a really important role in the Bush 'burbs. Sadly I think that the same Cllr Smith, however, is also planning on sending park attendants sprinting after personal trainers and their clients there as well though. At least it will get the attendants fit. 

Stabbing in White City?

Oh god not again. I've been alerted by some of you to what looks like the immediate aftermath of another serious incident, this time of a suspected stabbing in White City. No details yet but I have put a call into the Police and will report back when I know something more.

In the meantime, as you did over the Lakeside Road shooting and Hammersmith stabbing just the other week - keep your fellow Bushers informed via the comments.

UPDATE 2355 - An eye witness has told me that the police are refusing to answer questions but that their presence is very heavy. At this stage the indications are that this is a very serious incident.

UPDATE 0003 - The BBC have been told that there was indeed a stabbing - but it was non-fatal. An 18 year old has been taken to hospital with non life-threatening injuries. With many thanks indeed to the local BBC hack who passed this on.

UPDATE Monday 1500 - The Fulham Chronicle has caught up with this story here. 

Fulham Police Station: Family open day

WHO is in charge of H&F Police's public relations?!? The below poster, which I happily reproduce to advertise what I am sure will be a great day - fun but also important to build bridges with the community - could have had any number of images on it.

Smiling bobby perhaps? Car with flashing light, or even a nice kid-wearing-police-hat shot. But what did they choose? A charging column of mounted riot police.

Just the ticket!

Shepherd's Bush: grey, malodorous and overpopulated

So says the Financial Times correspondent Paul Theroux in a piece last week. Mr Theroux who travels and writes about the places in the world he visists, from Singapore to Streatham, says this of W12:

"Shepherd’s Bush: a grey, malodorous, overpopulated district, the opposite of its name, in west London. The traveller not wise to the truth of this squints and mutters, “Where is it?”, while gazing at the greasy cafés, kebab shops, Australian mega-pubs, cut-price emporiums and honking traffic".

 Now then, the temptation may be to dismiss Mr Theroux as the snob his name suggests he is, but actually does this have the ring of truth? And is it so bad if it does?

For "greasy cafes" perhaps we could identify Adams Cafe on Askew Road, which is a superb and award winning eatery that is cafe by day and Moroccan restaurant by evening.

For "kebab shops" could this be a reference to a hub of the community King Solomans, whos owner Mohammed Hamid, originally from Egypt but a Shepherd's Bush resident since the mid 1970s has been serving up home made middle eastern cuisine since he arrived but is also one of the few places in the rich patchwork of the Bush that is patronised equally by mosque go-ers and QPR fans and everyone in-between.

Cut price emporiums could be a reference to the linen shops of the Shepherd's Bush Market curently engaged in a life or death struggle against our Council and their developer friends Orion who want to knock them down and build seven floors of flats on top instead. Which of course would contribute to Mr Theroux's point about Shepherd's Bush already being "overpopulated" which you can see at a glance.

And honking traffic seems to be the norm throughout the city.

Which of course leaves "Australian mega pubs" which is surely a reference to everyone's bad neighbour the Walkabout Pub which serves us all a regular diet of violence and vomit on the weekends usually in the form of drunken Australians reinforcing a few national stereotypes of their own.

Apart from that, I quite like it here!

20,654 people reading 38,699 things in May

A massive month for readership in May. I'm very grateful, especially for the ever growing number of you who send stories in, including those who do so trusting that I protect their anonymity. I wouldn't get most of the stories I do here without you, especially not those that some people would rather not appear here!

If you have anything you'd like to pass on, sent it to shepherdsbushblog@yahoo.co.uk - I guarantee confidentiality.

Sadly this month has been dominated, for me anyway, by the killing on Lakeside Road and the stabbing at Hammersmith bus station. The ensuing large scale debate among all sections of the community on this blog revealed the gulf that seems to exist between us and prompted the Borough Commander of the Police to draft a guest blog post on here.

Look out for some interesting projects in the coming month I and some of you have planned to try and bridge that communication gap using the blog. Even during the very raw moments as people debated on here about how and why things had come to pass people somehow managed to remain basically respectful of each other. That, to me, means we can build something better in W12.

Keep reading - and thanks again.

Bus crime up 8% in H&F, Boris accused of fiddling figures

Bus crime in our Borough has soared by 8% despite an overall fall of 4% across London according to TfL figures which have had to be pieced together by a member of the London Assembly following resistance from the Mayor's office to releasing the statistics.

Dave Hill of the Grauniad recently wrote about bus crime which Boris Johnson has hailed as one of his major achievements as Mayor and features in his latest edition of a pravda style newspaper for each London Borough. (Unlike H&F News/Fulham Chronicle at least these pravdas are not paid for by the taxpayer).

Speaking to the Evening Standard in February this year Boris said that passengers are "fundamentally safe" as he unveiled figures showing that crime fell 30 per cent on the buses and 20 per cent on the Tube over the past three years.

But unspin the numbers and you realise that not only did the overall fall start under Mayor Livingstone, but you also note that crime has actually risen in a third of London Boroughs, including H&F. 

In fact so dodgy were the numbers from the Mayor that the following month, less trumpeted by the media, The UK Statistics Authority wrote to the Mayor to criticise his use of transport crime figures, after FullFact.org pointed out that they were being used in press releases without being made available to the public.

A letter from the Authority's Chairman, Sir Michael Scholar, stated that the Mayor's use of the numbers could be “damaging to public trust in the statistics.” That's what happens when you use propaganda. (Again, H&F News/Fulham Chronicle please note)

And this month the Mayor's office have failed to provide a breakdown of crime figures to Liberal Democrat Leader on the London Assembly Caroline Pidgeon, who asked for them on the 18th May, saying that they were unavailable despite actually being available elsewhere and showing that crime was on the rise in the following London boroughs:

• Barking and Dagenham (by a whacking 17.8%)
• Greenwich
• Harrow
• Havering
• Hillingdon
• Hammersmith (by 8%)
• Islington
• Merton (by 9.4%)
• Southwark
• Westminster
• Tower Hamlets (by 11.5%)

This, of course, all takes place in the context of cuts to the police budget across London and here in H&F, with our local Safer Neighbourhood Teams being shrunk.

So we have a rising crime rate on our buses in the borough and of course a frankly horrible month which has just passed which saw the shooting dead of a man in Lakeside Road and the stabbing of a 14 year old in Hammersmith bus station.

Expect cuts to the police to continue to be a theme of this blog at least between now and the next Mayoral election. You might not read about it elsewhere.