Author: gaillem

The latest figures show 1 in 4 people wait a week or more to speak to a GP or nurse, or don’t get an appointment at all. It is clear, the Tories are letting patients down and presiding over an NHS in crisis. But, it doesn’t have to be like this.

December’s A&E performance was the worst on record, across England over 300,000 patients waited longer than four hours in A&E, almost 70,000 had to wait longer than four hours on a trolley for a hospital bed and so far this winter more than 92,000 patients have been stuck in the back of ambulances outside hospitals.

Labour will stand up for our NHS. We will:

• give the NHS over £37 billion of extra investment,
• cut waiting lists by guaranteeing treatment within 18 weeks,
• put safe staffing levels into law,
• halt the Tory hospital closure plans
• and join up services from home to hospital with a properly integrated health and social care service.

Vote Labour on 3 May to start the change.

Thursday’s elections are a chance to send a powerful message to this weak and divided  Conservative government.

After eight years of Conservative cuts in vital services, failed privatisations and falling living standards, it’s time for real change.

The Tories are slashing the local services on which you and your family depend, from policing to social care. They are starving councils of cash to pay for tax cuts for the richest.

Labour will rebuild our communities and transform our country for the many not the few. Vote Labour on 3 May to start the change.

Bromley is in a government pilot where you will need an identity document to vote at the polling station.

By now you should have received a card from the Council telling you what forms of ID will be accepted.

Please ensure you take appropriate ID with you when you go to the polling station or you will not be allowed to vote.

Further information from www.bromley.gov.uk/VoterID or call 0300 303 8665

Labour’s Penge and Cator candidates sign up for a Pesticide-Free London

Your Labour candidates for Penge and Cator; Kathy Bance, Kevin Brooks and Simon Jeal, have all signed up to a Pledge for a Pesticide Free London.

Organised by the Pesticide Action Network UK, the pledge for candidates running in the local elections (coming up Thursday 3 May) aims to make London the first UK city to go pesticide free!

The group’s research found that 41 different toxic pesticides were being used in UK towns and cities, being sprayed in parks, playgrounds and other green spaces, road verges, pavements and around shopping centres and schools. These chemicals being used have been linked to an array of health problems, particularly affecting vulnerable groups such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. They also have a devastating impact on the local environment and wildlife. There are lots of non-chemical alternatives available and hundreds of towns and cities around the world have already banned pesticides. Many towns and cities that have already gone pesticide-free! (Examples here and here)

By pledging to make their borough pesticide-free, Kathy, Kevin and Simon are committed to supporting this campaign if they are elected onto Bromley council and to undertaking at least some of the following activities:

* Encourage the council to undertake trials and pilot schemes for non-chemical alternatives to pesticides.

* Attend the free PAN UK Pesticide-Free London Workshop on 29th June 2018 to hear more about the practicalities of how to end pesticide use in Bromley, or attend a follow up workshop or webinar organised by PAN UK.

* Submit a motion or organise a full council debate on the subject of making the borough pesticide free

* Support the council’s parks and green spaces managers to go pesticide-free.

* Work with council officers to plant pesticide-free urban wildflower meadows to create a haven for bees and other wildlife.

* Promote existing good work being undertaken by council officers to reduce pesticide use, including publicising any areas within the borough that are already pesticide-free.

* Promote the concept of a pesticide-free borough to other elected members of the council and to colleagues in Labour-controlled Lewisham Council.

* Communicate with Penge and Cator residents about the benefits of going pesticide free, including through of their work organising the annual ‘Penge in Bloom’ competition.

* Engage with members of the local business community and local groups in Penge to encourage them to manage land under their control without the use of pesticides.

Your Labour Councillors will fight to ensure the new contractor cleans our streets effectively.

The contract for street cleaning is due for renewal in March 2019. We believe Bromley Council aren’t monitoring the street cleaning contract properly. Your Labour Councillors will fight to ensure the new contractor cleans our streets effectively.

Check when your street should be cleaned on Bromley’s Street Cleaning Map

If your street isn’t being cleaned properly, report it on fixmystreet.com. This is the quickest way of getting the problem fixed.

It also gives us more ammunition in our campaign to get you the street cleaning you pay for through your council tax.

Homes for all, not just the rich

Homelessness and the lack of affordable and social housing are huge issues affecting Bromley residents.

The number of people in Penge and Cator either sofa surfing or on the streets has dramatically increased and the use of foodbanks and homeless shelters has also risen. Families in supposed temporary accommodation have lived in inadequate properties for years.

The number of affordable homes built in Bromley is one of the lowest of all London boroughs. What little social housing Bromley is building is situated far outside of the borough.

Labour councillors have grave concerns that Tory housing plans will lead to ‘social cleansing’ and we will continue to call on Bromley  Council to increase social and affordable housing provision within the borough.

Labour Councillor Kevin Brooks successfully leads campaign to save Melvin Hall

Your local Labour Councillors have always seen it as a priority to protect community assets in Penge. Melvin Hall is one of those assets: a friendly meeting place which for
years provided practical assistance and support for elderly and vulnerable residents.

When Melvin Hall was threatened with closure by Bromley Council, Labour Councillor Kevin Brooks led the campaign to save it, working with Kathy Bance and a fantastic team of supporters in the community.

Together they have not only saved Melvin Hall, but made it into a successful community centre, organising and running activities for all ages, from nursery to the elderly. It gives special support to local people with learning difficulties, and to those who have become isolated.

If Kathy, Kevin and Simon are elected as Penge’s Labour Councillors, they will continue to support community assets such as Melvin Hall, for the benefit of all Penge residents.

Bromley Tories contract out many services and pride themselves on managing them well, but the reality is very different. It can be difficult to find out how contracts
are being managed – much of this is shrouded in “commercial confidentiality” – but published audit reports reveal the murky truth.

Here are some recent examples:

• Following allegations by a whistleblower, it was found that there was serious malpractice in Parking Services. The report found “the malpractice occurred over a
  significant period, unnoticed and unchecked”. Bromley appealed against publication of this report, but it was finally published on the Council website in November 2017, when their appeal failed.
• The Street Works contract was found to have inadequate contract monitoring, no records of formal meetings with the contractor and failure to comply with contract procedure rules & financial regulations.
• During 2017, Labour Councillors pressed for an audit of the management of the Street Cleaning contract. After a lot of pressure this was agreed, but not till AFTER the May election. What can Bromley Council have to hide?

Transport for London figures show Bromley has the highest proportion of serious injuries and deaths from accidents on residential roads out of all London Boroughs.

Penge’s Labour Councillors have been successful in campaigning for TfL funding to make the two most dangerous crossroads in our ward safer. We support introducing road safety measures on residential streets before accidents happen, to save lives and prevent accidents, including more 20 miles an hour speed limits.

Labour councillors continue to call for Bromley council to consider 20 mph zones on residential roads in Bromley, particularly on all roads passing schools and where residents have reported accidents and dangerous driving.

More details on Bromley’s road safety data is available here.

Government cuts have seriously reduced police services in Penge.

In recent years gang-related postcode violence in our ward has increased and has become a serious problem which needs to be addressed. However, within weeks of the fatal stabbing of a Penge teenager, the police counter in Maple Road was closed.

Your local Labour councillors believe that Penge and Cator should be a priority ward
within Bromley and needs a stronger police presence. Instead of continued cuts to youth
services, as we have seen over the past four years, we need an increase. A dedicated
strategy to prevent young people joining gangs is also required, but practical support
from Bromley Council has so far been sadly limited.
Your Penge Labour councillors continue to fight for better police services for our local
area. Report crime or antisocial behaviour in your area to http://www.met.police.uk or meet your Safer Neighbourhoods Team at Penge East Community Centre every Wednesday from 11.00 to 12.00.