Tuesday, 26 April, 2016
Welcome to my April community email. Below are just some of things I have been doing since the last email:
- Met with Wimbledon Everyday Church to discuss Crossrail 2, and their fantastic work in the community
- Visited Doddle in the Town Centre, and met with Merton CCG
- Met with Paul McGarry to talk about the Wimbledon Town Centre regeneration
- Spoke at the Raynes Park and West Barnes RA AGM
- Went to a reception in Parliament hosted by DePaul, the homelessness charity
- Asked the Chancellor about support for small businesses in the House of Commons
- Asked the Secretary of State for Justice about knife crime in the House of Commons
- Met with residents to discuss traffic on the Ridgway
- Hosted Zac Goldsmith and Boris Johnson for a walkabout in Wimbledon Town Centre
- Spoke at the National Housing Federation’s London housing hustings
- Spoke to a local primary school about Crossrail 2
- Attended local schools’ Jack Petchey “Speak Out” Challenge
Whilst I always do try to keep my community email non-political, next Thursday 5th May you will have the chance to choose Boris Johnson’s successor. This decision is so significant that I wanted to present the case for voting for Zac Goldsmith.
I have been working closely with Zac on his campaign, and it is absolutely clear that he is the only candidate with an achievable action plan for Greater London.
Zac Goldsmith – your Conservative candidate for Mayor
If elected, he will work with the Government to:
- Start fixing London’s housing crisis – doubling the rate of home building and prioritising homes for Londoners
- Continue to invest in our public transport – unlike Sadiq Khan whose policies will lead to a £1.9bn black hole in the TfL budget, likely to be paid for by raising Council Tax
- Tackling air pollution
- Continuing to make London safer by protecting neighbourhood police teams.
For us locally in Wimbledon, Zac understands Crossrail 2 is not just a transport project, but a regeneration one. He fully supports my efforts to persuade Crossrail 2 to investigate a tunnelling solution for Wimbledon to circumvent the destruction the current proposals would cause. As part of his commitment to Wimbledon, Zac has pledged £1 million from his Town Centre Fund to help with the regeneration of the town centre.
AFC Wimbledon Stadium on Plough Lane
Many of you will know that the planning application submitted by AFC Wimbledon and Galliard Homes for the Wimbledon Stadium site has been called in by the Mayor for consideration by the GLA, even though Merton’s planning committee approved it.
The principal reason appears to be to ensure that a fair impartial hearing is given, since the application is on the border of both Wandsworth and Merton.
10-Car Commuter Trains at Wimbledon Station
Planning has been underway for some time, and now construction work has begun at London Waterloo as part of an £800 million upgrade. The works will deliver a 30 per cent increase in peak-time capacity by 2019, through a bigger and better London Waterloo and other improvements to enhance passenger journeys.
As part of this upgrade, work has started to rebuild the former Waterloo International Terminal to allow platforms 20–24 to be brought back into use with modern facilities, new track and signalling and a spacious, accessible concourse suitable for thousands of passengers.
Most importantly, Platforms 1–4 will be extended to accommodate longer 10-car trains on suburban lines, serving Wimbledon, providing a significant increase in space for passengers. In tandem with this project, a £210million fleet of brand new trains will start to be introduced from next year – providing 150 additional carriages for the network – allowing more longer trains to run to all stations.
This month I met with Christian Roth, Managing Director of South West Trains at Waterloo Station.
Mr Roth confirmed that once the initial work to the Waterloo International platforms has been completed, work can then start to extend platforms 1-4 in August next year. This will require platforms 1-9 to be closed for 24 days – which will temporarily reduce the number of trains operating. This period has been chosen to lessen the disruption caused to commuters, since the volume of train journeys made in the summer holidays is much reduced.
A period of testing will follow and then the full peak fleet of longer trains will be in operation from December 2017. I asked about contingencies to ensure the works are completed on time, with Mr Roth running through the extensive contingency planning that has been done.
Continuing to invest in our local transport was a key theme of my election campaign, so I am very pleased that there is a firm timetable to deliver longer commuter trains to Waterloo. These will have a massive impact on overcrowding levels and ensure a more comfortable journey for commuters. I also asked Mr Roth about how South West Trains are working with Crossrail 2, and about plans for improving the Wimbledon station with either a wider concourse or a footbridge between platforms.
Christian Roth, Managing Director of South West Trains, said: “This investment will provide a 30% increase in space for passengers during the busiest times of the day – which we know will be greatly welcomed by passengers. We will be working closely with our partners, including Network Rail and the Department for Transport, to keep passengers well informed throughout this programme of works.
Further investment, such as Crossrail 2, will also be needed to meet the growing numbers of passengers travelling in the future and we are continuing to work with others to provide even more capacity for passengers beyond 2019.”
Crossrail 2
I am hoping to have a discussion with Michele Dix, the Managing Director of Crossrail 2, next month to understand the progress on the next set of proposals.
My campaign for summerborn and premature children
I am looking at holding another debate on summerborn and premature children deferring their start to school.
Following my last debate on the issue, there are still massive inconstancies between how local authorities deal with school admissions for summerborn and premature children. Some happily allow a parent to have their child start Reception aged 5, others are obstructive and request a disproportionate amount of evidence before allowing this.
The charity Bliss recently wrote about my plans to hold another debate, which you can read here.
Open Gardens at Lambeth Palace in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support (Merton)
With kind permission of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lambeth Palace Gardens will be open to visitors on Friday 6th May, in aid of Macmillan Merton.
Tickets priced at £5 can be bought on the door. The closest tube is Lambeth North, but you can also travel via train to Vauxhall and get the 344 or 77 bus from the bus station outside.
Do take this opportunity to explore this beautiful hidden garden. Light refreshments will be available to purchase.
Facebook and Twitter
As ever, do follow me on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date with my work locally and in Parliament.
Dates for your diary
Below are just some community events coming up in Wimbledon. If you or your group is holding a local event, please do let me know and I will help advertise it.
Monday 2nd May – May Fair, Raynes Park 12-3pm St Saviour's Church Hall and grounds, Grand Drive
Thursday 5th May – GLA Elections
Tuesday 10th May – Edge Hill Residents Association GM, Sacred Heart Edge Hill
Sunday 15th May – Wimbledon Half Marathon
Wednesday 8th June – Parkside Residents Association AGM, St Mary’s Garden Hall
Saturday 18th June – Wimbledon Guild Village Fair 10.30am-5pm
Saturday 25th June – Armed Forces Day
Monday 27th June – Sunday 10th July – Wimbledon Tennis Fortnight begins – don’t forget you can also watch live at the Love Wimbledon Big Screen at The Piazza, Wimbledon