Entries tagged with “Jennette Arnold” from Working For Walthamstow

Together with Searchlight's Hope not Hate campaign, and our current London Assembly member Jennette Arnold, I am organizing a day of action to help ensure the British National Party do not gain a seat on the London Assembly in Walthamstow on 19 April.

 

You may have already seen how the shameful policies of the BNP seek to damage the community relations in our capital city. This is our London, not theirs, and we need to protect every citizen from their extremism and racism. 

The London Assembly has 14 constituency members and 11 London-wide members. The London-wide members are elected depending on how much of the percentage of votes each party obtains. Any party with fewer than five per cent of the vote is eliminated. This is what happened to the BNP in 2004 when it polled 4.8 per cent of all the votes cast.

 

All votes for other parties will increase the total vote and therefore reduce the BNP percentage, so it is important that voters, wherever in London they are, use their vote to try and put the BNP below five per cent. On the Saturday 19 April there will be two different activities. Starting at noon there will be a stall in Walthamstow Market to publicise this campaign, followed at 2pm by a leafleting session in neighbouring streets. I hope those of you who are proud to be a Londoner and love the rich variety of this capital will come along to join in a day of action that will benefit us all.

The council is holding a Scrutiny Commission meeting on 12 March at 7.30pm at the Town Hall to discuss the proposals to close six post offices in the borough. Three of these are in Walthamstow- Orford Road, Chingford Road and Forest Road (at the Bell Corner). Both the Post Office and Post Watch (the Post Office consumer watchdog) will be attending to answer questions about the proposals. At present provision is only made for 5 members of the public to address the meeting. I'm working with my Labour colleagues on the committee to lobby the Chair to increase this as we want as many local people as possible to have a chance to put their views to the Post Office. To help us with this please can you email me to let me know if you or other local residents wish to speak so we can show the Committee the likely interest. If you do want to quiz the Post Office you will also need to formally register with the Committee Clerk at least 48 hours before the meeting. You can do this via email here.

I'm also working with local residents groups and our London Assembly member Jennette Arnold to organise stalls and petitions outside the affected post offices and in the town centre on the weekend of the 8-9 March. We're looking for volunteers for either the Saturday or Sunday lunchtime and afternoon so if you would like to help out get in touch. Remember you can also respond to the proposals at the Post Office website here- but you only have until April 2 to do so!

Many of you have contacted me this week because the Post Office has published proposals to close three of our local post offices, moving services to other venues nearby. The offices affected are in Orford Road, Forest Road (near the Bell Corner) and on Chingford Road. These proposals are now open for consultation with local residents with a final decision being made by 2 April.

 

It's vital the Post Office hears from people who live near these sites about how they use these services and what they want before they make any final decisions. The Post Office is facing difficult times and all political parties agree something should be done. However I disagree with the Lib Dems that privatisation is the answer because some branches play a vital role in our local communities and that's why I believe they need continued public subsidy. We also need to ensure the Post Office stick to their commitment to providing our Crown Post Office in the centre of Walthamstow.

 

I'll be working with my colleague at the Greater London Authority Jennette Arnold to make sure the Post Office are aware of the views of people in Walthamstow on these changes so if you would like to help please do get in touch. You can comment on these proposals either by writing to National Consultation Team Post Office Ltd, FREEPOST CONSULTATION TEAM (no stamp is required) or using this form