UNISON National Delegate Conference 2019: Day 1

I arrived in Liverpool yesterday afternoon in time for the Greater London delegation meeting. Some of us then went for a meal at a local spoons. I was back in the hotel for 8.30 pm to catch up on emails and speech writing.

Up early for a slow jog along the Mersey then arrived slightly late for the first 8.30am NEC meeting.

Conference itself started with us showing our respect for members who have passed away during the previous 12 months. Then standing order committee reports and questions; UNISON annual report and financial statements.

Now listening to our President,  Gordon Mckay give a typically funny but passionate speech to Conference on his year in office. 

Kent Street ASB, Cleaning & Parking Walkabout

Last Wednesday I took part in a "Walkabout" in Kent Street, Plaistow South ward, West Ham with local Councillors, residents and our new ward based housing officers. There are a lot of problems with Anti-social behaviour, parking, communal disrepair and cleaning.

I am really pleased with the approach of the new Housing officer's liaison team. They are tasked with inspecting all tall tower blocks with local Councillors and residents every month and low rise blocks every 3 months. There were a number of actions agreed to tackle the problems we found.  Some more easy than others.

We are also introducing controlled parking zones on all housing estate land and car parks (subject to consultation) which will help stop its misuse by non residents.

"Murder graph shows how London killings compare to US cities" - the hypocrisy and cant of President Trump

The level of deaths from knife and gun crime in London and other major UK cities is simply unacceptable and we must do everything possible to reduce it. This of course includes reversing the 20, 000 Tory cuts in Police numbers and the 23% cut in police civilian staff.

However, hat tip to the Metro for the above chart which shows the hypocrisy and cant of recent attacks by President Trump against London Mayor, Sadiq Khan. 

US Cities murder rates are staggeringly high compared to London. Unbelievably high. New York is twice the rate of London, Washington is over 10 times as high and St Louis has a gut wrenching 64.9 murders per 100,000 citizens compared to London's 1.5.

My nephew is currently living in Chicago which is about 17 times more dangerous than living in London.

Will Trump be calling for all his US city Civic leaders to resign (followed hopefully by himself)? I will not hold my breath. 

The Great Housing Housing Rip-Off! - When will you be able to buy a home

UNISON have produced here an online calculator (called appropriately https://housingripoff.org/) about how long it would take you to save enough money to buy a home up and down the country.

We bought a flat in Newham in 1989 for £55,000 (just before the housing crash but that is another story) with a 100% mortgage. Nowadays, you cannot get a 100% mortgage but for anyone who is on my substantive salary as a Housing officer (which is significantly above the average wage in Newham) it would take 20.8 years to save enough for a deposit to buy an average home in Newham.

What a scam.

Celebrating the Windrush Generation in Newham 2019

Newham goes green for Grenfell

Newham Council has gone green for Grenfell to commemorate those who lost their lives in the tragic fire two years ago.

Both the Old Town Stratford and Newham Town Hall in East Ham were lit up last night (Thursday 13 June) in recognition of the anniversary and to show support for those directly affected by the devastating event that occurred on 14 June 2017. The Mayor and councillors also wore green to demonstrate their solidarity with the community.

Today (14 June) marks two years since the Grenfell tragedy where 72 people lost their lives after a fire broke out in the 24-storey block of flats in North Kensington. In the days after the fire, the Grenfell community came together in a great show of unity and support and an enormous amount of support poured in from across the whole of the UK. As part of the Green for Grenfell campaign, the campaigning group Grenfell United is asking communities and schools to come together to promote unity, spirit and resilience by wearing green.

Councillor John Gray, Deputy Mayor for Newham and Cabinet Member for Housing Services said: “We must never forget the Grenfell fire tragedy and this is why we are going green for Grenfell. We want to show solidarity with the community changed forever in the early hours of the morning on June 14, 2016. These lives must not be lost in vain. This must never happen again and as a council, we must ensure we learn from the mistakes made. The safety of our residents must never be taken for granted and is our priority. We have learnt valuable lessons and we must carry on doing all we can to protect our residents.”

Since the Grenfell disaster in June 2017, Newham Council has carried out significant work on all its tower blocks to improve fire safety. Three council owned tower blocks – Ferrier Point in Canning Town and Nicholls Point and Tanner Point in Plaistow North – all used Aluminium Composite Material cladding, the same material on Grenfell Tower. This material has been removed and a non-combustible material (EWI) is currently being installed on the three blocks. This work is due to end at the end of July and is funded in part by a successful grant from the Ministry of Housing and Local Communities.

Additionally, a resident engagement team was set up in 2017 to work with council tenants and leaseholders to ensure all the necessary safety measures were in place, both in communal areas an all individual flats and implementing anything further which might be required. The team has led on a robust programme of work in partnership with London Fire Brigade, visiting all blocks across the borough to carry out fire safety checks. This includes:

85 high rise blocks
1,169 low rise blocks
Thousands of enhanced fire safety visits to individual residents
An extensive programme of tenancy audits
New fire safety signage fitted across the council’s housing stock.

All Fire Risk Assessments to tall blocks are up to date and will continue to publish them on www.newham.gov.uk

The council also received a grant of £20,000 from London Fire Brigade to fund a range of fire safety equipment.

For further information visit www.grenfellunited.org.uk or follow the hashtag #Green4GrenfellDay​

(hat tip Newham Council website)

Newham recruiting 33 youth workers - the biggest expansion of youth services anywhere in London

Hat tip Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz "**Please share widely** We want the best youth workers for our children and young people in Newham! 👌🏽

Am really pleased to announce that today we launched the largest recruitment campaign for youth workers in Newham for a generation - that’s 33 full time posts, representing the biggest expansion of Youth Services anywhere in London! 🙌🏽

Read more below and if anyone’s interested in applying find out more via this link:https://www.newham.gov.uk/Pages/Services/Youth-work-jobs.aspx

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The expansion, bolstered by a £1.4million investment, will deliver the Mayor of Newham’s vision that children and young people in the borough have access to the best youth service in London.

As part of the expansion, 33 full time roles will be created with jobs available for experienced managers, for specialists in particular aspects of youth work, and for those who have just started out on their youth work careers. There are also roles designed to promote participation and increase volunteering opportunities.

Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz said: “Here in Newham, we want our young people to have access to the best youth service in London. They have told us loud and clear that expansion of the current youth offer is a priority for them. Despite falling budgets and huge pressures to spend more in other areas, we are committed to investing in our young people. Our expanded youth service and youth empowerment function will be designed for young people and with their input.

“To help us deliver on our ambitious plans, we need the best people. We want the most inspiring mentors and the best informal educators. We want a team that understands what it is like to grow up in an Inner City borough like Newham. A team that can get to grips with the challenges and also make the most of the amazing opportunity that such an environment brings. More than anything else, we are looking for people that share our enthusiasm, with passion and imagination who can work with young people and help them thrive.”

A decision was made to expand the service following feedback from Newham’s young people and residents through Citizen Youth Assemblies, borough wide Adult Citizen Assemblies and the Annual Youth Zone satisfaction survey.

A report was agreed by Cabinet in April which set out the significant increases to services. These will include:

1. A huge rise in the number of sessions delivered through each the four existing ‘Youth Zones’ which are located at the Shipman Centre, Beckton Globe, Little Ilford and Forest Gate.

2. Increased access to consistent, trusted youth worker role models.

3. Establishing a detached youth work team.

4. Enhancing provision for young people with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND), those who are looked after, LGBTQQ young people and young carers.

5. New and improved links across Children’s Social Care for the benefit of vulnerable young people in Newham.

6. More opportunities to undertake accredited volunteering, for example through the Duke of Edinburgh programme.

7. A massive programme of work designed to support young people to have a greater say.

& coming soon: delivering on the promise to increase the number of youth zones from four to eight.

Hamfrith walkabouts then residents meeting (& being 91 years young)

This morning I went on my 3rd recent walkabout of the Hamfirth estate area with Newham Council Technical, Caretaking and Repairs officers to produce an action plan to this evenings' meeting with residents at the Atherton Leisure Centre, E7.

We are going to do 3 things on this estate to tackle serious Crime and Anti-social behaviour. Firstly, work together collectively with residents, stakeholders such as the Police, Council officers and Councillors. Secondly, improve cleaning, caretaking and maintenance of green spaces and thirdly design out crime by fencing off, closing criminal escape routes and improved lighting/security.

Tonight meeting was a little tough in parts since many residents feel they have been let down in the past and that the ASB problems on the estate impact so badly on their every day lives. Local resident Sian and I don't always agree on everything but we both know we are in our different ways trying to deliver the best for residents.

There is now an action plan which will be distributed to all residents, we have for the first time in many years, named Newham Housing officers who are responsible for the estate and we will support residents in setting up a much needed local tenants and residents association.

Many thanks for attending to our Newham Council Housing liaison officers, our enforcement officer and Councillors Winston Vaughan, Maz Patel and James Beckles (Cabinet lead for ASB/Enforcement)

The star of our show tonight,  was our oldest Hamfirth resident (we think) who is 91 years young and has lived on the estate for 66 years. As the badge says (bottom left of college) a "very kind 91 young lady" (she is bottom right of college standing to my immediate left).

"Last Week they were thanking us for saving the free world in 1944...This week they have taken our TV licence off us..."

Shocking but the blame lies with this Tory Government for this cut - not the BBC.

Free TV licences for the over 75's was a long standing policy which was paid for by the Government. Then the Government said they will not pay for it anymore.

Are we now going to start jailing D-Day veterans for not paying for their TV licences?

What a cruel and incompetent Government we have.

 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-48583487

Local Service Champions TRAILER

"Coming soon! UNISON local government's new campaign film. Watch the trailer and keep your eyes peeled for this summer's blockbuster."

The single most satisfying thing I used to do as a housing officer is showing people around their new home. Mind you It didn't always go very well....