News from Dee Doocey at the London Assembly - Sep 07

Published on Fri 28th Sep 2007

News from Dee Doocey at the London Assembly - Sep 07

In this edition…

1. A big 'thank you'!

2. Benefiting from the Games?

3. Housing priorities

4. Policing - Safer Neighbourhood Teams

5. Work of the Economic Development, Culture, Sport and Tourism Committee

6. Get in touch

1. A big 'thank you'!

I'd like to begin by thanking everyone who voted for me in the ballot to select the Lib Dem list for next year's London Assembly elections. Thanks to your support, I won second place on the list.

It is because of this ballot and a number of recent by-election campaigns that I haven't issued these newsletters as frequently as I would have liked. Normal service has now been resumed!

2. Benefiting from the Games?

There are many ways that London's young people can benefit from the 2012 Olympics - but only if they know about it! My fear at the moment is that strategies for training and employment opportunities created by the Olympics are being dreamt up in ivory towers, without those responsible listening to the needs of the communities on the ground. In particular, the children in these communities need to feel involved.

When I spoke to local children about the Olympics they all knew that in 2012 there was going to be a big sporting event in London, but were unaware that anything other than sport was involved. I was keen to know what sort of training opportunities they thought would benefit them, and how they thought they might get involved. But they didn't even know training was a part of the Olympics. Once I had explained a little more about what had been promised to London, they were full of ideas of how they could get involved, from designing team uniforms, to street art and online forums.

The Games organisers have placed a lot of emphasis on the Pre-Volunteer Programme, which aims to give local people the skills and self-confidence to volunteer, take further training courses and enter paid employment. My assumption had been that schools in the Olympics boroughs would have been contacted by the Olympic authorities, and that the people living there would be aware of all the opportunities the Games would bring. But it seems that the communication is not what it should be.

I am planning a meeting before Christmas, with other community groups and children. Directors from the London Development Agency, the Mayor's Office and the Olympic authorities have agreed to accompany me so that they can hear first-hand what these children need.

Are children in your area missing out from these opportunities? If so, please let me know if you think local children in your area need better information - send an e-mail to: dee.doocey@london.gov.uk

3. Housing priorities

The Mayor is about to take on substantial new housing powers and he will be responsible for preparing and publishing the statutory London Housing Strategy and strategic Housing Investment Plan. With this in mind, I have held a series of meetings over the past few months with various housing organisations and charities based in London to discuss key priorities.

I am particularly interested in what can be done to help families and young people waiting for long periods of time in temporary accommodation, and tackling the issues of unemployment and social exclusion associated with homelessness. In July, I visited the 'Off the Streets and Into Work's Transitional Spaces Project' to see at first hand what it does. This pilot project works with a number of boroughs and organisations involved in housing services and aims to get homeless people into sustainable jobs and private sector-rented accommodation. The project team had warned me that the clients might not want to "open up to a politician", but their fears were unfounded and we had very good discussion.

It was clear that the Transitional Spaces Project is providing much-needed practical support that is not available or forthcoming elsewhere, including money for deposits and help to open a bank account. I will next be visiting SPEAR, to hear about the work it does in the borough of Richmond to help vulnerable rough sleepers as well as those in danger of becoming homeless, and the continuing support it gives to all those who pass through their doors.

I am also planning to visit Holloway Prison with Shelter, which runs a programme to assist inmates. An increasing number of women are imprisoned for minor crimes and for short sentences. This often results in evictions and has a dramatic effect on their children, who are often taken into care. Shelter is working to ensure that imprisonment doesn't necessarily mean that inmates lose their home by the time they are released.

4. Policing - Safer Neighbourhood Teams

I was recently contacted by a concerned councillor who had discovered that three of her ward's Police Community Support Officers were being promoted to Police Constables and were not being replaced. I am investigating this but would like to hear from anyone else who has had similar experiences. Please contact me at: dee.doocey@london.gov.uk

It is essential that the valuable and often successful work of the Safer Neighbourhood Teams, in reducing crime across London, is not jeopardised because vacancies are not swiftly filled. To judge the scale of the problem, the Lib Dem team has asked the Mayor for the current number of vacant SNT posts.

5. Work of the Economic Development, Culture, Sport and Tourism Committee

The committee that I chair is currently working on three investigations:

· The future of markets in London - From street markets to farmers markets, we are looking at the issues that face market traders today. We recently visited Shepherd's Bush market and spoke to a large number of traders and customers. A public meeting is taking place near Petticoat Lane market on 16th October. This will be the first time that the committee has met outside City Hall, and I hope it is successful because I believe that we should be taking the decision-making process to the people rather than relying on them to come to City Hall. Our research to date has identified increased rent for stalls, security, crime, and the threat of new shopping centres as key issues. But markets are, and must remain, an integral part of London life. We will be publishing a report in the New Year, which will send recommendations to those responsible.

· The London Development Agency's funding of cultural projects - We have been conducting an investigation into the London Development Agency's funding of cultural projects. We looked at over £70 million of funding, with a particular focus on the six largest projects, including the Rich Mix and Bernie Grant Centres in East London. We will be publishing our report in November.

· Diversion of lottery funding to pay for the Olympics - The National Lottery is now paying £2.2 billion towards the cost of the 2012 Olympics. This means that money is being diverted from existing good causes, including community sports and the arts. My committee has just agreed to investigate how this will affect London, and we will be questioning lottery funders such as the Arts Council, Sport England and the UK Film Council, to see how they plan to cope with this loss.

6. Get in touch

You can keep in touch with the work of the 5 Liberal Democrat Assembly Members in London by visiting www.glalibdems.org.uk

If you or a local group would like to visit City Hall to see how the London Assembly and Mayor work and to tour the building, just drop me a line. You can also share your ideas with the London Assembly Liberal Democrat Group and others by sending an email to: dee.doocey@london.gov.uk

I am always happy to arrange visits or speeches, but I don't like to turn down your invitations, so please contact me as early as possible!