Criminal Court Reform, Chiswick Tower and Gunnersbury Park
Report back from Andy Slaughter, MP for Hammersmith and Chiswick
Andy Slaughter MP
December 5, 2025
There was a major announcement from the government this week on criminal court reform. The backlog of cases awaiting trial is in the tens of thousands and currently one of the biggest barriers to justice for victims. Unfortunately, over the tenure of the previous government little attention was given to the backlog and now we have reached critical levels.
When the current government came into power they commissioned an independent review of the criminal courts, led by Sir Brian Leveson who makes a compelling case for radical change and the need for more than just extra resources to address the situation across our criminal courts. The Lord Chancellor has listened and announced this week to restrict the role of juries in certain criminal cases.
These reforms constitute profound and unprecedented changes to the criminal justice system. Juries are central to our constitutional right to a fair trial and form a ‘cornerstone’ of a system which has served us well for centuries. In my question to the Justice Secretary, I asked for an evaluation on the effects of these changes - whether they, along with other measures such as increased investment, bring down the backlog and whether they do so fairly, without bias and without increasing conviction rates or sentence length. However, we must always remember that we have a duty to victims, and indeed defendants, to take all necessary steps to stop the delay and dysfunction of our courts.
On Wednesday there was a statement from the security minister on the collapse of the prosecution case of two individuals accused of espionage offences. In the statement I asked the minister if he has identified any points of learning for his department to stop this disappointing outcome from happening again.
I guested on the Joint Committee on Human Rights evidence session with justice minister, Jake Richards MP. I asked about immigration tribunals and stressed that further clarification was needed on the proposed changes to adjudication of these tribunals. I also enquired about prison overcrowding and the impact this has on rehabilitation as well as the forthcoming Hillsborough law. You can watch the session on Parliament Live for those interested.
In local news, the planning application for Chiswick Tower and the annex was approved by the Planning Committee this week. The recently approved scheme is the better of the two applications, providing social rent units, co-living units and importantly, will allow provisions for station improvements. I will continue to meet with Network Rail and TfL to discuss their progress on a scheme. This is a key opportunity to deliver much needed step-free access and capacity improvements at the station.
I have been contacted by several constituents who have alerted me to a major application for Gunnersbury Park. The proposals would allow use for live events for 28 days a year, and 90 days for set up/removal from May 2026 - May 2036. I have made a formal objection to raise residents' concerns. You can comment on the planning application by searching the planning reference (P/2025/3274) on the planning portal. I encourage residents to submit their views ahead of the 18 th of December deadline.
I have also been notified of significant works to Barons Court station that will be taking place throughout 2026, which will unfortunately mean platform closures at the station. Overnight works have been happening throughout this year, but the outstanding works are more extensive and can only be undertaken when platforms are closed. This means from Monday 19 th January until early-June 2026 the eastbound platform will be closed. Once eastbound platform works are finished, westbound platform works will commence. I am assured that both platforms will be open for Queens Tennis Tournament which starts on 6 th June 2026.
Barons Court Station is a Grade II listed building, and I will be writing to TfL to ensure that all heritage features – like the unique platform benches – will be preserved. I will also be asking for further details on the public communications they will be running to ensure that residents are kept up to date throughout. During the eastbound closures, TfL are advising passengers to use West Kensington for eastbound District line services or change at Earl’s Court or Hammersmith for eastbound Piccadilly services. Likewise, during the westbound platforms closure, passengers will be advised to use West Kensington for District line services or change at Hammersmith or Earl’s Court for westbound Piccadilly services.
On Friday, the government announced its Child Poverty Strategy with the aim of lifting 550,000 children out of poverty by 2030. They plan to do this through a range of measures including extending childcare hours for households receiving Universal Credit, scrapping the two-child benefit limit from April, raising the minimum wage and ending the unlawful use of B&Bs for homeless families past the six-week limit. I am very supportive of these measures, and I know many constituents in Hammersmith and Chiswick will be too.
Best wishes,
Andy
andy@andyslaughter.com
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