Hello everyone,

Calling all Residents Associations!
One of the great things about Putney is how much people get involved with their local community, so I am regularly in touch with many Residents Associations, but if you are involved with one, do let me know who you are and where your residents association is.  I'd love to come along to meet with you and hear what your local issues are.  Also, I'm keen to make sure that when I'm talking with local residents associations about issues that I know all of the groups I need to contact, so do let me know of yours.  All you need to do is email your contact details to me at parliament on greeningj@parliament.uk and we can establish contact.

District Line - Dire Service
My latest meeting with Bob Thorogood, manager of the District Line was longer than usual, because with the many problems with the service in recent weeks whe had a lot to discuss.  I know that those problems continue.  I've got some response from Mr Thorogood about what happened and what's been done to sort it out, but I can assure you all that I have Mr Thorogood's mobile number and I relay issues as I come across them.

I'm sure many of you who use the District Line will know that recently, passengers were stranded one day for several hours, some stuck on tubetrains in tunnels, due to an electrical fault on the main power line.  It took most of the day to get the problem fixed, but Mr Thorogood has told me that they have found the main cause of the fault on the power cable and rectified it.  However, there were some other faults that were discovered along the line during the review to find the first problem, and so further investigations are underway.

One particular problem originating from Wimbledon, meaning that for several days tube trains were running at half frequency, should have been fixed now.  Apparently it was due to water/damp on the Wimbledon line and the work has now taken place to provide the necessary drainage.

As a District Line user is very frustrating when the service is so abysmal.  The emails PutneySW15.com readers sent me telling me your experience was very helpful.  Keep them coming because they mean I've far more than my own experience.  Several thousand views are far more powerful to help be get things changed for the better and to make sure I can press for problems to be fixed fast.

In terms of some other longer term improvements, I've asked Mr Thorogood to look at whether the Putney Bridge station track can be improved - the tube has to go through a sort of chicane at the moment.  It's possible to straighten out the track and use a different tube, which would speed up the tube.  From our discussions it sounds like doing that work is a real possibility but might not happen for several years - something I'll try to get brought forward.

Roehampton Congestion - Public meeting with TfL
Earlier this week residents met with TfL and Wandsworth Borough Council officers to discuss the massive congestion problems around Roehampton Lane (and knock on effects to Dover House Road).  TfL will be doing an area wide proposal over the next few months so that we can hopefully get a package of improvements for traffic flow that will really make a difference rather than just pushing traffic problems from one street to another.

I've also asked the Parks Minister David Lammy MP to come to a meeting with residents in the next 2 months.  Since the Robin Hood Gate was closed traffic has been much worse, and it's time Mr Lammy heard from residents so that he can reconsider his decision.  I'm worried about road safety, pollution, congestion and the environmental impact on the Roehampton side of Richmond Park.  As soon as I know when Mr Lammy is available, I'll let you all know.

Please do continue to get in touch with any issues you'd like my help on - email me at greeningj@parliament.uk, or call the office on 0208 9440378 if you'd like to come to one of my weekly MP surgeries.

 
Best Wishes,

Justine Greening MP

March 2, 2006