Justine Greening MP Writes To Residents
Including updates on the Putney plastic and social mobility pledges
Meeting scouts visiting Parliament to celebrate the Life Skills project
Dear Resident,
It's certainly been a busy time for anyone involved in politics over recent months, and a great chance to have lots of conversations on the doorstep. It's been great to be out and about working with other local residents on issues that matter to our community, there's always a huge amount going on, so if you are ever interested in getting involved with any of the projects I am working on, do get in touch.
Working in Putney, Roehampton and Southfields
In May, I had a busy month working on local issues raised by residents with me, including:
• Wrote over 1000 letters or emails to constituents about their concerns.
• Had over 60 meetings in my role as MP during the time Parliament.
• Held my weekly constituency MP surgeries at libraries to meet with local residents to discuss their concerns. If you would like to book an appointment for a future MP surgery, do get in touch with my office - if you can’t make it do give me a call and I can make sure someone else can come along.
• Had a briefing and tour of Pocket Living's new development at Mapleton Crescent which is an innovative approach on helping young people be able to buy their own home, and discussed further affordable housing options.
• Opened the Linden Lodge Isobel Family Centre which will provide fantastic new facilities for not only children at the school but their families who spend time there as well - pictured above.
• Attended a number of local street parties on the weekend of the Royal Wedding including those on Arnal Crescent, Pullborough Road, Combemartin Road - great seeing the dog show!
• Visited Riversdale Primary School to hear from children about the work they've been doing on cutting down on plastics at school and recycling.
• Attended the Southfields Grid Residents Association AGM with local residents - loads of great community work on making the Grid a greener place.
• Met with Future Blues, a charity that connects up secondary school children along the Thames to trying out rowing as a sport on how to expand their programme to schools in Putney.
• Visited St Michael's Foodbank and had a helpful discussion about our local issues and how I can work more closely with our local food bank as a local MP.
• As part of the Chelsea Flower Show week, I judged a school boot planting competition held in Wandsworth Park with students from Hurlingham and Brandlehow schools and the Friends of Wandsworth Park. It's great that the river terrace will stay part of the public park after the Planning Inspectorate agreed with Wandsworth Council's decision to refuse it becoming private property. (pictured above)
• Discussed the forthcoming Parliamentary vote on Heathrow expansion with the No Third Runway Coalition.
Working in Westminster
As a local Member of Parliament, this month in Westminster I have:
• Asked parliamentary questions and spoke in debates on Windrush, Building Regulations and Fire Safety after Grenfell, Government and community action around reducing plastic usage, the annual Commons debate marking the International Day on Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, and the first debate on the floor of the House for many years on persecution of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community. You can see my contributions here.
• Joined students from the South Thames College group for their celebration and awards ceremony in Parliament.
• Met with the Speaker to discuss the Speaker's Placement Scheme and how we can extend paid internships throughout MP offices.
• Participated in the Fawcett Society study into women's representation.
• Met with the Transport Secretary to lobby on behalf of residents on finally getting DfT backing for a second entrance for Putney Station.
• Celebrated the 70th Anniversary of the CDC group with former and current International Development Ministers.
• Spoke about my work on social moblity at a Bright Blue event.
• Held a meeting of business leaders already signed up to my Social Mobility Pledge to agree next steps on getting more companies signed up and sharing best practice on social mobility. I’ve now got Thomas Cook, Penguin Random House, Deloitte and Barratt Development all signed up over the last month plus local architects on Upper Richmond Road, Assael, who join others like Marks and Spencers, John Lewis and Vodafone.
• Spoke at an evidence session for the APPG for Social Mobility in their report on boosting education attainment across English regions.
• Met scouts visiting Parliament to celebrate the Life Skills project the Scouts are now doing with young people, focussed on the non-academic skills they’ll need to be successful.
• Attended a rally as a Champion for the UK Says No More campaign which is proposing extra measures to combat domestic abuse and sexual violence across the UK as part of the forthcoming Domestic Violence Bill.
Putney Plastics Pledge
This month, I've met with several constituents and Riversdale School about the Putney Plastics Pledge. It was great to see all the hard work Riversdale students are doing to learn about the bad impact plastics have on our environment and oceans and what can be done to decrease our reliance on plastics.
I've also met with a planning group on how to move forward with the Putney Plastics Pledge. We are planning a Wandsworth Park event for September and have project ideas for schools and residents. I'm also writing to businesses in Putney and Wandsworth Council about the aims of the pledge. We want to work towards Putney being single use plastic free, and will be focusing on straws, coffee lids and water bottles. If you'd like to get involved, either working with local shops to lobby and help them cut down, or helping me organise our September event, let me know and I'll let you know the specific ways you can get involved.
Police arrests see drop in moped crime and motor vehicle theft
Following several meetings I've had with the local police and various residence groups, the good news is that there has been a dramatic drop in theft from motor vehicles in Putney.
There has been huge desire locally to see the police increase their presence in the area following an rise in motor vehicle theft and moped crime. The police did a six week push and arrested 29 people, two of whom accounted for 40% of the reported thefts.
It is of course important to remain vigilant as this is the best way to prevent crime. Police advice is to keep your cars locked and valuables out of sight and protected. It may seem obvious, but it is easy to forget, especially when we are busy. Tips and reminders of ways to prevent these crimes are available here.
Social Mobility Pledge Update
This has been another busy month for my Social Mobility Pledge Campaign. This month I held a meeting in Parliament where we asked businesses who have signed up to the Social Mobility Pledge to go out and ask other businesses to sign up too. We also discussed best practice and ways that we could highlight the success stories out there. I believe that getting businesses more involved is a big part of the solution to making Britain a country where everyone has equality of opportunity.
Earlier in May I also met with a group of City businesses and the Lord Mayor to discuss how the City can commit to the pledge and act collectively. We’re also kicking off work on an evidence gathering project around our discussion - evaluating the best ideas and best practice out there and also mapping all the work underway across communities in Britain with the help of MPs.
I was hugely privileged to be asked to speak to several groups on the topic of Social Mobility, including Bright Blue, the All Party Parliamentary Group for Social Mobility and this month we had even more businesses sign up to the pledge, including Thomas Cook, Barratt Developments but also a number of my fellow MPs have also signed up businesses in their own constituencies, which means more opportunities for local people in their area. Businesses such as FAUN Zoeller UK, Hub Consulting Ltd, Fergusons Blyth, Lift-Off Global Network, and the Solent Mobility Centre have all also signed up thanks to other cross party MPs like Caroline Dinenage, Rachel Maclean and James Frith. The pledge is a great way for businesses, large or small, to signal their commitment to providing equality of opportunity, so if your business is interested in signing up, get in touch.
I hope that this update gives you a brief snapshot of some of the things I am working on as our local Member of Parliament. As ever, if you would like to contact me or raise an issue, than please get in touch and I will do the best I can to help. You can email me on justine@justinegreening.co.uk, write to me at 3 Summerstown, SW17 0BQ or call my office on 0208 946 4557. You can also follow me on Twitter and Facebook to see all my latest updates.
Best wishes,
June 7, 2018