Once, twice and three times no

The Conservative council has, for at least the third time in recent years rejected my request for them to take the voting rights of students at Roehampton University more seriously.

I asked the council to establish a specific polling district for students based at Roehampton Students Union instead of making them walk more than a mile to their current polling station on the Lennox estate. The Tory council refused.

I asked the council to trial an early voting pilot scheme, which would mean that students could cast their votes over a period of time before polling day. The Tory council refused.

I even asked them to simply make sure they prioritise registering students in broadly the same numbers everyone else is; and to really seriously encourage students to vote by post. The Tory council refused. Barely half the number of students in halls on Roehampton's campus are registered to vote as of today, with huge gaps in the Mount Clare campus in particular.

I start from the very simple proposition that everyone should have equal opportunity to cast a vote in this year's election. Students, whether because they don't feel sufficiently engaged in the local area, or because they have barriers placed between them and voting by the Conservative council, are not getting that equal opportunity.

Yes, students tend to be a more apathetic group than mainstream voters, but it's not the case that they are less interested in politics. Turnout from the university is so much lower than that for other universities of a similar size that there has to be a reason for it. To dismiss this problem so easily is to dismiss students as having as much of a right to a say as any other Putney elector.

That's the local Conservative view of students. It certainly isn't mine.

The change we see

These are some of the hundreds of new and revamped facilities around the country completed by Labour since we were elected. They're from right around the country, but here in Putney we:

• Rebuilt Queen Mary's Hospital in Roehampton
• Upgraded doctors and dentists' surgeries like the one in Augustus Road
• Are currently upgrading the pool at Southfields Community College;
• Built the Brandlehow Nursery extension
• Are about to fund a major refit of Elliott School and the expansion of Hotham Primary School
• Funded the expansion of South Thames College on their central Wandsworth campus
• Expanded Roehampton University

..Among other important local investments in our community. Continuing investment in Putney, Roehampton and Southfields depends on who wins the general election - and that depends on who you vote for locally. The Tories will cut these building schemes substantially. Labour has a track record of delivering for our area.

New rules on student digs will help the Alton

New rules introduced by our Labour Government will mean that landlords who want to let their home to more than three or more unrelated people will need to get planning permission.

This is a really important measure because, in Roehampton at least, it will help rebalance our community.

Here's the problem. After their first year in halls of residence, most Roehampton University students move into private rented homes principally on the Alton Estate but in surrounding areas, too.

If they were dispersed throughout the estate that wouldn't be a problem, but what has happened on the Alton is that student homes are concentrated in very specific parts of it - places like Sherfield Gardens, Laverstoke Gardens, Swanwick Close, Hersham Close and parts of Bessborough Road and Petersfield Rise, to name just a few of those with the highest numbers.

The problem is that these aren't student-only areas: students live side by side with long term residents. And inevitably there are conflicts between students, here for no more than a year (and without a long-term commitment to the estate), and residents for whom this is their permanent home.

Add to that different lifestyles: those of students enjoying their three or four years before the responsibilities of working life kick-in, set against those of families trying to get their kids (or themselves) to sleep while a party is going on next door.

It creates tensions. This new planning law Labour has introduced can help resolve those tensions simply by capping the number of homes in any given block or street that can be turned into HMOs (homes in multiple occupation) rather than being kept for families or individuals.

Now I hear the concerns of the NUS - expressed in the Evening Standard article from Friday - about forcing students into a ghetto - but on the Alton it would have the reverse effect. It would break up student "ghettos" - and in so doing those areas would become cleaner, better maintained and more cohesive - happier.

And that's what the Alton's lost these past two decades since Conservative right-to-buy legislation started going wrong - when those who had bought their council homes moved out and buy-to-let landlords took over, renting house after house on the estate to students (and others).

I think the way to rebuilding a strong community on the Alton is rebuilding balanced communities that have pride in their area. We don't get that if any particular part of the estate is dominated by those who are simply passing through with different, conflicting priorities to others.

We've got to start paying more attention to our planning laws - it's a theme I return to again and again, whether it is this issue, local planning overdevelopment or the need for a Plan for Putney - because the Conservative laissez-faire, do nothing approach to planning is wrecking those areas that need strong communities the most.

Student Loans Company response

Below is a bland reply from the Deputy Chief Executive of the Student Loans Company in response to my letter of a few weeks ago. I wrote to highlight the plight of Roehampton University students who have been as badly affected by their incompetent failure to pay financial packages on time.

One of the ridiculous things the SLC is claiming is that students will get their money once their registration has been confirmed. But many institutions don't allow their students to register unless they can prove they can pay fees and, where applicable, rent for their room in halls of residence.

We really need better from the SLC. It's only purpose is to provide students with funds during their studies. If it can't even do that one thing, there really isn't much point to its existence.

This is what the SLC had to say for themselves:

Youth unemployment falls

Although unemployment increased again in the three months to August (figures out today show), unemployment amongst the young actually fell.

Don't get me wrong: levels of unemployment among young people are far, far too high - but what this fact shows, I hope, is that when I write about how committed Labour is to tackling this problem it's not just hyperbole: it's action that produces results.

I've written about the ways we've come up with to keep young people economically active throughout the recession, in stark contrast to the way the Conservatives chose to behave when they were last in government.

Any young person claiming benefit for six months is guaranteed a work or training placement and internships are being massively increased. That enables anyone who wants to get known within the sector they hope to gain paid employment from in due course to make contacts and get vital experience that will make them far more attractive prospects to potential employers.

Because these figures only go up to the end of August they don't include Labour's September Guarantee either - whereby every single 16 and 17 year old is guaranteed a place at Sixth Form, Further Education College or a Modern Apprenticeship. They don't, of course, have to accept such a place but for the first time ever a British Government has made enough places available.

Remember, even at the depth of this recession today, unemployment is 30% LOWER in Putney than it was when Labour was elected in 1997 - and that was during a period of economic growth. While rising unemployment concerns us all this 30% difference between Labour and the Conservatives as a massive change for the better - and it's because of the long-term improvement in our economic foundations Labour has laid this past decade.

Labour: creating jobs and improving your skills

What a difference eight months make

The google search above encapsulates why you can't trust the Liberal Democrats. Back on 9th February, the Lib Dem leader was promising in The Guardian that he would scrap tuition fees for university students.

As recently as July of this year, one of his most senior MPs, Evan Harris, who represents the University half of Oxford was continuing to spin this line, claiming: ??the media are wrong if they think that tuition fee abolition with student debt reduction will not be one of our key proposals to put before the British public."

Back in 2005 the Lib Dems saw students as a key target group - and so came up with their "abolish tuition fees" line. It won them a handful of university seats and 41% of the student vote.

Now they've calculated that this week it's more important to out-Tory the Tories on slashing public services, so the students can be forgotten about. Remember that this follows the jettisoning of their promise to raise income tax by 1p to fund education; the jettisoning of their pledge to stop post office closures and the jettisoning of a pledge to lift thousands of the poorest from paying income tax.

As someone passionate about politics, I by and large don't subscribe to the view that politicians say anything to win a vote. But I tend to find that it is the Liberal Democrats who are the exception to that rule. In a by-election not that long ago, they campaigned for a motorway bypass to relieve congestion in the town of Newbury. There's nothing wrong with that, except that in the rural parts of that same constituency which the bypass would have run through, the Lib Dems were campaigning against it! This would be funny if it weren't so cynical.

Some of us still believe in honour in politics. The way too many Liberal Democrats behave is not honourable. Supporting one policy in one general election, and the diametric opposite of it - as with tuition fees - at the next is not honourable.

You just can't trust the Lib Dems, I'm afraid.

Student Loans debacle

There have been some quite spectacular examples of incompetence from quangos over the past twenty years - starting with the Child Support Agency under the Torie, but also the Qualifications & Curriculum Authority (QCA) failing to correctly mark exam papers.

But the ineptitude of the Student Loans Company takes some beating. To leave over 300,000 students without any finance in place at the start of the month, when its sole purpose is to ensure that it is, is gross incompetence.

And I've just written on behalf of Roehampton University students who have been affected, to the Chief Executive of the SLC to tell him just that. What compounds their failure is their inability to provide a phone helpline that students can actually get through on, a website that couldn't be less informative if it tried, and an abject refusal to say sorry for failing to justify its existence.

Of course, while it may be therapeutic to tell the SLC what we all think of them, that won't get students their finance any quicker. Nor will it ensure that universities - which normally require students to be able to prove they have the funds to pay for their tuition and board, where applicable, before they can register for courses - allow those affected to commence their studies.

That's why I've also written to the Vice Chancellor of Roehampton University, Paul O'Prey, to ask for some assurances on behalf of those affected by this debacle so that they can be housed and registered for day one of the new academic year.

You can read both my letters below - as usual, click on the image for a larger version.

Government takes an interest in Roehampton early voting

Below is a reply my campaign has received about my efforts to increase participation in elections of Roehampton University students from the Minister for Justice, Michael Wills MP.

I think the reply is really positive because even though he says it won't be possible to run an early voting trial for the general election, it is possible - if the Conservative council applies to do so - for there to be an early voting trial at next year's council elections.

We've forwarded this letter onto the Council's Chief Executive, Gerald Jones to urge the council to pursue this idea because if between us we can find the funds, what on earth can they have against increasing student engagement?

Early voting for Roehampton University?

For quite a while now I've been concerned about the lack of involvement in politics amongst students at Roehampton University. The voter turnout is usually a lot lower among students than other sections of the electorate, but in Roehampton the problem is particularly acute.

In the largest cluster of halls of residence at Roehampton: Southlands, Digby Stuart and Froebel Colleges, where over 600 students are registered, turnout in June's European elections was just 3% - that's ten times lower than the constituency as a whole.

The reasons for low turnout among Roehampton students go beyond simply disengagement with local politics in this area, although that is clearly a factor. For example, students in those halls mentioned above need to walk over a mile to get to their polling station at the end of Priory Lane. Despite my campaign repeatedly asking for special effort to be made in both registering students and getting them signed up for postal votes going back more than four years, the Conservative council has always rejected these requests.

One thing I am is persistent, so my campaign recently wrote to the Council Chief Executive asking him to investigate whether early voting could be tried in Roehampton. The details and the arguments are set out in the letter, which you can read below - or download a pdf of it here.

I copied this letter to the Minister in the Ministry of Justice - the government department responsible for elections - and I'll publish his reply shortly.

Roehampton: reskilling South West London

I wrote recently about how Putney is weathering the tough economic climate in respect of unemployment.

One of the ways to keep unemployment down is to make sure that local people have the skills to compete in the local job market.

And that's why a piece of local news that got lost this past week was significant. It was the announcement of a dreadfully-named programme called The Economic Challenge Investment Fund (ECIF), of which Roehampton University has won a £250,000 slice.

Roehampton's winning bid - which they will match-fund, creating a £500,000 scheme - will create a new suite of facilities to help local people re-train for job areas where there are particular skills gaps at present. There will also be opportunities for those in work to improve their technical and professional skills and personal development.

Almost 2,000 local people will benefit from this new scheme and it will help keep Putney and the rest of South West London one of the most employed, and least unemployed parts of the UK. For more about Roehampton's winning bid click here.

Volunteering

The Prime Minister's announcement that everyone by the age of 19 will be asked to volunteer for at least 50 hours of community service if Labour is re-elected is a move I strongly support.

Back in the 2006 council elections one of the features of the manifesto I wrote as Labour Leader in Wandsworth featured a plan to set up a volunteer scheme for students and sixth formers which I called WandCorps.



In return for their help on projects they are particularly interested in: environmental work like keeping Beverley Brook and the River Wandle free of rubbish; helping with care support in sheltered housing or residential homes; assisting in schools teaching computer skills or helping with Games, and so on. In return, the participants would gain experience and be able to add to their CV.

At the time, the Conservatives were very critical of the idea, even though the borough would have got out of the scheme far more than it invested. But community service is clearly an idea whose time has come - it's all part of Labour's commitment to making full-time education compulsory until 18; another achievement that I suspect future generations will recognise as very significant in the development of our country.

I think we need to instil a sense of communitarianism - the idea that we're not just in it for ourselves - in the citizens of tomorrow; and if we can link that into additional accreditation so that the students themselves benefit.

Record numbers of Putney undergraduates

The number of students going on to higher education in Putney has increased by one of the highest amounts in the country under Labour.

In the 1997/8 academic year - the last under the Conservative Government, 250 Putney young people became undergraduates. A decade on, in 2007/8, after ten years of Labour, that number was 410: that's a 67% increase. And that is the 67th biggest increase anywhere in the UK - out of over 650. In perspective, the average increase is 27%.

But what happens if the Conservatives get in? They've pledged to cut £610million from the learning and skills budget - just at the time when getting a good qualification can make the difference between getting on the career ladder or struggling to find work. Under the last Tory government, higher education funding fell by 37%.

This is what Chris Patten, the former Tory Government Minister who went on to become Vice Chancellor of Oxford University said about his own party's failure on higher education, writing in the Guardian on 14th October last year:

?What is true is we expanded higher education hugely by reducing the investment in each student. In just over a decade we doubled the number of students and halved the investment in each. The Treasury calls that higher productivity - it's a euphemism for poorer pay, degraded facilities, less money to support the teaching of each student.?

Labour has halted and reversed that trend, without reducing the numbers of students entering higher education. We've had to take tough and unpopular decisions to get to where we are today, but given the choice between the record numbers of Putney teenagers becoming undergraduates and the miserable times students faced when I was at University in the 1980s and 1990s I think the progress we've made is significant. Don't let the Tories wreck it.

Click here to download the table of undergraduates by constituency, in excel format

Have a happy new year

I'd like to wish everyone who has visited this website: the loyal following I appear to be building (given the latest visitor figures - more about this in the new year when they've been verified!); and everyone in Putney Roehampton and Southfields best wishes for 2008.

I'm delighted with the six months since I was selected:

• Forcing the council to think again - and at least consult residents - about the closure of Newlands Hall
• Finally delivering the long-overdue refitting of Roehampton Recreation Club: a Labour campaign going back six years
• Helping highlight the absurd and damaging plans to close Wandsworth Museum and West Hill Library
• Working with local Police to highlight the significant fall in crime in Putney - one of the safest constituencies in London
• Reassuring residents of the Dover House Estate after the dog attack in the Autumn
• Boosting take-up of the Child Trust Fund on the fifth anniversay of this important Labour initiative
• Fighting to make voting easier for Roehampton University students
• Stepping-up my campaign to pur some pride into Putney High Street
• Focussing as my top priority on the local housing crisis, in contrast to Putney's Tory MP who hasn't asked a single parliamentary quesion on the subject since she was elected
• And taking up hundreds of local concerns, problems and ideas picked up from getting out and about in the constituency, asking residents their views in surveys and petitions, and making sure everyone has the opportunity of contacting me not least through this website

...To list but a few. Bring on 2008 and a full year of campaigning for Putney, Roehampton and Southfields!

Roehampton students' blood donors campaign

Students at Roehampton University have been campaigning in recent weeks for the antiquated and discriminatory ban on gay men being blood donors to be scrapped - a campaign I support.

This is a crazy ban that shouldn't have survived the dawn of the millennium. The NHS blood banks are hardly overwhelmed with donors; and from time to time, especially during the Winter, there are often reports that stocks are perilously low.

The National Blood Service argues that even with screening there is a small risk that infection may get through. But it is unjust and silly to assume that all homosexual blood will be infected while all heterosexual blood is safe; especially given that HIV infection (to name but one) is now proportionally higher in the heterosexual than the gay community.

All I know is that if a relative or friend of mine needed a blood transfusion, the only thing I'd care about was that the blood was safe. Whether it was donated by a man or woman, black or white, gay or straight is utterly immaterial. How the National Blood Service can believe different in this day and age is extraordinary.

What price democracy?

The Council has been reviewing where it locates its polling stations on election days. This may sound like a seriously dull issue, but research has shown that the further away from a polling station someone lives, the less likely they are to bother to vote.

One of the areas where this problem is most starkly highlighted is in the northern part of Roehampton ward. This is the area that covers Priory Lane, the Lennox Estate and Woking Close. For residents in most of this patch they vote fairly locally at the Brookside Community Centre. But also included in this polling station's catchment area is the main Roehampton University campus in Roehampton Lane. From here, the distance to vote is well over a mile.

Now you may say - as the council does - that students are "active and mobile", so a mile hike is nothing. The problem is that it's off-putting enough that in the council elections last year a total of seven - that's seven students, not 7% - out of almost 800, decided to go to the trouble of walking it.

We can either take the view that it's just too bad or - my view - that we have to make a bigger effort to engage students so that they get a voting habit that will stay with them for life. That's why we in Labour argued for a new polling station in the Roehampton campus.

To my regret Council officers recommended rejecting this idea as "not cost-effective" (even though it's the government, not the council, that foots the bill of staging elections). So my question is: what price democracy? I hope that Councillors, who on all sides are genuinely concerned about engaging residents in the democratic process, will reconsider this issue and make voting much easier for Roehampton University students.

You can find out more about the review of polling stations here.