We are delighted that the new Mayor, elected on 17 May, is Cllr Michael Cartwright. Michael was elected as a Councillor in 1992 and represents Broadway Ward. He was Deputy Leader from 2014 – 2017. He is a member and long term supporter of the work of the Hammersmith Society. We understand that Cllr Mercy Umeh will continue in the role of Deputy Mayor.

We also wish to congratulate Rosemary Pettit on her appointment as Mayoress and Consort to the Mayor. Rosemary has been on the Hammersmith Society committee for several years and was Chairman from 2012 to 2015.

The Hammersmith and Fulham Air Quality Commission report was adopted by the Council in November. The Commissioners, chaired by Rosemary Pettit, have recently asked the Council for an update on the Commission’s recommendations.

A total of 25 recommendations were presented to LBHF council, and 17 of these have been acted upon. These include an Urban Ecology Plan, an increase in diesel permit charges, a target of converting Council fleets to low-emission vehicles, and arboricultural and greening policies to be promoted in the Local Plan and Supplementary Planning Documents. Further details

At Government level, MPs from four influential committees will launch a joint inquiry into the scale and impact of UK air pollution. The Environmental Audit Committee, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Health Committee and Transport Committee will consider mounting scientific evidence on the health and environmental effects of toxic air. The H&F Air Quality Commission report will be submitted to the inquiry.

At GLA level, the Mayor of London is to prioritise air quality in a new London Plan, expand use of electric buses, reduce vehicle ‘idling’ and review London’s Climate Change and Energy Strategy.

This is the panel set up to advise the Council and Planning Officers on the design quality of major planning schemes.

We have been critical of the operation of the panel for a long time as we felt it was not transparent in its operation nor representative of local views. The current administration closed the panel down at the beginning of last year. The panel has now been reinvigorated and we are delighted that our comments and recommendations have been listened to, and the new panel will include non-architect members from the Hammersmith Society, the Fulham Society and the Hammersmith and Fulham Historic Buildings Group. The West London Architectural Society and the local RIBA Branch will also be able to nominate local representatives.

The Council’s Email Alerts to Planning and Licensing applications are always informative. To never miss a planning application in your area, register with the Council. You specify the area you are interested in – and it’s as easy as that. In addition to receiving prompt notice of applications you can click through to the application itself, look at the documents and, if it is a small application, click on ‘Make a public comment’ and write your comments in the box provided, then receive a receipt (and your comments) in your email Inbox. If your concern is of interest to the Hammersmith Society please forward to us. We’ll be glad to respond.

Cineworld Hammersmith

In the next few weeks, you can expect to see the closing of the Cineworld Cinema in King Street. Many have used this for all our years of living in Hammersmith. This will mark the commencement of the Town Hall/King Street Regeneration Project. The revised and generally more popular mixed use scheme was approved back in November 2013. It will be a phased scheme providing replacement offices for the Council where the cinema is now, about 200 new residential units, a new public square with shops, restaurants and a new Curzon cinema. No doubt there will be publicity and more specific information on the programming of the project.  Watch this space!

This continues to be hot news with regular features appearing in London papers and local news bulletins. This month Rosemary Pettit’s Resident-led Commission is taking evidence.

Rosemary notes that the background and purpose of the Commission are as follows:

Hammersmith and Fulham has the eighth highest percentage of early deaths attributable to nitrogen dioxide and to particulate matter air pollution in London, according to a report by King’s College London.  The report, commissioned by the Greater London Authority and Transport for London, estimates that this contributes to the early deaths of 203 residents per year.

In response to this, Hammersmith & Fulham Council has established a resident-led Air Quality Commission to look into the problem.  The Commission will engage with external experts and local residents in examining the causes and dangers of local air pollution and propose potential solutions to help reduce it. Hammersmith resident, Rosemary Pettit, is chairing the Commission, which will run for some 6 months and report to Hammersmith and Fulham Council.

The Hammersmith Society does not support the potential award for the brickwork at Ravenscourt House (site of the former police accommodation in Paddenswick Road – now student housing which we thought was a mediocre scheme) but we certainly support and applaud the Council for its tenacious efforts on Enforcement against unauthorised development, rogue advertising and the like.