Dear Resident
We are loving the June sunshine and the full calendar of summer events!
Chessington Fun Day Church Fields Thursday 1st June
We had a wonderful day at the Chessington Fun Day on the Tombola stand where we watched all our luck-of-the-draw prizes go to excited families and children! We saw all the brilliant work from volunteers in our community from Square 1 Café Chessington and Angels of the Hood helping out on the New Era Community Projects CIC stall. We met the brilliant Chessington community policing group led by Acting Sergeant Shearer.
Policing
We attended a community policing briefing by Constable Shearer and his team at a presentation at Chessington World of Adventures Safari Hotel. We heard about drugs offences, break-ins and burglaries, car theft and thefts from vehicles and arrests. The team shared with us a survey on how safe we feel in our community with more than half saying that they feel safe or very safe and 15% disagreeing. Residents tell us that they want to see our police team tackling anti-social behaviour, apprehending offenders, and providing visible patrols. Later that week, we joined the Sunday Walk and Talk with local officers to hear local concerns around women and violence. We walked for two hours past pubs which can get rowdy to overgrown footpaths where girls do not feel safe and into the disused golf course to discuss risks of crime and drugs and safeguarding our young people.
A few days later we attended a Weapons Sweep at Church Fields Rec where we went to look for hidden knives … I’m happy to report that all we found was a very old saw from chopping wood! Next up, I’ve been invited to do a night shift with the team and I’m very much looking forward to the experience!
I’m really keen to hear your personal concerns about policing and crime please do email me in confidence [email protected]
Many people worry about how to get hold of the police when you need them or if you see something and I learnt that twitter can be a very fast effective route… so please note this down …
Always 999 in an emergency and 101 for non – emergency
Kingston Police Station 5-7 High Street Kingston upon Thames KT1 1LB
Chessington South & Malden Rushett
Tel: 02087212001
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @MPSChessingtonS
Hook & Chessington North
Tel: 07342 713970
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @MPSChessingtonN
Kingston Charitable Foundation Trustee
I’m very excited to have joined the board of the Kingston Charitable Foundation originally LoveKingston started by colleague Cllr Julie Pickering now led by the wonderful Hicky Kingsbury CEO and you can see the amazing local work achieved last year here … https://kingstoncf.org.uk/how-we-help
Kingston Chamber of Commerce
Coffee and Connect @Wych Elm, Net Walk, AGM, Shared Economy and Future of Work Events
Kingston Chamber of Commerce do amazing work in the community supporting business and charities and building the valuable networks that help our organisations grow. I’ve attended all five of their events this month and found it an incredibly rewarding way to meet the groups that do so much here. The Shared Economy event was a discussion about the Big Society concept knitting together charity and community work supported by business and volunteering and donations led by Kingston Charitable Foundation CEO Nicky Kingsbury.
The Future of Work event was hosted at Kingston University, Kingston Hill campus, to explore important changes in the workplace such as home-working, culture and values, recruitment, engagement and retention and AI. I was delighted to report to our audience that here in Kingston we have our highest employment level ever, surpassing pre-pandemic levels, with average salaries of nearly £40k. I was delighted to talk about my new ‘Returnership’ policy for a second internship, initiative to help older workers, especially women back into the workplace after caring responsibilities.
https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2023/03/17/budget-2023-what-are-returnerships-and-who-are-they-for/
and to attend the Hackathon teamwork to present solutions for supporting young people into their first career.
Education Minister Event
I was excited to attend an Education Policy event @The Carlton Club with Education Minister Gillian Keegan and hear her passionate support for Apprenticeships which can now be accessed through the UCCA system helping all A level students make better choices about education and career and avoiding debt.
https://www.ucas.com/corporate/news-and-key-documents/news/apprenticeships-boosted-under-plans-broaden-ucas
ULEZ Update
As we get closer to the August deadline the anxiety around ULEZ is increasing. This week a man cried in despair, ”What am I going to do?” At 86, he could only walk 50yds and depended on his non-compliant car for food and doctor appointments but could not afford the ULEZ charge. Nick Rogers AM came to update us on ULEZ in the Chessington District Residents’ Association Meeting. On 5th July we anxiously await the court ruling on the 5 Conservative councils that have challenged Sadiq Kahn on over-reaching his powers as Mayor of London. We have put the maximum pressure on the Mayor to delay this disproportionate tax on lower income groups.
Welcoming SW London GLA AM Candidate Ron Mushino
We are delighted to welcome our new candidate for SW London GLA AM as Cllr Ron Mushino, who has lived across the borough and attended St Mary’s University in Twickenham. This month, our amazing colleague Nick Rogers AM for SW London decided to step down triggering the reselection process. Nick has done so much to hold Sadiq Kahn to account on ULEZ expansion and his disastrous mismanagement of TfL finances as well as poor management of police and fire brigade, both in special measures, as well as his poor record house building in London.
Boundary Reviews Confirmed
After years of discussion the boundary review was finally concluded and announced. We say a fond farewell to Old Malden and Motspur Park which goes to Wimbledon and a big Welcome to Coombe Vale which arrives from Richmond Park. We look forward to meeting our new members and making you feel part of our community.
It feels like a very busy month meeting so many groups in our community and I have loved every minute!
Have a lovely summer!
Best wishes
Helen Edward
Parliamentary Spokesperson for Kingston and Surbiton
[email protected]
PS Please complete our ULEZ and health surveys here
www.Kingstonconservatives.org.uk/survey2023
www.kingstonconservatives.org.uk/NHS23
