PRESS RELEASE - Concern over Cuts in Station Manpower

South West Trains are cutting 58 posts from their station manpower including cuts at three major local stations – Twickenham, Richmond and Teddington.  Other smaller stations in the Borough will experience cuts in opening hours at ticket offices.

Vincent Cable MP has written to SW Trains’ Chief Executive to make a public statement explaining to the travelling public what these cuts mean: “There is already a great deal of frustration with defective ticket machines and with passengers unable to obtain tickets before they travel.  More generally, passengers are already anxious about security on stations, especially at night, and only two weeks ago Teddington – which now loses staff – was given a Safe Station award.  I suspect that local rail users will not understand why there are cuts in services when rail fares are rising faster than inflation.”

Residents’ Seven Years of Lorry Hell

A group of residents in Kilmorey Road, St Margaret’s, have suffered five years of dust and noise from endless lorries servicing the Octagon housing development and face another two years.  Several residents have developed allergies from the constant impregnation of the air with dust on the street and in their homes.  Promises have been constantly broken; a letter from the Council told them the developers had promised no more than 1 big lorry and 2 small lorry movements a day but on day recently a resident counted 30 before 3.30pm alone.

Vincent Cable MP said: “Residents have approached me after finding other avenues blocked.  The Councillors have been helpful and sympathetic but the Council appears to be disregarded by inconsiderate developers who pay no attention to residents’ concerns.  They send dust-laden lorries, uncovered, through the streets making no attempt to cover them.  The roads are breaking up.

“I have written to the senior management asking them to pay more attention to what is happening on the site and to the Council to ensure that there is regular wet sweeping to dampen dust.”

PRESS RELEASE - Hot and Bothered about Flights

The hot weather in the last few weeks has made a lot of residents miserable because of the large numbers of low and noisy take-offs from Heathrow continuing late into the evening.  Vincent Cable MP and John Stewart of HACAN are to visit NATS (the National Air Traffic Services) to discuss the feasibility of spreading take-offs more equitably across London when, as now, there is a predominance of easterly take-offs.

Vincent Cable said: “At this time of year there are a lot of easterly take-offs because of the prevailing easterly winds and the three preferred routes for take-off are over Ealing, Staines and Twickenham/Teddington.  The problem is compounded by the way in which air circulation in warm weather conditions has the effect of amplifying noise.  The disamentity of aircraft noise has the effect of alienating more and more people from the idea of airport expansion.  But I also want to look at practical short-term solutions, if there are any, to distributing the noise burden more equitably.”