HC Deb 07 June 1985 vol 80 cc598-9 1.44 pm
Mr. Cohen

I wish to present a third petition to the House. It reads:

To the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled.

Again, this is a petition from the Leytonstone ward Labour party. It is relevant because it is a direct constituency petition. I cannot express more adequately than the petition the urgency of dealing with the matters contained within it. It states:

That improvements are needed to the Housing and Environmental conditions on the route of the M11 Link road.

The link road is due to go through my constituency. It continues:

"Wherefore your Petitioners pray that your Honourable House recognises that (1) Waltham Forest Council has paid £683,000 to the Department of Transport for rents and dilapidation payments over the past twenty years.

  1. (2) The area is dilapidated and rat-infested.
  2. (3) Many houses lack basic amenities and are in a bad state of repair.
  3. (4) People have lived with uncertainty about the future for thirty-five years.
  4. and that your honourable House takes action to
  5. (1) reduce to peppercorn level rents on land and property payable to the Department of Transport to enable Housing Associations and co-ops to keep them in short-life use until demolition.
  6. (2) Adequately fence and secure from intruders vacant land and properties and maintain boundary walls of properties in the Department of Transport's ownership.
  7. (3) Allow Waltham Forest Council to spend more capital by increasing their H.I.P. allocation so that they can replace the homes they will be forced to vacate for demolition.
  8. (4) Give grants to local organisations managing short-life properties in the area.
  9. (5) Provide additional money for environmental improve ments in the area.
  10. (6) Make a decision to build a cut and covered road without further delay.
And your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray, &c.

The petition is signed by 27 members of Leytonstone's Labour party who represent the vast majority of my constituents. I wholeheartedly support the petition.

To lie upon the Table.