Transport Select Committee

Angie was delighted to be elected to the Transport Select Committee. The Committee examines the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Transport and its associated public bodies. Angie will now be in a prime position to work to ensure that both Ealing and Acton get the transport improvements that are so badly needed.

Foremost amongst these will be ensuring that Crossrail arrives on time and that Ealing Broadway finally gets a new station that can deal with the amount of people that pass through it every day. Angie has also joined the All Party Parliamentary Group on Crossrail and was elected as Treasurer. She says,

"I am thrilled that I have been given the opportunity to study transport issues in depth, especially Crossrail. I know how important transport matters are for residents in Ealing and Acton and I now have the chance to have a real input into transport policy."

Save Ealing Centre

Save Ealing Centre (SEC) invited Angie to a meeting with their main committee members to discuss the way forward for regenerating Ealing town centre. In particular, the meeting focused on the future of the Glenkerrin Arcadia site and the Crossrail updgraded Ealing Broadway station alongside it. A number of concerns were expressed, particularly concerning insensitive developers. Also raised was the worry that insufficient planning is made to upgrade local infrastructure to support the needs of an expanding community.

Bedford Park Festival

Once again the Bedford Park Festival took place in blazing sunshine on Acton Green. Angie says, "I am constantly surprised that they are so good at ensuring there is good weather at what is an important annual community event." This year the Green Days were officially opened by Radio Two presenter Jeremy Vine and the green was very quickly filled with hundreds of local residents and visitors from further afield.

Angie made a beeline for the honey stall, where she bought another jar of local "Ealing Honey" for her mother, who says it has a particularly good flavour.

Angie also caught up with Bedford Park Society Chairman Peter Eversden to discuss a variety of local matters and she congratulated him on another successful year.

Keeping you posted

Angie has written to Consumer Focus (of which Postwatch is now a part), as well as the Post Office, to ask questions about the proposed move of the main Ealing Post Office branch to the nearby WHSmith. She received numerous letters and emails from local residents concerned about the implications of this change. Angie says, "Clearly this issue is of great importance to constituents who are concerned about the long-term future of this key post office location. There is an ongoing consultation, but we need to be certain that this is a genuine attempt to gauge public opinion and not a box ticking exercise. I will endeavour to keep everyone updated on this issue as soon as I can."

Angie meets Superintendent Ian Jenkins

Angie met with Superintendent Ian Jenkins to discuss a number of policing matters that have been raised with her. In particular, she was keen to impress on him the growing number of local residents who have expressed deep concern about the number of menacing dogs seen in many of Ealing and Acton's open spaces. Having raised this matter in Parliament, Angie told him of her plans to push for this issue to be treated with greater urgency. She also discussed other matters including concerns about changing some Safer Neighbourhood Police team shift patterns. She said afterwards "I very much welcome these opportunities to discuss all these important matters properly and I am grateful to Ian Jenkins that he is generous with his time because I know how busy he is. I hope we will be able to have regular and frequent meetings from now on as I know how important policing issues are to the local community and they need to be raised as often as possible."

Save our A&Es

Angie was invited to a briefing meeting with Health Secretary Andrew Lansley and she took the opportunity to raise the concerns over the future of the A&E departments at both Ealing and Central Middlesex hospitals. She was pleased to hear from him that he will be reviewing the entire NHS London budget forecasts for the next few years and that he intends to allow decisions to be made on clinical needs rather than bureaucratic timetables. He agreed with Angie that the huge demand for the A&E services at Ealing Hospital make a very clear case for keeping the department there.

After the meeting Angie said, "I was delighted to get the chance to speak directly to the Health Secretary about these local concerns and was very pleased that the importance of keeping these A&E departments is well understood. However, I will not let up my campaign until their future is fully ensured."

Great news on Heathrow and Crossrail!

After campaigning vigorously to ensure that Crossrail comes to Ealing and Acton, and also to oppose any further expansion of Heathrow, Angie has welcomed two important announcements by the new Coalition Government that will impact directly on Ealing and Acton residents.

Despite fears during the election campaign, the new Transport Secretary, Philip Hammond, has confirmed that Crossrail funding is safe. This means that Crossrail, a vital component in regenerating both Ealing and Acton town centres, will go ahead bringing enormous benefits with it. Angie will continue her campaign to ensure that the new Crossrail stations will provide residents with all that they need, and that work starts on time.

A further announcement from Mr Hammond has also been widely welcomed across the whole of west London, which is that there will be no third runway at Heathrow. This removes the threat that has blighted the lives of so many west Londoners, including Ealing and Acton residents, for far too long, and the British Airports Authority now appears to recognise that there will be no third runway at Heathrow.

Angie makes her maiden speech!

Angie Bray (Ealing Central and Acton) (Con): Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to address the House for the first time and to take part in what is turning out to be a fascinating debate with some excellent contributions. I congratulate the hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West (Tom Greatrex) on an excellent and heartfelt maiden speech.

I start by paying tribute to some of my predecessors. Ealing Central and Acton is a new seat and for the past five years it has been well represented by the now hon. Member for Hammersmith (Mr Slaughter), who drew on many years of local government experience and his legal background to offer wise advice and counsel. We locked horns on occasions, but on at least two, we were on the same side. The first was to oppose the attempt to impose the infamous west London tram and the second, more recently, was the opposition to any further expansion of Heathrow airport. I respect the fact that the hon. Gentleman put his principles before his career when he stood down from his Government position to pursue that campaign. I hope that he is as pleased as I am with the new coalition Government's early announcement that there will be no third runway at Heathrow. It also seems that the British Airports Authority has finally got the message.

I would also like to mention the hon. Member for Ealing North (Stephen Pound), whom I have got to know rather well in the past year or so. His boundaries were changed alongside mine and, as he put it to me rather graphically, "You got your best bits from me and I got my best bits from you." So I say to him, thank you for that. I do not need to tell the House what a larger-than-life character he is. He is much loved for his work in the House and his commitment to his constituents. I hope that, in years to come, I can go about my job with the same good humour with which he goes about his.

However, the person I see as my closest predecessor is, of course, my right hon. Friend the Member for North West Hampshire (Sir George Young). He represented the old Ealing, Acton seat for 23 years and, regardless of people's political allegiance, he is remembered with warmth and affection throughout the constituency. He was the first famous bicycling politician-the bicycling baronet. In Ealing, we still have many photographs of him with his bicycle-and his bicycle clips. He deservedly has a towering reputation in Ealing and Acton. He is always welcome there and I am very aware that I have large shoes to fill-literally, as well as metaphorically.

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Ealing Central and Acton is one of the most diverse constituencies one can imagine. The boundary changes have deepened that diversity-the constituency is truly a rich tapestry. We have a long-standing Polish community, an Asian community, an Arab community, a Japanese community and an African community, including a growing Somali community. I want to mention the brilliant work of the Tallo centre in south Acton, which operates on little funding and eases the path of Somalis who come to this country and into our community. When I called there recently during the election campaign, I found two of the staff embarking on their new campaign against female circumcision in the Somali community. That is perhaps a useful reminder to us all that not everyone who comes here to live a better life can leave all their torment behind them. As the local MP, I look forward with all my heart to supporting the work of organisations such as the Tallo centre.

Both Ealing and Acton have long histories. Acton was originally a Saxon village and the name comes from the word meaning "oak tree." It was transformed by the industrial revolution and quickly developed a great reputation for its washing and laundry industry. Indeed, some of the names in Acton still reflect that history-for example, Bollo lane.

Of course, Ealing, too, has an illustrious history. Its icon is an oak tree, which links it neatly with Acton, but I suspect it also represents the famous oak trees on Ealing common and so many of our other wonderful green spaces, of which we are truly very proud. Ealing has for long years been known as "The Queen of the Suburbs", and if any hon. Members would like to take a stroll with me through some of the streets, they will see exactly why it still is.

The earliest surviving census in this country comes from Ealing-from 1599-and John Quincy Adams chose Ealing as his place of residence in 1815 when he came to this country to serve as the American Minister. In 1901, Ealing adopted a coat of arms and a motto-"Respice Prospice"-which means, "Look backwards, look forwards." The good voters of Ealing and Acton may have taken that rather literally when, as it transpired on election night, they voted for me as the MP but also for a Labour council. I will leave others to decide which is which.

There can be no discussion of Ealing without mention of the famous film studios, which are the longest continuously working film studios in the world. They bring great lustre to the borough and have played a significant role in putting the UK at the heart of the international film industry. Who can possibly not have heard of such titles as "The Lavender Hill Mob", "Passport to Pimlico" and "Hue and Cry"? The studios are also just about to do a remake of their "Doctor at Large" series.

On a more serious note, it will be imperative to keep all that history in mind when considering plans to regenerate Ealing and Acton town centres, for regenerated I believe they must be if they are to stride confidently through the 21st century. Crossrail will help. There must be development, but it must be done sensitively in order not to trample on the history and character of the
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place. I hope to work closely with the local council and other agencies to ensure that we get things as right as we possibly can.

I look forward to continuing some of the campaigns that I started as a candidate. I have a local transport committee, which meets regularly to discuss Ealing Broadway and Acton main line stations, and I shall continue to campaign-for as long as it takes-to ensure that we keep our A and E departments at both Central Middlesex and Ealing hospitals.

There is much in what we are discussing this afternoon for me to recommend to my constituents. Protecting the environment for future generations and finding ways to make our economy more environmentally sustainable are things that I know the people of Ealing and Acton care passionately about, and that I can support. I should like to put on record at this stage that I am proud of the Conservative record on environmental matters. After all, it was a Conservative Government who introduced the Clean Air Act 1956, which did so much to get rid of the smog in London, and another Conservative Government who introduced tax incentives to ensure that people switched to lead-free petrol. A Conservative council-Westminster city council-pioneered the low emission zone, and a Conservative Prime Minister, Lady Thatcher, was probably the first Prime Minister to choose to make a major speech on the environment, as she did in the late 1980s. In that speech, she reminded us that we are not freeholders on this planet, but leaseholders, and that our duty is to ensure, like all good leaseholders, that we pass on this planet to future generations in the same if not better order than that in which we found it.

However, one issue that I wanted to touch on-it comes within the DEFRA remit-is dangerous dogs, which have become an increasing problem in Ealing and Acton. I was delighted to see that the coalition agreement goes into some detail about tackling that. I am a little disappointed that it is not an immediate priority-I hope it will be, and I am sure it needs to be. We have problems in the parks throughout Ealing and Acton, and I think it is unacceptable that in this day and age, people cannot enjoy their wonderful green spaces because of the blight of such dangerous dogs.

We need to look again at what we do to protect people while supporting the vast majority of responsible dog owners. Principally, this is an issue of enforcement. I am not sure that yet another form of licensing will make any difference, because after all, as we all know, the good guys buy their licences and the bad people do not bother. It is an issue of enforcement. I hope that the Government will look at that, introduce measures, and see how we can toughen penalties and crack down on people who consistently flout the law.

I fully support the measures set out by the Government to increase energy efficiency. In particular, the green deal will make a big contribution to reducing carbon emissions across the UK, but it will also bring direct benefits to householders. People have often raised with me on the doorstep their worries about fuel bills, and these proposals will pay for themselves through savings on energy bills in the future, so it really will provide a double bonus.

I am proud to stand here representing Ealing Central and Acton and I look forward to speaking out on behalf of my constituents whenever the occasion arises.

Angie Bray elected as a new MP for Ealing Central and Acton

After having a few days to reflect on the events of last Thursday, it is clear that we have just experienced an election that has the potential to change the political landscape in this country. Yet as talks progress between the different parties over how the country is to be run, every MP knows that there is work to be done as they represent their constituents in Parliament. Angie is delighted to have been chosen by the voters of Ealing and Acton to represent them. It was a long, but ultimately rewarding campaign in what was one of the tightest three-way marginal seats in the country, as can be seen from the results listed below.

* Change is based on notional constituency assuming boundary changes applied in 2005

Conservatives support Crossrail

Angie hit back at another round of Labour smears, this time about the future of Crossrail in Ealing and Acton. Conservative volunteers fanned out across stations in the constituency to reassure the Conservative Party manifesto commitment to Crossrail. They handed out thousands of leaflets which quoted support for Crossrail from London Mayor Boris Johnson and Shadow Transport spokeswoman Theresa Villiers. Angie said, "Let me be clear, Conservatives are committed to Crossrail. Have labour got nothing positive to say to voters about why they should vote in another term of government? First they tried to frighten the elderly. Now it's the turn of commuters, who's next on their list?