The Royal Docks School...And a Hedge Fund

A few weeks back we blogged on the issue of the airport disrupting childrens education. We asked for someone to help those fantastic teachers and kids down at the Royal Docks School.The noise and pollution that the school is exposed to is in breach of EU laws and WHO guidelines. But LB Newham and this government, including Boris Johnson, Mayor of London don't care!

Well it looks like Fat Cat Goodings' friend Weasel Wales is going to do something about it to stop his buddy being embarrassed by the school anymore - He's flogging it off to a Hedge Fund!Teachers and unions are up in arms at the Weasel wanting to turn the school into Newhams' first Academy.

The Anti Academy Alliance reports:

"ARK is an American and British sponsor run by a group of billionaire and millionaire merchant bankers, hedge fund operators and currency speculators. First on the list of ARK corporate sponsors is Aspect Capital. Aspect funds are (according to their website) ‘organised as exempted companies incorporated with limited liability in the Cayman Islands, the investment activities of the funds are not regulated or otherwise overseen by the Caymans Islands’ government or any other regulator.’

Another offshore account holding company in the Royal Docks? We already have the Airport landowners using facilities in offshore Jersey accounts!

" The Royal Docks School has a very high proportion of special needs children. We feel an academy would use permanent exclusions to reduce that figure significantly, as has happened in many academies in an effort to improve exam results. There is no compulsion on an academy to admit pupils with special educational needs. The easier way to turn the reputation of an academy around is to change its pool of students; to alter who it recruits and to deselect those it does not wish to retain, by use of exclusion"

And we already know that Newham failed to do a Race Equality Impact Study for the Royal Docks in the airports expansion plans, so LB Newham are clearly out of touch with their communities. Perhaps the easiest way to help this school and it's pupils is to reduce the excessive noise and air pollution levels overhead! Excessive noise levels from aviation sources have been proven to affect chidren's development.

So Weasel Wales the autocrat continues to suck up to big business, so that big business can suck out the life of Newham, whilst making a tidy packet of profit. In the process the taxpayer will end up supporting a company in making huge profits - we do after all pay the LCA security bill and the rather generous tax breaks that aviation receive.

You can download all the information on the anti-academy plans here including a petition. Unfotunately, as we learned the hard way in LB Newham a petition is conveniently only ever counted as ONE complaint - Our 2 petitions with over 600 signatures were only classed as TWO complaints during the planning process.

Help them, help the children.

Robin Wales - Confronted Over London City Airport

In the recent explosive Mayoral 'question time' in Beckton , 'Sir' Robin Wales was questioned about London City Airport.

Before he was questioned he did a little self PR about 0% council tax rises. Don't let this fool you though! The average income for a household in Newham is £27,600, compared with £34,625 for London as a whole. So the average Newham family receives 76% LESS than these families passing through London City Airport £27,600 Vs, £116,000 and puts up with all the noise and air pollution for the pleasure.

He also tried to shout down the questioner for bringing up the 16 homes owned by a Beckton Cllr sitting in the front row of the meeting and the 5600 homeless families in Newham.

He was asked what he was most ashamed of...

(a) Why the children's choir that sung at the beginning of the meeting and that he was happy to be photographed with , why then was he happy to let them be continually exposed to choking Nitrogen Dioxide gases 50% higher than acceptable EU levels from London City Airport.
(b) Why was it acceptable for the children's education to be continually interrupted by noise from LCA - much of which is unmonitored and in breach of World Health Organisation levels.
(c) Why do LCA airport receive over £5 million a year of Tax Payers money for security and policing while crime is up in Beckton and Royal docks area and they are closing down the local police station.
(d) Why he spent over £100 MILLION of tax payers money to buy Building 1000 beside LCA even though it was classed as not fit for purpose.In fact a bit like HIMSELF!

Anyway the usual word answers came from his mouth saying that things are "not perfect at the airport, but jobs were created and this was the most important".

Then why, oh why has this happened......

Since 2005 - the date of the winning bid - the Government has been working its fingers to the bone issuing new national insurance numbers in Newham to workers taking up the new opportunities British taxpayers and British lottery payers are financing.

But what do the facts tell us? Since 2005 more than 50,000 national insurance numbers have been issued in Newham, and if you click here you can read the ever practical Frank Field's take on it all:

Suddenly Robin Wales isn't that interested in jobs for Newham people (except at the airport when it comes to planning applications: in all but words, and certainly not deeds!) It really is shameful.

Even Worse now, is it has come to light that the vast amount of workers at CityJet get paid in EUROS and their jobs and taxes are through DUBLIN!! Cityjet are one of the largest employers at the airport.

So why wasn't this declared and looked into at the expansion proposal? Probably because the true number of Newham residents employed by the airport has never been disclosed by the airport or Newham as it is so pitiful.

But when the airport and 'Sir' Robin Wales has good friends like Stephen Timms MP, that useless waste of space of a junior minister in government who supported a higher tax for the lowest earners, then it helps. Clearly anything can be 'pushed through' if it means that more of the higher tax band payers (the better off) can travel from an area (Newham) where the lowest earners pay proportionately MORE tax on their incomes, AND in addition PAY for LCA security out of their COUNCIL TAXES, whilst only dreaming of being able to use their 'local airport'! Oh, and don't forget the damage to their children's education and to their health that they have to incur as a result of the excessive noise levels.

Wales never answered the question in the end.

What should he be more ashamed of? Of course we know the answer. London City Airport.