Chuka Umunna MP

Following last night’s People’s Question Time on Sainsbury’s proposal to open a supermarket on Abbeville Road, below are links and deadlines for residents to submit comments as part of Lambeth’s licensing and planning process.

Alcohol and late night food licence:

Sainsbury’s licencing application can be viewed here.

Submissions on this application should be sent to licensing {at} lambeth.gov(.)uk – you must give your name, address and refer to the address of the premises for which Sainsbury’s is making its application, which is: 36-38 Abbeville Road, Clapham, London SW4 9NG.

The deadline for submissions on this application is the end of Tuesday 9th November.

Submissions must relate to the following four licensing objectives:

• Prevention of crime and disorder • Public safety • Prevention of public nuisance • Protection of children from harm

Planning applications

Sainsbury’s has submitted three separate planning applications. These are:

• Application for a single storey ground floor rear side infill extension, alterations to doors and windows to the rear elevation and alterations to existing shop front including installation of an ATM (Automated teller machine). To view details of this application or make comments, please follow this link. The deadline for submissions is Monday 15th November.

• Application for two externally illuminated fascia signs and one illuminated projecting sign (10/03604/ADV). To view details of this application or register comments online, follow this link. The deadline for submissions on this application is Wednesday 24th November.

• Application for installation of enclosed mechanical plant and air conditioning (10/03606/FUL). To view details of this application or register comments online, follow this link. The deadline for submission is Thursday 25th November.

Chuka is chairing a people’s question time meeting on Sainsbury’s proposed new supermarket on Abbeville Road this Thursday November 4 at 7.30pm, taking place at Church of the Holy Spirit, Narbonne Avenue, SW4 9JS following local residents and businesses raising concerns about the planned development

Last week, Chuka spoke in the first full House of Commons debate on the Comprehensive Spending Review, highlighting the need to reform the financial services sector – his speech is below:

Although she is not in her place, I wish to associate myself with the comments, particularly those on welfare reform, made by my right hon. Friend Joan Ruddock, who is also a south London MP. Her comments apply equally to my constituency as they do to hers.

I wish to say a little about the banking sector in the context of this comprehensive spending review, because it has not been addressed in great detail during this debate. During his speech to the CBI on Monday, the Business Secretary said that:

“the British economy, two years ago, suffered the economic equivalent of a heart attack with the near collapse of the banking system. Death was averted by speedy intervention to shore up the banking system to prevent an economic slump.”

Although he has tended to peddle some of the myths we have heard in the Chamber today, at least there he acknowledged that the previous Government stepped in to prevent the recession caused by the financial sector from turning into a depression. For me, the real question is what contribution the Government are expecting the banking sector to make to clear up the mess it created.

In his emergency Budget statement, the Chancellor said:

“The failures of the banks imposed a huge cost on the rest of society, so I believe that it is fair and right that in future banks should make a more appropriate contribution, reflecting the many risks that they generate.”-[ Hansard, 22 June 2010; Vol. 512, c. 175.]

What was promised in that emergency Budget? First, the Government said that they would set up the Independent Commission on Banking. Secondly, they said that they would take action to tackle unacceptable bank bonuses, referring to the consultation that they would start on the remuneration disclosure scheme and talking about imposing more restrictions on remuneration arrangements for those working in the City. Of course, the centrepiece of the action that the Government said they were going to take on the banks was the banking levy.

So what did we see in the comprehensive spending review? Credit is due in respect of the Independent Commission on Banking. I, for one, am pleased to have seen that set up and its terms of reference are good. Beyond that, there are many questions to be asked about what the Government are doing to ensure that the financial services sector makes its fair contribution. We are constantly told that we will be consulted on the remuneration disclosure scheme in due course. I believe that the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, who is no longer in his place, said that that would take place shortly. However, at the moment it is nowhere to be seen. There is a real risk that if we do not see this the remuneration disclosure scheme, which would require the banks to exercise more transparency in their remuneration arrangements, things will not be implemented in time for the forthcoming bonus round, which is about to start in December.

We have not seen much movement on the measures to tackle irresponsible bank bonuses either. We have seen movement on this in Europe, but not on the domestic front. As has been said in the Chamber today, the banking levy is to bring in about £2.5 billion of revenue, and the Government are fond of saying that that is higher in net terms than the previous Government’s payroll tax. That is completely disingenuous, because I tabled a parliamentary question during the summer on the likely income from the banking levy and was told by the Treasury that it would raise £1.15 billion in 2011-12, rather than £2.5 billion. I was told that £2.32 billion was to be raised in 2013-14, not £2.5 billion. The income would finally reach £2.5 billion in 2013-14 before falling back again to £2.4 billion in 2014-15. So in 2014-15 the banks would be paying less than families who are losing out on child benefit will be losing in that way.

What we were also not told in the CSR was that, under the paper issued by the Government, the day after the banks will have a tax-free allowance-a levy-free allowance-of £20 billion, so they will not pay the banking levy on the first £20 billion of taxable liabilities. This is not a levy; it is a walk in the park for the financial services sector. The five biggest UK banks have already announced well over £15 billion of profits this year, so I ask the Government to spell out how those whom they said they would make pay for the crisis they caused are to be required to make a fair contribution, because we do not see it in the Green Book this week.