Former Member of Parliament, Keith Hill who has represented the Streatham Constituency for 18 years was last night thanked and honoured for his long standing commitment to the area by residents and the estate’s association as Mr Hill has now stepped down as MP.
At WERA’s general meeting, Keith Hill was presented with a certificate of ‘Friendship and Acknowledgement’ for his long career as member of parliament in which he has been a well respected member of the Streatham community.

With a career spanning nearly two decades, Keith has held many different offices within central government, particularly housing minister and in the Lambeth Council elections of 1990, Keith contested the Streatham South ward for Labour.  At the 1992 general election, Keith outperformed Labour’s national performance by being the first Labour MP ever elected for the Streatham constituency.

He defeated the then Conservative MP, Sir William Shelton, by a convincing margin. This partly reflected changing demographics in the constituency. However, it also reflected Keith’s assiduous personal campaign in the years before the election in which included canvassing on the Weir Estate “I have fond memories of Weir Estate back before I was an MP, canvassing on the estate during the ‘80s. I remember some people here and go back a number of years. Weir Estate is always in my thoughts” said Mr Hill following the surprise presentation from WERA residents.

Following his election as an MP, Keith sat on the House of Commons Select Committee on Transport. Following Labour’s victory at the 1997 general election, he was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to Hilary Armstrong, who was then Minister of State at the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) with responsibility for Local Government and Housing. As Minister for London, Keith was closely involved in preparing the way for the London mayoral elections. Following the 2001 elections, Keith was appointed Deputy Chief Whip and Treasurer of Her Majesty’s Household.

In the June 2003 reshuffle of Government ministers, Keith was made Minister of State for Housing and Planning at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, his lead responsibilities included housing, planning, the Thames Gateway, urban policy and liveability issues, and was Minister for London for a second term of office and what considered widely as a ‘white elephant ‘The Millennium Dome in Greenwich, which is now known as the O2. After the 2005 general election – at which Labour won an historic third term – Keith was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair.  On May 23rd 2007, Keith announced that he would be standing down at the next election on 6th May 2010 for the Streatham Constituency.

During his time he played a vital part in securing the Weir Estate’s, Weir Link project by supporting residents as well as starting the demolition with taking a sledge hammer the old building, holding his advise surgeries for local people at St Stephens Church next door to Weir Estate for many years “I have seen and helped many people during my surgeries, many of these from the Weir Estate. I remember coming to the estate for lots of reasons including fun days, opening of the playground, and my feeble attempt to knock down the old laundry. The Weir Link is a marvellous building, and I continue to be a member of the advisory board.” He added.

Mr Hill who has gained notoriety for his charismatic and no nonsense approach to politics and fighting for the views of residents during his reign as MP, paid tribute to Weir Estate as one of the ‘best maintained estates throughout his constituency’ and thanked residents for their support called them ‘his people’  “I’ve consulted the website on many occasions. WERA has marvellous activists and officers, who are committed local people” adding “I would like to thank the residents for their kindness, warmth and support, I’ve always felt you were my people, and hope you felt I was your people.”

He (Hill) was overwhelmed with the presentation of a framed certificate presented by Chair, Dave McEvoy during WERA monthly general meeting, which read ‘In acknowledgement and sincere appreciation of dedicated long service as member of parliament for the Streatham Constituency, and acknowledging the long standing commitment and achievements for 18 years of office as our MP. We present this certificate of friendship and gratitude. Presented for and on behalf of the people of Weir Estate and WERA.’
As well as presented with a bottle of champagne.

Dave paid tribute to the retiring MP “Keith has served the people of his constituency superbly and will be a sad loss to local politics for our area, we felt it was right to recognise his achievements and wish him well on his future after a long time representing the residents of this estate and the local community, I would like to thank him for his outstanding contribution and memorable moments as MP.”
Keith Hill will now lead the board as Chair for Lambeth ALMO organisation Lambeth Living for the next two and half years should the housing management organisation survive its recent ‘do or die’ ultimatum from political parties seeking to take control of Lambeth Council.

During his acceptance speech, Keith admitted that it will be an ‘uphill Struggle’ to turn the controversial ALMO around but is clearly relishing the task ahead “I will continue to be around in my role as Chair of Lambeth Living’s Board. It will be an up-hill struggle to turn around Lambeth Living but I’ve dealt with thousands of housing problems, and hope to use this experience to secure a better future for the people of Weir Estate and Lambeth alike. I’ve always thought the delivery of housing in Lambeth has not improved for a long time, but I continue to look forward to working with WERA in this capacity.”

Following the dissolving of Parliament on Monday at 5pm, Keith ceased to be an MP with four new candidates in the race to succeed him as the next MP for Streatham, which covers parts of Balham, Tulse Hill, Streatham, Clapham and Brixton.