Council meetings -- 3
Community meetings and events -- 6
Enquiries and requests for repairs from residents -- 22
Action
-- Lobbied for Council action on the number of people on the council house waiting list.
-- Supported Unison's Million Voices campaign to protect public services.
-- Asked the police and council to look into cars parking on the Wokingham Road pavement.
-- Continued to press for better lighting on the Kennet tow path and at Kennet Mouth.
-- Supported Talfourd Road residents in resolving traffic problems on the road
Results
-- Helped the Jolly Anglers pub get its premises licence back.
-- Got the Council to safeguard the Thames Valley University playing fields by removing them from the Sites Allocation Document.
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Monday, 8 February 2010
Reading Green Party Quiz and Music Night
We are having a fundraiser quiz/social as part of Fairtrade fortnight.
Thursday 25th February 7.15 for 7.30 pm
at RISC (conference hall) 35-39 London Street, Reading, RG1 4PS.
Part of Reading Fair Trade fortnight
We’ll have teams of five, and you can either come in a team or join a team on the night. Bring your friends, relations and work colleagues.
In the interval sit back and be entertained by local musicians and our special guests, folk duo Louisa Davies-Foley and Pete Churchill from Birmingham.
Prizes, raffle, stalls.
Entry costs £5 waged, £2.50 unwaged. Please book in advance – we need an idea of numbers.
Help the local Greens stand three candidates in the General Election.
Support the campaign to get Rob White elected in Park Ward.
To book places and for further information please contact Rob on: bobby.blanc@gmail.com
Thursday 25th February 7.15 for 7.30 pm
at RISC (conference hall) 35-39 London Street, Reading, RG1 4PS.
Part of Reading Fair Trade fortnight
We’ll have teams of five, and you can either come in a team or join a team on the night. Bring your friends, relations and work colleagues.
In the interval sit back and be entertained by local musicians and our special guests, folk duo Louisa Davies-Foley and Pete Churchill from Birmingham.
Prizes, raffle, stalls.
Entry costs £5 waged, £2.50 unwaged. Please book in advance – we need an idea of numbers.
Help the local Greens stand three candidates in the General Election.
Support the campaign to get Rob White elected in Park Ward.
To book places and for further information please contact Rob on: bobby.blanc@gmail.com
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
LibDem's candidate for Park Ward appears
With the local elections just three months away the LibDem candidate for Park Ward Alex Kirke has appeared on the radar just in time. No doubt as happened in 2008 there will now be a forest's worth of LibDem propaganda claiming to be best placed to win the ward even though their vote has fallen in Park at the last three local elections resulting in them finishing fourth last time.
City status: Reading or Dubai-on-Thames?
There has been lots of hot air from Labour and Tories on the new city status bid. I was going to pen something myself on this subject -- I have yet to be convinced of the merits of such a scheme -- but I saw a letter from a local activist Colin Lee in the local paper, which I thought summed up the arguments nicely:
Dear Sirs,
When will Reading Borough Council get real? Each year, I see the Centre for Cities Report misrepresented and incorrectly applied to the Local Authority by some media, Reading UK CIC, Councillors and the Chief Executive. The report indicates that the region as a whole could be well placed for the future. However the ‘Reading’ and the ‘city’ researched are the urban areas of Reading, Wokingham and Bracknell Forest – see www.centreforcities.org/outlook10 (click on the link for “Primary Urban Areas”). Reading LA and City are not synonymous.
The recession has brought some very tough choices and what is least needed is spin, hype and over-egging. Business and particularly those people and companies who want to invest in the town require accurate data, sound economic markers and not sound-bytes and more of the mirages on which RBC policy is built.
So what are the dimensions that this town is performing well in? Does anyone know? Do we have the economic models necessary for sound planning? No. The town does not even have a cohesive master plan for the future as CABE has stated.
If lead councillors Jo Lovelock and Andrew Cumpsty want to take us forward as a city then surely we need to include at least Wokingham and Bracknell Forest and go back to a kind of Berkshire County Council again? However, I fear City status for Reading is about ego not practicalities and realities. For some Councillors it has everything to do with pie-in-the-sky aspirations – a utopian Dubai-on-Thames where 30 storey towers abound without examination of the consequences to the town, our local economy and its people.
Surely our Councillors can see that the town is a town and that their function is to serve the people, not delusions of grandeur? It would stop wastage of taxpayers’ monies too.
Yours faithfully
Colin Lee
Dear Sirs,
When will Reading Borough Council get real? Each year, I see the Centre for Cities Report misrepresented and incorrectly applied to the Local Authority by some media, Reading UK CIC, Councillors and the Chief Executive. The report indicates that the region as a whole could be well placed for the future. However the ‘Reading’ and the ‘city’ researched are the urban areas of Reading, Wokingham and Bracknell Forest – see www.centreforcities.org/outlook10 (click on the link for “Primary Urban Areas”). Reading LA and City are not synonymous.
The recession has brought some very tough choices and what is least needed is spin, hype and over-egging. Business and particularly those people and companies who want to invest in the town require accurate data, sound economic markers and not sound-bytes and more of the mirages on which RBC policy is built.
So what are the dimensions that this town is performing well in? Does anyone know? Do we have the economic models necessary for sound planning? No. The town does not even have a cohesive master plan for the future as CABE has stated.
If lead councillors Jo Lovelock and Andrew Cumpsty want to take us forward as a city then surely we need to include at least Wokingham and Bracknell Forest and go back to a kind of Berkshire County Council again? However, I fear City status for Reading is about ego not practicalities and realities. For some Councillors it has everything to do with pie-in-the-sky aspirations – a utopian Dubai-on-Thames where 30 storey towers abound without examination of the consequences to the town, our local economy and its people.
Surely our Councillors can see that the town is a town and that their function is to serve the people, not delusions of grandeur? It would stop wastage of taxpayers’ monies too.
Yours faithfully
Colin Lee
How to look good naked -- more disabled models campaign
I caught a bit of How to Look Good Naked last night. Gok has a campaign for more disabled models. You can sign his petition here.
This reminded me of one of Mark Thomas' policy ideas, models should be chosen at random from the electoral register just like jurors.
This reminded me of one of Mark Thomas' policy ideas, models should be chosen at random from the electoral register just like jurors.
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Sustainable schools event in Reading
I went to the sustainable schools event yesterday at Norcot Early Years Centre in my capacity as the sustainability link governor for Alfred Sutton school. It was a really interesting few hours, where we had various presentations from council officers and other people involved in sustainability work locally. There was also a room filled with stalls to find out more from officers, Thames Water, local businesses, local schools etc.
One thing that I would really like to plug from the meeting is the Sustainable Schools section of the Reading Borough Council website which has material on each of the eight doorways to sustainability.
Another thing is Eco-Schools, of which we already have 20 in Reading, most bronze level, but two silver. It would be good to work with other schools in east Reading as a sustainability hub. I understand that St John's, Newtown, Redlands and Alfred Sutton have all signed up to the council's Energy and Carbon Service Level Agreement, which is a first step.
One thing that I would really like to plug from the meeting is the Sustainable Schools section of the Reading Borough Council website which has material on each of the eight doorways to sustainability.
Another thing is Eco-Schools, of which we already have 20 in Reading, most bronze level, but two silver. It would be good to work with other schools in east Reading as a sustainability hub. I understand that St John's, Newtown, Redlands and Alfred Sutton have all signed up to the council's Energy and Carbon Service Level Agreement, which is a first step.
Sunday, 31 January 2010
Nuclear Awareness Group meeting
I got this from the Nuclear Awareness Group about their next meeting:
"The next NAG meeting will take place on Thursday 11th February with a special guest speaker, Ian Fairlie, an independent consultant on radiation and health. Following the theme of NAG's previous meeting with John Harrison of the Health Promotion Agency we will be considering the impacts of low level radiation doses on public health.
The meeting will take place from 7 pm on Thursday 11th February at the RISC Centre, 35-39 London Street, Reading. All are welcome."
"The next NAG meeting will take place on Thursday 11th February with a special guest speaker, Ian Fairlie, an independent consultant on radiation and health. Following the theme of NAG's previous meeting with John Harrison of the Health Promotion Agency we will be considering the impacts of low level radiation doses on public health.
The meeting will take place from 7 pm on Thursday 11th February at the RISC Centre, 35-39 London Street, Reading. All are welcome."
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