Bloggy Blanc (Cllr Rob White)

East Reading Festival

2012-01-26T08:33:00.001-08:00

There has been a festival in east Reading for a while now. In recent years it has been run and funded by the Council with support – sometimes a lot of support – from people in the community and various organisations.

As part of the Council's cost-cutting funding for the festival has been chopped in recent years and this year we will lose more and the officer support. This is both a threat to the festival happening and an opportunity for the community to really take ownership it.

Fortunately a number of people have stepped forward to ensure that the festival happens this year and in future years. Unfortunately we will be up against it, we are losing experience and deadlines are fast approaching.

The committee met earlier this week. Unfortunately I was unable to attend, but I am pleased to report that the festival will take place with small community events starting on June 7, 2012 and leading up to the finale in Palmer Park on Sunday, June 10, 2012. The theme for the festival will be "living on a budget".

If you are interested in getting involved with the committee, running a small event, having a stall at the finale or anything else get in contact and I can pass on your offer.

A new Facebook group has been set up here.

Latest on the proposed east Reading secondary school

2012-01-24T03:04:00.001-08:00

Councillor Melanie Eastwood recently asked for an update from the Council on the possible new secondary school in east Reading and got the following back. She has also asked the College for an update.

In summary no more information is available, no decisions have been made and it has slipped back a year.

RBC: "The Department for Education has allocated a project team to work with Oxford and Cherwell Valley College with the ambition to open a University Technical College in September 2013. There are a number of hurdles to clear, not least of which are: securing a site; establishing a curriculum; agreeing a funding agreement and communicating the nature and ethos of the school to interested parents. All of this is the responsibility of the college."

How can we help you?

2012-01-17T03:37:00.001-08:00

Cllr Melanie Eastwood and I will be holding the following residents' advice surgeries. No appointment necessary.

Friday, January 27 – walkabout surgery in the Orts Road (East) area, 3 PM to 3:30 PM

Friday, February 24 – outside Alfred Sutton school, Wokingham Road, 3 PM to 3:30 PM

Saturday, March 24 – outside Arthur Hill baths, King's Road, 11 AM to 12 noon

If you are unable to come along to any of these surgeries, but have issues you would like to raise please get in contact.

Labour hold up the white flag nationally

2012-01-16T05:58:00.001-08:00

Below is a letter from Green MP Caroline Lucas on the Labour government's recent economic announcement:

In his interview with your paper on Saturday, Ed Balls effectively holds up a white flag and admits that Labour has given up any attempt to set out an alternative economic agenda (Beyond the hair shirt: Labour party can give Britain the tough love it needs, insists Balls, 14 January).

His capitulation before the Tory-led coalition's definition of economic credibility as meaning ever more fiscal austerity, and his jaw-dropping statement that "we are going to have to keep all these cuts" calls into question the very purpose of the Labour party.

Moreover, the choice he poses between higher public sector pay or growing unemployment conveniently ignores the fact that many public sector workers are on very low incomes, and falsely suggests that we can't afford to fund both. It is investment in decently paid jobs that generates income, and thus the tax revenues to pay for credit or borrowed money, not the other way round.

Instead of trying to outcompete the government in some kind of masochistic virility test to see who can threaten the greatest austerity, an opposition party worthy of the name would be making a far stronger case that austerity isn't working, and offering a genuine alternative.

A combination of more progressive taxation, a crack down on tax evasion and avoidance and, crucially, Green quantitative easing to deliver investment directly in the new jobs and infrastructure the UK urgently needs to make the transition to a more sustainable economy, would do far more to challenge the government than the Tory-lite policies set out by the shadow chancellor.

Caroline Lucas MP

Leader, Green party

Newtown residents' parking consultation results

2012-01-09T10:56:00.001-08:00

The people of east Newtown – roads to the east of Cholmeley Road – have spoken and it would seem that a majority of people responding to the residents' parking consultation say yes they want one.

The report can be found here. It is item 6 on the agenda.

In summary, 221 (31%) residents responded. 185 (83%) said yes and 36 (17%) said no.

Residents favoured option one – one way Liverpool Road westbound with the other one-way roads remaining the same.

I will be attending the Traffic Management Advisory Panel on Thursday, January 12 to keep this scheme moving now that we have a decent mandate.

How busy has your councillor been?

2011-12-29T11:56:00.001-08:00

Here is the latest Reading councillor activity information. Front Office is the system that councillor services uses to log requests from councillors – on a whole range of issues from a broken lampposts, to housing issues to education questions.

As others have pointed out this information should be taken with a pinch of salt but I still think it is useful and that the Council should publish it itself, but it doesn't.

So that it displays correctly on my blog I have hidden the columns for the months May to October leaving just the total from May to November and the November column. If anyone is particularly interested let me know and I can send you the whole spreadsheet.

		FRONT OFFICE ENQUIRIES 2011/12
Councillor	Ward	No of enquiries	Nov
ANDERSON, James	KENTWOOD	6	2
AYUB, Mohammed	ABBEY	10	0
BALLSDON, Isobel	THAMES	41	7
BEARD, Peter	TILEHURST	12	1
BENSON, Daisy	REDLANDS	64	5
CHOWDHARY, Jamie	PEPPARD	51	1
CUMPSTY, Andrew	CAVERSHAM	29	1
DUVEEN, Ricky	TILEHURST	32	1
EASTWOOD, Melanie	PARK	24	11
EDEN, Rachel	WHITLEY	59	3
EDWARDS, Deborah	SOUTHCOTE	31	4
EDWARDS, Kelly	WHITLEY	20	0
ENNIS, John	SOUTHCOTE	44	3
GAVIN, Jan	REDLANDS	66	13
GITTINGS, Paul	MINSTER	21	5
GOODALL, Glenn	REDLANDS	35	2
HACKER, Sarah	BATTLE	41	5
HARRIS, Tim	CHURCH	19	1
HARTLEY, Jon	PARK	49	0
HOSKIN, Graeme	NORCOT	7	0
JANJUA, Azam	CHURCH	27	12
JONES, Peter	NORCOT	6	0
KHAN, Gul	BATTLE	27	5
LIVINGSTON, Marian	MINSTER	5	0
LOVELOCK, Jo	NORCOT	79	9
LUCKETT, Dave	CAVERSHAM	18	1
MASKELL, Chris	BATTLE	15	3
ORTON, Mike	WHITLEY	33	2
PAGE, Tony	ABBEY	88	12
PUGH, Frederick	MAPLEDURHAM	5	0
RALPH, Mark	PEPPARD	43	1
RODDA, Matt	KATESGROVE	40	6
RUHEMANN, Pete	SOUTHCOTE	31	5
RYE, Rebecca	KATESGROVE	30	0
RYNN, Jenny	KENTWOOD	24	2
SKEATS, Jeanette	THAMES	1	0
STANWAY, Tom	CAVERSHAM	15	3
STEVENS, David	THAMES	0	0
SWAINE, Warren	KATESGROVE	8	2
TICKNER, Bet	ABBEY	27	8
VICKERS, Sandra	TILEHURST	37	5
WARMAN, Emma	KENTWOOD	16	10
WATSON, Debbie	MINSTER	12	1
WHITE, Rob	PARK	289	27
WILLIS, Richard	PEPPARD	29	4
WOODWARD, Paul	CHURCH	28	1
	TOTAL	1594	184

New Town Primary School Solar Schools Project

2011-12-28T03:06:00.001-08:00

A few weeks ago I visited the Newtown primary school Christmas fair. As well as enjoying a number of tasty snacks, I was delighted to find out that they are taking part in the 10:10 solar panel project. See below for more information. I have a book of tickets if you want to buy one in person.

"New Town Primary is engaging in an ambitious fund-raising project over the next few months. We are trying to raise £15,000 to pay for the installation of solar panels on the roof of the school.

This will save us in energy costs, will provide us with some much-needed extra income through the ‘feed-in tariff’, and will help to raise awareness of energy and environmental issues within the school and the local community. The scheme is a pilot being tested by the 10:10 charity which has led a national campaign to get people to reduce their carbon emissions.

The aim of the fund-raising is for people to buy virtual tiles or panels on a virtual school roof – the money then being used to pay for the actual installation of solar panels. Each tile costs £5. Each panel costs £100. The equivalent to sponsoring an individual who was running the London Marathon at £1 a mile could raise £25 or 5 tiles.

The cause is a worthy one. The kids are great. The school is raising money itself, and within the local community. However, New Town is not a wealthy area. We help ourselves, but we need the help of the wider community as well.

If you wish further information, for example about sponsoring tiles or a panel, please use the web link to the Solar Schools site below, or contact the lead governor, Susan Rippon or myself, at: newtownsolar@gmail.com

If you are able to support the project, the easy way to make a donation is via Pay Pal.

Do this via the web site: http://www.solarschools.org.uk/newtown

The site gives further information on the scheme. If you wish, you can track the progress of the project and customise your tile(s) or panel.

If you don’t like to use Pay Pal you can send a cheque, payable to New Town Primary School, to the Bursar at the school.

Solar School Project,

New Town Primary School,

School Terrace,

Reading, RG1 3LS.

Thank you in anticipation for your help and support. It is very much appreciated by everyone connected with the school.

Malcolm Morrison

Malcolm F. Morrison

Chair of Governors"

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year

2011-12-21T06:03:00.001-08:00

With massive cuts to public services, rioting and a general strike over pensions, this year has been a tough year for many. And depending on which economists you have faith in we could be going backwards further still to either the 1970s, 1930s or fifth century (fall of the Roman Empire)!

It hasn't all been bad, locally we have been continuing to work with the community to improve the area and have had some success on school places, the perennial issue of parking and with our living wage campaign. And things could always be worse – being a LibDem for example ; )

Christmas is nearly here though. I don't do Christmas cards, presents etc. For me Christmas is about people. Over the last few weeks I have been making an effort to catch up with friends and tomorrow I will be heading off to see my parents in Congleton, Cheshire.

With all of the pressure to have a good time at Christmas, on top of other problems unfortunately it can be a rubbish time of year for many. We can't work miracles, but as always are happy to try and help.

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Bins on pavements

2011-12-17T12:56:00.001-08:00

In Park Ward one of the worst areas for people leaving their bins on the pavement and blocking it is the Pitcroft/Grange Avenue block. This both creates problems for people getting down the pavement and makes the area look a mess. We have been lobbying officers for the last few years to take action on this issue.

I was pleased to find out recently that officers have been using the approach, piloted in Katesgrove, of writing to persistent offenders. I went for a walk around the area a few weeks ago and the situation was much improved. I hope this can be sustained, but I know it will be a challenge with a high turnover of the population in the area...

October & November update – schools, parking and carols

2011-12-13T11:05:00.001-08:00

Christmas is almost upon us so I have been getting along to school and community Christmas fairs with Park candidate Jamie Whitham and Melanie.

December also means Christmas carols. I am a rubbish singer, but the various carols services give me the opportunity to sing my little heart out without anyone noticing how bad I am. In between singing and eating I have been keeping busy in the Ward and in Council meetings – see below.

As always, if you want to be kept updated on local issues please sign up to our monthly newsletter.

Update in numbers:

Council meetings – 4
Surgeries – 2
School governor meetings – 3
Community meetings and events – 25
Enquiries and requests for repairs from residents -- unfortunately I can't get this information at the moment.

Some of our action:

- Greens say "fair pensions are worth fighting for"
- Greens call on Council to mark Arthur Hill Baths centenary by giving them a make-over
- Crescent Road free school moves forwards...a bit
- Reading Borough Council's home insulation rate lags behind national average
- Join the Green campaign for tighter controls on houses of multiple occupation
- Residents' parking in the east of Newtown
- St John's primary school expansion Q&A

Some of our results:

- Greens have living wage success just in time
- Help clear the Kennet Side as part of Reading RESCUE
- Litter picking in Palmer Park this Saturday
- we have continued to work on the bread and butter of local politics getting a fly tipping cleared, street lights fixed and graffiti removed.

Expenses:

None claimed.

Gifts to declare -- over the value of £25:

None.

My interests are published on Reading Borough Council's website.

Basic monthly councillor allowance (pay) including my Special Responsibility Allowance (SRA) for being group leader before deductions: £864

Formal residents' parking consultation launched for east Newtown

2011-12-09T10:05:00.001-08:00

Following on from my previous posts on resolving parking problems in Newtown, the formal consultation has been launched. I have appended the text of the letter to residents below.

Also, follow these links for a plan view of option A, option B and option C. As mentioned in the letter below large-scale versions of these are available in Palmer Park library.

The explanation for residents' parking rules can be found here.

In addition to the letter Newtown Residents' Group/Kennet and Brunel Community Association have organised a public meeting with speakers on this issue on Thursday December 15 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Warehouse, Cumberland Road.

"Dear Resident,

RESIDENTS’ PARKING IN NEWTOWN - CONSULTATION

We have received many requests for a residents’ parking scheme in individual streets and areas where competition for parking spaces between residents and commuters/shoppers is high.

You may be aware that this issue has been looked at before in your area with the previous consultation being inconclusive. However, your Local Ward Councillors have requested further work to develop three options for residents’ parking in your area.

Following discussions with your Local Councillors, Coventry Road, Filey Road, Freshwater Road, Liverpool Road, Manchester Road, Norton Road and Radstock Road could become part of the residents permit scheme that already exists in Cholmeley Road and beyond.

We have prepared this consultation based on three different residents parking scheme options and it includes possible changes to how Liverpool Road currently operates and changes to some of the existing one-way streets.

Option 1 (Approx 627 Spaces) – One way Liverpool Road eastbound (apart from between London Road and Radstock Road), retain existing one way restrictions in surrounding roads, all junctions protected with parking restrictions.

Option 2 (Approx 627 Spaces) – One way Liverpool Road westbound (apart from between London Road and Radstock Road), reverse existing one way restrictions in surrounding roads, all junctions protected with parking restrictions.

Option 3 (Approx 600 Spaces) – Liverpool Road Two-Way with footway parking areas and restricted areas for traffic passing points, retain existing one way restrictions in surrounding roads, all junctions protected with parking restrictions.

The attached plans show the proposals and they include how many formal parking spaces can be achieved for each option. All of the options shown on the plans will be shared-use between 10am and 4pm Monday to Sunday allowing 2 hours parking for daytime visitors without the use of a permit.

A summary of the rules for a residents’ parking scheme is attached for information.

Please note we are consulting on whether residents want a permit scheme introduced at this stage so please do not apply for a permit.

As the study area is quite large we have reduced the scale to fit on an A4 page which has reduced the clarity of some text. In view of this, large scale plans will be available for inspection at the Library in St Bartholomews Road during normal opening hours. In addition, officers will be available at the Library on 15th December 2011 between 3pm and 7pm to answer any questions you may have.

The next stage will be to analyse the results of this consultation and report back to your Local Ward Councillors on the results. This will follow with a formal report to the Traffic Management Advisory Panel in January 2012.

Your views are really important to help the Council make the right decision on parking in your area so please return the attached questionnaire in the enclosed pre-paid envelope by 23 December 2011.

…"

East Reading after school club threatened with closure

2011-12-05T13:01:00.001-08:00

Due to government cuts the Council is considering shutting the East Reading after-school club if the number of children attending cannot be raised. Following pressure from me a parents' consultation meeting was held this evening.

The club is based at Newtown school. The average daily attendance at the club over the last year is approximately nine children. The council says that for the club to break even it needs over 32 children.

The total cost of the whole club is £49,300. Fee income for the whole year is £12,920. The overall predicted cost to the Council for the coming year is £36,380.

Because of the cuts imposed by the Conservative led government the Council has to make millions of pounds worth of savings again this year and closing the club has been identified as a way to save money.

The Council have tried a number of new initiatives to raise numbers including street dance and drama.

Following a constituent alerting me to the fact that the club was in danger I asked for a meeting so that parents could ask questions and the basis for saving the club could be established.

The meeting was well attended and parents spoke passionately about what the club means to them and their children and why it is so important to keep it running.

At the meeting parents were frustrated that the Council hadn't marketed the club more effectively. Going forwards, the Council and parents will be looking at what can be done to promote the club to increase numbers to a more sustainable level. This will undoubtedly be a challenge, but the fact that parents used up a precious evening to come to the meeting gives me hope that together we can win this one.

If there are any parents in the East Reading area that need an after-school club I would recommend giving East Reading after-school club a call on 0118 9015686 to find out more.

End of Movember

2011-12-01T02:18:00.001-08:00

After a late start on my Movember moustache growing I settled for one of the handlebar variety. I think the combination of not getting off the blocks as quickly as others, combined with my light hair hasn't made for a true master mo. But I have definitely enjoyed the experience and will be putting in some serious training for a better showing next year!

Residents' parking in the east of Newtown

2011-11-28T05:30:00.001-08:00

For a number of years now we have been working on tackling parking problems in the east of Newtown.

We have had a few successes such as getting non-essential yellow lines trimmed but this has only created a few spaces rather than fundamentally addressing the problem.

Following our sustained campaign – over five years – the Council will now be consulting residents on this issue – as they have already lost two Labour councillors and are in fear of losing another in 2012. People in Liverpool, Freshwater, Coventry, Norton, Filey, Manchester, Radstock and London roads will receive a consultation letter shortly after November 30.

The consultation includes three variations on residents' parking in the area. As well as the consultation letter there will be a display in Palmer Park library and the Kennet and Brunel Community Association are looking at organising a public meeting on this issue.

Earlier in the year we conducted an informal consultation on this issue. Approximately 60% of people were in favour of residents' parking, 10% against and the rest undecided.

Any scheme like this will have a knock-on effect and we will definitely be mindful of roads such as St Bartholomew's which may be impacted.

When the consultation goes public I will post more information here.

True Food Co-op wins BBC award

2011-11-28T03:31:00.001-08:00

True Food won the award for 'Best Retail Initiative' at the BBC Food & Farming awards.

From their website:

"It was a very exciting day rubbing shoulders with the likes of Sheila Dillon, Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall and Rick Stein. Our category was almost the last to be announced so we were nervous wrecks by the time it got to us. It seemed to take for ever to watch the short film about the three finalists and wait for Stefan Gates to open the envelope. When he announced our name we all went up (Chris and Helens Wright and Warren). Winners don't have to make a speech, or thank their mothers, but Sheila Dillon did ask Chris about where the idea for the markets came from.
Afterwards there was a chance to have a drink and sample some of the food produced by some of the finalists.

Everyone was very impressed by True Food and we should all feel very proud to be part of this great organisation that now has national recognition."

A special programme on the awards be found here.

New Labour candidate in Park Ward?

2011-11-25T05:40:00.001-08:00

I hear on the grapevine that Labour are about to go public that Councillor Jon Hartley will not be standing in Park Ward at the 2012 local elections and that Labour activist Rachael Chrisp will be the candidate.

She is listed on the Reading Labour Party website as the women's officer.

Has anyone met Rachael?

St John's primary school expansion Q&A

2011-11-24T02:23:00.001-08:00

Last night I attended a consultation meeting on expanding St John's primary school in Newtown. Whilst there are pros and cons to developing this site I absolutely support providing enough school places locally for Reading children. Here is some more information. In the next few weeks the plans will be going up on the St John's website.

Here is the Q&A:

"Question: Why do we need more primary school places in the East of Reading?

There are not enough primary school places in the East of Reading to meet the needs of the local community and for the last three years it has been necessary to send reception age children as far as Katesgrove School to enable them to have a school place.

Question: Why is St.John’s primary taking more children and not Alfred Sutton or Newtown Primary?

When the problem initially came to light an in depth analysis was done on which school to expand taking into account parental preference and the likelihood of maintaining the number of children going into the school.

Whilst it might appear to be easier to expand Alfred Sutton than St John’s the location of Alfred Sutton, right on the border with Wokingham, is a challenge because there tends to be an outflow into Earley St Peter’s meaning that the school regularly takes children from beyond its designated area. New Town Primary School has a site which is more challenging to develop than St John’s due to its listed buildings and limited play space.

It is much more sensible to spend public money on expanding a school where there is a continuing demand from the local community and where it is physically feasible to do so.

Question: Who agreed for the school to expand?

The Local Authority asked the school, the governing body and church if a temporary classroom could be put in place whilst plans for a permanent expansion could be developed and consulted upon.

The local community will be invited to participate in a statutory consultation process regarding the proposed expansion of the school.

Question: When will the statutory consultation on permanent expansion take place?

The Statutory process to permanently expand the school will be run by the Local Education Authority (Reading Borough Council) in the New Year when parents and the local community will be asked for their views on the proposed permanent expansion of the school places to 420. The consultation will last six weeks during term time and the proposals arising from that consultation, after taking into account any feedback, will be the subject of a statutory proposal published in the local press. A formal period for comment takes place for a second period of six weeks. A formal decision will be taken by Reading Borough Council after taking into account the feedback from proposal stage following the end of the statutory proposal period.

Question: What will the school look like when it’s finished?

The proposal is to build a two storey building in the centre of the site which will contain eight classrooms, the ICT suite, the school office, some of the Senior Leadership Team offices and associated facilities.

The main, existing building will remain the same but will receive a significant refurbishment to bring the classrooms up to a better standard for teaching.

The playground will be improved to make use of the change in levels on site and will include marked out areas for netball and basketball. The synthetic turf pitch will be re orientated and upgraded to bring it up to current regulations.

Question: Will the children still be able to use the playing field?

The playing field will still be useable but will have areas which will be out of bounds at times when specific works take place on them or very close to them.

Question: When will work start?

Providing all approvals are in place we would like to carry out some enabling works at Easter time 2012. This will involve moving a gas main which currently runs across the site where we would like to build and moving it further onto to the playing field.

The work for the two storey extension would start in the summer next year should all be agreed.

Question: How will it be done?

The work will be undertaken in a phased approach. There would be enabling works initially, currently pencilled in for Easter 2012, the building works for the two storey extension would begin in the summer holidays with the refurbishment following it in Spring 2013.

Question: When will the work finish?

The work will be finished in the autumn of 2013."

November's Cabinet

2011-11-21T09:50:00.001-08:00

There are a number of interesting items on the November Cabinet agenda including: solar panels, fees and charges, bulky waste collection, shopping trolleys, reimagining the high street etc etc.

The link above takes you to the agenda and the reports are linked to from the agenda items.

Movember

2011-11-18T07:51:00.001-08:00

I think Movember – growing some facial hair in the month of November – is a great idea for raising money to improve men's health and to tackle prostate cancer.

I first learnt about this last year and noticed Gareth Epps sporting a rather jaunty goatee. I meant to get involved this year but only just realised that it is on.

Today is my first day of growing some facial hair for a while. Any suggestions as to what look I should go for? Here are a few ideas.

Please give generously.

An orchard for Palmer Park?

2011-11-17T04:43:00.001-08:00

Those nice people at Transition Town Reading asked me to circulate this. It sounds like a really positive project building community, helping create a more sustainable Reading and providing delicious local fruit – let me know if you want to be put in contact with Rich:

Hi there,

I'm writing on behalf of Transition Town Reading which, as you may know, is a Reading-based group devoted to taking practical action locally to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and to build community links. You can find some information about us here...

http://www.transitionreading.org.uk/

One of our projects is to plant fruit and nut trees on public land in the Reading area. We see it as a chance to provide tasty, free, healthy, local, organic food for local residents, while sequestering a little carbon, creating a pleasant atmosphere and promoting local community.

We've got permission in principle from Reading Borough Council to carry out edible tree planting projects at a number of park sites in the area, and we've just met with them to look at the first project - a large area behind the stadium in Palmer Park, where we're looking at putting in a community orchard. I've attached an aerial photo where I've marked the site we're discussing.

The next step is for us to pick the kinds of trees that we'd like to plant and to plan out the space. We thought that this would be a good time to reach out to local groups to get your input and to see if you'd like to help us carry out the project.

If you'd like to have your say as to the design of the site, FYI the council's requirements are that the site is open enough to have good visibility so as to discourage "anti-social behaviour". I know they'd also like design of the orchard to be attractive and to draw people in to that part of the park

Further down the line we could use some help with fundraising and sourcing the trees, bringing the project through the Council's consultation process, and finally planting and maintaining the orchard (not to mention with picking and eating ;oD ).

We think this can be a fun, positive and rewarding project which can help build community in Reading and we were wondering if your organisation and its members would like to be involved?

If so, please let us know and I'll add you to our project mailing list.

Many thanks for your time,

Rich Waring

Hospital and University traffic and parking consultation meeting

2011-11-15T04:11:00.001-08:00

"Reading Borough Council is conducting a study of traffic and parking in the area around the Royal Berkshire Hospital and University. This is to take account of the pressure on the roads in this area caused by the large numbers of people who work in or need to visit the area as well as the legitimate needs of residents.

The primary area under consideration is the set of roads between Eastern Avenue and Kendrick Road, bounded by London Road and Christchurch Road. This just touches on Park Ward, but there will obviously be a knock-on effect into Hamilton and Bulmershe roads.

If you live in the area you will of already had a survey leaflet. The drop-in session and workshops will consider a range of options to address the issues raised in the survey. For example, in which streets would you like to see residents' parking? Where would you put additional pedestrian crossings? Where would you put a cycle route through the area?

The drop-in session will run from 2:30 PM to 7:30 PM on Wednesday, November 30 at St Luke's Hall, Erleigh Road."

Thanks to the Redlands and University NAG for most of the text above.

Following Green pressure the next study to commence will be the Eastern Area Access Study looking at Cemetery Junction and the roads leading up to it. Hopefully this will have started by the New Year.

Labour worried that town will turn Green

2011-11-02T08:52:00.001-07:00

Apparently, our hard work in Reading on local bread-and-butter issues combined with our effectiveness in Council meetings has Reading Labour worried of a Green takeover.

My Labour contact says they have enlisted the help of Labour MP John Spellar who specialises in telling the "truth" about the Green Party. I suspect this means that Labour will be trying to smear us more regularly than usual rather than doing anything positive. I wish them more luck than the Conservatives. Their recent attempt failed on two counts. Firstly people don't like negative campaigning. Second, their message was confused and helped us win support from disillusioned Labour voters.

Something "new" in Park Ward was confirmed to me a few weeks ago when a prominent Labour candidate said that they were going to be throwing a lot of resource into Park Ward this year. Interestingly when I pointed out that Labour hadn't done much so far he agreed.

So watch this space. And as always let me know if you come across Labour attempting to smear us either on the doorstep or in print.

August to October update – a Reading living wage, school places and transport issues

2011-10-27T05:51:00.001-07:00

It was supposed to quieten down a bit over the summer but this never seemed to happen.

We have been continuing to work hard in the ward with our year-round doorknocking going well and the second ward newsletter since the election going out. Holding the balance of power has also enabled us to achieve more through the council bureaucracy.

Last, but by no means least Jamie Whitham has been selected as the Park Ward 2012 candidate.

As always, if you want to be kept updated on local issues please sign up to our monthly newsletter.

Update in numbers:

Council meetings -- 5

Surgeries -- 3

School governor meetings -- 1

Community meetings and events -- 9 including the Playcafe launch, Reading Pride and the town meal

Enquiries and requests for repairs from residents -- 116 in August and September. No figures for October yet

Some of our action:

Some of our results:

First hundred days
we have continued to work on the bread and butter of local politics getting a fly tipping cleared, street lights fixed and graffiti removed.

Expenses:

None claimed.

Gifts to declare -- over the value of £25:

None.

My interests are published on Reading Borough Council's website.

Basic monthly councillor allowance (pay) including my Special Responsibility Allowance (SRA) for being group leader before deductions: £864

Ending corporate tax avoidance

2011-10-26T02:24:00.001-07:00

You may remember that, back in March, Green MP Caroline Lucas tabled a Tax and Financial Transparency Bill aimed at tackling corporate tax evasion and avoidance.

She has now launched a related e-petition to galvanise public support for the proposed measures - we are also hoping that this will help to put pressure on the Government to make time available for the second reading of the Bill on 25 November and raise awareness of the issue more generally. Over 1,800 people have already signed since 11 Oct.

The petition is here. Obviously the more signatures the better, so please feel free to circulate far and wide!

UK Uncut are supporting and have posted a nice piece with video footage of Caroline here.

Another Kennet Side closure

2011-10-26T02:14:00.001-07:00

Just got this from council officers:

"On Monday 28th November 2011 work will begin work to replace a section of the Kennetside Retaining Wall between Kings Bridge and Wearside Court. This work is the first phase of a longer term programme to replace the retaining wall between Kings Bridge and the River Thames. The guard rail between Kings Bridge and Blakes Lock will also be replaced.

The work will be carried out by Grenson Construction Limited, supervised by Jacobs Engineering UK and is expected to last approximately four months. The working hours will be 8.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday. No work will take place at weekends or on public holidays.

For safety reasons it will be necessary to close the path between Patriots Place and Weirside Court for the duration of the work and a signed diversion will be in operation. Where residents are only able to enter their properties from Kennetside their access will be maintained.

In order to carry out the work it will be necessary for machinery to be operated from a platform on the River Kennet itself and we have been liaising with the Environmental Agency to ensure that our work does not adversely affect the waterway.

Due to the nature of the works a certain amount of noise and dust is unavoidable. However every effort will be made to keep this to a minimum. We will also be carrying out condition surveys of the properties fronting the area of wall affected both before and after the work takes place.

Letters are being delivered to residents between King’s Bridge and Wearside Court today to let them know that the work is taking place. Copies of the letter and distribution area are attached."

Green surgery – how can we help you?

2011-10-25T08:17:00.001-07:00

We will be holding the following residents' advice surgeries. No appointment necessary.

– Saturday, October 29 at the Playcafe in Palmer Park from 11 AM to 12 noon
– Monday, November 21 outside Newtown school, School Terrace 2:45 PM to 3:30 PM
– Saturday, December 10, outside the post office on the Wokingham Road from 11 AM to 12 noon

If you are unable to come along to the surgeries, but have issues you would like to raise, please get in contact.

Living wage motion success

2011-10-21T06:00:00.001-07:00

Our Living wage motion was eventually voted through at the full council meeting earlier in the week. It was fairly heavily amended by the Labour group but I believe that their amendment strengthened the motion and furthered its aims rather than the traditional wrecking type amendment usually moved by another party.

Changing council policy is almost the easy part of the campaign though. I suspect we will have an uphill battle with the private sector in Reading. But at least things are moving now.

Feel free to support our Living wage Facebook group here.

Below is the text of the motion.

"This Council notes:

That one in five Reading children live in poverty;
The commitment to greater equality contained within Reading's Sustainable Community Strategy;

That the minimum wage (£6.08 per hour as of October 1, 2011) has been a step forwards but that at its current level it is a poverty wage;
The cross-party support which there has been for a London living wage (2011 rate is £8.30 per hour).

This Council notes that Reading Borough Council has had an anti-low pay policy for Council staff since the late 1980s and the current minimum wage under that policy is £7.64p per hour, which is 44 pence more than the amount suggested as a Living wage outside London. This Council therefore reaffirms this long-standing commitment to paying a living wage to council employees.

This Council resolves:

1. To continue to increment the Living Wage paid to Council staff in line with national pay increases.

2. To review the extent to which the Council’s Living wage policy can be applied to currently contracted-out services or as each contract comes up for renewal.

3. To include a commitment to a Living Wage for new contracts.

4. To call upon other employers in Reading to adopt a similar anti-low pay policy for their staff.

5. To work with advice agencies, trade unions and the Health & Safety Executive to identify and pursue employers that are failing to pay the statutory minimum wage.

6. To review the ratio between the lowest and the higher paid council officers.

7. To ensure that cabinet receives reports on progress towards the above at least annually, but initially by January 2012."

Is it possible to tackle dog poo in Reading?

2011-10-19T02:55:00.001-07:00

My morning walk took an interesting turn this morning when I spotted a woman – approximately 65 years old, grey hair, average build – not clear up after one of her two small terrier type dogs which I saw foul the pavement in Newtown – if you know who this is let me know.

I pointed this out to her but she just verbally attacked me. Plan B was to phone the police and the council to get someone to come out and issue her with a £1000 fine. Unfortunately the police informed me it was a council issue and the council informed me that although they do have the power to fine people, they don't have the power to demand someone's name and address – which is obviously needed to fine someone. But they said that the police have all the powers necessary. Doh!

By this point I had been following the culprit for 10 min. She had noticed that I was following her, was walking in a circle and was trying to make out that I was some sort of dodgy character – maybe I shouldn't have challenged her and then it would have been easier to work out where she lived.

Because of the confusion between the police and council on this issue I gave up on trying to get them involved and had another go at talking to the woman. In the end she relented, a resident provided her with a plastic bag and she cleared up the dog poo.

My experience has shown me that we have a way to go before we are positioned to tackle dog poo on the pavements in Reading. I have taken the confusion up with council officers which hopefully will move us forwards.

To round off my morning in what I can only describe as an act of animal solidarity, at the end of the saga a pigeon dropped its load on me. Fortunately although a direct hit was scored my hat took the brunt of it.

Crescent Road free school application approved

2011-10-12T04:43:00.001-07:00

I just saw on the BBC website that the free school application for a new secondary school on Crescent Road has been approved.

However, the article talks about a technical college for 14-19-year-olds which isn't what I thought had been applied for.

Unfortunately poor engagement with the community and a lack of information have been hallmarks of this application. I will ask officers for more information.

UPDATE: I have now spoken to officers who have informed me that the bid was for 11-19-year-olds but the government has only approved funding for 14-19-year-olds so far. There is still room for negotiation on this though and officers have assured me that they will be pressing the need for places, from age 11 onwards.

Help clear the Kennet Side as part of Reading RESCUE

2011-10-11T09:01:00.001-07:00

Following hot on the heels of last weekend's litter pick in Palmer Park Reading RESCUE is happening this weekend coming.

The Kennet and Brunel Community Association have organised a litter pick of a section of the Kennet Side. We will be meeting at 1:30 PM Saturday, October 15 in the community garden at Sun Street and setting off at approximately 2 PM to tidy up the area.

The Council is providing litter pickers, gloves and bags etc. But if you have your own feel free to bring them.

If you want to be kept updated of future events in Newtown or Park Ward please get in contact – rob@readinggreenparty.org.uk

Below is a picture of the Palmer Park picked last weekend.

Make your donation to the Green Party count double

2011-10-10T09:25:00.001-07:00

A letter from our treasurer:

"Dear supporter,

I am writing to let you know about our new matched giving fund-raising campaign, and invite you to participate by making a one-off donation to party funds.

The current financial context for Reading and Wokingham Green Party is as follows:

· Getting Melanie Eastwood elected as our second Green councillor in Reading cost us £900 and our special fund-raising effort succeeded in raising £420 – which is good, but obviously not good enough, leaving us with a shortfall of £480.

· At our recent annual strategy review we decided that next year we would target not one but three wards – Park (our third councillor), a second Reading ward, and our first Wokingham ward, Shinfield South, where we will be building on this year’s excellent result.

Clearly we will need to raise a great deal more money in order to enable us to win further electoral success in these wards.

The fundraising campaign will run from 1st September 2011 to 30th November 2011. The way it will work is as follows:

1. You decide how much you want to give – any amount between £5.00 and £100.00 - then let me know – treasurer@readinggreenparty.org.uk

2. I match your donation with a pledged donation from one of our existing donors, and let you know that I have found a match.

3. You make your donation.

4. When the money has arrived in our bank account, I inform the existing donor, and he or she donates the same amount.

In this way, your donation gets doubled. Donate £20.00 and the party receives £40.00. Existing donors have pledged £375.00. This means that we could raise £750.00. A sum of this size will make a real difference.

You can donate in any of the following ways:

· Send a cheque payable to Reading Green Party to me at: Hyde End Road, Shinfield, Reading, RG2 EP

· Donate online at http://reading.greenparty.org.uk

· Donate by telephone or internet banking to account number 20048696, sort code 16-58-10.

Best wishes

Marjory Bisset"

Litter picking in Palmer Park this Saturday

2011-10-07T06:21:00.000-07:00

Newtown GLOBE & Redlands GLOBE will be litter picking in Palmer Park on Saturday, October 8. We will meet at 2 PM at Reading PlayCafe – round the back of the Lodge building in the St Bartholomew's/Wokingham Road corner of the park. Everyone is welcome.We will litter pick for one hour or so.Please bring a sturdy pair of gloves, bags and anything else which may be useful. I will also bring some.

Glamorous camping in the Lake District

2011-09-29T03:55:00.000-07:00

Back from holiday now. Sam and I went glamorous camping up in the Lake District at the south of Lake Windermere.The weather was mixed, but as we were staying in a yurt with all the mod cons – stove, fridge, futon, basic cooking facilities etc – it had far less impact on us than if we had been in our little tent.We did a bit of walking, sightseeing and generally relaxing.One of the photos above is of our yurt's brightly coloured front door. The other is of the wicker man/woman we stumbled across when wondering around our campsite. After we got over our initial mild shock the nice people constructing it explained that we were safe and it was for the Festival at the weekend.No virgins were sacrificed in the making of this blog post.

Lib Dems in freefall

2011-09-27T10:18:00.000-07:00

With the Lib Dems in freefall both locally and nationally disillusioned LibDem voters may want to consider voting for a party which puts fairness, integrity and the environment centre stage.Green MP Caroline Lucas spoke at our recent conference on the subject.

Judicial review on Maiden Erlegh?

2011-09-27T02:44:00.000-07:00

Here is the latest update from officers on Maiden Erlegh:

"It has been bought to my attention that some parents who feel they have “lost out” as a result of the recent decision by the Secretary of State to direct the Maiden Erlegh Academy have launched a campaign and have won the support of their MP (John Redwood). It is reported online at http://www.getwokingham.co.uk/news/education/s/2100326_hands_off_maiden_erlegh_school_catchment. The report correctly notes that the only recourse now open to those who object is judicial review – an expensive and time consuming process which will not be entered lightly by either the school or Wokingham council. There is a time limit of three months (I believe) to make such objections which means there is a deadline around the start of December.

Wokingham’s plan of record is to invest in Bulmershe and when they make that decision I think it will close the current chapter on ME catchment areas. We have no reason to believe that the school will pursue judicial review at this stage.

I say the “current chapter” as the school can consult on changing admission arrangements each year. There is a risk to parents from this, so in addition to Wokingham investing in Bulmershe, it is worth noting that RBC continues to seek a solution to the space pressures. The first is continuing to actively support the bid for a Free School in East Reading, led by Reading College. The second is to submit a expression of interest to the recently announced national school building programme (see Cabinet 26th September) to seek funding for a secondary school in East Reading in case the Free School bid is not successful. The provision of additional capacity in the area will provide real choice and reduce the level of anxiety parents feel.

Officers are not planning to engage further in the discussion about current admission arrangements but will monitor any actions taken by Maiden Erlegh for future admissions consultation rounds."

20 mph, Talfourd one-way plug and access study

2011-09-17T10:39:00.000-07:00

It was a busy Traffic Management Advisory Panel earlier in the week with a Talfourd one-way plug, pedestrian crossings and the Easton Area Access Study on the agenda.

Residents had came along to support measures to end the Mexican stand-offs in Talfourd Avenue. I backed them up and both the one-way plug scheme and the 20 mph speed limit scheme for the wider area got the green light.

The removal of crossings -- Jackson's corner, outside the station and near to the hospital -- was discussed. There have been some minor improvements to the first two crossings, but they have been wrapped up in a six-month review which reports in November. I spoke of the urgency to reinstate the crossings and plans to improve the situation near to the hospital have been brought forward. However, with the legal consultations etc it is still going to take a while.

The other item of interest on the agenda was the Easton Area Access Study to look into improving Cemetery Junction and the surrounding corridors for pedestrians, cyclists and public transport. We have been lobbying for this study for a number of years so I was pleased to finally see it getting going.

As usual things never move as quickly as I would like, but all in all a positive meeting.

Boundary review and Berkshire

2011-09-13T08:35:00.000-07:00

So far the constituencies in Berkshire remain safe although across the country people will be losing representation as the number of MPs is cut. From the report:

“We propose to keep unaltered all six constituencies that are within the 5% electoral quota (Bracknell, Maidenhead, Newbury, Reading East, Reading West and Wokingham.”

More on Maiden Erlegh including the estimated cut-off

2011-09-08T09:18:00.000-07:00

Recently I blogged about the Office of the Schools Adjudicator's announcement that Wokingham's new catchment area tie-breaker for Maiden Erlegh was ‘unfair’. And that the adjudicator had instructed the school to go back to using radial distance. I thought that this was an improvement on Wokingham's proposal -- and I still think this.

However having now considered the verdict in more detail I don't think it is as good news as it might have been. This is because the adjudicator chose to stick with the enlarged catchment. This means some Park Ward residents will still be worse off.

See this website for a map showing the estimated cut-off.

There is more analysis of the report here.

We are talking to officers about what can be done to correct this injustice. Unfortunately though I believe we are stuck with the current system for this year. However Maiden Erlegh could change the rules in the future if it wanted to, but any change is going to mean someone loses out. What we really need is a new secondary school in the area. But things have gone quiet on this...

Cemetery Junction vision competition deadline approaching

2011-09-06T12:19:00.000-07:00

The competition for a vision for Cemetery Junction is still going but the deadline is approaching -- Monday, September 19.

If you haven't got in contact with your ideas/vision the group has produced an entry form which has two different views of the junction for you to write and draw on.

If you needed any more of an incentive other than improving the area we even have some prizes from local businesses!

British Transport Police cycle surgery at Reading station

2011-09-05T10:49:00.000-07:00

I got this on a bike security:

"British Transport Police cycle surgery at Reading station

Thursday 8th September @ Reading Station 8am till 7pm

The day will consist of:

Electronic tagging of your cycle
UV marking of your cycle
Education on preventing cycle crime
Discount vouchers on cycle locks

so please come down & help tackle cycle crime in your area

Thanks
British Transport Police"

Success on Maiden Erlegh's catchment area

2011-08-31T06:48:00.000-07:00

Great news that the Secretary of State has rubberstamped the adjudicator's recommendation that radial distance should be used for the tie-breaker. This is wonderful news for people in Reading who live close to the school who were being discriminated against and unfairly excluded by Wokingham Council.

Well done to everyone from the Parents' Campaign and the wider community who has worked so hard to make this happen.

Maiden Erlegh -- no decision yet

2011-08-27T02:38:00.000-07:00

Just got this update from the Parents' Campaign:

"Just to let you know that while there has been no news on the campaign front since the Adjudicator held the meeting back in July we haven’t let them rest on their laurels.

Please be reassured that we have been pushing the YPLA (Young People’s Learning Agency) and the OSA (Office for the School Adjudicator) for an answer to the Maiden Erlegh objections we submitted in response to the decision WBC made to change the catchment area.

We were under the impression that once the OSA’s report (with
recommendations) has gone through to the Secretary of State (via the YPLA) that it would be a rubber stamping exercise and we should hear on or around the 8th August.

Since then colleagues in the campaign group have called and emailed both the YPLA and OSA to say that those children going into Year6 are very anxious about the decision however we have had the same response that we need to be patient and that they hope to come back to us soon.

Unfortunately it has been indicated that the decision may still not be made for another few weeks.

We have asked the OSA for a copy of the report and recommendations sent to the YPLA/Secretary of State for Education under a Freedom of Information request. We plan to ask more questions under FOI should this request be rejected.

Once we have this, or better still any news of a decision, we will of course send this out through this email address and via our facebook page and website www.maidenerleghcatchment.co.uk."

British society is not "sick"

2011-08-21T13:10:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month, a spate of terrifying violence and disorder erupted onto our streets. Communities were terrorised, individuals attacked and city centres trashed. Horrendous images on our TV screens of burning buildings and mindless looting created a climate of fear in which people were scared to leave their homes - and in which public trust in the capacity of our police force to respond effectively was shaken.

The Green Party unequivocally condemns the violence and vandalism which has left indelible scars on families, businesses and urban environments across England. We express sincere condolences for those who lost loved ones in the chaos. And we feel admiration for those who took part in the peaceful defence of their neighbourhoods, as well as those came out onto the streets for the clean-up effort.

In the weeks since, the sheer number of column inches devoted to attempts to understand why the riots and looting took place - and how we might be able to prevent such devastation in future - illustrates the huge complexity of this issue. The honest truth is that there are no easy answers.

As a political party, we believe it is crucially important for the fabric of UK society that the Government and the police strike a balance between keeping our streets safe - protecting people from harm and defending communities against destruction - and upholding the hard won civil liberties of our citizens. And we want to keep things in perspective. We do not believe, as Mr Cameron does, that British society is ‘sick'.

Underpinning any analysis should be a recognition of the deep inequality which lies at the heart of British society. So too should we understand the consequences of a consumer culture which promotes endless material accumulation, an aggressive sense of entitlement and a demoralising level of status anxiety.

The Coalition Government's reckless austerity agenda, combined with rising youth unemployment and economic stagnation, is contributing in no small way towards a sense of hopelessness - with huge cuts in public funding for young people's clubs and services, and the scrapping of Educational Maintenance Allowance already having an impact. It's clear that many people feel disempowered and that some have become disengaged from their own communities, to the extent that they are willing to attack them without fear of consequence.

An extract from the full story here.

Councillor Hartley jumping ship?

2011-08-21T09:51:00.001-07:00

There has been some speculation as to whether Councillor Hartley will stand and fight in Park Ward at the 2012 elections or would he jump ship and stand in a different ward where Labour have a better chance of winning.

Interestingly as of Sunday, August 21 6 p.m. on the Reading Labour Party website Councillor Hartley's Park Ward page has the title "Katesgrove Ward". A mistake, or a rebranding of his page ahead of him jumping ship?

The Green Party has selected local campaigner Jamie Whitham to contest Park Ward.

UPDATE: Reading Labour Party have informed me that their website has been hacked.

Sexual assault in Palmer Park

2011-08-09T08:37:00.000-07:00

I am a both distressed and upset to hear that there was a sexual assault in Palmer Park recently. Details from the police below in case you may have any information which might be of help:

A 17 year old girl has reported the assault in Palmer Park, off London Road, between 12.30am and 2am on Wednesday (3/8).

The offender is described as black and of a big build. He was wearing a black hooded top, black or blue jeans, white Adidas trainers with a blue or black pattern on it.

Det Sgt Ashley Hannibal said: “It is crucial that anyone who recognises the description of the offender or who has information about the incident, contact us as soon as possible.”

A message that can be passed to the community would be - If you can help, please call Det Sgt Hannibal via the 24-hour Police Enquiry Centre on 0845 8 505 505. If you don’t want to speak to police or leave your name, call the charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Palmer Park flood alleviation works

2011-08-04T04:19:00.000-07:00

As you may have seen, Palmer Park along the Wokingham Road looks like a building site at the moment. Below is some detail on what is going on. I have queried exactly which tree is going to be lost and am waiting for a response.

"Thames Water Utilities Ltd has begun flood alleviation works along the Wokingham Road. In order to facilitate these works they have erected a compound within Palmer Park (as attached plan).

The works are to take place in two phases, as follows:

Phase 1) Highway works.
Underway:
Excavation of an area of Wokingham Road and the laying of required pipe work.
Works are being monitored by Highways (James Penman).

Phase 2) Palmer Park works.
6th September onwards:
Installation of flood alleviation storage pipes to open grass area within the children’s play area (as shown on attached plan).
Once works have been completed the grass surface of the park will be fully reinstated by Thames Water, with only a manhole cover being visible to park users.
The work has been timed to avoid peak use of the children’s play area over the summer holidays and will conclude on 4th December.

The work will require the removal of a semi-mature lime tree on the boundary of Palmer Parks play area, as it is directly in the line of the pipe to be installed. Thames Water has agreed to plant two new trees on site to compensate for this loss. One of these will be planted as close as possible to the tree to be removed and the second tree will be planted to the east of the main driveway to Palmer Park in order to complete an established avenue of trees.

Thames Water will have staff on site 24 hours a day to ensure the security of the site and will erect suitable fencing to ensure public safety around all areas of work.

The site compound will remain until the completion of the works in December. Thames Water has entered into an agreement with the Council’s Valuation Team for the use of the land. A photographic survey was conducted prior to the use of the land and Thames Water will be required to reinstate any damage at the end of the works to the satisfaction of the Parks Manager.

Public consultation:
Thames Water wrote to all neighbouring properties and invited residents to an open afternoon/evening on the 19th July at Palmer Park library. At this meeting detailed plans were discussed with the residents."

Bring back "lost" pedestrian crossings

2011-08-02T14:05:00.001-07:00

A few months ago I lobbied the new Lead Councillor for Transport over the loss of a number of pedestrian crossings -- by the hospital, station and Jackson's Corner -- under the previous Conservative/LibDem administration. This was following on from a number of residents bringing to my attention the new difficulties and dangers of crossing at these locations.

At the time he wasn't even aware that we had lost the one near the hospital, but I was pleased that he was looking into what could be done to improve the facilities in these areas for pedestrians. From my conversations with him I understood that we would get an update on what is going to be done at the Traffic Management Advisory Panel in September.

Even though I believe that these problems are being addressed -- and so therefore am not sure about the value of a petition on this issue -- happy to support it.

Vegetables upfront

2011-07-31T04:20:00.000-07:00

As many of you will know I am a keen gardener -- although unfortunately the political year does not fit particularly well with the growing year!

At home I look after the front garden and Samantha my partner looks after the back. The front garden is concrete, so I have located a variety of containers out there in which I am growing vegetables.

So far this year I have harvested some chard, broad beans, purple sprouting broccoli and various herbs. I have started to fill the spaces left with various varieties of lettuce. Still in the ground are runner beans, kale, beetroot and chard.

The main question I get about growing vegetables in the front garden is "don't they get stolen". I am pleased to report that I have never had anything nicked. In fact I think growing in the front garden is better in a lot of ways as there is more of a social/community element to it with neighbours and random people often passing comment.

I notice that some of my neighbours in Newtown and across the ward grow vegetables in a similar setting. And I think it would be great to see even more productive front gardens.

HMOs causing problems in Park Ward

2011-07-26T09:46:00.000-07:00

Coincidentally following on from a piece of work we have been doing around the problems caused by Houses of Multiple Occupation in the Pitcroft/Grange area of the ward all councillors were offered a briefing on the progress tackling this issue by the council.

The Pitcroft/Grange area in Park Ward -- as well as some areas in Redlands, Katesgrove and Battle -- has in my opinion too many HMOs in a very small area -- towards 100% of houses on some of the roads. These houses are mainly home to students. Having such a large concentration of HMOs in a small area creates problems for students and other residents alike -- parking pressures, many overflowing bins, a high turnover of the population resulting in people feeling isolated, an easy target for crime etc.

Large HMOs -- over six people -- are already regulated through the planning system. But the small HMOs aren't -- the Labour government passed some legislation in this area but the Conservative led government has never made use of it. However, the council can use Article 4 powers so that small HMOs require planning permission.

Unfortunately this isn't retrospective so we won't see areas dominated by HMOs going back to a more mixed state, but it should prevent other areas suffering the same fate.

The council is currently collecting evidence as to the detrimental impact such high concentrations of HMOs are having in Reading. There will be some consultation meetings in September. If you want to be kept updated on this issue please get in touch or sign up to our monthly newsletter.

Two months in the life of a Green Party councillor -- May and June

2011-07-21T03:18:00.000-07:00

The election campaign, getting a second Green councillor and holding the balance of power on the Council has made it a busy few months. So, apologies for taking so long producing this update but here it is.

As always, if you want to be kept updated on local issues please sign up to our monthly newsletter.

Council meetings and briefings -- 8
Surgeries -- 2
School governor meetings -- 3
Community meetings and events -- 14
Enquiries and requests for repairs from residents -- TBC

Some of our action:
• Greens fight for a fair deal for residents in balance of power negotiations
• Greens will not perpetuate Coalition
• We support decent pensions for all
• Improving town and district centres
• Green Park wind turbine visit
• Green Road Mosque and TVU planning

Some of our results:
• Greens elect second councillor
• Maiden Erlegh specialist legal advice
• also, the usual bread and butter of getting fly tipping cleared, street lights repaired and graffiti removed.

Expenses:
• None claimed.

Gifts to declare -- over the value of £25:
• None.

My interests are published on Reading Borough Council's website.

Basic monthly councillor allowance (pay) including my Special Responsibility Allowance (SRA) for being group leader before deductions: £864

Progress on community cafe for Palmer Park

2011-07-19T07:53:00.000-07:00

I got this last week from the group wanting to set up a community cafe in Palmer Park:

"I am writing to you to let you know that Reading PlayCafés is now an official Community Interest Company. The company’s activities will provide benefit to communities including that of Reading and its surrounding areas, providing child- and family-friendly venues that focus particularly upon the needs and interests of children and of their carers. The PlayCafes aim to create accessible community spaces and parent/carer hubs offering recreational, social, educational and information-based opportunities both for individuals and for groups, including
people who may be on the social margins.

We have just received a contract from RBC to start operating out of the little kiosk in the larger building in Palmer Park (where Costa ran a little kiosk service last summer) and are awaiting another contract to convert and use the small old toilet block as a cafe.

We are not a charity, but as a Social Enterprise we will plough our profits back into the company, in order to improve current cafés and expand new ones. We are looking for financial support although this is not the objective of this email! We are hoping to hire staff to run the kiosk during the week, but are looking for volunteers to help at weekends. We also would like to have your general support in making the first Reading PlayCafé a real success.

We are in desperate need of a LOGO. If your child or a child you know would like to enter our competition to design the logo (just needs to have the words 'Reading PlayCafés' on it) then please email it in before Sunday 24th July. Make sure the child's name and contact details are on the design (can be hand-drawn or computer-designed). The winning design will obviously be used as our Company Logo and the child will help with the cutting of our ribbon on Opening Day!! Open to children of all ages.

Please come and find us on Facebook.

You can e-mail us at: readingplaycafes@gmail.com

Residents' advice surgeries

2011-07-11T09:45:00.000-07:00

Councillor Melanie Eastwood and I will be holding the following residents' advice surgeries over the next three months. No appointment is necessary.

Thursday, July 14 -- Park Hall, Park United Reformed Church, Palmer Park Avenue, 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Thursday, August 11 -- True Food Co-Op, Wycliffe Church, King's Road, 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, September 24 -- The Co-Op, King's Road, Cemetery Junction, 11 a.m. to 12 noon

July's cabinet agenda

2011-07-11T05:35:00.000-07:00

It is Reading Borough Council's cabinet this evening. On the agenda there are various items of interest including:

-- an adult social care and how people with greater moderate needs are being supported
-- community cohesion initiatives
-- sustainable design and construction
-- residents' parking
-- concessionary fares review
-- review of waste collection (green waste and weekly collections
-- free schools
-- and plenty more.

This is a public meeting.

Cuts to bus fare concessions

2011-07-05T07:51:00.001-07:00

One of our priorities in the balance of power negotiations was reversing the cuts to bus fare concessions which are impacting on people with disabilities, their carers and pensioners. Here is the response to a petition on this issue at the recent full council:

"I thank Ms Dixon for the petition in respect of the restrictions placed on the use of concessionary bus passes from 1 April 2011.

Ms Dixon is probably aware that the previous administration introduced these changes in a mean-minded and ham-fisted fashion with many senior citizens and disabled pass holders not receiving formal notification of these changes until well after 1 April.

The new Labour Administration is committed to reinstating the bus pass concessions for people with disabilities and their carers/escorts so that they can travel before 9.30am. If finances permit, we would like to reinstate it for all senior citizens too, but the cost may be prohibitive in the near future. However I can advise Ms Dixon that there will be a report to Cabinet on 11 July about this issue and I will ensure that this petition is also considered at Cabinet.

I and my colleagues on this side of the chamber fully support the sentiments expressed in the petition as we too recognise the importance of concessionary bus passes to senior citizens and those with disabilities."

We will keep up the pressure on this issue.

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Students moving out

2011-07-04T09:41:00.000-07:00

Just completed a tour of the bits of the ward -- Pitcroft Avenue, Grange Avenue and the roads in between -- with more students living to see how the move out was going. In previous years the council has laid on a number of extra collections. This year they are doing it differently -- more efficiently to save money. Obviously this has caused some concern that roads might be left in a mess.

So I'm pleased to report that the areas with lots of students are looking good -- dare I say it, even better than normal term time. Therefore I think so far this change has been a success.

One of the challenges now is to make sure other bits of the ward with fewer students and areas with students moving out at odd times are kept on top of. Let me know of any overflowing bins, furniture dumped on the pavement etc and I will report this to Streetcare -- please supply as much information as possible.

The other challenge is to lay down the law to the minority of landlords who see this time of the year as a good opportunity to get rid of furniture, mattresses etc illegally. Again, get in contact if you notice this happening.

Jelly's Coopers Arms art space -- help needed

2011-06-30T08:09:00.000-07:00

I popped down today to see how Jelly were getting on with their new venture -- turning the Coopers Arms pub in Reading town centre near to the Town Hall into an art space.

They seemed to have made amazing progress. It is only day one and they had already washed and filled many walls and were getting on to painting.

They still need help though. Have a look at this blog for more information.

Maiden Erlegh specialist legal advice

2011-06-27T04:37:00.000-07:00

I just had a confidential briefing on the results of Reading Borough Council seeking specialist legal advice following on from Wokingham unfairly changing Maiden Erlegh's catchment area.

Getting specialist legal advice on this issue is something we have been pushing for for the last six months. It is also something we raised as a Green priority in our recent balance of power negotiations with Labour. So I am delighted that this is finally moving forwards. Hopefully this will mean a fair deal for families in the area.

As it was confidential I can't go into too much detail, but there are some things I can publish.

There are two options available to us, judicial review and objecting to the Young People's Learning Agency (YPLA). I believe objecting to the YPLA to be the best option -- which the parents' campaign did a while ago and the council has now done.

Assuming the objection to the YPLA is upheld it then goes up to the secretary of state who makes a binding recommendation. The timescale for this is that we would get the final decision some time over the summer.

There is a meeting organised by the YPLA for parents on Wednesday, June 29 starting at 6 p.m. at Maiden Erlegh. I think if we can get lots of families along to this meeting this would be a real show of strength and support the objection.

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Green Rd mosque and TVU planning applications

2011-06-22T13:01:00.000-07:00

I had a frustrating time at the planning applications committee meeting this evening. First of all I turned up promptly at 6:30 p.m. only to learn that the Green Road mosque planning application had been deferred because councillors hadn't had an opportunity to consider the equality impact assessment.

At about 7:45 p.m. we got on to the other Park Ward planning application -- the Thames Valley University student accommodation development.

I spoke against this application focusing on the parking impact and the unenforceability of the clause in the tenancy agreement designed to stop students from bringing their cars to University -- one councillor remarked that nothing is ever 100% enforceable and I pointed out that the University has never successfully enforced this clause.

As a plan B in case they permitted this development I argued for more money to be asked for to spend on resolving any parking problems. I also asked that the leisure/recreation section 106 money not be tied solely to Palmer Park but to the cemetery as well giving us more flexibility about how it is spent.

Unfortunately, this planning application was permitted and the pot of parking mitigation money wasn't increased. I did achieve the minor victory with the section 106 money though.

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Green Park wind turbine visit

2011-06-13T13:34:00.001-07:00

Last week I went on the Green Drinks visit to the Ecotricity wind turbine at Green Park. It shames me to say this is my first visit to the turbine since it was installed. But I comfort myself by the fact that it is in Wokingham.

The turbine stands 120 m tall, I couldn't hear any sound at all until I was standing underneath it and one side of the tower was very warm -- which was much appreciated on a cold day.

The turbine is one of the worst performing ones in the UK -- because we have such a good wind resource and most turbines are located in windier areas. But when ranked alongside the leader in wind energy -- Germany -- it is in their top 10%.

Another thing that I was interested in was the carbon payback -- how long it took to displace enough non-renewable energy generation and carbon emissions to balance out the carbon emitted in manufacturing and installing the wind turbine. Apparently this was two years.

A lot of these carbon emissions were from the concrete foundations. I was informed that work was under way on reusable foundations.

Unfortunately in the UK we have some way to go with renewables as we only currently generate around 5% of our electricity this way. In Germany it is around 17%.

In Reading we have been pushing for the Council to make use of the new feed in tariff to fund a massive investment in solar panels on Council buildings.

Obviously boosting renewable energy generation is no good if it is being wasted through inefficient housing for example. This is why we have a two pronged approach and are also pushing for Reading's free insulation scheme -- in areas of deprivation -- to be funded for the next financial year and expanded.

Increasing participation

2011-06-08T12:37:00.001-07:00

One of Labour's priorities this year is increasing participation. I have always thought that a good idea would be to make council agendas searchable on the ward impacted. This would allow residents to easily find out what sort of things are going on in their area across the different council meetings. Maybe they could even publish a RSS feed for each ward.

I spoke to officers about this a little while ago and they seemed to think a way forward was a better document management system that would be the back end to a new section of the website.

This would then open the door to Local Area Forums -- where residents get together with councillors and other agencies to discuss and make decisions on the things impacting on the local area -- or at the very least it would make it easier for self organised residents' groups to discuss and be informed on local issues.

What other ideas do people have to increase resident participation?

Scrutinising Reading Council

2011-06-07T08:28:00.000-07:00

Scrutiny involves looking at Council decisions, policy and services with a view to improving it.

As you may be aware Council has now adopted a revised scrutiny framework -- Internal looking at the Council and External looking at the police, NHS etc -- and officers will be working with the two commissions to develop a programme for the coming year. If there are any topics you would like to see either of the commissions considering, please get in contact.

Examples of large scrutiny projects in the past include drugs and private housing.

Big Lunch this Sunday

2011-06-01T13:24:00.000-07:00

There are eight Big Lunch events in the Reading area registered on the web site.

The thinking behind this initiative is that it is an opportunity for the community to come together over a bite to eat. I think this is a great idea which has been and will continue to help build communities.

The closest one to me in Newtown is on the Orts Road green on Sunday, June 5. No time is given but Sam and I plan to go down there for lunch at 1 p.m. until about 2 p.m.. It would be great to see other people there.

Everyone is invited. Feel free to bring food to share, something to sit on, music or a game. The only limitation is your imagination.

Please spread the word and let me know if you plan to come along.

Home energy workshop

2011-05-31T05:53:00.000-07:00

This free event, run by voluntary environmental and community groups, will provide practical, unbiased advice to help people to harness solar energy in their homes and/or to save energy - and money - through insulation, draught-proofing, and improved energy management.

Professional speakers - an expert from Thames Valley Energy, an Energy Consultant, and an Environmental Architect - will cover:

a.. The "Feed In Tariff" scheme - "Clean Energy Cashback" for solar energy
b.. Energy saving in the home - where it goes and how to manage it
c.. Insulation for older properties - from simple tips to restoration projects There will then be workshops on various topics run in parallel to give more detail and address people's questions.

This will take place in Room 3 at RISC, 35-39 London Street, Reading, RG1 4PS - www.risc.org.uk - next to 'Great Expectations' public house, from 10:30 to 12:30 on Saturday June 11th.

For further details please see http://www.readingfoe.org.uk

The organising groups are: Greater Reading Environmental Network; Reading Energy Pioneers, Reading Friends of the Earth, and Transition Towns Reading. They have been helped by a Community Grant from Reading Borough Council. The organising groups have no commercial sponsorship or commercial interests.

We won't perpetuate the Con-Dem coalition

2011-05-23T02:24:00.000-07:00

Further to our announcement this morning that we won't be backing either side at the mayor making meeting -- which means we will have a minority Labour administration running the Council -- here is Labour's response to priorities we raised with them on behalf of residents.

Dear Rob and Melanie,

Further to the meeting we held today I am writing to clarify the points you raised, particularly with regard to time-scales and processes by which we would want to see issues progressed. I think we all acknowledged that some of this may not become clear until we were in a position to work on detail with officers, which can only happen if there is a clear administration of the council. There will also be budget constraints given the projected budget gap as a result of the Coalition Government’s cuts to the Council’s grant.

However I will set out our intentions for each of the issues we have discussed:

• Maiden Erlegh School - we intend to ask officers to seek counsel’s opinion as soon as possible and report back to cabinet or Council as soon as possible. I am talking to officers about how quickly that could be achieved and we would hold a special meeting if necessary.
• Residents’ parking in Newtown – there is a report to TMAP on 9th June on parking zones and we will be asking for plans for the Newtown consultation to be included.
• Cemetery Junction and associated area study, which would include options for de-cluttering the local area including Wokingham Road. We will be reviewing the LTP priorities and bringing a report to Cabinet in July. I am advised that as it would be a revision of priorities it would probably not require a Council decision, but if it does it could come to council on 28th June. There is always an officer/councillor working group on these area studies which involves ward councillors, which we would set up as soon as possible to scope the objectives of the study.

• Cemetery Junction cemetery – investigation of a management plan – we would arrange for a meeting between ward councillors and the relevant lead councillor(s) to explore the possible options and then take a report to cabinet once the options were clarified.
• Community Care – it is our intention to halt the current process with brief report to cabinet in June, followed by a more detailed consideration of the way to protect those in greater moderate need now and into the future at the July meeting. Mike Orton has spoken to you about this and will arrange for you to meet with the Director to discuss the detail. As we are still in opposition until the AGM this is one of those issues where a fully worked up set of proposals will only be available if it is certain there is to be a change of administration.

• LTP plans for the Third Thames Bridge and the Cross Town Route – we were very clear in out letter about both these issues, but to repeat that:

 Kennetmouth – Labour’s long-standing commitment to the protection of Kennetmouth remains absolute, and was reiterated in a major policy resolution we put through Council in June 2008. Any developments in East Reading are subject to that imperative.

 Third Thames Bridge – Labour has opposed the building of a Third Thames Crossing as a motorway link between the M40 and the A329. However, we believe that a third bridge, properly managed, controlled and integrated with the movements on Caversham and Reading Bridges could deliver major traffic reductions and significant environmental improvements on key radial routes such as the London and Wokingham Roads. A project of this significance would require a full environmental assessment including assessing the impact on the Thames and the Kennet. Should there ever be any funding to take the proposal forward, which seems very unlikely in the foreseeable future, we would be asking for a full assessment of the impact on the environment, both in terms of advantages of reducing through traffic and any detriment to the area near the bridge. Of course the siting of any bridge would be within Wokingham and Oxforshire’s council areas, which underlines the need to work closely with both those Local Authorities as any final decision on this would rest with them if the current Local authority boundaries remain the same. We do not expect there to be any further work on this in the near future, but were that to change we would certainly want to ensure there would be full environmental studies and public engagement before reaching any decisions.

 Cross Town Route – Labour was instrumental in defeating the original Berkshire County Council plan and we remain totally opposed to any car-based scheme that would threaten the environment of Kennetmouth, the listed horseshoe bridge and King’s Meadow. We are willing to consider subject to full local consultation a light rail or guided bus link to Reading station from the existing parking areas of Thames Valley Park provided that it could be implemented without adverse impact on Kennetmouth. Again we do not expect any funding to be available for this in the foreseeable future, but were that to change we would want a full environmental assessment as well as public consultation.

• 20mph zones – we would intend to bring a report to TMAP as soon as possible on the legal and financial possibilities of expanding these schemes subject to public consultation.
• Feed-in tariff to fund solar panels at no cost to the council tax payers on public buildings, including the possibility of council housing. I have talked to Ben Burfoot to find out where this has now got to and it seems that after a halt in the process last year for a government review there is an outline business case which needs firming up, but that could be done in time for the July cabinet. We are very committed to this and would be keen to ensure that the further work was done in time for July cabinet.
• Greener,Warmer,Safer scheme – Unfortunately government funding ends next April and we need to look for options to continue this scheme. Unfortunately the officer who deals with this is on leave until early June, but if we can find a creative way to fund its continuation we will. I understand the criteria used to prioritise areas is linked to fuel poverty and we will need to get a full briefing and a report to cabinet on the options for finding a way to extend the scheme.
• RCRE – I have asked for the grants process to be halted pending the Council’s AGM and will then arrange meetings with RCRE and officers prior to a cabinet report in July, If there is a need to take any interim decision we can ask for an urgent item to 6th June cabinet meeting.
• Bus Pass Concessions – we will find a way to restore the concessions before 9.30 for those with disabilities and their carers as soon as possible. The fact that the cabinet papers go out the day after the AGM is inconvenient, and several things may have to wait for July to give time to work out the financial and other implications. As we said, though we would love to restore the concessions for all pass holders we may find the budget requirement for that is not immediately possible as a result of government cuts, but as soon as we can we will do so.
• Green Bin collections. Again we would be looking for a report to July cabinet as June 6th may be too soon to work through budget considerations. We would ensure that the Council would not be sending out any bills, which are now on hold I believe.
• Residents’ parking permits and concessionary permits. Having made this another commitment during the recent elections, we would look to bring a report to July Cabinet on the times and numbers of visitors’ permits and also to reverse the £300 charge for concessionary charges for carers, charities etc.

I hope that is sufficient detail for you, but please do call if there are any other points you would like to talk through.

Yours sincerely,

Jo Lovelock,
Labour Group Leader.

19th May, 2011

Reading Council balance of power negotiations

2011-05-18T04:42:00.000-07:00

For the latest on the Reading Council balance of power negotiations click here or see the Reading Green Party website: http://www.readinggreenparty.org.uk

What do you think of our priorities?

Park Ward priorities

-- Take legal action in support of Reading families impacted by Wokingham's changes to Maiden Erlegh's catchment area.
-- Consult on tackling the parking problems in the east of Newtown through the introduction of a residents' parking scheme.
-- Remove clutter from and tidy up the Wokingham Road district shopping centre.
-- Start the Cemetery Junction area study looking at how: vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists use the junction; and the Wokingham Road, London Road and Kings Road corridors; with a view to improving the situation for pedestrians, cyclists and public transport in particular.
-- Consult on, produce and implement a Cemetery Junction cemetery management plan including access to the site, preservation of wildlife and generally improving the area.

Reading priorities

-- Reverse the recent cuts to care, which will impact on elderly and vulnerable people, by reinstating the greater moderate eligibility criteria.
-- Remove the misguided, costly and destructive Third Thames Bridge and son of Cross Town Route schemes from the Local Transport Plan.
-- Introduce 20 mph speed limits in residential areas across Reading.
-- Use the new feed-in tariff to fund solar panels on council housing and generate renewable energy at no cost to the taxpayer.
-- Continue to fund the greener, warmer, safer project to insulate homes for free in areas of deprivation.
-- Reconsider Reading's strategic approach to community cohesion, the cuts in this area and the role we want Reading Council for Racial Equality to play.
-- Restore the bus pass concessions which allowed the elderly, disabled and their carers to travel for free before 9:30 a.m. and after 11 p.m..
-- Reverse the charge for the green bin collection and investigate how the scheme could be expanded to collect food waste.
-- Reverse the reduction in the residents' parking visitor permits and the extortionate £300 charge for discretionary parking permits.

Improving the town and district centres

2011-05-14T09:26:00.000-07:00

Before the elections I had been working with Councillor Epps on improving the town and district centres following on from the New Economics Foundation's recent clone town league table following on from other clone town work -- where Reading didn't do too well.

At the last meeting of the Corporate, Community and External Affairs scrutiny panel the following recommendations were passed:

"The Panel welcomes as I am work being undertaken that will help ensure Reading retains and enhances retail diversity, such as the development of an independent quarter, policy RC11 of the Reading Central Area Action Plan designed to retain small shop units under 75 sq m, and the 'Uniquely Reading' theme.

The Panel recommends that Cabinet, in association as appropriate with the Planning Applications and Licensing Committees:

1. Continuously works to ensure its policies actively promote local independent retailers and markets, as an important part of the diversity and retail offer of the Borough, including active promotion through Reading UK CIC;

2. Works to identify resources and seek opportunities (in conjunction with the voluntary and community sector, and in consultation with local communities) for a re-imagined high street project in the Borough, where people help planners create a re-invigorated community in a local centre;

3. Investigates the development of distinctiveness indicators that could be used to guide Council policies including site-specific planning briefs, alongside the power of well-being and the sustainability indicators embedded in local planning policies;

4. Continues to seek opportunities to effectively balance the needs of businesses and the growing number of residents in the Town Centre through appropriate participatory bodies;

5. Writes to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills to call on him to establish a Local Competition Ombudsman as recommended by the Competition Commission regarding the monopoly power of the big four grocery chains."

New secondary school in East Reading

2011-05-10T04:29:00.000-07:00

I just got this from council officers. I think Free Schools/Academies will in the long term damage education. Unfortunately in the short term they are the only game in town:

I am writing to advise you on forthcoming public activities related to the planned bid by Oxford and Cherwell Valley College (OCVC, who run Reading College) to the Department for Education for a secondary school on the TVU site at Crescent Road. The bid is supported by a number of organisations including RBC and Wokingham council is due to be submitted at the end of May 2011 using the DfE’s “Free Schools” proposal process. Part of that process requires demonstration of significant parental support for the proposed school. To that end there are two strands of current activity for your awareness.

The first is a public meeting taking place at 6pm on Friday 20th May at Reading College, Kings Road. This has been organised by the College with an advert placed in the Evening Post /Get Reading papers which will appear from Wednesday 11th May and allows for registration via email to Paula Hallam (phallam@ocvc.ac.uk) of Reading College by Wednesday 18 May. I have not seen a list of speakers but I think the College will talk about the style/curriculum of the school and that they will ask Rob Wilson MP to talk up confidence about the possibility of securing the funding. Reading officers (me) will be attending to support OCVC with questions about demand and potential admissions criteria. Reading College are being advised to run further sessions in the following week at times that are more accessible!

The second strand is a survey of parents with children of school age who could use the potential new school. As a supporter of the bid we are planning to use our website to run a survey from Friday 13th to gauge wider support. We also plan to put an information sheet (written by OCVC) into the school bags of pupils in the 10 Primary schools who typically feed into secondary schools to the East. This will be arranged with the schools for next week.

Thanks, a second Green councillor

2011-05-07T08:34:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Melanie Eastwood (left) on becoming the second Green councillor in Park Ward, Reading. Depending on what the other parties decide to do, we may hold the balance of power -- 22 Labour, 16 Conservative, six LibDem, two Green! Rest assured, we will keep working hard for residents, putting fairness, integrity and the environment at the centre of Reading politics.

The results are as follows:

Melanie Eastwood, Green Party -- 1585
Labour -- 1213
Conservative -- 732
Liberal Democrat -- 123

The full Reading results can be found here.

Thanks to everyone who has believed in us over the years.

And thanks to everyone who has helped with the campaign.

Local Conservatives have nothing positive to say

2011-05-03T03:03:00.000-07:00

Less than two days to go until polling day. I just noticed that I haven't had a shave for approaching three days now which suggests that I am busier than I thought I was. It has also got to the point in the campaign where my "canvassers throat" is kicking in and I sound like I am smoking 20 a day.

However, as election day approaches everything was starting to fall into place -- support holding, people lined up to help on election day, printing etc -- and my stress levels were starting to fall. But then I saw the recent Conservative leaflet "It makes no difference if you vote Green or Red", the sole purpose of which is attacking the Green Party and my stress levels shot up again.

However, once I got over the initial annoyance that they had printed such lies, rubbish and twisting of the facts, it sunk in that the reason that they have done this attacking us rather than Labour is that they have realised that it looks like we are about to get a second Green councillor elected displacing a Conservative. My stress levels then started to come down again.

The content is so laughable I don't think that it is even worth responding to. Suffice to say that they couldn't even think of one positive thing to say about themselves.

Happy Vaisakhi!

2011-05-01T13:05:00.000-07:00

Earlier today I attended the Vaisakhi -- New Year -- celebrations being hosted by Reading and Wokingham Sikhs. It was good to have the sun shining this year -- last year it was cold, wet and windy.

I particularly enjoyed the sword/stake fighting demonstrations, although at one point a stick did come a little close for comfort!

As always there was plenty of food, but unfortunately I had breakfast before coming out and so was full. Note to self, next year skip breakfast.

I walked with the procession up the Wokingham Road as far as Palmer Park and chatted to people from the local community. All in all a pleasant morning and a welcome a break from campaigning for the local elections.

Park Ward election campaign update

2011-04-25T07:21:00.000-07:00

People keep asking me how the campaign is going in Park Ward to get Melanie Eastwood elected as our second Green councillor so I thought I would do a quick blog update.

Canvassing is going well. Our support from previous years seems to be holding up and we are also finding a reasonable number of new Green voters who like our emphasis on fairness, integrity and the environment or are disillusioned with all of the main parties for one reason or another. Many people have also commented that it is great that they see us all year-round and not just at election time looking for votes. If we haven't managed to catch you in yet but you plan to vote Green please let us know.

Again, we are winning the poster war with more up than any other party -- however it should be noted that in the past we have had more posters up and still lost! If you would like a poster dropping round let me know.

Still plenty to do between now and election day, but the team will keep plugging away and we will see what happens at the count.

Speaking of election day if you fancy helping out, there is plenty to do from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m.. If you can spare the whole day or just a few hours please get in contact.

risc@risk!

2011-04-23T09:05:00.000-07:00

I think that the Reading International Solidarity Centre does a great job of development education in a whole host of areas -- social, and environmental, economic. And they surely have to be a candidate for making the best use of a building in the UK -- shop and cafe on the ground floor, meeting rooms on the first floor, office and accommodation on the third and fourth floors and a garden on the roof! Unfortunately they are yet another victim the devastating cuts. I got this message from them:

We are writing to you as a friend or user of RISC to tell you of our current financial situation. Our core educational work is threatened because we have lost two substantial government grants from DfID.

Our target is to raise £50,000 during the next financial year in order to avoid further drastic cuts to staff wages and services.

If you value the work and ethos of RISC, you can help us by becoming a REGULAR SUPPORTER:

• just £5 a month pledged by 200 supporters will yield £12,000 a year and will pay for core work such as the public events programme.

OR make a ONE-OFF DONATION:

• £15 will support a month’s expenses for one of our invaluable volunteers
• £62 will pay for RISC’s glass recycling for one month
• £200 will pay for one month’s administration and maintenance of the Artefacts Loans Service
• £300 will pay for a Global Citizenship training day for a local school.
Reading International Solidarity Centre (RISC) is a Development Education Centre working with schools and community groups to raise the profile of global issues and promote action for sustainable development, human rights and social justice.

You can donate electronically.

Residents' parking disaster!

2011-04-22T06:55:00.000-07:00

The coalition's changes to the way residents' parking works are starting to hit home, and lots of people are unhappy with the new scheme. Problems include massive increases in charges -- discretionary parking permits used to be free for example but now cost £300. Residents are also getting less permits/time for visitors.

I voted to get this decision called in and reconsidered, but unfortunately this fell on deaf ears.

There is a Facebook group here.

There is a petition here.

Park Ward case work statistics

2011-04-20T10:24:00.000-07:00

Here is a graph showing how many items of case work -- potholes, education issues, parking problems etc -- each councillor in Park Ward has put through the Front Office system since 2009. It is based on figures taken from this spreadsheet of all councillor Front Office activity.

As I was only elected in May 2010 so my history starts from then. The other two councillors don't seem to have been particularly active up until recently.

In the past commentators have suggested that some councillors choose not to use the Front Office system for their casework and this accounted for their low Front Office statistics. I have never understood this because if you use the system, councillor services will log your case work, keep track of it, chase it up for you and help you write letters back to residents. If you don't use the system then you either fire and forget your communications with officers and don't keep track of them or you have to use your own system to manage casework without the support of councillor services.

It is interesting to note that both of the other councillors in the ward have started to log more items of case work in the run up to this election. But they didn't do this before the 2010 election? My analysis is that in 2010 Labour were complacent and they are now getting worried about a second Green councillor and the Conservative has realised that the electorate are about to kick him out.

What do you think?

Melanie Eastwood a second Green councillor

2011-04-16T08:49:00.000-07:00

2011 is going to be an important year for the Green Party in Reading. We’re standing a full slate of candidates in the Borough and hoping to get Melanie Eastwood elected as a second councillor in Park Ward to work alongside myself. This would allow us to get more done in the area on schools, transport and parking. With two Green councillors we’d be more effective on the council, putting fairness, integrity and the environment at the centre of politics in Reading.

Melanie got involved with the Green Party after we knocked on her door, asking if she had any issues of concern. Since being selected as the candidate Melanie has been working closely with me. Together we have raised over 500 cases with the council on a range of issues in the area.

The Green Party has been active in Park Ward all year round since 2004. This has resulted in our vote going up at every election since and us winning by 574 votes in 2010! So we have momentum.

At the forthcoming local election on 5 May, Melanie will be the candidate up for election -- I am elected till 2014. However, we can use the Euro elections in 2009 as a guide. I wasn't standing at these elections, but we still outvoted every other party, winning by 362 votes. This shows we have a solid core of support locally.

There is much to do between now and election day. But I believe that the combination of the team's hard work and results, our solid base of support and our momentum stands us in good stead to elect a second councillor. So please vote Green on Thursday 5 May and help us do more to improve the area and secure a fair deal for local residents.

Green Party election broadcast -- no joke!

2011-04-15T03:17:00.001-07:00

Bridges Hall redevelopment

2011-04-14T13:48:00.000-07:00

"The University or Reading and our accommodation partner UPP, would like to invite you to attend an exhibition on proposals for development on the site of Bridges Hall of residence, Whiteknights Road.

The re-development of the Bridges Hall site as replacement student accommodation forms part of the University’s Whiteknights Campus Development Plan 2008-18, on which the University consulted in 2007/8. This proposal, led by UPP, for a new Bridges Hall with integrated self-catering facilities and a separate catering hub, will complete the current Whiteknights accommodation project and is consistent with our sustainable aim of consolidating University accommodation on the Whiteknights campus.

The exhibition will provide detail on the proposals and an opportunity to discuss the plans with members of staff from the University and our partner UPP, who will be submitting the planning application for the site later in the year. UPP will welcome feedback on the proposals as part of their work in shaping the planning of the development.

The exhibition will be held at:-
Wessex Hall, University of Reading, Whiteknights Road, Reading RG6 6BQ
Monday 18 April, 3.00 pm - 6.00 pm
Tuesday 19 April, 5.00 pm - 8.00 pm

If you are unable to visit the exhibition, details of the proposals will also be available online at www.reading.ac.uk/local from 18 April."

Planning applications committee and Park United Reformed Church's solar roof

2011-04-14T05:38:00.000-07:00

Planning applications committee is coming up. A positive planning application which is on the agenda is Park United Reformed Church's plan to mount solar panels on their roof. This would be the first such installation on a church in Reading. I have been supporting them through the planning process and hope that planning permission is granted. This would send out a clear message that climate change is serious and we need to work together to tackle it at all levels.

The full agenda can be found here.

Cabinet

2011-04-12T03:32:00.000-07:00

Lots of interesting and important stuff on the agenda of the Cabinet last night.

Items particularly relevant to Park Ward are:

item 15 -- transfer of land at Green Road for the mosque
item 17 -- proposal for residual household waste collections in priority areas (back to weekly collection)
item 20 -- education capital programme 2011/12 (this mentions a consultation on permanent expansion of St John's School)

Other interesting items:
item 18 -- grant aid to Reading Council for Racial Equality in 2011/12
item 23 -- Sustainable Communities Act 2007 (listening to what local people have to say about improving the area)

There are reports accessible through the link above on the majority of items on the agenda.

February Councillor report -- defending public services, 20 mph speed limits and RESCUE

2011-04-08T07:30:00.000-07:00

Less than five weeks to go to the local elections! Things are obviously getting very busy, but here is a brief report on what I have been up to in February and March -- with support from my colleague Melanie Eastwood.

Briefly, I have continued to support parents fighting for a fair deal over changes to the Maiden Erlegh catchment area. I have worked with Reading Council for Racial Equality opposing their devastating cut. I organised a cleanup event as part of Reading RESCUE to tidy up Kennet Mouth. I also attended the launch event for the Outside Inside Festival.

Council meetings and briefings -- 5
Surgeries -- 3
School governor meetings -- 3
Community meetings and events -- 11
Enquiries and requests for repairs from residents -- 45 in February, March figure not available

Some of our action:
• worked to tackle estate agent boards
• defended public services at the full council budget meeting

Some of our results:
• helped tidy up Kennet Mouth
• progress on 20 mph speed limits
• got the Council to commit to consulting on opening the Cemetery Junction gate
• as usual we got countless instances of fly tipping cleared, graffiti cleaned, potholes filled and residents' questions answered.

Expenses:
• None claimed.

Gifts to declare -- over the value of £25:
• None.

My interests are published on Reading Borough Council's website.

Monthly councillor allowance (pay) before deductions: £685.08

Local elections fund-raising target of £500

2011-04-04T12:59:00.000-07:00

A note from our Treasurer:

"Dear Reading and Wokingham Green Party supporter

I am writing to ask if you will please support our election fund-raising appeal. We hope to raise £500.00 in donations. Our current target is to get a second Green councillor elected in Park Ward in Reading in May this year. Our candidate, selected last September, is Melanie Eastwood. We have been working hard on local bread-and-butter issues and on bigger concerns such as opposing cuts to the care of elderly and vulnerable people. And we have also been working to get Melanie’s name and profile as well known in Park Ward as Rob White’s - quite a challenge. The main way we do this is through print: ward newsletters, election addresses, leaflets, posters etc. We estimate that, worst case, we will spend £710 between now and 5th May, and best case £570. So you can see we need your help. £5.00 will cover half of our telephone costs, £10.00 will pay for 50 posters, £25 will pay for all the vote tomorrow leaflets. Any amount is welcome, large or small. You can donate online via the donate button at the top right of Rob's blog, or you can send a cheque to me at 19 Hyde End Road, Shinfield, Reading RG2 9EP -- payable to Reading Green Party.

Thank you and regards

Marjory Bisset
Hon. Treasurer, Reading and Wokingham Green Party"

Community Speedwatch Results for St Bartholomew's Road

2011-04-01T05:48:00.000-07:00

Melanie and myself both helped with the community speed watch event in St Bartholomew's Road following many complaints of speeding. Here are the results:

Session: 2:30pm – 4:00pm
-- 134 cars were recorded, at an average speed of 22.3mph
-- 6 have had letters issued as they were travelling at 32mph or more
-- Maximum speed registered was 36mph (one car)

Session: 7pm – 8:15pm
-- 89 cars were recorded, at an average speed of 21.3 mph
-- 5 have had letters issued as they were travelling at 32mph or more
-- Maximum speed registered was 35mph (one car)

In addition:
-- 2 cannabis cautions were administered to a vehicle travelling under 30mph
-- 1 expired tax disc was seized from a car recorded at 32mph

‘Thank you’ to all volunteers that took part in the Community Speedwatch.

If you have a problem with speeding in your road and want to help organise a similar event please get in contact.

Maiden Erlegh decision

2011-03-31T13:38:00.000-07:00

I just got the following from the Parents' Campaign. Bad news! The 600 m rule that they have brought in smells to me like discrimination -- as it effectively stops people in Reading getting in. The challenge now is can we convince the coalition in Reading to get further legal advice and possibly take Wokingham to court:

WBC executive voted tonight. They voted for for the alternative tie-breaker with the amendment of a 600m catchment of the school (up to the Wokingham Road).

The detail is as below:

"For Maiden Erlegh School only, within criteria C and D, first priority will be given to applicants whose permanent home address is south of the centre line of the A329 and within 600m radius of Maiden Erlegh School, after which priority will be given to the applicants whose permanent home address is the greatest additional radial distance to the alternative designated area school (Bulmershe)."

So what does this mean? Well we have to look at the detail. But this is what we have understood.

(1) Those children who live closest to the school will get priority (ie those within 600m). NB this is not a circle - so won't include the north side of Wokingham road (and Mays Lane) - which was not in ME catchment previously.

(2) Then priority will be for those children who live furthest away from Bulmershe.

The consequences are:

- Children who live in Reading Borough will not get a place at Maiden Erlegh (unless they have siblings).

- Some Earley/WBC residents who live too close to Bulmershe but not close enough to Maiden Erlegh ie not within 600m may not get a place (Unless they have siblings).

As per rumours before the meeting, there was also talk of financial investment in Bulmershe. No figures were mentioned or committed to. But a report to come back to WBC in June.

Also much talk of the proposed new school for East Reading. Called here a UTC (University Technical College) in East Reading (just on "the borders between Reading and Earley. Age range of 11-19. Talked with reference of giving more choice for children in WBC too.

The changes to Wokingham school catchments - to go for one big one for all four schools on radial distance were also passed.

Maiden Erlegh Wokingham decision looms

2011-03-30T14:17:00.000-07:00

I got this from the Parents' Campaign:

The WBC Executive will make their decision at their meeting tomorrow
evening. If you are interested in reading the papers the agenda is
available online (see below). The recommendations include a possibility of an inner catchment. We have included the detail direct from the agenda below:

"that in doing so, the Executive considers whether or not to amend the
proposed designated area tiebreaker for Maiden Erlegh School (page 21 of the proposed admission arrangements)

The tiebreak, if so amended, would read -

"For Maiden Erlegh School only, within criteria C and D, first priority
will be given to applicants whose permanent home address is south of the centre line of the A329 and within 600m radius of Maiden Erlegh School, after which priority will be given to the applicants whose permanent home address is the greatest additional radial distance to the alternative designated area school(Bulmershe)."

There is more detail on WBC's website.

As soon as we know the decision we will let you know.

Sent on behalf of the Parents Campaign

Newsletters, letters and election expenses

2011-03-28T09:40:00.000-07:00

Notice of the local elections was published on Friday just gone. Any newsletters, letters etc from political parties from Friday onwards now have to be counted in a candidate's election expenses -- and there is a maximum spend. I am therefore very interested in anything you have received in Park Ward from Friday, March 25 through to Thursday, May 5. So please hang on to stuff for me.

The Big Lunch

2011-03-26T02:52:00.000-07:00

This annual event is coming round again on Sunday, June 5. The idea from the Eden Project is very simple it is to get as many as possible of the 61 million people living in the UK to have lunch with their neighbours.

From the Reading map I see that the Kennet and Brunel Residents' Association are organising an event in Newtown. It would be great to get more events going across Park Ward and the wider Reading area. Please spread the word.

Banning estate agent boards

2011-03-22T05:48:00.000-07:00

There is currently a forest of to let/let by signs in Park Ward. Not only does this have a negative impact on the look of an area, but it can be an advert to burglars.

Redlands and University NAG -- of which I am a member -- have started a petition to ban these signs in the area. Other local authorities have been successful with this in the past.

Reading RESCUE -- willow, litter and coffee

2011-03-14T14:01:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was Reading RESCUE -- Rivers and Environmental Spaces Cleanup Event. I organised a litter pick and willow hedge maintenance session down at Kennet Mouth. I thought the morning went well, the sun was shining, we finished all the work on the hedge and we litter picked about five bags of rubbish and recycling.

Tesco also provided us with some coffee and pastries.

If you want to get involved with Newtown GLOBE -- Go Local on a Better Environment -- or find out if there is a similar local group in your part of Reading please get in contact.

More progress on 20 mph speed limits

2011-03-03T05:23:00.000-08:00

Having been campaigning for 20 mph speed limits in residential areas for about five years now I am delighted to announce that we have had some more progress. Officers are now looking into making: Talfourd Avenue, Melrose Avenue, Belle Avenue, Earley Hill Road and Holmes Road all 20 mph!

This is another big success for Melanie Eastwood and myself following on from getting the Council to start looking into producing a policy on 20 mph speed limits in Reading at the end of 2010.

Greens are the real opposition

2011-03-01T07:09:00.000-08:00

I couldn't put it any better than Green MP Caroline Lucas:

Ms Lucas, who became her party's first MP when she was elected to Brighton Pavilion at last May's General Election, accused Labour of suffering "a heroic amnesia" as it tried to block the Conservative and Lib Dems' policies.

Speaking from her party's spring conference in Cardiff, she said: "How can they oppose the market in the NHS when they first introduced it?

"How are they opposing tuition fees when they first introduced it? How do they oppose the selling off of the Royal Mail? That was (former business secretary) (Lord) Peter Mandelson (Labour)."

Ms Lucas added: "I've always been a bit ambitious, but I do think the Green Party is the real opposition.

"The Lib Dems are part of the Government - they can't speak out about proper constitutional reform or nuclear weapons or nuclear power or many of the things they stood for.

"Labour is utterly contaminated by the fact they pursued many of the policies which now the coalition Government is simply taking to their logical conclusions, so I think people are looking for a genuine opposition - and you won't be surprised to know I think that's the Green Party."

How local do you want your councillor?

2011-02-24T13:25:00.000-08:00

Earlier today I had an illuminating conversation with my Conservative Wokingham-based ward colleague Councillor Hussain. The discussion went something like this:

Councillor Hussain: "Because I live in Wokingham, I can be a better councillor, because I have no personal interest in the local area. I can be more objective."

Councillor White: "I follow your logic, but I disagree [no personal interest means no passion for an area]."

Councillor Hussain: "Also, I see more of the ward than you because I drive through it every day on my way from Wokingham into Reading."

Councillor White: "You may see more of the main roads in the ward by driving through it. But you would know the ward better if you lived in it, walked round in it more and met people.

I then suggested to him that if he truly thought that living in Wokingham made him a better councillor maybe he should put it on his next newsletter as a selling point. I won't hold my breath.

Discuss.

Full council budget meeting

2011-02-23T10:48:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a historic day in Reading. The Lib Dem and Conservative councillors who voted the budget through will be remembered. But not as heroes who saved the day, as villains preying on the weak and vulnerable.

New Labour raised the axe, with a continuation of Thatcher's policy agenda -- privatisation, deregulation of financial markets and repression of trade unions -- but last night it was the Tories and the Lib Dems who brought it down locally.

Labour's three amateur amendments all fell. As did mine to reverse the grant cut to Reading Council for Racial Equality -- thanks to Councillor Tickner for seconding it. Although, at least mine was complemented for being costed, which none of the Labour amendments were in any detail.

So the budget went through unamended containing £19 million of cuts. Thousands of people will lose care from the council. School meal prices are going up. Local pensioner bus fare concessions have been cut. The list goes on. Depressing.

300 council jobs will also go. The worst-case scenario is a £2 million redundancy payout, 300 people not paying tax and 300 people claiming benefits. Is this good? No. Will it stimulate the economy? No. Will it result in a fairer Reading? No. And this is just the beginning. We have at least three more years of this to come if the Lib Dems and Conservatives continue to be able to advance their agenda.

The meeting finished just before midnight, so I was glad that I had taken some lasagne that I cooked earlier in the week to eat in one of the breaks! Very few members of the public made it to the end.

So where next? Well better late than never the leader of the Lib Dems locally Councillor Bayes has joined with other Lib Dems in saying that the settlement from the government is unfair. Does Councillor Cumpsty, leader of the Conservatives, have the courage to start pushing back too?

But really neither the councillors nor the MPs are powerful. It is the people of Reading, the people who came to the demonstration last night against the cuts, and the people who stood in the public gallery and the foyer listening who have the power. I am sure those people will use their power at election time to show what they think of the Coalition locally, and I'm sure they will use their power more creatively in the interim.

I will continue to work with local people for a fairer deal for all of Reading.

How will the cuts impact on you?

2011-02-21T12:11:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow (Tuesday February 22), 6:30 p.m., at the Civic Centre we have the most important Council meeting of the year. At this meeting councillors set council tax and the Council budget -- which dictates how much money there is to spend in different areas in the coming financial year. The budget papers are on the Council's website, but are heavy going. So I have worked with Reading Save Our Services to produce the information below summarising how the cuts in Reading will impact on people.

The council meeting is open to members of the public and there will be demonstrations starting at 5 p.m. from various groups -- such as Reading Council for Racial Equality (pictured) -- who will be devastated by these cuts pushed through by the Conservatives with covering fire from the Lib Dems.

Alternatively give your local councillor a call or e-mail informing them which services you would like to see protected.

How much will be cut?

· The Council is looking to make savings of £18.8 million in its budget for next year (2011/12 financial year). The cuts package will hit the most needy and least well off the hardest.

· At an earlier Cabinet meeting it was announced that this will result in the deletion of around 300 posts, with 150 potential compulsory redundancies. £2.2 million will be spent in redundancy payments next year.

· There will be no Council Tax increase in Reading, so no money will be available to offset the cuts by increasing tax locally. The Council is aiming to increase charges for certain services to increase its income by £3.2 million.

· This is just the beginning: the cuts will continue for at least three years and the council intends to continue with “cost reduction and efficiency” and maximising income generation. Assuming the Council continues with its policy of freezing Council Tax, savings of £14.2 million will be needed in 2012/13; £9.2 million in 2013/14; and £12.3 million in 2014/15.

Hitting the neediest hardest

The Council's cuts will hit the least well off and most disadvanted people the hardest. Children, the elderly, and people with special needs will all find that their services and care will be reduced. Examples include:

· Merger of Edward Hughes and Tanfield residential homes and reduced use of other residential accommodation for the elderly will deprive vulnerable pensioners of Council care in their twilight years.

· Eligibility criteria for elderly people and others with social care needs will be tightened drastically, meaning that many with medium and lower level care needs will no longer receive vital care support from the Council.

· Cuts in the Early Years Service will result in a reduction in nursery care and services supporting the youngest children.

· A reduction in school meals subsidy will increase the cost of meals and will reduce meals uptake for those not entitled to free school meals.

· Increased play charges will result in reduced uptake of play schemes and closures of after school and holiday play provision.

· Concessionary bus fares for pensioners will be reorganised so that they can no longer travel free of charge during peak hours.

· Cuts in the Youth Service and Intensive Services and in Prevention and Support Services will mean that services will have to be targetted, resulting in less capacity to respond to areas requiring early intervention and leading to more youth offending and anti-social behaviour.

· A review of Behaviour Services for children with behaviour difficulties will result in increased school exclusions – and increase associated costs.

· Cuts in front line education posts and buyback of services for schools from the Council will lead to reductions in service to vulnerable families.

· Domestic Violence staff levels are to be cut increasing the risks of domestic abuse and leading to abusers escaping the law.

· Transport services for school children, patients, the elderly, and those in care will be reviewed and cut with Readibus, the NHS, and Reading Buses expected to take up the slack.

The Council admits that cuts in its Education and Childrens Services budget will increase social care referrals and costs, increase the need to use expensive agency staff; and divert money away from prevention programmes as demand pressures increase.

From Cleaner and Greener to Leaner and Meaner

· Cuts in Street Care will result in reduced environmental cleansing and graffiti removal.

· Charging for the collection of green waste and big increases in charges for collection of bulky waste mean that an increase in fly tipping and rubbish dumping is likely.

· Cuts in enforcement teams working on Houses in Multiple Occupation, Public Health, Trading Standards, Licensing, and Environmental Health will increase safety and environmental risks for the public. Cuts in planning enforcement and monitoring will enable unscrupulous builders and developers to ignore planning laws.

Rents up and pay frozen

· Council house rents will increase by 4.9% (higher than the inflation rate) bringing the average weekly rent to £89.26.

· Council staff will receive no pay increase in 2011/12.

Berkshire save our woods

2011-02-13T08:47:00.000-08:00

I got the following from Berkshire Save Our Woods:

Who are we and what are our aims?

We are "Berkshire Save Our Woods " a grassroots movement formed from an objection to the Government's proposals to dispose of all of England's public forests. As well as campaigning against the Government proposals in general, we have a specific focus Sulham Woods. We have a Facebook campaign that has attracted plenty of members within the first few days and are organising a peaceful protest to take place at Sulham Forest Carpark just next to the woods, Saturday 5th March 2011.

Why was the group formed?

Like many people, woodland is close to our hearts and we have a desire to protect it. Local woods are a wonderful place for people of all ages to enjoy and the Forestry Commission land is very accessible and allows people to pursue many different activities, including walking, cycling, riding, running and is a great place for children to play and learn about our environment. Woodland is an important natural resource, wildlife habitat and carbon sink. We want to keep this within the public domain so we have a real say in what happens to it.

What are our concerns?

For the purposes of the Government sell-off, woodland will be categorised into 4 types -
- heritage woods (such as the Forest of Dean and New Forest) which will be gifted to a charity with initial Government funding which will eventually be reduced and the charity will be expected to become self-sufficient
- mixed woodland, where there is a mixture of commercial forestry and leisure interests(Sulham Woods fits this category).
- large commercial forests which are predominantly for timber production
- small commercial forests, mainly timber on a smaller scale.
-Mixed woodland and large and small commercial forests will be offered for sale, and the Government proposes that they should be offered to community groups to buy first. This sounds good in theory but in reality, the window of opportunity for community groups to buy these areas would be 28 days before they are offered up to commercial buyers and with the market value of a wood such as Sulham Woods being around £2million, it is pretty unlikely that a community group could find this sort of money within a month. Inevitably the woods will end up in the hands of commercial buyers such as leisure operators, logging firms, etc, or perhaps bought by individuals seeking a tax break, known as woodlands relief, where inheritance tax can be avoided if the money is sunk into woodland. Once sold off, access rights for walkers would remain, under the CRoW Act (Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000), although the new owners may neglect footpaths and close down car parks making access more difficult. Horse riders and cyclist currently enjoy a permissive arrangement with the Forestry Commission allowing them to use the land, however there is no obligation for a new land owner to continue this so cyclists and horse riders would only be allowed access if a bridleway or byway crosses the land.

Another concern is that the new owners may have no interest in managing the woodland well, and despite vague references by the Government that safeguards would be put in place to maintain biodiversity, it is unclear how this would be monitored and enforced once individual tracts of land are sold off.

What about the current halt on some woodland sales, what does this mean?

The Government have temporarily halted the sale of 15% of the public forest, although they are still going ahead with the consultation to sell off the rest of our woodland, so the fight is by no means over. They are clearly feeling the pressure from the numerous opposition groups and need to hear our voices louder than ever at this time. Please come along tomorrow to the protest at 11am and let them know we won't back down!

I hope to hear back from you with ANY HELP you can provide to inform the community of Berkshire\Reading about this issue?

I have the backing of The Reading Post and we are to be featured in next weeks newspaper, we have just been featured on BBC SURREY and am hoping to the interest now for BBC BERKSHIRE.

This is the link to the facebook group.

Maiden Erlegh consultation deadline approaching fast!

2011-02-13T05:16:00.000-08:00

By working cross-party -- sort of. By having a campaign from local families, of local families, for local families. And through a lot of hard work. We have put a lot of pressure onto Wokingham and Reading to do the right thing in the short term and get a fair deal in Reading children. In the medium term we have started the cogs moving for a solution to the various schools related problems in the area. It is hard to see exactly which way things will go. But I think everyone involved should be proud we have achieved so far.

From the Parents' Campaign:

"Please can I remind anyone who has yet to reply that the closing date for responses is THIS MONDAY 14th Feb 2011.

There is still time to complain by email to:

admissions.review@wokingham.gov.uk

If you need ideas for letter writing visit our website for a sample letter.

Or you could add your comments directly to the WBC questionnaire here.

Thanks again for taking the time to add your voice to the consultation.

All the views expressed should be reviewed by WBC and passed on to the
Admissions Forum - so please please respond!

As soon as we have any news we’ll let you know."

Primary and secondary places in the east of Reading

2011-02-08T06:44:00.000-08:00

In the east of Reading we have problems with shortages of both primary and secondary places. I have been working with parents to try and resolve this problem. There is an interesting report "additional school places" on the agenda of the next Cabinet meeting which provides some hope for primary school age children in Newtown, but it still looks pretty depressing for older children.

On the primary school places front the report recommends spending £165,000 on a new temporary classroom at St John's School to be ready for September 2011 which will provide a badly needed extra 30 places.

On the secondary schools side of things the report states that in addition to the loss of choice if Wokingham gets its way changing the Maiden Erlegh catchment area -- excluding Reading children -- over time -- unspecified as to exactly how long -- Reading will lose access to about 70 places if Wokingham's population increases as it continues to predict. The report then goes on to talk about there being a lack of funding for a new secondary school in east Reading and talks about a possible free school, but is then very vague.

Weekend action session -- petitioning and working to help elect Reading's second Green Councillor

2011-02-07T11:49:00.000-08:00

At the weekend we had one of our actions sessions. We are currently doing a petition against cuts to care -- which will impact on many elderly and vulnerable people in Reading.

We assembled and had a bit of training, before going out and doing the petition for an hour or so. We then met up again for a debrief and a cup of tea. An enjoyable afternoon, a good number of signatures collected and another road completed.

If you are interested in coming along to our next action session let me know.

What do you want your local councillor to fight for?

2011-02-07T03:56:00.000-08:00

A month in the life of a Green Party councillor -- Maiden Erlegh, cuts, electoral reform plus more

2011-02-02T10:02:00.000-08:00

It has been a busy couple of months and so I have rolled the December and January update into one. Working with my colleague Melanie Eastwood we have been continuing to support parents on the issue of changes to Maiden Erlegh's catchment area. We have been pushing for a meeting to resolve parking problems in the east of Newtown, but unfortunately progress continues to be slow. One of the other big areas we have been working on is a solution to the traffic problems in Talfourd Avenue. However, it hasn't all been work, I managed to get away at Christmas to visit my parents in Congleton, Cheshire.

Council meetings and briefings -- 5
Surgeries -- 2 stationery
School governor meetings -- 3
Community meetings and events -- 15
Enquiries and requests for repairs from residents -- 113

Some of our action:
· supported the community walk down to the Maiden Erlegh catchment area consultation and asked a question at full council on the same issue
· continued to work against unfair cuts to public services as the budget looms
· campaigned for a fairer voting system
· lobbied for cheaper bus tickets

Some of our results:
· got the Council to publish advice for members of the public on clearing snow
· got the Council to reverse plans to charge an eye watering £300 for a discretionary parking permit -- which was free -- but they are still charging £50
· thanks to our campaigning the council is now looking into taking action against dumped trolleys
· as usual we got countless instances of fly tipping cleared, graffiti cleaned, potholes filled and residents' questions answered.

Expenses:
· None claimed.

Gifts to declare -- over the value of £25:
· None.

My interests are published on Reading Borough Council's website.

Monthly councillor allowance (pay) before deductions: £685.08