Sunday 21 June 2015

My week ahead, 22 - 27 June 2015

Monday 22 June, 4pm – Culture Portfolio meeting
6pm – Labour Group campaigning

Tuesday 23 June, 5pm – Ipswich Borough Council Early Warning Group

Wednesday 24 June, 9am – Start of the Aviva Women’s Tour from Bury St Edmunds
7pm – North East Ipswich Labour members, friends and supporters meeting, Lattice Barn pub.

This week we are meeting a number of our new members, to discuss not only the General Election result but the Labour leadership race. We will also be looking at how we campaign in the future.

I also have a number of meting arranged with community groups within the North East of Ipswich as we look to continue with the good work that has already been undertaken by the Area Committee.

After a number of meetings this week I am then on the 'road' with a Duke of Edinburgh expedition to South Wales and then my annual week with the Army, this year it is Catterick in North Yorkshire.

Sunday 14 June 2015

My week ahead, 15 - 21 June 2015

Monday 15 June, 6pm – Labour Group campaigning

Tuesday 16 June, 5pm – Presentation of teams from the Aviva Women’s Cycling Tour at Bury St Edmunds

Wednesday 17 June, 9am – Start of the Aviva Women’s Tour from Bury St Edmunds
7pm – Televised Labour Leadership Hustings at the Station Hotel

Thursday 18 June, 6pm – Councillor training- safeguarding

I am using this blog post as a reminder to local Rushmere residents about the consultation on the possible move of the Brunswick Road Post Office. Cllr Sandra Gage and myself have passed on to the Post Office a number of concerns of local residents. These concerns include the removal of the cash point machine, the layout of the new shop and the ability to use cheques. Residents are also concerned about what will happen to the current post office bickering and more importantly building when or if it is vacated.

This week I also attended the Central Area Committee meeting, again it showed the lack of regard the Tory run County Council have for Ipswich and its residents. They declined an invite to the meeting to talk about air pollution and also seem intent on going for the cheapest option on a traffic calming method when the junction that requires the measures is an accident hot spot and those accidents have resulted in at least one fatality.

This week we see the televised leadership hustings for the Labour Party, so far the leadership race has seen little bickering between the candidates and in fact what the leadership race has helped with, is a desire to debate the future direction of the Labour Party. Of course the candidates do not agree on everything but they have not resorted to ‘cheap shots’ or stupid arguments, unlike the Tory Party, who may not have a leadership race but are certainly tearing each other apart over Europe. Trouble is when they do that it is the people of Britain who suffer the consequences.

Sunday 7 June 2015

My week ahead, 8 - 14 June 2015

Monday 8 June, 5pm – Labour Group campaigning

Thursday 13 June, 10am – campaigning in East Ipswich

This week we had the first North East Area Committee of the civic year and I was honoured to be elected to chair the committee for a further year.

We have had a number of major successes in the North East, but there is plenty still to do. One of our success stories has been the Active Lives project that we helped fund. They have been providing fitness sessions for some of our more senior residents. The sessions have been held at Dundee House but they have become so popular that this week they are starting a second session at the Rushmere St Andrew village hall.

At the meeting last week we agreed to fund an excellent project that will see two local primary schools work with Copleston School and the charity Eastfeast to help them set up their own gardens and I hope we can do even more work with all our local schools over the next 12 months.

We are often accused by local Tories that all we do is moan when it comes to discussing the state of education in the town, but what they can’t argue with is the fact that the Tory County Council have let our children down badly with the way they have let education standards slip so badly. The Tory Government have also not helped, free schools under the coalition and now the forced academisation proposed by the new Tory Government, to be honest with that latest policy all they are doing is making public what has been going on in places like Ipswich anyway. But how this latest policy will help Ipswich schools I do not know as three of our failing schools are already academies.

I am sure Mr Gummer will put some spin on it! But we are not just going to moan what we will be doing is supporting our schools and great projects like the garden project through funding from the North East Area Committee. Let us just hope the Tory County Council, the Tory Government and Ben Gummer also start to support our young pupils rather than just try and impose plans that are just about saving money.