Using the pavement

We all get mad about the state of our roads these days and especially about the number of potholes. However, we seem to ignore the state of our pavements which are also in a dreadful state but are much less bother to most people, perhaps because we, as a nation, use our cars a lot more and walk a lot less.

However, with the rise in numbers of mobility scooters and more joggers than ever before, the state of our pavements is becoming more important to many more people.

There are two key issues with our pavements that really annoy people. Firstly, they are often uneven (especially after being dug up by utility companies) or they have a significant slope. Both of these conditions make life awkward for mobility scooters and pedestrians.

Secondly, we now park on the pavement by default but in parking our cars ‘safely’ with two wheels on the pavement, we seem to forget that other road users use the pavement and that if we do not leave enough space for them, we are forcing mobility scooters, mums with prams and toddlers and elderly folk with walking aids, out in to the middle of busy roads to get around thoughtlessly parked cars.

We need to spend more money of maintaining our pavements and we need to be more considerate when parking our cars ‘safely’.

Brexit thoughts

We are getting ever closer to 29 March 2019, the date on which we are due to leave the EU, and minds are beginning to focus on what that might actually mean for this country, especially if there is no agreement with the EU in place by then.

After 40 years of hate against anything European in the Daily Mail, the Sun and like-minded sections of our press, we should not, perhaps, been surprised by the No vote in 2016.There are still millions of UK citizens who do not recognise any benefits emanating from the EU, and believe that British is always best in any circumstances. They are the believers in Little Britain. For them, all the talk about consequences for this country if it leaves the UK are all part of Project Fear, designed to overturn the verdict of the 2016 referendum.

However, the Remain camp seems to be growing in strength the closer we get to cutting ourselves off from Europe. The petition by the Independent calling for a second referendum has already reached 700,000 and is growing strongly. There is clearly a growing body of opinion that understands the potential effects of leaving the EU and a changing demographic that is seeing an older generation (majority Leave voters) dying out and being replaced by young teenagers (most of whom support Remain).

As ever, the only major UK party that has been consistently pro-Europe are the Lib Dems, but we are still stuck at around 10% in the opinion polls. The other two main parties are totally split on Europe, The Tories are led by a Remainer who leads a party whose members seem resolutely Leave supporters. Labour, on the other hand is led by a Leaver but whose parliamentary party is overwhelmingly Remain supporters.

Theresa May will do anything to avoid a general election (and possibly resulting loss of power) and but has failed to find a sensible way forward that suits the remainers in her party.

Jeremy Corbyn (if he ever escapes the anti-Semitism row) has been steadfastly against a second referendum but there are significant voices now urging him to think again on this.
It is not inconceivable that the government may be defeated on a vote on Europe in the Commons and would be faced with a choice of calling a general election before the end of March or agreeing to hold a second referendum to decide on our future in or out of Europe. This might also be followed by a general election in which Labour would hope to gain power without having taken a definitive stand on Europe which might divide their party.

Either way, neither of the two main parties has provided any real leadership on Europe and the one party that is absolutely solid on Europe (apart from UKIP) is being ignored. The Lib Dems have a fight on our hands if we are ever to make our voices heard on Europe before it is too late.

Free school meals and the poverty gap

Recent reports in the national press have indicated that the attainment gap between rich and poor children at school is still growing wider despite the Lib Dems introducing the Pupil Premium (extra cash for schoools for children receiving free school meals) and increasing the coverage of free pre-school hours and free school meals for younger children.

This is a worrying trend that may take some time to reverse. It mirrors that situation in the adult world where the disparity of outlokk between rich and poor families is barely getting any smaller year on year. On reflection I also think that there is a connection between this and the relative take-up of free school meals here in Reading. Only 75% of those entitled to free school meals in Reading actually apply to get them. This brings on a double whammy whereby the school does not get the cash it neds to help children from poorer backgrounds and the parents still have to fork out their own money to provviide lunches for their children.

We need to look at what schools and the local council are doing to ensure that every child who is entitled to free school meals actually receives them. Poorly fed children do not learn as well or as fast as well fed ones.

It is time for a Low Emissions Zone in Reading

Well, what a really environmentally focussed minister we have got in Michael Gove! He has seen so clearly the problems of air pollution in our towns and cities that he wants to ban the manufacture of any petrol or diesel cars. Full marks for this environmentally friendly thoughts that brought this on.

Only one minor problem with this new policy – what about the 40,000 people that die annually from the effects of air pollution between now and 2040. That is some 920,000 UK residents who will die of causes associated with air pollution between now and 2040 when the ban comes in to effect.

How is it possible to understand the problem bur let the odd million people die before doing something about it? Has it anything to do with big car manufacturing companies that might find their profits curtailed if they have to switch to electric cars any time sooner than 2040?

We need Clean Air Zones NOW, in all our town centres where we regularly exceed European limits on poor air quality.
We know what the problem is – Internal combustion engines.
We know what to do to clean up our act – implement Clean Air Zones either charge for polluting cars to enter them or ban them entirely from entering.
Why should we wait any longer before acting to save the thousands of people who suffer from poor air quality now?

We have been proposing a Low Emissions Zone (Clean Air Zone) for Reading town centre for many years already but our Labour Administration is too full of the Mass Rapid Transport scheme for East Reading which will have zero effect on air pollution but allow buses to get to Heathrow 10 minutes quicker (until the rail connection to Heathrow is built).

Our residents are suffering from asthma and other chronic diseases resulting from air pollution so what we need is action now on the Low Emissions Zone. Will Cllr Page (Labour’s lead Councillor for Transport) ever realise that peoples’ lives are at risk and they are more important than even good bus connections.

Road resurfacing programme 2017

Residents and motorists using Mayfair will get an unexpected surprise this summer when the Council finally resurfaces the road. It has been getting worse and worse every year and the current asphalt layer has broken up leaving the bare (and very noisy) concrete blocks. Mayfair has been included in the annual plans for resurfacing roads which will be implemented in the summer.

Along with Mayfair the section of Norcot Road between the Tylers Rest and Blundells Road will also be resurfaced as will Ash Road.

As a Local councillor I have received numerous complaints about these roads and about Mayfair in particular so it will be a big relief when the resurfacing work is caried out.

That still leaves many of our roads in Tilehurst in a disgraceful state of decay, not least of which is School Road, the main road running through the village.

Reading BC’s Audit & Governance Committee

I brought a motion to Council last Tuesday asking the council to remove Lead Councillors from the Audit & Governance Committee where they, in effect, scrutinise their own actions and policies. The subject was brought up by the council’s own external auditors in a report last year but has never been acted upon. Here is what I said in the council meting.

Aside from a number of recommendations regarding financial controls the Ernst & Young report last year made a point of questioning why the Leader of the Council and her Deputy sit on the Audit & Governance Committee, the key scrutiny committee within this Council. It must seem absurd to outsiders that the Leader and her Deputy sit on the committee that scrutinises much of their decisions and policies. Indeed an outsider would wonder how we allowed this to happen when clearly it goes against most ideas of good governance. We should be grateful to Ernst & Young for pointing this out and calling for a review of the make-up of the Audit & Governance Committee as it currently runs against CIPFA guidance on these matters.

I think that the arguments about having the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council sit on the Audit & Governance Committee also extend to other lead councillors and that all Lead Councillors should stand down from the Audit & Governance Committee.

Whilst Lead Councillors sit on the committee it is difficult to maintain that the committee is truly independent of the Administration as it needs to be in order to carry out its functions in auditing the council’s finances and scrutinising the decision making.

Whilst Ernst & Young have called for a review I believe that is audit-speak for they should stand down from the committee and I do not think a review is necessary to bring us in to conformance with CIPFA guidance.

When I approached the Chair of the Audit & Governance Committee, Cllr Stevens was not unhappy about the presence of Lead Councillors on his committee, hence the motion this evening.

Lead Councillors may still attend meetings of the Audit & Governance Committee if this motion is passed. Indeed, they are in a position to answer many questions on why actions were taken but they should have no role in its decision making if we are to adhere to standards of openness and good governance.

We need to think seriously how this important committee must appear to the good citizens of Reading. Would they not think it odd that Lead Councillors sit, in effect, in judgement of their own actions?

The National Anthem – time for a change?

CrownI was not surprised to see the Daily Mail and other tabloids getting all upset about a politician not singing the National Anthem. Apparently, even members of the Labour Party (Margaret Beckett on the BBC this morning for one) now also think that you cannot be patriotic about the UK without singing along to this relic of our imperial past. It is about time that such people realised that many of us in this country are not monarchists and that others of us have long ago ceased to believe in any sort of god.

As an avowed democrat and atheist, I absolutely reocgnise Jeremy Corbyn’s right not to sing the National Anthem. I take the same stand myself. I would never sing it either. To do so would be about as hypcritical as it is possible to be for a republican like me.

Where other national anthems sing of love for a particular country, ours pleads with god to save our hereditary monarch. It is about time we consigned ‘God Save the Queen’ to history.

The Tory attitude to our housing problem

I was quite shocked at the breathtaking attitudes of Tory Housing Minister Brandon Lewis towards the biggest social issue of the day. In an interview with the Sunday Times he said “I’m not entirely convinced that publishing a strategy actually achieves what we want.” Apparently all the hundreds of thousands of new houses that we so desperately need are going to build themselves or was he thinking that the marvellous free market, which has never managed to build even half the houses we needs over the last decade, will somehow provide the solution.

What we really need is lots more affordable housing

What we really need is lots more affordable housing

He went on to say “if you get too much regulation in the sector, it drives down supply, and in the long run that’s bad for tenants.” I wonder which plane Brandon Lewis lives on as he clearly does not recognise the plight of millions of his fellow countrymen having to live with rent increases that have far outstripped inflation ove rthe last many years, of the hundreds of thousands of people who long to buy their own home but have no chance of doing so anywhere south of Birmingham.

Frankly if this is the man in charge of bulding the 250,000 new homes we need each year to satisfy new demands for housing then we are in a hopeless situation. I dread to think how many Tory MPs, like Brandon Lewis, are hoping that the housing market will continue to malfunction whilst pushing up the income they receive from homes that they themselves rent out privately.

I also wonder just how much money is paid in housing benefit to help those who cnnot afford the sky high rents. After all this is public money being paid over to private landlords which just continues the status quo of too many people having to live beyond their means in overpriced rental accommodation.

Joined-up Thinking between NHS and Thames Valley Police

Congratulations to Thames Valley Police and Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust for putting joined-up thinking into action. Between them they have launched a Street Triage scheme.

This innovation means that a qualified mental healthcare nurse will be on hand to assis the police five nights a week Thursdays through to Mondays (so covering the busy weekend period) so that mentally ill patients can be seen and assessed by a qualified practioner rather than simply being locked away in a cell before anyone asks any questions, followed by a long, long wait to see someone qualified in mental healthcare.

On its first week of operation, covering Reading , Wokingham and West Berks, some 20 incidents were attended by a mental health nurse, saving the police many hours of time that needs to be spent on their main job of protecting the public, and, importantly, getting the right help to mentally ill patients as quicklly as possible.

It has been a long time coming but well done to all involved in this scheme.

The Crisis in Calais – What Crisis?

EU figures show that in 2014 Europe received 626,00 asylum applications including:
Germany 203,000
Sweden 81,000
Italy 65,000
France 64,000
Hungary 43,000
United Kingdom 32,000
Austria 28,000
Netherlands 25,000
Belgium 23,000

These figures include refugees from Ukraine and the Balkans as well as Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa.

In absolute numbers, a total of almost 104,000 persons were granted refugee status in the EU-28 in 2014 (first instance and final decisions), nearly 60,000 subsidiary protection status, and just over 20,000 authorisation to stay for humanitarian reasons. So around 25-30% of applicants were allowed to stay legally in the EU.

It is worth noting that the total population of the EU is 500,000,000.

UN figures indicate that around 100,000 migrants made it to Europe across the Mediterranean Sea in the first half of 2015.

The press are having a field day and pumping up the rhetoric about swarms of migrants crossing the channel but has anyone bothered to look at the actual numbers involved and how many asylum seekers actually find refuge in the UK?

Given the level of asylum requests over the whole of Europe (and yes the numbers will have increased in the current year) we need to ask the question why do we make such a big deal over 3,000 – 5,000 refugees in Calais? Should we not ask why we are only taking in half the number of refugees that France or Italy take in? Are we that worried by a few thousand more? Are we, as a nation, so broke or xenophobic that we cannot extend a hand of welcome to a few thousand more refugees? Are we losing our humanity?