Royal Mail – A Sad Day

See an extract from a press release made by the council with regard to the planned closures of two of our sorting offices across the town.

Cross Party efforts were made to get Royal Mail to think again and I was hopeful that we may be able to save, or at least discuss different options with Royal Mail to ensure that the whole west side of the town does not have to trapes over to Short Street to collect their post. I feel particularly sorry for the elderly and infirm who may not be able to drive and have a long old trek to get their post!

Come on Royal Mail, admit you’ve made a mistake; we’ll forgive you and think again!

Go here: http://markflewitt.wordpress.com/2012/10/20/post-office-sorting-office-in-leigh-is-under-threat-of-closure/ to support Cllr Mark Flewitt (St Laurence Ward) in his petition to stop the sorting office being closed.

 

 

Royal Mail Sorting Office Closures

 

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council is appalled at Royal Mail’s decision to shut five of its sorting offices in south east Essex without bothering to consider the views of local residents.

 

Chief Executive Rob Tinlin wrote to Royal Mail in October requesting an urgent meeting after it announced plans to close the sorting offices in Leigh, Shoebury, Canewdon, Great Wakering and Rochford.

 

The meeting was arranged for the Civic Centre this morning and attended by Mr Tinlin and the leaders of all four political groups on the Council.

 

They had planned to discuss their united opposition to the closures with a senior member of Royal Mail’s management team and talk about possible alternative solutions.

 

But instead two members of staff without the authority to make decisions or alter the proposals were sent to inform them Royal Mail was publicly announcing the closures tomorrow (Dec 6).  

 

Council Leader Nigel Holdcroft said: “I am quite appalled and shocked by Royal Mail’s behaviour with regards to this matter, which has the horrible feel of a stitch-up about it.

 

“Royal Mail announced in October that it intended closing the sorting offices and consolidating all its sorting office functions at its Short Street base in Southend.

 

“It appears to have taken absolutely no account of the affect this would have on the four communities concerned, let alone the logistical difficulties it would cause in Short Street.”

 

Royal Mail has previously objected to Tesco’s plans to build a new superstore in Short Street on the grounds that it would be likely to cause traffic disruption in the area.

But it plans to centralise all of its sorting office activity without making any extra provision for customer parking at Short Street, where reorganisation plans have still to be finalised.

 

The Council wrote to Royal Mail’s Chief Executive Noreen Perry requesting an urgent meeting to enable it to discuss its concerns about the planned sorting office closures.

 

In her reply she wrote: “No decision has yet been made. We are still exploring our options, but expect to be able to share more information in the near future’.”

 

Cllr Holdcroft added: “At the meeting today myself, the other three group leaders and Rob expected a senior Royal Mail official to attend to listen to our concerns.

 

“Instead two representatives without the authority to make alterations to the current proposals were sent to tell us the closures would be publicly announced the very next day and that Royal Mail had no obligation to consult with anyone over them.”

To webcam or not to webcam…

On 13th December I will be asked: what price do I put on opening up democracy.

It is easy to say that council meetings are open to members of the public, but the public, by and large, does not attend them. Not only do they miss comments about mafia members and the lacking of care towards members of society who do certain things, all of which whilst serious in their own way are usually demonstrations of the eccentricity of the speaker, but they also miss debates about matters that are important to them.

Let’s take an example. Capital punishment in the House of Commons – do I want to sit through the entire 3-day debate? No I don’t. Do I want to hear what my MP has to say at 3:26pm on day 2? Yes I do. I don’t know what time he will speak, so do I sit there for 3-days and listen to the entire debate just to hear him? Of course I don’t. I just don’t bother going. Is that open government?

Still I don’t need to now, because I can go to democracy live on the BBC website to watch him, I can watch the BBC parliamentary channel (also known to have dented pharmaceutical companies’ profits for certain types of sleep inducing drugs), or I can read Hansard.

Fortunately, the people of Southend have not entrusted their local councillors to make decisions on whether to re-introduce capital punishment. But they have trusted us to make decisions about how and where to educate their children, where to allow a local hospice to be sited and how to spend their hard earned money they give to us as council tax. Why should everyone therefore not be allowed to see and hear what we say?

Do I want to come and sit through a 3-4hr Development Control committee meeting (the one that decides planning applications) just so I can hear about the ones in Blenheim Park?

I want working people, single mothers, those on holiday, or those who just aren’t fussed enough to come to 4hr long council meetings (that is what you elect me for after all!) but want to hear what was said about something important to them, to be able to take an active part in how Southend is run.

Recording what happens in the council chamber will allow for a permanent record to be kept and the promises and pledges made by your councillors to be checked. Surely this is worth the money all by itself; give you the chance to watch my poor oratory skills!

I will speak in the debate on the 13th December and ask for colleagues from all side of the chamber to join me in voting to put webcams in the council chamber. I hope they are a success for the trial year and I also hope that as soon as possible we are able to have all of our public meetings broadcast, particularly Cabinet, Development Control and Scrutiny meetings.

London Southend Airport Monitoring Working Party

Just a short note to say the first meeting of the London Southend Airport Monitoring Working Party (LSAMWP for short!!!) will be meeting on 6th December.

I know residents across Blenheim have been concerned that the airport has not been following the restrictions place upon them following their expansion. It is difficult to know without getting all of the data in front of me to know what has actually been happening. This working party has been set up full of councillors to ensure that we get enough information to know that the terms of the lease are being followed.

This working party, involving West Leigh, Belfairs and Eastwood councillors as well as Blenheim Park ones will certainly not become a talking shop. I always said I was for the airport, with the tight restrictions that were agreed. Now this is my opportunity to ensure that these restrictions are being adhered to. If they aren’t, trust me, I won’t be quiet!

Police, taxi drivers and politicians

Having been both a policeman and currently a politician, I can say that the third aren’t that bad… certainly not members of the Mafia.

As a police officer I found it rather more alarming and distressing when someone thrust a knife towards me, rather than calling me a pleb, one engaged in an act of coitus bliss or not! I’d find a Cabinet Minister being required to ask me for a cup of tea and apologising to me and my Commissioner more than recompense, compared to the probation and a few hours community service for the aforementioned knife wielder!

Southend taxi drivers – fairly nice bunch I’ve found, they normally drop me off somewhere sober and even manage to return me home in not quite such a sober state. They’ve never turned around to me and called me a pleb, a tory **** or such like. They have acted in a professional manner. Until such time as they offend me, put a horse’s head in my bed or something similar, I plan to treat them with such respect as any profession deserves. I certainly won’t be standing up in the council chamber and calling them members of the mafia!

Fair Havens – Green Belt

I must say I have kept very quiet on this issue, with the risk of the antiquated rules that mean if I said anything that made it look like I had an opinion on the matter I wouldn’t have been able to vote(!), in the end I wasn’t required to vote as we had a full complement of councillors at Development Control.

Now that the matter has passed, it is time for me to agree with the Development Control Committee. The fact it is Havens pulls as heart strings. However I think you have to take one step back from that emotional position when reviewing such an application.

There are a number of sites across Southend that could be used. The hospice had not managed to persuade council officers, let alone us councillors that they had considered all of those options and give good, valid reasons as to why Belton Way was the only viable option.

I’m no expert in lobbying – but an old boss of mine used to love tables, and I here she would have said “tables James, tables”:

Location	Suitability
Xxxx	Not suitable because of x,y and z.
xxxx

On a personal note I feel very sorry for those people who have raised funds for Havens, seeing an awful lot of money being spent on this campaign. I really hope that this issue can now be put behind us, Havens will work with the council to find a way forward that will be to everyone’s satisfaction.

Time to give a “shout out” to a young people’s local question time. Don’t sit back and moan about what is happening in the local area, come along and quiz the people responsible for our town!

Look forward to seeing some of our younger residents there!

The English Baccalaureate Certificate

It is cheap political knockabout season which is why Stephen Twigg MP makes such a loose allegation that changing the exam system was simply a ruse to deflect attention from the difficult exam season! Of course it isn’t, let’s put the current English GCSE results to one side for a moment. The current exam system has been under pressure for some time and with our students hard earned results being brought in to disrepute; I would say it is the best time to make radical change, even the coalition Lib Dems support it. The Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said the changes would “raise standards for all our children”.

The English Baccalaureate Certificate is not a return to the past but actually a blending of core subjects (at first) that are the foundation stone of all learning, English, Maths and Science with to follow History, Geography and languages.

An important point about quality, missed so far by Labour, is that there will be a single exam board for the “English Bac” subjects, now avoiding the distasteful and often controversial clamour of different exam boards following conflicting paths and earning either good or poor reputations for their versions of exams in the same subjects!

Internal assessments will end and this will put an end to the national allegations of foul play by alleged more generous treatment by some than others. I am sure 99% of this is totally unfounded, but it will nevertheless be a relief to quite a few teachers! The exam watchdog has naturally issued caution and this is to be welcomed but caution will not get things changed.

The education community within Southend has nothing to fear from these changes and will remain varied in its offer and catering for the mixed and diverse student (of all ages) we are fortunate to have. Academic exam achievement is not everyone’s need or desire, the apprentice and trade skills route is as essential as ever and so is supporting special needs too.

Something for teenagers and twenty somethings – World Record attempt

World record attempt, just down the road from us in Blenheim at Chase Sports & Fitness centre – basketball, football, laser combat etc etc. Take a look here:YMCA world record attempt! – 13th October.

My views on university education – in full!

I think some clarification is in order after yesterday’s ‘interesting’ article in The Echo, reporting my views on going to university, as well as Cllr Julian Gabriel St. John Ware-Lane’s half-cocked scathing attack on ‘my’ views.

 

Firstly a few facts:

 

• I passed a test to go to my secondary school – and that test did not include “how big is daddy’s cheque book”.

 

• Both my mother and father were/are teachers. I am not from Etonian Bullingdon stock.

 

• Cllr Ware-lane will soon realise that whilst press coverage is easier to come by once elected, the press tend to look for different things!

 

• The echo report was very selective of my views.

 

The report itself:

 

I had an unsolicited telephone call regarding more students going to university in Europe than before, due to tuition fees increasing in the UK.

 

There are three comments that I feel need clarification. If anyone wants Clarification on others please let me know.

 

1. That I don’t support people going to university for the sake of it.

2. .. It’s right for universities to charge a reasonable amount of money otherwise you end up with second class degrees.

3. Some will go to Europe, that will be the upper, middle classes but you will have the odd person from a poorer background that will do that.

 

 

1. That I don’t support people going to university for the sake of it.

 

Firstly it would he helpful if, when giving a direct quote, the rather short sentence was quoted in full: “I support people being as educated as possible, but I don’t support people going to university for the sake of it”.

 

Quoting the former Secretary of State for Education, Charles Clarke: “education for education’s sake is a bit dodgy”, may make the Ware-Lane’s of this world cringe, but it doesn’t really go to answering the question.

 

University is NOT for everyone. When the labour government introduced a target of 50% of 18 year olds to go to university I gasped. Why should we almost force students to go on to further education that is not right for them? To suggest that university is the only option at 18 is just plan wrong. However, as I said in the full quote, I support people being as educated as possible.

 

In Southend we have, to name a few, other options to allow young people to continue their education:

 

Apprenticeships,

A college of further education

NVQ courses

 

Some students are not suited for university and therefore it is only right we offer a wide range of additional education options for all. Degree equivalent qualifications are not uncommon in the workplace with accountancy being one that comes to mind.

 

I certainly do not support people going to university for the sake of it and expecting the person on £15,000 a year, with no benefits paying £2,438 in tax and NI (2011/12 tax year) having to pay for it. For that belief I will not apologise!

 

2. … It’s right for universities to charge a reasonable amount of money otherwise you end up with second class degrees.

 

Value for money is very important. Best value even more so. It is not helpful having artificially low fees being charged by universities, as this would lead to lower standards of courses. I don’t think that’s rocket science.

 

It is worthy of note that, under the Conservative led government:

 

 

• No-one will have to pay anything upfront.

 

• Earn nothing? Pay back nothing.

 

• The earnings threshold for graduates repaying student loans has increased from £15,000 to £21,000. This will now increase with average earnings

 

• Repayments have actually decreased – if you earn £21k a year you will repay £45 a month less than under the Labour Government

 

• All outstanding debts will be written off after 30 years. More than half of graduates will have something written off.

 

 

Students are not being asked to pay for their fees upfront. They are not being asked to repay them until they are earning more money than before.

 

For universities wishing to charge over £6,000 a year they will have to do more to encourage and widen access to those from the poorest background.

 

I do think being asked to pay, only if you earn enough (otherwise you don’t pay and it gets written off!), for your university degree is reasonable. I draw your attention back to the person above on £15,000 a year – should he pay for the bankers to get their degrees?!

 

 

3. Some will go to Europe, that will be the upper, middle classes but you will have the odd person from a poorer background that will do that.

 

Now I will admit to cringing when I read the way this was reported. I do believe that the students from more affluent backgrounds are more likely to go to Europe than those who are from less affluent backgrounds. It might not make sense for poorer students to stay in the UK, but are they really more likely to go to Europe to save a few quid? I doubt it.

 

But my point was that this is wrong! Students from all backgrounds should go to university where ever they can get the best degree for them. I think give the breath of universities we have in the UK most people could find an appropriate course here.

 

 

University does help both the individual with their chances in life and also society as a whole that benefits from an increasing educated society. There I think it is right that society stumps up the cash for you to go to university and if you start to benefit from it financially then you are asked to pay back into the system to let the next lot of students go to university, once again free at the point of use.

 

As the Executive Councillor for Children & Learning, I will let central government get on with sorting out university education and put my time and effort in to ensuring more students get 5 good GCSE passes, including English and Maths.

Budget 2013/14!

A bit like those annoying people (yes I’m one) who say “It’ll be Christmas soon” in February, it is time to start considering NEXT year’s budget.

I urged people to take part last year in the consultation. This year it is even more important to me. With one of the biggest spending departments (£38.2m net budget), I am going to have some difficult decisions to make when it comes to looking at how we can make the savings needed to keep the books balancing next year.

The council runs, an online budget planner, where you can submit your own thoughts and ideas, and play around with the figures. Please take a few minutes to have a look and let me know what you think.

 

Top marks if you can spot the tea cup stain on the poster. Oops!