It is a privilege to be selected as Labour’s candidate for Springfields and Trent Vale ward for the City Council by-election on Thursday 26th July.
If I am elected, I will stand up for the local community and be their strong local voice in the Council Chamber. The things that are a nuisance to residents are important issues to me, whether they are the cracked paving stones on Kensington Road, or the potholes on Collin Road. I firmly believe in starting as I mean to go on. The Labour campaign team and I are on people’s doorsteps listening to residents’ concerns and tackling their problems.
I have been active in trade unions and labour movement politics since I was a teenager. I am a governor at both Kingsland Primary and Kingsland Nursery Schools. I have three children and have volunteered at the Thomas Boughey Children’s Centre. I also work with women who have suffered domestic violence, offering support and helping them escape abusive relationships. As a socialist, I believe we have a duty to help others less fortunate than ourselves, and it is because of my values that I am a member of the Labour Party.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council has been hit very hard by the Tory-led government. This has forced the council to make savings of over £50m to manage their budgets and stimulate growth in the city. It is very likely the city can expect further cuts this year in the guise of devolving more powers from government to local authorities. The government’s so called austerity measures are not working in terms of the predicted growth and stability yet we are now hearing from senior figures in government that the austerity measures will continue for a number of years. The need for us to continue to protect the most vulnerable in our communities will become even more paramount. This is the daunting challenge facing the city, and I firmly believe Labour is the only party capable of meeting it.
That is why the council has embarked on its ‘Mandate for Change’ programme. Our City centre is currently under performing and we need to breathe new life into it to make our city a success story. By becoming anchor tenants in the new Central Business District, your Labour council will boost private sector confidence and create thousands of high quality jobs.
I know many people in Springfields and Trent Vale make the short trip to Stoke to shop. I will work hard to ensure it does not become a ghost town, and that customers from new businesses and new homes will replace relocated council workers.
I believe this by-election is important because it is about the kind of city we want. People voting Labour will be supporting a plan for jobs, growth, and protected local services.
Ultimately, what matters is the candidate and their ability to work in a team to pull our city through these difficult times, not their post code.
If you live in Springfields and Trent Vale, I hope I can count on your vote on Thursday 26th July.
Posted from Stoke-on-Trent, England, United Kingdom.
You must be joking surely?
‘a ghost town’
Who agreed to this being published?
Total cuts of yes, over £50m over two years BUT are they as
a result of government cuts?
2012/13 saw a £24m budget package with direct government
cuts of £8.6m
2011/12 saw a £36m budget package with direct government
cuts of £25m.
Roughly £26m is as a result of Labour council decisions (ie
Mandate for Change) and unavoidable costs from decisions made at the council –
not the government.
So “[The
Tory-led government] has forced the council to make savings of over £50m”
is slightly misleading, I’d suggest.
In fact, this move to Hanley is apparently to cost more than both years of direct government cuts combined!
“I will be a strong local voice in the Council chamber……”
You live near the Meadows care home which Labour shut (next to the school, you also shut).
Next to the children’s perk which also shut.
34/34 Labour Councillors shut them all (and a youth club on your doorstep)(near to the library you shut as well).
………………………and you will be a strong voice in the Council chamber.
Nope.
Eighty years of political incompetence, back stabbing and corruption have destroyed this City. For all the grandiose projects that have been promised in the past two decades I do not believe a single one has been fully delivered. Labour have repeatedly failed to address the real problems of local people. Whenever local people have expressed concerns I have acted on their behalf. One resident went further and told me that I was the first person to visit and take him seriously. At least with me what you see is what you get. I don’t make promises that I cannot meet. I Know every square inch of the ward and the centralisation of vital local services ever further away from Springfields, Trent Vale and Oakhill is not a small matter for people and families struggling on ever decreasing family budgets.
Please sign the epetition
We the undersigned petition the council to stop their planned building of a new Civic Centre in Hanley
The council plan to spend £40million of Tax Payers and borrowed monies to build a new Civic Office on the old Unity House site in Hanley.
Ask yourself, should the Council be spending and borrowing in this way in the current financial climate?
The Council have also reduced the services it provides, and public funds should be better spent on Children’s Services, Elderly Care, maintenance of green and communal spaces and other vital Community Services.
Finally, should the Council even be thinking of moving from premises in Glebe Street which at most are only 20 years old?
http://www.moderngov.stoke.gov.uk/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?id=97&TPID=3014988&%24LO%24=1