Redlands Liberal Democrats

Alley gates - partial success

Since I raised the issue of ineffective alley gates in and around Hexham Road last week, the Council's Housing Department has responded to me today:

"Thank you for your enquiry concerning the Alley gates at Hexham Road. Having investigated I can confirm that a job will be raised next week to service all the gates."

I'm glad the Council is finally taking steps to ensure that the gates are secure and that any outstanding repairs are fixed. Local residents have complained to us for a long time that these gates have not been effective in protecting their properties.In the longer term we will be pressing the Council to install tamper-proof gates that are a better defence against would-be burglars.

Recycling aluminium cans in Redlands

I was in Cintra Park on Sunday and had a bit of brainwave. I saw a number of drink cans in the bins in the Park and I wondered if we could get the Council to introduce aluminium can recycling bins - that way cans could be recycled and not thrown away. Lots of children

I emailed Council's Streetcare team  asking them if this might be possible - their response was a little lukewarm. Apparently as Cintra Park is by RBC as a trustee litter etc is an issue for the Parks team so I will be taking the matter up with them.

Fly tipping and Bulky Bob

I was on the Hexham Estate yesterday, looking at the ongoing fly tipping problem. One of the disheartening things about it is that much of the stuff thrown away as "useless" is actually perfectly fine - it just is no longer needed by its owners. TVs, fridges, furniture, all going to waste.

Thrown onto the grass, or left in stairwells, it's just so much junk, but if there was a way of getting unwanted goods to people who need them, that would be great wouldn't it? Well, in Lib Dem controlled Liverpool, there is! Step forward Bulky Bob's, who will collect bulky household items for free and, where possible, pass them onto new users. Not only good for the environment, but good for the pocket - I understand the service does pretty well in covering its cost.

We advocate a similar scheme for Reading which, given its compact nature (transport costs are always important) would be especially suited for it.

Travellers return to Cintra Avenue

We are aware that a group of Travellers has set up camp once again on the green at Cintra Avenue. RBC Parks Officers and the Police have attended the site. I received the following update from Parks this morning:

We attended site shortly after they arrived with the police and have asked them to leave the land immediately.

We are expecting a decision from the police tomorrow as to whether they are willing to use their powers to remove this group. If not, we will use the court process to regain possession as quickly as possible. I will update you once I know more."

Residents with concerns should contact the Parks Team direct on 0800 626540 and the Neighbourhood Police Team on 0845 8 505 505.

We will continue to discuss with Parks officers what preventative action can be taken to protect this valuable open space from future incursions. Find out more background on these discussions here.

Alley gates on Hexham Road estate: time for action

On Thursday evening I received an email from a resident about a break-in to a property on Hexham Road. The burglar had got access to the property via the alley gate which had been vandalised. This is the second break-in that's been reported to me in the past 3 weeks and it's very worrying.The problem is this: the gates are lockable but children are able to put their hands through the gaps and open gates. As you can see from this photo, anyone with a slim wrist could do the same. The other problem with them is that these gates are very prone to vandalism (particularly of the  closing mechanism), and the Council does not repair them quickly enough.

A number of families and elderly people live in houses which back on these gates. I visited the estate yesterday and talked to residents who have been affected.They told me that they do not feel safe and they are fed up with the Council doing nothing about it.

I have written to RBC's Housing Department asking them to urgently review the type of alley gating used on the estate - residents deserve better.

Reclaiming Donnington Road

Since I reported the ongoing problem of a skip full of junk on Donnington Road a few weeks ago,  RBC have contacted me to say that officers this week visited the site and instructed the builders responsible to clean up their act sharpish.

Thankfully some of the dumped items have now been removed, but we will be monitoring the area closely to ensure that this skip and any associated rubbish it attracts does not outstay its welcome.

Reviewing parking on Alexandra Road

Regular readers of this Blog will know we have been grappling with the issue of problem parking, or to quote a local resident "inconsiderate parking", for some time.

The Council's decision to make it illegal to park on junctions around Alexandra Road was a good first step, but more clearly needs to be done in what is a very busy area for cars.The priority has got to be making the road safe for pedestrians and other road users, and pleasant for local residents.

If you need it, there's more background on our campaign to reduce dangerous parking in this area here.

I am pleased to say that after months of discussions with officers, parking on Alexandra Road is set to be comprehensively reviewed as part of the Council's traffic management process.

Officers are now preparing a report to go to the June 10 meeting of the Traffic Management Advisory Panel.

Once officers have reviewed current parking restrictions and issuses on Alexandra Road they will then put forward a proposal which will go out to public consultation. In the meantime, officers have also agreed to my request of a review of the frequency of traffic warden patrols.

I would like to thank local residents who have contacted us about this issue as it has helped me to keep the pressure on RBC for improvements to the parking situation in this area.

Cycle Theft is out of control!

In Reading as a whole there are very few dedicated cycle lanes and the ones we have don’t connect. As a result cyclists must use the already crowed roads. If we are to convince people to ditch their cars and take up cycling we need a connected system which is easy to use. Cllr Daisy Benson has been campaigning on this issue for some time now, see this earlier blog enty: click here, and has been raising this issue on the Safer Reading Campaign (crime committee) for some time now.

I’m originally from Peterborough, and there we had excellent cycle paths and the ‘green wheel’ what orbits the city. Moving people from their cars to bikes for short trips and the commute to town for work will reduce congestion on our roads - making it easier for those who work outside the town to level painlessly. However, there is another deterrent to increased bicycle use and that’s the ever increasing levels of bicycle theft. Around 1200 bicycles a year are reported stolen from public places in Reading Borough and Wokingham District combined, corresponding to over three cycle thefts every day. Incidents of bike theft have risen from 149 in 2006/07 to 219 in 2007/08! That’s around a 30 % increase, the current Labour Administration don’t seem too want to take this seriously. Cllr Tony Page (Labour) has dismissed the problem as being down to middle class students not securing their bikes properly.

This issue needs to be addressed, perhaps using lessons learnt by other councils such as Oxford – We need well lit, multiple lock-up areas in strategic positions throughout the town.

Hanging on the telephone

I had an interesting morning, listening to a public evidence session held by the Home Affairs Select Committee. I attended in my capacity as Safer Communities spokesperson for the Lib Dems locally.

The Committee was on a visit to Reading as part of their inquiry into Policing for the 21st Century. This follows a visit to Reading yesterday by the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, to look at Neighbourhood Policing in action.

She could have visited any part of Reading, but she decided to tour the marginal Labour ward of Abbey for some reason.

Given that Martin Salter MP is closely linked with both the Committee (he is a member), and Mrs Smith (he used to be her PPS), it's pretty obvious that both these visits were designed to raise the profile of Reading Labour Party, ahead of a crucial set of elections on 1 May.

It's worth pointing out, however, that Reading town centre (and Redlands ward) are in Reading East constituency, which is represented by another MP we don't see very much.

As I've written before, Reading Borough Council is the last Labour Council in the South East and is clearly on the Party's critical list. I won't be at all surprised if more Labour ministers drop in for a visit in the next few days.

Anyway, the evidence session was very interesting, with a large amount of time devoted to the real issue of recruitment and retention of Police officers in the Thames Valley.

A representative of the Thames Valley Police Federation commented 'Thames Valley Police is the training ground for the Metropolitan Police'. There is a shortage of experienced officers in our area as they are drawn to work in London (attracted by the free train travel) and increased pay. This means that we have less experienced officers in the Reading area as more specialists leave to work for the Met.

Lack of affordable housing and other costs of living hit our local Police officers hard. In 2001, the South Eastern Regional Allowance of £2,000 was introduced for all officers who had been in the Police force since 1994. This allowance has not been increased since then. This clearly needs to change and the Lib Dems will continue to support our local Police in their campaign for fair funding and fair pay.

There followed a short discussion on the impact of Neighbourhood Policing in Reading that only really scratched the surface. There was afterwards a very short amount of time for public questions. I asked Sara Thornton , Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police what could be done to improve the Police's anti-social behaviour hotline (o845 8 505).

At present, If you report a crime via this number you get through to a call-centre based outside Reading. Call operators do not know the local area and they do not tell callers whether a local Police officer will attend the scene. Residents have told me that they have found reporting crimes this way deeply unsatisfactory and that it might well put them off reporting crimes to the Police in the future.

The other problem we have in Reading is the fact that there are two anti-social behaviour hotlines, with another line being run by RBC. This just adds to the confusion.

Jacqui Smith said earlier this year that Neighbourhood Policing would mean that people would be able to get the mobile phone numbers of their local Police team.This hasn't happened in Reading where Neighbourhood Policing has recently been rolled out.

Sara Thornton replied that she was aware of the issue and that Thames Valley Police would shortly be changing its policy which would meant that local Police officers would attend the scene of crimes reported via the hotline. This is welcome news.

The most surreal moment of the day came at the end of the session when Martin Salter was presented with a birthday cake! Overall a worthwhile event, however.

Students CAN vote here too!

Calling all students, we need YOU!!!

Having personally canvassed the area and meet many of you, I would like to call on all students to use their right to vote on 1 May. I am a strong believer in student integration into the local community and praise the work of RUSU and especially Sally Pearman who have helped reduce anti-social behaviour caused by students over the past year. Cllrs Benson and Bayes have also worked with RUSU (instead of against it) to achieve reductions in rowdy behaviour. Voting on 1 May is another step in student integration with the greater society – by having YOUR say in who helps govern Redlands.

The LibDems are calling for (among other things):

- Improved lighting around campus (we have been campaigning for this for some time now, not just during election time)

- Improved standards in shared accommodation (I’ve lived in some terrible houses during my time at university – landlords shouldn’t get away with it) via proper enforced HMO licensing

- Expanding existing cycle lane network

- Provide more secure cycle stores throughout the borough

- Encourage retailers to reduce the amount of unnecessary packaging

- Disinvest in ethically dubious assets the council has such as arms and tobacco

Voting takes minutes (so you'll still have plenty of time to revise) but makes a big difference – get involved in democracy :D

All politicians are NOT the same ;-)