Redlands Liberal Democrats

Redlands Lib Dems: still the hardest working team in Reading

After a fairly pointless Council meeting it was nice to get back home late in the evening and to discover that we were mentioned favourably yesterday in a press release by Reading Green Party  of all people (who currently have no councillors in Reading) about the work rate of councillors from different political parties in Reading.

I'm not quite sure what the point of this press release was as despite trying year after year the Greens have failed to elect one single councillor anywhere in the Town.

Anyway, in case you didn't see it, the press release by Green Party activist Rob White says:

"Green Party campaigner Rob White has obtained information from the council on how many items of work each councillor has put through the system used to ask officers questions and is asking that the council publish this information on a regular basis.

The system is called Acolaid. Items of work or Acolaids are usually generated by a councillor following on from a member of the public asking a question or requesting that some work be done. All councillors use the Acolaid system because it guarantees them a quick response.

See the table at the end for the Acolaid tally for each councillor."

The only thing I would query about this PR is the notion that using the Acolaid system guarantees a quick response...as any councillor will tell you, this is simply not the case - responses from RBC can take weeks!

You may remember that before the local elections in May, official Council statistics showed that the Lib Dems were amongst the hardest working councillors in Reading - showing that the efforts of Cllr Gareth Epps (Katesgrove) and I were more than the Conservative Group of councillors combined!

I can reveal that since May 2008, the Lib Dem team in Redlands Lib Dem team has reported 240 issues to Reading Borough Council on behalf of constituents - you can see from the table below how this compares to other wards:

REDLANDS	240
ABBEY	127
KATESGROVE	116
PEPPARD	102
KENTWOOD	93
WHITLEY	92
SOUTHCOTE	73
NORCOT	64
CAVERSHAM	63
THAMES	50
MINSTER	47
BATTLE	43
TILEHURST	37
CHURCH	21
PARK	11
MAPLEDURHAM	5

I'm sorry to blow my own trumpet, but for a second year running, I am officially the hardest working councillor in Reading, with 133 issues reported since May. I am however ably supported by my excellent colleagues Kirsten Bayes and Glenn Goodall who are certainly no slouches compared to some members of the Council.

Inspectors award Labour-run Reading Borough Council 1*

Today, the Commission for Social Care Inspection published the results of it's recent inspection of Reading Borough Council's Community Care service.

Disappointingly for staff, the Labour-controlled Council was awarded 1* for the second year running (out of a possible 3*s)and was one of only 19 councils (13% of all councils) awarded 1* (compared to 56 councils awarded 2* and 75 3* authorities). You can read more about the national picture on the BBC website.

According to CSCI ‘One-star councils need to improve in all areas to deliver good outcomes for people using social care’.

To achieve three stars, councils need to 'translate capacity to improve into excellent outcomes for the people who use social care services; where thisdoes not happen a council’s star rating may fall'.

Inspectors highlighted the following areas for improvement in their report:

• The numbers of delayed transfers of care that the Council are responsible for has exactly doubled in 2007-08. This is a substantially above the average of similar Councils and England average
• Fewer people had the opportunity to purchase care through direct payments in Reading.
• The cost of intensive social care still remains high compared to similar Councils.
• Further work should be done to ensure that more people are helped to live at home.
• The number of safeguarding referrals has increased within all care groups except services to carers but the pace of increase of referrals is still lower than similar Councils and the England average.
• Although more older people are now having assessments completed within two weeks - the level is still behind those achieved by similar Councils.
• The improvement required to ensure that more older people receive appropriate intermediate care services in a residential setting (which was planned for 2007-08) has not been achieved.
• A much lower number of short-term breaks have been provided despite the plan to increase numbers.

As Community Care spokesperson for the Lib Dems I have called for urgent improvements across the service.

More needs to be done by RBC to tackle some of the problem areas identified by inspectors including working with the PCT to reduce the very high numbers of delayed discharges, which is having a bad effect on Reading residents, alongside more work to drive down the amount the Council pays for some care services from care providers to deliver better value for money for local rate-payers.

We will be discussing the inspector's findings in more detail at the December 9 meeting of the Housing, Health and Community Panel, which I Chair.

Missed bin collections in the Erleigh Road area

Last week, my red wheelie bin was not collected by the Council, this was annoying, but thankfully it was collected today. I could cope with this missed collection as it was only one week, but how would I feel if this happened most weeks?

This is what residents of Foxhill Road have had to put up with recently - and it is sadly not the first time. One of my constituents wrote to me today to say that her red bin was not collected today (Wednesday) - this was the third time it had not been collected in 6 weeks.

Last year parking restrictions were introduced on the corners of Foxhill Road and Cardigan Road to try and ease the problems faced by bin lorries and caused in part by the introduction of a one-way system.

Similar problems have been reported recently on Donnington Road. It appears that parked cars are continuing to cause problems for the Streetcare team, making it harder for them to access a number of narrow streets in the ward.

I have brought this matter to the attention of the Council's Streetcare and Highways teams to see if a solution can be found.

On the wider issue of parking, it is clear that the number of parked cars in the Erleigh Road area increase during University term time and problems with bin collections also go up during this time.

The Lib Dems would like to see the introduction by Reading Buses of a student bus fare, as the current ticket price is prohibitive and is acting as a disincentive to students using the bus rather than driving. This is a campaign,  currently being led by Reading University Lib Dems: find out more information here.

In addition, as I mentioned recently we would like to see the University do much more to support green travel initiatves including car clubs and car-sharing to get students out of their cars.

It's great to see another car club has been set up by Commonwheels , with a car for hire in various locations in Reading, including Kings Road. We would like to see more schemes like this developed in Reading, and are pressing the Council to change its policies so that car club cars can be parked in residents' parking zones.

Whiteknights Hall: plans withdrawn due to transport concerns

 I am pleased to report that Reading University's ill-thought out plan to redevelop Whiteknights Hall has been withdrawn (by the University) due to concerns relating to major transport issues connected with this application which were variously expressed by myself, local residents and planning officers.

The objections we submitted were strongly worded and it appears that the application was withdrawn once it became obvious that University offiers was heading for a recommendation for refusal by planning officers and a rejection at Committee (which was due to be next week).

You can read my original objection which focuses on the impact this application would have had in particular on parking in local roads (which is as anyone living will tell you is already a major problem).

The University has resubmitted this planning application and is currently in discussions with the Council about the numerous transport issues raised.

I am meeting officers on Friday to discuss this matter and hope to have more information after that point.

It is expected that the application will go to the Planning Applications Committee for determination on 7 January, alongside its application for the redevelopment of Childs Hall.

Each planning application is judged on its merits, so local residents will need to need to send/email in new comments to the Whiteknights planning application. 

If you objected to the previous application a covering letter/email with the previous comments will be required to ensure your views are heard by the Committee.

For information, the planning application reference number is: 08/01623/FUL‏ and comments can be submitted at the PublicAccess for Planning website.

Update on Burdett Court/Marshaw Court alleyway issues

Following my post last week about our ongoing campaign to improve community safety in the ward, I have had a response from officers about Burdett Court/Marshaw Court area.

You may remember that back in September I highlighted the fact that the alleyway linking this area was a longstanding target for graffiti taggers.

It's taken months for any action to be taken following my request, partly because responsibility for this alleyway seems to lie between RBC and Places for People,

Anyway, here's the update, which may be of interest to those people who live in the area:

'There are two columns that affect the alley itself, one is a council maintained column at the Burdett Court end of the alley, the other is a private column located part way along the alley between house no.s 3 & 4 and no.'s 11 & 12. A third column is located at the  east side of the Marshaw Court car park  but does not illuminate any of the alleyway, it actually causes more shadows at the entrance to the alleyway due to the wall around the properties. The council maintained lighting column is known to work, it is currently unknown whether the two private columns are functioning.

...as an initial solution to the problem, we would recommend that the lantern  on the column part way along the alleyway between house no.s 3 & 4 and no.'s 11 & 12  is rotated so that it is 90 degrees to the footpath. This will enable it to illuminate a larger area of the alleyway than it currently does.'

I hope this small change will have an effect. If you live in the area please let me know if this makes any difference or we need to get agencies to try a different tack.

Community safety update

Good news today - Southern Electric are finally getting around to installing new lighting columns on Bede Walk, months after I first submitted a bid to the Safer Reading Campaign. I've written to officers today to find out when the lighting upgrade around Foxhill Road and Cardigan for that Glenn and I campaigned for will be completed. As you may have worked out by now, I'm slightly obsessed by poor street lighting and I've been campaigning for improvements for some time.

I am still pressing RBC and Places for People to do more to reduce the ongoing problem of regular graffiti attacks around Burdett Court and Marshaw Court, with neither seeming to want to take responsibility or even action, which is disappointing.

I have requested an update from Council officers, following concerns I raised in September on behalf of constituents about community safety around Erleigh Road and Denmark Road.

In other news, I noticed today that Alexandra House on London Road is still empty and is attracting a large of graffiti, making it even more of an eyesore.

I've been campaigning to get the Council to put pressure on the landlord and developer of this property for a while (as part of my empty homes campaign).

Today I prodded the new Chief Executive to see if he could help push things forward - this was helped partly by him witnessing the poor state Alexandra House was in for himself on our recent ward walkabout.

So you see, it's no rest for the wicked here in Redlands!

79 London Road (Impartation Network) licence review update

You may remember back in October I blogged that Reading Borough Council officers had finally got round to reviewing the premises licence held by a venue on London Road, after months of pressure from local residents and myself.

This venue, which has been responsible for a large number of noisy late-night club nights over a period of several months, had earlier withdrawn it's application for a late licence, following a massive number of complaints from local residents, many of whom had suffered weeks of disturbed sleep.

I held meetings with residents affected during the summer to listen to their concerns. They showed me videos they had recorded of evenings when club nights had been held at this venue - heavy bass could be heard from within many of the private houses on Eldon Square, with the windows closed, until the early hours.

It  quickly became clear to me that these residents had put a lot of time and effort into complaining to the Council. They were getting very frustrated at the time it was taking officers to take action, so I took up their cause  and campaigned to get RBC officers to press for a review, which they finally did.

Returning to the here and now, yesterday I received the meeting papers for the review hearing which is due to take place on 25 November at 5pm in the Council Chamber at the Civic Offices.

The grounds for review are outlined as follows:

'Environmental Protection [officers] have serious concerns regarding music breakout, noise emanating from the premises affecting residents residing in the vicinity. In summary attempts to to reach a solution informally have not resulted in a satisfactory level of response by the premises licence holder.'

A week or so ago, I received a telephone call from a resident to tell me that they had heard news that a late night club night was planned by the Impartation Network to be held on 79 London Road on Saturday 8 November from 22:00 until late.

Residents and I knew that the Impartation Network had exhausted their (12) Temporary Event Licences for this year. This didn't stop them applying for another one. For more information about TENs read this earlier post.

Myself and others wrote to Envionmental Protection officers about this and their TEN application was rejected. Despite this, the Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) at the Impartation Network said that the event would go ahead.

Officers from RBC then served an Abatement Notice on him and the landowners as those likely to be responsible for the statutory nuisance under section 79 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 - in this case, noise.

The Notice read 'you are hearby prohibited from causing, permitting or allowing the occurence of said nuisance.' Failure to comply with this Notice dould mean that the individual named on the Notice acould be found guilty of an offence under Section 80 of the Environmental Protection Act and liable for a fine of up to £20,000.

What happened next? Well, a quick perusal of the licensing papers reveals all:

'On Saturday 8th November 2008 officers visited the area at 22:45 until 23:30 and witnessed low level back ground music coming from the premises.'

To recap, this is a venue which has caused major noise nuisance, failed to take necessary steps to mitigate this and one which as recently as two weeks ago  has been operating (a) without the required licence (b) despite the issuing of a legal notice by RBC.

Let's hope that RBC's review of the premises licence is granted by the Licensing Applications Sub-Committee 1 next Tuesday and that any further harm is not caused to local residents by this disreputable venues and that no further late night events are held until the licencee can demonstrate that action has been taken to deal with noise breakout.

I have written separately to the Council to find out what legal action RBC officers will be taking following the breach of the Abatement Notice on 8 November.

University matters

I've spent a fair amount of time thinking about issues University-related this week. On Monday evening, Kirsten, Warren and I attended the University's bi-annual neighbourhood forum meeting.

In the past I have been quite critical of the University's attempts to engage the local community , and I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised to hear more positive noises from University officers about ways in which relations between the University and its neighbours could be improved. Even as local councillors for the area we find it very difficult to find out what the University's plans are - we would like much more regular dialogue so that information flow can be improved on both sides.

I personally think a lot could be achieved if the University, local residents and Reading Borough Council worked more closely together on tackling issues such as student housing, parking and anti-social behaviour.

In the spirit of partnership-working,I have invited the input of both Reading University and Reading University Students Union into our forthcoming scrutiny review into the challenges and opportunities of the private rented housing sector in Reading.

Earlier in the week, I submitted my comments to planning officers about the proposed redevelopment by Reading University of Whiteknights Hall. This follows the recent public consultation on the subject. 

Recent efforts at redeveloping some of its student accomodation by Reading University have been unsuccessful, in the case of Mansfield Hall.

The plans themselves which involve demolishing the exisitng hall and replacing it with a larger, more sustainable building look pretty much OK, but I have expressed serious concerns about the impact a larger Hall (with more students) could have on parking in the area. Already residents living on Elmhurst Road, Upper Redlands Road and New Road and beyond suffer from unacceptable levels of overspill parking by visitors to the campus (and indeed the Hospital). This is impacting on road safety for pedestrians and the quality of life of local residents.

In Paragraph 4.2.6 of the Design and Access Statement accompanying the planning application the University says that ‘the University allocates parking spaces on the basis of need…First year undergraduates would only receive a permit in exceptional cases. Not all the spaces are, therefore, always allocated. It is proposed to retain a strict approach to allocating parking spaces.’

It would appear therefore that the University’s own policies are forcing students to park their cars off campus in local roads, compounding existing congestion, rather than sending out a strong message to students not to bring cars to campus or to the town in general.

This is despite the fact Whiteknights Hall site is highly accessible by public transport, as the University of Reading openly acknowledges in Paragraph 4.4.1 of its own Design and Access statement.

As part of my formal objection to the scheme I have called for the following:

I. Significant Section 106 contributions as part of this redevelopment should be directed into improving the local highway and transport infrastructure. Given that the pressure that is felt most acutely by local residents is on available parking in local roads including Upper Redlands Road, Elmhurst Road, New Road contributions should go towards measures such as funding a University area car-club, car-sharing and promoting cycling.

II. Transport contributions by the application as part of this development should also include funding low-cost, highly sustainable alternatives to the private car including initiatives such as: making cycles available for hire to students and staff of the University and funding the creation of more safe cycle routes linking more parts the town to the University.

III. Consent for this development being conditional on officers of the University of Reading being instructed to draw up a strategy and action-plan working with the local authority to look at ways of reducing the problem of overspill parking in local roads by students, staff and visitors to its campuses. This should include disincentives for car use by staff, visitors and students of the University and incentives for ‘greener’ modes of travel.

IV. Following the successful expansion of bus routes linking the Whiteknights Campus to the town centre, the University of Reading should investigate providing financial assistance to Reading Buses to enable this company to provide discounted bus fares for students to enable more students to access bus services, and to reduce the reliance of students on private cars.

It appears that a number of students at Reading University have concerns about the redevelopment of the University's student accomodation. A dedicated Facebook Group has been set up. You can read RUSU's comments as part of the consultation here.

You can view the plans yourself by visiting the PublicAccess For Planning website at http://www.planning.reading.gov.uk. The application reference is: 08/01341/FUL

This planning application goes before the Planning Applications Committee for approval on 3 December, so watch this space. A planning application for the redevelopment of Childs Hall has since been submitted by Reading University...so it goes on.

LIBDEMs push Environmental Agenda in the EU - Carbon Capture by 2015

The EU is proposing that all coal fired power stations should be equipped with carbon capture and storage equipment by 2015. Carbon capture and storage is an attempt to slow/halt global warming by capturing carbon dioxide from large sources such as fossil fuel power plants and storing it instead of emitting it into the atmosphere. All new plants producing 300MW or more will only be allowed to emit a maximum of 500g of carbon dioxide per kWh per year according to the draft directive.

The technology for large scale capture of carbon dioxide is commercially available and reasonably well developed. However, long term storage of the gas is a relatively untried concept and so far no large scale power plant operates with a full carbon capture and storage system. The Kingsnorth power station was meant to include this technology for full carbon capture and storage, but instead eon have said they will mearly reduce emissions by 20 %.

To get this technology off the ground the MEP's voted for a €10+ billion funding mechanism to support demonstration projects, which proposed by Liberal Democrat Chris Davies MEP. This EU funding will save the British gov't around £1 billion in funding.

Mr Davies said.

"EU governments must now either back this proposal to kickstart CCS development or produce a realistic alternative. At present the ideas from the Parliament are the only show in town.

"CCS development has the potential to make an enormous contribution to the fight against climate change. We can afford no delay and no more construction of conventional coal-fired power stations. It is time now for Ministers to back their fine words of last year with some practical action."

Although adding carbon capture and storage technology would almost double the cost of power stations, this cost would be offset through carbon dioxide emission charge savings.

Redlands LibDems Advice Surgery Alert!

There will be a advice surgery at the Hexham Community Centre in Bamburgh Close (see map) from 10:00am until 11:30am on 15 November 2008.

View Larger Map

No need to book: you're more than welcome to just drop in and see us. We are in the back room so from the door walk down the corridor to the right and keep going to the end.

This is your chance to access your councillors directly and discus any concerns or idea.

Myself, Kirsten and Daisy really look forward to seeing you. Just look for the Advice Surgery sign shown below:

P.S. If you can't make this surgery the next one will be held at St Luke’s Church Hall, Erleigh Road from 10:00am until 12 noon, on 20 December 2008. Future surgery dates can be found on the RBC website.

There will be a advice surgery at the Hexham Community Centre in Bamburgh Close (see map) from 10:00am until 11:30am on 15 November 2008.

View Larger Map

No need to book: you're more than welcome to just drop in and see us. We are in the back room so from the door walk down the corridor to the right and keep going to the end.

This is your chance to access your councillors directly and discus any concerns or idea.

Myself, Kirsten and Daisy really look forward to seeing you. Just look for the Advice Surgery sign shown below:

P.S. If you can't make this surgery the next one will be held at St Luke’s Church Hall, Erleigh Road from 10:00am until 12 noon, on 20 December 2008. Future surgery dates can be found on the RBC website.