Redlands Liberal Democrats

Merry Christmas from the Redlands Lib Dem team

It's been a very hectic year for us, with more successful campaigns than ever before and a great new councillor and member of the team in Glenn Goodall.

We hope that our efforts in the ward and on the Council have had a positive impact, however small, in improving the quality of life for all residents living in the Redlands area.

Thanks for all the support you have given us over the past 12 months - it really is appreciated. We will be taking the next few days until 2009 to rest, recharge our batteries and gear up for another year of campaigning!

We would like to wish you and your family a very Happy Christmas and a fantastic New Year from all of us in the Redlands Lib Dem team.

UoR Halls Redevelopment: Planners impose tough transport conditions

Following my post last week about my campaign to get the University to promote green travel and help improve the local road network in Redlands, I have just read the officers' report in relation to the Whiteknights and Childs Hall planning applications and I can report that they are recommending approval subject to a very comprehensive Section 106 Agreement which covers the majority of issues we raised.

Details below:

Financial contributions to improve local network
 
As part of the redevelopment of Childs Hall officers have required a financial contribution of £52,440 by the University towards transport improvements brought forward through the Reading Urban Area Package (RUAP), in compliance with Core Strategy Policy CS20 (Implementation of the Reading Transport Strategy). Payment to be index linked from the date of permission and to be made prior to the occupation of development.

However, should the existing Childs Hall permanently cease to be used for any accommodation including leisure, no contribution will be required;

In relation to Whiteknights Hall redevelopment officers have stated that the Council requires a financial contribution of £104,313 towards transport improvements brought forward through the Reading Urban Area Package (RUAP), in compliance with Core Strategy Policy CS20 (Implementation of the Reading Transport Strategy). Payment to be index linked from the date of permission and to be made prior to the commencement of development;
 
The financial package that has been negotiated by planning officers is substantial and will be used specifically improve the local highway network and in particular to part finance improvements to the A327 (Shinfield Road) corridor which were the subject of a public consultation earlier in the year i.e. to improve junctions, road safety and the street environment in around Shinfield Road, Elmhurst Road, Christchurch Road, Upper Redlands Road and Redlands Road.
 
Wokingham Borough Council submitted no objections so will not be receiving an financial contributions from the University to its local infrastructure.

Incidentaly I noticed that once again none of the three Church ward councillors sent in any comments on either of the two applications, despite the fact both halls are in Church ward.
 
In order to extract this level of financial contribution from the University planners have had to demonstrate the impact the University's activities will have on the local road network. This assessment has been based in part on the transport assessment which was belatedly submitted by the University.

I argued in my written submission to RBC planners that the traffic impacts were higher than those contained in the the University's report, as did some residents who objected.
 
Green Travel Plan
 
Planning Officers at Reading Borough Council have listened to the comments submitted by local residents and I about the need for the University to actively support alternative modes of transport and to be much more active in taking action to reduce overspill parking in local roads.
 
For the first time I can remember the University has accepted (limited) responsibility for overspill parking and this has meant that planners can outline strict conditions relating to parking impacts - notably an on and off-campus parking policy.
 
The Section 106 agreement for both Halls applications states:
 
'The implementation a Green Travel Plan to be approved by the Local Planning Authority.  The Travel Plan should be subjected to a full annual review, which should also be submitted to the LPA for approval and shall include the following:

• Incentives to encourage the use of public transport (subsided transport)
• The promotion of walking and cycling
• The investigation of the implementation of a car club scheme for students including reserved spaces in the Halls car parks for car club vehicles
• The restrictions on students in Halls of Residences bringing cars to the town including the submission of a car parking management plan / enforcement procedure.

The amended Travel Plan should be provided for approval prior to occupation of the Halls of Residence and be subject to annual monitoring reports.
 
If the legal agreement is not completed by 14th January 2009, delegate to officers to REFUSE as contrary to Core Strategy Policies CS9 (Infrastructure, Services, Resources & Amenities) and CS20 (Implementation of the Reading Transport Strategy) unless the Head of Planning and Building Control agrees to a later date for completion of the agreement.' 

The applications go to the Planning Applications Committee on 7 January for decision. I'll update you about the outcome as soon as possible after that date.

A piece of good news for Christmas

Good news today as I learned that Reading Borough Council's empty homes officer has successfully brought an empty family home back into use. According to a press release issued by the Council this afternoon:

"Reading Borough Council's recently appointed Empty Homes Officer had been working to trace the owner of the three-bedroom property, just outside the town, to help get the home occupied once more.  The owner was traced to Cornwall and offered help and advice by the Council to find new tenants and about getting VAT relief on refurbishing the property so it could be let out once again.  Both the property owner and the Council were keen to get the property back on the rental market as the home was being illegally occupied by squatters." 

It's amazing the difference a recession and a longrunning Lib Dem campaign has made to help Labour politicians change their tune and start supporting the need for an effective empty homes strategy:

"John Ennis, Reading Borough Council's Lead Councillor for Housing, said: 'It is fantastic this property has been brought back onto the rental market thanks to the work put in by the Empty Homes Officer working alongside the owner. There are a number of empty homes in Reading and it's important the Council does all it can to help proprietors get them back into use."

Years ago RBC won an award for it's work on empty homes...but when I took up the challenge of finding out what happened to the policy I found it had been shelved by the current Labour administration.

We know that there are more empty homes in central Reading than any other part of town. According to the same press release, the Council has identified '11 priority empty homes' in and around the town centre - a number of these will be in Redlands, of this I have no doubt.

I wonder whether this list includes 35 Christchurch Road - a landmark property in Redlands, which I have been calling to be brought back into use since 2006. The owner of this property has been reluctant to sell or redevelop the property. I'm aware of two charities and an individual who had approached RBC wishing to bring this property back into use.

It may also include Alexandra House on London Road - another prominent empty home in the ward. I have been pursusing this case for over a year. Things are looking slightly more hopeful and fingers crossed works will re-start at this property in the New year. There are plenty more examples of empty properties across Katesgrove and Abbey wards - and beyond.

In a recession, the Council must be proactive and use empty homes as an opportunity to generate much needed affordable housing for people in Reading.

To this end I have requested that an urgent update on the progress of the Council's empty homes strategy be brought forward to the next Housing, Health and Community Care Scrutiny Panel (which I currently Chair) in March 2009.

Lib Dems call for University to actively promote green travel

Earlier this month, I blogged about the two planning applications recently re-submitted by Reading University for the redevelopment of Whiteknights and Childs Hall.  The plans had originally been withdrawn following serious objections about lack of detail from UoR in relation to transport issues I had identified.

While I support in principle the aims behind this project I am concerned about the impact that substantially upping the number of beds on campus will have on the amenity of local residents. Any increase in numbers of students on campus must be backed up with clear policies on green travel and parking.

I welcome the inclusion by the University of a travel plan with this application. We are told that this document sets out the University’s aspirations for sustainable travel. It is my sincere hope that this aspiration will deliver concrete outcomes both in terms of a declining impact on the local road network and a reduction in the University’s overall carbon footprint – only time will tell.

The University has included in it’s transport assessment details of ‘good range of  bus routes’ available to students. However, a campaign by Reading University Lib Dems and recently adopted by Reading University Students Union for cheaper student bus fares has highlighted the fact that cost is still a significant deterrent for students to use buses regularly to get to and from town from the campus and surrounding area.

The University should investigate in conjunction with Reading Buses the possibility of subsidising bus travel for its students to reduce their reliance on the private car.

I would like to see planning approval for this project granted subject to the following being included in the University’s travel plan and as part of any Section 106 agreement:

• Incentives to encourage the use of public transport – specifically subsidised bus travel for students
• The promotion of walking and cycling – to include improving edge of campus cycle routes and improving cycle links between the campus and town centre
• The creation and promotion of a car share scheme and car clubs, including reserved spaces in the Halls car parks for car club vehicles
• Restrictions on students in Halls of Residences bringing cars to Reading to include a management plan for car parking on campus

Now for my comments on the applications in detail...

Parking

The appearance of a parking policy is a very welcome development but my concern is that nowhere in this new policy is outlined exactly how this regulation will be enforced. How will cars belonging to students be identified off-campus? Who will be responsible for enforcing this policy? There is no discussion of how this policy will work in practice.

Another concern I have is that as it is currently worded parking by staff and visitors to the campus in local roads will not be covered by this policy. As a ward councillor who receives a large number of complaints about commuter parking I would like to see this policy extending to cover staff and those visiting the campus on a regular basis.

Commuter parking at it’s current level is highly detrimental to the amenity of local residents and needs to be addressed by the University. This would need to be addressed by enforcement activity of the University’s new parking policy  to tackle off-street parking and alongside better promotion of alternative ‘green’ modes of travel i.e. as part of a travel plan.

Any burden on RBC as the local highway authority should be appropriately compensated for by Reading University. As such, I would like to see the adoption of this policy and more details about how it will be enforced incorporated into the University’s Travel Plan and written into the Section 106.

The survey of parking in local roads carried out by the University is welcome but can only provides a snapshot of the problem of overspill parking faced by residents in a large number of roads within a mile of the University. I would argue that the survey only gives Members and officers a limited understanding of what is a much larger problem than the University would probably care to admit.

Overspill parking connected to the University goes beyond the radius identified in the survey in the transport assessment and includes a number of roads off London Road including Blenheim Road, De Beauvoir Road, Donnington Road, Eldon Street. There are also a large number of roads affected by overspill from the University in Park ward - as Green party campaigner Rob White has observed on  .

I am pleased that as a result of being forced to carry out this survey the University for the first time acknowledges that it may be responsible for around 60 cars parked in local roads around the University in Redlands ward (as noted above this is likely to include staff and visitors to the University). As the survey indicates roads affected by overspill parking  range from Avebury Square to Hatherley Road and a number of roads in between.

However, residents who I have spoken to who have looked at this survey have remarked that the true figure is likely to be far higher if a more in depth survey had been carried out. This survey would to my mind have had more credibility if it had been carried out over a wider area and for a longer period of time.

Road safety and traffic

On 2.7 of the transport assessment submitted by the University alongside this application there is a basic error:

"Personal injury accident statistics have been obtained from Wokingham Borough
Council for the 36 month period 1 October 2005 to 30 September 2008. The area
studied was Upper Redlands Road between Elmhurst Rod and Whiteknights Road,including any accidents at these two junctions."

The highway authority for this area is Reading Borough Council not Wokingham Borough Council. It is notable that of the three accidents referred to (to the east of the halls access) one involved a parked car and one occurred close to the junction of Whiteknights Hall.

This is evidence if it were needed of the fact that the road safety of pedestrians and other road users is increasingly being jeopardised by the increase in University-related traffic and parking on the already highly-congested local road network.

I have concerns about the impact of increased traffic flows on road safety at the Elmhurst Road/Upper Redlands Road junction, Upper Redlands Road/Redlands Road junction and the Elmhurst Road/Shinfield Road/Redlands Road junction.

Pedestrian safety on Elmhurst Road, Shinfield Road, Christchurch Road and Redlands Road is already a major concern to local residents, many of whom have contacted me over the past two years about increasingly high levels of traffic in these areas and difficulty for pedestrians getting out from between parked cars.

These concerns and concerns about cycle safety congestion were also picked up as part of the public consultation around the A327-Shinfield Road Area Corridor Study carried out by Reading Borough Council earlier this year.

According to 7.9 of the TA:

'It can be seen from the results that the 4-5 additional vehicles that the halls
developments could generate at the junction in the peak hours would not have a
material impact, the additional queuing on Elmhurst Road, Shinfield Road and
Christchurch Road being seen to increase by a maximum of 2 vehicles. This
predicted marginal worsening of the operation of the junction is thought to be
significantly less than the day-to-day variation in the operation of the junction.'

I would dispute this assessment. At peak hours, traffic on Elmhurst Road, Shinfield Road and Christchurch Road is regularly at a standstill. In addition, the traffic study recently undertaken by RBC officers as part of the A327 Corridor Study found that this junction was already at 100% capacity.

An increase in the number of vehicles using this junction, however slight, will have a material impact on the speed at which vehicles queuing get through the traffic lights, especially at peak hours in the term time. This will have a negative impact on local residents wishing to access their properties during these times.

The appearance of more cars on these particular roads will only make local residents’ lives worse.

In recognition of these issues I would like to see an appropriate financial contribution by Reading University towards improving road safety in the vicinity of the Whiteknight’s Campus be part of the conditions attached to any future approval of this application by Members of the Planning Applications Committee.

Local residents have until 24 December to comment on the proposals. Comments should be emailed to kelly.seekup@reading.gov.uk

Reading Borough Council rated 'inadequate' at safeguarding children

Following the terrible news a few weeks ago about failure by Labour-run Haringey Council to prevent the death of Baby P, I was depressed an angry today to read that the Children's Services department of Reading Borough Council (which deals with safeguarding vulnerable children), and also controlled by Labour for many years, has been assessed 'inadequate' by Ofsted.

This report comes within weeks of CSCI's independent report into RBC's adult care service which judged the Council a poor one( out of a possible three) stars.

You can download the report for yourself here.

The Ofsted report follows the tragic death of an 'at risk' three year-old child in October 2006 who had been under the care of Reading Borough Council's child protection plan. This death triggered a serious case review by Local Safeguarding Children's Board which identified a number of weaknesses in the way the child was supported by the council and other responsible bodies.

After this death, and as recently as October 2008, public reassurances were given by senior officers in the Council's Education and Children's Services department that a major overhaul of the department would deliver improvements.

The key questions in my mind are these:

- What confidence can we have that this is actually the case?

- Where should accountability lie when Council departments suffer problems as serious as these?

Some officers may have left as the result of restructures, but sadly the Labour leadership which has overseen these failures is still very much in place. Cllr Tony Jones, former Labour member for Battle makes the same point on his blog.

Ofsted has come under a lot of criticism recently for it's inspection regime, particularly as it's annual performance assessments are based on data submitted by councils themselves. This obviously leaves the system open to abuse by officers or council departments where the culture is to hide what's really going on.

Lynne Featherstone, hardworking Lib Dem MP for Hornsey and Wood Green has highlighted these weaknesses as part of her excellent campaign for reform of council's children's services departments after the tragic deaths of both Baby P and Victoria Climbie in her local borough of Haringey.

I've attached the relevant sections of the Ofsted report below where it relates to safeguarding children:

"The contribution of services to improving outcomes for children and young people in
this aspect is inadequate. The council’s analysis of its strengths and areas for
development in this area underestimated a number of important weaknesses and
overvalued the areas where progress has been made"

"The percentage of case conferences and reviews of looked after children thatare completed on time has been significantly lower that in similar councils and
nationally."

"The percentage of initial and core assessments completed on time is
significantly lower than the averages nationally and for similar councils."

"The turnover of staff in the through care team is detracting the quality of care
offered to looked after children."

My alarm at reading this damning report turned to anger when I read the statement put out by Cllr Pete Ruhemann, Labour's Lead Member for Children's Services:

"Like many other Councils, Reading has faced real challenges in child protection. We have been working hard to turn the culture round and make sure that the welfare of the child is the focus of all that we do. We have put in extra resources, developed new monitoring tools, and introduced more independent reviewing, and I am glad that Ofsted recognised the strength of the Council's commitment to keeping children safe.'

FACT: Reading is one of only 8 councils rated 'inadequate' in the whole of England by Ofsted today.

FACT: Labour has been running Reading Borough Council for 21 years. How long does it take to 'turn the culture around' in a Council department under Labour control '?

Following the tragic death of Victoria Climbie in 2000, local authorities were ordered to set up joint education and children's services departments. In response to this change Cllr Ruhemann said the following in an article in the Reading Evening Post FOUR YEARS AGO:

“Every two years there is a major childcare scandal. This will not eliminate that because there is always the possibility of human error, but we can get better.

“Bringing together staff from social services, education and health to address together the needs of individual children is an exciting challenge.

“We are taking it step by step, working with all those who will be involved because we want to get it right and deliver all it promises

In the same article, current Labour Leader of the Council, Cllr Jo Lovelock said:

 “We need to keep someone with a real focus on the schools. It is impossible to work on a preventative agenda as well, education is a huge task.”

She added: “No authority should ever say it couldn’t happen here.

“You can’t ever be complacent about child protection.

“No-one sets out for these mistakes to happen but we must be as sure as we can that the systems in place stand the best chance of stopping people falling through the net.”

This was the Lib Dem response:

Cllr Kirsten Bayes, Spokesperson for Education and Children’s Services said:

“This report identifies the serious failure of Reading’s Labour-run Council to fulfil it’s role to safeguard and protect some of the town’s most vulnerable children.

“This role is one of the most important carried out by any local authority, which makes the failings identified by the inspectors all the more shocking.”

“The numerous problems identified in the report such as high staff turnover and delayed core and initial assessments involving children in care must be tackled as a priority by this Labour administration - before any children in the authority’s care are put at greater risk”

 Cllr Gareth Epps, Group Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on RBC and Parliamentary Campaigner for Reading East said:

 "Any document by OFSTED - a body capable of rating child protection in Haringey as 'good' in the middle of the Baby P scandal - must be taken with a pinch of salt.
 
"However, the report indicates that Reading is going backwards.  It is unacceptable that a decline in service provision can be spun by Labour councillors to indicate praise for services.
 
“The response of Labour’s Lead Member for Children’s Services in particular, the Lead Member directly responsible for these services, to the publication of this report is breathtaking in it’s complacency –  ultimately he must be accountable for these failings if progress is not made quickly to tackle concerns he should seriously consider his position.’

Reading Lib Dems will continue to campaign for the best services for all people in Reading - particularly one of the most vulnerable groups in society - children.

 

Visit to Reading Single Homeless Project

Last Thursday I visited Reading Single Homeless Project, a pioneering charity based in central Reading, established over twenty years ago, providing shelter and opportunities for homeless people in Reading, with my housing spokesperson's hat on.

I met and was given an extensive tour of the building by Ian Caren, the Project's ebullient Chief Executive and a number of staff who talked me through the range of help the Project is providing and some of the challenges that the charity faces.

It was really interesting to hear about all the work RSHP is doing to help homeless people get the lives back in track - with a strong focus on helping people find the feet whether it be through volunteering, paid work or other activities. One staff member had the job of getting 10 people back into work each year.

The building where RSHP are based also offers homeless people a number of services and support groups. It was clear that they had outgrown this space and were looking to expand - I hope the Council and other bodies can make this happen.

Ian told me some inspiring tales of people who had gone on to achieve great things once they had been helped by staff to get on the right track. Obviously not every story ends happily, but a lot do. You can read case studies about other people's experiences here. 

Our own Lib Dem prospective parliamentary candidate for Reading West, Patrick Murray was once homeless and it is something membersof my Party tend to feel strongly about.

Ian was clear that RSHP is not a "doss house" but somewhere people who for whatever reason who find themselves homeless can go to to find a highly supportive network and a springboard to get back into society.

This is linked to RSHP's Mission Statement:

"RSHP is dedicated to ending social exclusion caused by homelessness. RSHP is determined to provide the standard of housing and support needed to enable its clients to achieve their full potential in life."

When people arrive they enter into a sort of 'contract' with RSHP about what they are looking to achieve, get support for any particular problems that are identified from drink/drugs to personal/social/work - no-one is written off or abandoned. When people leave the Project staff stay in touch and do their best to offer any necessary support whether it be related to accomodation, emotional support or financial advice.

It was sad to hear that the number of people coming through RSHP's doors - especially single men - has gone up in recent weeks following the increase in the number of repossessions. We will be reviewing the impact of the Credit Crunch on housing in Reading at the next meeting of the Housing, Health and Community Care Scrutiny Panel. I wonder whether we should invite Ian along to present RSHP's take on the problem? I said to Ian that if RSHP had any pressing questions or concerns that they should contact me direct so I could raise them with RBC on a political level.

RSHP and other voluntary sector bodies are at the forefront of work currently going on in Reading to support and prevent people falling through the net into hardship this winter as a result of personal problems - emotional and financial. It is vital that the Council and ourselves give them our full support in the difficult but vital job that they do to make sure people don't end up on the street in Reading this Christmas and beyond.

For more information about how you can support this excellent charity, visit the RSHP website.

Redlands LibDems Advice Surgery Alert!

There will be a advice surgery held at St Luke’s Church Hall, Erleigh Road from 10:00am until 12 noon, on 20 December 2008.

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:

Future surgery dates can be found on the RBC website.

There will be a advice surgery held at St Luke’s Church Hall, Erleigh Road from 10:00am until 12 noon, on 20 December 2008.

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:

Future surgery dates can be found on the RBC website.

Action on environmental enforcement

At this week’s meeting of the Environment Scrutiny Panel which I mentioned earlier, officers put forward a report on current action taken by the Council to tackle environmental crimes such a fly-tipping and graffiti.

The Lib Dems had requested this report come forward as we feel a lot more can be done to tackle fly-tipping and dumping of rubbish in our town. You may remember we tabled a motion to Council  as part of this campaign which was defeated by a coalition of Labour and Tory councillors. As well as the need for more enforcement, we feel that the Labour-run Council’s failed policy of charging for bulky waste collection  has made problems much worse.

In Redlands, rubbish dumped in front gardens is a major problem in the University area, as well as around Hexham Road.

Similarly, after this report rather than noting to report our Lib Dem Chair, Cllr Ricky Duveen proposed a motion which asked Cabinet to:

• Review resources available to carry out enforcement

• Support wider use of powers under section 215 of the Town & Country Planning act

• Support wider use of powers under the Environmental Protection Act and the Clean Neighbourhoods Act

• Officers to present a review to the next meeting of the ES panel.

Conservative members backed our proposal, which was positive. However, once again there was some limited Labour posturing but those Labour members that were left (it had gone on for several hours by this point!) supported motion.

Scrutiny finally working in NOC Reading

On Tuesday I attended a meeting of the Environmental Scrutiny Panel  to discuss, among other things, waste collection and enforcement in the town, and to see what improvements could be delivered. A number of officers from Streetcare were in attendance along with members of the public (including a constituent from Redlands) and Greater Reading Environment Network.

Waste collection report:

Under current government targets, the amount of rubbish we send to landfill needs to be reduced from 65 % to 40 % by 2010. The cost to the Council to send a tonne of waste to landfill is £90, but this figure will rise as the cost is increasing year-on-year by £8 in landfill tax. Thus a 1 % reduction in waste going to landfill leads to a £40K saving!

I asked about increasing recycling provision for business, as this is potentially profitable which could pay for improvements to the residential service.

At present, batteries and fluorescent light bulbs have to be driven by residents to the Smallmead recycling centre – which I understand is an amazing site which can recycle just about anything.

Unfortunately, I’ve never seen it as like many other in Reading I haven’t got a car. I suspect the majority of these items end up in landfill, and leach mercury into the ground – in my view this is an environmental disaster waiting to happen.

I asked for the sequence of events form a call from a member of the public to the call centre reporting a missed bin collection. Several residents have complained about this and that in the past the call centre staff waited for 5 people to complain before the road was re-collected. Daisy and the Lib Dem team have campaigned about this for a while I was reassured that this issue had been looked at and the call centre was trying to improve its working practises.

I then asked if the current on-street recycling trials outside Christchurch Road shops could be rolled out further. Although these seemed to have been a success – with minimal contamination – expense seemed to be the main stumbling block. I suggested using more compact units and have them sponsored by local businesses to cover the costs. This scheme would be of particular use in the town centre and in our parks.

Food waste currently represents 30 % of the waste which is sent to landfill. Now, it could be argued  that this is biodegradable waste. Unfortunately, the clue is in the name as the food is eaten by various microbes they give off methane – which not only accounts for the bad smell on landfill sites but also contributes to global warming as methane is 25 times more efficient as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. So the argument to do something else with this waste is strong. We have campaigned for food waste collection for a long time and are pressing RBC to reform the joint waste PFI

Labour tried to push for the education option to convince people to buy less food and waste less. However, I don’t think this will reduce 30 % of our landfill waste. We asked for anaerobic digester of fermenter technologies to be investigated. As these lead to minimal CO₂ out put and can lead to fuel production in the form of methanol/ethanol or IPA. Officers suggested 20 % of food waste could be collected – saving £800K in landfill tax

Improving glass recycling provision has long been an issue the Lib Dems have campaigned for in Reading . The increased numbers of take-to bottle banks we campaigned for have certainly improved matters. Daisy and Kirsten successfully got them installed around Redlands earlier in the year – after a long wait 

The report prepared by officers was very damming of door-to-door collecting of glass. Collecting glass in this way was estimated to increase CO₂ emissions 150 tonnes per year, but the savings in energy to reform the glass would account for 130 tonnes – net output 20 tonnes!

We believe this is worth while, but as a compromise the option of small on-street recycling bins could be considered – especially in our parks and the town centre.

It worth noting that the last former Lead member for ENCAS, Steve Waite, had been opposed on principle to glass collection, but at this meeting Labour panel members were in support of it. The current Lead member didn’t see fit to turn up to this meeting for comment for some reason, which was disappointing.

There were a number of positive developments to report: waste support officers and environmental liaison officers have been doing a fantastic job of co-ordinating EVA’s and sorting out graffiti/litter hotspots.

Also the efforts of Streetcare to tidy up bin store on council owned properties like the Hexham road estate (after years of pressure for Daisy and us) and replace the 10’s of small bins with larger communal bins. This has scheme has also led to London Road properties no longer having to have 4+ bins per property, which was a real eyesore.

The recommended action from officers following the discussion  was to simply ‘Note the report’. Not on this day, however! Cllr  Ricky Duveen, Chair of the Environment Scrutiny Panel proposed a motion based on our Lib Dem manifesto, which recommended the following to Cabinet:

• Praise work done by waste support officers

• Extend the use of smaller vehicles for collection in other area’s of the town

• Produce a Waste Minimisation Strategy

• Investigate food waste recycling and possible fuel production or microgeneration of power

• Set-up a cross party group to improve our recycling provision

• Investigate increasing our trade waste contracts

• Investigate on-street recycling roll-out

Cllr Chris Maskell, a Labour Panel member were very anti any form of amendment and had nothing practical to add to the discussion. Another Labour member admitted he knew very little about the issues and felt the officers should make all the decisions.

Fortunately, the Lib Dem members, and I have to say the Tory members were much more well-informed and had studied the officers’ report in more detail. Interestingly, after all the Labour posturing and an outburst from the sidelines of the meeting by Cllr Tony Page, Labour members voted for our motion!

I look forward to the response in Cabinet with interest.

Better late than never: Labour support for Lib Dem housing campaigns

As I discussed yesterday these are Interesting times in Reading, with increasing amounts of political cross-dressing going on locally.

We read in today's Post that Labour politicians have been lobbying the Housing Minister, Margaret Beckett, to help increase the availability of affordable housing in Reading and in doing so publicly backing TWO LIb Dem campaigns.

From the article:

"Cllr Ennis took the opportunity to bend the minister’s ear on the need for more homes in Reading.

He said at the time: “I welcomed the opportunity to meet the Minister of Housing Margaret Beckett to make her aware of the numbers of people on the council housing waiting list.

“We lobbied for assistance to either build new council homes to alleviate this need or to be able to take over empty private homes and house families that are being made homeless through repossession of their homes.”

He also raised the issue of the cash Reading has to pay back to the Government from its council house rents.

He said: “Margaret Beckett is committed to looking at this problem of negative subsidy in the forthcoming review into council house funding.”

Regular readers of this blog will know that I have led the Lib Dem campaign to get Reading Borough Council to bring empty homes back into use.

The Labour-run Council dragged its heels but finally agreed to adopt a policy after sustained pressure from the Lib Dems (funnily enough not the Tories) back in February.

However, we are continuing to press Labour for action as so far not ONE single house has been brought back into use.

With the recession starting to bite, and the number of houses being repossessed in Reading rising sharply the need for the Council to work with RSLs to make long-term empty homes available for families made homeless is now very urgent.

I have requested a full update on the empty homes situation at the next meeting of the Housing, Health & Community Care Scrutiny Panel in March 2009.

It's also ironic that Labour politicians are now claiming support for our campaign to get the government to drop the scandalous so-called negative equity, better known as a "tenant tax". This policy sees part of the rent paid by all council tenants clawed back by the Treasury out of the Council's coffers.

Cllr Gareth Epps has led the Lib Dem campaign against this unfair tax in Reading.

Inexplicably and In contradiction to the apparent endorsement for our campaign by Labour politicians in the article in today's Post, when Gareth asked the Labour Leader of the Council to support the Lib Dem campaign at last week's Cabinet meeting - she point-blank refused.