Well, despite Network Rail's best efforts I managed to make it to HHCC Scrutiny Panel (which I was chairing) not quite on time but near enough last night. How typical that train problems occur the day after the public meeting on the subject!
The meeting lasted several hours but I think most people who attended would agree our scrutiny of these important issues is becoming increasingly effective as we focus on the important issues of the day and receive less information reports.
If you would like to read any of the reports we discussed last night please visit the Council's website where most of them are online.
As predicted we had a very interesting discussion on all things housing-related, spending a fair amount of time discussing how Reading is coping in the recession.
I was very impressed by the way officers in Reading Borough Council are coming up with policies and approaches that are really helping to support people in Reading. As one officer remarked 'we've never been here before' - is an element of trial and error involved but the fact that the Council is willing to be flexible to ensure people don't slip through the net was encouraging.
UPDATE:
getreading has published the latest health profile for Reading and it is a very mixed picture. You can read the detailed profile online here.
This pragmatic approach is quite different from some much-hyped government initiatives like the ill-fated Mortgage Rescue Scheme which it was revealed recently has only helped 6 families in the UK so far!
The big increase in number of people joining the housing waiting list is a concern, although I was pleased to hear how the Council's expanding Deposit Guarantee Scheme is making it possible for more families and individuals to get access to affordable housing. As far as I'm aware Reading is operating one of the biggest schemes partly a reflection of the size of the private rented housing sector we have.
I asked who was being affected most in the recession in Reading and the message was 'communities in South Reading'.
This makes it even more important now than ever that the Council's long-awaited 'Thriving Neighbourhoods' programme gets underway helping improve access to jobs and good school places.
The need to help and support young people facing housing problems also came over strongly in the meeting, something I am actively campaigning on locally.
Despite talking about standing up for people, the Labour government and Labour locally have neglected many parts of Reading, notably South Reading.
With this in mind, I attended a meeting this morning with Cllr Mark Ralph, fellow Scrutiny Chair, to plan the next meeting of our scrutiny review on children's health.
This is a follow up to our Febuary session and we are are focussing on the link between poverty and poor health. It's a subject I feel passionately about: pockets of serious deprivation exist in Reading which means that many children do not reach their full potential.
It's another local example of Labour failing to deliver on promises to eradicate child poverty.
As I've said here before, health inequality is a massive issue in Reading. We will lead a public meeting in September which will analyse the effectiveness of Council and PCT policies to see what's working, what's not working and what can be done to make things better for local children.
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