So much going on both inside and outside the ward at the moment, it's hard to know where to start! I thought it was worth doing a quick recap.
It was great to be out in the ward this weekend after a week in which I spent four out of five nights in the Council Offices.
I took an afternoon off work on Tuesday to attend the Credit Crunch Summit on supporting young people and as well as two formal Council meetings (full Council and the Children's Health Scrutiny Review) I also managed to squeeze in a visit to Reading Job Centre Plus, the 47th Reading (St Paul's) Scout Group Open Day, Basingstoke Road (see pic), our regular ward surgery, and a debate on higher education funding organised by the ever-energetic Reading University Lib Dems.
The debate was of a very high standard and it was chaired by RUSU VP Education Tom Gilchrist who did a good impression of David Dimbleby - "is there a question in there somewhere?!"
There were local representatives on the Panel from Labour, the Lib Dems, NUS and Reading Youth Cabinet.
But for some reason no sign of either Rob (White or Wilson) at the meeting to put forward Conservative or Green viewpoints.
Wendy from Reading's Youth Cabinet spoke very confidentally - at 16 she was the only Panel member who hadn't yet gone to university but she certainly gave the more experienced politicians a run for their money!
No doubt that tuition fees and graduate debt are going to be hotly debated between now and the next General Election - great to see local students engaged and campaigning.
I organised a visit to Reading Job Centre Plus not because I lost my job (although no-one is immune and I don't want to tempt fate!) but because I was keen to understand better what it is like looking for work in Reading at the moment both from the point of view of job-seekers and staff.
The visit followed the Credit Crunch Summit and my recent meeting about theproblem of NEETs so helped give me a much clearer picture of problems many people in Reading are facing.
I'm really grateful to the staff of the Job Centre Plus who met me and talked about their work and the challenges local people are facing in the recession.
I was particularly impressed by staff who's job it is to support lone parents and young people navigate the complicated world of benefits, New Deal etc.
They reckon about 1,000 people are coming through the doors of the JCP each day. The Centre has been forced to take on more staff to cope with demand over the past year and more expansion is planned.
I was supposed to sit in on a group session for 18 year-olds but it was cancelled as no-one had turned up - an indicator of some young people's morale at the moment.
On a more positive note they are seeing a reasonable number of vacancies in the Reading-area which compares more favourably with other parts of the country.
Still, the number of people who are unemployed in the Reading area is a concern and it is a a particular concern that the number of 'low skill' jobs in Reading is predicted to fall by 25,000 by 2025 (something that was revealed at the Credit Crunch Summit).
Back to the ward, these are a few of the things that we've been working on on our constituents' behalf this week:
- Picked up complaints about poor streetlighting on Cintra Avenue and dog fouling in Cintra Park - we're calling for a lighting update and extra enforcement + dog waste bins
- Got extra litter picks on Hexham Road and Addington Road following complaints from residents
- Advised residents about a new planning application which has gone in for 10 flats on Redlands Road - we're meeting residents next week to discuss in more details
- Chased overdue repairs to a couple of Council properties around Hexham Road
I could do with next week being a little less hectic, having also picked up a cold!
* Reference to the fact I was forced to do Karaoke by some of my Reading Uni friends earlier this week. I would have preferred something by Girls Aloud but I was given no choice but to sing along to S-Club 7...Well, my ward is 50% student I suppose!
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