Redlands Liberal Democrats

Residents up in arms over 'unauthorised' parking at Reading Girls School

Yesterday evening and today I've been contacted by more residents on Bede Walk who are angry about what appears to be a breach of planning consent by Reading Girls School. This is not the first time the School has managed to get on the wrong side of local residents - lack of maintenance of the School fence being the main cause of aggravation. Last year an impressive new building was erected on the Northumberland Avenue site. Residents have no problem with the building - neither do we. It's the fact that the school play ground is being turned into a car park bang opposite their houses which they are not happy about. Bede Walk is a quiet road with pedestrian-only access. Cars coming and going metres away from residents houses is disruptive - lights shining straight into front rooms etc is really unwelcome. I wrote last week to Reading Borough Council's Planning Department to find if this new car parking area was permitted. I got this response:

"planning permission was granted for the ‘Erection of a part single, part two storey 1320 square metre Further Education Vocational Centre for girls’ at Reading Girls School (07/01567/REG3). The approved site plan included the provision of 32 car parking spaces in a location to the rear of the school and adjacent 1-11 Bede Walk. However, having now investigated the matter it is evident that in addition to the approved car parking area the entire ‘Hard Play Area’ that is adjacent to 15-21 Bede Walk is being used for car parking which is unauthorised. The Council’s Education Team has now been advised that a breach of planning control has occurred and are looking into resolving the situation as soon as possible."

Residents contacted me again yesterday to complain that despite the investigation being ongoing parking lines have been painted all over Reading Girls School playground. It would have been nice if the School had sought to consult the community and local councllors before going ahead with this! I am making enquiries about this and I will update the blog when I have any further info.

School Dinners

At the last Council meeting I asked a question about the uptake of free school meals, which apparently hasn't risen during the recession in Reading. Not quite believing the figures, at the Council meeting on Monday I will be asking what the proportion of people who could claim the benefit actually do so.

Some people feel shame in claiming for free school meals for their children. In fact, it is one of the best things one can do when times are tough. Children who receive free school meals automatically qualify for other benefits (for example, if they need to take a bus to get to school they can get a bus pass free). The number of children claiming free meals is also an indicator used to determine whether schools get funding for e.g. new buildings.

What's also happening in schools is that even where meals are provided to paying pupils, the uptake nationally appears to have dropped in favour of the packed lunch. So, I have asked a question about that too. For me, the provision of healthy food at a good price to children is one of the best ways to improve study concentration and general health: and therefore closing the gap between children from the richest and the poorest families.

I'll let you know what the Council says.

- Kirsten

Friday first person: GCSE Results

The Government publishes the national provisional figures for GCSE attainment today, with the usual self-congratulatory remarks about the numbers getting 5 A*-C including English and Maths.

Normally this is followed at short order by a similar piece of self back-slapping from the Labour administration in Reading, saying how we well we are doing against these national trends.

I'm not one of those people who believe GCSEs have become easier, and am pleased that so many students do well.

Still, the situation in Reading is rather more complex than the Council might reveal. We are a comparatively small education authority with two large selective schools - that draw their pupils from the best and the brightest in Berkshire and as far away as Buckinghamshire and London.

Strip out these schools and the figure for 5 A*-C inc Eng & Maths becomes closer to a third of pupils, rather than the 50pct or so that reflects the national average. Or to put it another way, two thirds of pupils going to the schools which serve the majority of Reading pupils don't reach the standard which is considered to open the door to higher education or advanced technical training. As one local employer put it to me, "You need to give me more people who I can actually short list for the jobs I have".

The importance of this was highlighted in the discussion Daisy led this week on young people not in employment, education or training.

It becomes even more worrying with the situation at Thames Valley University - whose further education is still up in the air - is considered. The lack of the availability of capital - needed to build new schools or expand the facilities at existing ones - is extremely worrying, and was the subject of questions to Council this week. Things cannot, unfortunately, only get better.

Something to think about when you see the headlines in the Reading Post or Reading Chronicle.

Still there is hope. The most positive correlation with success at school is that of parental interest. It is undoubtedly the case that many of the success stories we hear about come not from the efforts of the Council but from dedicated parents, hard working teachers and diligent pupils. As I said at Education Scrutiny this week, our young people today are smarter than we were at their age, and that's how it should be. We will encourage the Council to looks for novel ways of boosting early learning, and to give all our young people the skills and support they need to do well.

--Kirsten

NEETs: the new name for social exclusion

Yesterday evening I took time out to hear what the Council is doing to tackle the problem of the large number of young people who are not in education, employment or training here in Reading.

So-called NEETs. 

This is an awful, dehumanising term for what is essentially not a new phenomenon.

And we're talking about a whole generation of young people who have not benefitted from Blair or Brown.

A few years ago (when Tony Blair took office) it was simply called social exclusion.

This was designated a priority by Blair and  a social exclusion unit was duly set up and then later disbanded.

I raised the difficulties facing young people in this age group at our recent party conference and am pleased to see the Lib Dems nationally campaigning for more to be done to help young people achieve their potential.

To my mind, it is one of the clearest examples of where Labour has failed to deliver in reducing inequality in this country.

And the impact  of this failure is felt by thousands of families and individuals here in Reading.

Reading has a high-number of NEETs - around 8% of the current population of 16-19 year olds. That's well above the national average.

Fewer young people stay in education beyond 16 in Reading compared to other similar areas of the country.

It is is a town of sharp contrasts where some of the top performing grammar and private schools exist alongside schools where improving educational standards and pupils' records of achievement has been a long slow road.

But the high number of our young people effectively 'dropping out' between 16-19  is a symptom of a much wider issue than simply the need to improve access to good quality education and jobs (although both of these things must happen).

The real problems go far deeper, as the latest version of the Council's Children & Young People's Plan (2009-12) sets out:

"Social disadvantage and poverty in Reading are above the national average - in 2007, the borough was ranked 151st out of 354 authorities on the Government’s Index of Multiple Deprivation.However, of the 93 Lower Super Output Areas (census areas) within Reading, 11 of these are in the top 20% most deprived in the country."

Speaking to the RBC officer responsible for co-ordinating  yesterday I was very impressed by what I heard. The Council is taking a lead with other bodies such as Connexions Berkshire in identifying youngsters who have left school and need support. Real effort is made to make sure all young people are accounted for and contact is made with them. 

There are regular interventions to try and encourage young people to go to college or begin an apprenticeship, with mentoring available for youngsters who need intensive support.

The Council has also made creating local apprenticeships a priority and is actively trying to persuade employers to take on young people as apprentices.

However, despite the Council's best efforts (and the fact that reducing NEETs is a top priority of the Local Strategic Partnership and the Children's Trust ), significantly reducing the overall number of NEET in Reading is proving an uphill struggle.

Why is this? 

Well, first of all  while all this effort has been going on locally the wider economic picture has worsened, undoing some of the best efforts of the people working in this area.

As I highlighted in the Summer, the number of young people unemployed claiming Job Seekers Allowance in the Reading area has dramatically increased and the number of jobs vacancies has plummeted.

Young people with low skills who want to work are finding themselves in an increasingly desperate scramble for jobs up against well- qualified graduates. It's not surprising they start to lose heart and give up feeling 'the system' and society is against them.

And as I have pointed out before the government help for councils like the Future Jobs Fund is a drop in the ocean compared to what's actually needed here in Reading.

Secondly,there are some deep-seated reasons why the number of NEETs in Reading is so high, linked to pockets of significant deprivation which exist in the town. Where for examples families where for generations children have not gone to college or university and families where at least one parent has never been in full-time employment.

An example was given of a young woman the first in three generations to go to college.

What you might expect in a developing country. But this is not the third world. This is Reading.

And this is about poverty and the impact living in poverty is having on generations of young people.

And however Labour politicians nationally or locally care to dress it up deprivation has become more rather than less ingrained in many parts of Reading after 12 years of a Labour government and even longer of local Labour in power in Reading.

If you need further convincing that NEET statistics are an indicator of poverty, please see below. 

The following wards in Reading  currently have the highest number of NEETs (RBC stats, as of Dec 08)

Church: 15.2% (52)

Whitley: 13.% (41)

Kentwood: 10.3% (37)

Minster: 8.7% (32)

Compare this with the wards with the lowest percentage of NEET young people: Mapledurham (0.3), Thames (2.3) and Peppard (2.3).

The message behind these statistics is clear: where you are born in Reading has a serious impact on your life chances and if you live in South or West Reading the odds are likely to be stacked against you.

And let's face it no amount of strategies or action plans from RBC will put right this inequality - action at national level is needed and it could take years to put things right.

One Lib Dem policy that will help in this regard is our policy to take the lowest paid out of paying tax altogether. 

Vince Cable has also said we would raise the income tax personal allowance to £10,000, cutting income tax bills by £700 a year for anyone earning over £10,000, and taking four million people out of income tax altogether.

The other is the 'pupil premium' - allowing us to invest in the education of the most disadvantaged children.

Nick Clegg is the only party leader who has said categorically that improving social mobility must be the top priority for any incoming government.

He set up the Social Mobility Commission the day after he was elected as party leader.

And I don't mean attacking 'chaotic families' as Gordon Brown did this week, for the state of Britain today. This sounded a lot like the Tories blaming family breakdown for 'broken Britain'.

Tweedledum and Tweedle Dee politics is not what's needed here.

Locally, I can't recall the Tories saying or doing anything about what they would do to tackle the shocking inequality that exists under their very noses.

The Labour and Conservative councillors who represent wards where youth unemployment is highest should be demanding action. The silence from them locally on these issues is deafening.

Local people in these wards should reject these two parties at the next election in favour of electing hard-working Lib Dems who will work hard for their communities and give them a voice.

We will continue to speak up for these young people, and all people abandoned and let down by this Labour government and the local Labour-run Council.

Two examples: I will be co-chairing a scrutiny review into children's health (and health inequality) later this month and attending the Council's forthcoming summit on supporting young people through the credit crunch.

I was instrumental in getting both these events into the Council's diary and on to the political agenda in Reading.

Because I think the situation facing many 16-19 year olds in Reading is seriously bad and warrants urgent action.

School Transport Appeals

Following my Twitter post yesterday, I've been asked a few times about School Transport Appeals.

Here in Reading, children may have to travel some distance to get to school.

Depending on how far they have to go, and things like the availability of places in nearby schools, the age of the child and the safety of the route (and also whether the school is primary or secondary), transport to school on the buses may be provided free.

The rules are clear but may also be somewhat harsh. Sometimes the child's needs mean they should go to a particular school,  yet the rules as laid down do not allow for free transport. The situation can be very difficult, especially if the child needs to change schools suddenly, for example due to bullying or family circumstances, or if siblings are going to different schools.

If parents or carers are unhappy, they may appeal to the School Transport Appeals panel. It meets half a dozen mornings a year and its job is to add a degree of humanity and common sense to the process.

It's a meeting I really try not to miss: the children concerned can be extremely needy, and the circumstances very complex - the Councillors on the panel from all parties work very hard to come up with solutions that are fair to the families concerned.
Often there is a need to point families towards additional sources of help: the welfare rights unit or children's social care, for example.

My hope would be that the Council can provide more school places that meet the need of each child closer to where the children live, removing the need to take buses altogether.

A million young people set to be unemployed under Labour

Following my post last week about the plight facing young people in Reading in this recession another day brings yet more worrying news.

Government figures published today show nearly a million young people are now officially not in work or education.

I was only a child at the time of the last recession but I can remember hearing about the impact mass unemployment had on a generation of young people under Thatcher in the 1980s.

Labour has let down a generation of young people.

The thinktank the Centre for Cities also published a report today which warned that the number of young people out of work is set to rise and that Labour's flagship policy, the Future for Jobs fund, will fall far short of what is needed:

"The £1 billion Future Jobs Fund, announced in the 2009 Budget, aims to create 150,000 new jobs during 2009-11 for long-term unemployed young people. This will help less than half the expected 350,000 young people due to be long-term unemployed by Dec 2011.

For those people who believe that Reading will escape the recession largely unscathed I would draw your attention to this paragraph in the study:

"The worst affected cities, such as Sunderland and Barnsley, have experienced an increase of four percentage points or more in their youth claimant count since the recession began.  But it's not only Northern ex-industrial cities which are affected: Swindon and Milton Keynes have also seen big rises."

As I reported last week, Reading is seeing a big rise in the number of people claiming JSA (job-seekers' allowance). I noticed a large queue forming outside the job centre in the Town Centre on my way to work last week before the centre had even opened for the day.

I'm glad to say that the issue of youth unemployment is rising up the political news agenda locally with pieces on last week's Politics Show (which was filmed in Reading University) and in Post journalist Hilary Scott's regular column.

I met officers earlier this week to discuss my plan for a special summit on helping young people in the recession. I am hopeful this will take place early in the autumn to ensure students can attend.

In Parliament, Jo Swinson MP (Lib Dem, East Dunbartonshire), currently Britain's youngest MP last week called for an urgent debate on the issue.

Sadly her call was rejected by Leader of the House, Harriet Harman, presumably because the government has no idea how to tackle the problem.

I have written to the Lib Dem education and employment teams in Parliament urging them to step up their campaigning on this issue.

I also met a representative of the National Union of Students today to hear more about their plans for an alternative higher education funding system. The plan includes a proposed graduate tax to help fund higher education.

I think this would be punitive in the current climate where many graduates leave university with tens of thousands of pounds worth of debt.

The Lib Dems are committed to abolishing tuition fees and reforming the way higher education is funded to make it fairer.

A debate on the NUS proposals is planned to take place in Reading this November.

The government is currently reviewing the cap on tuition fees for higher education (which stands at £3,000). 

There is wide speculation that the government could lift the cap and fees could rise as high as £20,000 for some elite institutions - however, the review is not expected to be published until after the next election.

Yet more evidence (if it were needed) of this Labour government ducking the tough decisions.

Students and the recession: University of Reading responds

I was pleased to receive an email this evening from Professor Christine Williams, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Enterprise) at Reading University in response to my post earlier this week in which I expressed my fears about the difficulties graduates and school-leaver are currently facing finding work.

Calling my concern "justified" she drew my attention to the fact that this year we are seeing the biggest ever graduate cohort enter the job market and added "and this in a year when the recession promises grim news for job seekers of all types."

Prof Williams wrote to me with details of what Reading University is doing to actively support students graduating this year.

This includes the publication of a new leaflet published by the University's Careers Advisory Service which aims to help graduating students find their first jobs in small and medium-sized organisations (SMEs).

I've attached below an excerpt from the briefing issued by the University to the press:

"The message to students this year from the University Careers Service (CAS) is that the jobs market will be more difficult and that students will need to think laterally about job opportunities. Companies recruiting need their graduates to hit the ground running and so need them to have business acumen, know how to fit in and operate in an organisational environment. Students who have already built up these skills through placements and work experience are in a stronger position. Students in years one and two of their courses need to start thinking now about how they are going to acquire these skills."

I am impressed by the lengths University staff are going to to provide advice and support to students  at this critical time. Full details are listed below:

• Preparing students for life – the Careers Management Skills programme is embedded in the university and is compulsory. It is the only comprehensive, compulsory and credit bearing programme run at a UK higher education institution. (taken in 2nd year). The programme involves self awareness, looking at job opportunities and preparing resources such as CVs.

• New seminars addressing a new style of graduate recruitment -  shift towards hiring directly from internships thus making work experience and extra curricular responsibilities essential to gain core skills and awareness.
• Spring 09 - special ‘finding opportunities in the recession’ workshops
• Course specific sessions for Finalists on the ‘Coping with the recession’ and ‘Where the jobs are in the credit crunch’.
• Students in other year groups informed that they should also being taking action now for the summer.
• Internships are being promoted and further developments of the 11 work experience schemes, including SEED, the Summer Enterprise Experience & Discovery scheme.
• Careers Fair - Tuesday 2nd June - full. Employers from IT, financial services, law and agriculture etc . Still employer interest in recruiting Reading graduates this summer. The large autumn 09 careers fair is already well booked by employers and demonstrates ongoing recruitment of Reading graduates.
• Dedicated support from Careers Adviser for their subject area for final year students. Via email / personal appointments or through FACEBOOK site
• Dedicated website for careers tools – www.reading.ac.uk/destinations-demo

It's also really good to hear that the University is continuing to offer support to students once they have left University:

• CAS will be staying open all summer and is proposing to run events, fairs and workshops to help Reading graduates find opportunities.

• Life time guarantee of careers advice for Reading graduates

• Helping retrain people changing careers to become teachers in maths, chemistry, French and physics through the free and bursary-supported ITT Subject Knowledge Enhancement Courses.
• Appointments for graduates of other universities living nearby
• With funding from the Centre of Career Management Skills CAS will be developing this summer teaching and on-line resources in the following areas: coping with the recession for unemployed Reading graduates, improving the employability of international students at the university, helping to write careers education materials for MBA students, producing better careers materials for professional researchers and developing interactive and diagnostic features on the Destinations® career management skills website

I hope other universities follow suit and that Reading's colleges and schools adopt a similar approach, resources permitting. It will be worth it to help prevent young people in Reading from spending weeks, months or even years out of work.

I was also sent data y the University from by the annual Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) Survey of leavers from 2008.  This survey shows that unemployed Reading University graduates from 2008, as of January this year, accounted for 8% of the total number. T

This figure is apparently around 1.5% down on the average over the past 5 years. The University's briefing suggests that this in line with most other universities. 

The University's briefing observes that 'those graduates who found jobs in the summer fared better than those who put off entering the job market until later in the year.'

Survey stats in full:

2008 – 52% in full time work, 6% in p/t work, 2% in voluntary work, 9 % work and study, 18% further study, 8% unemployed, 5% not available for employment, . 83% response rate.

The University's briefing also adds that 'Reading University was rated as number one in the 1994 Group of universities for employability by international students in the 2008 International Student Barometer.'

While I can understand why the University's press office is keen to emphasise the positives, all the signs are that this year's graduates - including those from top flight universities such as Reading, are likely to face an uphill struggle finding work.

Latest figures published by the Office of National Statistics yesterday revealed that unemployment has risen to it's highest level since 1996 ,with job vacancies sinking to a new low.

Overall, the action taken by Reading University is a positive start.

But the reality is this: youth unemployment is currently running at 16.6%.

This summer, 400,000 young people will be graduating from university. This figure does not include the number of youngsters leaving school or college.

Rising youth unemployment is an urgent issue requiring a timely and co-ordinated response from people and organisations in Reading. I will be campaigning in my capacity as councillor to see this happens as far as possible locally.

Time for action to help young people affected by the recession

This morning I attended the Credit Crunch Summit organised by the Council, which focussed on help for small businesses.

I have to admit, I have been quite sceptical in the past about the value of these events although I haven't wanted to get into a political bunfight about it unlike some other local politicians as I don't think that was helpful.

Comments have been made in the press that Reading is well placed to weather the recession. My own view is that the recession is clearly impacting on different people and businesses in different ways and it is not helpful to over-simplify the picture or allow ourselves to lapse into complacency.

The main focus of my attention as councillor has naturally been on the impact of the credit crunch on housing in Reading, an area I will be revisiting with my scrutiny hat on in July.

I went to the event today with a fairly open mind, hoping to find out more about how Reading people are being affected and what more we might be able to do to help at a local level. 

I feared there would be a lot of hot air from Labour councillors but it was refreshingly absent fro proceedings.

It was very interesting to hear at the event from two local businessmen who run small businesses in the Town Centre, including  Adam Jacobs of family-run jewellers, Jacobs of Reading. I am a real fan of this shop as they managed to rescue a much-loved ring of mine which I had managed to damage while out on the campaign trail via a letterbox!

Adam talked candidly about his recent experience, including his encounter with the Chancellor, Alastair Darling, as part of his visit to Reading:part of his 'recession tour'. Charismatic was not the phrase I remember him using! 

He said in his business that they were finding the impact of the recession to be 'unpredictable', with the number of customers rising and falling from month to month. This was making it very difficult for Adam to plan ahead. 

He also explained how he and his staff had been forced to adapt to these changing times. I was very impressed to hear about how he had taken the opportunity to increase the skills base of his staff, helping to make their jobs hopefully more secure in these insecure times.

One worrying statistic that leapt of the page during an RBC presentation on 'key recession indicators' was the fact that the number of people claiming job-seekers allowance in Reading has increased 122% on the same time last year.

The Deputy Manager of Reading Citizens Advice Bureau talked about the fact that many job seekers that came through their doors had never been unemployed before and needed help finding out which benefits they were entitled to. She also said that more and more companies were getting rid of staff citing 'poor performance' when really when this was just used as an excuse to reduce the head count.

Conservative councillor Mark Ralph posed a thoughtful question about the value of the event: was it in fact beneficial to the business community at large?

Interestingly the feedback from the Reading Federation of Small Businesses, Greater Reading Chamber of Commerce and Reading Voluntary Action was that in fact they found opportunity to share information and discuss solutions was in fact very useful.

It's true to say, as Cllr Ralph pointed out, that the place was not teeming with business people -  but as one speaker pointed out business people are busy enough trying to stay afloat: it is the job of these representative bodies to go on fact-finding missions and to feed the important stuff back to their members.

Leaving small businesses to one side for a second, I am very concerned about the impact that the recession is having on young people in Reading - particularly school-leavers (both with and without qualifications,) and college and university students graduating this year.

According to the latest figures the proportion of 16- to 18-year-olds not in education, employment or training in Brtain increased from 9.7% at the end of 2007 to 10.3% at the end of 2008.

This has been put down to a massive increase in youth unemployment in recent months.

This is a real worry.

In Reading, the number of teenagers not in education, employment or training is already too high.The impact of the recession will only make things ten times worse for these young people and their families.

Last week the Guardian reported that at least 40,000 of all students graduating from universities this year are likely to be unemployed for at least six months:

"According to the Higher Education Careers Service Unit, up to 40,000 of this year's nearly 400,000 graduates will still be classed as jobseeking in six months' time – twice the rate recorded last year. They are part of the biggest cohort of graduates ever, and the first to have paid £3,000 top-up fees for every year they studied. They are the New Labour generation, the class of 2009: the most educated, the most indebted and potentially the least employed ever."

Today's students are already struggling to cope having been saddled with huge debt thanks to the failed policies of this Labour government.  Many students completing three year courses will leave university in Reading this summer with debts averaging £20,000. 

Things were difficult for students when I graduated a few years ago, but the idea of trying to find a job and get on the property ladder with the current expected level of debt is hard for any of us to contemplate.

Students that I know who have graduated from Reading University this year with excellent degrees who should have excellent prospects are feeling gloomy: I don't blame them. They worked hard and believed that there would be a job for them at the end of their university career. They have been badly let down by this Labour government.

Anyway, I suggested that a positive step for the Council to take might be for a future summit to be dedicated to the issue of helping young people weather the recession, focussing in particular on those groups I have already identified.

I would like to see young people and students invited to this event along with representatives from schools, universities and employers in the town. We must not turn our back on our young people in these difficult times.

I followed up my call  later today with an email to the Leader of the Council who I hope will take this idea forward.

As Tim Smith, Executive Director of economic development agency Reading UK CIC said this is our responsibility if we are to be true community leaders.

UPDATE:

I have since heard from the Leader of the Council that my idea for a special summit on support for young people in the recession will now be taken forward (planned for the autumn), and in the meantime officers will be looking closely at what else can be done to help them find work.

Continuing Education Campaign: Update

I'm grateful to the organisers behind the Reading Campaign for Continuing Education for this comprehensive campaign update. Keep up the good work!

If you haven't already done so - sign the petition.

The campaigners asked a question to Council on the issue last week to the Lead Member for Education - Cllr Jon Hartley.

He said:

"It is very sad that the University is once again looking to remove facilities that are valued and much used by local people, particularly at a time when informal adult learning is nationally very topical.  I do hope that your campaign is more successful than other recent appeals to the University's sense of civic responsibility.”

How ironic that Cllr Hartley should be expressing regret at the University's decision to close this department when he we know that thanks to the Labour government the University is in a very tight spot in terms of identifying future funding for many of its courses.

Once again we see Reading Labour Party distancing itself from unpopular decisions taken by the Labour government.

The campaign website includes an excerpt from a heartfelt letter from a current student to the Secretary of State, copied below for information:

"I feel very strongly that if Adult Education (which has a number of providers, not simply universities) continues in its present spiral of decline it will reflect very adversely on the reputation of the Government of which you are a member. On a political level, the people who attend such classes are highly articulate and determined; we will not go away and we have votes. On a personal level, I have been a Labour voter for many years; at the moment I am struggling to convince myself that I should not change my vote at the next election.”

“I venture to guess that in twenty or so years (when I most likely will not be around) a successor Government will wake up one day and say ‘Whatever happened to adult education? How did this great provision simply disappear?’ Help us to prevent that catastrophe happening, please!”

A public meeting is planned for May. Let's hope Cllr Hartley has come up with a more convincing line on his Party's position by then.

 

Campaign to Save the School of Continuing Education

This morning I spoke to Lindsay Mullaney, one of the prime movers behind the campaign to save the School of Continuing Education, to offer her the full support of the Lib Dems on Reading Borough Council.

I blogged last week about the threat to the School following cuts by the Labour government to higher education budgets.

Cllr Gareth Epps and Cllr Kirsten Bayes have already spoken out strongly against the plans.

The loss of this facility would be a huge blow to the many local people who currently attend courses and the timing of the closure - in the middle of a recession - is madness. It is a double blow after the dire news about the University' Council's decision to close the School of Health and Social Care.

Lindsay and fellow student Paul Kingston have galvanised the local community into action via their campaign, launching an excellent website which includes a petition against the closure you can sign.

They will be asking asking a question at the next Council meeting on 31 March at 6.30pm.

Please support the campaign!