Redlands Liberal Democrats

Meeting with RUSU

This morning I had a meeting with the new President of Reading University Students Union, Karl Hobley and Steph Johnson, Vice President, Welfare.

I have been working closely with RUSU since 2006 on a range of issues affecting students including polling stations, streetlighting and the standard of private rented housing.

I know both Karl and Steph quite well (I worked with Steph last year when I was Lead Member for Housing) and I've known Karl for a few years through mutual friends at Reading University.

I briefed them both about the Council's plans to consult on potentially bringing in an Article Four directive to cover HMOs in the University area and the Council's planned consultation on improving traffic and parking in the University and Hospital area.

Both these issues could potentially impact on students and it is vital that the voices of students are heard.  I thought it was important to flag this issue to RUSU as early as possible as sometimes they can miss out on Council consultations.Students are residents in the area too and should be treated fairly. 

We had a useful discussion about student housing and the University's accommodation plans. It remains to be seen whether the new Student Village on Kendrick Road will reduce the demand for student housing in the community. Cost may make this option less attractive to students as it first appears.

Rogue landlords continue to be a problem and as ever RUSU and ourselves are on hand to support students who run into difficulties with their accommodation.

Finally we touched on the problem of burglaries in the University area. I talked about the work I'm doing to support Police efforts and I was pleased to hear the Students Union plan to campaign to raise awareness amongst students about how they can increase their personal safety.

It is vitally important that the Students Union and councillors work together for the benefit of students and the community. I am pleased to have been able to play my part in this today.

Rubbish News: Labour scrap extra bin collections at end of University terms

Over the past five years we have actively campaigned to get the Council, University and Students' Union to work together to tackle the problem of excess waste at the end of University terms - in particular the summer term.

With the introduction of fortnightly collection of household waste by Labour in 2006 the management of waste in student houses became an even bigger issue.

We successfully campaigned to get the Council to introduce extra collections at the end of terms to reduce waste.

We also planned to increase weekly collections in areas where waste managment remains a problem.

I hear that Labour councillors have taken the decision behind closed doors to scrap extra collections in the University area.

This is very bad news for residents who will be forced to put up with rubbish piled high in front gardens.

It will also be highly-detrimental to student-resident relations which we have worked hard with both the University, the Students Union and the Council to improve.

Neither we as ward councillors for the area or residents have been consulted about this change.

The question is did the Labour councillor for Redlands know about it? And what has she said about it?

This cut is highly unecessary and is example of the type of reduction in service we have warned residents with the advent of a Labour administration in Reading.

Labour's short-sighted plans such as those to scrap charges for green waste collections which will leave a £320k shortfall in the budget mean they will have no choice but to make cuts to frontline services to balance the budget.

Labour's election literature made no mention of this cut. Did the Greens know about it and agree to it?

This is not what we would have done had we still been running the Council.

We will be campaigning to reinstate these collections to keep Redlands clean and green.

Please sign the petition!

Working with students to deliver landlord accreditation in Reading

Following on from the private rented housing scrutiny review I led last year one of the oustanding issues which still needs to be resolved is the long-awaited revival of the Council's landlord accreditation scheme. This is needed to give students and private tenants greater confidence when they hunt for properties to rent and we hope will help drive up standards in the sector further. We discussed this in HHCC Scrutiny Panel last month and yesterday evening I presented a report to Cabinet in my capacity as Chair of the Panel calling for the scheme to be re-introduced to coincide with the start of the next acadamic year in October. I spoke to Sinead Brennan and Megan Pennyfather - officers of Reading University Students' Union to get their views on this before attending the meeting. They said the absence of a scheme at the moment is making finding a home to rent difficult for students in Reading and this is a matter of 'huge concern' to them. I raised these concerns with the Labour Lead Member for Housing, Cllr Deborah Edwards directly at the Cabinet meeting who promised to do everything she could to speed things up (although she couldn't promise that the scheme would be in place by the Autumn, which was a pity). Changes to national legislation has made things even more complicated for officers working to regulate the private rented housing sector in Reading and this has led to delays in the scheme being implemented. I requested that the Council makes contact with RUSU to keep them in the loop and councillors at the meeting from all parties agreed with me that this scheme must be up and running as soon as possible.

Electoral Commission uses Facebook to get students to register to vote

In Redlands ward we take the business of electoral registration very seriously. There was postal vote fraud in Redlands in 2005 and with a high turnover of voters in our ward it is important that no-one loses their vote. I blogged in March about our annual campaign to get students to register to vote and suggested that councils need to continue to work to find new ways to get everyone who can vote to register. I was delighted therefore to read that the Electoral Commission is using Facebook to remind students and young people to vote. From The Independent:

"From tomorrow, every Facebook user who logs on to his or her homepage will be asked if they are on the electoral roll. If they are not, they will be redirected to a registration page.The initiative has been prompted by research suggesting that 56 per cent of 18 to 24 year olds – many of whom are students – will not be able to vote next month. However, a very high proportion of the same age group uses Facebook regularly: as many as nine in ten students stay in touch with friends through social networking sites".

 

Redlands has one of the largest student populations in the whole of Reading so I really hope this initiative sways a few more students to register.RBC's own voter registration effort has improved markedly since we lobbied the Council for more effective voter registration back in 2006. We are facing two really important sets of elections on May 6 in Reading - for the local council and to elect the next MP for our area. Higher education funding and youth unemployment are just two issues that students are raising with me on the doorstep. I hope as many students as possible register to vote and turn out to vote on May 6 to ensure their voices are heard at all levels of government in Reading. Well done to the Electoral Commission for moving with the times. It's not just students who use Facebook. I chat to constituents of all ages online and pick up plenty of casework issues via Facebook and other social media networks like Twitter. The Commission and other public bodies must explore all these avenues if they are going to increase participation of younger people in particular in public life.

Standing up for Reading students - landlord accreditation review

Last night in Scrutiny we discussed the impact of the private rented housing review I championed last year. We recommended last year that landlord accreditation scheme in Reading be re-introduced to give students and tenants more confidence when renting properties and to help raise standards in the sector. Officers told us that a slew of government announcements relating to  planning and HMOs has meant that the review is still not complete - not the Council's fault but it's a pity it's impacted on the revival of this scheme. I contacted Reading University Students Union officers about this issue as they have been lobbying the Council for many years to bring back the scheme. They told me that they had held a meeting with RBC officers in December and discussed a survey which would go out to students asking them what sort of scheme they would like to see put in place. I raised concerns about the time the review was taking last night and councillors agreed that we would recommend to Cabinet that the review must be complete and plans in place by June ahead of the next academic year. I am due to meet RBC and RUSU officers to discuss details soon and fingers crossed things will progress.

Private Rented Housing Campaign continues

A year ago I led a scrutiny review into the private rented housing sector in Reading jointly with my Lib Dem colleague Cllr Ricky Duveen (who chairs the Environment Scrutiny Panel). Private rented housing is a big issue in Redlands - in particular HMOs and student housing, so it's something I've always campaigned on, even before I was chair of scrutiny.

Our review made a series of recommendations to the Labour adminstration of Reading Borough Council - 99% of which they accepted in June last year.I made clear at that time that it was vitally important that the scrutiny review should not be a one off and that it should be use to drive continuous improvement in the sector and in RBC policies for the benefit of tenants and residents.

Why bother? Let's not forget 25% of Reading's population lives in the PRS and this is also where some of the worst housing conditions are - 22.6% of properties do not met Decent Homes standard due to poor thermal efficiency, leading to problems of fuel poverty.With this in mind I requested an update report be presented to both scrutiny panels. We will be discussing this and progress since the review at HHCC Scrutiny Panel this Thursday evening at 6.30pm in the Kennet Room. The meeting is open to the public and if you would like to ask a question on this item please contact me.

Some points I wanted to highlight from the report to scrutiny:

• We recommended that the review findings inform the Council's new Housing Strategy - this has happened with objectives to improve both the condition and management of the sector right at the heart of the new strategy
• We recommended that RBC continued to develop and promote services to support tenants in the private rented sector - this is happening with the Deposit Guarantee Scheme continuing to prove popular. The Council is also about to appoint a money advisor for tenants.
• We recommended the creation of a cross-Council enforcement group to tackle problems at a neighbourhood level - since group is up and running and over 20 cases have been discussed ranging from rubbish to empty homes issues
• We recommended more information be made available for local residents about HMOs and planning rules - a leaflet has been drafted but it needs to be revised to take account of recent government announcements relating to HMOs and planning
• We recommended that flexible waste collection be investigated for flats and HMOs following a pilot in Katesgrove - flexibility is now 'inherent in  RBC collection systems' across Reading

Landlord accreditation scheme review

One of the major recommendations from our review, based on feedback we received from Reading University Students' Union and students called for partners to re-establish a comprehensive landlord accreditation scheme to raise standards across the sector and give tenants more confidence about letting properties in Reading. A review of the scheme was launched in October 2009, however, for various reasons the scheme is not up and running yet. This is partly due to the fact that the government has made some announcements that impact on Council policies. Officers are currentlyy looking at schemes currently running and identify any gaps, or missed opporutnities, in the private rented sector that could be bridged through accreditation. A consultation is planned. I will be meeting officers shortly to discuss how we can speed things up.

Latest news from Redlands & University Police Teams

We are very lucky in Redlands to have some very dedicated Police Officers and PCSOs supporting the community in our patch. We work closely with them to help improve community safety - my colleague Kirsten Bayes is actively involved in the Redlands & University Neighbourhood Action Group (NAG) and Glenn and I cover the Newtown and North Whitley NAGs.

If you have any concerns about community safety in your neighbourhood please do get in touch with us.

You can find out which Police "neighbourhood" you live in by visiting the Thames Valley Police website and entering your postcode. You can also find out more about neighbourhood action groups here.

The "neighbourhood priorities" identified by the Redlands and University NAG are currently: 1)Parking and Traffic, 2)Anti-social behaviour and 3)Environmental issues.

As I pointed out on this blog last October he Council and the Police are set to change the structure of community safety groups in Reading. The new structure is set to be unveiled soon - we hope it will be an improvement on what's gone before and that it helps local people feel more involved and able to have their say on what happens in their area.

Burglary - a concern

Burglary is a particular concern at the moment as the latest information we have received from our Police teams is that The number of burglaries in the neighbourhood has increased slightly in recent months.

The latest figures show that the average monthly number of burglaries has increased from 18 per month to 21.3.

The Police are advising residents to lock their windows and doors as they are saying that the "overriding factors" in burglaries at the moment are insecure windows and doors. Before Christmas TVP worked with the University of Reading to offer home security advice to residents.

If you would like advice about ways to make your home more secure please contact TVP Crime Reduction Adviser John McNicholas on 0118 953 6171 or via email john.mcnicholas@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk

Anyway, back to Policing and we have just received the latest news updates from our local Police teams for Redlands and the University area - from Steve Vaughan (Redlands) and Alan Hunt (University). 

I have pulled out some of the key information and attached it below:

REDLANDS

• The whole team worked on night shifts during the times of heavy snow at the Royal Berkshire Hospital. The Police team made sure that the traffic kept moving and cleared the road for the ambulance service to get in and out of the hospital. 
• The Police team also dealt with a number of vehicles that had broken down in the bad weather and officers from the east team pushed them to safety, again doing their best in keeping the roads in the east of Reading moving.
• The latest crime figures available through the Thames Valley Police website show that between October to December 2009, compared to the same three months in 2008, crime in the area has decreased from an average of 46 incidents a month to 45.3, which is a reduction of 1.4 per cent.
• During the same period, burglary has shown a slight increase of 3.8 per cent but ant-social behaviour has fallen by more than 11 per cent.
• On 26 January a 36-year-old man from Reading was arrested in connection with a burglary that had occurred in Emmer Green. He has since been charged with a burglary in Alexandra road, which occured on 26 January. He appeared at court on 30 January and was remanded in custody

Our local Police Teams hold regular "Street Briefings" where local residents can go along and raise issues of concern. The next briefings are being held on the following dates and locations:

12 February, New Road, 5pm, 27 February, Donnington Road, 5pm, 12 March, Upper Redlands Rd, 5pm, 10 April, Marlborough Avenue, 5pm.

The Redlands Police Team are also holding surgeries for residents to raise issues:

Co-op, Erleigh Road 4-6pm - 15 February, 1 March, 15 March, 29 March and 12 April

Royal Berkshire Hospital front entrance, Craven Road, 12-2pm - 8 February, 8 March and 6 April

UNIVERSITY

• The neighbourhood Police team has continued to meet, greet and teach parents who drop off children in outside schools on our area. We know that there have been concerns around safety outside schools and around the pedestrian crossings in Addington Road and it’s hoped that more regular patrols around the busiest periods will allay any concerns.
• We continue to target our patrols in the early hours of the weekend in an effort to speak to groups causing anti social behaviour. This also includes giving advice to residents if the noise from their property is excessive.
• On 23 January a 39-year-old man from Reading was involved in a disturbance at Reading University. He was issued with an £80 fine for disorder. 
• The latest crime figures available through the Thames Valley Police website show that the average monthly number of anti-social behaviour incidents in this area has fallen from 42.3 to 29.7 – a reduction of 29.9 per cent.

The University Police Team will be holding surgeries at Reading University Students’ Union on Monday 8 February 11.30am – 1.30pm and Monday 8 March 11.30am – 1.30pm. They will also be holding surgeries at Subway on Wokingham Road: Tuesday 23 February 3pm – 4.30pm and Tuesday 23 March 3pm – 4.30pm.

Hardworking PC Alan Hunt leaving Police team

We are very sorry to report that PC Alan Hunt who has played a leading role in the University Neighbourhood Police Team is leaving. This is very sad news for the community. Alan commented in an email to us:

"I have somewhat lived and breathed the role over the past two and a half years. Every burglary, robbery, assault and theft has left me feeling that it was up to my team to assist in the investigation and find ways to stop further offences. The figures and response from residents indicate that anti-social behaviour is falling in the area and this is in no small part due to the hard work of my PCSOs who brave all conditions to make our neighbourhood a safe place. My thanks go to them and the partners I have worked with and for."

We are aware that a replacement for Alan is currently being sought. Alan will be much missed - we wish him all the best for the future and hope a dedicated officer will be found to continue his good work.

If you witness any crime or anti-social behaviour in Redlands please report it to Thames Valley Police so action can be taken on 0845 8 505 505. Please also get in touch with Kirsten, Glenn or I and we will do our best to help.

A shocking 80% of crimes go unreported which makes it very difficult for the Police to take action. Please do keep reporting issues and if you feel it is an emergency ring 999.

Don't lose your vote!

That's the message of RBC's annual electoral audit which is due to finish in two weeks time on 22 November.

In plain english this is the process by which the Council checks that the electoral register is as accurate as possible.

It's a message that has particular resonance in Redlands where votes were stolen in 2005.

There is a high level of 'churn' in Reading - much like that found in many big cities and London boroughs. In Redlands the turnover of our electorate is around 50% each year.

This is poses particular challenges for political parties and the Council. This, along with annual elections (most years) in Reading keeps everyone on their toes. Which I think is quite a good thing for democracy.

Given the fact postal vote fraud occured in Redlands in 2005 (the year before I was elected) we take a particular interest in seeing that the Council is doing all it can to ensure the electoral register is as accurate as possible to minimise the risk of fraud.

When I began campaigning in Redlands in 2005 we found there were a number of inaccuracies in the register so we have made a point since then of checking the register and actively reminding people to register to vote.

I think RBC has got better at the process every year, after much nudging by the Lib Dems.

There is still room for improvement but I am particularly pleased to see RBC using experienced staff to canvass households as we had a number of concerns about the Council using a private security firm to carry out this sensitve work.

Councillors were informed last week that  at the end of week 10 of this year's annual canvass, RBC have had 46,738 returns from households, out of a total of 66,785 households (70.0%).

The recent postal strikes have made this year's canvass more problematic than usual. RBC's target for registration is 92% - the same as 2008. It is a costly exercise (setting the local authority back about £150,00), but a very important one.

Registration rates across the Borough vary enormously, from polling district to polling district.

I am grateful to John Painter, Electoral Registration Officer at RBC for the following information which you may find of interest:

In terms of wards, the best returns (above 70%) are from  Mapledurham(84.8%), Thames (80.8%), Peppard (79.4%), Southcote (79.2%), Church (78.9%), Whitley (78.2%), Kentwood (76.5%), Norcot (72.8%), and
Caversham (72.6%); Battle, Park and Tilehurst are hovering just under,at 69%.

In terms of low returns, there are no wards below 50% , and only 3 below 60% - Redlands (55.0%), Abbey (55.5%), and Katesgrove (56.3%).

There are now only 2 polling districts (out of 52) where the return is
below 50%, and a further 7 where the return is below 60%. These are:

Abbey - all but L (New Hope)
Katesgrove - all
Redlands - R and RB (St Lukes, and Hexham Road)
Minster D (Coley Primary)

The two lowest returners, with response rates below 50%, are (as of 22 October):

Redlands R (St Lukes) - 42.7%
Abbey LC (St John's) - 43.2%

As I said earlier, we play close attention to voter registration in Redlands particularly in areas where it is low such as around Erleigh Road and Hexham Road. It is in no-one's interest to have hundreds of people not on the electoral register.

St Lukes polling district has one of the highest concentrations of students in the Borough. Students are registered to vote in halls by Reading University but often when they move out they forget to re-register. This also makes this area vulnerable to fraud.

I have been in contact with the President of Reading University Students Union and the Electoral Services team at the Council to urge them to work together to ensure as many students as possible register to vote. 2010 is going to be a crucial year in local politics in Reading with local elections and a general election likely to occur on the same day.

If you are unsure if you are registered to vote call the electoral services team at RBC on 0118 939 0960. Find out more details on the Council's website.

Don't stop moving!*

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!

Review of landlord accreditation underway

Following our successful campaign earlier this year to get action taken in regards to Reading's large private rented housing sector, I have more good news to report - this time for students in particular.

An officer begins work today at Reading Borough Council to review landlord accreditation in Reading.

This is very positive news. I will be meeting her and other officers shortly to discuss how we can revive this important scheme.

A landlord accreditation operated by RBC existed until 2006 when it was suspended by the Labour administration due to lack of resources.

I am sympathetic to officers who work in the HMO team at RBC as their workload increased a lot with the advent of HMO licensing and other measures introduced by the 2004 Housing Act.

We have been campaigning since 2006 alongside Reading University Students' Union for the re-introduction of landlord accreditation to enable students and other tenants to have a straightforward, easy to understand way of finding good quality rented accomodation in Reading.

A revival of RBC's landlord accreditation was one of the recommendations to Cabinet which came out of the scrutiny review I led earlier this year into private rented housing.

Before it is reintroduced, a review needs to take place as since 2006 a lot of new legislation has come in and it will be important that accreditation adds value and does not conflict with existing HMO regulations or add to much burden to landlords.

We are continuing to campaign for a more joined-up approach between RBC and Reading University on a range of issues including - which is sadly not what we've seen in recent days. I will be meeting senior officers from boths organistions soon to see where we can make progress.

Other good news to report is that on Tuesday the Council is set to approve a new draft housing strategy 2009-2014 and I'm pleased to say thanks to our campaign the private rented sector now features prominently in the Council's overall strategy. 

For years this sector was overlooked by the Labour-run Council and standards did not keep pace with those in parts of the social housing sector in Reading. This clearly occured for political reasons.

Happily with support from my Lib Dem colleagues we have been able to refocus officers attention on to areas such as HMOs and planning enforcement which have been causing residents problems across Redlands, Katesgrove and central Reading.

The Council's strategy and action plan for reducing empty homes also features in the new housing strategy for the Borough which I'm very pleased about (after so many years when the Council didn't even have one!)