Tory run Suffolk still treat Ipswich as the poor relation

Tory run Suffolk do seem to have a real issue relating to Ipswich – their County Town. They work in in, travel to and through it but that seems to be the only real link they have.

No Ipswich County Councillor in the Tory Cabinet, but then again they only have one Tory County Councillor in the whole town and he walked away from his Cabinet post. So they appointed a member from outside the borough to represent our views.

But last night we saw yet another example of how little they seem bothered to interact with both Ipswich politicians and residents.

The County Council have held a number of budget consultation meetings throughout Suffolk, attendance has varied but number between 20 and 30 residents attending each meeting were the figures quoted.

On the 30^th November, Suffolk tweeted that they would be holding the last budget consultation in

Ipswich on the 9^th December at 4pm. No further tweets were issued, (surprising as in the summer we had an almost constant twitter update on what Tory leader Colin Noble was up to), we then had a small piece in the local paper and that was it for publicity.

I turned up to hear what was going to be said and found a room of empty seats- no public turned up, not surprising with so little publicity (they had not even told their own County Councillors) and holding it during the working day.

Taken last night at the meeting - a row each?

Eventually we had an audience of 6, one Lib Dem Cllr, 4 Labour councillors (including me) plus the Chief executive from the Borough.

The Tory Cabinet member responsible for Ipswich – Chris Hudson - did not even attend – then again he still has to show his face at any of our Area Committee meetings.

So we have the largest population in Suffolk but seem to get less attention from the ruling Tories than in a small Parish Council in West Suffolk!

Of course the Tory Cabinet may have had more important meetings to attend and as I checked my twitter feed, I saw that the Tory Cabinet twitter account was tweeting about the poor train service from London to Ipswich, complaining about dirty carriages and that top price had been paid for the ticket. They did not say if they or ‘us’ the council tax payer had paid for the ticket! Surprised to see them moaning about the trains as I thought Tory MPs Gummer, Patel and Smith had overseen a dramatic improvement in our rail service over the last 5 years! So it seems at least one Cabinet member was on their way back from a meeting in London - but where were the others?

So what did the Ipswich public miss? Quite a lot and it was not good news, for those setting the budget it seems that savings have to be made at ‘Ipswich Park & Ride’ and that could mean giving 6 months’ notice to the bus company and closing the facility. Savings from the savage cuts to the Fire service are in the budget, so it does make me wonder why they are even holding a public consultation on those planned cuts, also bad news for rural transport, schools and recycling.

Good news is that the training budget for councillors will be retained so that the Tory Cabinet can have further media training at a London Film Studio.

So the budget is bad news, the consultation a farce and the only thing that was confirmed was that Tory run Suffolk have very little interest in Ipswich and its residents! 

Wonder if the Tory MPs for Ipswich, Gummer and Poulter plus the Ipswich Tory leader, Nadia Cenci are happy with the way their Tory Party colleagues treat Ipswich?

Cheap beer and bingo- that will make me vote Tory!

The Tories have produced a post budget poster- and this is real it is not a PARODY! Hard to believe I know.

I have accused certain Ipswich Tories and even the Tory MP for the town, Ben Gummer of being patronising - I can now see it is a natural Tory trait.

To actually believe that all hardworking families will be happy as beer is 1p cheaper and we can now afford to go to bingo. Is that all they thing hardworking families do?

So Tories make it possible for us to afford bingo, but at same time they reduce funding to libraries, make it harder for local authorities to keep museums open for free- They are the #outoftouch Party.

Within minutes a new version of the poster has been produced - hard hitting but maybe less damaging to the Tories than their own poster- taxi for Grant Shapps?

But are we happy with the budget? No, not even if we play bingo!

"We've all got budgets George!"

'All in this together' More holidays for the PM or more foodbanks for everyone else?

David Cameron finds Mr Osborne has produced a budget that has made him laugh! Not sure he would be smiling if he was queuing up at a Foodbank rather than queuing at an airport for yet another holiday!

Fly(er)ing off the handle

Last Wednesday was the budget setting meeting of the Full Council in Ipswich. After savage cuts forced on us by Erick Pickles and the Tories – with Lib Dem support (though Eric seems to be ignoring his own 50 top tips!) we had to increase Council tax – this will help save frontline services and the cost to most residents will just be 9p a week.

The Tories had to withdraw their own alternative budget – as they only handed it in a few hours before the deadline! Now one Tory blogger has commented that Labour never presented an alternative budget in 7 years – forgetting that when the Tories/Lib Dems were in charge we were not able to see the accounts till the last minute whilst the Tories and Lib Dems have been involved in the budget making process through working groups and Scrutiny.

So no Tory budget but they did use the meeting to say where they would save money – scrap area committees seemed to be their number one plan – or it seemed their only plan.

But after their leader said scrap the committees and in particular the pay the chairs of those committees get it all started to unravel quickly. Cllr Vickery forgot it was the Tory leader who was the first to claim the Chair’s allowance. Cllr Cenci then also attacked the area Committee (but only a day later was tweeting how good the last SW Area Committee was) but then mentioned bringing back Area Forums (cost?) and then said it would be better to give Cllrs locality money – so no saving just moving money to a different pot!

The whole of the Tory response was turning into a farce, only saved by their former leader – Cllr Harsant making a speech that displayed any passion for this town.

When you thought it could get no worse for the Tories – Judy Terry rose to speak – she did not get off to a great start, quoting from confidential papers but then she mentioned her great money saving idea – only hold elections every four years – what price democracy? Many other types of council do hold elections every four years but it can lead to Cllrs being invisible for the first three years then suddenly appear at election time. With elections every year, it forces political groups to campaign all year long – of course with very few members the Lib Dems struggle to leave St Margaret’s and the Tories seem to have lost a large number of members and more importantly- activists, so in Rushmere we have only seen one leaflet in the 10 months since the last election and some wards have not seen anything for over a year. Maybe she thinks it will mean we will cancel next year’s election? Probably the only way she will save her seat!

So after we had heard all the great Tory money saving ideas – well the two of them – scrap area Committees and hold election every 4 years – David Ellesmere the Labour Leader took to his feet and indicated that Judy Terry had forgot to mention her plans to spend more money – a referendum on the Northern Fringe!

Straight away, I thought how strange – she wants to reduce democracy and have elections every 4 years then on the other hand she wants to hold an expensive referendum on a plan that originally had all party support! I also wondered why she had not proposed referendums on the sale of Kiln Meadow, the Wind Turbine contract or the sale of the Ipswich Bus Company.

When did Judy Terry suddenly become anti-development on the Northern Fringe? She was on the executive that put the original plan forward and voted for it – how do the 6 Tory Cllrs from the North West feel (well the 4 who are left) one of their members even gave up his front bench role over the plan. I guess her sudden change of heart is caused by realisation that she is in great danger of losing her seat in the May election – she even seems to have persuaded the County Council cabinet to suddenly become anti Northern Fringe development.

Now when David Ellesmere mentioned the referendum, Judy Terry quickly jumped to her feet to say she had not said that- Cllr Ellesmere told her she had put in her column in the Ipswich Flyer- she said she never wrote that (allegedly she thought David said her column in Ipswich Spy!) The Mayor eventually got her to stop behaving like Boris Johnson and to sit down. After the meeting David showed her the Flyer column. Still not happy she said she could not remember writing it and may have written it last year! Funny as she has a column each month and in the infamous column she mentions attending a meeting on the Northern fringe at the end of January! So much for last year!! She got caught out and instead of putting her hand up she has continued to keep digging- Cllr Cenci offered me some advice last week about engaging brain before writing- maybe she should phone her Tory colleague up before we read the April Ipswich Flyer- unless she wrote that column last year as well!

So let’s get this Northern Fringe debate straight – Judy Terry would rather see more houses built on brown field sites in the town rather than the Northern Fringe, so every spare space off Foxhall Road? St Clements? – So her own Rushmere residents will see more traffic and congested routes into town- Woodbridge Rd, Spring Rd and Foxhall Rd whilst her Lib Dem NIMBY friends on Westerfield Rd will have the occasional car? I hope Cllr Terry gets that message over to the residents of Rushmere, St Johns and Bixley at the next Area Committee!

My week ahead 20 - 26 February 2012

Monday 20 February 1pm - Meeting at Sidegate Primary School
6pm - Labour Group meeting

Tuesday 21 February 5.30pm - Tony McNulty talk at UCS

Saturday 25 February 10.30am - Labour campaigning in South East Ipswich

This week we finished setting the budget for Ipswich that we will put to Full Council at the end of the month. I believe Ipswich residents will see that we have managed to put forward a progressive budget even with the limitations placed on us by the Tory/Lib Dem Government. More information on the budget here.

Over the next few days I will be continuing to talk to residents about the proposal to build a shop on the site of the Golden Key.

Labour run Ipswich Borough Council - a budget for jobs and growth

At the end of the month, Ipswich Borough Council will vote on the first Labour budget for 8 years, certain Tory and Lib Dem commentators were already stating that they thought we would raise Council tax, but even with the cut in grants from the Tory/Lib Dem national government we have managed to freeze council tax.

But we have also manged to produce a budget for jobs and growth, these are the key points;

1. First Labour budget for 8 years
2. A Budget For Jobs and Growth
a) Major investment in jobs and skills
b) First new council houses in over 20 years
3. No cuts to frontline services
4. A freeze in council tax

The establishment of a £1.5million Jobs and Skills Investment Fund. A report to the March Executive will set out how this Fund will focus on:

Up-front and one-off investment in initiatives that will support jobs and skills issues in the next year

Initiatives that would provide a return and enable the creation of a revolving fund

Initiatives that the Council would support over a number of years;

A £5 million a year programme for the provision of new affordable housing – mainly via the construction of the first new council houses in Ipswich in 20 years.

A £1 million revolving fund to bring empty homes back into use;

Reintroduction of renovation grants to support improvements to homes in the private sector.

Tories say "put it in the bank"

Last night saw Ipswich Borough Council debate the budget plan, I say debate but what I mean it was just an opportunity for the tories to blame the whole worldwide recession on Labour and Gordon Brown in particular.


We had put forward 10 amendment's to the budget, which would have led to an £8 million boost to the Ipswich economy and still keeping the Council Tax at the same level as the Tories/Lib Dems have set. All the amendment's were thrown out by what became the Carnall and Cenci show! Just like a music hall act but one with little laughter. Actually that is wrong John Carnall spent most of the time laughing- obviously he has not met many constituents in Bixley who have been hit by the current economic meltdown.


The Tory answer to the problems we face is to leave the money in the bank- till a rainy day, well its seems to be pouring at the moment. What Carnall means, is they want to save money so they can set a low Council Tax rate in election year!


A number of our amendment's would not have cost much money- an example was the £7,000 proposed to employ a member of Council staff to help with Ipswich to keep their Fairtrade status, this was thrown out and what was quite amazing was the attack on those who want Fairtrade, by certain Lib Dem members. I wonder how those who vote Lib Dem would have felt?

I was so annoyed by the Carnall/Cenci show that I even left before the end of the meeting - I thought that I would rather spend time with my family in my last week here before I depart for my final training before I deploy to Afghanistan. I even felt like giving up politics.


But fortunately this morning a visit to the Dundee House sheltered Housing scheme, has made me more even determined to not only return a Labour Council to Ipswich but even more importantly help Labour win a fourth term in government.


For those who feel the Tories have changed- and that Cameron is now moving to the centre- forget it- Carnall and Cenci showed that in Town Halls all over the county, the same Thatcher Tories are still running the show.

£8 Million boost for Ipswich economy

As I blogged a week ago, the Ipswich Tories-like Cameron and his cronies are sticking to their "Do nothing" principles. My Labour colleagues and myself have proposed a budget that will see an £8 million boost to the local Ipswich economy. We will be putting forward our budget plan at the Full Council meeting this Wednesday.

Wonder who the Lib Dems will support- and 8 million pound boost to the Ipswich economy (that will not see a rise in council tax) or -as we all expect - they will support the Tory "Do nothing" plan. Maybe they like seeing more empty shops in Ipswich

The Ipswich economy could receive an £8m boost if proposals put forward by Labour councillors are agreed at the meeting on Wednesday.

Highlights of Labour’s “Budget for Jobs” include:

• a large-scale home energy efficiency programme

• doubling the size of the council’s affordable housing programme

• reversing the cuts in grants to good causes

• a freeze on bus fares

• an investment fund to bring empty properties back into use

• ensuring Ipswich residents and businesses claim the grants and benefits they are entitled to.

The measures put forward would be paid for by reducing the amount of money the council keeps in the bank for a rainy day, bringing forward spending from future years and borrowing at extremely low rates of interest. There would be no increase in council tax and no cuts in services. The council’s Chief Finance Officer, as required by law, has stated that figures are correct and that the council’s remaining reserves (£1.8million) are adequate.Labour Leader David Ellesmere said: “Councils should be at the forefront of protecting their residents from the worst of the economic downturn. Our programme will save jobs, save residents money and help to save the planet. It is just the boost that Ipswich needs.”

Do nothing from the 'Do nothing' party

Not only are Cameron and his cronies doing nothing but even here in Ipswich the Tories (with help from their Lib Dem puppets) are also intending on doing nothing to help Ipswich during this recession.Now you may think that it is easy for us to say as we are in opposition, but we have produced our own budget proposals and there is no doubt that these proposals would do far more for the people of Ipswich and the businesses who employ them.

Ipswich Borough Council’s 2009 budget does the bare minimum to help people struggling to cope with the economic down and is a “massive missed opportunity”.
Labour councillors had called for a “Budget for Jobs” and published a list of 27 measures they wished the council to introduce in its budget.
While the council has introduced some measures that Labour called for, such as investing in the University, most of the help for Ipswich residents and businesses has been ignored such as:
1. An expanded programme of home insulation
2. Waiving Business Rates to bring empty shops back into use
3. Introducing “local labour clauses” into council contracts to give work to local people
4. A freeze on bus fares
5. Passing on the Government’s VAT cut
6. More help to keep people struggling with mortgages in their homes

Labour councillors believe that the council is pursuing completely the wrong strategy for trying to boost the local economy. Instead of bringing forward spending to support local businesses the council is actually planning to increase the money it keeps in the bank by £800,000.
The council is also being criticised for trying to sneak through the cuts it is planning to bring in such as:

· Cutting grants to voluntary organisations by £30,000
· Hitting Ipswich Town FC’s finances by increasing football parking charges
· Cutting the opening hours at Sports Centres and the Corn Exchange
· Cutting help to reduce abandoned vehicles at a time when scrap metal prices have plummeted which will lead to more abandoned vehicles
· Putting people’s health at risk by increasing charges to remove asbestos

Labour Leader David Ellesmere said: “The council has turned its back on its responsibilities to Ipswich businesses and residents who are struggling in the economic downturn. It is worse than ‘do nothing’ - some of what the council is planning will actually make things harder for the people of Ipswich.”