Latest Ipswich Tory leaflet - ‘50% inaccurate, 100% hypocrisy’

Yesterday Ipswich Tories pushed out a leaflet in Stoke Park which is one the most inaccurate I have ever seen put out by the local Conservatives – and that is saying something.

Not sure our local MP, Ben Gummer will be too impressed that his name has been added to it. Not only is it inaccurate but is also scaremongering and as it intended target audience is some of our more senior residents that is scandalous.

But for me more shocking than the inaccuracies is the sheer hypocrisy of the leaflet. Cllr Cenci – who seems to be the author of the leaflet even repeated the inaccuracies on a post on her blog. She has since altered her blog but do not expect her to put out a second leaflet apologising!

Now let's put down the correct facts about the Number 16 bus route, before we highlight both the inaccuracies of the leaflet and the sheer hypocrisy of Cllr Cenci.

Labour are not axing the No 16 bus service, Ipswich Buses are De-registering the service which is not the same and does not mean the service will cease.

As Ipswich Buses no longer intend to run the service on a commercial basis there is a legal process they have to follow. They have to notify VOSA (Dept for Transport) of their intention to cease running these COMMERCIALLY.

Ipswich Borough Council are able to enter into an agreement with Ipswich Buses to continue to run these services with financial support if required.

Ipswich Borough Council has a budget which purpose is to support local bus services.
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That is the facts on the Number 16, and members of Stoke Park Residents Association have been consulted on this. Now the 16 is not the only route that was under threat. In the North East we have both the 22 and 31 being axed by the Tory run County Council, part of the route will now be replaced by a new route- the 39 – but Ipswich Hospital will no longer be served by this bus.

All over Suffolk, the County are looking to reduce their subsidies to bus services- a direct result of the County declaring that for the next 4 years there will be no rise in council tax.
Now onto the claims of Cllr Cenci –

The leaflet (and her original blog post) indicated that Labour Cllr Smart is a member of the Board of Ipswich Bus Company – he is not – she since has indicated that her leaflet does not say he is a board member! The leaflet states; “why he (Cllr Smart) and other Ipswich Bus board members” seems pretty obvious to me if I read that and did not know any better that it was implying Cllr Smart is a bus board member. She should have known that Cllr Smart was not on the board of the bus company as she was party to the nasty act of taking him off the Bus Board in March 2007.

She also needs to remember that every time she puts up a blog post another certain Ipswich Tory will have re-posted it on his site- so the lie/inaccuracy is on here even after she changes her post. (Bet Ben Gummer is glad his name is both on the post and the leaflet – Tory Chair Grant Shapps would not have been so bothered by the inaccuracies!)

Now she is also claims that she has never voted against anything to do with Ipswich Buses – she voted for the Tory alternative budget in 2012 that would have taken away the proposed grant to help subsidise bus services in Ipswich - £140,000 – and now just over a year later she wishes us to spend that money on maintaining the number 16. That is hypocrisy.

She also asks why Ipswich Buses didn’t – or does she mean Ipswich Borough Council? (she seems to forget that the Bus Company is owned but not controlled by the Borough) send her a letter telling of the changes – well as a Rushmere Councillor I am still waiting to be told by the Tory run County that they are to axe the 22 and 31 where in her ward the 16 is set to continue.

She then goes on to list a number of points and the best example of her hypocrisy:

She wants the Borough to fund Ipswich Buses to run the route NOT (her use of capitals) a private company. Shock, horror a Tory wants public transport to be run by the state!! Former Tory Cllr and part time UKIP cheerleader – Gavin Maclure, would want her thrown out of the Tory Party for that statement alone.

Then to even suggest we should use public money to subside public transport – they will think whilst some of her party are thinking of jumping to UKIP she is on her way to join the Far Left!

Now I would welcome her sudden conversion to socialist ideals, but this is the same councillor who voted for a budget that would have stopped IBC giving the bus company money to run routes, the same Cllr who was part of a Tory executive that not long ago wanted to sell the buses off to a private company!

If that is not enough hypocrisy for you to top it off Cllr Cenci stood as a candidate for the County Elections whose only real manifesto promise was 0% council tax rise- the same proposal that is seeing bus routes cut. On her blog post she states she is concerned mainly about the bus route as it is used by many of our senior residents- she did not seem bothered about them when the County agreed to sell off all the Care Homes – to a private company.

So Cllr Cenci, I can’t believe you have seen the light and are now a great believer in Public Transport not only being provided by a council but subsidised by the tax payer.

When I had only been on the council a short while(January 2010) I attended a Borough scrutiny meeting – where a leading Ipswich Tory councillor told us he would never travel on an Ipswich bus as it was like ‘hell on wheels’, last year the Tory transport spokesman did not even know how much is cost on the bus for a trip to town. Public Transport is not and never will be safe under a Tory administration.

My week ahead 10 - 17 June 2013

Monday 10 June – 6pm, Labour campaigning- East Ipswich

Tuesday 11 June – 6pm, East Ipswich Housing Panel

Thursday 13 June – 4pm, Meeting at SCC about proposals for Rushmere Hall School
6pm – Ipswich Borough Council Scrutiny meeting

Friday 14 June – 4pm, Pearl Izumi Cycle Tour series, Ipswich town centre

Saturday 16 June - 10am, Labour campaigning, North West Ipswich

This week has been both satisfying and difficult – the good part was being able to inform residents that their bus service (22 and 31) were not to be lost. The first cuts by the Tory run Suffolk County Council are starting to leak out (no mention in any Tory election leaflet) and subsidies to bus routes are one of the first cuts to hit Ipswich. The good news is that the 22 and 31 will be replaced by a new service – the 39 – though it does cease working earlier in the afternoon as it then moves to the County run school bus service later in the afternoon. I will continue to both fight with residents against these Tory cuts and also work with the Borough Council and Ipswich Buses to try and help in areas where a bus service is lost.

The frustrating part has been dealing with residents’ concerns about the building of the new supermarket on the ‘Golden Key’ site on Woodbridge Rd. Chaos is the best way to describe what Rushmere residents woke to on Monday morning. The traffic jams and chaos were not acceptable. Fortunately our new Labour County Councillor was onto the task straight away and managed to get the County Council to change part of the road layout.

We now have a further 6 weeks of this chaos on one of the town’s main arterial routes! We (Ipswich Borough Council) did turn down the planning application because of traffic concerns – Monday was just yet one more example of where we (and residents) were right. Pity the Government Inspector did not listen – or visit the site during term time!

But to finish on a positive note, was a pleasure to visit the Beverley/Whitby Rd Community 'Front garden' sale today - after the success of the 'Big Lunch' held on Brunswick Recreation Ground last week, it is nice to know that we live in a ward with a real community feel.

Ipswich buses - Hell on Wheels!

Spent this evening at a meeting of Ipswich Borough Council Scrutiny committee, tonight we looked at transport in Ipswich.
What the meeting showed is that the Tory run County Council and the Tory run Borough Council aren't even talking to each other when it comes to transport.This week the local press were full of the new transport development that you can now buy bus tickets over your mobile and guess what? The Tory Borough Council did not know anything about it till Tuesday this week, so much for a joined up transport policy.

But it was later in the meeting that the Tories showed their real views on public transport, a leading Ipswich Tory councillor declared that traveling on Ipswich Buses was like "Hell on Wheels",

Obviously he has never been on the 13 route up to Chantry, with the buses that were ordered under a Labour Council.

Rushmere Tories out of hibernation

The Ipswich Conservative website last flickered into life to welcome us into 2007. in some wards it seems the last newsletter went out in 2005 and Ward Surgeries- well you can't expect them to run the town and meet residents- they have a 50M Olympic Pool to build
Well it must be near the election as a Tory leaflet has been seen in Rushmere- and shock, horror they take the credit for everything! The play area in Shetland Close- to be opened soon- I wonder if they will invite our Labour County Councillor- they forgot last time, when they opened the Dumbarton Rec play area- and Sue Thomas (our County Councilor) even put some of her money towards it.
The leaflet also tells us that they (the Ipswich Tories - gave Senior Citizens - free bus fares- and there I was thinking it was Gordon Brown).
Funny no mention of the proposed bus cuts (including possibly Route 22, which runs through Rushmere) no mention of the local Tory voting against the Zebra Crossing for Rushmere Road.

Well as it is only the second leaflet since the last election, we can't complain- they probably found it hard to find many "good news stories" to print.
To be honest, I am glad they have put something out- it has made me more determined to try and beat them and to expose the real (greedy) face of the Tory party, which is still the party of Thatcher, Howard and the rest- what ever Cameron and his new green tree logo would want us to think.