My week ahead 30 January - 5 February 2012

Monday 30 January 4pm - Culture Portfolio meeting
6pm Scrutiny Working group

Wednesday 1 February 5pm - Rushmere Youth Club, working group

Friday 3 February 7pm - The Ipswich Suffragettes – Talk by local historian Joy Bounds. The Reg Driver Centre, Christchurch Park - contact Ipswich Labour for more details and tickets.

Last Wednesday we attended the full Council Meeting and it was obvious from the first questions to the Executive right through to the vote on the Council rent rise at the end that the Tories and Lib Dems have no strategy on how to form an effective opposition. More on the Council meeting here.

Yesterday it was an Ipswich Labour awayday as we took the short trip to help our Labour colleagues campaign in Kesgrave. It is noticeable even outside Ipswich how unpopular the Tories are becoming, I expect Labour to increase their share of the vote in the the by-election that is to be held in Kesgrave on the 9th February.

This week though has been a sad week for politics in Ipswich, with the death of leading Ipswich Tory, Russell Harsant. As soon as I was elected I hit it off with Russell and loved to banter with him. It was always a pleasure to substitute on planning as you knew Russell would also be there. He will be missed by members from all sides of the political divide.

Will we ever be a Greater Ipswich?

Many of us have been in shock over the last few days as we come to terms with the Government decision not to give Ipswich Unitary status- we may have had a stronger case if the Tories could have got their fellow party members on Suffolk County Council to support the bid.

We may see a Unitary council, but not in 2008 as we hoped for- I actually believe the Government is right in stating Ipswich as a Unitary Authority needs to be larger, I believe it should be all those who live inside the A12. Ipswich in the 21st century is the urban mass surrounded by the A14/A12 box - including Kesgrave, Martlesham Heath, Rushmere and Pinewood.
That does not at first sound good for us in the Labour Party- many would think the inclusion of places like Kesgrave would make it harder for Ipswich to return to the fold of Labour run authorities, but I think we should just take it a challenge, and let us get into places like Kesgrave and Pinewood, because they have the same priorities and concerns as Ipswich residents do.
But whilst we wait for the Boundary Committee to decide on a Greater Ipswich, it is the children of Ipswich who will suffer the most as the school children of Ipswich are seen as the poor relations by the Tories who run Suffolk County Council.