500th solar panel installed on council home in Ipswich

Ipswich Borough Council has this week installed its 500^th solar panel as part of its commitment to providing its residents with sustainable energy solutions.

 

Installed on a home in Maple Close, the news demonstrates the Council’s ongoing effort to use more renewable energy in the town, using local firms for the scaffolding and panel installation.

 

This initiative is part of Ipswich Borough Council's dedication to combat climate change, supporting carbon neutral ambitions, paving the way for a greener and more sustainable future for residents, whilst helping to reduce energy bills.

 

By reaching the 500 milestone, this shows the great strides forward being taken by the Council, harnessing the power of renewable resources on its housing stock in Ipswich.

 

Solar power offers numerous benefits, including decreased dependence on fossil fuels, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and cost-effective energy solutions for community benefit.

My week ahead, 24 - 30 November 2014

Monday 24 November, 10am – Planning visit to Ravenswood
7pm – Labour curry night

Wednesday – 26 November, 9am –- Ipswich Borough Council – Planning meeting

Thursday 27 November, 10am – Labour campaigning
7pm - ‘Your Army’ presentation at Wattisham Flying Station

Sunday 30 November, 11am - Labour campaigning in North West Ipswich

Still slightly in shock from the actions of the Tory Group at the last council meeting, and slightly puzzled that one local blogger thought the Tories asked good questions!

Some were also critical that Labour backbenchers did not contribute to the item about the local plan, but we need to remember this meeting was just approving the sending of the plan to consultation. When the plan comes back to council to be adopted that will be the time for councillors to discuss the issue.

But not surprised that some local commentators were confused as the Lib Dems also did not seem to understand the process as they voted against sending the plan to local consultation. The Tories were also concerned about the consultation process asking for it to be longer but it is already twice the length of time recommended by the Government – so why are they against it? A combination of Nimbyisim and the desperate attempt to seek votes. The Tory and Lib Dem Government rightfully tells us there is a shortage of housing in this country but both the Ipswich Tories and the local Lib Dems seems to be hell bent on stopping or delaying any plan to build new homes in the Borough. Add this to same neighbouring Tory Districts reluctance to build (unless they can stick the houses right on the edge of the town) houses it just makes the housing situation more difficult for Ipswich residents in particular the younger members of our community but as I will mention later the local Tories seems as keen as the Tory Government to inflict pain on our younger residents.

We then had a question on Sunday car parking, slightly strange when again as a Labour Group we have done more to improve car parking the town that the Tories ever did – ‘Quids in’ promotion and the new Regent Car Park as two examples. Plus as Cllr Smart informed the Tory questioner, on a Sunday on street parking is available.

Then we had the latest Tory ‘youngster bashing’ as the Tories put forward an amendment to our proposed pay rise for council employed apprentices, for some very strange reasoning the local Tories were not happy for our young constituents to get a much deserved pay rise!

My week ahead, 24 February - 2 March 2014

Monday – 24 February, 3pm – World War One commemoration steering group
4pm – Culture portfolio meeting
6pm Labour Group

Wednesday – 26 February, 10am – Northgate Foundation meeting
6pm – Ipswich Borough, Full Council meeting

Thursday – 27 February, 6pm – North East Ipswich Partnership meeting
7pm – North East Ipswich Area Committee meeting

Saturday 1 March, 10am – Labour campaigning – South East Ipswich

Sunday 2 March, 11am – Young Labour campaigning – South West Ipswich

The main event this week will be the Full Council meeting where we have to set the budget and agree on what level we set council tax. I believe we, the Labour Group can be very proud of what we have achieved in Ipswich over the last few years in what have been difficult times. It has been hard work to retain a level of service that is acceptable for Ipswich residents, a task that has been made more difficult by the savage cuts to local government funding from this Tory/Lib Dem Government.

In Ipswich we are further hampered in this difficult task by the ideological way the Suffolk County Council administration has gone about its own work. They are determined to drive though their policies at the same time as building up huge reserves and all of Suffolk are suffering but in particular Ipswich are being hit the worst.

In Suffolk you just have to look at the place the county sits in the education league tables and in Ipswich we have roads and verges that remind me more of war torn Sarajevo that a prosperous town in East Anglia.

It will be interesting on Wednesday to see if the Tory group offer any workable alternatives to our proposed budget.

I believe our budget is the best for Ipswich residents, and we should also thank the Officers and the employees at the Borough who have helped us over the last three years in providing an excellent service to Ipswich residents in very testing times.

New bid to target empty homes

A new scheme to target long-term empty homes in Ipswich has been launched by the Borough Council.

“Report it empty” allows members of the public to make the Council aware of properties they believe have remained unoccupied for more than six months.

Empty homes can cause problems to neighbours, fall into disrepair and in some circumstances attract anti-social behaviour. The scheme gives residents thepower to help Council staff identify these homes and allow an investigation to be carried out.

Over the past year, Ipswich Borough Council has introduced a number of new tools to tackle empty homes, which have proved to be successful. It is hoped “Report it empty” will help continue this success by providing an extra link to the public to report homes that might otherwise have slipped through the net.

Councillor John Mowles, the Council’s Housing portfolio-holder, said: “We are determined to tackle empty homes in the town. Most could be brought back into use to house families in need of accommodation and we offer advice and support to owners. It is important to remember that an empty property raises no income for the owner; an occupied property provides a home and income.

“We don’t want to see homes remain empty for any longer than is absolutely necessary. The advice and incentives will, wewould hope, be sufficient to achieve this in the majority of cases. However,the Council does have Compulsory Purchase Powers (CPO) that can be pursued if necessary and we are prepared to take that path as a last resort if all else fails. In fact, a decision to serve notice of compulsory purchase has been taken in respect of six properties in the past six months.”

If you own an empty home and would like further information on the schemes to help you bring it back into use please contact the Council’s Private Sector Housing Team on 01473 433000.

Homelessness in Ipswich

Last night we had one of our regular Ipswich Councillor briefings and on this occasion it was about homelessness in the town- This is a serious problem but one that is going to get worse as this Government’s welfare changes are pushed through.

Some excellent work has been done by Demelza Penberth, the project manager is actually working out who is homeless. The difficult ones who are hard to pin down are those who ‘sofa surf’ either with family or friends. The number of ‘sofa surfers’ is likely to increase and in many cases they do not see themselves as homeless.

The way we treat homeless people is strange, as one of the slides indicated – if your mad, bad or sad you may be housed but if not covered by those 3 tags you have no right to a roof but a homeless dog is entitled to seven days in a shelter with food!

The good news in Ipswich is that we have the ‘Ipswich Housing Action Group’ – they started as a pressure group in the 70’s but they are now seen as an important partner by Ipswich Borough Council.

What they have devised is a way of getting all agencies to work together through the IpPoint, and importantly this will operate outside office hours as we were informed not many people are homeless between 9-5 on a Monday to Friday! All this will come under the work of the Ipswich Locality Homelessness Partnership.

It is believed that in Ipswich there are 144 people who are statutorily homeless and of those there were 46 single people homeless. What the partnership and IBC are aiming for is that no person will have to spend a second night out – sleeping rough. But it is not just about housing people it is also helping them deal with other problems they may have from drugs to drink.

We are lucky in Ipswich to have the Ipswich Housing Action Group and that they have such dedicated staff and volunteers. What was lightly disappointing was the poor attendance by opposition councillors. Only 1 of the 4 Lib Dems turned up and the Tories were not much better with only 5 out of their 12 councillors feeling the need to attend. One of those absent included their Shadow Housing Portfolio holder, fortunately 22 of the Labour Councillors were in attendance including our leader and most the council front bench.

The issue of homelssness will take up more of the councillors work as we see the changes to the benefits system take place, only this week we hear that Delia Smith is opening a 'food bank' in Stwomarket as more people find it hard to get by.

Ipswich Tories still love Thatcher

Not sure David Cameron would be that pleased but only months after he gets into Parliament we have local Tories in Ipswich forgetting all this new green cuddly Tory image and getting back to worshiping Thatcher.

Tonight at the Full Council meeting in Ipswich we had Cllr Pope the Tory Housing portfolio holder informing us that Margaret Thatcher was the saviour of social housing, and to make the evening even more absurd the Lib Dems nodded their heads in agreement and went and voted for his amendment!

Labour was asking for Full Council support in a motion that asked for the Government to secure Tenancy rights for Council House occupants. Instead of support all we got was a 10 minute "Thatcher" worshiping session.

For many of us on the Labour side this was hard to stomach, especially as this morning all councilors received a letter asking us to join Borough Council staff in celebrating the 90th anniversary of the first council house in Ipswich. Tories and Lib Dems could not see the irony in this.



Allenby Road, Ipswich - where our first two council houses were occupied in 1920

But just to show where the Tory loyalties lie we were then informed by the Tory leader how they intended to solve the housing problem in Ipswich - no, they were not going to show great leadership and build on North Ipswich with a master plan, their great idea?? Build on Council House back gardens! You couldn't even make it up, Maggie would be pleased.

Granted a 'Leave of Absence'

Last Wednesday the Full Ipswich Borough Council granted me a 'leave of absence' for 11 months. this will enable me to keep my place on the council if I am mobilised in January to join 2 Rifles on a planned tour of Afghanistan.


I thought it may have been a quick decision, and as I had to leave the chamber, I did not think I would be out of the room long. But a debate was had and two of the Lib Dems abstained and one even spoke against allowing me to retain my post.


I can understand some people finding it difficult to vote for me to leave if they are against our presence in Afghanistan but I was surprised that they actually spoke against it.


But I am led to believe that our group leader, David Ellsmere spoke very powerfully for me to be allowed to stay on as a councilor and also from the opposite benches, Steven Wells also spoke up for me and so it was nice to have cross party support.


My Labour colleagues will continue to campaign in Rushmere whilst I am away and take on my ward work and the two Conservative councillors for the ward have also offered to take on any outstanding case work.


I am not sure when I am off, or even if I am definitely going but until I do I will continue to work for my constituents, on Saturday I was delivering budget leaflets in the ward and this week I have 3 committee meetings at Grafton House.


Once I have definite news on my mobilisation I will inform my constituents.

Ipswich Labour - the sensible proposals for Unitary Ipswich

As I have already blogged, I find it unbelievable that the Boundary Committee wants to put Ipswich in with Felixstowe, even worse would be a Unitary Suffolk (Yes - that is the same authority who want to pay someone about 19 grand to look after the Chief Executive's diary! Well the Chief Executive is only in the top five of best paid Chief Executives- you can't expect her to look after her own diary!!)

A Unitary Ipswich is the best way forward, a pity that the Tories and Lib Dems have now jumped on the Haven bandwagon- read our response- well written and the way forward.

Ipswich Labour Party's submission to the Boundary Committee has been posted on Ipswich labour Party's website here.
After being denied a vote at Ipswich Borough Council on the options put forward by the Boundary Committee, Labour councillors in Ipswich, supported by Ipswich MP, Chris Mole, and local Labour Party members delivered leaflets about the review to Ipswich residents encouraging them to respond either direct to the Boundary Committee or via the Labour Party Office.
Over 1200 individual residents did respond, with all but a handful opposing both Boundary Committee options. Ipswich residents clearly see the "North Haven" proposal as little better than a unitary Suffolk solution. Labour Group leader, David Ellesmere, also contacted every parish council in the proposed North Haven area and asked for their views on the proposals. No parish council that responded wanted their parish to become part of a North Haven council.

Ipswich Labour Party reviewed all comments received to inform its own submission to the Boundary Committee.

This submission was put in to the Boundary Committee ahead of the consultation deadline along with the views of all 1200 Ipswich residents who had responded to us. Responses received after the deadline have also been sent to the Boundary Committee who have confirmed that they will continue to accept late submissions.

Ipswich Borough Council Labour Group and Ipswich Labour Party support a unitary council covering the urban Ipswich area. Full details of the boundaries we propose are in the attached document "Boundary Committee Proposals - IBC Labour Group Response".

Ipswich Borough Council Labour Leader David Ellesmere said: "One of the key tests the Government sets for new unitary councils is that they command a broad cross-section of support. It is clear from the results of our survey that 'North Haven' and 'One Suffolk' overwhelmingly fail this test. The Boundary Committee must come up with new proposals that are acceptable to the people of Ipswich."

Ipswich Tories put up a - 'Wall of secrecy'

Tory 'Wall of secrecy'

Before I was elected, I looked forward to Council meetings, some idealistic idea about this being the 'home of democracy' - instead I have just been met by constant arguments, abuse and having to put up with all this and still have nothing to see at the end, as the administration (well about 3 of them) have already decided on what is going to happen and the last thing they want is debate!

This week they even went further by denying our leader the chance to see a vital document, then trying to throw the public out of the meeting- here is what happened:

Ipswich Borough Council has been attacked over a “wall of secrecy” surrounding plans to make £3.5m “savings” in the council’s housing services.
Conservative and Liberal Democrat councillors took an “in principle” decision to go ahead with the massive savings programme at a behind-closed-doors meeting on Tuesday 7th October. A similar commitment was also made to pay consultants a substantial fee to deliver this programme. Before any discussion took place, councillors voted to ban members of the press and public from the meeting.
The Executive has even refused to release the report detailing what the cuts it plans to make to other councillors. Only those Conservative and Liberal Democrat councillors who are on the Executive were allowed to see the report under conditions of strict security. In a bizarre twist it has also emerged that the leader of the Liberal Democrats was not even allowed to see the report.
The only Labour councillor who has since been allowed to see the report, Leader David Ellesmere, been gagged from speaking about the savings programme and threatened with disciplinary action if he discloses the report’s contents.
At a meeting on Wednesday the council even tried to remove members of the press and public from the room while a question was asked about this obsessive secrecy! The council only backed down after protests from Labour councillors.
Labour Leader, David Ellesmere, said:
“I’ve been told I am not allowed to say how the savings are going to be made, which consultants are going to be taken on, nor how much they are going to be paid. This is not the way decisions should be made. Council tenants will be extremely anxious about what these plans mean. If the Tories and Liberals don’t have anything to hide, why all the secrecy?”

Start of a new "Cod War" - Ipswich v Iceland!

Myself and my Labour councillors have today called for an urgent investigation into the circumstances surrounding Ipswich Borough Council’s £5m losses resulting from its loans to collapsed Icelandic banks.
Labour councillors want the investigation to focus on:
* Were the council’s investment procedures followed correctly?
* What impact this loss could have on council services?
* What steps have been taken to minimise future risks?

Labour finance spokesperson, Cllr Martin Cook said:
“This is a huge amount of money for the council to lose, equivalent to £125 per band D property. Ipswich council tax payers need to be reassured that procedures were followed correctly and that everything possible is being done to eliminate the potential for similar losses in future.”

So a new "Cod War" or "Cash War" - Lucky for us Herman is now at Portsmouth!

Smoked filled Council Chambers?

It was once said that towns were run from smoke filled Council Chambers- or was it smoke filled back rooms in pubs -well here is a picture of Ipswich Borough Council in the early 70's maybe one of the last meetings of the last Ipswich Unitary Authority. Will be interesting to compare it with the first picture of the new Ipswich Unitary authority in May 2008 (or 2009 if those un -democratic Tories and Lib Dems get there way.

Both my mum and dad (Annie and Peter Ross) are in the picture- will I make the picture in 2008?

What are the Lib Dems and Andrew Cann playing at?

Ipswich will continue to be run by a Tory administration - with Lib Dem support. The local paper- the Evening Star did mention that the Lib Dems would have to decide what direction they would take after a poor election result. - would they stay in the administration with the Tories? Or join in power with Labour? Or decide that their principles were more important than token power and join neither.

We can only wonder how long they debated their future plans, but all the Labour Group received was short letter asking us to apologise for a number of supposed crimes! The letter had no date for when a reply was needed and seemed lacking in any concrete proposals. so they may in future state that they did ask Labour about sharing power but in reality they quickly jumped back in with the Tories. As one of their Councilors was already talking about her plans for when she became Mayor - it seems that the decision had been made before the election!

Where does this leave Andrew Cann - for those not from Ipswich - Andrew Cann is the son of the late Labour MP for Ipswich, Jamie Cann (pictured above). after his father died, Andrew did join the Labour Party but soon left in a blaze of (self) publicity to join the Lib Dems. In 2005 he won a seat on the County Council for the Lib Dems but failed in 2006 to win a seat on the borough council. He did manage to win Westgate this year- with a majority of 13.

The Lib Dem elation at this result was short lived as the work they put into Westgate made them forgot about all their other seats/targets in the town and so they lost Whitehouse, had their majority in St Margaret's slashed and were pushed into third place in Holywells.

Andrew does have the ear of the local press and already since the election has been in the local paper criticizing the Tory run Suffolk County administration but forgetting to mention that he is now part of the Tory led administration that runs the Borough of Ipswich.

Andrew Cann has also made it quite clear that he would like to be the Lib Dem candidate at the next General Election.

Why? It does seem to be that Andrew does hold number of Labour members responsible for not helping his father as much as he thinks they should of.

I was not in the party then, so I cannot comment on that, but much of my political learning come from hearing Jamie Cann and my late father discuss politics over a pint in the Duke of York. I remember both of them during the dark days of Militant, continuing to fight for what they believed in and not taking the easy option of leaving the party. this enabled Ipswich to continue to be run by Labour for 25 years - most of that during the dark days of Thatcher.

I for one can't believe Jamie would have left the party over some difference of opinion.

Andrew may have thought he was being clever by not taking a place on the ruling executive of the Ipswich Borough Council - but Andrew YOU ARE a member of the Tory run administration- what ever you would like the public of Ipswich to think.