My week ahead 17 - 23 June 2013

Monday 17 June – 4pm, Culture Portfolio meeting
6pm, Labour Group meeting

Tuesday 18 June – 5pm, Sidegate School, Finance meeting

Wednesday 19 June – 9am – Ipswich Borough Council, Planning meeting – Grafton House

Thursday 20 June – 7pm, ‘Refugee Week’ Quiz with a twist! PJ McGinty and Sons Pub

Friday 21 June – 7pm, Launch of Ip-Art, Ipswich Waterfront

Saturday 22 June - 10am, Labour campaigning, North West Ipswich


Many people moan about the town we live in, but Ipswich has far more going on in it than most towns of a similar size and certainly far more than when I was growing up in the town. The best bit is much of it is free and there is something for all ages to see or participate in.

This week we had the final of the ‘Tour Series’ cycle races and it was without doubt a great success and more pleasing was the organisers stating it was the best event of the whole series. The trick now is in conjunction with the County Council to work towards hosting an even bigger cycling event. Manchester may have the velodrome but when it comes to road events, Ipswich (and Suffolk) is certainly becoming a second home for British Cycling.

This week we launch Ip-Art in the town, again a vast range of events and many aimed at our younger residents and many free. The Sherlock Homes play by the Pantaloons, to be staged outside Christchurch Mansion is the one event that I have pencilled in to attend. But I am sure that even the biggest ‘moaner’ will find something they like happening over the next few weeks.

A number of meetings to attend over the next week, planning will see the thorny subject of yet another application for another bookmakers to be opened in the town. The Government and our local Tory MP keep implying that we (the local council) can do something but this is case, similar to phone masts where the Government needs to give more direction.

I also have a further meeting at Sidegate Primary School, the staff – and the pupils are working so hard to improve standards but often it seems the Tory Government just want to pull the rug from underneath them with the Tory County Council not helping but just saying “how hard to you want the rug pulled?”

Any spare time will be spent campaigning in the five wards that are under threat of seeing a bus route removed or reduced. The Tories seem to have just focussed on one ward and spent most of the time scaremongering rather than looking for a solution. Fortunately Labour run Ipswich Borough council has a fund of £140,000 that can be used to help subsidise bus routes- a fund the Tories did not want us to have!