My week ahead 31 July - 7 August

August is the month with few meetings but I will be spending the first few days of the week catching up on case work and then a short city break to Lisbon

This week started with campaigning in Great Cornard and the hard work paid off as Tracey Welsh won the parish seat for Labour on Thursday. This could help make Cornard a winnable seat when it comes to the Suffolk County Council election in 2013.

Yesterday we were campaigning in Holywells and Alexandra Ward in Ipswich. Informing residents the good news that their support has helped our campaign to get Tory led Suffolk County Council to recruit a new lollipop person for Foxhall Road.

Like Rosehill Library, the local Tories have always stated that the crossing patrols are safe now Hill/Pembroke have gone. But we have had mixed messages from the County.

First Cllr Bee told us that all crossings would continue (where there is a need) but no mention of Sidegate Lane, Hawthorn Drive or Foxhall Road where the crossings had not been replaced (County imposed recruitment ban). then we were told that all would be saved with the County paying for them, that soon changed again to be told that the County would undertake assessments to see how many children crossed unaccompanied and that some patrols could be scrapped.

We were then told that the Hawthorn Drive crossing would not be replaced and that it was unlikely that the Foxhall Road crossinmg would see someone appointed as no youngsters were seen crossing the road. Then we got the good news - they would recruit a new patrol for Foxhall Road.

Ipswich Tories accuse us of misleading residents about the Library and Crossing patrol situation but they should ask their County colleagues why so many mixed messages are being sent out. We are told this week by Ipswich Tories that Rosehill Library is now safe, implying that it was not safe before??

Back to crossing patrols, we hope that the County can recruit a new patrol before September, if you are interested in the post or know someone who is- contact Mary Jarrett on 01473 265006 or email: mary.jarrett@suffolk.gov.uk

My week ahead 25 - 31 July 2011

This week, I will be In Mid Wales, supporting some young Ipswich residents as they tray to gain their Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award.

Saturday 30 July 10.30am Campaigning in North Ipswich

This week started with 3 meetings on Monday, the first was spent looking how we can get more local residents involved in the North East Ipswich forum, the second was a meeting with Council Officers as we looked at the plan for the Olympic torch arriving in Ipswich. The day finished off with the Labour Group meeting.

On Wednesday, I joined fellow Labour councillors, Bryony Rudkin and Peter Gardiner at Crown Pools in Ipswich as we met users of the pool to discuss the next stage of the pool refurbishment. the users seemed impressed (and surprised) that we were keen to hear their views.




The council meeting that night saw unanimous support for the motion that will see Ipswich form closer links with Nettuno in Italy, what should have just been a formality was slightly soured by Tory leader John Carnall trying to make a fuss about why the meeting was being held. But from the speakers on the night, it seems he was a lone voice and the comments by Lib Dem Richard Atkins and even some of Carnall's own group also indicated that the opposition had wished to form a link with Nettuno during their time in power but for some reason (Carnall?) it never happened.

On Thursday I was at the Colchester Road Fire Station to see the handover of the Needham Market Fire engine and then I finished the week by spending Saturday campaigning for Tracey Welsh in Great Cornard.

Rural Parish elections - important for Labour

On Saturday, I joined a number of other members from the Ipswich Labour Party as we made our way towards the Essex border. Great Cornard was our final destination as we joined local members in campaigning for Tracey Welsh.

Tracey is standing for Labour this Thursday in a local parish by-election. I feel it is important that we have a Labour candidate in every election, County, District, town or parish - all part of our Labour fight back in the South and East of England. Now the Lib Dems have shown their real (Tory) face it is even more important that residents have a Labour candidate to vote for.

There is always much talk of how Parish Councils should not be political and that candidates should be Independents. But the reason for this election is that an Independent won this seat in May but then decided not to take up the seat. Money could have been saved as the Parish Council could have just co-opted another candidate from the election in May but the Tory Party wanted an election. So in the last 4 years, the council has had to spend almost £10,000 on elections caused by internal squabbling between Independents (and Tories).

From talking to residents on Saturday, Tracey has a good chance of winning. Many voters state that we were the only party they had call on them, plus the Lib Dems could not even find a candidate (remember this is part of Babergh - a seat the Lib Dems see themselves as the official opposition). The Independent candidate has distributed a leaflet but strangely with a drawing of a can of beer on the back of it!!

So if you live in Cornard, or know friends and family who live in the town, tell them to get out and vote for Tracey on Thursday the 28th July.