Extract from Southcote Police Report

Below is part of the Southcote Police Report about the Neighbourhood Action Group priorities. The Police in Southcote are working hard for residents in reducing crime and anti-social behaviour.

Following our recent public consultation our three priorities in the neighbourhood are: 1. Parking - Inconsiderate parking across footpaths and grass verges and at school times. 2. Speeding - Speeding in Burghfield Road, Southcote Lane and various residential areas 3. Litter and Dog Fouling - Increasing amounts of litter and owners allowing their dogs to foul the area, especially around Silchester Road and Circuit Lane Traffic/Speeding Unfortunately this has remained an issue. We have continued to carry out speed enforcement checks in Circuit Lane and Southcote Lane by the roundabout, in conjunction with Reading Borough Council. Some motorists have been spoken to regarding their speed, however no one was travelling well above the limit to cause any concerns. We plan to continue to carry out speed checks and PC Bell will be carrying out speeding enforcement using a laser gun. Offenders on these occasions can be prosecuted. Although speeding has been identified by the community as an issue it is not just for us, the police, to deal with. If you are a road user please abide by the speed limits and ensure that members of you household, particularly children, are properly supervised and made aware of the dangers when crossing or using the road. Litter and Dog Fouling Increasing amounts of litter and owners allowing their dogs to foul the area, especially around Silchester Road and Circuit Lane. This problem is caused by a small minority of people who live and travel through Southcote and who show little or no respect for the environment or other people. To address this we need the help of those of you who do care about the place that we live. We need to know who the people are that are allowing their dogs to foul pavements and verges and those who are dropping litter.

Rob Wilson is once again playing politics with the hopes of East Reading parents”

READING & DISTRICT LABOUR PARTY MEDIA RELEASE 29 April 2012 John Ennis : “Rob Wilson is once again playing politics with the hopes of East Reading parents” John Ennis, Labour’s Lead Councillor for Children’s Services, has attacked Rob Wilson’s hints in the press about another new school “focusing on an English Baccalaureate for 11-year-olds upwards” as “once again playing politics with the hopes of East Reading parents” after the truth has come out about the technical academy the MP has been promoting on the Alfred Sutton site. “Mr Wilson’s last scheme was presented as a University Technical College for East Reading,” Cllr. Ennis points out, “but then the University withdrew, then it became clear the catchment had a fifteen-mile radius and the college was very little to do with East Reading, and then they admitted it could only be funded if developers built on the rest of the Alfred Sutton playing fields. “In the course of the consultation on that scheme, local people have been told that the Government refused to fund an 11-19 school, and has only bought enough land for an 14-19 school, so Mr Wilson needs to explain what’s changed, why does he think the Government will now fund something it was refusing to fund last week? Could it be just that Mr Wilson is trying to boost his party’s chances in the Borough elections, or does he really have new money to put on the table? “It’s time for straight talking, and I have emailed Mr Wilson to say that if has anything real to offer Reading children I would be more than happy to meet him to discuss how we can take it forward together. If I don’t hear I will draw my own conclusions.”

“This year Reading has received applications for 2,144 children seeking a place at school for September 2012. This is an increase of 197 (10%) from last year, which follows the national trend. However in Reading only 6% fewer families have been offered their first preference at this stage. “A £20m investment has been made by the Council, over a five year period, to increase capacity in three schools with a further £1.8 million invested this year on temporary measures to cope with high demand in part caused by the economic pressures which are restricting the social mobility that has always been common in the borough. This means as families grow they are having to remain living in the same houses, which in turn puts additional pressure on school places in those areas. “The Council is working closely with schools across the Borough and we are confident we will at the end of the process accommodate all of the children who applied for a place. “As always, we have done everything possible to try to meet parents’ aspirations for where their children go to school and we fully understand that some parents will be disappointed. However, in the circumstances, we have done everything we can to distribute places as fairly as possible by following the published admission policies and processes. Details are as follows: 2012 2011 1st Preference 76.2% 82.3% 2nd Preference 10.7% 8.8% 3rd Preference 3.9% 3.9% 4th Preference 1.60% 0.92%

East Reading Academy : Rob Wilson MP caught out over playing field sale

READING & DISTRICT LABOUR PARTY MEDIA RELEASE 24 April 2012 East Reading Academy : Rob Wilson MP caught out over playing field sale When Park Ward Labour candidate Rachael Chrisp told residents round the Crescent Road area that the supporters of the new Reading Technical Academy were proposing to sell off half the Alfred Sutton playing fields to help fund the scheme, that was dismissed by Oxford and Cherwell Valley College and Rob Wilson MP accused the Labour Party of “grubbing around in the dirt for votes” (Reading Chronicle, 2 April). But, Rachael Chrisp says, the truth will out. At the consultation meeting on 23 April, Sally Dicketts, the Chief Executive of OCVC, admitted that the site was to be sold to a developer, contradicting what OCVC had said only three weeks ago and giving the lie to Rob Wilson MP, chief sponsor of the scheme. “These playing fields are a precious asset for the people of East Reading,” Ms Chrisp says, “and are protected from development under Reading’s planning policies. But Michael Gove seems to believe he can flog them off regardless of local feelings, and when Reading Labour Party tells people the truth about what is being planned we get attacked by an MP who clearly doesn’t want people to know the truth. I have seen emails about this sale on which Rob Wilson is copied in and I know he knows about it, and knew about it when he made that attack. Local people will know never to believe a word he says again. “It goes without saying that Labour will continue to protect the Alfred Sutton playing fields, as we always have,” she adds, “and we will fight Mr Gove’s plans.” Lead Councillor for Education John Ennis adds: “The Council has tried to work with Rob Wilson to deliver the 11-19 school which is what local people want, but all he wants to do is to use his status as an MP to attack the Labour Party, regardless of the facts of the situation. I think he should apologise publicly, to Labour and to the people of East Reading.”

Wilson should stop being grubby and come clean about what is going on with the sale of the land at Crescent Road!

As Lead Councillor for Education and Children's Services I attended the Consultation meeting on the proposals for a new Technical Academy for 14 to 19 year old pupils. I reiterated our minority Labour Administration policy that we will work with any politician, council of any political persuasion, local MP and educationalist to achieve a school in East Reading for 11-19 year pupils.

What we heard was some excellent proposals on working with local businesses and private companies to obtain vocational qualifications and apprenticeships. Whilst this is very much welcome for East Reading children there were some widespread concerns expressed by the overwhelming majority of people attending the consultation meeting.

Firstly there are objections and concerns of building on the green space for community use at the Crescent Road site. This Labour council has protected this green space for years and if re-elected we will continue to do so. Rachael Chrisp, Labour candidate for Park Ward raised this concern recently and was rebuffed by Rob Wilson MP. In the Reading Chronicle website the sentence below denies the plan of developers building on the site, including the green space.

"OCVC has also dismissed suggestions from Reading Labour Party that it is planning to build housing on the playing fields in Crescent Road. Reading East MP Rob Wilson, who brought the stakeholders together, accused Labour of "grubbing around in the dirt for votes".

Where was Wilson tonight to hear from Sally Dicketts, Oxford and Cherwell Valley College Chief Executive, who made the statement about the remainder of the site being "sold to a developer". We are not grubbing around in the dirt for votes but we are concerned about the loss of a major open green space for use by the people of East Reading. Local Labour politicians were there tonight to listen to the views of local people and to express our concerns at the limitations of the proposals. Why wasn't the Reading East MP in attendance to hear the widespread opposition to his proposals of a 14-19 technical academy?

Wilson should stop being grubby and come clean about what is going on with the sale of the land at Crescent Road!

Reading Borough Council very much welcomes a new school but we fundamentally believe that we cannot miss a golden opportunity to build a school for East Reading children that will provide much needed spaces in the future as by 2015 we will have problems finding places for every child wanting a good secondary education.

Pupil Premium: Reading’s children lose out while wealthy Wokingham’s gain!

Pupil Premium: Reading’s children lose out while wealthy Wokingham’s gain!
The Government’s ‘Pupil Premium’ grant, which is a reallocation of existing school funds, is doing the opposite of what the LibDems originally wanted it to do - because the Conservatives have changed the way funding is allocated, areas like Reading with higher levels of child poverty are losing out.

Last year the Pupil Premium was calculated mainly on the number of children having free school meals, but it is now calculated on the number who have had school meals at any time during the last six years, which has meant that wealthy Wokingham and Windsor and Maidenhead are seeing a doubling of their grant at the expense of areas like Reading which is getting a much smaller increase. Because over all schools funding is staying flat this means that Reading's children will lose out on funding.

Labour’s John Ennis, Lead Councillor for Education & Children’s Services, says: “It's ironic that the Pupil Premium – which was proclaimed as helping the most disadvantaged children - is now actually benefiting wealthy areas at the expense of areas with much higher levels of child poverty. If I had voted LibDem in the last election I would be feeling cheated by a government which is clearly committed to unfairness."

The pattern across the country is the same. The area with the lowest figure for children living in poverty is Rutland with 8%, and their grant is going up 126%. The highest figure for children living in poverty is Tower Hamlets with 51%, and their grant went up just 60% - less than half of the increase in Rutland.


Full detail of the pupil premium is here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/mar/16/pupil-premium-child-poverty-data
Summary data for Berkshire is as follows:

Authority Indicative main pupil premium Change (%) Under 16s in poverty (2009) (%)
Windsor and Maidenhead 102 11
West Berkshire 99 12
Bracknell Forest 98 12
Wokingham 98 7
Slough 82 24
Reading 67 23

Guest Post, Cllr Bet Tickner, appeal to LibDem supporters, build coalition against privatisation of NHS.

GUEST POST: appeal to Libdem supporters from #rdg lead on health

The following is a guest post from Bet Tickner, Reading's lead councillor for health and community engagement:

"Only days or weeks remain before the Tories try to force the disastrous and universally unpopular NHS bill into law, in the teeth of opposition from virtually every medical professional body and the public. Now the Lib
Dem party has voted against the Bill at their weekend conference.

At this eleventh hour, Labour MPs have forced a Commons debate on the Drop the Bill e-petition, which was started by a GP and now has 173,000 signatures – that’s a record - this Tuesday.

Let’s remember that there is no democratic mandate for this Bill – Cameron said before the last election that there would be no top-down reorganization of the NHS.

Nick Clegg says now “this is a bill for patients not profits” . It emphatically is not. GP commissioning will open the floodgates for private healthcare companies to drive into the heart of the NHS. This is because good GPs want to spend their time treating their patients, not on the cumbersome and complex task of commissioning.

I call on every Lib Dem supporter to ask their Lib Dem councillor or MP – where do you stand? What will you do to stop this Bill ?

Will you now join with the public, the doctors and healthworkers who want an NHS which resolves the issues of the future, not through competition but by collaboration and cooperation to preserve one of the best healthcare systems anywhere in the world?"