Is Canvassing Dangerous ?

Fantastically interesting day yesterday. Met lots of residents and all for the price of one bike crash.

Douglas Alexander and the Pakistani Community Centre

I met with Douglas Alexander MP and members of the Pakistani Community Centre at lunchtime. It was interesting to hear his take on Libya, the Afgan conflict and issues of racism. I was asked to make a short speech and asked him how we deal with the attitude of papers like the Daily Express who seem intent on stirring up intolerance in our communities.

Canvassing

We have been out most nights knocking on residents' door for the last few months. It was very nice to be door knocking when it wasn't raining, snowing or dark. The residents were very concerned about many issues, however the main issue was still Maiden Erlegh. I was happy to complete the picture for residents, however they seemed very concerned about Conservative Councillor Wazir's role in supporting WBC's proposals. It was on the way to canvassing that I fell off my bike, so had to do the canvass feeling slightly wobbly.

University and Redlands NAG

Topped the evening off with the University and Redlands NAG public meeting. The Council, Police, University and Students' Union all presented what they have been doing to react to residents' concerns about the area. The police presentation was striking, crime is down in the area, however burglary is an issue. Burglary has become an issue because of the number of Houses in Multiple Occupation which seem to be less well secured. The Police is working with the University and Landlords to make sure that  the Landlords fulfil their obligations to protect their tenants. There was a good mix of residents and officials, unfortunately the Park Councillor who is up for election, Conservative Cllr Wazir Hussain, appeared not to have it in his diary so wasn't there. Shame really...........

Is it time to persue legal action?

Cllr Wazir's letter welcoming WBC's prosals

I have just sent the below letter to all original petitioners, who had signed the first petition against the Wokingham's plans to stop Park's children attending Maiden Erlegh school.

Many of you will have already been informed of Wokingham Borough Council’s decision regarding the Maiden Erlegh catchment are, however I have been asked by a number of parents to send an email to the original petition list to ensure that as many people as possible know what is going on.

On Thursday last week Wokingham Borough Council’s Executive came to its final decision on the Maiden Erlegh catchment area.

I am sad to say that they decided to support the distance from Bulmershe minus distance from Maiden Erlegh plan that effectively ensures that children from Park will not be able to attend Maiden Erlegh, unless they have a brother or sister at the school already. They have made one compromise of a 600m inner catchment area. This will include houses in Silverdale Road which were going to be excluded by the proposal but will not bring Park Ward in to the catchment area.

This decision is very disappointing and effectively splits the Earley community and favours children from Lower Earley over Park children who will be excluded from Maiden Erlegh from 2012.

These are substantially the same proposals, which were described as “sensible” and “equitable” by Councillor Hussain in his letter to Park residents in November last year. ( For full details click here)

The full details of the catchment area are as follows:

1. Park Ward, Lower Earley, western Woodley and the Maiden Erlegh estate become part of a joint Bulmershe/Maiden Erlegh catchment area. The school which your child will attend will be decided on the basis of your house’s distance, as the crow flies from Bulmershe School, minus distance from Maiden Erlegh, as the crow flies. It is assumed in the plan that Maiden Erlegh will fill from the Shinfield end of Lower Erlegh. There will be an inner catchment area around Maiden Erlegh of 600m from the school, however this will not include any of Park Ward.

2. Siblings of children currently studying at Maiden Erlegh will be able to enter Maiden Erlegh until 2018 as long as the older child is still at Maiden Erlegh. If the sibling is in the Sixth Form this will count as attending the school.

Way forward

The Parents’ Group is considering options around legal action, I am campaigning with Councillor Jon Hartley to make sure that my Party commits itself to persuing legal action against Wokingham Borough Council in its manifesto for the May elections if Labour takes control of Reading Council in May.

Many of you will have read about the proposal for a University Technical School somewhere in East Reading. Many parents have expressed their concerns about the school, they are uncertain and the information released so far is vague and very unclear. Currently there is no information as to the exact opening date, curriculum or even where it will be based. What is clear is that the situation remains unclear.

Wokingham is determined to exclude Park’s children from Maiden Erlegh, I will keep working to ensure that you are fully informed as the issue develops and as the various legal actions come to fruition.

Meeting Park's Public Where They Are

The Roebuck My Local

This week has seen us out and about meeting Park's residents throughout the Ward.

It is nice to see that we have some good news about our fight against the Conservative cuts and campaigns coming together. We were able to tell residents in Newtown about the progress we have made in getting a consultation on residents parking. We were able to talk to residents about our efforts to get the streets cleaned and the cuts to the street cleaning services in Park.

Friday saw me hold a regular meeting with the regulars in the Roebuck pub. Ok its a Friday end of week drink with friends, and it is nice to talk to Alex the landlady and the Friday regulars. It is amazing what snippets of information you can pick up from people

Doting about a bit met up with residents in St Barts to talk about their concerns with the Colleys site. It appears that it is staying as a restaurant, thankfully, however they have other worries which we will work on over the next few weeks.

This week is a critical week in the Maiden Erlegh campaign, it is expected that Wokingham will announce their response to their consultations. I have a feeling that they will stick with their strange zone plan. If they do I think this leaves Cllr Ralph, Balsdon, and Wazir's softly softly do nothing approach in tatters. We will see as soon as I have something I will publish it.

We are out and about a great deal and you will see the Labour bike all over the Ward. If you do say hi, I'll be happy to stop and chat.

I warn you not to be old under Reading's Conservatives

Neil Kinnock warned of what would happen with the Conservatives in control, he said amongst other things "...I warn you not to be old....."

Reading's caring Conservatives have displayed once again that it is dangerous to be old under the Conservatives. The Reading Evening Post reports that they have cut the terms of the old peoples' travel card. So if you live in Park and are old it will cost you more to get in to town, or around generally on Reading's Buses.

Park Ward is known as a student Ward, however there are significant numbers of over 60's and they all had the right to travel on Reading's Buses for free, with their pass, at all times. Having seen the latest Park Ward Conservative leaflet I note that they "forgot" to add in this piece of good news, and have majored on their Councillor planting a tress somewhere apart from Park.I have just found out that the tree that Wazir is standing infront of is on Portman Road, by the Rivermead. It is a shame that he didn't join us last year when we replanted a record number of trees in one day, with the Reading effort being at Palmer Park.


Kinnock said that he warned people not to be old, not to be ill, and so on. He is being proved right, Reading's Conservatives have attacked the old people of Park Ward and Reading and do not even have the courage to tell them. Who will be next? Disabled people? Blind people? If they can attack old people then surely there is no real stopping them.

To repeat Neil's warning, with Reading's Conservatives supported by the Liberal Democrats, I warn you not to be old, not to be ill, not to be weak. Yes the they will plant a tree outside your Ward, but they will hit the residents where it hurts and hit them hard.

Wokingham wants a Valentine's Card

There are now only 9 days left before Wokingham's consultation about its new Maiden Erlegh plans closes.

Incase the issue has passed you by, these are the plans by Wokingham Borough Council to prevent South Park's children being able to attend their closest school, Maiden Erlegh. For fuller details click here .This plan will also strangely exclude a large number of Wokingham children who live on the Wokingham Road and also in the roads around Maiden Erlegh. This is also the plan that was welcomed as "equitable" by Park Ward's Conservative Councillor. I attach an extract of his letter to Park Ward above for your amusement.

I was at the drop in meeting yesterday arranged by the Parents' Group. I was surprised to see that the Conservative Councillors were there but I was glad to see that they were getting a serious earful from the parents who are effected by their "equitable" solution.

So I am urging all residents of Park Ward, and those affected in the WBC area to write to Wokingham Borough Council as a matter of urgency. The Park Parents' Group have produced a very useful letter which I reproduce for you here. Please feel free to copy and paste it to use as a basis for your leaflet.

We will keep fitting and keep working to make sure that we get a fair solution that does not descriminate against Park's children. So 9 days to save the catchment area.

Sample Letter

Secondary Schools Admission Consultation YOUR ADDRESS HERE

 

Wokingham Borough Council

 

Civic Offices,

 

Shute End,

 

Wokingham, RG40 1BN

 

DATE HERE

 

Secondary Schools Admissions Consultation

Dear Sir or Madam

I appreciate the need to review the admissions arrangements but there is no pressing or urgent need for change in the case of Maiden Erlegh and Bulmershe (as confirmed by the Independent Review commissioned by WBC). The current DA and tie-break works perfectly well. Maiden Erlegh has a strong community from areas in both Wokingham and Reading.

 

It should be noted that all currently linked schools have very close ties with Maiden Erlegh and have exceptionally high transfer rates for pupils where that is possible.

I strongly object to the proposed changes to the Maiden Erlegh DA and tie-break for the following reasons:

Yours NAME and SIGN HERE

 

Reasons for objection

 

 

Size of Designated Area: It makes no sense to enlarge a DA so it is massively too big for the school capacity (as confirmed by the Independent Review commissioned by WBC)


Tie Break: The proposed tie-break gives many parents no way of assessing of a child will get a place at Maiden Erlegh. It is unstable near Maiden Erlegh and prioritises pupils that live 3km away over children that might live 300m away


It makes no sense to name the alternative when other schools (John Madjeski, Reading Girls and Forest are much closer) – the Borough Boundary is irrelevant in this matter. This system is not used anywhere else in the country – for good reason!


Social/Demographic Issues: This proposal clearly does not comply with the Schools Admission Code on this matter. The first area to be excluded by the tie-break is the most deprived area of the DA. It will adversely impact the diversity of Maiden Erlegh and The Bulmershe and deprive children of a chance at an ‘Outstanding’ school

Community: All children in Reading Borough and many children in Wokingham Borough Council will be allocated a place at Bulmershe in Woodley, which is not part of our community and much further away.



This will divide our community which surrounds the school, with some getting in and others not. And with no real certainty in any year where the cut off will be. In time, Maiden Erlegh School will become detached from the community living on its door step, serving a community which lives further away.



Many local parents made a decision to be in the Maiden Erlegh catchment area and are part of the Earley community that it serves. Our community has contributed Governors, PTA members and other people who have provided both professional and voluntary skills and talents to the school for many years. Why should these parents now be penalised when other residents did not make the active and positive decision to be part of the Maiden Erlegh catchment area?

Linked Schools: This will also impact on the links between the local primary schools (Aldryngton, Alfred Sutton, Loddon and Earley St Peters) and an outstanding secondary school. The staff and pupils benefit from close links with Maiden Erlegh –through staff training (for example the visual arts department). Transfer rates for children who attend these schools and live in the current Designated Area for Maiden Erlegh are very high. Siblings who attend Maiden Erlegh pick up their younger siblings at the end of the day at all of the local primary schools. This is a benefit recognised in the Admissions code in section 2.22. Moving these children to Bulmershe, makes this impossible

Child Safety: Parents without access to a car will have to let their children make an often hazardous journey to Bulmershe School. Children will have to cross a dangerous, busy road and negotiate a narrow bridge over a railway and motorway, all in darkness in winter. They will have to walk past a lonely, expanse of grassland, on their own if they have stayed at extracurricular activities after school.

Complexity and Clarity: The proposed tie-break is impossible to understand and unclear and gives parents in many areas no chance to predict their chances of a place. Again this clearly breaches the School Admissions Code

Traffic/Green Issues: WBC traffic surveys using the national guidelines are completely unrealistic. Independent Research states that as soon as the travel distance increases over a mile car travel vastly increases (despite what certain Lower Earley residents may be saying). This will vastly increase the numbers of car journeys to Maiden Erlegh and increase the number of car journeys to Bulmershe


Greenwich Judgement: The Schools Admissions Code and the Greenwich Judgement make it very clear that neighbouring boroughs must not be disadvantaged. That this is being done via an obscure tie-break rather than a boundary line is irrelevant as the effect is the same.

Reading children are being deprived of a place at an ‘Outstanding’ school and that fact that a different group of Wokingham children is being disadvantaged is irrelevant.

Appeals and Finances: Given that Maiden Erlegh will be first choice for more than 90% of parents in the new catchments area, many will be disappointed and will appeal against the place they have been allocated. This will in turn raise the number of appeals, the costs of which will fall to the school. As an academy, Maiden Erlegh School will have to employ a full time independent appeals co-ordinator – a huge waste of public finances and tax payers’ money

Parental Choice: This effectively removes all parental choice for all except a band stretching into Lower Earley

 

Please add your own arguments here: (e.g., your personal situation and any personal views you might want to add, including comments about the consultation process itself or the psychological impact on older primary school aged pupils, especially year 5 who have been left in a state of indecision about their education)

 

Torys Let Park's Children Over Maiden Erlegh Catchment Area

Came home from work to read Wokingham's proposed response to the Catchment Area Catchment area.

This response, which will be so eagerly awaited by Park's parents, has come down completely in favour of Lower Earley's children. It appears that Wokingham has completely ignored Park parents' and residents' comments. As I read it, the proposal places children, who live further away from Maiden Erlegh in Lower Erlegh, ahead of those who live in Park. This is because of a complicated distance calculation that will stop Lower Erlegh's children having to go to Bulmershe. I am going to spend my evening studying the document in detail. I will make a fuller comment over the weekend.

It is a shame that Tory MP Rob Wilson, and other welcomed the report which clearly discriminates against Park children.

I will be working with Cllr Jon Hartley, the Parents and the Residents of Park to make sure that everyone is fully informed and is able to respond to the consultation in a measured and calm way. We will continue to fight this to the very end.

Both Rob Wilson MP and Cllr Wazir Husain, who is after all a Wokingham resident, both refused to sign the petition in support of the campaign. It is now clear why, they are conniving with Wokingham to discriminate against their own residents. While they talked about supporting Park's residents they have basically allowed us to be stitched up by Wokingham.

Tories and Liberal Democrats on Reading Borough Council Fail their Voters.

This is a picture of the residents of Park Ward before the Council Meeting this evening, where we were bringing the Petition, to ask the Council to support us, Asking two questions, and Park Ward Councillor Jon Hartley was bringing a motion asking the Council to support the residents campaign and be willing if necessary to take legal advice in order to threaten Wokingham with legal action.

As you can see we are all relatively happy and looking forward to a positive meeting. Unfortunately the Tories and the Liberal Democrats combined to thwart the cross party consensus that has been built up and decided to attack members of the Parents group. I am very cross about the meeting, and may have been a little intemperate with my comments in the meeting, so apologise ,in public, if I spoke out of turn.

Petition Presentation.
I presented the petition, and asked the Council to support the more than 600 people who had taken the time to sign it. I asked a simple question, how far was the Tory/Lib Dem Council willing to go in support of parents. Councillor Ralph, lead Councillor for Education, hedged his answer and began to attack the Labour Party, This being despite the all party consensus about the issue that had previously been established.

Questions to Council
This is where it started to really kick off, Karly asked a reasonable question and got a non committal answer. I asked what the Council would do to support the campaign and Cllr Ralph indicated that he would reply to the consultation, but not threaten legal action. He the proceeded to attack me. Very nice, very cowardly, very weak.

Motion to Council
Cllr Jon Hartley had kindly arranged with the Mayor to bring the motion forward so we could hear it at a reasonable time. Jon proposed the motion and Cllr White seconded it. They made clear and cogent arguments as to why RBC should support the motion.

Then something odd happened, instead of Park Ward's Tory Councillor standing up and supporting the motion, which he had had in his hands for nearly 3 weeks, Cllr Ralph stood up and presented a counter Motion which removed any attempt to seek legal advice and which refused to threaten legal action.

And even stranger thing happened,Liberal Democrat Cllr Rebecca Rye, despite saying in an email that she supported parents, stood up and supported Cllr Ralph's weaker motion. In effect she went back on her word and refused to support the parents.

And then something even stranger happened. We were stabbed in the back by the two Tory Councillors who made as if they supported the campaign, that being Park Tory Cllr Hussain and Thames Tory Cllr Balsdon. Balsdon even had the gall to shout at a Green Road resident. Park Tory Hussain, stood up and simply supported his fellow Tories, while trying to soften the blow by soft soaping, myself, Jane and the other parent campaigners.

And then it got worse. The Tories, seemed to enjoy attacking the Parents in the public gallery, and especially me. They seemed to think that the campaign was some kind of political football rather than the cross party and cross community effort that it had been hitherto.

The Lib Dems were even worse. They divided their time between, attacking the parents, attacking the Labour group, attacking the Greens, or was that the Tories who attacked the Greens, I forget now. When they weren't spreading bile about the place they were texting or on Facebook. The two worst offenders were, Cllr Swaine, (Katesgrove), Cllr Daisy Benson ( Redlands). Benson was very rude, because she was actively laughing at the parents..


So the meeting dragged to a close. Balsdon attacking members of the public, Hussain, letting his constituents down, the Lib Dems who promised so much changing their tune and laughing at residents...No change their then.


We fight on.

Winston Churchill had a phrase when things had gone against him, that was Keep Buggering On. That is what we have to do, keep lobbying Reading Borough Council to support its residents, if necessary with legal action, keep lobbying Wokingham Borough Council, who sent a spy to the meeting, and keep responding to the consultation.