28th June

This evening we had a meeting of the community services scrutiny to look at the decision of the Tory cabinet to close Willenhall Leasure centre and Bryntisilo campy site in Wales.

After some agrument the meeting was adjourned as many of those who are directly affected by this had not been invited to have their say...

I often !! despair of Walsall Council... this is yet another example of issues that should have been foreseen years and years ago but the relevant senior officer has not taken ownership of that issue and in conjunction with the relevant politician from cabint has not had the foresight to deal with and plan of action way long ago rather than leave until the clock is nearly at midnight and actions are just panic reactions... a story of a culture in walsall that has been disgraceful over the years and I think is the cause of many of the disasters that have happened in Walsall Council to the detriment of the council tax payers in thsi Borough and has wasted so much both in effort and money.....!! and we pay the chief executive of walsall Council nealry twice the pay ( including pension contributions) than the Prime Minister.. does it not get your blood to boil even without the heat of the present sunshine!?

regards

Ian

Cllr Ian Robertson

Blakenall Ward

Ban the Tat wagons from parking up in residential streets!

W Hi
    I am fed up and I am sure you are that these Tat wagons continue to flout the laws of planning.. again as your local councillor , both myself Ann Young and Bob Thomas keep raising this issue.. the latest is Notice of Council agenda for 19th July...

Notice of motion

This Council welcomes both the   efforts of individuals and those running a business,  to increase recycling.  .

Council notes the Notice of Motion passed on 2^nd July 2007… where

This Council resolves to make every effort via a full strength enforcement team to stop this activity and to urge and give every assistance to our partners such as the environmental agency and the police . Further this   Council will also share such  information with Walsall Housing Group to encourage them to enforce their tenancy agreements which are clearly being broken in these cases and where appropriate information will be shared with our statutory partners.

This Council notes with concern that since that Notice, the problem appears to have become considerably worse and is affecting an even wider area of streets in this Borough.

Council resolves to have urgent discussions with local Councillors, the Police, the environmental agencies, Walsall Housing group, and other appropriate agencies on how this serious anti social behaviour can be permanently stopped, while still encouraging the efforts of the more responsible people in recycling various forms of scrap or ‘tat’.

Also am asking the following questions.... 

Question…  …

What is the detailed breakdown in reasons for sickness absence by employees of this Council over the last year along with a length of time absence expressed if possible please in numbers of weeks absent for individual employees and cost of providing cover either by agency staff or by seconding other employees to cover these absences ? 

  News that over 90000 days were lost at Walsall Council last year due to sickness absence, equivalent to 391 years in work days,

    

When will the disgraceful state of Butlers passage be corrected? and what has been the cost  so far in the previous attempts to restore and clean up?

-         What is the current estimated cost and time scale of correcting the pothole damage caused by the frost during last winter?
    

regards

    

Ian

    

Cllr Ian Robertson

    

Blakenall

welcome news on helping those who over indulge!!

I am pleased that one of the recommendations of a scrutiny working party which I chaired has been implemented...we were looking at issues around anti social behaviour esepcailly around the Town Centre... it is so sad that many young people drink too much too often and will be causing so much long term damage... this has worked in other Towns and I shall be looking carefully at how this works in Walsall

regards

Ian

Cllr Ian Robertson

Blakenall Ward

Walsall’s new triage centre

JUNE 25, 2010

by Walsall Licensing

Last Wednesday (23rd June 2010) saw the launch of a new triage centre in Walsall. The centre has been set up to deal predominantly with young people who are suffering from alcohol related illnesses and injuries, but the facilities are there for any visitor to the town centre to use should it be necessary.

The idea of the centre is to provide an initial response to people who may have consumed excess alcohol or those who are vulnerable due to intoxication. A paramedic and a police officer will be patrolling the town centre, looking for people who may be in need of medical intervention.  Anyone found in need of care will have an initial assessment before being taken to a place of safety in the town. There, medical staff and police officers will provide further care and establish a plan to get the person home.

Similar schemes operate in other towns and cities in the West Midlands and have led to a significant reduction in calls to the ambulance service and fewer admissions to hospitals. This has saved the National Health Service a great deal of money. We are delighted that our partners in West Midlands Ambulance Service, St John’s Ambulance and Walsall Manor Hospital are supporting this initiative, as it has potential to make a hugely positive impact on crime and disorder in the town.

Initially, the triage centre will be run during the World Cup games. In the long term, it is planned to open the centre whenever there is likely to be a heavy footfall in the town, such as on pay days. On these busy nights, there are additional officers on patrol in the town centre, so they will be able to make referrals to the centre.

Pubs, clubs and other venues in the town have been made aware of  this scheme and will be referring patients to police officers on the town.

Once the scheme has been running for a while, we will post some feedback. In the meantime, if anyone has any suggestions for improvements, please submit a comment.

The centre will be open again this Sunday during the England – Germany game on Sunday 27th June.

News from Walsall Council

We learn that the latest news to tory run Walsall from this Tory Government is that funding for the Borough has been cut by a further £6 million pounds, including over £2Million on education alone. The details are being worked out by the tory cabinet at the moment , but we await the details and will be probing especially the effects on the most vulnerable and already disadvantaged in the Borough and even more so in wards we represent.




The news that we shall not be sending any more children to Bryntysillio and that Willenhall Leisure centre will close is bad news for those from more disadvantaged backgrounds who value such opportunities. This Borough faces a serious problem of overweight children which will result in many such now children being outlived by their parents.



The committee looking at the loss by this Council of £ 3 million pounds due to poor record keeping and poor officer management met last Monday and it was admitted that the records are there but not in the right files and so claims back cannot be made. Next Monday the audit committee looks at the draft accounts for the Council and seeing that we have 91officers ( excluding education where we have 215 more) earning over £50000 a year and a chief executive earning over £190,000 a year .. that is £40000 more than the prime minister… are we getting value for money as council tax payers?



The news that 1 in 5 cancer patients are having to wait over 2 months to get treatment was revealed by the Primary care trust in their annual meeting… can they imagine what it is like to have to wait that long to find out if you have a possibly fatal illness and have some treatment?

We shall as labour councillors be pursuing these issues with vigour and welcome your comments.

Regards

Cllr Ian Robertson Cllr Bob Thomas

Blakenall Ward ( Labour)

threat to our leisure centres

I note a visit to leisure centres by members of this tory council in other parts of the Country. I wonder what this Tory cabinet has in store to propose for the future of our leisure centres in Walsall? including our Bloxwich centre? I fear rhey are all at risk at a time when excercise is so crucial to improve the health especially of our young people.
A daft decision to ban leisure activities on the Broadway playing fields due to apparent concerns on 'contamination' shows health and safety issues again apparently good mad. Plus probably no support to continue using Bryntisillo as an activity centre for our children.
I am wondering what we acutally get for our council tax?
We will be asking questions and probing these decisions and reporting back!
regards
Ian Robertson and Bob Thomas

New members flock to join the Labour Party

We learn that 15,000 joined Labour online, extra 3,000 joined off line. That's 18,000 new members in last 14 days - Remarkable.

Thus sends us a message from the people that we hold the respect of an increasing number of the electorate. Let us build on this support .

From

Ian Robertson



secretary walsall South and agent for Valerie Vaz MP

Residents may have to pay for all new bins

18th May
I noticed that in the 'forward plan' of the tory run walsall council there is an item to agree implementing a charge for all new bins.. this would mean that if your bin wears out and a number of new brown bins have already split.. and the green bins are now around 10 years old.. we will have to pay £18.50 for a new one... what do we get for our Council Tax? There is the argument about paying if your bin is stolen or vandalised which is current policy , but this would cost us all whatever the circumstances!
What do you think?
Will be grateful for reponses as of course will be taking this one up!
regards
Ian Robertson and Bob Thomas
Here are a list of issues that we must tackle! with ways you can help.

- Those selfish anti-social people who run illegally a ‘tat wagon’ business from their home in a residential area. They cannot be prosecuted by the Council unless some one is prepared to give evidence that they are trading and I suspect that it will be difficult to get such a volunteer. Some may be claiming benefits or council tax rebate or not paying tax on their earnings. If you suspect this is the case there are totally anonymous ways of reporting your suspicions ( see end of this article)

.

We shall continue to report them in this way but it helps if others can also do so. The reporting to Walsall Housing group is something we continue to do but again they clear up the mess jut prior to a visit . We take regular photos with dates and maybe you can also record dates when loaded vehicles are parked outside their houses to add support to our logs.



The state of our roads and pavements is dreadful putting vehicles and pedestrians at risk of harm. Patching these with a few stones is not enough and I shall be pressing for urgent repairs here.



There is another group of criminals who tip their waste onto empty spaces and expect us council tax payers to pay to clear it up. The only way to get them is for anyone seeing this happening to take their lorry numbers … report these numbers to police and to us. The same goes for any activity that suggests that a property may be the site for drug activity… let us and/or the police immediately. It can then result in a well timed raid to catch them red handed.



On the positive side we can see the new Hospice going up in Goscote along with the respite centre, The new Walsall college is a great success although I note that there is a large increase in street parking along North street at the back of the college.



The car park in Mill street will happen after some delay due to issues at the land registery.

The clearing of undergrowth around Swanneys field will make that site safer and hopefully when the playground is repaired reduce the risk of further vandalism.

Some rebuilding has started in Barracks lane and will soon start around Beddows. The consultation on the design and arrangement of developments in Goscote and Poets will continue to be ready for when the economic recovery gathers momentum. In the meantime we shall be pressing for a proper programme of maintenance for the somewhat abandoned open spaces.

Also for action on the eyesore of the closed Royal Oak which is privately owned , where we have repeatedly asked for action for owners to tidy up site and keep secure.

We are pleased that Leamore Park has an active Friends Group and we look forward to a proper sustainable maintenance programme with supervision of activity. Friends group meetings are the place to raise the many issues of concern.

Speeding vehicles.. There are a number of roads where vehicles seriously exceed the speed limit. Recent legislation allows councils to impose 20mph limits around all school entrances and we shall be pressing for this to be implemented. We have successfully petitioned for the speed camera to remain on Harden road especially as so near to edgar stammers school. Any member of the public who witnesses a vehicle or motor bike seriously exceeding the 30 mph can report this number ot the police or give us the number and we will do so. The police will make enquiries of the owner if a vehicle appears to be speeding even without a speed gun reading.

Off road bikes and other anti social activity. We need times/dates of these.. you can then tell us and we can pass on this information. If a pattern of times is there, the special police bikes can be arranged who are the only ones who can pursue the culprits… if they can be caught the police have the powewr to confiscate the bikes and in time have them crushed. Also the tat wagons can be confiscated and crushed.. what a victory if we could achieve that!!

We seem to have most of the tree pruning issues under control.. it has been a case of continually raising the issue with those who own the land where the trees are. No luck with the trees at the end of Amlmakers close… the owner there is not cooperating and th e only way is for residents to take out an action against him and there is a council charge to start this.

The privately owned house in chuacer which is derilict has a number of charges on the owner who has not done any maintenance ( and if fact lives in rented house elsewhere and seems to be wrecking it!) However we keep trying to resolve.. maybe th only way would be to serve a CPO but this is an expensive and lengthy route for the Council who may well not get back the cost to Council tax .

We continue to investigate how this tory council keeps throwing money away! We exposed the loss on lamppost advert money ( £7M) and the failed reclaim of European money already spent by the Council of £2.3M We would have had no CT increase this year if we have not lost the European reclaim money.

Have you looked at the state of ‘Butlers’ passage recently? This is the passage between the Bus station and Bridge street which was ‘restored’ some 3 years ago at a cost to CT payers of around £600,000. do you think we have had value for money with this spend of our CT money?

You can keep in touch daily with us on the ‘blogspot’ of

Blakenalllabour.blogspot.com you can email us on robertsonic@walsall.gov.co.uk or thomasr@walsall.gov.co.uk

Telephone us on 01922 634642 or 07956 829549 ( Ian Robertson)

Or 01922 611543 ( Bob Thomas) and 07969264635