Annual Report 2015-2016: Cllr Judith Hughes

I was pleased to have been elected  in the Almondbury Ward, the first Labour councillor in 30 years, having previously being a councillor in the Greenhead Ward.

• Over the year I have worked with many of the community, friends of  groups and the Tenants and Residents Associations, bringing them together to work for Almondbury. Below is a sample of the groups I have worked with this last year:-
• Friends of Almondbury Library
• Friends of Lepton Library
• Almondbury South tenants and Residents
• Highlands Tenants and Residents

Attending the Towns Women's Guild afternoon tea event in Lepton

At the Highlands Summer Fayre with West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service



Judging the Halloween fancy dress at Almondbury South Tenants and Residents



Supporting the community Library at The Sun in Lepton

I became joint chair of the Almondbury and Newsome Children's Advisory board representing the needs of children in our area.

I deal with ward work on a daily basis when residents contact me by phone or email and I also conduct street surgeries with members of the Labour party.

The coming years will be difficult for our communities with local services under threat due to the cuts being imposed on Local government especially in Kirklees.

As a Labour councillor I will work with and support the communities with the ward. There is severe pressure on our Streetscene, Highways and Library and Museums services and we need to work together to look for solutions to these pressures.

I was once again proud to be elected as The Chair of West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority, at the Authority as Chair of West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service I am:-

• Labour group leader at the Fire authority,
• Chair of leading members ad hoc meetings
• Chair of Chief exec strategy Group
• Chair of the Executive committee
• Chair of the Consultation and negotiation panel
• Chair of Community safety
• Mental Health Champion for the Fire and Rescue Authority
• Member of the PCC’s Partnership Executive group
• Panel Member of the Association of Metropolitan Fire & Rescue Services
• Panel Member of the LGA  Fire Commission

The Fire and Rescue Service have suffered from massive cuts to our budgets, in December  2015 we received notification showing further reductions in our grant settlement with a total grant loss of 17.35% by the end of the spending review, this will bring the total grant loss by 2019/20 to over 40%.

The Fire and Rescue Service has been recently transferred to the Home office, while this on one level does make sense, Teresa May is pressuring Fire Authorities to merge with the Police Commissioners office. At the  West Yorkshire Fire Authority we have teamed up with the PCC’s office and the Ambulance service and are in the process of  setting up a Tri-service advisory board so that we can work together but also keep our independence, we are in the early stages at the moment but see it as a positive move for greater collaboration work.

I was also proud this year to introduce the launch of the West Yorkshire FRS and Yorkshire Ambulance Service partnership scheme to deliver Emergency First Responding (EFR) in some of our more rural areas. Our first EFR station was at Skelmanthorpe, the trial will conclude in February 2017 but reports so far have been very positive. We are delighted to see this pilot scheme launched and we are eager to see the benefits it could bring. Ultimately, our fire-fighters joined the emergency services to save as many lives as possible and this scheme has the potential to help them do just that, whilst assisting our blue light partners also.

We also  received accreditation from the Living Wage Foundation for being a living wage employer the only fire outside of London. The Fire Authority has taken this positive step to show its support for our employees and we hope that by setting a good example others will follow our lead

 

Other outside bodies  I was involved with in 2015-16

Labour representative for the North of England at the Committee of Regions at the European Parliament through the LGA, member of the SEDEC commission and CIVEX commission.