It has been a challenging and interesting year, not to
mention a privilege and honour to serve Kirklees. I have continued to represent
the Dalton Ward at Council and was delighted to be assigned the position of
portfolio holder for Highways & Neighbourhoods.
In terms of my role as Dalton Ward councillor my priority
has been to explore how we can mitigate against the impact of government cuts
by supporting residents and community groups to expand and continue to provide
community based services. This year the Council has to save £1m a week to survive
the devastating onslaught of government cuts. This does not come without its
challenges. The relationship between residents, Officers and Councillors is
central to facilitating and shaping this new landscape. On a ward level I have
encouraged a sharing of resources and cooperation across different community
groups and individuals. The growing sense of pride and ownership in the area is
apparent.
Ward meetings have been very well attended by residents and
groups, and with the support of our dedicated officers two new groups have formed
to represent different interests across the ward. Numerous groups have received
support to continue delivering much needed community facilities.
I set up a virtual group on social media for the purpose of
enhancing communication across the Ward and to provide a platform for residents
and community groups to share information regarding wider opportunities, local
events and resources. This virtual group is now administered by residents and membership
is steadily growing.
Residents are increasingly using social media to contact me
with regards to casework. The casework appears to be rising steadily as Council
services are in a flux of transformation and change. Casework has included a
wide range of issues such as missed bin collections, fly tipping, littering,
anti-social behaviour, highways maintenance, parking problems, school transport
and admissions, neighbourly disputes, housing and benefits issues. I continue
to deliver street surgeries on Saturday mornings.
I have been astounded and impressed with the dedication and commitment of the volunteers at HD1 Team, HD1 Summer Camp, Summer Dalton Lunch Club and Estella Youth Group. There feels to be a real re-invigoration of community activity in the Rawthorpe and Dalton area. I cannot thank residents enough and I thoroughly enjoyed my visits to their projects.
The
best news this year was Huddersfield Town’s promotion to the Premier League
after a tense play-off match against Reading. This brings with it huge
opportunities in terms of investment in Huddersfield and firmly places the town
on the map. This development will contribute to the invigoration of the local
economy and create employment opportunities. However, this promotion also
brings with it challenges for the neighbouring residents around the stadium. I
will continue to work with our Parking, Street Cleansing, Highways and
Licensing Departments to ensure that parking, trading and littering regulations
are enforced and the area as a whole is enhanced visually and environmentally.
I will continue to support residents with the view to resolving concerns and to
ensure that resident’s voices are heard within the context of future
developments. Where opportunities rise I will continue to facilitate stronger
links between the residents and businesses within the Ward with the view to
strengthening corporate social responsibility. I have represented the views of
residents at various consultations including EIP, Children Centre consultation,
Library Services, Ward Assets, Parks maintenance and play strategy.
I have attended a number of Local Community Group and Organisations such as:
Looking after the roads and highways infrastructure in Kirklees is a huge challenge for the Council. The main challenges the Council face are not only cuts to the funding allocated from central Government, which have been reduced year on year since 2010, but also the additional restrictions placed on them by Government in terms of their efficiency programme. Money from Government is allocated according to lengths of the different types of road and not factors such as population and typography – these factors contribute negatively to authorities such as Kirklees. The Government’s formula generally works in favour of rural areas, yet more revenue is generated in urban areas in the form fuel tax and vehicle tax rates.
Highways funding from Government remains insufficient for the council to reduce the backlog of road repairs and the council has to make tough decisions on which roads to repair first, balancing the need to invest in both the most dilapidated roads and prevent others from deteriorating too much to make the best use of the funding that is available.
However, despite these challenges the Council has managed to significantly reduce its backlog of pothole repairs using cost effective and innovative techniques.
In
terms of meeting budgetary demands the services under the Highways &
Neighbourhood portfolio have risen to the challenges by maximising on
efficiency by utilising advanced technology and restructuring services to meet
savings targets. There are a number of new initiatives currently being explored
as we strive to deliver high quality value for money services. In the coming
year I will be commencing new challenges as a joint portfolio holder for
Corporate (Environment, Place & Customer Contact Services).
Training or learning I have undertaken:
In –House New Council training
I have been astounded and impressed with the dedication and commitment of the volunteers at HD1 Team, HD1 Summer Camp, Summer Dalton Lunch Club and Estella Youth Group. There feels to be a real re-invigoration of community activity in the Rawthorpe and Dalton area. I cannot thank residents enough and I thoroughly enjoyed my visits to their projects.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank KNH and
Council officers for facilitating litter picking events in the area and a
special thank you for the volunteers at The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints for helping us ‘clean-up’ Rawthorpe.
The challenges for me and the communities I represent this
year will be to strengthen the governance of newly formed and ensure
continuation of existing provision. There are number of hurdles and challenges
which require some collaborative solutions. I am confident that my colleagues
and I can move this work forward in line with our shared vision and aspirations
for the area. Following the unfortunate incidents involving gun crime in the
area, my colleagues and I met with the Chief Inspector to ensure additional
resources were being allocated to the area. The safety and sense of security is
high on my priorities and I will be working alongside officers to ensure all
parts of the Ward receive as much input to reduce crime as possible.
I have attended a number of Local Community Group and Organisations such as:
-
Kirkheaton Future
- Rawthorpe TRA
- Dalton & Dearne TRA
- Yetton Together
- Rawthorpe Community Association
- HD1 Team
- Moldgreen Reformed Church
-
Annual Council
- Council
- Huddersfield Planning Committee
- District Committee
- Cabinet
- Cabinet Local Issues
-
Members security panel
- Kirklees Youth Council
- Annual Learning Summit
- Democracy Commission’s Local Democracy Training – delivering to Schools
- Lockwood cemetery, Dewsbury cemetery & Edgerton Cemetery
- Kirklees South parks Team
- Kirklees North Parks Team
- Batley and Dewsbury Highways Depots
- Honley depot
- Highways Maintenance
- Refuse collection depots in Huddersfield and Dewsbury
- Suez Waste Management Site
- Road Safety Team
- CCTV team
- Fleet Management services
- Environmental Health Services and Food Safety Team
- Noise abatement team
I have also met with a wide range
of voluntary, community and campaign groups such as:
-
Dewsbury Burial Committee
- Indian Muslim Welfare Burial Committee
- PROWs Forum
- Brake
- Marsh Community Forum
- Kirklees Cycling Group
- Men in Sheds
- S2R
- Joint Area TRA Forum
- Saad Foundation
- River 2015
- DASH
Looking after the roads and highways infrastructure in Kirklees is a huge challenge for the Council. The main challenges the Council face are not only cuts to the funding allocated from central Government, which have been reduced year on year since 2010, but also the additional restrictions placed on them by Government in terms of their efficiency programme. Money from Government is allocated according to lengths of the different types of road and not factors such as population and typography – these factors contribute negatively to authorities such as Kirklees. The Government’s formula generally works in favour of rural areas, yet more revenue is generated in urban areas in the form fuel tax and vehicle tax rates.
Highways funding from Government remains insufficient for the council to reduce the backlog of road repairs and the council has to make tough decisions on which roads to repair first, balancing the need to invest in both the most dilapidated roads and prevent others from deteriorating too much to make the best use of the funding that is available.
However, despite these challenges the Council has managed to significantly reduce its backlog of pothole repairs using cost effective and innovative techniques.
I have met with and advocated on behalf of Burial
Committees, ensuring that burial options in line with preferences are delivered
where possible. Whilst some issues have been resolved there are, however, a
number appending developments within bereavement services which require on going
attention. The Council’s first natural burial ground successfully secured
planning permission. The ethos of natural burials is to be as environmentally
friendly as possible. In line with my commitment to the environment I will
champion a food waste reduction scheme.
The prestigious Green Flag awards have once again been
awarded to Greenhead Park and Beaumont Park in Huddersfield, Crow Nest Park in
Dewsbury, Oakwell Hall Country Park in Birstall and Wilton Park in Batley. Well
done and thank you to all of our colleagues and volunteers who work hard to
keep our parks looking so beautiful.
Training or learning I have undertaken:
In –House New Council training
-
LGA Your Leadership Offer
- District Committee Budget
- LGA New Demands New Leadership
- Comoodle and the Wider Sharing Economy
- An Introduction to Kompass
- LGA Personal Resilience
- From Equality to Inclusion
- LGA Councillor/Officer Relationships
- LGA Councillors – Communication
- LGA Information and Intelligence
- Introduction to observatory
