Annual Report 2016-2017: Cllr Graham Turner

The most important thing for me personally was that I was asked by the Denby Dale Labour party to represent the party again at the May elections.

 

With a lot of hard work and the support of many people both locally, and from other parts of Kirklees, several MPs, fellow Councillors I retained my seat on the Council, increasing my majorly from 85 in 2012 to 147 in 2016.

 

Like all councillors I like to think that this increase in my majority is due the fact that residents recognise the hard work and time and effort I have given in the last 4 years.

 

I would like to thank all 2631 people who voted for me and placed their trust in me for the next 4 years to represent them and do the best I can for the Denby Dale ward.

 

It would be remiss of me not to thank all 5435 who took the time and effort to vote in the election, and it’s a credit to the residents of the Denby Dale ward that 43% of residents voted, this is the highest voter % in Kirklees.

 

So in May 2016 I started another 4 year term, having completed 4 years as a Councillor, and I look forward to completing another 4 years.

 

In 2016 I was asked to continue to serve as a member of the cabinet. Continuing, as the cabinet member for resources, asset strategy, sports buildings and the creative arts.

 

It’s fair to say that with austerity continuing, the work of Councillors and certainly cabinet members is becoming harder and the work load is increasing, as services that the public have come to rely on are removed or a scaled back, every year the Council budget gets smaller but demand increases, so elected members are always trying to limit the damage to the residents of Kirklees, and especially those that are most in need, and the most vulnerable members of society. This does make life increasingly difficult, as no one wants to make people’s lives worse.

Council Work
 

Meetings I have attended and committees I am a member of:

• Full Council Meetings
• Fortnightly meetings of Cabinet
• Personnel Committee (Sub-committee Cabinet)
• Employees relations sub committee
• Weekly Cabinet Briefing
• Weekly individual portfolio briefing
• Rural district committee
• Member of heavy woollen planning committee
• Member of strategic planning committee
• Cabinet committee local issues
• I chaired the councils assets board

Representing Council on outside bodies and groups I attend:

• Historic buildings trust of which I am a director
• I am a trustee of the Denby Dale community project
• I am a Councillor on Denby Dale Parish Council and have been for 25 years 
• I am Chair of the friends of Skelmanthorpe library  
• Migration Yorkshire meetings.
• I chair the migration Yorkshire sub group 
• I am also a board member of Migration Yorkshire
• Yorkshire and Humber employers association 
• I meet with all 3 of the major unions that represent the Councils workers on a regular basis 
• I am treasurer of the Denby Dale men’s with sheds group

Ward work in the Year

• During the year I have organised and attend 4 coffee mornings in various parts of the ward.
• I carried out 11 street surgeries around the ward
• I have dealt with large amounts of e mails and telephone calls from residents, on issues ranging from personal issues to pot holes, speeding traffic etc. 
• Case work is much and varied, and I always aim to respond as soon as I can to requests, complaints, and other issues. Case work is a vital part of my role as a Councillor and whist it’s not always possible to solve every issue, I will continue to do my best.     
• I have delivered several thousand leaflets 
• I have knocked on many hundreds of doors and spoken with residents 
• I have sent out many thousands of letters to residents to keep them informed of specific issues
• I have attended meetings from local groups and several public meetings around the ward
•  I also do a joint static surgery every month with Paula Sherriff MP at Skelmanthorpe Council offices on the third Saturday of the month

 

After what has been a very challenging 5 or 6 years for the Denby Dale library and community project, and after a huge amount of work by the trustees we finally managed to build the new facility. This is now open to the public.

 

We were not able to raise as much money as we had hoped, so we modified the design and built a slightly smaller building that has a space for a library and a small retail area and coffee shop that is been run by Kirkwood hospice, which will pay rent which will help with the running cots of the building, however we will still have to raise some funds as the rent from Kirkwood is unlikely to meet all the costs of the building. The new building will also allow community groups to use it and I am sure that it will be a valuable addition to Denby Dale. 

 

A fantastic group of local volunteers work in the building alongside the paid member of staff and this has allowed the library to grow and it is fast becoming a real community hub

 

A large amount of excellent people now work in the Skelmanthorpe library as volunteers, and it’s a credit to the community spirit that exists in the village that when the changes to the library’s service that came in to effect during the year, they rose to the challenge and now open more hours than when it was run by paid officers.

 

More and more events are taking place, and I see a bright future for the Library, thanks to the many volunteers.

 

As a member of the heavy woollen and strategic planning committee I have always voted and spoken against all inappropriate development not only in my ward but throughout Kirklees. I believe that the current planning system is flawed and does not meet the needs of our residents and fails future generations, it is a constant battle with developers to get them to provide affordable homes despite the huge profits they make from developing sites within Kirklees. The system now makes it very difficult for the committee to object to plans as legislation has been changed to favour developers over elected members, and this can sometimes quite rightly cause friction between the committee and members of the public.

 

It is widely accepted that we have a housing shortage in this country, but the current planning system does nothing to address this, it just allows developers to make large profits and removes the rights of residents and elected members to ensure we have the right homes at the right prices in the right places.

 

The hard work and considerable time I have committed along with others, to improving high speed broadband in those areas within the ward that don’t have it, has started to pay off, with a large an amount of homes now having access to what is now no longer a luxury, but, it’s now vital, as the whole world, including many Council services goes digital by design, and many more services will become only available on line. Children need access to be able to do their homework, and to submit, with banks closing at an alarming rate, people will have to use internet banking more and more, these are just a few examples of why we need high speed dependable board band in not only the rural parts of Kirklees, but the whole of the authority.

 

The programme is well on target and should be finished within the 2 years it was due to take.

Paula Sherriff MP

It is a pleasure to be able to work very closely with the MP for the Denby Dale ward Paula Sherriff.

Having such close links with our voice in Parliament, has meant that I have been able to progress issues much quicker, and pass on case work to her office that is better suited to her.

Training

• I have carried out the relevant planning committee training up dates
• I have attend courses on CSE

It’s not possible to cover all the work and various meetings I attend in an annual report, so it’s just a snap shot of what I do during the year. 

 

I can assure residents that I will always work hard to do the very best for the Denby Dale ward, as it’s where I live and grew up, and I am proud to be able to say that.