Well what a year this has been, out of all the years I have
been a councillor this has been the worst out of my 17 years so far.
Here is a list of the committees I have sat on:
-
Strategic planning (chair)
- Health and social care scrutiny
- NMG Spen area
- District Committee Batley and Spen
- Full Council
- Branch meetings
- CLP meetings
- Local public meetings
- Tennant walkabouts (estates)
-
Planning
- Licensing
- New council
The vast majority of the offences are by people who don’t
give a dam, people who think they are above the law and the biggest is people
who are thick and don’t give a dam.
I have made many visits to constituents homes to help with a
multitude of problems sometimes to give advice and sometimes just to listen.
On the planning front we have had some appeals that we have
lost due to the planning laws being against the council. This affected the POL
sites (public open space) which we had to give in to developers and let them
have their own way to save us going to appeal and ending up with costs against
up and paying out thousands of pounds to developers. We then started with appeals
regarding Urban green space taken against the council which I can now say the
tide has turned and we are starting to win at appeal and was helped a great
deal by a ruling in the south of England by the supreme court.
As a council we are constantly looking for grants and asking
government for more money to help our communities . We need money for social
care highways a massive list of things the council fund along with making
massive cuts. The austerity regime is making many peoples lives an
absolute misery splitting families up and in some cases people taking their own
lives. With Brexit wobbling along I can only see thing getting worse.
Keep up the fight for fairer lives for the many not the few.
Cllr Steve Hall
Labour Councillor for Heckmondwike.
