I continue to meet as many people as possible in the ward with weekly
door knocking walkabouts and via community groups and street surgeries. This
allows me to meet residents and engage with them directly. A lot of my casework
is received this way. I find I get much more information from residents about
the issues they face and so address their concerns more efficiently. I have
dealt with a variety of different case work:
·
Bin collections
·
Planning applications
·
Street cleaning
·
Pot holes –repairs
·
Overgrown bushes
·
Immigration issues
·
Fly tipping
·
Anti-social behaviour
·
School admission issues
·
Parking
·
Funding for community groups
I regularly attend community centres, school events and community event
forums. I am in touch with organisations throughout the ward. I regularly work
with West Yorkshire Police and the Highway’s department to address residents’
concerns related to speeding, anti-social behaviour and road safety. Some of the
community groups and organisations I have supported are:
·
Netherton Football Club
·
Huddersfield RUFC
·
Thornton Lodge Community Centre
·
Netherton Community Centre Luncheon Club
·
Natures Footprints Forest Play & Education Community Project
·
Be Moor Outdoors
·
Summer Clubs
I have been in touch with doctors and nurses campaigning to protect our
NHS services and I continue to support the Hands Off HRI campaign, attending
both their meetings and rallies to lend my support.
I am an advocate of increasing funding for Social Care particularly for
families with an elderly person suffering from Dementia. It is ridiculous that
patients should have to spend their life savings and sometimes lose their homes
to pay for care despite, contributing throughout their working lives and in
their hour of need receive little help. I hear from my ward residents how
family members are having to stop working in order to look after relatives as
they are unable to afford to pay for care workers.
In my capacity as Deputy Chair of West Yorkshire Combined Authority
Transport Committee, I have advocated for the improvement of both bus and rail
services, which have suffered from lack of funding and resultant cuts to
services in the past. I have supported measures to reduce the impact on climate
change and the environment with the introduction of more cycle lanes in our
towns and the installation of free to use (for 2 years) electric vehicle
charging points in our region. This electric vehicle rapid-charging network
will have chargepoint sites with dedicated bays for both private hire vehicles
and another for other users.
I am pushing for faster road repairs as the damage done by years of
austerity has left a huge backlog of repairs requiring attention. New repair
methods introduced by Highways have helped and I managed to get many pending
repairs expedited in the ward.
I have successfully gained funding to help our young people participate
in more sports in our ward. I will continue to support groups and organisations
involved in projects in youth work.
Huddersfield is due to be one of the most digitally connected towns in
the country, transformed by a fast fibre network by 2021 with many areas
connected by the end of this year. I have attended meetings with providers and
advocated for affordable connections being available to people and community
organisations in our ward.
Due to the ineptitude of the government’s handling of Brexit, many
challenges lie ahead such as the real danger to our NHS being the target of big
US pharmaceutical companies. I am campaigning to protect our services both
locally and nationally to impress upon lawmakers our opposition to such policies.
Attendance of Local Community groups and organisation
·
Netherton Community Centre
·
Thornton Lodge Community Centre
·
Friends of Beaumont Park
·
Crosland Moor and Netherton Ward Labour Party Branch meetings
·
Colne Valley Constituent CLP
·
Huddersfield CLP
·
Greenhead Branch Labour Party meetings
·
Moorend Academy Awards Ceremony
·
Mount Pleasant Primary School Open Day event
Full Council and Committees meetings – attendance
·
Council meetings
·
Labour Group meetings
·
Huddersfield District committee
·
Licensing and Safety committee
·
Fostering Panel
Training and Development sessions – attendance
·
Planning Committee Training
·
Licensing and Safety Training
·
LG Development Seminar
·
LG Democracy Commission Seminar
·
LG Development Forum
·
Early Intervention & Prevention Session
·
Transport Committee Workshop
·
LGA Leadership Academy
Committee appointments
·
Annual Council
·
Appeals Panel
·
Council
·
Licensing and Safety Committee (Reserve)
·
Licensing Panel
·
Huddersfield Planning Sub-committee
Appointments to outside bodies
·
West Yorkshire Combined Authority – Kirklees District
Consultation Sub-Committee (Chair
until May 2019)
·
West Yorkshire Combined Authority – Transport Committee (Deputy Chair)
·
Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Substitute)
·
Transport for the North
·
West Yorkshire Combined Authority - Walking and Cycling Committee
(Chair)
·
C & K Careers Ltd (Board of Directors)
