Annual Report 2018-19 Cllr Paul Kane, Dewsbury East

Review

Through all the achievements and the work carried out in the ward, it was sad to lose a colleague in this year’s election, various issues arose through the year including a bout of ill health, however, the work continued. I am extremely happy with my work and my input being carried out with local groups (I will elaborate later) and the increasing amount of case work done for my community.

I continue to be the Chair of the Heavy Woollen Planning committee a position I have held for 15 years, the workload for this position is very onerous and is transparent by the number of applications considered and the decision that are supported by the Planning inspectorate.

I have participated at many Council meetings supporting and speaking up for issue surrounding Mental Health, Dewsbury Regeneration and Local Developments this has been successful with changes of Policy within the Council, taking the issue serious and funding being made available.

Council Work
I hold various positions, Chair of Heavy Woolen Planning, member of  Strategic Planning, there is also a chairs meeting of all Planning Chairs to discuss Policy and implementation of policy.

Committee, member of the Asset Management Committee, Mental Health Scrutiny panel, member of the Scrutiny Committee at West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Dewsbury Endowed Trust Member, all of which need lots of preparation work and specific briefings, I also hold a position on the Combined Authority as member of the economic working party looking at investment and policy,

Ward Work

I continue to work with local groups and Tenants and Residents and am involved with the elderly groups and sports groups assisting them with funding and support, I have worked closely with the Sea Cadets, Dewsbury Rangers, Hanging Heaton Cricket Club securing improvements and financial support,

We have an active role in delivering local funds through the Dewsbury East Community Trust, a fund of money secured through the development at Owl Lane, there is still funds available for local groups.

We continue to improve our local area, this year being constantly attacked by fly tippers, obstructive defences against this was installed on Old Bank and we continue to fight against the horrors of this anti-social behaviour.

Work on the West Yorkshire Combined Authority Scrutiny panel

Although time consuming due to the number of meetings I have attempted to attend as many as possible, I find this piece of my Councillor role extremely informing and enjoyable, many topics are discussed and of special interest to me is the use of governments funds within the geographical area, I continue to fight for the community of Kirklees and question the input into our communities to ensure Kirklees is well served.

Training and Development

I attempt to attend Training where this is offered, in particular Planning training to keep me aware of Planning changes:

 My training includes Annual update planning committee training, Community Infrastructure Training (CIL) Valuation Training, Land and Development training.

I have attended Mental Health provision training and Child Sexual Exploitation training.

I continue to try and expand my knowledge in many ways and develop not just as a Councillor but as a person to help me deal with the issues that arise.

Achievements

Local issues are important to me so my concentration is to try and maintain the services and facilities that we have to ensure groups are active and viable and that they are supported financially, we were lucky, although through hard work and tenacity, to received local funds through the Planning process, we have secured these funds and are now gifting these to local groups, there are other funds that are going to be made available which will see improvements across the ward in particular Earlsheaton Park, I class this as a personal achievement.

Finally it was with great pleasure that the work I have put in to get the Bywell Playing fields changing rooms replaced with a state of art and secure provision, this has taken time but is well received by teams and neighbours.