Introduction
It’s been another active and
busy year for me as Labour Councillor for the Batley East Award.
Besides
taking on a hectic caseload of individual residents cases, I have been working
alongside my other two ward colleagues Fazila Fadia and Habiban Zaman, along
with our Batley & Spen MP Tracey Brabin, in order to achieve our goal of
making things better for the residents of Batley East.
My passion to help improve people’s quality of life in
Batley-East continues to grow.
A cherished partnership over these past twelve months has
been my work (alongside that of my two ward colleagues) with the Chief
Executive Jacqui Gedman. Together, the three of us have successfully put our
ward of Batley-East on the Kirklees strategic map by organising regular
community walks within local neighbourhoods.
The
aim behind this idea is to give the Chief Executive an opportunity to see for
herself some of the issues in Batley-East.
I also felt privileged to help out in my ward colleague
Habiban Zaman’s campaign during this year May local elections.
Participation at Council Meeting Committees
I have attended all full Council meetings and most Labour Group
meetings. I am also a member on the following committees. These are;
•
Licensing & Safety Panel
•
Planning Sub - Committee (Heavy Woollen Area)
•
Corporate Scrutiny Panel
•
The Labour Group Substitutes Panel
Participation on Outside Bodies
This year I continue membership of the following outside
bodies:
•
Soothill Community Forum
•
Pakistan Muslim Welfare Society (Batley)
·
West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Authority
Ward Work
Work within my ward’s
neighbourhoods and its surrounding local area takes up most of my time as
Councillor for Batley East. This task continues to be the most important part
of my role (text continued on next sheet).
I tend to listen to residents’
concerns and try my best, alongside my ward colleagues, to help with their
problems.
This year has seen growing concerns
in the Soothill area on new housing development. As ward councillor, I have been
actively involved in listening to residents views, and taking their opinions
into account, in order to represent the opinions of the local community.
As usual, a significant amount of
my casework this year has been around dealing with immigration matters. I have
been writing letters in support of immigration applications as well as counter
signing documents for residents.
Equally high on my workload has
been the need to provide support/advice to residents on re-housing issues.
I continue to help resolve
traffic issues and street parking problems, which have caused concerns for
residents.
Street lighting, overgrown
trees/shrubs, and refuse collection, have continued to be other ward issues
affecting local people, which I have been involved in resolving.
In terms of working with my other
two ward colleagues, we continue to have a good working relationship with
officers from Street Scene and Batley Neighbourhood Policing team, in order to
ensure road safety is a priority in our local ward. We are also working very hard on a
multi-agency level to ensure anti-social behaviour (ASB) is tackled (our
efforts are still ongoing in dealing with this problem), while crime is also
kept at a low level.
Strengthening Community Cohesion
is another of our key priorities – and we are working closely with the Cohesion
Team.
Complaints about pot holes, as
well as the condition of road surfaces affected by adverse weather conditions, were
also looked into as part of this year’s work.
We have also continued to show
our support for local support groups. My ward colleagues and I try our best to
attend local community meetings. I attend ward meetings and also conduct
regular home visits in order to address residents’ concerns.
I feel very grateful that I have
had the opportunity to help my constituents over the past twelve months to the
best of my ability and hope to continue to serve my local communities.
Training and Development
I have tried to keep up to date with developments and
training organised this year for ward councillors.
