Annual Report 2018-19 Cllr Sheikh Ullah Greenhead

2018/19 has been my third year representing the Greenhead Ward as Councillor. I have continue to support the ward by working closely with community groups, and other third sector organisations. I would personally like to thank all the amazing groups within the ward that are doing some brilliant work supporting communities and individuals in such difficult circumstances.

It has been a very challenging year and I have dealt with a number of individual pieces of casework and enquiries. We have worked hard on issues such as Community Safety, Road and Pavement Repairs, Fly tipping and the removal of rubbish.

Surgeries

Most weekends my ward colleagues and I proactively visit several street and speak to residents about any concerns and issues they may have. This also helps us to keep in touch with what is going on within particular areas. I also pick up a significant amount of individual casework when visiting local groups.

 

Areas of Focus

As a council we are facing tough financial challenges. The amount of money we receive is decreasing, services are having to become reshaped, this means we need to make changes to what we do and the way we do it.

• Crime  and Anti-social behaviour - some parts of the ward have seen an increase in crime over the last 12 months. I have worked closely with the Police and Safer Kirklees, speaking to them on a regular basis as well as meeting with the Huddersfield Chief Inspector. I am pleased a 40 week project called "Intensive Engagement" has been launched within the ward. The area that has been identified  is the Birkby/Fartown area of Huddersfield. Intensive engagement is a systematic approach to community engagement that builds organisational capability, releases capacity and invests in skills of front line practitioners. The objective of Intensive Engagement is to build organisational capacity that enhances community safety and welfare through a targeted, lean and highly efficient public agency involvement that maximises the opportunities and capabilities of communities and stakeholders to tackle crime  and deprivation in vulnerable communities.
• Birkby and Fartown Library - With the recent closure of the library we have worked hard with the community and officers to try and relocate this vital service. We have located a number of possible venues all within walking distance of the old library. A feasibility study is currently underway with regards to scale, design and cost, discussions are ongoing, however I am confident this will take place in the very near future.
• Fly tipping - fly tipping is always a challenge to tackle, however within the ward we have caught and successfully prosecuted aa number of people through a combination of CCTV  and other evidence from the scene.
• Community Development - One of my key priorities is to continue supporting local groups ensuring joined up working and skills are shared. We have funded a number of groups  and projects within the ward this includes local parks, Faith Groups, and individual community groups.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Hillhouse Community Fund - we are extremely pleased that Hillhouse, one of the most deprived parts of the ward have some investment to install green measures  and energy efficiency to homes, this has been generated from the feed in tariff of solar panels. We have worked with residents, officers, Housing to ensure each house was surveyed  and presented with a number of options to make their homes warmer.

Democracy - We have delivered democracy sessions within schools to help children with decision making, talk about our role as Councillors, and inform them of what the council do.

Community Clean-Ups - I have taken part in a number of clean ups across the ward. Community groups are doing some wonderful work to keep green spaces tidy, and as councillors we are more than happy to help and advise, we have a great team within Kirklees  that can help groups turn disused areas into beautiful green spaces.

 Council and Committee Meetings

 Annual Council

 Full Council

 Children's Scrutiny

 Huddersfield Planning Committee

 Appeals Panel

 New Homes Bonus Cross Party Working Group

 Labour Group

 Training and Development

 Planning Training - update

 LGA Training - various

Annual Report 2017/18 - Cllr Sheikh Ullah

It is a privilege to continue to serve the residents of the Greenhead ward. I would like to thank the people who have placed their trust in me to represent them and I will do the best I can for all the residents of the ward. I have particularly enjoyed seeing the fantastic work that local Volunteer’s, Community groups, Friends of Groups do in such difficult circumstances.

It has been a very challenging year and I have dealt with a number of individual pieces of Casework and enquiries.

We work all year round on issues such as community safety, road and pavement improvements, Community clean up’s and much more. We have been working hard to reduce crime, improve litter and the removal of rubbish and for the provision of better more accessible services for families, individuals & groups.

Surgeries

Residents contact me by telephone, post or e-mail to ask for help and advice and

Most Saturday’s my ward colleagues and I proactively visit several streets to ask residents if we can provide any advice or assistance. This also helps us to keep in touch with what is going on in particular areas and listen to the feelings of local residents. I also pick up a significant amount of ward work when visiting local groups.

Challenges 

As a council we are dealing with the challenges in huge reductions in funding and government cuts. The council is unable to provide the services that it has done traditionally, I would encourage local groups to work together, and I will support them wherever possible and help provide the link and support needed so we concentrate on supporting people and communities to do more for themselves, ensuring that we intervene early in that support to prevent future problems.

• The council wants to ensure there is a strong local economy to provide jobs and services to residents , we will be concentrating on working for you , our constituents
• Keep vulnerable people safe, help them stay in control of their lives
• Support communities to do more for themselves and each other
• Focus on understand and meeting the needs of local people
• £129M cuts so far, £104M by 2020

Ward Activities

·         We have participated in a number of Community Clean ups most recently at Poplar St/ Scholes Rd. It took a full day to complete, and we are supporting residents to form a group to preserve and maintain the upkeep of the area.

·         I have also taken part in the NCS programme which is a 3-4 week programme that helps 15-17 years old build confidence and self-belief. A huge thanks to all the external groups that helped with the funding of plants, a bench and tools.

·         Due to regular cars mounting pavements on Westbourne road outside KFC we have worked with residents, and our highways safety team have designed a scheme to install traffic bollards on the footpath towards the edge of the carriageway which will help eliminate overruling of the footpath.

·         We have delivered regularly democracy sessions within local schools to help children with decision making, talk about the role of a councillor, and what the council does and the services it provides.

·         Councillors also helped turn a disused part of green space into a Community Wildlife Garden, Situated off the footpath between Ponyfield Close and Birkby Lodge Road. We helped them contact the right officers within Kirklees council to support them to set-up and form a group, access funding for tool and equipment hire.

It was really great news to hear that the Friends of Norman Park War memorial has been added to the List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. The memorial is now listed at Grade II.

The group have worked extremely hard for this, well done to everyone involved.

Local Community Groups and Organisations

Friends of Greenhead Park

Friends of Norman Park

Marsh Community Forum

Trinity & Greenhead TRA

Bradcroft TRA

Hillhouse Community Project

Birkby Community Wildlife Gardens

Birkby Community Clean – up Group

Paddock Village Community Trust

Council and Committee Meetings

As well as attending every council meeting I have sat on the following Committees/Sub Committees.

Annual Council

Huddersfield Planning Committee

Health & Social Care Scrutiny

Children’s Scrutiny Panel (since May 2018)

Appeals Panel

Labour Group

Throughout the year I have also regularly substituted on various panel to support the group.

Training & Development

Planning – UPDATE

Corporate Parenting

LGA Officer / Member Relationship

LGA information & intelligence

CSE

Annual Report 2016-2017: Cllr Sheikh Ullah

I have continued to work full time as a councillor, which have given me the ability to attend more events, respond to issues and inquiries more effectively, and get involved with a wider range of groups, organisations and individuals.

I have worked alongside many community & voluntary groups that are doing a brilliant job, despite limited resources.

We recently helped towards the install of a community defibrillator with the help of Marsh Community Forum, through a successful fund raiser and raised well over £2000, as well as helping the Hillhouse project form a steering group, I have also helped Paddock Village Hall for costs towards a new Kitchen, Friends of Greenhead Park for a bandstand & Friends of Norman Park for storage facilities all through District Committee Funding.

Chair District Committee Huddersfield

It has been a huge privilege to chair the Huddersfield District Committee, making important contributions across the district along with colleagues from across the 7 wards, I have worked in partnership with council services, community groups and partner organisations to support some essential programmes of work which have helped us deliver on our shared priorities.

I have ensured that public meetings have offered opportunities for local residents, youth councillors, and council services on important issues. These have included the Town Centre, Tackling Poverty, Comoodle, Kirklees Active Leisure, and community cohesion.

Our devolved budgets have supported high impact work for over 15 community groups, from small grants to enable them to make a huge difference through grassroots activities, these include:

• A town centre activity programme – the committee asked local residents for ideas on how we could generate footfall into the town centre we listened and acted by funding £53,000 into a programme of  7 activities that will take place in the town centre.
• Small grants have been awarded to local community groups contributing to priorities around: social isolation, bringing communities together, and environmental improvements.
• Increased partnership working in wards – councillors across a number of Huddersfield wards are strengthening their partnership structures in order to explore more collaborative ways of working to manage the impact of public sector cuts .

As the chair I am proud to have been a part of the District Committee and confident it will leave many legacies that will go on to support communities and enhance our town centre.

WARD WORK

Along with with my ward colleagues we have supported the “it’s up to you” community event where groups & individuals could apply for funding for small projects, we have also improved road safety and introduced several traffic calming measures within different parts of the ward this includes Speed indicators on Birkby Lodge Road, white line hatching at the bottom of Birkby Hall Road, and bollards to protect pedestrians.

We have continued to hold a street surgery most weeks throughout the year as well as producing and delivering different campaigning material.

 

What will be the challenges for me and the communities this year?

It is a very challenging time for the council as we face massive reductions in funding, I would encourage local groups to continue working together and I will continue to help provide the link and support they need wherever possible.

Kirklees has suffered about 40% cuts to its spending power, we will receive £50m less per year from government, which makes about £84m short of money over the four- period, and overall funding will shrink from £264m a year to £221m by 2019/20.

Services such as Street Scene, Dog Wardens, and Enforcement and Parks & Open spaces have all suffered cutbacks.

 

Local Community Groups and Organisations

Friends of Greenhead Park

Friends of Norman Park

Marsh Community Forum

Trinity & Greenhead TRA

Bradcroft TRA

Hillhouse Community Project

Birkby Community Wildlife Gardens

Birkby Community Clean – up Group

 

Council and Committee Meetings

Possible   44

Attended 41

Overall attendance 93%

Full Council Meeting

Annual Council

Huddersfield District Committee (chair)

Health & Social Care Scrutiny

Planning Huddersfield Sub Committee

I have also substituted on many committees throughout the year.

 

Training & Development

Planning training - including all updates

Licensing training - including all updates

LGA Officer / member relationship

LGA Labour Group Development session

LGA information & intelligence

Introduction to Kompass

Councillors & the third sector

Promoting tolerance & inclusion

 

Cllr Sheikh Ullah: Annual Report 2015-2016

It has been a huge privilege and honour to represent the greenhead ward, I was successfully re-elected by a 2000+ majority and would personally like to thank the supporters and volunteers that gave up so much time to help me.

I have continued to work full time as a councillor, which has given me the ability to attend more events, community groups, and respond to issues and inquiries more effectively, in the past year I have helped support the structure of the volunteer led friends of Birkby & Fartown Library and hope I will see many of you whilst I’m volunteering here.

I have continued to support the labour leadership of the council and have , at council meetings, spoken up on many key issues that residents have brought to my attention , such as potential cuts Tax Credit , Mental Health issues , as well as the councils budget

Along with my colleagues Cllr Carole Pattison & Cllr Mohan Sokhal we supported the “You & Your Community “event were community groups could apply for small funding bids and members of the public where invited to vote on the favourites over £2000 was awarded to various different groups.

We have also been instrumental in improving the safety of our roads, we have introduced several traffic calming and road safety measures in different parts of the ward, we introduced Speed Indicated Detectors on Halifax Road to slow traffic down, as well as white line hatching at the bottom of Birkby Lodge Road, further improvements have been made with the introduction of bollards to protect pedestrians on the pavement and safety fences outside of schools.

I have also actively supported the Hands Off HRI campaign , I know how worried Huddersfield families are about the closure of essential community services ,through my community work I see every day how the cuts made are destroying our NHS , police and social care services

Challenges for the year ahead

As a council we are dealing with the challenges from national Government and huge reductions in funding and government cuts , the council is unable to provide the services that it has done traditionally, I need to continue to encourage local groups to work together , and I will support them wherever possible and help provide the link and support needed so we concentrate on supporting people and communities to do more for themselves, ensuring that we intervene early in that support to prevent future problems.

• The council wants to ensure there is a strong local economy to provide jobs and services to residents , we will be concentrating on working for you , our constituents
• Keep vulnerable people safe, help them stay in control of their lives
• Support communities to do more for themselves and each other
• Focus on understand and meeting the needs of local people

It is also expected that we will receive 50 Million Pounds less than expected up to the year 2020, this is on top of the 34 Million pounds of savings the council have to make at the same period, and some of the 84M has to be found in total.

Services such as Street scene, Rangers , Dog Wardens and enforcement services will all suffer cutback.

 

Local Community Group and Organisations I am involved with

• Friends of Greenhead Park
• Friends of Norman Park
• Marsh Community Forum
• Trinity & Greenhead TRA
• Friends Of Birkby & Fartown LIC (Volunteer)
• Hillhouse Community project

Council Meetings and Committees

In the last municipal year I have had 100% or nearly 100% attendance on the following committees and sub committees:

• Full Council (100%)
• Huddersfield District Committee (92%)
• Health & Social Care Scrutiny (100%)
• Policy Committee  (92% )

I have also regularly supported the Labour Group and subbed on various committees throughout the year.

Outside Bodies I sit on

• Locala Community Partnership
• Kirklees Adoption Panel

Training or learning I have undertaken

• New Councillors Induction
• Vision of New council
• Planning Training ( including all current updates )
• Licensing Training
• CSE training / update
• Kirklees night noise team
• Huddersfield District Committee induction
• Kirklees magistrates training

 

Changes to the Welfare System: A clear attack on the lowest paid families

At the meeting of Full Council, 11 November 2015, Kirklees Labour tabled a motion asking all political groups to act against Governments proposed changes to the welfare system, concerned as we are about the serious impact these changes would have on families throughout Kirklees. 

“This Council is concerned by the effects the Government’s proposed changes to the welfare system, particularly but not exclusively to tax credits, as it demonstrates a clear attack on the lowest paid families. 

Of particular concern is the effect these cuts will have on many of the low paid, hardworking families across Kirklees and the wider impact this will have on the diverse communities across the district.

We therefore request the following:

1. That Cabinet ask the Director of Resources to produce a report as to the effects of this attack on working families in Kirklees.

2. This Council therefore asks that the Chief Executive writes a letter to Government requesting it seriously reconsiders implementation of these changes, so as to not enforce further undue financial suffering to many already hard working families of Kirklees." 

Two of Kirklees Labour's newest councillors delivered speeches to Council, highlighting the effects Governments proposed changes to the Welfare System, would have on hardworking families.

 

Councillor Marielle O'Neill, Batley West Ward, proposed the motion:

"I would like to propose this motion as the Government’s cuts to the Welfare system, especially cuts to tax credits will have a devastating impact in Kirklees. Kirklees Labour believes the tax credit changes would penalise hard working parents who are doing the right thing and taking responsibility for their families. The cuts to tax credits amount to a work penalty and will hit families on middle and lower incomes.

"As a young woman I am concerned about the effect these cuts will have on women and children. The Fawcett Society said there is no doubt women would be hit hard by the changes. Women are more likely to be on low incomes, relying on tax credits. The non-partisan Resolution Foundation found that the tax and benefit measures announced in the Summer Budget will push 200 thousand children into poverty next year. Most of these will be in working families.

"The cuts to tax credits hit the most vulnerable in our society. In my own constituency, Batley and Spen there are 13 thousand children in working families currently receiving tax credits. A staggering 60 per cent of families in Batley and Spen receive tax credits. I know a family in Batley West that will be over a thousand pounds worse off because of these cuts. I am proud to propose this motion. As politicians we should be fighting to ensure every child in Kirklees has a fair shot in life."

 

 Councillor Sheikh Ullah, Greenhead Ward:

"I am very concerned about the impact on Kirklees residents of cuts to tax credits. 

There are 16,800 families in Kirklees receiving Working Tax Credits and Child Tax Credits. These families are going to be negatively affected by these cuts. 

It is expected that on average, families are likely to be worse off by £1,300 next year. 

I know a family, who, if these cuts go ahead, will have to choose between the very basics, such as eating or heating.

Within those 16,800 families in Kirklees there are 33,700 children 

33,700 children who will be living in Kirklees families and will be worse off next year if tax credits are cut. 

Do we care about children in Kirklees? I Care, this is why I fully support this motion."