Fight to save St Mary's ABC

St Mary's ABC, Chatham

Labour Councillors in Luton & Wayfield will be supporting the campaign by our local St Mary's ABC which is currently threatened with closure after the ownership of the land changed.

I along with Councillor colleagues met the campaigners yesterday evening and it is clear they will fight to the end for a club which spawned former world champion Johnny Armour and top heavyweight Tom Dallas.

St Mary's Amateur Boxing Club in Chatham is one of the oldest and proudest clubs in the county and has support from across the region. It is the epitomy of a small sports club fighting against corporate greed.

You can join their Facebook site and a petition is currently being organised to safeguard this piece of local heritage.

The Council has a responsibility to local sportsclubs to ensure they are safeguarded; one such as this with such a proud history must be looked at.

St Mary's has been at the site for more than 50 years. It has previously rented the property for a peppercorn rent of just £26 a year, but following the death of its landlady, the future of the club is in doubt.

Club secretary and head coach Dave Bowler said to Medway Messenger:

"We are very worried. We don't know who is going to buy it and if they will let us stay. If the new owners put the rent up, we wouldn't be able to afford it, and we can't afford to go anywhere else."

St Mary's most famous son is Armour who reigned the WBU bantamweight division for three years. He trained at the club from the age of 10 until he signed a professional contract aged 21.

He said:

"It would be a great shame if the club had to close. A lot of people would feel the same as me. It has been there such a long time and a lot of people will have fond memories of it.

"It is a blinding club, I don't think you will ever get a club as good as St Mary's in Medway. I couldn't have done anything I have done in my career without the start I was given at that club."

As Councillors - Sam Craven, Tristan Osborne and Christine Godwin will be fighting for the boxing club and are currently engaged with the Council to ensure that the tradition of this much-loved sport continues in our community.

Working for Gillingham

Cllr Dave Colman & Cllr Adam Price at the Labour funded Mid-Kent College site

Labour in Gillingham are out and about delivering for the community after the local elections in May 2011 saw two Labour gains.

Despite the focus locally being on the spats and splits between the former Liberal Democrat PPC, Andy Stamp and the Chair of the Medway Liberal Democrats, Alan Jefferies it is clear that Labour is out, working below the radar, and delivering for the people of Gillingham on their concerns.

Cllr Dave Colman, a former railway worker, has been particularly active as a new Councillor, introducing himself to community leaders and activists and helping residents. From dealing with private landlord disputes, clearing alleys to working with Council Officers on delivering better local services.

Dave is a team-player, collegiate and understated Councillor; he isnt interested in the public bickering that is distorting the priorities for Gillingham away from people issues. He is there to deliver and help people.

You can get in touch with Dave at Gillingham Library or via the Council Website

Expect to see a lot more of Dave Colman and Adam Price. Quiet, understated but delivering for Gillingham

Our Highstreets deserve better

The visit by John Denham MP a few weeks ago, coupled with the front page of the Medway News and todays GDP figures show that the Tories have let down small business.

It is now up to Labour to save Medway’s high streets, calling for urgent action to help retailers, protect jobs and give people a real say over their local high street.

According to the Local Data Company, 14.6% of retail premises in the UK are now vacant, indicating that approximately 50,000 high street units are empty, with vacancy rates rising. The Javelin Group has predicted that if current trends continue, a quarter of all non-food retail outlets in the UK could be vacant by 2020. This also follows a recent spate of household-name high street retailers going under or having to close premises.

Portfolio holder, Cllr Chitty and Cllr Jarrett last week offered no comment on the situation that they have allowed to hit local traders in Chatham. They have simply failed local business.

Meanwhile evidence from Gravesend and Dartford shows that those centres have not suffered the same decline on footfall that the Medway Conservatives have overseen in our towns

Thousands of jobs on our Medway high streets are at risk. The British Retail Consortium’s Retail Employment monitor in April 2011 found that 29% of retailers planned to decrease staffing levels, up from 8% in April 2010.

Consumer spending remains sluggish as household incomes are squeezed and the government’s VAT hike hits consumers. Nationwide Building Society’s Consumer Confidence Index, released this week, fell by six points in June, returning to a similar level to January.

The government’s VAT hike is hitting the High Street – last year, the British Retail Consortium predicted that the increase would cost 163,000 jobs over four years and reduce consumer spending by £3.6 billion over the same period.

Additionally, many small businesses are struggling to access the finance they need, with lending to businesses contracting in the three months to May 2011 and the cost of borrowing increasing according to the Bank of England this week.

Labour has unveiled a four-point plan to save Britain’s high streets:

• Enact a temporary cut in VAT from 20% to 17.5%, giving struggling retailers a boost and putting £450 back into each family’s pocket.
• Introduce a retail diversity planning clause, putting communities in charge of the future of their local high streets. Local people and local retailers would have a say on any retail plans for their area, giving them the power to put the heart back into the high street.
• Create a ‘competition test’ in the planning system, leading to greater choice and lower prices for shoppers. The test would ensure a level playing field between small and large shops.
• Repeat Labour’s empty shops initiative, enabling councils to pursue innovative uses for empty shops and reinvigorate high-streets, such as using vacant units for cultural, community or learning services, rather than leaving them empty

The Tories have lost the trust of local business people. Labour stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the small trader and entrepreneur.

GDP Growth Shock

This morning’s growth figures show that – as expected – the economy grew by just 0.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2011. Given that the economy flat-lined in the six months after September, it means that growth has been anaemic for the last nine months as the chart below shows.

For Medway residents it shows that the Conservative austerity plan which is seeing over-aggressive cuts has resulted in a decline in consumer confidence. Unemployment, benefit payments and future prospects remain bleak.

It is time for the Tories to accept that they need to focus on growth and jobs. Time and time again the opposition has made it clear that the doom-mongering and negative language from the Chancellor would spook investment. It clearly has.

The OBR’s latest prediction for 2011 growth of 1.7 per cent now looks virtually impossible to achieve. Even if the economy gets back on track in Q3 and Q4, 2011 growth will barely hit 1.2 per cent – under half its original prediction of 2.6 per cent which it made in June 2010. The OBR has already been forced to downgrade its growth predictions on three previous occasions and will have to do so for a fourth time when it releases its forecast evaluation report in the autumn. Alongside this, they will be forced to raise their borrowing predictions.

Tories can not hide now from their failure to mismanage growth in the economy. They have taken the wrong and over aggressive course and the longer this continues the longer that residents across Chatham, Rochester, Gillingham, Rainham and Strood will suffer.

Master and Apprentice Challenged

Press Emperor, Rupert Murdoch, after almost 40 years of active lobbying, involuntary coercion, bullying and belittling our democracy, was finally held to account by Parliament today, and made to answer for the phone hacking scandal.

The culture, media and sport select committee quized Murdoch and son James from 2:30, followed by Rebekah Brooks from 3:30.

Three things in particular stood out

• Rupert Murdoch is clearly not as scary a figure as has been portrayed and at times was almost pitiable. There was the definate streak of arrogance though on reflection on the size of his business and the fact he was simply uninterested in the UK (or at least tried to portray it) but yet a contradiction that he seemed eager almost to court senior politicians in Number 10. I suspect his interested was more than admitted. He did however reflect his age - time has a reached a point where such an octongerian should consider stepping back. A number of answers clearly showed he was not briefed appropriately by his UK News Corporation team but in addition he was slow footed and not on top of his game. There was an early mea-cupla but his answers conveyed a sense that because he was so senior or was almost above the fray; or at least perceived to be.
• James Murdoch answered well but once again was light on detail; citing the defence of other investigations [which is fair enough you could argue] about answering any tricky question. The fact is though the culpability for paying huge sums of money to private investigators lies with someone and he singularly failed to answer a simple financial question; who signed the cheques? Someone would pay attention surely if £500,000 came out of your bank account for 'services' rendered?
• Parliament finally showed some teeth and used the Select Committee's for some actual cross-examination. This is good thing for democracy and we should see more of it.

The shareholders and Board of News Corporation will deliver a more ruthless verdict shortly it is hoped. The days of the press emperor are surely coming to a close and like the analogy with the Emperor Palpatine (who bares a strickling resemblance) will it be one of his sons and most trusted advisors on the board who will fling the Emperor over the edge.

On a political note; the support from David Cameron, notably quiet today, will be under the spotlight tomorrow. Cameron has a number of questions to answer about his judgement and leadership on employing Coulson and especially and notably about why the chief of staff turned down advice on the phone hacking saga. In addition, Cameron revealed last week extensive informal relationships with News Corporation moguls; surely meeting such people informally a contradiction when the government was considering a BSkyB bid for Sky?

There is a smell of sulfur eminating from Camerons office. Will the force be with him tomorrow?

Ready, Steady, Councillor

Residents in Luton and Wayfield enjoyed a day packed full of family fun over the weekend with live music, a barbecue, a talent show, fete and a quite comical Ready, Steady, Cook competition between local councillors Tristan Osborne and Sam Craven.

Residents also enjoyed a host of other events across the area including a Talent Performance Show at the Bishope of Rochester Acedemy. the event was a useful way of finding and engaging with people about their area and what they would like to see in the future.

With the tagline Local People, Local Solutions, the project is a joint initiative from Medway Council alongside NHS Medway, Kent Police in Medway, schools and community groups based in the area.

By working with the community and encouraging them to talk about any issues and concerns they have, the aim is to gain residents' feedback on the services they receive and how they can be improved, as well as looking at better ways to tackle issues such as anti social behaviour within a community.

Commenting Councillor Craven stated:

"Hundreds of residents turned out across all threee of the venues despite the poor weather and immersed themselves in the activities on offer. Residents enjoyed watching the talent contest with urban dance from Rochester Group ATZ to belly and folk dancing. The fete at Wayfield Primary School was really well attended with the 'Guess the Teacher' stand attracting a lot of attention from former pupils

"It is very clear from the performances we saw that Medway has lots of very talented young people and this needs to be encouraged and harnessed."

Commenting Councillor Osborne

"Politicians are regularly told that if they dont like the heat they should get out the kitchen, so it was also a useful opportunity to rest a score from the local election with a 'Ready, Steady, Cook' competition. The competition pitted my cooking prowess with that of Cllr Craven, a mum and teacher"

"After a very brief tutorial from the chef's my skills were put to the test and though my chicken pasta dish was a success, though minus the spinach. It was not enough. Cllr Craven won that day with an excellent curry, where my efforts were rewarded the wooden spoon"

Time to step up and step out?

Ed Balls at St Peter's School, Rochester supporting parents at a school threatened by the Conservatives

Education is back on the agenda for full Council this week after a glut of stories highlighting the gross incompetence of the current Tory administration - and in particular portfolio holder Cllr Les Wick's - in managing Medway’s schools.

The Tory administration has shown an appalling level of ineptitude across the board with serious implications for the education and future of Medway’s children. Medway tax payers have had to pay through the teeth for fiasco after fiasco.

The recent Woodlands School fiasco detailed of late in local newspapers, comes on top of significant cuts announced to school staff such as teaching assistants, and a U-turn from the administration on future pupil numbers and school capacity requirements.

Plans have now been revealed for additional schools to be built in Chatham and Rochester, as a growing birth rate is expected to lead to a shortfall in available school places based on current provision. This, despite the closure of Ridge Meadow School, and the amalgamation others only a year ago, which reduced available places.

Given that Labour members - alongside parents, teachers, and local communities - consistently challenged the logic of closing successful schools at the time, it now seems clear the Tories simply failed to listen. The administration failed to take account of clear statistical evidence that foresaw the shortfall in places we now see, and could have avoided this costly error in closing schools only to need new ones a year down the line.

The Labour group thus demands answers from the Tory spokesperson, Cllr Les Wicks, on the legitimacy of the figures used in schools planning, and the rationale behind what now appears to be wasteful and unnecessary school closures. Labour councillors highlights a need for clear and open debate on the problems in Medway's schools, and implore the Tory administration to allow this to occur

In 2009/2010, local residents fought a campaign to oppose the Conservative Party cuts agenda to local schools and successfully campaigned with parents and pupils to reverse the policy which was based on flawed data.

The Tory incompetence can not be allowed to continue because our children deserve better.

Something must be done urgently and those responsible should reflect on whether they can really fix or whether they are the problem.

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