St Matthews Branch Labour Party

2011-12-31T11:06:00.000-08:00

We are delighted to welcome Aftab Nawaz as the candidate for St Matthews ward in the coming election in May 2012. Aftab comes with a long list of credentials that will make him, if elected , an excellent representative for the residents of St Matthews to join Eileen Russell as the current Councillor who represents you.

Issues of
- the Town centre is in our ward and looks decayed and needs an injection of enthusiasm and regeneration activity... totally neglected by this Tory run Council
- finally the eyesore of the Mellish road church has been demolished after promises made and broken.. first rule of politics never make promises that you cannot keep... now what future for this important site as an entrance to view for visitors to Walsall.
- the issue of parking around the University in Gorway has not been resolved despite again many promises to residents... let us get round the table and sort this one for the benefit of residents and the University
- the difficulty of residents to park their own cars in streets in the ward with the large increase in resident parking permit fees has not been consulted with those affected. Parking policy on Walsall is in a mess and needs a sensible and realistic approach...those with businesses in Ablewell Street are being punished and seriously affected by a short sighted parking policy that could drive more people and shops away from Walsall.
- what effects are happening in this ward as a result of savage cuts to support for the vulnerable and elderly that depend on this support for a fair quality of life? walsall Council under the tories are going down the route of charging according to the level of benefits received which is resulting in man cases where those affected are being left with very little left to run their lives which are often costly due to their disabilities.
- in our ward falls the Council House.. the tories are proposing to spend nearly £1 million in upgrading this building over the next two years while those extra vulnerable residents are finding their support being cut to the bone.
- Walsall Council has a 'spin' doctor press department which costs us as council tax payers around £450000 a year... what is the justification of spending that kind of money when the vulnerable in this Borough are suffering horrendous cuts to their support?
I hope that you will get to meet Aftab in the next few months as a person who will defend especially those who are finding living day to day a real struggle.

Surgery times.. come and see me!

2011-05-27T12:57:00.000-07:00

I want to thank those who supported me in the recent local elections; an election that clearly showed local people want this Conservative Council and the Tory-led Government to listen and change course. On Thursday 5 May the people of Walsall firmly rejected badly thought-through policies that this Government and the Council are pursuing.

On the doorstep, time and again, you’ve told me how concerned you are about our vital public services, and I promise I will stand up for our community. Labour will be Walsall’s first line of defence against the damage being caused by the Tory-led Government’s cuts.

As your Councillor, I’m here to serve YOU, and I want to make sure that your voice is heard. If you have a concern, let me know, and let’s try and sort it out together. I will work hard to get the best for our whole community and that means listening to you, so I will be holding my surgeries Saturday surgeries will run as 10 am to 10.45am Croft House Union Street ( from 11th June ) and then at Walsall Central Library from 11. am to 11.45. am.( room back of children’s library) News and updates from stmatthewslabour.blogspot.com

If you can’t make it to see me at my surgery but still have something to say, you can ring me on telephone number below.

Yours sincerely,

Eileen

Eileen Russell

Labour Councillor for Matthews tel 07903442136

Welcome to our new councillor Eileen Russell

2011-05-20T10:21:00.000-07:00

Eileen has been elected on May 5th and joins the Council on 23rd May. Details of surgeries will appear here soon.. probably at Austin House and another place in caldmore on Saturday mornings. in the meantime ring her on 07903442136

Well done Eileen! the real work starts now!

Cllr Ian Robertson

campaign coordinator

Where has our local Councillor gone?

2011-04-05T07:33:00.000-07:00

News that the current councillor for st Matthews has run off to Paddock no doubt due to her fears that she would have been beaten in the local elections coming up is deplorable. Ignoring the political badges , I have , and I hope the voters also take the view , that abandoning your ward for such selfish reasons , I find disgraceful . If you have working and supported your ward, no matter what the political label is, voters will support you... Barbara McCracken did the same thing when she was a councillor in Rushall and abandoned them to come to St Matthews as a 'safer' seat.
Have respect for Barbara for her work as cabinet member for Social Services ( having a £5 Million cut of course this year!) but here I hope the voters of St Matthews will support Eilleen Russell who will be loyal to her ward if elected and hope that the voters in Paddock will rightly object to having a new candidate foisted on them and vote in Nasar Ali... maybe the current councillor who now stands as an independent will split the vote!!
No wonder the population has such a low opinion of us politicians... however there are exceptions to this rule.... the voters should know who they are!!

regards
Ian Robertson

Come the revolution.!!!

2011-02-06T14:50:00.000-08:00

Come the revolution.

Man the barricades before it is too late! We stand at a crossroads where we are poised to slide into a Walsall where the slogan will be ‘Survival of the fittest !’ ‘Let the market decide! ‘

The proposed cuts or more like amputations that are revealed in the budget proposals for Walsall to be passed without a wimper at full council on 24th February will hit at the very heart of this Borough.

6 libraries to be closed… without any doubt in the most disadvantaged parts of Walsall serving such wards as Pleck, Birchills Blakenall Palfrey Willenhall and Darlaston.

£100,000 off the music service plus a national cut of up to £850K which will end music support in Walsall apart from those in the more affluent areas who can afford to pay. Plus more cuts to the museum and art gallery.. so some of the reasons to live here in Walsall are getting crossed off the list as we move to being just an ordinary Town living in a cultural desert.

An end to Community transport service now to be mainly run by a private company.

A serious cut to current levels of support for social services support of over £7 million with imposition of charges of up to £85 a week . A direct attack on those most disadvantaged in Walsall.

Cuts of nearly £3 million in Leisure which will mean almost certainly as well as 6 libraries, all but 6 of swimming pools attached to schools will close and cuts to park maintenance and cover.

£600,000 off young services provision … no doubt more young people to be seen hanging about street corners. A requested cut of £2.5 million off the contract held by SERCO to deliver education in Walsall schools while we languish still very near the bottom of the league for education results in England.

When you cut £25 million off a budget at a stroke, the fall out for front line services will be major, especially for the disadvantaged fellow members of the human race in Walsall.

At the sharp end there will be many small community projects that will be closed. I note that the £12,000 yearly grant to the scouts to help pay for premises rental and training costs will cease which will mean some groups will close.

The problem for Walsall is that power rests with one individual almost alone… bit like in Egypt really … however the people there are showing what they think of him! See you in Liberation Square in Bridge Street, Walsall.

Is Blue Coates School to be yet another Academy?

2011-01-14T15:40:00.000-08:00

News that the Governing Body of Blue Coates Secondary School has been sacked and taken over by Serco with the strong possibility that this will be another school offered up to be an Academy... have we not heard this one before? Darlaston Secondary school went the same way .. no notice of Governing Body.. just the sacking of Governors, no consultation and offered on a plate to some religious anti Darwinism guru !
Well I suppose Walsall Education is pretty low in the water anyway.. sold out to Serco on a 12 year contract.. no scrutiny . I wonder why Walsall is the only authority in the country now who has serco to run their education department.. the rest have sacked serco.. the pupils in Walsall have been sold out for another 11 years!

Read my lips. No increase in tuition fees.. it is a promise!

2010-12-02T12:53:00.001-08:00

By election Rushall Shelfield

2010-10-31T16:21:00.000-07:00

1st November
There will be a by election on November 11th with Richard Worrall our Labour Party candidate. Help will be gratefully received with espcially help on wednesday 10th November to deliver the last leaflet.
Please contact 641084 and leave message for Richard
thanks
regards
Ian Robertson

Eileen Russell chosen to stand again in May 2011 local elections

2010-10-29T15:35:00.000-07:00

I want to thank you for your support in this year’s local elections. Unfortunately I narrowly failed to be elected but will continue to raise your concerns and am proud to have been selected as the Labour Party candidate again in the May 2011 local elections.

The recent Tory budget is a dreadful thing for families across St Matthew’s and Walsall. At the end of May, the Tory PM and his Lib Dem Deputy PM announced that the Government Coalition would be making 25% cuts to public services, including front line services which could certainly mean less police dealing with crime.

The harsh reality is that the cuts proposed by the Tory-Lib Dem Coalition are going to hurt families and the vulnerable the most. Yes Britain is in debt, but the Tory plans to cut spending will simply risk the recovery and deeply affect peoples’ lives. This Tory Council will be making 28% cuts over the next four years and it makes me especially very angry when for example we have wasted now over £3 Million preparing to improve Walsall schools , money now completely wasted with the cancellation of the programs and we have also lost over £1 Million in poor record keeping on reclaiming grant money from Europe. I want to know what you think.

Please take two minutes to fill out my survey, fold the lines on the back and return to me FREEPOST.
The Labour Party

FREEPOST

NAT 13297

WALSALL

WS1 1HR

I look forward to hearing from you

Regards

Eileen

FRED WINS IN BLOXWICH WEST

2010-07-15T15:48:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to Fred for winning Bloxwich West. . The tories ( and the liberals) have been soundly beaten.

Fred 1142 votes. Tory 800. UKIP 91 Lib Dem 71 Green 28.

Fred will make an excellent Councillor as he proved when he did hold that place some time ago.

well done Fred!

leisure centres another fine mess we are in!!! etc

2010-06-28T13:04:00.000-07:00

28th June
This evening we had a meeting of the community services scrutiny to look at the decision of the Tory cabinet to close Willenhall Leasure centre and Bryntisilo campy site in Wales.
After some agrument the meeting was adjourned as many of those who are directly affected by this had not been invited to have their say...
I often !! despair of Walsall Council... this is yet another example of issues that should have been foreseen years and years ago but the relevant senior officer has not taken ownership of that issue and in conjunction with the relevant politician from cabint has not had the foresight to deal with and plan of action way long ago rather than leave until the clock is nearly at midnight and actions are just panic reactions... a story of a culture in walsall that has been disgraceful over the years and I think is the cause of many of the disasters that have happened in Walsall Council to the detriment of the council tax payers in thsi Borough and has wasted so much both in effort and money.....!!
regards
Ian
Cllr Ian Robertson
Blakenall Ward

questions questions!!!

2010-06-28T12:55:00.000-07:00

When will the disgraceful state of Butlers passage be corrected? and what has been the cost so far in the previous attempts to restore and clean up?

- What is the current estimated cost and time scale of correcting the pothole damage caused by the frost during last winter?

Notice of motion

This Council welcomes both the efforts of individuals and those running a business, to increase recycling. .

Council notes the Notice of Motion passed on 2^nd July 2007… where

This Council resolves to make every effort via a full strength enforcement team to stop this activity and to urge and give every assistance to our partners such as the environmental agency and the police . Further this Council will also share such information with Walsall Housing Group to encourage them to enforce their tenancy agreements which are clearly being broken in these cases and where appropriate information will be shared with our statutory partners.

This Council notes with concern that since that Notice, the problem appears to have become considerably worse and is affecting an even wider area of streets in this Borough.

Council resolves to have urgent discussions with local Councillors, the Police, the environmental agencies, Walsall Housing group, and other appropriate agencies on how this serious anti social behaviour can be permanently stopped, while still encouraging the efforts of the more responsible people in recycling various forms of scrap or ‘tat’.

Question… …

What is the detailed breakdown in reasons for sickness absence by employees of this Council over the last year along with a length of time absence expressed if possible please in numbers of weeks absent for individual employees and cost of providing cover either by agency staff or by seconding other employees to cover these absences ?

News that over 90000 days were lost at Walsall Council last year due to sickness absence, equivalent to 391 years in work days,

Disgraceful....

regards

Ian Robertson

resident St Matthews

News from tory run Walsall Council

2010-06-15T02:27:00.000-07:00

We learn that the latest news to tory run Walsall from this Tory Government is that funding for the Borough has been cut by a further £6 million pounds, including over £2Million on education alone. The details are being worked out by the tory cabinet at the moment , but we await the details and will be probing especially the effects on the most vulnerable and already disadvantaged in the Borough and even more so in wards we represent.

The news that we shall not be sending any more children to Bryntysillio and that Willenhall Leisure centre will close is bad news for those from more disadvantaged backgrounds who value such opportunities. This Borough faces a serious problem of overweight children which will result in many such now children being outlived by their parents.

The committee looking at the loss by this Council of £ 3 million pounds due to poor record keeping and poor officer management met last Monday and it was admitted that the records are there but not in the right files and so claims back cannot be made. Next Monday the audit committee looks at the draft accounts for the Council and seeing that we have 91officers ( excluding education where we have 215 more) earning over £50000 a year and a chief executive earning over £190,000 a year .. that is £40000 more than the prime minister… are we getting value for money as council tax payers

We also read that the tory cabinet in July is proposing to charge everyone for a replacement wheelie bin including those where the gree bin has worn out after 10 years service... and so the other bins brown and grey will also all be charged £18.50 but probalby going up to £25! The benefits of paying council tax are gradually diminishing!
what do you think?
The news that 1 in 5 cancer patients are having to wait over 2 months to get treatment was revealed by the Primary care trust in their annual meeting… can they imagine what it is like to have to wait that long to find out if you have a possibly fatal illness and have some treatment?

We shall as labour councillors be pursuing these issues with vigour and welcome your comments.

Regards

Cllr Ian Robertson Cllr Bob Thomas
( Labour)

Eileen Russell

2010-05-04T03:06:00.000-07:00

"As a Chuckery resident of many years' standing, I am delighted to have been selected as Labour candidate for St. Matthew's Ward in the 6th May Council election. I would be privileged to become a ward councillor as I believe that the sole purpose of winning elected office should be to make a positive difference by helping all people, communities and the whole Borough to a better and fairer future.
I'm friendly, easily approachable, respect differences and treat people as I would like to be treated myself. I am committed to the traditional Labour values of caring, co-operation and decency. Unlike Mrs. Thatcher, I do believe in society and that we must all help each other. I'm honest and will work hard to get results”. Eileen Russell"
Local Issues: "I think that, apart from the Borough-wide question of how well we are served by this Conservative Council (see elsewhere in this leaflet), there are key local issues to tackle right across our diverse and spread-out ward, for example:
the rubbish-strewn appearance of Caldmore;
the many run-down buildings and binge-drinking "culture" of our town centre;
reining in the University's expansive ambitions in Gorway;
the failure to provide youth facilities in The Chuckery;
the disgraceful lack of effective Council action against the owners of the derelict Mellish Road Church;
across the ward generally, the need for effective action on road repairs, parking problems, waste, conservation and the patchy quality of GP surgeries.
I cannot promise to resolve all these issues, but you can have confidence that I am committed to doing whatever I can to improve these and whichever other matters need attention on our St. Matthew's 'patch.' "

pubished by electronic communication by Ian Robertson 128 Broadway North WS1 2QE on behalf of Eileen Russell

Eileen Russell your Labour candidate

2010-05-03T13:21:00.000-07:00

Eileen Russell who lives in the ward is standing as the Labour candidate in the 2010 local elections for the Labour Party

published by Ian Robertson 128 Broadway Walsall on behalf of candidates 2010 in the local elections