Katesgrove Lib Dems

A Case In Point

To often when you get leaflets popped though your door at election time, you'll get some flannel about the candidate promising to work hard for you. You never really know though whether that will be the case.

Reading Borough Council has just published the figures from its casework recording system for the last full council year.

A breakdown shows that on average a Reading Tory councillor does only 36 items of casework, a Labour councillor does 44, and a Lib Dem councillor 94.

Now that is value for money!

All Work...

Finally, a day off work but there is no rest for the wicked!

I've had a meeting this morning with one of the Housing Associations responsible for some social housing in Katesgrove. Their block has seen an on-going problem with anti-social behaviour from kids which is proving difficult to solve.

For an ordinary person, the problem is where exactly do you start?

We have: the Safer Reading Campaign, Anti-Social Behaviour Action Groups, Neighbourhood Action Groups, Police Community Support Officers, Community Wardens, Youth Workers and of course the Housing Association themselves.

It's all very well having a multi-agency approach to problem solving but when the multi-agencies don't talk to each other, who is going to do it? Co-ordinating action is perhaps one of the more difficult areas of being a councillor but it is the only way to ensure that residents concerns are met and dealt with.

I'd better get on with it then!

Expenses - A Public Service Announcement

There is much criticism at the moment - much of it right - about politicians and the expenses they claim.

Reading Borough Council publishes periodically the total allowances paid and expenses paid.

I can confirm that both Katesgrove Liberal Democrat Councillors have claimed nil expenses in the past financial year.

This is a public service announcement.

Seeing double

We are currently working with residents of Collis Street to see if we can resolve a problem with freshly painted double yellow lines at the junction with Mount Street.

These lines have been put in for a purpose, which is to allow access to utility and emergency vehicles to access the Whitley Street estate. There have been a number of incidents of missed bin collections because of cars blocking access which obviously is not good for the residents of the estate.

On the other hand, the practical application of this has reduced the number of available spaces to residents in Collis Street. I've measured the lines and they appear to be a standard length of just over 10 metres which in the context of the problem being "solved" appears to be slightly excessive.

Gareth and I have asked Highways for a site visit so that we can discuss the situation and see if we can come up with a practical solution that will keep both sidea happy... or failing that at least happier.

Who Wants to Play Tag?

The Lib Dem campaign to prevent and remove graffiti has had a rather curious attack from Bet Tickner in the Evening Post. You remember her? Former Mayor, Chair of the Licencing Committee when alcohol licences were given away like confetti, campaigner against alcohol problems caused as a result of licences being given away like confetti and now the Bet Noire of the local licencing trade after she said that pubs closing during the recesssion wouldn't be a bad thing.

Anyway, it would seem that our efforts to document and publish the recent rash of tagging across the town in an effort to get action hasn't met with her approval. It would appear that, according to her, publishing pictures of tags glorifies the activities of taggers.

No Bet,it is the fact that your party has stopped the anti-graffiti Big Clean Up Campaign that glorifies taggers. They couldn't ask for bigger publicity than to have their tags up for weeks on end in full view of everyone. Yet again another Labour initiative that proved to be nothing more than another pre-election sop to the voters. People want permanent solutions, not token gestures.

Labour got in a big sulk when the Guardian’s Tom Dyckhoff called the town 'Pig Ugly', yet what do visitors see the moment they step out of the railway station? Graffiti that has been greeting the town's visitors for over a year in a prime location. Hardly proof that Labour take this problem seriously.

The simple truth is that if effective action was being taken there would be no need for us to highlight it.