Campaigning for better facilities for residents in Southcote

This afternoon I popped down to Coronation Square in Southcote to support a campaign being led by local Lib Dem campaigner Dave Warren to get the Council to ensure developers include delivery of new community facility as part of the redevelopment of the former Happy Prospect pub site.

It was great to catch up with Dave who along with local shopkeepers and residents is collecting signatures for a petition to Reading Borough Council to be presented later this year.


Clearly it is important to provide more housing on the site but given the loss of a pub is also the loss of a local community facility there also should be some compensation for residents who live in the area.

Hard copies of the petition are being circulated but you can also sign it online here.

Dave is a great community activist who lives in the heart of Southcote and cares deeply about his area.

I was shocked the way that Cllr Pete Ruhemann, local Labour councillor for the area tried to misepresent the campaign at the full Council meeting.

This was totally uncalled for and not what I would expect from someone who is both a ward councillor for the area and Chair of the Planning Applications Committee.

Doing this hardly encourages residents to get involved in improving their neighbourhoods.

I hope going forward Labour councillors can put politics aside and support Dave's campaign

Anyway, it was good to speak to local shopkeepers in the area today and hear of their support for what we are doing.

This is the latest in a series of things local Lib Dems have have done to improve Southcote for residents.

In fact, Lib Dems have led improvements in Southcote in recent times via the Council's innovative Decent Neighbourhoods Fund, including:

• Funding of a water supply to enable an allotments project to proceed in Southcote (part of the ‘Surf and Turf’ initiative)
• Delivering a new outdoor gym specifically aimed at older people. Improvements to the nearby children’s play area are an additional part of this project.
• Additional street lighting

We also supported the local GrowAllot Campaign for a community allotment and it was great to see this win funding for the project from the Big Lottery Fund.

We'd love to hear from residents who would like to get involved in our campaigns to improve Southcote after years of neglect by Labour councillors for the area.

Please join us on Facebook or contact me.

Gurkha Justice Campaign

This morning I was privileged to be invited to the launch of the British Gurkhas Ex-Serviceman Assocation campaign for justice held at the Wycliffe Church in East Reading.

I have been involved with Reading Gurkhas through my colleague Tilehurst Lib Dem Cllr Peter Beard who helped set up the Forgotten British Gurkha charity.

Although Gurkhas were granted indefinite leave to remain following the campaign led by Joanna Lumley and supported by Nick Clegg they currently do not have full British citizenship and associated rights i.e. pension rights.

We heard at the meeting that on a visit to Reading David Cameron pledged to act but that since then he has done nothing.

I was asked to say a few words at the meeting and I  promised to take up the matter with Nick Harvey MP, Lib Dem Armed Services Minister and Nick Clegg MP.

The Association launched a nationwide petition today that I have signed. The launch was attended by former Conservative councillor Tom Steele and Cllr Rob White, leader of the Green Party.

I did not see any local Labour councillors at the meeting although Cllr Bet Tickner (Lead Councillor, Communities) was invited by the organisers.

Perhaps it was not one of her 'favourite' community groups.

This is a pity as the Nepalese community in Reading, comprising many ex-servicemen and their families is large and growing.

In recognition of this the Coalition administration of Reading Borough Council awarded grant funding to the Nepalese Community as part of the Council's grants to the voluntary sector. The first of it's kind.

I have requested that the issue of how we respond to the needs of migrant communities is added to the Council['s Internal Scrutiny Commission's list of issues to investigate.

Backing carers - Reading's hidden heroes

Today an elderly constituent  I've known for many years and who I have assisted with various local issues came to visit me at our ward surgery.

We talked about the issue she had come to raise (relating to planning) and after a few minutes it transpired that she had recently become a full-time carer to her husband.

I had no idea about this and as I asked her about what support she was getting at home.

 It soon became clear that not only was she not getting any support but that she didn't realise that she was entitled to any.

I asked her when the last time was she had a day off.

She told me she couldn't remember.

When I probed a bit further she said she had been forced to rearrange the house so they could both sleep downstairs as due to disability her husband couldn't get up the stairs anymore.

They have a bath but a shower would be more convenient.
Her neighbour was able to help her with a few things including getting the shopping.

I immediately made a note of her needs and said I would ask the Council's social services team to contact her to see what support she could be given.

It struck me that had I not digged deeper I might never have found out that my constituent was a carer.

It is not something that people will always bring up in conversation in the street or on the doorstep.

That is why I make a point of saying to people that I am here to help them whenever I am out and about in the ward.

But it is not possible for me as a councillor to speak to every single resident.

This is a major challenge for the Council: how to respond to the needs of a resident who is not 'in the system' who they are not aware of.

It got me thinking about the numbers of residents who carer for family, friends and neighbours in Reading, soldiering on in often difficult circumstances and what we can do to support them better.

Talking to my constituent it became obvious that it had not occured to her to ask me or the Council for help.

This was partly because she didn't think she needed it (she felt as a wife of 30 years plus it was just something she had to do) and partly because she didn't know help was available.

This is evidence of the work that still needs to be done to publicise support for carers and to do more to encourage carers to come forward.

When I was Lead Member for Social Care I placed support for carers at the heart of our approach.

Our agenda was not simply about supporting carers in their role but helping them live their own lives.

What did this mean in practice?

Answer -  supporting people to get breaks by giving them access to funded respite care and a personal budget to spend on things that help them live their lives.

I have met carers who have benefited from this approach - many of whom carried on in silence for years because they didn't know support was out there for them.

This made me feel even more strongly that we must not overlook people who care for others in their own homes.

And with an ageing population the number of people who do this is set to increase.

I have personal experience of family members who have been carers and their selflessness has made a big impact on me.

In March I wrote on my blog:

"As an administration we are committed to placing support for carers at the heart of all our policies and at the top of our local agenda for transforming community care."

I said this because despite the fact Labour councillors regularly congratulate themselves on their social care record the reality is (backed up by the Council's own research) was that Council policies failed to meet the needs of carers.

When I led this portfolio I increased support for carers while other councils were cutting it.

Cutting support for carers was not something me or other members of the Lib Dem - Conservative Coalition Administration were prepared to do.

Whilst councils rightly focus on people who receive formal social care they must not ignore those people who currently fall outside the system.

A survey of 900 carers by the Council in 2010 (when it was controlled by Labour) identified the following key areas for action:

• Supporting carers to get breaks
• Promoting the take-up of Direct Payments from the Carers
• Offering back up support for carers in an emergency
• Helping new and existing carers access information and guidance on support and services.

Work I kicked off this year to respond to identified needs of local carers includes:

• Continuing the Carers Steering Group to ensure local agencies continue to collaborate for the benefit of carers
• Making a positive contribution by ensuring carers are including in service development
• Improved quality of life through raising awareness of services available and to engage with other providers to negotiate better access to services for carers
• Encouraging take up from underrepresented groups, RBC has funded an additional BME carer support group to complement existing ones offered by PRT
• Working with JobCentre Plus to make sure employers in Reading are aware of flexible working rights for carers
• Community development work alongside the Thriving Neighbourhoods Programme to ensure carers are identified
• A series of events in 2011 to link in with national events and promote carer rights, support available to them and how to access this.

At national level, Lib Dem Minister Paul Burstow has led this agenda helping to put Lib Dem values and policies around supporting carers into action.

I know Paul quite well and I know he is personally very committed to increasing support for carers which goes to the core of Lib Dem values around valuing the individual and reciprocity.
 
The Coalition Government’s Agreement sets out that the Government will look to provide increased support to carers particularly through:

• Extending the roll-out of personal budgets to give people and their carers more control and purchasing power;
• Using Direct Payments to carers and better community based provision to improve access to respite care;
• Extending the right to request flexible working to all employees, consulting with business on how best to do so; and
• Establishing a commission for long-term care which will consider how to ensure responsible and sustainable funding for long-term care.

In 2010 the Council estimated that there are around 11,000 carers in Reading

My guess is the actual number is even higher.

I am pleased I was able to identify a carer in my ward today and hope I will be able to play my part in helping her to have a better quality of life.

I will be challenging the Labour administration to continue to the work I led which placed carers at the heart of social care policies as I feel strongly we owe it to residents who care for others to do the best by them.