Will Scobie cracks down on Potholes in Thanet

COUNTY councillor Will Scobie is calling on commuters to join his crackdown on the isle’s holey roads. Over the last few weeks the newly elected Labour member for Margate and Cliftonville has been busy working to improve the state of Thanet’s roads by reporting every pothole and is urging people to join his crusade against crumbling carriageways.

RISK

After two long winters, some roads are in a poor state with potholes putting pedestrians, cyclists and motorists at risk. He says Kent County Council (KCC) relies on the public to report problems on highways and all issues will be adding to their running repair schedule.

Mr Scobie said: “I have reported more than 20 potholes in Margate and Cliftonville but there are lots more. I will be continuing this work over the next few weeks but I need residents to help me. “If there is a pothole in your street the please report it to myself or KCC.

“Potholes can be dangerous not only to vehicles, but also to pedestrians. Someone could really hurt themselves tripping on one of the larger ones, especially late at night. I will follow up every reported pothole in Margate and Cliftonville to make sure that it is sorted out.”

To report a pothole, call 08458 247800 or log it online at bit.ly/kccrepairs

A MILLION PUSHED INTO POVERTY

Liam Byrne MP, Labour's Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, responding to new figures on poverty and living standards, said: 


“The devastating verdict is in – in just one year this Government has pushed a million people into absolute poverty and progress in tackling relative child poverty has completely stalled.


“All of Labour’s good work in tackling poverty is being washed away by a Tory cocktail of incompetence and indifference.


“What these figures show is living standards are collapsing to their lowest level in a decade, and that is forcing an extra 300,000 children to grow up in absolute poverty. Inequality has sharply risen and when families are under so much pressure it is outrageous that they will be almost £900 worse off this year thanks to tax and benefit changes yet millionaires are getting a tax cut.


“The way to get living standards rising not falling is to act now to create jobs and get our economy moving. The government should not have cut tax credits for people in work while cutting taxes for the richest people in society. And they should be helping the long term unemployed back to work with Labour’s compulsory jobs guarantee.”

LABOUR PARTY

ELDERLY PEOPLE BEARING THE BRUNT OF A&E CRISIS

Official NHS Statistics reveal hugely disproportionate increase in the numbers of elderly people arriving at A&E in ambulances in the first two years of this Government, while £1.8 billion is cut from council care budgets.

• 66 per cent increase in over 90 year olds arriving at A&E compared to Labour’s last year – an extra110,000 patients.
• Cuts to council Adult Social Care budgets now total £1.8 billion since the election.

Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, speaking at Health Questions in the Commons, raised the issue of elderly people bearing the brunt of the A&E crisis:

“This is deeply troubling new evidence of the human cost of the A&E crisis. Nobody wants to think of a very frail and elderly person who needs support having no other option that to come in to A&E via ambulance.

“But they are in increasing numbers. There has been a massive increase in the numbers of people aged over 90 going into A&E by ambulance – up by over 100,000, an increase of 66 per cent - as £1.8 billion is cut from council care budgets.

“That is why Labour has said we would invest £1.2 billion of the NHS underspend, which Jeremy Hunt has handed back to the Treasury, over the next two years to ease the crisis in social care tackling a root cause of the pressure on A&E. For older people this could make a huge difference by enabling them to stay in their own homes for longer and providing the support they need to return home after hospital.

“By contrast, the Government have no answer. This is an appalling failure and sign of something seriously wrong in the way we care for older people.

“The crisis in A&E proves that you can’t trust David Cameron with the NHS.”

LABOUR PARTY

Cabinet approve Economic Strategy Action Plan consultation

Cabinet members for Thanet District Council last night (Wednesday 29 May) approved a draft action plan for consultation as part of its new Economic Growth and Regeneration Strategy for Thanet.

The draft action plan sets out how the council will deliver its regeneration priorities in partnership with other public sector organisations, the private and third sectors over the next ten years.

The council will carry out a targeted consultation with identified stakeholders within the business community, statutory organisations and key representatives from the voluntary and community sector to ensure that the plan reflects the views of the people and organisations that will help to deliver it.

The consultation will run from Friday 31 May until Friday 12 July.

Feedback from the consultation will be used to help shape the final version of the action plan which will be presented at a future meeting of the Cabinet for final approval.

The draft action plan has been developed following initial engagement with the business community and is split into five areas which reflect the priorities of the overall strategy. This includes:

1. Business growth
2. Investing in assets
3. Green economy
4. Heritage, culture and the visitor economy
5. Skills for employment and growth

The plan identifies a broad range of actions including attracting investment into the area, promoting Thanet as a place to live, work and create business, developing a vision and strategic plan for each of the main Town Centres, ensuring Thanet has the right commercial sites and buildings to enable businesses to start, develop and grow, taking advantage of the growing green sector and identifying external funding opportunities.

Leader of the Council, Cllr Clive Hart, said: “Thanet’s economic growth and regeneration is a key priority for the council. We are committed to driving growth across the district by promoting investment, skills, employability, job creation and innovation to provide a sustainable and balanced economy.

“This draft action plan sets out what we believe are clear, realistic and deliverable activities to help work towards achieving this.

“We’re aware that we can’t deliver all of this activity alone and that developing networks and partnerships will be key to its success. This targeted consultation will provide key agencies across the public and private sector with a further opportunity to feed into this process and to ensure that by working together, we’re supporting the economic growth and regeneration of Thanet. “

The councils Economic Growth and Regeneration Strategy can be viewed online and the draft plan will be available to view from Friday 31 May.

THANET DISTRICT COUNCIL

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We're delighted to announce that Labour run Thanet District Council has won more Blue Flag beach awards than anywhere else in England.

We officially have more of the best beaches in the country than any other district! A fabulous achievement and a great reward for a lot of hard work.

Watch the news reported on ITV Meridian News.




And BBC South East.

 

STATEMENT - TRANSEUROPA

When Labour took over the leadership of Thanet District Council in December 2011, we were advised of a commercially confidential arrangement that the previous Conservative regime had entered into in March that year with Transeuropa Ferries.

The company was struggling financially and Conservative-controlled TDC, together with the authorities at Ostend, had agreed to special payment terms in order to assist its survival.

In Thanet’s case this meant deferring the fees Transeuropa paid to berth at Ramsgate, initially for three months but subsequently for longer, and putting in place a payment plan that would have seen the outstanding debt recovered in full by 2014.

The purpose of this arrangement was to give every possible chance for the continuation of the ferry service at the port, and to protect both the jobs that depended on it and an important source of ongoing income for the council taxpayers of Thanet.

By the time Labour took over from the Conservatives, the ferry company already owed the council £1.7m, and the risk attached to this debt had become an additional consideration.

The council was in constant contact with the company and there were regular discussions internally about the potential financial implications of it going under.

If we had taken action to recover the money at that stage, for example by denying Transeuropa facilities at Ramsgate, this may well have tipped the firm into administration, leaving the existing debt unpaid and the port without its major customer.

It was also important that the council said nothing publicly that had potential to undermine commercial confidence in the company, as this may have had the same outcome.

Developments over the next year gave some cause for encouragement. In July 2012 the firm began making debt repayments. In November last year it reached agreement with an Italian investment company. And early in 2013 it added a third ship to the Ramsgate-Ostend service.

During this time the amount outstanding to the council increased to £3.3m, but the risk of the firm becoming insolvent appeared to be reducing.

It should be understood that if the council had adopted a hard line at any point then in all likelihood the ferry service would simply have ended earlier. The council would still not have had the £3.3m, as that level of debt would never have been incurred in the first place.

It is true that the council would have been able to make some savings at the port if the ferry company had failed earlier, but these are a fraction of the overall amount.

We take responsibility for the actions of the council since December 2011, but in our view, officers and elected members have done what they could to protect the best interests of the district in a very difficult situation.

The council will take whatever action is available to recover as much money as possible, but in the meantime we have to show in the 2012/13 accounts that we are able to cover the shortfall from existing resources and that is the purpose of the report to cabinet next week.

Cllr Clive Hart - Leader

Cllr Alan Poole - Deputy Leader & 

Cabinet Member for Operational Services

Cllr Rick Everitt - Cabinet Member for Finance

IMPETUOUS TORIES WERE SHAMEFUL

At item 12 of Thursday's AGM the council was asked to appoint councillors to represent TDC on various outside organisations and bodies, these are very privileged positions.

The Labour group did not feel in any way obliged to support the nomination of councillors who, over the past year, had seriously damaged the reputation of the council.

Therefore, following proper procedure, the Labour group nominated alternative councillors, as is our right.

Strangely, it is apparently legally in order for the Conservative Leader to appoint one of his councillors who has a drink-driving conviction to the council's own licensing committee and it is also clearly his prerogative to completely ignore calls for another of his councillors to apologise for making a nasty hate phone call. 

However, it is certainly not the duty of our Labour group to blindly support the nomination of any councillors in such circumstances.

It beggars belief that the Conservative group thought it was somehow the duty of all councillors to support their nominations, whatever behaviour those nominated may have exhibited during the past year. They clearly appear to believe these privileged positions are theirs of right, no matter what they do. 

So why then did the Conservative group, bar two, leave the Council Chamber on Thursday evening, half-way through the meeting?

The answer in short is: they threw a tantrum! In protest at two of their members having to cede their places on outside bodies to Labour members who had expressed an interest in them. 

The result of their walking out was that they were not present to debate the very important issue of community safety and action plan in partnership with the Police. 

It certainly is their duty to attend meetings to discuss and make decisions. Do the Conservatives not consider community safety to be a key issue?

Instead, prior to their departure, there was an unpleasant lecture from one of the offending councillors about their drink driving offence who shouted that 'it could happen to anyone of you'. 

This was offensive! Not only to the Labour councillors it was directed at, but also to the general public: drink and drive can kill! And it must not be trivialised.

Do the Conservative councillors not consider that the residents they represent would expect them to, at least, be present in the meeting when matters relating to anti-social behaviour, domestic violence, alcohol abuse, to name just a few, are being debated?

The truth of the matter is that they behaved like impetuous children.

THANET LABOUR GROUP