Burma Way Phone mast

Labour Councillors opposed Phone mast application

We are very dissapointed that the Conservative Council has passed the phone mast application despite it being in a residential area and close to a number of schools. We believe this mast is totally out of keeping with the surrounding area and is a poor judgement

As Councillors we have made it consistently clear that we would support mast applications based on industrial or commercial sites that are located away from residential areas.

We believe this judgement flies in the face of the work of several Overview & Scrutiny committee's and the stated position of the Medway Conservative Group who have seemingly accepted a mast opposed by everyone in the community

Please find below our letter to residents on the news:

Burma Way Phone Mast

Thorold Road Alley Clearance

Councillor's Sam Craven, Christine Godwin and Tristan Osborne joined forces with residents on Thorold Road, Chatham to clean an alleyway in preparation for an alleygate scheme that is due to be fitted shortly.

Getting out of the Council Chamber onto doorstep is what your local team is all about.

Graffiti Cleared

Your Luton & Wayfield team are working with residents to clean up our community and make it a better place to live.

We have been working on a number of initiatives to remove visible graffiti and have undertaken a ward tour to identify problem areas. We are using the Lovemedway.co.uk application to report instances.

One such success can be seen on Pheasant Road where we have led on removing graffiti

BEFORE

AFTER

If you do see graffiti please do report it online at lovemedway.co.uk

Local People Local Solutions

Postcard of Luton & Wayfield Local People: Local Solutions event

Local People Local Solutions held there second event in the ward on Saturday at Luton Primary School with a focus on the community and the challenges that people perceive and the priorities they would like the Police, Council and other agencies to focus upon.

The event was extremely well organised by NHS PCT and Medway Council staff and there were at least 40-50 people in attendance

After a brief introduction on the scheme with examples from Cornwall used as best practice the Councillors split to sit on tables of respective tables of residents.

Whilst the outcomes of the votes are still to be confirmed it was clear a few themes were emerging

i) Anti-Social Behaviour - improvement in follow-up from Police and use of stronger measures to disperse and manage unruly behaviour. Add into this the requirement for additional youth facilities and clubs in the area so that young people have activites to engage with. The other themes from particular areas of Luton was drugs and drink.

ii) Green Spaces - improvement of the Luton Millenium Green and actual community engagement around that facility.

iii) Stronger school results - a key outcome was the real concern about Primary and Secondary school results in the area and requirement to keep energy and attention on this was crucial.

The next 'listening' event will take place on Thursday, 1st September from 7-9pm at the Luton Junior School.

For more information email us or contact the Council Officer responsible on 01634 338724.

Love Medway: Report it

Graffiti on Pheasant Road. Reported via LoveMedway.co.uk

Despite the advertisement across Medway for the Love Medway programme there is a very real concern about the increasing amount of anti-social behaviour in the ward and its impacts on our community.

Readers may not be aware but the power to do something about it is at your fingertips!

With that in mind Medway Council has launched the Love Medway phone application which allows residents across Luton & Wayfield to report cases of graffiti and anti-social behaviour in the ward and review follow-up from the Council.

You can register on the lovemedway.co.uk website and to make things easier you can even register using your twitter, facebook and even blogger log-in.

All it then takes is for you to upload a photo of the concern and drop a pin on the location.

A public report is then generated which can be reviewed online from work or home. It is also publicly accessible.

We have reported this weekend an example of graffiti on Pheasant Road, opposite the Luton Primary School. We will track and report its follow-up.

As Councillors we will be taking further photos of anti-social behaviour in the ward and publicly advertise this to ensure residents can see transparency in the process.

We are also monitoring the Luton & Wayfield board closely and it is clear the follow-up is positive. There is some delay in the more complex cases where an issue relates to private housing and permissions needs to be garnered.

We urge all residents to support them scheme. A recent question revealed its current usage is very much aligned to Council staff; a more healthy mix of public engagement is required.

Community Mothers Celebration

Community Mothers event supported by parents, politicians and local mum's

Whoever said August was a month of rest and relaxation clearly has not been a Medway Councillor. For Sam, Christine and Tristan it has been extremely busy indeed with constituency work and meeting members of the community.

One such group that has been supported by us all is the Luton Community Mothers. The Community Mothers group are a collection of parents, primarily in Luton & Wayfield, who have come together now for the second year to run a fortnight programme of entertainment for local kids in our community.

The focus of the group is particularly on getting mum's and dad's to play with their children and develop lasting relationships, and to encourage children to engage and work with each other and develop lasting friendships.

The venue for the Community Mothers event on the Luton Memorial Meadow also has a close bond with the ward as the nearby war memorial is run by Don Phillips who has kept the surrounding site in excellent condition.

The neighbouring Scout facility was ideal for the group and from initial enquiries is very well used by the community.

It is clear that despite the hurly-burly of elections that politicians of all stripes can set aside and work for the community and have a bit of fun whilst doing it.

Save St Mary's Amateur Boxing Club

As local councillors for Luton & Wayfield we are currently fighting and supporting the campaign by the St Mary's Amateur Boxing club, which has and continues to be widely recognised as a true centre of excellence, not only in Chatham, but also across Kent.

The club is currently faced with eviction after the gym was sold off at auction two weeks ago.

Local Labour Councillors are currently working with the campaign to ensure that this club remains in our community. They have a really proud record and deserve cross-party support.

Please sign the online petition here

Please join our Facebook page here.

Supporting Local Allotments

Luton & Wayfield team with Street End allotment holders

The Luton & Wayfield team were happy to accept the invitation to the Street End Road Allotment to celebrate the good work of the Chatham & District Leisure Gardeners Association.

Events such as these are being co-ordinated all over the Country in what is the National Allotment Week. Cllr Godwin and Craven were also given a tour by Jan, the allotment Chair, of the different fresh fruit, vegetables, herbs and flower patches that were on display.

Despite the weather, it was good to see all the good work with the allotment and it is important that we support green groups who are a bulwark against development. We were not aware until today that there was a two-year waiting list for allotments in Medway which shows this pastime has real local support.

We will continue to support the Street End Road Allotment. We also met a number of small allotment holders who had recently started and were pleased to give them local awards.

Dispersal Zone Success

Medway Messenger - 05/08/2011

Very pleased to see that the Dispersal Zone has been a success and we hope to get resident and PACT feedback shortly.

As ward councillors we will be meeting Sgt Dave Venus-Coppard shortly to underscore our support for the Dispersal Zone and our desire to see it extended into other parts of Luton and into Wayfield.

Medway Council do need to be more responsive to applications for Dispersal Zones and we welcome and support any effort by Cllr Mike O'Brien as Medway Safety Partnership lead to see what can be done.

Supporting Community Mothers

The Luton & Wayfield team are happy to support the Community Mothers scheme being run by a number of single mum's and community champions in the ward.

Luton & Wayfield is one of the most deprived wards in Medway and this type of project, supported by local churches and other groups do make an impact to single mum's and struggling families in an area.

One local parent and the organiser Gloria Opara has worked tirelessly to get this project off the ground and has a strong support network of parents and organisations across Medway.

We wish them all the best over the next two weeks on their two week summer play scheme and look forward to attending the final event in August.