Wind Mast Petition

Two Conservative Party Borough Councillors, Stephen Doyle and Andrew James, have been out knocking doors over the last week in Tamworth with a petition against the proposed 50-metre wind mast at Tamworth Motorway Service Area.

Cllr Doyle said, “Although, the company who want to put the mast up say it is only temporary, 18 months is a long time and the harm that the removal of 1,000 sq metres of trees will do to the environment is another key factor in our reasons for objecting to this proposal.”

Cllr James added, “This wind mast will almost certainly lead to an application for a wind turbine in the same area and as it has still not been proved that inland wind turbines significantly increase the amount of energy for the cost of these masts, both on the environment and landscape, we are opposed to the structure.”

The petition was handed into the Planning Department of Tamworth Borough Council on Thursday 23 August and the wind mast will be discussed by the Borough Council’s Planning Committee at a future meeting.

Conservative Controlled Council Cuts Car Parking Charges

Tamworth is set to become one of the cheapest towns in the regional for car parking, thanks to it’s Conservative controlled Borough Council.

From August 1, Tamworth Borough Council is cutting the cost of parking in the Jolly Sailor and Riverdrive car parks from £2.50 to £1.50 all day and introducing a new £1 charge for three hours parking.

The Borough Council is bringing in the changes in response to calls from town centre traders and shoppers for reductions in the cost of car parking charges and a wider choice of parking options.

Council Deputy Leader, Cllr Rob Pritchard, said, “We have listened to what people have been telling us, and that is that they want to see cheaper, more flexible parking within Tamworth town centre.

“Tamworth is one of the cheapest places to park in Staffordshire.  We are hoping that the introduction of these new tariffs will act as a boost to town centre trade and tourism.  We are committed to seeing the town centre thrive and our car parks are a big factor in helping to make this happen.”

Staffordshire MP’s Write to Prime Minister Supporting 3 Mercian (The Staffords)

Christopher Pincher, MP for Tamworth, together with seven other Staffordshire MP’s, has drafted a draft letter to the Prime Minister, calling on him to help save 3 Mercian.

The former Staffordshire Regiment is faced with withdrawal from the Order of Battle and most of its personnel subsumed into other units.  Mr Pincher and his colleagues have asked the Prime Minister to help them “preserve and cherish the symbols, tradition and heritage of 3 Mercian”.

Five MPs, Bill Cash, Jeremy Lefroy, Aidan Burley, Karen Bradley and Christopher Pincher, also met with Defence Secretary Philip Hammond MP last week to ask him to help retain the name of the battalion.  Mr Hammond said that the government is keen for the heritage of former regiments to be preserved but that the decision how to do that is always left to the regiment in question.

Following the meeting with the Secretary of State, Mr Pincher said, “We will now seek an urgent meeting with the Colonel of the Mercian Regiment, Brigadier Andrew Sharpe OBE, to impress upon him the importance of preserving the name and traditions of 3 Mercian.  Regiments must of course be responsible for their own history but they must also be mindful of what former and serving soldiers think.”

The regiment was originally raised in 1705 in the King’s Head Inn, Lichfield.  In the 1870s as part of the Cardwell reforms two regiments (North Staffordshire and South Staffordshire) were created.  These were amalgamated in 1959 to form the Staffordshire Regiment, which was itself merged with two other regiments to form a battalion of the Mercian Regiment in 2007.

The changes are being made to help deal with the £38billion black hole left in the defence budget by the last Labour government.

Local Conservative is Party’s Candidate for Staffordshire P.C.C. Election

Local Conservative County Councillor Matthew Ellis (Lichfield Rural East) has been named as the Party’s candidate for the role of Staffordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner.

Cllr Ellis was chosen by the party membership of Staffordshire from a short list of three excellent candidates to run in the P.C.C. election to be held in November 2012.

Cllr Ellis has been a County Councillor since 2005 and the Cabinet Member for Adults Well Being since 2009.  Matthew was also on Lichfield District Council from 2003 until he stepped down in 2011 where he was a Cabinet member and Deputy Leader.

The new Police and Crime Commissioner will be able to hire and fire Chief Constables, hold them to account and set the force’s budgets and will be answerable to the residents of the county through four yearly elections.

Conservative Controlled Council Leads the Way

A new government initiative aimed at turning around the lives of ‘troubled families’ has been welcomed by Tamworth Borough Council as an opportunity to build on the work already being done by the community safety hub and other public sector partners.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles announced earlier this week that £448 million is being made available to councils across the UK to help tackle problems faced by ‘troubled families’, including anti-social behaviour, truancy and youth crime.

In Staffordshire, more than £4.6 million is being made available to Staffordshire County Council, which will work in partnership with Tamworth Borough Council to help transform the lives of the Tamworth families identified as fitting into the ‘troubled’ criteria.

Under the new programme, councils will be encouraged to ‘join up’ the efforts of the various agencies involved with ‘troubled’ families – including the police, social workers, teacher and doctors.

Tamworth Borough Council has been leading the way in this sort of working since April 2011 when the Community Safety Hub opened at Tamworth Police Station. The hub brings together organisations working together to keep people safe, including the police and the council. The next step will be to develop greater integration with other services.

Representatives based at the hub include street wardens, housing officers, victim support staff, domestic violence co-ordinators, Neighbourhood Watch, Townsafe and Turnaround Tamworth. Closer working has led to better sharing of information and much quicker resolution of issues.

Cllr Jeremy Oates, Cabinet member for Community Development, said, “Once again, Tamworth Borough Council is leading the way. This new programme will allow us to build on and extend the work we are already doing through the Community Safety Hub and take it to another level.

“We want to take an enabling role, helping families with problems to take control of their own lives and moving them away from being totally dependent on help from various agencies. We want to have a hand in turning the lives of families around.”

Local Venues Receive Cash Boost from Conservative County Councillor

Two popular local meeting places this week received cash for improvements thanks to their local Conservative county councillor and Staffordshire’s Local Community Fund.

In Drayton Bassett, the money will be used towards the refurbishment of the village social club.  Better used by local people than ever before, the club enjoyed a new lease of life and swish makeover after local people took over the running of it.

Linda Hayes, who is a member of the management committee, says things are going well, “We’re really pleased how busy the club is nowadays.  It’s well used by the village and the £750 Matthew has provided is an invaluable contribution to making the inside of the Drayton Bassett Club even better for local people.”

The Thomas Spencer Hall in Whittington also received £1000 funding to provide new and improved toilet facilities for people using the building.

Sara Dyott, who is the Hall secretary, said the improvements were very welcome, “It’s a tremendously well used village facility, but the loos were in urgent need of modernising and brightening up.  The Local Community Fund money helped us do that sooner and has really finished off what we think is a really splendid venue for the people of Whittington and surrounding areas.”

Matthew Ellis, Lichfield Rural East’s Conservative county councillor said he is always delighted to help out local community facilities.

He added, “The Local Community Fund is a wonderful way of using small amounts of public money to do things that are important for local communities.  Over the last few years’ 126 local projects in the area I represent have been funded with more than £70,000 and that money has directly led to a further £150,000 of external funding being secured for local events and facilities.”

Local groups in the Lichfield Rural East area can find out more about funding at www.matthewellis.cc/my-grant-funding-scheme.

Second Exit at Ventura Plans Submitted

Conservative Councillors are elated that their hard work to tackle the traffic issues at Ventura has taken its first big step.

Tamworth Borough Council has received a planning application for a second exit from the Sainsbury’s Car Park.  It is hope the second exit will help address some of the traffic flow issues at the site.

This application is a result of the working group formed by Conservative Councillors to tackle the issue.  The working group is made up of local councils, store managers, landowners and the highways authority.

Conservative Councillors are encouraging local people to support the application by writing to the planning department at the Borough Council.

Leader of Tamworth Borough Council, Conservative Councillor Danny Cook Said, “We hope local people will support Conservative Councillors efforts to tackle the traffic issues at Ventura and write to the planning department to support the application, we have been working hard to address this issue.  This was a pledge we made on the door step.”

Conservative County Councillor Ben Adams said, “Ventura Retail Park is a massive shopping destination for people outside Tamworth.  It attracts people from all over the area to spend money in Tamworth; it is the jewel in the crown for Staffordshire.  Conservative Councillors have worked hard to get this positive action to take place and we now are looking for public support for the proposal.”

Conservative Councillors led a Borough Council debate on the issue in March and Conservative Councillors all spoke of the importance of the second exit to help reduce traffic at the site.  It was announced at the meeting by Cllr Robert Pritchard that Sainsbury’s was working on a potential traffic solution to provide a second exit from the store’s car park within the year.

Christopher Pincher, MP for Tamworth said, “This planning application is a real step forward to resolving a problem that has blighted Ventura for too long.  I have raised residents concerns on several occasions with the County Council and they assure me this is traffic issue at the top of their list.  I will continue to lobby for a speedy end to this driving log-jam.”

According to the design and access statement submitted in the planning application, “The proposed development is to create a new left-only egress from Sainsbury’s supermarket car park onto Bonehill Road.”  This will allow traffic to exit towards the Fazeley/Mile Oak Direction without having to enter the Ventura traffic island system.  This will also relieve traffic flow on the islands, helping overall retail site traffic flow.

The Borough Council is now waiting for additional information such as detailed drawing and specifications from Sainsbury’s, which are due in any day now.

Planning applications take approximately eight weeks to determine.  If it is approved, the works would be likely to start late summer.  Consultation letters are now in the process of being sent out to houses in the immediate area, however any residents can support the planning application by writing to Tamworth Borough Council at: The Planning Department, Tamworth Borough Council, Marmion House, Tamworth, Staffordshire, B79 7BZ.  You can also find the planning application online at – http://planning.tamworth.gov.uk:8080/Planning/dialog.page?org.apache.shale.dialog.DIALOG_NAME=gfplanningsearch&Param=lg.Planning&SDescription

Christopher Pincher Raises Work Programme with Prime Minister

Christopher Pincher, Member of Parliament for Tamworth, has questioned David Cameron on what further support the Government can provide jobseekers in Tamworth in Parliament.

Mr Pincher spoke up in Prime Minister’s Questions last week, his fourth PMQ since becoming the Member of Parliament in 2010.

Mr. Pincher asked the PM, “Both the National Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee have praised the Work programme for getting off the ground in under a year, which is in stark contrast to the four wasted years it took to get Labour’s programme off the ground.  What further help can the Prime Minister give my striving jobseekers in Tamworth, where unemployment figures monthly are falling, to find the work they want?”

The Prime Minister responded by saying, “My hon. Friend makes an important point, because not only did the Work programme get up and running quickly, but it is already helping 519,000 people.  It will help over 3 million in total.  The key difference between it and previous programmes is payment by results, so we are paying providers more money for the more difficult people who have been out of work for a long time and have serious challenges in getting back into the workplace.

“I think that we can use this programme to help not only people who have fallen out of work recently, but people who have totally lost connection with the labour market.  Those are the people we want to help most, and the Work programme is a very innovative way of doing that.”

Afterwards Mr Pincher added, “I fully support Government proposals to “make work pay.”  Many local people have contacted me saying how fed up they are with the welfare system that ballooned under Labour’s watch.  They want a welfare system that always makes it pay to work and which actively gets people back into work.

“This Government is committed to change the ”something for nothing” culture and the Work Programme is an important step in the right direction to helping the long term unemployed find jobs and the chance of a better future.

“I am also very pleased to hear that unemployment in Tamworth dropped by 10% in the last month including a 20% reduction in youth unemployment.  Skilled jobs are being created in the region and I trust the positive news will continue.”

Local Conservative is New County Council Deputy Leader

Local MP Supports Campaign to Help Residents ‘Plug the Debt’ on Winter Bills

Tamworth’s MP, Christopher Pincher, last week gave his support to the campaign to help energy customers ‘Plug the Debt’ on winter bills.

Mr Pincher welcomed the joint Consumer Focus/Citizens Advice campaign which will advise people who are falling behind with their energy bills.

With people now receiving their winter energy bills, new research from Consumer Focus shows four in 10 people across the country say their winter energy bill is even higher than last year.  This is despite one of the mildest winters in a decade resulting in falls in energy consumption. Almost half of consumers (48%) say they plan to make cut-backs in order to afford their energy bill.

Consumer Focus and Citizens Advice both warn that these unexpectedly high bills could push more people into debt with their energy supplier – particularly those on low fixed incomes, such as older people and families receiving benefits.  The organisations are highlighting their awareness campaign – ‘Plug the Debt’- to help people know what to do and what their rights are when they fall behind on their energy bills.

Mr Pincher said, “With many of my constituents receiving high energy bills, despite the mild winter, this is an issue that could cause hardship for many people in Tamworth.”

“It is clearly worrying that people are being forced to cut back just to afford their energy bills after the winter.  I hope this campaign will help those struggling to make ends meet and who do not know where to turn for help.”

Mike O’Connor, Chief Executive of Consumer Focus, said, “With energy price cuts and less heating used because of the mild weather, most people will have expected their winter energy bill to be lower this year.  So higher winter bills may come as a nasty shock that many customers simply can’t afford.

“We’d urge anyone struggling to pay their bill to contact their energy firm and Citizen’s Advice as soon as possible.  The sooner you get in touch the less chance there is for debts to build and become harder to repay.”

Gillian Guy, Citizens Advice Chief Executive, said, “High energy bills are stretching some household budgets to breaking point. If you are worried you can’t afford to pay your bills and they are mounting up – don’t suffer in silence.  Speak to your energy supplier as they have a duty to make sure you are repaying what you can afford. Citizens Advice Bureaux can also help you to find out what help is out there to cut your bills and claim any benefits you could be entitled to.”

Consumer Focus and Citizens Advice are making people aware of the following five top tips if they fall behind with their bills:

1. Always contact your energy firm as soon as you realise you might have trouble with paying.  Debts will build-up and be harder to pay off the longer you leave them. Your supplier has a responsibility to help you if you have problems paying your bill.
2. Tell your energy supplier what you can afford to pay – they have to take this into account in agreeing repayments of the money you owe.
3. Ask your energy company, your local Citizens Advice Bureau or call the Home Heat Helpline 0800 33 66 99 to find out about other free energy help available.  For example you could qualify for a discount off your bill or free insulation to help your home stop leaking heat and cut your bills.
4. Even if you are in debt you may still be able to switch to a cheaper deal with your current supplier, especially if you pay by cash, cheque or prepayment meter.  If you pay by pre-payment meter and have less than £200 of debt you can also switch to a cheaper deal with another supplier.
5. Financial help is available which could make it easier to afford your bills – check you are receiving all of the benefits and tax credits you are entitled to by getting in touch with your local Citizens Advice Bureau or visiting www.adviceguide.org.uk.

Anyone who wants to find out more about getting help or advice through the ‘Plug the Debt’ campaign should visit www.consumerfocus.org.uk/plugthedebt or contact their local Citizens Advice Bureau.

Other advice and information

For impartial advice and information on energy issues get in touch with your local Citizens Advice Bureau or the Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 08454 04 05 06.

Information on how consumers can save money on their energy bills by switching payment type, tariff or supplier and insulating their home, is available on the DirectGov website energy advice pages.  Helpful information can also be found on the Citizens Advice Big Energy Week webpages and adviceguide.  You can also find out online about the Energy Best Deal campaign that Citizens Advice runs with Ofgem and watch a series of short films on how to get the best deal.