Archive for December, 2010
Tuesday, December 21st, 2010
Tamworth Borough Councils controlling Conservative group is pleased to announce today that it will freeze council tax for the next 12 months.
Tamworth Conservative Councillors have been working hard to ensure the town has a solid financial base and today announced that it will not increase council tax when the budget is set after Christmas.
Cllr Daniel Cook, Leader of Tamworth Borough Council said,
“We believe we need to keep council tax as low as possible and we have been working hard at Tamworth Borough Council since we took control in 2004. Our long term planning and many projects at Tamworth Council have resulted in us not increasing the council tax this year. Our whole principle of running the council is about long term reward, not short term headlines and this is a clear example of that.”
Cllr Robert Pritchard, Financial portfolio Holder of Tamworth Borough Council said,
“We have been doing a number of partnerships with other councils, such as building use with Staffordshire County Council and waste collection with Lichfield District Council, these schemes save hundreds of thousands of pounds of public money and have enabled us to freeze council tax. Without these partnerships we wouldn’t be able to do this.” He added, “While many people are talking about service cuts, we are talking about council tax freeze. It’s business as usual in Tamworth.”
Tamworth Borough Council’s charge on the council tax will remain £149.55 for the 2011/12 financial year. The remaining £1,423.61 council tax bill is made up of Staffordshire County Council (£1,028.81), Staffordshire Police (£177.61) and Staffordshire Fire and Rescue (£67.64).
Wednesday, December 15th, 2010
Christopher Pincher says announcement is a bitter disappointment
Tamworth’s MP, Christopher Pincher, has said he is “bitterly disappointed” that Tamworth’s heavily used magistrates’ court, along with its county court, are to close as the government takes steps to deal with Britain’s mountainous debt.
Justice Minister, Jonathan Djanogly MP, announced the closures in a statement to the House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon. Tamworth magistrate cases will move to Burton from April 2011 and county court proceedings will move to Burton and then to Stafford once Burton county court closes in three year’s time.
Mr. Pincher said:
“The state of the public finances notwithstanding, many people in Tamworth will be bitterly disappointed by the loss of both our county court and our magistrates’ court, which is the most utilised court in Staffordshire. What assurances can my hon.Friend give my constituents that the video-link technology between courts and police stations will be rolled out quickly so that our police will not spend all their time on the A38 to Burton, and that vulnerable people who will have to spend a day-long round trip going to Stafford county court will not have justice put beyond their means?“
In response the Minister, Mr. Djanogly, said:
“The court is closing because it has a sitting day allocation of only 76 days, and the work will transfer to Burton magistrates’ court. I can tell my hon. Friend that we will be pushing ahead with the additional use of technology, which we see as the future. As things stand, the Courts Service does not make adequate use of modern technology. “
Afterwards, Mr. Pincher commented:
“This is a huge disappointment to everyone in Tamworth who campaigned so hard to keep our county and magistrates’ courts. We all understand that the terrible financial state in which our country has been left makes the need to find savings inevitable so we can balance our books. But I cannot help feeling that this decision could make justice harder in our town.”
“I will keep a close watch on the amount of time our police need to spend going to Burton. I am pleased the government will make more use of video links so our officers will not need to spend so much time in court but it must be made available quickly. I am also relieved that the county court will not be moved as far away as Stafford for another three years – but the plan is still to move it first to Burton and then Stafford. If we find any delay or diminution in justice, I will call upon the Justice Secretary to take action.”
Sunday, December 12th, 2010
Christopher Pincher praises work of posties
Christopher Pincher, Member of Parliament for Tamworth paid an early morning call to Tamworth’s mail sorting office in Blythe Street to see for himself the efforts of our town’s postmen to get ready for Christmas.
The depot in Blythe Street employs 135 postal workers handling tens of thousands of letters and parcels each day. The Christmas rush has already begun with cards and gift parcels moving through the system.
Mr. Pincher said:
“I had a good look around the busy sorting office and found out how mail packages arrive at the depot, are opened and sorted into walks (the post office term for a postie’s “round”) then bundled up and bagged ready for delivery – and all by about 0930 in the morning. I was evening able to collect my own post saving my postman a small job!”
“Christmas is the busiest time for our local postal staff and they really do a fantastic job when you see the volume of mail they have to deal with. Thank you to Ian Bennett and his team for showing me around.”
Thursday, December 2nd, 2010
Local Conservatives have launched a campaign to get Tamworth’s Town Centre shops open on Sundays. Currently Sunday shoppers only have a choice of Ventura Retail Park or going to other town centres. Local Conservatives believe this needs to change and have been working hard at the council to support the town centre. These include themed markets, more outdoor events, free Sunday parking on council run car parks, a £2 million investment in the Castle, Midlands Music Festival, award winning CCTV system and the new Gungate development. However, we believe more needs to be done and we are campaigning to get the town centre shops open on Sunday’s.
Cllr Daniel Cook, Leader of Tamworth Borough Council said,
“The council is doing a lot to bring residents, visitors and tourists into the town centre. However unless all our shops open on Sundays we can only do so much. We need to come together as a town to support our town centre shops and help them open on Sundays”
He added
“Local Conservative Councillors will be looking at the new Local Economic Partnerships to support town centre trading in Tamworth. The new Government is launching many new schemes to support local businesses and Conservative councillors will be using each one to help local businesses.”
Cllr Robert Pritchard, who announced the Conservative campaign said,
“I called at the State of the Borough Debate for town centre businesses, the public and the council to work together to make Sunday a town centre trading day. This is not something the council can do but something the whole town can work together to achieve. Tamworth Town Centre trading on Sunday can only be good for Tamworth, its economy and local job prospects”.
He added,
“The town centre being an even better trading environment will attract even more high street shops and restaurants to Tamworth. Local Conservatives are passionate about the town centre and want to work with local businesses to improve our town for everyone.”
Tamworth Borough Council already holds many outdoor events on Sundays which attract thousands of people to Tamworth. Recently the Midlands Music Festival brought over 20,000 people to Tamworth Town Centre.
Cllr Steven Claymore, Portfolio holder for Economic Development said
“Local Conservatives are calling on everyone to sign their petition which will be presented to the local chamber of commerce. To show your support you can sign the petition online at www.tamworthsos.co.uk.”
He added,
“We will be collecting signatures in Tamworth Town Centre on Saturday 11th December 2010. I hope everyone will come down and sign our giant postcard from Tamworth Residents. This will be presented to the Chamber of Commerce.”
Conservative councillors will be collecting signatures in Tamworth town Centre on Saturday 11th December.
