Since April, both myself and Cllr Mark Davis have experienced the wonder of the NHS first hand. Mark spoke at Labour Party Conference this week about the excellent service recieved when his son was born prematurely. I have included the article below. Similarily, me and my wife welcomed our daughter into the world at the brand new maternity unit in August.
The fantastic facilities at the hospital are a credit to investment in the Health Service, and the excellent service we recieved was a testament to the professionalism and dedication of NHS staff. What worries me is the ideological cutting away at the Health Service threatened by Andrew Lansley and the Tories. Andy Burnham spoke very well on this at conference and his speech can be found at http://www.labour.org.uk/andy-burnham-speech-conference
Sentinel article on Cllr Mark Davis' conference speech
Published Thursday, October 01, 2009, 08:40
THE University Hospital of North Staffordshire's new £40 million maternity complex has been singled out for praise at the Labour Party conference in Brighton.
Speaking in front of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Stoke-on-Trent city councillor Mark Davis described the new maternity centre as "magnificent".
He told delegates how shortly before it opened in April, his wife, Jane, delivered a six-week premature baby in the old unit, who was then switched to special care in the new department.
He said: "Joseph is doing fine now and as he was about to be born, the delivery suite filled with people, obstetricians, paediatricians, nurses, midwives, in the end there were seven members of NHS staff to help our son into the world.
"Not a thought about cost, not a thought about health insurance, just there to help.
"Joseph was there when the state-of-the-art new maternity unit was opened and the same skilled and caring staff, the magnificent new building, our lives, like so many others, shaped by the NHS."
Chief executive Julia Bridgewater said she was delighted Mr Davis, pictured left, took such a public opportunity to praise the staff at the maternity centre.
She added: "The staff have been wonderful during the transfer of services from the old to the new centre.
"Six thousand babies are born with us each year and, like Mr Davis' family, they have benefited
from the quality of care offered by our staff in an environment that now matches their expertise."
Thursday, 1 October 2009
Thoughts on BSF
Its been a few months since I last blogged - I must admit I've let the blog slip over the summer being otherwise occupied welcoming my newborn daughter into the world, moving house and keeping up with my work and council duties. Either way, I intend to keep on top and update my blog more regularly going forward.
One of my last entry's back in the Spring was on the proposed new Academy that will serve my ward. Since then things with the new school have 'kicked off'. Mitchell High families are campaigning for the school to be located nearer to Bucknall, and residents bordering the proposed 'Springfield' site have launched a campaign against that site. I recently wrote a letter to the Sentinel outlining my feelings which I have included below. The only note I should add that if it comes down to the two sites the council proposed prior to the consultation event in the Summer (Park Hall and Springfield) - my preference would be Springfield especially if it could be sensitivly designed to accomodate the concerns of its neighbours. This stance is founded in the response to our freepost survey conducted over the summer.
Letter published on Thursday, September 24, 2009:
THE Building Schools for the Future programme in Stoke has always been controversial. This is disappointing as, in my view, there should be nothing controversial about giving our city's children a better start in life.
BSF should have been a golden opportunity to give children in Stoke-on-Trent school buildings they could be proud of, with world-class facilities which could double up as a community hub.
It could have provided the radical shake-up in secondary education needed to drag up standards to a level where our children were given a fair educational start.
Instead, we have no shining beacons for our young people and we still have educational attainment levels which can only be described as mediocre (the improved rates in A-C GSCE English and Maths are still nearly 10 per cent shy of the national benchmark).
The problem is the way the BSF programme has been handled has been a mess from day one – all political parties in the local authority have their share of the blame.
TIN.adverts.adWriteDC('article-detail-impact-tile', '452x118');
It has mutated into a farce because, instead of developing the proposals based on the views of residents, the plans were developed first, with consultation an afterthought.
This led to bandwagon jumping by certain parties and ostrich-heading by others. Furthermore the goalposts have kept moving so often that they have hit the corner flags. Nobody knows whether they are coming or going.
But years on, and with a different political leadership, Stoke-on-Trent City Council has not learnt its lesson.
People are still being shoved from pillar to post – the latest controversy affecting my own ward. Months ago, my ward colleagues and I mooted the possibility of Mossfield Road as an alternative to the Park Hall "Gasometer" academy site, which we felt was untenable.
We were told categorically the site had been investigated and was a no-no due to a plethora of reasons.
Disappointed, we took soundings on which of the two council-proposed sites were preferred by our constituents, with Springfield preferred to the Gasometer in our survey.
It has more recently emerged the council has opened up five sites for consideration, including Mossfield Road - yet, it is still progressing a planning application with a five-figure cost.
I'm confused and I'm the ward councillor.
For what it's worth, I still think Mossfield Road is the best site for a school in Adderley Green.
It provides safe routes to school, via the greenways, and is equidistant from Bentilee, Sandford Hill and Meir Hay. There is also an adequate amount of land in the area and all of the reasons I have heard for not developing the school there can be easily countered.
What is necessary is for the council hierarchy to stop shilly-shallying over BSF and be honest with people.
Months ago, the council ruled out Mossfield Road, yet now it is looking into it again, either it is viable or it is not. One thing we can be sure of is that if the pollsters are correct in suggesting a change of government next May, the BSF project will face the Tory chopping block and another generation of our city will have been let down.
COUNCILLOR TOM REYNOLDS
Stoke-on-Trent City Council member for Longton North and Labour children and young people spokesman
Longton
One of my last entry's back in the Spring was on the proposed new Academy that will serve my ward. Since then things with the new school have 'kicked off'. Mitchell High families are campaigning for the school to be located nearer to Bucknall, and residents bordering the proposed 'Springfield' site have launched a campaign against that site. I recently wrote a letter to the Sentinel outlining my feelings which I have included below. The only note I should add that if it comes down to the two sites the council proposed prior to the consultation event in the Summer (Park Hall and Springfield) - my preference would be Springfield especially if it could be sensitivly designed to accomodate the concerns of its neighbours. This stance is founded in the response to our freepost survey conducted over the summer.
Letter published on Thursday, September 24, 2009:
THE Building Schools for the Future programme in Stoke has always been controversial. This is disappointing as, in my view, there should be nothing controversial about giving our city's children a better start in life.
BSF should have been a golden opportunity to give children in Stoke-on-Trent school buildings they could be proud of, with world-class facilities which could double up as a community hub.
It could have provided the radical shake-up in secondary education needed to drag up standards to a level where our children were given a fair educational start.
Instead, we have no shining beacons for our young people and we still have educational attainment levels which can only be described as mediocre (the improved rates in A-C GSCE English and Maths are still nearly 10 per cent shy of the national benchmark).
The problem is the way the BSF programme has been handled has been a mess from day one – all political parties in the local authority have their share of the blame.
TIN.adverts.adWriteDC('article-detail-impact-tile', '452x118');
It has mutated into a farce because, instead of developing the proposals based on the views of residents, the plans were developed first, with consultation an afterthought.
This led to bandwagon jumping by certain parties and ostrich-heading by others. Furthermore the goalposts have kept moving so often that they have hit the corner flags. Nobody knows whether they are coming or going.
But years on, and with a different political leadership, Stoke-on-Trent City Council has not learnt its lesson.
People are still being shoved from pillar to post – the latest controversy affecting my own ward. Months ago, my ward colleagues and I mooted the possibility of Mossfield Road as an alternative to the Park Hall "Gasometer" academy site, which we felt was untenable.
We were told categorically the site had been investigated and was a no-no due to a plethora of reasons.
Disappointed, we took soundings on which of the two council-proposed sites were preferred by our constituents, with Springfield preferred to the Gasometer in our survey.
It has more recently emerged the council has opened up five sites for consideration, including Mossfield Road - yet, it is still progressing a planning application with a five-figure cost.
I'm confused and I'm the ward councillor.
For what it's worth, I still think Mossfield Road is the best site for a school in Adderley Green.
It provides safe routes to school, via the greenways, and is equidistant from Bentilee, Sandford Hill and Meir Hay. There is also an adequate amount of land in the area and all of the reasons I have heard for not developing the school there can be easily countered.
What is necessary is for the council hierarchy to stop shilly-shallying over BSF and be honest with people.
Months ago, the council ruled out Mossfield Road, yet now it is looking into it again, either it is viable or it is not. One thing we can be sure of is that if the pollsters are correct in suggesting a change of government next May, the BSF project will face the Tory chopping block and another generation of our city will have been let down.
COUNCILLOR TOM REYNOLDS
Stoke-on-Trent City Council member for Longton North and Labour children and young people spokesman
Longton
Friday, 22 May 2009
Tomorrow Longton
This week has seen the start of the Tomorrow Longton art project, a scheme in partnership with Groundwork Stoke which was initiated by Longton North ward councillors and funded out of our ward budget. The scheme aims to brighten up the hoardings around the former burgess' bakery on the Strand, between Barclays Bank and RD Cresswell and say something about the exciting future of the town.Burgess' shop was a derelict eyesore in the town centre for many years after it was essentially abandoned by its owner. Cllr Denver Tolley and Richard Creswell whose shop borders with the site campaigned and lobbied through a laborious process to get the building knocked down over many years, long before myself or Mark were elected. Eventually the after too many years and a lot of money spent the building was pulled down last year - to everyones relief. There are still outstanding legal issues which means the council cannot take possession of the land, which is why things have gone quiet on the site.
My fear is that this long, expensive and protracted process for the demolition of derelict buildings in private ownership, will have to be repeated time and time again in our town. We already have too many disintergrating buildings that drag the image of Longton down. But it doesn't need to take a long time - DCLG have brought in a raft of legislation to make it easier to clean up communities blighted by these sorts of problems. The council and NSRP have to invest the cash and act with the muscle they have to get it done and done quick - something we in the ward are pushing for.
However for the Burgess's Bakery site there is a bright future, even in the short term. As part of the project we have comissioned, the hoardings around the site will be painted with designs by children from nearby Gladstone Primary school. The designs will show the children's vision for the future of Longton and I think as well as being wonderfully aspirational they will really enhance the Strand - much better than plain boring chipboard. I for one can't wait to see the designs Gladstone come up with.
You can keep up with the project via their blog - www.tomorrowlongton.com
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