Are you approaching older age, already elderly, caring for an elderly person or do you just want to be better informed ? Yes ,then come along with your questions and concerns or just to listen.
Find out what is available as we get older, ask about personal budgets, down sizing house grants, care in the home, help after a stay in hospital etc
St Edmunds Hall - Aug 8th - 6.30
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Petition handover – Chief Inspector Dave Colwell with councillor Peter Ashley, residents and officers. Echo photo
Echo report the handover of your petition by Peter Ashley and residents
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10.00 am Wednesday 27th July at Temple Sutton School, Chief Inspector David Colwell will receive the petition and answer your questions.
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Cllr Ashley and your Conservative ward helpers have done a great job, every single effort has to be made to persuade the police to keep this local police station. Afterall ‘local’ is supposed to be the new way forward and St Luke’s certainly needs its local police station and it needs to be fully staffed. Cllr Ashley has been working with ward colleagues including the local church and yesterday the police agreed to meet him and residents in the ward to discuss the police station.
See the e-mail below and check back here for details of the meeting.
Cllr Ashley
Thank
you for you recent e mail highlighting your concerns about any possible closure
of Temple Sutton School Office. At present Essex Police is reviewing all of its
estate due to a reduction in the force budget. As yet no decisions have been
made in any possible station closures but obviously the public will be
consulted on any such issues. I am of course happy to attend Temple Sutton
office to receive your petition and meet with you and the local residents to
discuss their concerns. Can you please contact me to discuss a suitable time
and date.
Kind Regards
David Colwell
T/Chief Inspector
Southend District
Commander
Southend Police
Station
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Following the recent attack of a woman in the Trinity Road Footpath, Cllr Peter Ashley called for a review of the lighting and met with the police to discuss extra foot patrols etc. The council has agreed with Peter and will improve the lighting and now Peter is looking into CCTV coverage. The police have agreed to take extra care in the area. Peter has also delivered letters to all the surrounding properties and has called at many doors to discuss resident’s concerns. On one such visit he met with a resident who had dialled 999 over a sustained period due to antisocial behaviour in the very same area and only a few days later, however, the police failed to respond, leaving the elderly resident very concerned and worried. Peter is picking this up also as it’s not good enough.
The local police station at Temple Sutton School is currently understaffed and Essex police will not confirm if it is to remain open. It needs to remain open and to be fully staffed, any efficiency savings should be in the back office not front line services.
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Keeping your council tax low. This year there has been no increase in Council thanks to the Conservatives. Southend Conservatives have always done their best to ensure your council tax is as low as possible, I will continue to work with colleagues to ensure next years Council tax is kept as low as possible.
Cleaner, greener, safer streets. The streets of St Luke’s are far better than they were, but there is still room for improvement especially with dog fouling. Many roads and pavements have been repaired but there are others that now require attention. I will continue to work to get the streets further improved, to get more trees in and to ensure the streets are kept clean and cared for.
Campaigning for a full service permanent surgery and clinic. The new porta-cabin surgery off Pantile Avenue is far better than the old surgery, but it is not a permanent solution. St Luke’s needs better medical and clinic facilities. I am working with officers to find ways to provide these services and I am campaigning for a full service health centre to be provided for St Luke’s.
Protecting homes from conversion to flats. I will continue to campaign to keep our family homes as single dwellings and from being converted into flats by developers and absent landlords. I will look to use changes in National Policy to assist us on this.
A Pier for all to be proud of. The Conservative lead Council has provided for the New Pier Pavilion which should be completed this summer. However, there is still a way to go and I will continue to work to ensure we have a Pier for every one and a Pier to be proud of.
St Luke’s free of drugs & anti-social behaviour. I will work with the police, council officers and other agencies to reduce drugs and anti social behaviour and to ensure your concerns on crime are fully addressed by the police.
And needless to say I shall contnue to put St Luke’s first, before party and politics and I shall continue to help residents with all the things they raise and with all the things that will ineveitably come along in the future.
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EXTRA TREES FOR ST LUKE’S
After residents asked for some more trees in St Luke’s I went to see what could be done. As a result I have got some extra trees for the streets. They will be planted in either the next couple of weeks or in early autumn subject to the paperwork etc. Some will be for Cokefield, some for Moseley and some for North and Central Avenue. Species include Birch and Hornbeam
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After listening to residents Anna used her influence to successfully persuade the Council to shelve the new extended parking times! Anna ays “Residents need to be encouraged into the town in the evenings and on Sundays, times are hard enough without adding parking fees to their bills! The amount that was going to be gained just did not stack up against the damage to business and inconvenience for residents.”
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Following the election in May last year and the dreadful revelations about the state of our finances bequeathed to us by Labour, the coalition set about freezing and cutting just about everything in sight. The £900k that education were putting towards the St Luke’s Healthy Living Centre was caught up in this and was cut. The result was that the plans for a new building had to be abandoned and the smaller grant of around £300k that was held by the Community Infrastructure Company (CIC) put to best use. So the CIC has decided to do certain aspects of the initial project which is fine but what about the rest. What about the real need for a permanent Doctors surgery for one of the most deprived wards in the country, what about a decent antenatal clinic, diabetes clinic or even a baby clinic?
St Luke’s residents in the northern sector of the ward, which is where the most deprivation is and where the most need is, currently have a surgery in a portacabin with less than five years life. Now is the time to be planning for the future, in a few years when it will too late. For some reason, beyond our comprehension, the PCT decided to put their funding towards improvements in Westcliff and Shoebury, both areas in need, but in less need than St Luke’s. Until a year or so back when the portacabin (and it’s a fine portacabin)
opened St Luke’s patients had to queue in the street, in the rain to see a doctor! Why?
Well, I cannot undo the decision, but I can still ask the questions and do whatever I can to get a better health service for St Luke’s, people are quite likely dying for want of decent, regular permanent services that most of us take for granted.
Areas like St Luke’s need drug, alcohol and smoking cessation clinics, advice centres for young girls around pregnancy issues, help and early diagnosis of cancers and tumours, They need access to NHS dentists and podiatrists to name but some. These issues are life threatening and life changing and unless we get to grips with them many more will suffer and many more will be condemned to a life on benefit and their last years in a care home. It’s just not good enough!
I am doing what I can, I am looking at taking a small unit in a rundown parade of shops to rent out to the various agencies that offer the services needed, to do this I have to form a charity, to get planning and landlord consent, no doubt there will be legal fees, and I have to find the funding for redecoration etc and then the time or someone to run the centre. Therefore, I make this request if there is anyone out there able to assist either financially or with their time or trade or professional expertise please contact me.
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Southend Council is considering new plans for Gaton Park that include all weather pitches and enhanced facilities along with an Hotel. This would require the relocation of Kids Kingdom to another part of the Garon Park complex or elsewhere but I understand discussions with Kids Kingdom are taking place. Improved sports facilities and a good hotel would be another real boost for St Luke’s providing both more investment and work opportunities and more things for young and old residents to do. Once I have more information I will update the post.
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The echo
