£24m invested in tobacco

Looks like the tobacco investment portfolio continues to rise at KCC which is key partner in the Kent Alliance on Smoking and Health. The KM reports that it now stands at £24m, up from £19m three years ago.

So much for promoting a health society and signing up to UNs Principles of Responsible Investment.

Petition against the Youth Service cuts

Kent Green Party has started an online petition against the planned cuts to the Kent Youth Service that will see the closure of 24 youth centres, the loss of 64 jobs and a 60% cut in funding. Chair of Kent Green Party, Stuart Jeffery called the cuts 'ideological idiocy' as he announced the launch of the petition which is available at http://alturl.com/d8wuj

Kent County Council plans are going to their cabinet meeting on 18th July and show that they intend to take £1.7m out the the youth budget, leaving just £1.2m.

Stuart Jeffery, Chair of Kent Green Party: "Young people are being hit very hard by the recession, suffering the highest levels of unemployment, ridiculous rises in student fees and now they are seeing the youth service slashed and burned. What sort of message does this give to the next generation of leaders? I think it says that the Conservatives are profoundly uninterested in them.

"Youth services are vital to the well being of our communities, for providing guidance to young people and for giving them wider support. There are also 64 families who are facing misery and hardship due to the ideological idiocy of the Conservative and Lib Dem cuts to public sector funding. We believe this madness needs to be fought and this why we are asking the public to sign up to the petition.

"The country is not broke. National debt was proportionally higher for most of the last century and at its highest point the country even managed to start the NHS. The country's debt is proportionately lower than France and Canada and about the same as Germany, yet they are not getting hysterical about public spending. The Tory and Lib Dems claim that cuts are necessary is simply not true."

Notes:
1. Kent County Council papers available at http://democracy.kent.gov.uk/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=3468&T=10
2. The full list of Youth Centre closures across Kent:

Ashford: XC Youth Centre, Sk8side Youth Centre
Canterbury: Whitstable Youth Centre
Dartford: The Bridge Youth Arts Centre
Dover: Linwood Youth Centre. Aylesham Youth Centre
Gravesham: Miracles Youth Centre, The Gr@nd
Maidstone: Shepway Youth Centre, Lenham Youth Centre
Sevenoaks: Edenbridge Community, Centre (opening 2012)
Shepway: Hythe Youth Centre
Folkestone: Youth Project
Swale: Sheerness County Youth Centre
Faversham: Youth Centre
Tonbridge & Malling: SAMAYS Youth Centre
Thanet: Concorde Youth Centre, Artwise Youth Centre
Tunbridge Wells: Mascalls Youth Centre

3. The country was in more debt for most of the 20th century than it is now including when it founded the NHS (Ref: False Economy)
4. The country has a lower debt to GDP ratio than France, Canada and almost the same as Germany (Ref: OECD - page 21)

Decimation of Kent's Youth Service

At the same time as Cameron announced his massive privatisation plan for public services under the auspices of "Open Public Services", Kent County Council announced the slashing of youth service budgets by more than 50% along with a promise to outsource more of the service.

The detail on KCC's plans show that they intend to take £1.7m out the the youth budget, leaving just £1.2m. They are closing 24 youth centres across Kent including Shepway and Lenham in Maidstone and they making 64 people redundant.


Young people are being hit very hard by the recession, suffering the highest levels of unemployment, ridiculous rises in student fees and now they are seeing the youth service slashed and burned. What sort of message does this give to the next generation of leaders? I think it says that the Conservatives are profoundly uninterested in them.

This needs to be fought.Youth services are vital to the well being of our communities, for providing guidance to young people and for giving them wider support. There are also 64 families who are facing misery and hardship due to the ideological idiocy of the Conservative and Lib Dem cuts to public sector funding.


The full list of Youth Centre closures across Kent:

Ashford: XC Youth Centre, Sk8side Youth Centre
Canterbury: Whitstable Youth Centre
Dartford: The Bridge Youth Arts Centre
Dover: Linwood Youth Centre. Aylesham Youth Centre
Gravesham: Miracles Youth Centre, The Gr@nd
Maidstone: Shepway Youth Centre, Lenham Youth Centre
Sevenoaks: Edenbridge Community, Centre (opening 2012)
Shepway: Hythe Youth Centre
Folkestone: Youth Project
Swale: Sheerness County Youth Centre
Faversham: Youth Centre
Tonbridge & Malling: SAMAYS Youth Centre
Thanet: Concorde Youth Centre, Artwise Youth Centre
Tunbridge Wells: Mascalls Youth Centre

Blame Drain

My letter to the KM in response to KCC winning the £5k appeal against compensation claimed when the woman tripped over a drain protruding 15mm above the pavement:

Dear Editor,

While the merits of claiming compensation for injury caused by pavement hazards are debatable, it is clear that Kent County Council have acted to protect themselves against further claims for their continued failure to keep our pavements in a reasonable state of repair.

Just like their failure to help pedestrians during last winter's snow, yet again we see them acting against the interests of people who choose or need to walk rather than drive. We also know that it is older people and disabled people who are more reliant on walking and public transport that most, so yet again they are disadvantaged by KCC.

Kent County Council seems to prefer to take 81 year old women to court rather than get on with its duty to provide safe pavements.

--
Stuart Jeffery
Maidstone Green Party

Petition for Kent County Council to extend the Freedom pass to 16 - 20 year olds

Please sign the petition here. With car insurance quotes for teenagers coming in at £4k and bus fares being extortionate in Kent, young people need to have access to travel that they can afford. Finding work when there are few jobs out there is hard enough, not having access to affordable travel just adds more misery.

Currently 18-24 year olds account for 26% of claimants, i.e. unemployment disproportionately affects younger people. Kent County Council could make it easier for some of them.

Please help the V Team

News that funding for the V Team has dried up has upset many across Maidstone. The V Team, part of Voluntary Action Maidstone, have provided a valuable service across the town for the past 12 years.

They provide volunteering opportunities to people with mental health problems, people who are rehabilitating after a custodial sentance, recovering from a drug addiction, and people who have learning difficulties. These volunteers then help others, such as elderly people with practical work, such as gardening. The charity helps two sets of people in one go.

Clearly such a scheme deserves support and it is only short by £20,000. Surely Maidstone Borough Council and Kent County Council can find £10k each to keep the service going. The V Team will decide whether they can carry on their good work at the end of this month.

I have written to the councils urging them to find this extra money. The V Team helped 34 volunteers in 2008, without this valuable service not only will people needing rehabilitation suffer, but people needing practical help will too. Let us hope that the councils find the funds.

Please write to KCC, and MBC and the Kent Messenger! If you are able and want to donate to them, send a cheque to the V Team fund at Voluntary Action Maidstone, 39-48 Marsham St, Maidstone, Kent. ME14 1HH

Cuts to children's services in Kent

I'm not a fan of council tax, it is not very progressive (i.e. it doesn't really increase the proportion you pay with the amount you earn) and I am not keen on seeing it rise. One problem with council tax rises is when it is used for political purposes, ensuring small rises just before an important election and bigger rises in between. Let's hope that this year's low rise in Kent is not motivated because of the election.

It certainly hasn't been driven down by a surplus of cash though. KCC still hasn't got much of the money lost to Iceland back and is increasingly unlikely to do so.

Instead, it is cutting jobs in children's services - 260 of them but it claims that front line services won't be hit. I'm not sure how you can cut this number of support staff without frontline services taking extra strain?

But equally bad is the statement from Cllr Sarah Hohler (Con) cabinet Member for Children, Families and Education: "Kent has an excellent reputation for its services for children, young people and their families and we are determined to continue this. We are living in challenging economic times and it is essential we make economies and do things differently to make every penny count" 

Those back office staff who are losing their jobs are real people with real families. These support staff are likely to be mostly women (yes I will be asking KCC) and likely to be among the lower paid workers in the council. We are living in challenging economic times, Cllr Hohler, and you are now making it far more challenging for those people whose jobs you are cutting. Perhaps Cllr Hohler should remind Kent about her pay rise last year?

KCC's vision for more roads

Quick letter to the Kent on Sunday sent yesterday:

Dear Editor,

Kent County Council's 'ambitious vision' for Kent, revealed in the Kent on Sunday (31st Jan), shows once again the Conservative's passion for concreting our countryside with roads. Their new plans will push more cars onto the roads, more planes into the air and ensure that Kent increases its carbon footprint to way beyond its already ridiculously high level.

It also seems that the Tories simply don't understand that when you build more roads to 'ease' gridlock, the roads simply fill up with cars again. It should be obvious to anyone that the only long term solution to gridlock on the roads is to get people traveling by other means and to leave their cars at home. A third Thames crossing will do nothing but devastate the land it crosses while encouraging more traffic.

Equally, their support for expansion of Manston airport demonstrates their complete lack of care about the environment. Air traffic is the fastest growing source of CO2 emissions and climate change is set to devastate our Kent coastline unless serious action is taken. The Conservatives are never going to do this while increasing air and road traffic.

--
Stuart Jeffery
Green Party parliamentary candidate for Maidstone and the Weald

KCC grits the pavement outside its own offices and ignores most others

Took these on Sunday. KCC have gritted paths outside their main office at County Hall but nowhere else as far as I can tell. So that's the councillors ok them, shame about everyone else.

The path from County Hall to the Councillor's car park.

 

Second path down to Maidstone East / Week St

 

But then it runs out as it goes into Week St

Protect people on pavements

The speed at which the Facebook campaign to get Kent County Council to grit pavements as well as road has grown has taken me by surprise. Not all of the comments on the site are constructive but the level of debate and feeling has to be seen!



As Jo Anglezarke points out in her post on "Ice Poverty", current county council attitudes towards gritting clearly show how they discourage walking in favour of cars. It was good to hear that Cllr Chard has apologised for not doing enough to grit pavements in Kent, but as far as I can tell, nothing has changed yet.

Ice poverty, like fuel poverty, affects the most vulnerable in society. Not having a car means that you are reliant on the pavements to get food, to work or to school. As many drivers are now finding, they too are increasing reliant on pavements as roads get blocked by snow and ice.

So the answer? There isn't an easy one! Other countries have laws for residents to clear snow and ice from the pavements in front of their homes. A law is a bit too draconian for me, but communities could shoulder more responsibility for clearing snow but are hampered by scare stories of law suits, and a lack of salt bins to use on the path. Salt bins on street corners are essential and I haven't seen one in years.

Councils could (and should) clear key pavements as they clear main roads. They need to put more money aside for this and be prepared to expand the workforce quickly. They also need to continue with other pavements once main routes are clear, to ensure that vulnerable people do not get cut off for any longer than is necessary.

Finally, the people in the gritting lorries are working extremely hard and I am personally grateful for their hard work (especially having been caught out trying to get home to Maidstone on Wednesday evening). This is not a criticism of the workers!

Iceland deals another blow to Kent County Council

Having spent a few days updating the Kent Green Party website, I found myself adding a page on ethical investments, an issue that we have worked hard to get Kent County Council to adopt. We had some success last year after we embarrased them in the media with a number of well chosen pieces about the type of companies the council had its money in, arms, tobacco etc.

The big story with Kent County Council and money is of course the fiasco of losing £47m to the Icelandic banking collapse. News out yesterday shows that Icelanders are fighting hard to not repay their debts with 25% of voters signing a petition to their parliament - I'm sure we would all do the same in their shoes. This is another blow for KCC and for Kent in general. Either taxpayers will have to stump up the misssing millions or KCC will have to cut services.

Kent County Council have acted like a greed hungry corporation, investing money for the greatest profit above all else. As the banking house of cards tumbled, it got its fingers burnt, but the real scandal should be that it continues to use public money to fund death, oppression and climate change.

The council is in the ideal position to put its money into projects that would benefit people and the environment. Acting in the public interest, rather than as a greedy corporation is long overdue but unlikely. Remember, 74 of the 84 Kent County Councillors are Conservative.

Salt pavements in snow and ice

Letter to Kent County Council calling for pavements to be salted in snow and ice. Pavements in Maidstone were still impassable a week after the snow and many people were trapped in their houses right up to Christmas. KCC did manage to salt a small area from the council offices to the member's car park though.

Dear Cllr Chard,

The week before Christmas has proved miserable and dangerous to people in Maidstone, especially the elderly and socially isolated. Despite the rhetoric in Kent County Council’s ‘Winter Service Plan’, pavements around Maidstone remained unsalted demonstrating another clear example of KCC putting cars before people. Please can you ensure that KCC acts on its own policies.

One in six households do not have access to a car in Maidstone and these households are mostly older people who are less confident about walking in snow and ice. These people have been confined to their homes in the run up to Christmas – a situation that is clearly intolerable. KCC is supporting car drivers at the expense of pedestrians which clearly disadvantaging those who need the most help.

I also understand that there was a dramatic rise in fractures reported at Maidstone’s A&E, yet there seem to have been very few car accidents. The health impact of not salting pavements is quite clear and the extra loss of independence, and possibly life, for the elderly must be stopped.

Furthermore, the only path that I found that had been salted by yourselves was between County Hall and the member’s car park – this is simply unacceptable.

I urge you to make salt available for pavements and to ensure that it is used. There needs to be a balance between roads and pavement clearing that reflects the real needs of the people.

Yours sincerely

Stuart Jeffery
Green Party Parliamentary Candidate for Maidstone and the Weald

Councillor's gritting priority

Caroline Lucas has pointed out that Brighton is suffering with a drastic increase in fractures due to the smow and ice - a picture that is surely mirrored across the country.

As gritters are doing their job on our main roads - a job that is clearly necessary to keep essentials such as ambulances, food deliveries, carers and police moving - I have to question why they will not tackle pavements. During the past week I have watched fit, young, healthy people sliding and falling while trying to walk to work and to the shops. People who are less sure of themselves seem to be less evident. I'm sure Maidstone will have had its share of weather related fractures caused by ice on the pavements, yet I doubt there have been anywhere near as many injuries by vehicle users. I simply wonder whether there is a balance to be struck?

It is clear that Kent County Councillors understand priorities though. The only pedestrian area that I found that had been gritted by KCC was a route from County Hall to the councillors car park.

Elected!

Congratulations to everyone who was elected to Kent Youth County Council yesterday, but especially Poppy who was elected for a second term as a representative for Maidstone. Commiserations to those who weren't successful and hope you are lucky next time.

It is great to know that there are young people willing and interested in this type of work. Some of them even make a bit of history too. Some of them are subsequently elected as Youth MPs and just last month the Youth Parliament became the first non-MPs to debate in the House of Commons.

No to Boris Island

Tories showing off their green credentials again... this time it's Boris's turn - he wants to build an island in the Thames Estuary.

The Tories on Kent County Council are up in arms, they have started a campaign to stop it and there is an online petition here. While KCC's position on BI is welcome, it is also strange. They are supporting airport expansion at Manston and Lydd so why not off the coast of Sheppey?

Clearly their opposition is not related to climate change, reducing congestion or jobs. So what is it?

Vote for Change

Well done David Cameron, a message that is spot on for the Kent County Council elections next month. I hope that Kent voters will listen to Cameron and vote for change in the political make up of our council. The Tories have held Kent almost continually for the last 100 year - change is long overdue...

He also said: "With every Conservative vote, the message will be simple: Enough is enough. You're the past,". I think this is a bit rude??? Will this be going on their election leaflets? If I got told that I was 'the past' just for voting Tory I'd be a bit miffed!

I think the message should be 'Be part of the future now - vote Green'.

24% rise in Kent's traffic

From the Kent Messenger: "Traffic levels in Kent have grown by nearly a quarter in 15 years - a greater rate than neighbours Essex, Surrey and most other counties in the south east."

Only Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire had higher rises in the South East. I see that Kent County Council wouldn't put a councillor up for comment and left it to one of their officers to claim they are trying to reduce traffic.

Frankly, this is basic political cowardice and typical of the business as usual grey parties. The Tories are doing nothing to promote alternatives to cars aside from issuing the occasional platitude. They are still building roads, refusing to improve public transport, cycling and walking. They won't make our roads safer by slowing down traffic. They are not building a sustainable society.

Well done to the CPRE for exposing them!

Support for Unison at Kent County Council

As I have stated before, I support Unison's claim for a reasonable wage rise for Kent County Council workers and earlier I sent the letter below to the Kent on Sunday. News just out from the Kent Messenger:

"Bonuses of more than £100,000 were paid to Kent County Council's top officers last year"

How County Councillors can deny low paid public sector workers a proper rise is beyond me.

The letter:

Dear Editor,

The news that Kent County Council has voted to cut the pay of its workers is hardly a surprise but it is a decision that must be condemned. Council workers have been offered just 1% against current inflation rates of around 3%. In times of economic recession KCC needs to inject money into our economy not take it out. By shrinking Kent's economy more than it is already shrinking, KCC are putting others' jobs at risk. County Councillor's need to rethink their decision.

For anyone suggesting that workers are lucky to have a job, it is worth remembering that a large proportion of KCC staff are not paid huge amounts and for people on lower incomes keeping pace with inflation is essential. KCC must look after its staff and remember that public sector
staff are the backbone of our society.

KCC claim they must keep spending down in times of recession but, as we now all know, economists across the world are saying differently. KCC has failed to look after public money, losing £50m on dodgy investments and wasting cash on pointless publicity like Kent TV, it should try to make amends and look after its staff and inject money into Kent's economy.

Stuart Jeffery
Green Party Prospective MP for Maidstone and the Weald

KCC pay rise

Frustratingly I missed the protest by Unison outside County Hall this morning. Unison are rejecting the 1% pay offer from KCC and rightly so. CPI is at 3.1%, KCC are wasting millions on Kent TV, pointless road building, hiring expensive hotels, a politically low council tax rise, etc. The economy needs injections of cash, as economists now agree, not cut backs and a 1% pay rise is a pay cut.

Why make hard working council staff suffer? It will have a knock on effect of depressing the local economy further.

Should KCC Strike?

Unison are considering strike action at Kent County Council over the offer of a 1% pay rise and 2500 job losses. The local press is full of angry comments from people claiming that the KCC staff are greedy and should be thankful for a job in the recession. I think they are half right...

Inflation has fallen to 3.1% (Consumer Price Index - the figure the government likes to use) for December 2008. A 1% pay rise therefore equates to a 2.1% pay cut, so the discussion should be whether staff at KCC should take a reduction in pay or not.

The country is in a recession and it is going to get worse, of that there is little doubt. Our economic system that relied on private banks providing 97% of the money supply was a ponzi scheme waiting to collapse. The banks are with holding credit (i.e. money) and the economy crashes. There seem to be two ways of increasing the money supply and therefore getting money back into circulation.

Firstly the banks can start lending again. This is unlikely and despite all the government pressure as major shareholders in our high st banks, they continue to be panicking over their toxic debts.

Secondly, the government can spend more money, either through creating it itself or borrowing it (I prefer the first option as long as there are accompanying monetary controls).

Kent County Council are our middle tier of local government, they have the ability to borrow, spend and save. Spending money, which means paying staff, injects money into the economy and if the money is spent on KCC staff, the money goes straight into Kent's economy. KCC therefore have some influence of the economy and by spending more on staff they can help to ease the biting recession.

Where could they get the money from? If they hadn't lost £50m investing taxpayer's money in Iceland it would have helped! KCC continue to use the invstment company that failed to warn them adequately about Iceland, they would be better off reading the newspapers.

All that is in the past and now KCC need to bit the bullet and borrow money in the short term to inject it into our economy in the form of wages. I suspect some redundancies and severed contracts are required - for instance, Kent TV is a waste of money as it the Tory promoting newsletter that KCC produce.

I suggest that the economy needs stimulus in the form of money being spent and one key way of doing this is by paying staff a little more, not cutting their salaries.