Stepping Forward in the Dark

The Mayor of Reading (right) with Atkins the guide dog & me

At lunchtime I accompanied The Mayor of Reading, Cllr Jenny Rynn, to Broad Street where we met lots of people working & volunteering for Guide Dogs for the Blind.

Jenny & I were keen to be blind folded to experience what it is like to be blind or partially sighted.  It was also good to help support the charity's awareness day by highlighting the difficulties visually impaired people face walking in a busy shopping area.

John Mudd from the charity was very happy to answer all our questions.  He introduced us to several volunteers who enabled us to try being guided by a person, then using a white stick and finally being guided by a dog. 



Atkins guiding me

Jenny trying a white stick

Being guided by a person was fine as I simply trusted my helper to keep me safe.  However using the white stick was daunting.  Even though I only walked a short distance, I suddenly became very conscious of all the noises around me and felt extremely vulnerable.  I was anxious not to be tripped up by one of the many A-frame signs that litter the pavement. 

Best of all - Jenny agreed - was being guided by Atkins a 5 year old dog who has a lovely friendly temperament.  As he walked his wagging tail gently swished against my leg which I found very reassuring.  His fluid forward motion made me feel reasonably confident to follow beside him. 

For me the experience of walking blindfolded really brought home the isolation, disorientation and vulnerability visually impaired people battle against.  This is an issue close to my heart as my paternal grandmother was almost blind.  She never wanted to use a stick or have a guide dog, I think because of embarrassment over her disability.  She relied on my grandfather and other family members to guide or drive her about and I fondly remember guiding her. 


John Mudd, me, Joel Young, Atkins, Jenny & 'Alfie'

John Mudd emphasised the importance of early intervention to help individuals come to terms with sight loss.  Currently Reading does fund this mandatory work, however I believe Slough has cut the funding so it is crucial to ensure Reading doesn't follow suit.  Cutting funding for early intervention work is literally short-sighted.  Helping an individual adjust and cope with ordinary day-to-day life things like getting dressed, cooking safely, getting out of the house to shop or taking exercise is invaluable work.   It can transform a blind person's quality of life, giving them the confidence to have a job and a family.

We both signed the petition for the removal of VAT on dog food for Guide Dogs, with a potential saving of £300,000 to the Charity.   As well as being alert to the necessity of ensuring the future funding of the early intervention work, both Jenny and I will highlight to the Council the danger posed by unnecessary street furniture like advertising boards and ask for this to be reviewed.

It is well worth having a look at http://www.guidedogs.org.uk/ for more information about the wonderful work the organisation does.  Do consider making a donation while you're there!

Update:  Over £2,000 was raised by Guide Dogs for the Blind in Broad Street on the day

School Places Shortage: Labour Needs your Ideas

The local Labour administration has at last realised & acknowledged the massive shortage of school places in Reading.  With little notice - in what many rightly see as a last minute dash to make up for Labour's years of failure to accurately predict & forecast school places - the administration is consulting the public to get ideas for how to meet the forecast needs.

Rob Wilson MP has been working hard to improve the situation, already having brought the partners together for the UTC (which I've written about  before).  More recently Rob has been working with an education provider to bring forward a secondary school for 11-16 year olds in his East Reading constituency.

Returning to RBC, below is the press release announcing the consultation meeting dates. I hope anybody & everybody interested in education in Reading will try to come to one of the venues.

Let's Talk Education
   
08/10/2012
Reading Borough Council Press Release

Reading Borough Council today (Oct 8) launches 'Let's Talk Education' the latest in a series of on-going community consultations on the issues that really matter in Reading .

A national shortage of primary and secondary school places is being mirrored in Reading. Only this year the Council spent £2 million providing an additional 260 more places for four-year-olds starting school. Current estimates are that in Reading an additional 12 forms of entry - or 360 primary school places will be needed every year from September 2013. By September 2017 all secondary school capacity will be full.

'Let's Talk Education' wants to hear from local residents, parents, schools and any other interested groups. Their opinions will help shape the Council's plan to meet the demand for primary and secondary school places in Reading .

Opinions gathered in the consultation will enable Reading Borough Council to have a better understanding of how people feel about the choices that impact on decisions about school places. These choices include things like school sizes, educational standards, admissions and transport options, as well as the impact on the local environment.

The Council has scheduled a series of 'Let's Talk Education' events, starting next week, across each of the local communities in the town and running through October. People do not have to be parents to attend - every local resident is invited to make their views known.

The meetings will be at:

- Monday October 15: 4pm: Moorlands Primary School , Church End Lane, Tilehurst / 6.30pm: Micklands Primary School , Micklands Road, Caversham
- Tuesday October 16: 4pm: Whitley Park Primary School , Basingstoke Road, Whitley
- Wednesday October 17: 6.30pm: Reading Town Hall Discussion on Secondary School Places
- Thursday Oct 18: 4pm: New Town Primary School , School Terrace / 6.30pm: Southcote Primary School , Silchester Road
- Thursday October 25: 4pm: Oxford Road Community School,146 Oxford Road

Each of the meetings will include a presentation on the shortage of school places across the borough. People will then have the opportunity to ask any questions they have and give any feedback. Questionnaires will be available at the meetings for people to fill in.

Anyone not able to make one of the events can also make their views known atwww.reading.gov.uk/letstalkeducation. The closing date for consultation is November 7.The Council will then feedback from the events and the consultation to those that took part. 

Update: the Consultation deadline has been extended to 18th November 2012.

Reading East School Places Meeting

The public meeting about school places was heated, but not as well attended as I had anticipated (between 60-80 people, 14 of whom were councillors). 
Useful facts which came out of the meeting were:

From 15 October, a public consultation will be accessible on www.reading.gov.uk asking for views as to how RBC can meet its statutory responsibility to meet future demand for school places.  I highly recommend you participate.

RBC's update on education in the East of the Borough hand-out states:

"The forecast for the next four years shows that the east of Reading will need to take more children into Reception year than there are permanent spaces.  It is estimated at between 2 and 3 classes of 30 children.  We therefore need to find the space for at least 14 classrooms and related facilities in the area." 

It continues:

"Clearly all of these children are starting primary school, they will in due course need a place at secondary school.  While this does not have to be quite as local as a primary school, the overall forecast is that from 2017 there will not be enough places in Year 7 (age 11) for all those starting school and by 2020 we will need to be able to access 400 more places in year 7.  The Council is therefore looking for options including the space for a new 11-16 secondary school able to take at least 180 students a year."

Cllr John Ennis – the Labour administration’s Cabinet lead for Education - pledged that if no individuals/group/or organisation/s come forward to set up a Free School and all other possibilities have been exhausted, then his administration will borrow money to build a community school themselves.

Rob Wilson MP, has already put together the partners and identified a portion of the Crescent Road site for the Reading UTC (University Technical College).  Although the bid to the Department for Education (DfE) was for an 11-19 provision, a 14-19 UTC has been given the go ahead and is due to open in September 2013.

The DfE bought only the part of the Crescent Road site needed to accommodate the 600 place UTC.  The remaining part of the site was sold by the University of West London (previously TVU) a few days ago to Square Bay (a residential developer).

Planning application 12/01391/FUL has been submitted for the refurbishment and extensions to part of the Crescent Road Campus site for the UTC and is due to be heard by the Planning Applications Committee at a future meeting.  The plans and supplementary information can be viewed on RBC's planninghome or alternatively at the Civic Centre.

The Crescent Road site is in policy SA7 of RBC’s Sites & Detailed Policies Document (SDPD).  In essence SA7 sets out that the site is for educational purposes if required.  However if surplus to educational requirements the site could be used for residential housing - as long as it fulfils the given criteria.  I've uploaded the full text of SA7 here

Rob Wilson MP is currently in talks about an 11-16 school for East Reading with an education provider.  He anticipates he soon will be in a position to provide more detailed information.  [Check www.robwilsonmp.com]

Footnote  Rob Wilson MP was unable to attend this meeting as he was in Westminster.  I spoke on his behalf.  He will be holding a public meeting to discuss school places - date to be announced.  

MP Quashes Labour's False Accusations

Further to my previous post I feel compelled to reproduce below Rob Wilson MP's piece about education and specifically the new Reading UTC because of the utter rubbish the Reading Labour Group has been spouting:

Around Westminster with Rob - Education

Thursday, 13 September, 2012

Since I became the MP for Reading East in 2005 I have made it a priority to try to improve the education that young people receive in my constituency. I’m not saying it has been easy, as Reading has massively underperformed for years as an education authority as local Labour Councillors have bought into educational socialism in Reading even at a time when Labour nationally under Tony Blair and Andrew Adonis were rejecting it.

I am very proud to say that in recent years progress is being made, although there is still much to do. Part of that progress is the new Reading UTC, vehemently opposed by Labour’s Reading Councillors. But one only has to look at the performance of Highdown as an Academy and the big improvement in Bulmershe to see the progress. Bulmershe has responded well to the challenge that a UTC presents and the local authority in Wokingham is putting in enormous investment to deliver a school that will soon be excellent.

However, Reading UTC (which definitely opens in September 2013) is not being opposed on the basis of rational argument, the tactics used are utterly reprehensible and beneath contempt. The pretext is pretending to represent local people, but the agenda is the same old educational socialism.

Yet Reading UTC is going to be an absolutely brilliant school, educating children in a different way, but producing highly qualified young people with technical skills directly relevant to the local economy. It has huge backing from world class companies and will send children on to university or the world of work with the best possible start in life. Why would Labour oppose this? Because it wants to control schools, because it wants a one size fits all type of education, because it wants to oppose the Government. All narrow sectional party interests, forgetting the people who really count, our children. I find it reprehensible and parents should reject them.

So what are they saying? That the Department of Education bought the land at Crescent Road and sold half of it to a developer (some have said to fund the school half). Completely untrue. The Department of Education bought what it required for 600 children from the University of West London (previously TVU), the sale of the other half of the land is nothing to do with the DoE or Reading UTC. I hope the local Labour Party will be taking this up directly with the vice chancellor of the University of West London, who I understand was previously a member of their party and a Labour candidate at elections. Of course I am sure he has disavowed his previous connections as any sane person would!

Then there is the accusation that the UTC will build on green space. Again completely untrue. Reading UTC will protect green space on the site. They said that the project was going to collapse , which was never the case. They said the University of Reading would withdraw support, it hasn’t. That companies were pulling out, also completely untrue. That it doesn’t serve the needs of Reading. How a school backed by world class companies doesn’t serve local skills needs takes some working out? Where have these dinosaurs been for the last 30 years as the UK skills base has fallen behind the rest of the world? Where have they been as our education system has fallen behind the rest of the world? This new UTC is the most relevant thing to happen in education in east Reading since Victorian times and will be transformative.

The base and squalid accusations about the school have been endless since I first raised the idea. The Labour Councillors responsible, and they know who they are, are the worst kind of political ambulance chasers I have ever come across. UTC Reading is going ahead, Labour in Reading must now make a decision whether to continue to try to wreck it, or give all our children a chance of social mobility through a great education.

School Places Meeting

On Thursday 27th September Reading Borough Council is holding a public meeting about options to address a projected shortfall of school places, to which Reading East residents are invited. The meeting will start at 6.30 pm and take place in the main hall at Alfred Sutton School.

Cllr John Ennis, the Labour administration's Lead Member for Education & Children's Services will chair the meeting and there will be a presentation by RBC education officers on projections for primary and secondary school places need in Reading for future years.

The press release says that as part of that presentation Council officers will outline potential schemes which could be proposed for the wider site at Crescent Road in East Reading, where a University Technical College (UTC) is planned for 14-19 year olds.

It continues that the meeting is an opportunity for every local resident to hear about and have their say on possible future options for Crescent Road, a key strategic site in the East Reading area.

I for one am interested to learn what Labour has come up with and hope the meeting will be productive.

The Forgotten British Gurkha

On Wednesday the Right Worshipful Mayor of Reading Jenny Rynn opened the Gurkha Drop-in Centre in Queen's Walk.   It was fantastic to see this goal achieved, the latest in a campaign headed by Trustees Peter Beckinsale, Chandra Burathoki and former councillors Peter Beard & Tom Steele.

There was a huge turnout with the majority in colourful traditional Nepalese clothing.  The charity was set up in Peter Beard's mayoral year and he became a Trustee, very keen to support the cause.  As a result of Tom Steele's steadfast commitment to the charity, he too was asked to become a Trustee.  It was Tom who proposed the fitting tribute of asking former Gurkha Sergeant Major Gyranraj Rai to join the Mace Bearer team for the Council last year.

The Forgotten British Gurkha charity offers support in many ways including teaching English, dealing with housing issues and form filling. The Drop-In Centre gives the charity a much-needed central Reading base to continue their good work.  You can donate and read more on their website

Landlords: Do Make the Most of Grants!

Last Thursday evening RBC officers ran the annual event bringing landlords up-to-date with legislation and grants available for "green" improvements.  The event has been running for the last few years although this was my first one.  Attendance had gone up from just 25 last year to 70 landlords this time; and feedback afterwards has been very positive.

David Cox (National Landlords Association - Senior Policy Officer) kicked off with issues for the private rented sector.  He spoke about the Energy Performance Chart (EPC) that will need to be on all marketing literature from April 2013 and also the changes made back in April 2011 on Stamp Duty.  He pushed landlords to make the most of the Landlords Energy Savings Allowance (LESA) of £1,500 per property, per year offset against Income Tax, which is available until April 2015.

There was a presentation on Welfare Reform which included information about under occupation of social housing which comes into affect from April 2013 for new and existing claims and on caps to benefits.

By January 2013 RBC has to have set up its own scheme to replace Council Tax Benefit and you can have your say by responding to RBC's consultation.

You will probably have heard about the "Green Deal" which is exciting as already the pilots have reduced household energy bills whilst improving the energy efficiency of homes.  It is part of the Energy Act 2011 and will be rolled out in January 2013 across Britain.  The "Green Deal" is an innovative financial mechanism which eliminates the need to pay upfront for energy efficiency measures and instead provides reassurances that the cost of the measures should be covered by savings on utility bills.  The landlord will approach a Green Deal Provider to assess the property and decide the necessary improvements and then organise for these to be completed.  The energy efficiency upgrades are paid by the Green Deal Provider and then repaid by whoever pays the utility bills.  The "Golden Rule" is important as it ensures the cost of the new utility bills plus the loan repayment must be lower than if nothing had been undertaken. 

In the meantime landlords are advised to take up the free loft and cavity wall insulation grants which are available for the next 3 months.  It was emphasised that cavity wall insulation techniques have improved drastically over the years and in the unlikely event that there was a problem with a new installation the responsibility would be entirely on the insulation company to make good the problem.

There was an interesting presentation on Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs).  On the one hand HMOs provide affordable accommodation for students and others, but the downside is the impact HMOs can have on parking, rubbish, estate agent signs, etc in areas where they are prolific.  RBC has implemented an Article 4 which, subject to confirmation, will come into force in May 2013.  Do check page 7 of the presentation to see the area covered (which roughly is the area around the University within the borough).

For more detailed information, all the presentations can be accessed via RBC's website here