Plymouth Labour seeks assurance against Tory playground charge

Plymouth Labour party has tabled an urgent written question to the Council calling for an absolute assurance that Plymouth City Council will not follow Conservative-controlled Wandsworth Council in imposing charges for its playgrounds.

Wandsworth Council in London has announced it will charge £2.50 for children to use their playgrounds as a pilot and will look to extend the scheme to all playgrounds in the borough if successful.

Cllr Nicky Wildy, Labour’s Children’s Spokesperson said: “Play should be free. I am very worried that sensing another way of wringing money out of hard-pressed Plymouth families Plymouth’s council will soon follow Wandsworth and charge for using playgrounds. We will fight any attempt by the Conservatives to turn publicly funded playgrounds into areas which only the rich and privileged can enjoy.”

“I have sought an assurance from the City Council that Plymouth’s Tories will not follow their London colleagues in imposing a charge for Plymouth’s playgrounds. I expect them to be resolute in defending free playgrounds – just as Labour is.”

Postal vote envelopes found in Plymouth Council car park

Plymouth Labour Party volunteers were shocked to find postal vote envelopes marked ‘Referendum and Devonport Ward’ blowing around the Civic Centre car park on Saturday.

The envelopes were found by activists who had parked there to campaign in the local area.

Labour campaigner Luke Pollard, who found the first envelope said: “At first I thought maybe someone had dropped them on their way to the Council, but it soon became obvious these were envelopes that had been opened.

Thankfully the actual ballot papers and the personal information were not included in any we found. I suspect that no votes have been lost, but it is a worry regardless. Clearly the Council are not being very careful about how they deal with their confidential waste.”

The ballot paper envelopes were collected and the Labour Party will be handing them back to the Returning Officer at the Council.

Tudor Evans, Leader of the Labour Group on the Council said: “When voters send their ballot papers to the Council they expect them to be treated with respect and dealt with confidentially.

Labour calls for plan B for Plymouth’s transport links

Responding to today’s news that Plymouth City Airport is to close, Tudor Evans, Leader of the Labour Group on Plymouth City Council said: “This is obviously a bad day for Plymouth’s image. I believe that if we work together something can be salvaged. I’ve asked to meet the Acting Council Chief Executive to offer the support of Labour’s Councillors to secure the airport’s future.”

“The Council Leadership has known about the closure of the airport for some time. The failure to keep the airport open is a failure of Council policy and a failure of their will.

Plymouth needs good connections by road, rail and by air. Over the last year we’ve seen the future of fast trains to Plymouth postponed indefinitely, we’ve seen the potholes grow in our roads and now our airport is set to close. We need a transport policy that makes Plymouth better connected with the wider region and the rest of the UK. Current policies seem to be pushing us in the opposite direction.”

Alison Seabeck, Labour MP for Plymouth Moor View said: “This is very concerning for businesses in Plymouth. The absence of a regional body like the RDA means there is no one to come to turn to for help.

Plymouth Labour demand action on Camels Head’s stench

Residents of Keyham and North Prospect packed a meeting at Wolseley Community Centre on Thursday to tell South West Water they have had enough of the smell from Camels Head sewage works.

Organised by Devonport Councillor Mark Coker and Labour Group Leader Cllr Tudor Evans the meeting gave residents the opportunity to speak directly to Richard Gillpin, Head of Waste Water at South West Water plc.

Leader of the Labour Group on Plymouth City Council, Cllr Tudor Evans said: “It was a tremendous turnout, residents were very angry, but they remained polite and pressed their case with passion and courtesy. I only hope South West Water will show the same respect and courtesy by sorting this out once and for all.”

The meeting heard that the City Council had already been in contact with the Environment Agency and would be meeting with senior representatives of South West Water.

Cllr Mark Coker said “If not resolved quickly, this could mean legal action by the Council. South West Water need to take this seriously. Last night there was talk of compensation.

Plymouth Labour challenges Tory incinerator posturing

Mark Coker, Labour’s candidate in Devonport who has been running the campaigning against the incinerator at the dockyard, has written to the Conservative Party candidate for Devonport ward and Oliver Colville MP, the Tory MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, to ask them to state clearly whether they support or oppose the incinerator. Labour has been running an active campaign against the incinerator being located in Devonport for the past year.

Mark Coker said: “Let me make this clear Labour is opposing the dockyard incinerator 100%. We think it is the wrong technology in the wrong location. The people in Devonport know that the Tories are forcing an unwanted incinerator on our community and I’m standing continuing my campaign against the incinerator up to the election and beyond. What voters in Devonport might not be clear on is where the Tory candidate and our Tory MP are in terms of whether they support the incinerator or not. Is Oliver Colville in favour or against the incinerator? It is time he made his position clear to voters in Plymouth.

“At the last council meeting Labour called on the Tories to consider other alternatives to incineration to deal with Plymouth’s waste. Every single Tory councillor voted against our proposal. The Tories want to burn rubbish in Devonport. Voters in Devonport know the Tories are proposing the incinerator and no amount of pre-election posturing will change that.”

Plymouth Labour fields full slate as Liberal Democrats retreat

Plymouth Labour Party has issued an open invitation to Liberal Democrat voters in Plymouth to join the party in response to the failure of the Lib Dems to field candidates in every ward across the city. Lib Dems are standing in less than half of the city’s wards whilst Labour is fielding candidates in every ward in the city for the 5 May elections.

Tudor Evans, Leader of the Labour Group, and a candidate in the Ham ward said: “In every ward in this city on polling day voters will be able to send a message to David Cameron and Nick Clegg by voting Labour. What is staggering is that having sold out so completely in voting through Tory cuts in coalition, the Liberal Democrats are only fielding eight candidates in the whole of Plymouth.

“Labour is fielding a full slate of candidates and I’m proud this is the most diverse and experienced group of candidates we have ever put up for election. We have over 100 years of Council experience between our candidates which is bolstered by a new generation of young people who are standing for the first time showing Labour appeals to every community in Plymouth.”

Frank Dobson launches Plymouth Labour’s local election campaign

Plymouth Labour asks voters to send the Prime Minister a message as local election campaign is launched.

Plymouth Labour has launched its 2011 local election campaign with a campaign call for voters in Plymouth to send the Tory-led Coalition government a message with their vote on 5 May.

Labour MP and former Secretary of State for Health, Frank Dobson, was the guest of honour at the launch.

Cllr Tudor Evans, Leader of the Labour Group on Plymouth City Council said: “Over the next six weeks Labour will be taking the battle to the street, highlighting every broken promise of this Tory council, every pothole in our roads they promised to fill in, every school whose budget has been cut and every person whose job is under threat because of their cuts. People are angry and I’m not surprised. We are asking people to focus that frustration and use their vote on 5 May to send a message to David Cameron and Nick Clegg.”

Since May last year Plymouth Labour’s membership has increased by a third. New member Chris Penberthy, who lives in the St Peters and the Waterfront ward said: “I wasn’t much interested in politics until I saw what was happening to my community and how little the Tories seemed to care about the plight of ordinary people. I’m a local person who wants to do something to improve my community – that’s why I’m voting Labour in May.”

Plymouth school children left stranded after bus services are stopped

Councillor Nicky Williams has hit out at the decision to remove more bus routes in Plymouth. Her comments follow the decision of Citybus to remove vital bus services used to get children to and from school.

Nicky said: “I have been contacted by parents in Ernesettle whose child has been allocated to attend Sir John Hunt Community College in Whitleigh, however thanks to the decision to remove the bus service, they will be unable to get to school. This is unacceptable.

“I first asked Cllr Wigens to undertake a vital review of the bus service provision and subsidy in October last year, despite his assurances this has still not taken place. Since then more and more bus services have been removed leaving people unable to travel to work, to school or even to the shops. In some areas of the City they have been left without a bus from Saturday through to Monday morning.

“Last week I challenged Cllr Wigens to tell me, what was the acceptable distance for a person to walk to access public transport? He couldn’t give me an answer. We are now in a position where pensioners have free bus passes but there are no buses left for them to catch.

Forest U-turn welcome but campaign is not over

Save Cann Woods website launches as government performs U-turn on sales.

The Plymouth-based campaign to stop the government selling Cann Woods has today cautiously welcomed the U-turn by David Cameron in halting the forest sales. The campaign’s new website www.savecannwoods.org went live today as over 200 people signed the online petition calling for Cann Woods to remain in public hands.

After coming under sustained attack from Ed Miliband at yesterday’s Prime Minister’s Questions David Cameron announced that he was unhappy with the forest sell off policy and ordered that the consultation into selling the forestry estate be immediately halted.

Luke Pollard from Plymouth Labour, who is running the campaign, said: “We need to see all the details about the U-turn before we celebrate but it looks like the government has finally realised that this was a bad policy, poorly thought through, badly explained and was making his government deeply unpopular in the country. 84% of the public are against selling our forests nationwide and I have not met anyone but Plymouth’s Tory MPs who thought selling the forests was a good idea. We campaigned to save Cann Woods for future generations and we may have achieved this.

Ed Miliband backs Devon forest campaign

The campaign to Save Cann Woods from being sold by the government is in full swing. Since local media broke news of the campaign being launched last week, dozens of people have got in touch about wanting to save the woods, more have signed an online petition and the campaign has won the support of Ed Miliband, the Leader of the Opposition.

Coming on the same day as a debate in the House of Commons on the forest sales, Luke Pollard, from Plymouth Labour met Ed Miliband to secure his support for the campaign to Save Cann Woods.

In the debate that followed Plymouth’s MPs were split on whether to sell the woods. Plymouth Moor View Labour MP, Alison Seabeck, voted to save the woods whilst her Tory opposite for South West Devon, Gary Streeter, whose constituency covers Cann Woods, voted with the government in support of forest sales. Plymouth Sutton and Devonport Tory MP, Oliver Colvile, failed to vote.

Ed Miliband MP, Leader of the Opposition said: “The trees of Cann Wood have been centuries in the making, but under Conservative-led plans for privatisation – nothing short of environmental vandalism — they could be seconds in the felling. We are custodians of these forests for future generations. That’s why we are campaigning hard with local families to save Cann Wood.”