Steven Frear

Tory deputy leader joins Labour

admin — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 11:27:46 +0000

Gove made me ashamed to be a Conservative says senior Tory councillor as she joins Labour

The Deputy leader of the Conservative Group on Sandwell Council has quit the party and joined Labour saying the behaviour of gaffe prone Michael Gove made her “ashamed to be a Conservative.”

When Gove announced the cuts to the Building Schools for the Future programme early this year he said he was halving the number of projects – more than 700 schools. But according to the first list published Sandwell was safe.

However the following day discord erupted. Gove had got his facts wrong. The department was very sorry but some of the schools would not be receiving the investment. How many? All of them.

Gove then promised Council Leader Darren Cooper that he would visit Sandwell to meet with parents and apologise for the cock up. The Department for Education later cancelled Mr Gove’s visit to Sandwell citing “diary pressures.”

On resigning from the Conservative Party and joining Labour Cllr Elaine Costigan said:

It is now absolutely clear that the Labour Party is the only party that cares about places like Sandwell. This community has been treated with utter contempt by the government over the slashing of the school building programme and when Michael Gove backed out of his promise to come and apologise to the parents, pupils and staff he had so badly let down, I felt ashamed to be a Conservative.

I am delighted to join the Labour Party, now the only party fighting for the ordinary hardworking people of this community.

In her resignation she wrote:

I am writing to formally resign my membership of the Conservative Party with immediate effect.

I have served Wednesbury North for the past 8 years and I care passionately about my community. I now feel that I can no longer serve the people I represent as a member of the Conservative Party. I cannot condone the crippling cuts that will be affecting my residents; my OAPs worried about losing their homes and heating allowances, the cuts affecting local parents on low-incomes. And, most of all, the parents, pupils and staff of local schools, who have had their hopes of new and better buildings, and with it better education, dashed by the Conservative-led coalition Government.

Only this week I had a meeting with the head teacher at Wood Green High School, Wednesbury, where they are having to have the roof done at a cost of £150,000. This money was supposed to pay off a bank loan, but they are now having to use it to repair the buildings, roofs etc.

I did not become a local Councillor to support that kind of misery being inflicted on decent hard-working local people. You may think that those cuts had to be made, but cuts should start at the top not at the bottom.

Sandwell desperately needs new investment in its schools yet this government has not only abandoned the children of my community but it has treated them disgracefully. The sudden withdrawal of funding for new schools the day after it was confirmed, the refusal to listen to local people and the Secretary of State’s breaking of his promise to apologise to the parents, pupils and staff, all show a government that to say does not seem to care about this community.

I can no longer bite my lip and pretend that the way the Conservative-led coalition has treated Sandwell is OK. It is not, and I cannot be a member of a party that condones their actions.

On a personal level, I must thank you for the support I had when I first got elected in 2002 and I wish you the very best for the future.

Yours sincerely,

Cllr Elaine Costigan

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EXCLUSIVE: Tesco express to open

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 18:33:45 +0000

The former Beeches public house on Bristnall Hall Road is to be converted into a new Tesco Express over the next few months, Tesco will be offering a small convience type store for the local residents and it is expected to create nearly 20 new jobs.

We have had a lot of problems with the beeches pub, it attracted late night ASB for long suffering local residents. I have spoken with a number of people today and it seems, so far – that it will be a welcome addition to the community.

if you have any views or concerns for the new story, please feel free to get in touch by phone or email and I will pass your concerns on to Tesco.

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Save NHS Direct

admin — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 17:17:14 +0000

The Coalition Government’s Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has confirmed that he intends to scrap the 24 hour adviceline NHS Direct.

Prime Minister David Cameron has said that any petition reaching 100,000 signatures would guarantee a Commons debate on the matter.

So we call on the Coalition to think again and Save NHS Direct for the good of the nation.

We need as many people as possible to raise objections to the closure of this service, with over 9 million calls handled a year by trained doctors and nurses, we now face David Camerons cut price 111 service which will be staffed by people who have approximately 60 hours training – basically reading from a manual!

Click on the link and send a very firm and loud message that this is not acceptable… http://www.savenhsdirect.co.uk/

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Parking anger for disabled shoppers

admin — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 16:02:33 +0000

More than 100 disabled people parking at a shopping centre in West Bromwich have been fined since managers removed spaces for blue badge holders. it was claimed today.

Motorists face a £25 fine for parking without paying at Netto at the Farley Centre in Princess Parade. A poster warns blue badge holders are not exempt from the £2 charge. However, pensioners and disabled people said they were unaware and claim the parking attendants were targeting them, rather than telling them of the changed made two weeks ago.

Bristnall ward Councillor and Lead Councillor for Oldbury Town Steven Frear ” I have had numerous complaints from residents about the Netto car park because they started charging for parking. I have spoke to people at Netto and I was informed that more then 100 people have been fined so far, They’re not being upfront about the changes, its just a very small line on a poster.”

A pensioner, who did not wish to be named, said ” I parked in the car park to take my in-laws shopping, my father in law is partially sighted and deaf and my mother in law has difficulty in walking. We did our shopping and had a £25 fine when we came out for using one of the bays that used to be for disabled people.

In that short time I watched the attendant stare at a couple of people as they walked away from their cars, dash out and then put a ticket on as soon as they went into the store, rather than just tell them of the change. when we went into the store to complain we were told hundreds of people had done the same.

A Netto Spokesperson would not deny more than 100 people had been fined and said signs were in place, she said ” In response to recent complaints, we monitored out car park over three weeks. Our findings indicated that a significant number of non-Netto customers were using the car park, resulting in many of our customers unable to find a parking space”.

Free parking in Sandwell over Christmas

TV Debate at the Public

admin — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 18:50:55 +0000

Councils across the West Midlands are bracing themselves for financial cuts, as the coalition government prepares to slash public spending in the Autumn.

Civic leaders are facing tough decisions over what services they will be forced to axe.The BBC in the West Midlands is staging a televised debate to thrash out the options available to our local council chiefs.

They want to hear from people interested in taking part.

Public debate

The future of residential care, swimming pools, leisure centres, meals on wheels, public libraries and grants to voluntary organisations are all under the microscope as Whitehall puts the squeeze on public spending.

It follows Chancellor George Osborne’s call for a national debate over where the axe should fall.

“What we want to do is make sure that all political parties, that the brightest and best brains across Whitehall and the public sector, that voluntary groups, think tanks, trade unions that members of the public are all engaged in the debate and discussion about how collectively we deal with the problem – after all it is our collective national debt,” he said.

Mr Osborne said tackling the £156bn deficit was “the great national challenge of our generation”.

Audience opportunity

The special programme will be presented by BBC Midlands Today’s Nick Owen.

It will be recorded on Thursday 9, September 2010 at The Public in West Bromwich and will be transmitted at 10.35pm on BBC One that same evening.

Would you like to be in the audience as our invited experts debate the issues facing our councils?

Have you got a story to tell about how the public spending cuts could directly affect your life?

There may also be an opportunity for you to ask questions and have your say.

Please e-mail the programme’s producer john.bray@bbc.co.uk and please include a contact telephone number.

SOURCE:

Gok Wan coming to West Bromwich this March

Gove cries off visit

admin — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:08:21 +0000

Tory chicken Michael Gove has ducked out of a meeting with parents and staff to apologise for the shambles over school repair cuts.The Education Secretary caused fury when he slashed 712 badly needed projects. One town’s schools were first promised the long-awaited work would be done. Later they heard there had been a bureaucratic bungle by the ministry and it was all cancelled.Mr Gove vowed to apologise personally to pupils, parents and teachers in Sandwell, West Mids, for the blunder. But he said he could go there only in August, when the schools were closed. Now he has added insult to injury by saying he will not go at all.

Instead representatives from Sandwell council have been told to come to London to hear his explanation. Leader of the Labour run authority, Cllr Darren Cooper, said: “He said in Parliament that he will visit Sandwell and apologise personally.

“If we look at all the evidence and take the politics out of it, we have been treated shabbily. It is extremely disappointing.”

Cllr Cooper said he plans to take a delegation of teachers and parents for a meeting with Mr Gove on August 5. The councillor said: “If the mountain can’t come to Sandwell, then Sandwell will go to the mountain.” Mr Gove’s reluctance to go to the town is in stark contrast to what he said when he was confronted by our fearless Mirror Chicken earlier this month.

The minister was questioned over his decision to cry off in the face of a meeting with parents. He told our chicken: “I’m looking forward to seeing them.”I’m hoping that as many of them as possible will be there when I’m there. I very much want to see them.”

Shadow education secretary Ed Balls yesterday slammed Mr Gove for not bothering to travel to the town.

The Labour leadership contender said: “When I visited Sandwell a couple of weeks ago I saw for myself why this funding was so badly needed.

“Michael Gove had the good grace to promise a visit to Sandwell to apologise in person. It’s obviously disappointing that he will not now do so. “I hope he will think again and visit Sandwell to see for himself how he has condemned a generation of children to learn in second-class facilities.”

The Department for Education said Mr Gove’s decision to say sorry in London was down to “diary pressures”.

A ministry spokesman said: “It’s correct that they are coming to us. But this was agreed with them due to diary pressures as it was much easier to find a slot for them to come here than the other way round. We look forward to meeting the delegation.”

SOURCE: MIRROR.CO.UK

Gove 5th August visit to Sandwell School

New Community Garden Opened

admin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:17:36 +0000

I spent a lovely morning in the company of the members and visitors of Kings Community Church on George Road, Oldbury.I was invited to attend the Summer Garden Party and to cut the ribbon on the newly designed gardens and pathways that had been created by the local volunteer gardeners at the centre.

The Centre which offers a wide range of activities for all the family throughout the week is also a national green flag award winner for it’s gardens.

I was very honoured to be asked to cut the ribbon on the new garden, the centre is a hub for local residents and community groups and the work done on the garden and in the community centre as helped bring many local residents together.

For more details on the activities of KCC at George Road and neighbouring Tame Road

Welcome to my new look site

admin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:57:56 +0000

Welcome to the new look stevenfrear.co.uk . We’ve been working for several months behind the scenes since the elections in May to bring a new look to the site. We’ve also been adding and tweaking the features to make the site even easier to navigate, read, comment and share with your friends.

Hopefully you will all like the changes!

Some of the features include:

Brand new modern and clean look, with easy to use horizontal navigation
Audioboo, which allows me to record audio news and updates and deliver them directly to you, either from my front page or clicking the iTunes button to have all my latest audio updates delivered straight to your computer as a podcast.
Removing the toolbar and integrating its features into the site, including a new sharing option at the bottom of each article, including a Facebook “Like” button, Twitter, LinkedIn, Printing and email.
Posts have (where applicable) a “related posts” feature, making it easier to find related stories and updates from my site

Take a look around, and let me know what you think by leaving a comment or clicking Get in touch at the top right of the page.

Steven.

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Gove 5th August visit to Sandwell School

admin — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 13:10:32 +0000

Education Secretary Michael Gove’s decision to visit Sandwell on August 5 – two weeks into the school holidays was met with outrage today.

The visit is to apologise for the borough losing £138 million of schools funding.

Sandwell Council leader Darren Cooper criticised the timing, saying “he doesn’t want to face the music and he doesn’t want to face the people of Sandwell”.

Sandwell Council has been told to pencil in August 5 as the date of the visit but it is still to be confirmed by the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Mr Gove originally promised to come to Sandwell before the schools broke up so he could talk to council bosses, students and staff about the BSF blunder, which saw most schools mistakenly told their rebuilding or refurbishing schemes were safe.

In reality, nine projects had been axed.

Councillor Cooper said: “He told me face-to-face he would be visiting Sandwell at a time convenient for us. He also said he would be reviewing his decision to axe so many of the Sandwell BSF projects.

“But now he is cowering away in his ivory tower in London. I think he is a very arrogant man — he can talk the talk but can’t walk the walk. But if he doesn’t come to us in the next two or three weeks, we will be going to him.”

CONDEM AXE falls on Bristnall rebuild

admin — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 15:35:44 +0000

Sandwell Labour Council’s cherished plan of rebuilding every secondary school in the borough bit the dust as the CON DEM Government axe fell hard on education in the borough.

Councillors were apoplectic with rage when they realised the Department of Education was back tracking on a promise made just 24 hours before.Sandwell Council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for strategic resources Councillor Steve Eling said: “The situation is bizarre and disgraceful and it is something we will have to challenge because the impact of not going ahead on our educational facilities will be dire.

“The reason for Building Schools for the Future, and the investment which it would bring, was to raise educational standards and it is outrageous this will have been stolen from under our noses.”

He added: “The official letter lodged in the House of Commons library says our Building Schools for the Future scheme was confirmed and now that appears to have been reneged upon.

“On the face of it members of the House of Commons have been misled, as indeed we have been.“ The Department of Education website claims that the Oldbury Sports College rebuild will go ahead but plans for Perryfields and Bristnall Hall have been shelved.

However, there is still confusion what the actual state of play is concerning individual schools.

Cllr Eling said: “The situation is the two schools where work is currently under way – Smethwick and Rowley Regis Learning campuses – will definitely be built.

“However, the three academy projects have been called in for discussion and work on schools in so-called Wave Five – the majority of schools in the borough – will definitely not happen. In addition, we are still waiting to find out whether work at three other schools due to go into the programme will also happen.”