Councillor Update - 28th July 2020 Full Council

Report from Councillor Terry Jermy (District & County)

 

Tuesday 28^th July 2020 – Thetford Town Council

 

 

Norfolk County Council

 

·      I have participated in a virtual meeting of the Corporate Select Committee on 13^th July and the Corporate Asset Management Strategy Working Group on the 30^th June 2020 and 15^th July 2020. I also attended the Full Council meeting on 20^th July 2020 and spoke in the debate about Food Poverty. This provided me with an opportunity to highlight the work of the food Out Friday initiative that I have been involved in. Just before the end of the school term I was pleased to visit Diamond Academy and pass on £500 worth of vouchers for the school to distribute to families. Diamond Academy prioritised the support for families that often fall under the radar, which included families that had previously been in receipt of free school meals, but became ineligible by working themselves out of the benefits system, but resting just above meant they were often more disadvantaged. The recognition and support was very well received.

 

·      On the 1^st July 2020 I completed the Council’s training in relation to Corporate Parenting.

 

·      I submitted written questions to the Norfolk County Council Cabinet meeting on 6^th July 2020 in relation to the former Cosy Carpets building and the ongoing legal dispute about this.

 

Breckland Council

 

·      As a Breckland Council representative I participated in the virtual meeting of the Greater Thetford Partnership Board on 8^th July 2020 and met on a 1-2-1 basis with the new Greater Thetford Partnership Manager. I spoke about the need to not ‘re-invent the wheel’ and use existing data, consultant reports and studies to ensure the Board delivers a number of quick wins. I’ve encouraged the Board and the new Partnership Manager to focus on walking and cycling improvements locally given the comprehensive walking and cycling report and positive messages (and funding!) from Government on this aspect.

 

·      I attended the Breckland Council Cabinet meeting on 13^th July 2020 and spoke in relation to the Council’s finances and the near ¾ million pound overspend in the last financial year, primarily in relation to housing and homelessness. I asked what the longer-term plan was to ensure we did not have to rely on hotels and B&Bs to house homeless residents.

 

·      I attended the Breckland Council Scrutiny meeting on 16^th July 2020 and spoke in relation to covid19 and the Council’s response to this and general support for businesses – I have asked that the Council do more to support local businesses and have requested a future agenda item to look at a local procurement policy.

 

·      I attended Breckland Full Council meeting on the 22^nd July 2020 and tabled a written question in relation to the Breckland Local Plan. No members of the opposition sit on this committee and only committee members are permitted to speak which is causing some consternation. I asked the Leader to write to the Secretary of State to ask why Thetford was turned down for Government funding (Towns Fund) despite it scoring higher in the assessment stage that other areas that were allocated funding.

 

·      I completed a Ward Walkabout with Councillor Chris Harvey on 9^th July, 13^th July and 17^th July. We currently have 35 pieces of casework submitted, primarily related to street scene related issues; fly-tips, broken street furniture, obsolete signage and general maintenance issues.

 

General Point: All County and District meetings are being held virtually and broadcast live, with recordings available to watch at your leisure. I would encourage people to watch the meetings if you are able as they are currently far more accessible than normal.

Thetford misses out on Government funding

Question to the Leader; Last year Breckland Council submitted two funding applications to the Government’s Towns Fund to provide much needed support for both Thetford and Dereham Town Centres. Sadly, both those applications were unsuccessful. Yesterday, the National Audit Office published a report into the Governments decision making process, criticising how bids were selected, the report revealed the scores for all bids that were submitted, the Thetford application scored more highly than both the Norwich and Ipswich bids which were awarded funding and the Dereham bid scored more highly that Norwich.

 It has been noted that 2/3rds of the successful applications were in Tory marginal parliamentary seats ahead of last year’s general election.

Will the Leader commit to writing to the Secretary of state to see why our Breckland towns were overlooked for this funding, despite their high scores in the assessment process?

https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/politics/cromer-thetford-and-dereham-lose-out-on-25m-government-funding-boost-1-6757522

Breckland Full Council - 22nd July 2020

Here's the link to watch the whole of Breckland Council's Full Council meeting yesterday. New (probably temporary) arrangements mean that Council meetings are being conducted online so whereas you would normally have to drive to Dereham on a weekday morning, now you can watch the meeting from the comfort of your own home, and you can even watch it after the event and pause it as it is saved on Youtube. Yesterday's meeting is well worth a watch. The meeting was dominated by discussions about the Local Plan Working Group which discusses and coordinates policies relating to house building across the District for the next two decades. The 'Group' is made up of Councillors purely from the Conservative group. They refuse to allow any opposition members to participate and they are not even allowed to speak at their meetings. What have they got to fear? a more open and transparent process developing the local plan is surely better for our District and surely having maximum and buy in and support from all members of the Council, utilising all skills and talents, would be advantageous? Guess not! Labour Councillors raised questions on support for businesses and people that are furloughed, plus, the Thetford bus services, and asked the Leader to enquire why Thetford has missed out on millions of pounds worth of funding despite a report revealing that Thetford scored more highly than both Norwich and Ipswich who did receive funding! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-55bIpwRTY8&fbclid=IwAR3vXciHoxtbuq97u_SNJhJ9C8Y8D32EO9Se81LHjXlu3drUkMxWIKPwCO4

Recent Casework Successes - July 2020

Food Poverty Speech At Norfolk County Council - 20th July 2020

My speech to Norfolk County Council today on Food Poverty - I've posted the text of the full motion at the bottom;

Thank-you Chairman. I am pleased to speak in support of this motion. The issue of food poverty is very real, it existed before covid19, it was exacerbated during covid19 and it will no doubt continue to be an issue moving forward.

Over the past few weeks I have supported a survey of Thetford schools which revealed that 100% of those that responded were concerned about ‘holiday hunger’ and children not being able to access sufficient food during the Summer break.

I also know through talking with teachers that there are significant issues in Norfolk with children being able to access regular and nutritious meals and that malnutrition is a major concern which inevitably impacts upon the education of children in our county.

It’s a sad indictment of our country today that schools are concerned about children being hungry during school holidays and that we’re continuing to see people’s basic needs not being met. I am obviously pleased that the Government u-turned on the decision to not provide additional support during the summer holidays. However, this only affects those families in receipt of free school meals. There are many more families just above this threshold who are struggling financially due to Covid19 and the financial uncertainty. I would hope that we would all agree that No child in Norfolk should be left hungry.

A report by the Children’s Society estimated there to be over 20,000 children in Norfolk living in poverty but less than half of them were in receipt of free school meals. There are likely to be more than 10,000 children missing out and no doubt their health and wellbeing impacted as a result.

This week I have been to my old junior school in Thetford and provided them with £500 worth of gift vouchers as part of the County Labour Group’s Food Out Friday initiative - vouchers which the school distributed to families that do not receive free school meals but where they are aware of issues and challenges and where additional support is needed. It’s important I feel, to trust the teachers and the schools who know those children and their families best and trust the families to make responsible decisions. In addition to the practicable and immediate support I was able to collate together an information sheet detailing various other forms of support across Thetford and Norfolk so that families could be signposted to more sustainable and longer-term forms of help. A significant number of these support services are provided by charitable organisations and rely on the goodwill of others which is why as this motion requests, that we publicly thank volunteers in our county who make such a vital contribution and provide practical support to voluntary and community groups.

This sort of support should not be necessary but if it is necessary, it should not be limited to one area in isolated examples. We should not have to rely on the goodwill of volunteers at foodbanks and schools being creative with their budgets. I believe we need greater support from this Council and the Government to address food poverty and make absolutely certain that there is no hungry child in Norfolk.

Food Poverty

Norfolk has experienced the profound multiple impacts of Covid-19 since the onset of the pandemic. Evidence shows that this impact has not been shared evenly, with those in the county’s most deprived communities suffering hardest. One very visible

example of this has been the rocketing use of foodbanks which have multiplied and provided critical support to those facing the difficulties of food crisis. As the city now begins to emerge from the pandemic special focus to provide support for those most at risk from hunger should be considered.

Council resolves to:

Ask the leader of the council to;

a) publicly thank the volunteers, groups, organisations and partners who have worked so tirelessly to provide emergency food, support of other provisions across the county, acknowledging the vital difference this has made.

b) write to the Secretary of State at the Department for Work and

Pensions and the county's Members of Parliament to request, with

specific reference to alleviating child poverty, that child benefit is

immediately raised by £15.00 per week, per child as an alternative to parents using the current inefficient, ineffective and often inaccessible voucher service.

(1) acknowledge the impact of a decade of deliberate structural austerity in driving people into hunger through the weakening of social security and other systemic measures which have fuelled poverty across Norfolk,

(2) use the powers available to ensure that the recovery of the county economy must address the root drivers of poverty with special reference to creating new, inclusive and sustainable growth, tackling endemic low pay and working with the newly formed Good Economy Commission; and

(3) Consider and implement the agreed Recovery Plan, working with partners, to enhance and develop strong and sustainable food networks to better provide support to those most at risk of hunger.

(4) Request that the Local Resilience Forum takes responsibility for continued of monitoring of and support for food banks in Norfolk and that continued food supply through any second spike of Covid-19 and the exit from the European Union forms a key part of the Emergency Plan

(5) Ensure all schools and colleges are informed of foodbank provision across the county before the end of this term 95

(6) Ensure that volunteers from the newly emerged foodbanks can access safeguarding training

365 Challenge Video

Norfolk County Council Speech - Monday 20th January 2020, Train System in Norfolk Motion

My speech at Norfolk County Council today re Norfolk’s railway system, thanks to everyone that commented on the thread last week

Thank-you Chair.

I am passionate about public transport in Norfolk and I am frustrated that the services that we all need and want to see being delivered are still so far away.

In many ways, we’re fortunate in Thetford that we have a train station, increasingly people want to travel by train whether its commuting to Norwich or Cambridge or elsewhere for work, or, off to the coast for the day or other leisure related trips. Recently however, Thetford ranked first in Norfolk on the rail -performance tracking site ‘On Time Trains’ for delayed services, with just 15% of services on time – ranking within the bottom 100 out of 2,621 stations across the UK.

In anticipation of speaking today I asked residents in Thetford about the train service and how it was impacting them. There were more than 50 replies on social media.

As Thetford resident Glenn pointed out, it’s bad enough that there are delays, but in Thetford’s case, after 1.30pm weekdays there’s no waiting room and no toilet available, and nothing at all on Sundays. Recently I travelled to Leeds by train, my train was an hour late, I spent the whole hour on the platform wishing I’d had just driven as the cost would have worked out roughly the same given the price of the train ticket.

Another Thetford resident, Hilary, said She would like to use the trains more for environmental reasons, but they are just too expensive. And Ellie said; “I used the trains last year when I started working at Norwich Hospital. I got the earliest train as the later one was always delayed, then had to get 2 buses when I got to the city – the whole journey took 2 hours.

Whilst issues with trains in my part of the County is proving frustrating, I do sympathise with residents in North Norfolk who have been experiencing almost daily problems with the Norwich to Sheringham route with bus replacements services now more frequent than trains itself it seems.

No part of the rail system in Norfolk is immune from the problems. West Norfolk has had investment delayed and yet, like everywhere else passengers face fare rises and disruption.

Tha main focus has been to the east of the county and given the huge investment in new rolling stock that’s hardly surprising. But much of that rolling stock is idle because of problems, put simply, because of compatibility issues. Ever tried to load a new app on an old computer? It just can’t handle it and likewise we have known for years the infrastructure along the Great Eastern line was inadequate.

The report by Atkins (a top UK and international consulting authority on transport) produced ten years ago for EEDA and councils down the line including Norfolk, Norwich and Shaping Norfolk’s Future that preceded the LEP made it clear that investment on rolling stock and the infrastructure the trains used was essential if we were to gain the £3.7 billion in benefits to businesses and commuters in the East of England. Yes, £3.7bn over the 60 year projections used, and that used 2002 prices. We’re talking big numbers and long term benefit.

Of course in the past ten years climate change has climbed the agenda and the substantial reduction in car journeys a much improved rail service would lead to has gained in significance too.

Currently rail investment is agreed in five year periods called control periods.

Sadly, although there is a considerable amount being invested in some aspects of the service in the current control period that runs until 2024 much pf it is at the London end to facilitate Crossrail. Critical infrastructure improvements like the swing bridge at Trowse is not mentioned and along with other projects there is no time to mention has no priority and no timescale. Even if it made it into 2024-29 it could mean up to a decade before we see the speed, reliability, frequency, environmental and economic benefit that could result. Without it the few Norwich in 90 services will continue to be cancelled, new rolling stock won’t meet their potential, there can be no increases in services and bottleneck delayes will continue.

Last week, after the motion was tabled, the consultation on the Norfolk Rail Prospectus was launched.

In the light of that it is premature to press this motion today. Instead let me put on the agenda front and centre the need for Norfolk to have a reliable, frequent, fast, affordable rail service serving as many parts of the county as we can. So far there has been little attention drawn to this consultation so I hope this motion will encourage members to think carefully about what rail can mean to the county and encourage the public to respond to the consultation.

Having drawn councils attention to the issue I withdraw the motion but hope we can return to something similar after the consultation to get Norfolk behind coming together to fight for the rail system we need.'

Sharing my own experience of Personal Independence Payments

Long day at Norfolk County Hall yesterday for two long meetings in a ridiculously hot room. However, I was pleased to be able to contribute to the debate about Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and the experience I've had with them with my own family. As usual, here's the text from my speech;

PIP Debate – 22nd July 2019

Mr Chairman, I was pleased to see that this motion was to be put before us. The world of Personal Independence Payments is something very real for me and I wanted to share something with you.

My Dad left school at 15, he worked hard every day thereafter and became an engineer working for a firm based in Thetford. By the time he reached 55, my Dad had been with the same firm for 26 years. Working around 60 hours a week was the norm for my Dad and even when the factory was closed during the summer, he would often be the one going in to service the machines and clean the factory.

Dad’s life and the usual routine for our family was turned upside down when on the morning of the 13th August, some 12 days after I’d been elected a County Councillor, my Dad had a massive stroke aged just 55. He spent 3 weeks in hospital. As soon as we were able, we converted the downstairs living room at the family home so that my mum would be able to care for him at home. The restrictions on visiting hours and lack of attention Dad was afforded at the hospital was not helping Dad’s situation so we brought him home as soon as we could.

Despite Dad’s dedication to the firm where he worked, he was put onto statutory sick pay as soon as possible and the family income soon dropped significantly. In fact, his employer paid him the basic salary for just 3 weeks before changing over to SSP. Mum soon became Dad’s full time carer so her income quickly disappeared.

At no stage during his stay in hospital, or the aftercare, for what it was worth, did anyone inform our family about Personal Independence Payments or PIP. We soon realised that our parents would quickly run into financial difficult with no regular income so we lodged a claim on the 24th September that year – then on the 15th October we received a 36 page questionnaire for completion which we promptly completed and returned. At the end of November, we telephoned the PIP assessment team who said that our claim was being processed. During December, we telephoned again – it was still being processed. On the 5th January 2014, we wrote to the assessment team and it wasn’t until some weeks towards the end of January did we get invited for an initial assessment. Our mother was not eligible for carer’s allowance until Dad’s PIP assessment had been processed. During this time, my parents struggled to find the money to pay their bills, used up what little savings they had, and then relied on family members for support to see them through. It brought home to me how close we all might be to this predicament. The homeless charity Shelter predicts that nearly 40% of all families are just one month’s missed wages from being unable to cover their housing costs.

For the first few years of Dad’s PIP claims he was subjected to regular re-assessments. Dad’s assessment centre was in Norwich and we took it in turns to take him – on a number of occasions we arrived to be told that he couldn’t be assessed that day as there were no ground floor rooms available and because dad was wheelchair bound, we had to be sent away. A wasted journey.

On my first occasion when we managed to get inside, I found a building and a room, that could best be described as void of humanity. No pictures on the walls, no plants in the corner – a shell of a room with a table and a chair. Dad was subjected to personal questioning that made him uncomfortable, from someone that was not medically trained. My Dad was and remains a proud man. If it were not for family members prompting him to be honest, his assessment would not have given a true reflection of his abilities.

After time Dad got some of his independence back and eventually he was allocated a motability car which was adapted for his needs – it was short lived however – a reassessment amended Dad’s points allocation and he was 1 point short of being eligible and the car was taken away.

I wanted to share our experience as a family because we know it is not unique, in fact, I think its fairly normal. The way in which we treat disabled people in this country is a disgrace. We do not sufficiently support them, we do not afford them the respect and dignity that they deserve.

The really sad bit about all of this is that I think my Dad is the lucky one – he’s still got my Mum to support him and he’s got family members that have supported him and taken care of nearly all of his benefits related paperwork. What about all those that don’t have such support systems?

Whilst we might disagree about how much support should be offered and the financial values, I think most of us would agree that the process should be fair and it should be prompt. My experience is that’s its neither.

I support this motion, I wish it went further so that people like my dad, don’t feel so completely abandoned by society as it so often currently the case.

Issues Reported to Norfolk County Council - 22.05.19

Norfolk County Council

·      Hedgerow opposite 28 Almond Grove overgrown and blocking pathway – can it be cut-back? Elderly resident has tried best to trim the bush recently but it would be useful if Highways Rangers could investigate

·      Trees / bushes at rear of 57 Ash Close completely overgrown – residents have complained and asked if it can be cut back

·      Lamppost along Fir Road, opposite 153, wonky and needs straightening

·      Post along Elm Road, near to entrance to Pine close missing the sign – can post be removed or sign replaced?

·      Kerb at side of 52 Ulfkell Road remains damaged and in need of repair

·      Tree on corner of Castle Lane / Castle Street now overgrown and obscuring view – particularly as you approach Castle Street from Castle Lane and wish to turn right going towards Diss – visibility impacted looking left

·      Pot hole along Bury Road opposite new housing development near to new speed camera – pot hole likely to be caused by construction traffic accessing development area

·      Drains along Elm Road / Fir Road seem very clogged up and in need of clearing – can this be arranged?