Long Stay Car Parking in Bewdley

I have been approached by residents in Bewdley in their effort to help them change the rule concerning long stay parking in Bewdley Car Parks.
Residents currently pay £125 a year for a season ticket. They are now getting a parking ticket from Traffic Wardens and being fined for leaving their vehicles for the full day duration unless they move their vehicle for one hour out of every 24! Wyre Forest District Council has acted upon a small print rule which forces residents to move their vehicles after 23 hours. Allowing 24 hour parking has been the norm for many years. The reason being given for the change by the Tories is that 24 hour parking  “implies ownership”! In practice this now means that residents who have a season ticket and leave their vehicle in either of the town’s two main car parks can now be fined unless they move it for an hour in every 24!! This is a ridiculous rule, and anyone with an ounce of common sense knows how difficult it is to find a parking space if they live in the town centre. There just aren’t any alternatives!! One does not consider one has achieved “implied ownership” when one books a long stay car parking space at an airport!  The Tories on WFDC are NOT on Bewdley residents side about this issue!! I say, drop this unfair catch-all rule and let residents who have a season ticket continue to park for 24 hours without being fined. A petition initiated by Bewdley Labour Party and residents is now collecting signatures to rescind the bye-law.

Wyre Forest Labour Party Annual Dinner -Ian Austin MP Guest Speaker

We held our annual dinner on Friday 23rd October at  The Brasserie Restaurant in Kidderminster. Seventy members and friends of the Labour Party attended.The guest speaker was Ian Austin MP for Dudley North who is the Minister for the West Midlands. He set out Labour’s financial and economic programme to beat the recession. He told the audience that many businesses had been helped to ensure they come through the recession stronger and that workers kept their jobs to pay their bills and mortgages.
He acknowledged the work I was doing to ensure that Labour’s message to invest in businesses and public services during the recession opposed to the Tories do nothing policy. This included my campaign to get the proposed new high speed rail  link with Kidderminster and the new Birmingham hub.I also urged him to consider investing in Worcestershire for the new science technologies which were the key to the future by ensuring that government invests in apprenticeship schemes and higher education is expanded – Worcester University being a good example.

Helping Businesses and families through the recession

I attended an excellent political meeting yesterday in Worcester with two Ministers and a Euro MEP – very well attended. Mike Foster set the scene with an excellent presentation of how Labour is helping businesses and families in Worcestershire. Our new schools building programme is succeeding in Wyre Forestand will help improve standards with a £180 million spending programme.Many local companies are involved and they use local materials and local workers. MEP -  Michael Cashman explained how the Tories in Europe are reactionary and choose to sit with representatives from the far right, and they vote against progressive legislation.
Ian Austin -  Minister for the West Midlands spelt out what the Labour Government is doing to end the recession by supporting the banks, businesses, public services and working families. Job protection and new Business Start Ups are vital to success. Companies like Qinetiq are essential to our Worcestershire economy in developing high tech business. I have asked for specific information on businesses in Wyre Forest and will follow this up with him next week when he is our guest speaker at the LP dinner at the Brasserie.

Labour Jobs and Services or Tory Cuts

According to the media, the General Election Campaign has already started. The three main political parties have finished their Conferences and Parliament is about to resume. In Wyre Forest, I am going to take the fight to Labour’s opponents. My platform is our Governments defence of jobs and living standards. The Tories have made it clear that Cameron and co will stand for cuts to welfare and public services. Our Independent MP will have to decide whether to support Labour’s policies or not. Every vote in Parliament from now on will either be in favour of jobs and services, or to support the Tories.
We will make sure that the people of Wyre Forest have enough information about the local economy to take  judgement on Governments performance and that of our opponents. And we will let everyone know how our Independent MP votes.