Summer Edition
LABOUR ROSE News from your Park Ward Labour team
YOUR LABOUR CANDIDATE MOHAMMED SABIR
CANDIDATE MOHAMMED SABIR mohammedsabir@hotmail.co.uk
07971 274234
We want to congratulate Mohammed Sabir on being selected as the Labour candidate for Park Wark, for the upcoming elections on May 05, 2022. Mohammed has been a party activist since the 1980s and served as a Councillor in Central Ward before stepping down to attend to family matters. His late wife had a strong sense of community and encouraged Mohammed to work in and for the community, something he has continued to do since her untimely death. Mohammed is a family man, with three children and four grandchildren. One of his grandchildren has spina bifida
and Mohammed spends much of his time caring for him. This added insight has increased his passion for helping and supporting people with disabilities. Over the years Mohammed has been a supporter and or board member for several local charities, in addition to serving as a school governor at both Gladstone Primary School and Bretton Woods Community school. Mohammed has a long history of working in the community and he will look forward to developing that in Park Ward. We hope you will give him your support on May 05, 2022
COUNCILLOR SHAZ NAWAZ
shaz.nawaz@peterborough.gov.uk 07720 373126
COUNCILLOR AASIYAH JOSEPH
aasiyah.joseph@peterborough.gov.uk 07588 630178
COUNCILLOR IKRA YASIN
ikra.yasin@peterborough.gov.uk 07970 340788
FPeterboroughLabourParty
BURGLARIES ON PEVERIL ROAD A recent spate of targeted burglaries on Peveril Road was having a devastating impact on residents. Many felt that the police were not doing enough to capture the culprits. Cllr Shaz Nawaz took the lead on this and went straight to the top contacting Inspector Karl Secker, Superintendent Neil Billany and Chief Constable Nick Dean who responded to the call from Cllr Nawaz, even though he was on annual leave at the time. Cllr Nawaz demanded that more needed to be done: these criminals were not just stealing easy to replace items such as DVDs or laptops, but were specifically taking family gold, items that have great sentimental value and families were left feeling violated and too scared to stay home alone. These crimes were having a negative effect on resident’s mental health. He followed up with the officers concerned, to ensure that these crimes were given priority, in addition to keeping in contact with victims to try to allay their fears that nothing was being done. Tempers were running high at a public meeting, and Cllr Nawaz advised of the additional efforts and resources being allocated to the case following his conversations with Inspector Karl Secker,
DEFIBRILLATOR
Defibrillators are devices that restore a normal heartbeat by sending an electric pulse or shock to the heart. They are commonly used during cardiac arrests.
Your Labour Councillors have been fighting hard to get a unit installed in our ward and have used monies from their Community Leadership Fund to help fund this. We are pleased to confirm our application for funding has been processed and the money should soon be with Friends of Central Park to
Superintendent Neil Billany and Chief Constable Nick Dean and he advised that positive news was imminent. Within 36 hours arrests were made and two suspects were in custody. Your Labour Councillors have worked closely with local police not only to keep them informed of local crimes, but to build up good working relationship with them and Peterborough Enforcement Team to pull as many resources as we can for our ward But we need your help to build up an accurate picture of how big the issues are. Even though you may not get a response, if we all continue to report crimes it does give Police an accurate measure of issues and helps them to target their limited resources where they are really needed. enable them to facilitate the purchase of this potentially lifesaving piece of equipment. We have demonstrated community cohesion by working together on this and we are hopeful we can continue to work together for the betterment of our ward.
www.peterboroughlabour.org.uk
COUNCIL TAX RISE AND THE COST OF LIVING CRISIS There is no denying that two decades of this Conversative Administration’s failure to manage the City’s spending has left us on the brink of bankruptcy. Year on year their budget has been nothing more than a catalogue of cuts and broken promises. Their policy of selling assets and borrowing has led us to the situation whereby, having sold off almost every asset the City once owned, we have one of the lowest levels of reserves and highest levels of borrowing in the country. It is their inability to set a sustainable budget that has placed us under the scrutiny of the Improvement Panel, at a cost of around £300,000 per year. At Full Council on 2nd March, the Conservative administration proposed that council taxes be increased by the maximum allowable without intervention from the Government, a massive Indeed, Cllr Fitzgerald stated that the 2.99% which your Labour Councillors could not additional £33,000 a year he receives for being support. leader of the council is justified! Huge hikes in the cost of energy and fuel and an expected rise in inflation of around 7%, mean more and more families are being pushed into food and fuel poverty because of the current Cost of Living Crisis. Because we stand with you, we voted against the huge rise in council tax, against the increase in Councillors’ allowances and have said that if elected we would not take our Special Responsibility Allowances (SRAs) for a year. By contrast the Conservative administration voted for the maximum council tax rise permissible, to increase councillors’ basic allowances and to continue to take the £250,000 per annum they currently receive in SRAs.
It is notable that when it comes to the cuts, Cllr Fitzgerald is quick to point out, that these are the work of officers. However, when officers win funding for our city then it is the Conservatives and Peterborough’s Conservative M.P. “Pop-up Paul” Bristow who bask in the glory. Perhaps someone should advise our publicity hunger M.P. that the initials M.P. stand for Member of Parliament and not multiple photographs! We have been elected to represent you and a council tax increase is something we simply could not support; especially given the circumstances where so many of us are recovering from the aftermath the pandemic has left.
MOVING PETERBOROUGH FORWARD
FPeterboroughLabourParty
DISHONEST, WORKSHY This sadly sums up a number of Conservative Councillors. Cllr Joseph recently sent the following email to Highways in response to a request from a resident to assist with an issue outside their home.
When challenged by the council, Cllr Bashir admitted she hadn’t done the work see below. From: Executive and Members Services Sent: 04 March 2022 11:35 To: Cllr Aasiyah Joseph <Aasiyah.Joseph@ peterborough.gov.uk>
From: Cllr Aasiyah Joseph
Subject: Re: QUERY
Sent: 28 January 2022 22:09
After making the necessary enquiries…
To: Highway Maintenance
I have spoken with Cllr Bashir and she has confirmed that the article in the Newsletter was in-fact written by John Peach and not herself…
Subject: BROKEN PAVEMENT 82-84 PRINCES STREET Good Evening Residents have reported to us that the pavement between 82-84 Princes Street has become broken and uneven, due to tree root damage Please can this be attended to and advise when the next review of the state of the trees and it’s impact on property will be reviewed Two weeks later, Cllr Joseph was contacted by the resident, wanting to know why their issue was being reported in the Conservative newsletter, with the claim that Cllr Shazia Bashir had reported this to the council.
As you can see from the photo of the newsletter, the Conservatives just copied the contents of Cllr Joseph’s email and claimed it as Cllr Bashir’s work, too lazy to even bother to alter the wording.
Will Cllr Bashir publicly admit that she in fact did not do this work and denounce Mr Peach for the liar he is? Is this really the sort of person you want to elect as a Councillor in your ward, one who is happy to receive their allowance and take credit for the work of others, rather than engage with residents themselves? You must ask why a sitting Councillor, who should have a proven track record to campaign on, would give up their ward to move to another, is it perhaps because that track record is not a good one? Do you want a Councillor who, rather than contact the residents, they are paid to represent, they trawl the pages of the council website looking for other Councillors’ work to claim as their own?
www.peterboroughlabour.org.uk
AND DISINGENUOUS We wonder how many other times this has happened
tipping and the City’s finances are unable to pay for such a service.
Similarly, in the Gunthorpe newsletter Mr Peach had claimed that the free bulky waste collections would continue, another lie. Mr Peach, who haunts the corridors of the Town Hall and Sand Martin House like Banquo’s ghost cannot have been unaware that the provision of the free bulky waste collection was a very short-term promise.
Until that is, just before the last election when it suddenly became one of their election promises. Suddenly, it was viable and affordable.
The reintroduction of free bulky waste collections has consistently been blocked by the Conservative administration, when asked for by opposition parties, they have said previously that it does nothing to combat fly
No mention of the fact that it was temporary or that there was only £60,000 available for it. Something Mr Peach chose to ignore when implying that this was an ongoing service. Disingenuous, to the last. Ironically this man, who had no issue with lying in his newsletter, is your current Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner!
Register by 11:59pm on 14 April to vote in the following elections on 5 May: for local government, combined authority mayoral, mayoral and parish council elections in England
You can register on line using the link below Register to vote - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) You must return your postal vote application form by 5pm, 11 working days before the poll. If you are not already registered to vote, you must register before applying for a postal vote. The deadline to register to vote is midnight, 12 working days before the poll.
MOVING PETERBOROUGH FORWARD
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SUPPORTING LOCAL EVENTS AND CHARITIES
Your Labour Councillors have supported numerous charities and local events over the years. We have continued to use our community leadership funds to support local organisations such as St Georges Hydrotherapy Pool, Parca, Friends of Central Park, Little Miracles and local boxing and cricket clubs who seek to engage with the youth in our area through sport. We have also supported local fund-raising events such as those run by All Saints Church and Streets Ahead: coffee mornings and cake sales for McMillian and cancer charities, family days in Central Park. We feel that we as Councillors, we should not only represent you at Council, but we should be visible and approachable all year round.
We should be part of the community we are elected to represent. During the height of the pandemic, we personally purchased a substantial amount of PPE supplies which were donated to local residential homes and provided meals for NHS staff at the hospital. We were instrumental in organising funds and the purchase of almost a tonne of supplies for the Food Bank which were distributed to families across the City. We were also heavily involved in the Christmas Book initiative, during which books were given to schools and children to ensure children had a gift at Christmas.
SPEEDWATCH AND TRAFFIC CALMING Outside of Covid 19 restrictions your Labour Councillors have been consistent in their support of Speedwatch sessions, holding them on busy roads in our area, and reporting issues back to the Police. We have held public meetings for residents to question the Police, Highways and Peterborough Enforcement Team on traffic issues in the area. We have repeatedly questioned the use of average speeds as a measure of the size of the issue in the area.
We followed up consistently with Highways for the traffic calming measures in Park Crescent and have continued to push for a date for the measures promised for Broadway. We have held site visits to ensure resurfacing of some of the worse roads in the area and asked for feasibility studies to be carried out to look at one-way systems on some roads to help relieve congestion. We continue to fight for improvements to our ward to make it a better and safer place for all residents.
www.peterboroughlabour.org.uk
NEW ARK FUNDING New Ark is an excellent local initiative that has been operating for four decades. It is both a unique and special place. It is unfortunate that the organisation is facing huge financial problems partly due to the Conservatives withdrawing best part of £30,000 funding. It is heart-breaking to see places like New Ark struggle because such organisations make a huge difference to local families.
Cllr Shaz Nawaz wanted to help with the fundraising. He donated £2,000 and encouraged a few other local businesses to donate much-needed funds. New Ark needs the community’s support. If you are able to help, then please contact New Ark or visit www.gofundme.com/f/save-new-ark.
HOUSING
EDUCATION
FLY TIPPING
Your Labour Councillors are working with officers to reduce the number of empty houses, derelict homes, and rough sleepers in our Ward and to support selective licensing, so it works for landlords and tenants.
Your Labour Councillors want the best for our schools, we want to see our children attain top results and realise their aspirations.
Your Labour Councillors will continue to work with the public to reduce fly tipping and make Park Ward a cleaner and even better place for everyone.
We want a better future for our children.
MOVING PETERBOROUGH FORWARD
FPeterboroughLabourParty
Goodbye From Aasiyah Joseph I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has supported me in the four years that I have served as a Labour Councillor in Park Ward. Unfortunately, and with great sadness I took the decision not to stand again at this time. Park Ward is a wonderful place to live, but like anywhere it has its issues, which my fellow Labour Councillors and I have continued to fight for improvements, to support local groups through personal donations and our Community Leadership Funds. And we have supported and attended local support groups such as Friends of Central Park, Broadway Residents Association and Streets Ahead. Some of the main issues reported in the ward are: Proliferation of outlets selling alcohol During my time as your councillor, I have been successful in preventing further alcohol licences being issued for local shops. I voted for the Cumulative Impact Policy to remain in place in Park Ward and worked with the Police and Peterborough Enforcement Team to enlist their help to limit further licenses being issued. Labour Councillors will continue to fight against further off-sales license in Park Ward Fly tipping
for some targeted operations. Examples of this are, increased patrols in Central Park during Covid to prevent illegal gatherings, the response to the recent spate of burglaries in Peveril Road which resulted in the arrest of two suspects, months of emails, calls and visits to get a crack den closed down on Dogsthorpe Road Full Council Your Labour Councillors continue to challenge the Administration at every Full Council. I have spoken at Full Council against all forms of prejudice and my motion on improving the opportunities for women in the council has resulted in a Parental Leave Policy for Councillors, and a working group which is looking into reforms to encourage women to come forward and take up their rightful place in the council
I have reported hundreds of incidents of fly tipping every year, in addition to sitting on the working group, which put further ideas to Peterborough City Council on ways to prevent it. My colleagues and I funded free skips to allow residents to dispose of their bulky waste.
I have challenged the fiscal ineptitude of the Conservative administration, which has led us to the brink of bankruptcy.
Anti-Social behaviour/ drug dealing
Whilst I am sad to be stepping down, I will continue to support my Labour Councillors and I hope you will all continue to support them too.
We have continued to build relationship with the Police and Enforcement and have been successful at getting additional resources
And myself and my fellow Labour Councillors have continued to demand that the Missing Millfield Millions be spent in our community.
Promoted by I. Yasin on behalf of M. Sabir, both at 79 Sallows Road, Peterborough PE1 4EX. Printed by NM Print & Communication, Unit 4 Wareley Road, Peterborough, PE2 9PF