Throughout each month I am posting links to media coverage where I have had active involvement in the story or have provided comment and a Labour Party perspective. As an elected County and District councillor I am often asked to provide local input on national stories and the socialist perspective on local issues.
This page will be updated throughout the month.
The suspension of TDC’s s151 officer.
On 2nd September, industry website Room151 covered the storm at Thanet District Council regarding the suspension of officer, Tim Willis. As someone who found themselves embroiled in the row because I commented on procedure, the publication approached me for my opinion.
Read the story on Room151…
Homeless Ramsgate family of 8 lives in a tent.
I’ve covered my efforts to help this family elsewhere on this website. So unbelievable is the story in this day and age that it has now been reported by the BBC and The Daily Mirror.
On 12th September BBC Radio Kent’s John Warnett spoke to the mother in the family, Joanne Foster and to myself about the struggle to find a proper home for the family.
The Daily Mirror visited the family and published their story on 12th September. Read the full Daily Mirror story here…
Revive the High Street, yes. But help us prosper to spend in it.
Until Ramsgate and Thanet as a whole have a long term, sustainable, plan for economic regeneration, many residents and local businesses will continue to struggle.
If we want to see vibrant, thriving, high streets we need to encourage people to spend locally, create welcoming town centres, but most importantly we need to end austerity so that people have more disposable income.
Thanet has a higher than average unemployment rate, has lower wages and has more people on benefits such as Universal Credit, than elsewhere in Kent. The South East has many prosperous area but Thanet isn’t one of them.
We need a Government that will act to end the deprivation that many coastal communities suffer.
Read the story about the heritage high streets fund in The Isle of Thanet News…
Further coverage of TDC officer fiasco.
Industry publication, Room151 asked for further comment as the storm at Thanet District Council continued. The disclosure that nearly £450k had been spent on 31 non disclosure agreements to science employees, while council-run services suffered had shocked and angered many.
Read the full story on Room151…
Parents want more local help for their children’s mental health.
Margaret Cox wrote up a report in The Isle of Thanet News following our successful public meeting with NHS managers and practitioners. There were many concerns raised and some harrowing tales told.
Read the full report in The Isle of Thanet News…
I have also written about the meeting, the second I have recently arranged in response to growing evidence of a suffering population, increasingly at threat from decreasing mental health service provision locally.
Read more here…