Coventry Sure Start Campaign On Road To Victory

The battle against Sure Start cuts scored a victory this week as Coventry council, controlled by Labour, said they would look into ways of sparing some of the services that are under threat. A consultation is currently being undertaken and we encourage everyone to make their views known. You can read more details on the Coventry City Council website, meanwhile have a read of the report by Les Reid in the Coventry Telegraph about the story so far........ Well done to Sam Lyle and the team for all their hard work!

CAMPAIGNERS against planned children’s centre cuts in Coventry have vowed to fight on, despite a partial climbdown by city council leaders.

Opposition councillors have joined parents in questioning a partial U-turn by Labour leaders over £1million cuts plans at Sure Start children’s centre nurseries.

As revealed in yesterday’s Telegraph, Labour cabinet member Lynnette Kelly is now seeking to rescue some services from the axe following widespread protests, including a 2,500-name petition.

Instead of ending all full-time nursery care for under-fives at the council’s 10 Sure Start centres, she said some could win a reprieve – in communities with a shortage of private nursery places.

Alternative part-time sessions could also be extended to help working parents when a public consultation ends next month.

The news was welcomed by leading campaigner Sam Lyle, who uses the Tile Hill centre nursery. But she pledged the campaign would continue to call for extending nursery services, not cutting back to only part-time care targeted at “vulnerable” families.

Socialist councillor Dave Nellist said Coun Kelly’s move highlighted the value of families fighting back against cuts.

But he is urging Coventry City Council’s Labour leaders to stand up more to the government’s 27 per cent funding cuts to councils, rather than simply passing on cuts to communities.

He share the view of campaigners that Sure Start nurseries for people from all backgrounds - with better paid and qualified staff - raise standards in the increasingly privatised care sector.

Coun Nellist said council officers should have assessed private nursery provision in all communities before the consultation started, as part of an equalities impact assessment.

Conservative councillor Kevin Foster, opposition leader, said: “It’s credit to a very well fought campaign by Sam Lyle and other parents.

“Labour’s original cuts plan for the nurseries were deeper than government funding cuts. We will wait to see what the precise proposals are.”

Tory councillors have been accused of hypocrisy for not actively opposing the coalition government’s 20 per cent (£5million) grant cut for early years learning, with Lib Dem councillor Russell Field also backing campaigners.

Council leaders say coalition cuts mean they can no longer subsidise full-time nurseries, and are being forced to follow Tory policy of targeting funds at those most in need.

Nurseries are a small part of Sure Start services. More cuts plans later this month could include closing some centres.

*Source: Coventry Telegraph / Les Reid

Corley Centre Kids Protest About Planned Funding Cuts

Another Coventry Telegraph story about the effects of the austerity spending cuts hits home this week that the vulnerable become the victims of public sector cuts. Coventry Against The Cuts opposes ALL cuts and continues to fight them - school by school, library by library. Children and parents at Corley special school should not be punished because of the governments ideological programme. Read the Coventry Telegraph article below and join us in the fight back.....

  PARENTS and children protesting over planned cuts at a special school have handed in a 1,400-name petition to the council.

Joined by opposition councillors, they say proposals to axe residential care at the Corley Centre for special needs will harm children’s development.

Coventry City Council’s Labour leaders, faced with massive 27 per cent government funding cuts, say overnight stays are not a necessary part of the pupils’ education, as they have not been written into their “statements” of need.

But angry parents have accused the council of deliberately omitting from statements the residential care children receive – to avoid its legal obligations as a precursor for cuts.

Sarah Gill, whose autistic 14-year-old son Louis attends the school in Church Lane, Corley, said: “I chose the school because it’s known for autism and because it has residential care facilities.

“Louis had never stayed away from home, and I thought it would good for him to learn independence skills away from the family. He has come on tremendously.

“He doesn’t have friends outside school, and children with special needs need extra support to learn social skills and communication in a stable and safe environment.”

Nathan Rice, aged 16, now at college after years of using Corley’s boarding facilities, said: “It was life-changing and fundamental to my education. The activities bring people together.”

Corley Protest outside Coventry Council House (pic by Dave Nellist)

Socialist councillor Dave Nellist said: “I know the government is cutting funding to councils but the Labour council in Coventry is getting a reputation for passing on those cuts with no resistance.

“They keep saying the coalition is cutting too deep and fast. Here’s another example of how they could use a £6million budget underspend to hold the line and help families.” Tory councillor Susanna Dixon said: “Many of the children are in the autistic spectrum and need continuity. The change is upsetting.”

Parents say the school’s after-school club would also lose its funding from the £384,000 cuts proposal currently out to public consultation.

The school has 72 children, and 27 places for its boarding house. It is deemed by watchdog Ofsted to be “good”. Pupils get one overnight stay a week in groups of eight.

Labour councillor Lynnette Kelly, education cabinet member, says the £384,000 would not be cut from the limited special needs education budget, but would go towards staffing at planned new special schools.

Corley Centre pupils would still get independence and social skills training in other ways, she says, while pupils’ statements were drawn up by educational psychologists.

*Source: Coventry Telegraph / top pic: CT / Story by Les Reid

Housing Cuts Cost Coventry Taxpayers

The government cuts to housing benefits are now beginning to have an effect in Coventry - this week the Coventry Telegraph highlighted that £800,000 has already been spent putting families into hotels because of the lack of social housing. Here is the full story by Les Reid:


MORE than £800,000 a year is being spent on putting up homeless people in hotels in Coventry – because of a lack of cheaper accommodation.

The most expensive accommodation used at taxpayers’ expense is the £180 per night Britannia Hotel in Fairfax Street, city centre.

It was provided because Coventry City Council could not find cheaper alternative beds for one family with four young children.

Almost £1,700 was spent to temporarily house the family over 10 days, when privately rented accommodation could not be secured.

The council says the family would have otherwise been forced to sleep on the streets – because suitable bed and breakfasts and other accommodation across the city was fully booked.

More than £200,000 was spent on 181 homeless cases – single people or families – between July and September alone, a similar figure to the same three months last year. Accommodation was mainly bed and breakfast in hotels.

Nearly 90 per cent of the cash was paid for by Housing Benefit.

The council uses six standard B&Bs. If they are full they use hotels including ABC, Ibis and Formula One.

We reported in July the number of families and single people reporting as homeless soared in the economic downturn last year by 25 per cent, to an estimated 2,000


It comes amid a shortage of affordable housing, government cuts to councils’ funding, and post-recession stagnation which continues to threaten people’s homes and livelihoods. Housing Benefit is also being cut to some claimants.

We have also revealed people on Coventry’s housing waiting list has soared by a third in a year to 22,000.

Labour councillor Tony Skipper, housing cabinet member, accepted homelessness is a rising problem in Coventry and nationwide – including among large families.

He said two new emergency accommodation schemes were being developed – a Salvation Army hostel project, and a £6million Whitefriars Housing Association scheme for 60 rooms by December 2013, to replace the Chace Hostel in Willenhall.

But he said government funding cuts for social housing, benefits and councils were contributing to “a return to Victorian times”.

Changes to the council’s homelessness services would target limited finances on helping to prevent people become homeless, he said. Work includes agencies offering debt advice. Socialist councillor Dave Nellist called on the Labour-run council to press for more public ownership of housing – including better use of 3,800 empty homes in Coventry.

It could help reduce spending on emergency accommodation in expensive hotels, he said.

He also criticised the city’s lack of homeless accommodation for single women and their families, as the only direct access hostel places are men only.

Coun Skipper said he hoped two more temporary officers could help deal with a backlog of homeless cases waiting for accommodation – which currently stands at 74.

*Source: Coventry Telegraph

Coventry Youth Protest Over Jobs And Education

As the Jarrow March arrived in Coventry, Cara Simpson for the Coventry Telegraph reported this story .....

YOUNG protesters staged a vocal demo through Coventry city centre as part of the national Jarrow March anniversary campaign.

It saw more than 100 young people walk from the cathedral steps through Smithford Way and Shelton Square on Saturday in a desperate call for more jobs for young people.

About 20 had arrived in Coventry on Friday after walking from the south Tyneside town to Coventry over three weeks for 12 hours per day.

They are marching all the way to London to relive the Depression-era Jarrow march for the 75th anniversary of the original protest, and expect to reach the capital in two weeks’ time.

They walked to Coventry’s Central Methodist Hall on Saturday chanting “We won’t be a lost generation. Fight for jobs and education”, while waving placards with the messages “For real jobs”, “Stop the cuts” and “Bring back the EMA” – the axed Education Maintenance Allowance which helped deprived students fund their way through college.

The protest saw local young people join forces with anti-cuts campaigners and councillors.

Lenny Shail, a local 21-year-old Communication Workers Union youth officer, was among them. He said the demonstration was a way for young people to voice their fears and stand up for the needs of working class people.

“The fact is there are one million unemployed people across England,” he said as the protesters met outside the cathedral.

“There are 20,000 unemployed across Coventry and Warwickshire, 10,000 in Coventry and of those 3,000 young people.


“Coventry was once a champion for working class people, now many are on the dole or working for the minimum wage or less.

“We say there should be more jobs and more homes for decent working class people. The working class are being made to pay for a crisis caused by the bankers.

“We want to see a future for today’s young people.”

Sean Figg, a Jarrow March organiser for the Socialist Party, said: “The march is about harnessing the anger of young people who feel ignored and forgotten.

"Young people want to feel heard and represented.”

Fellow Jarrow Marcher, Bobbie Crannie, aged 26, of Newcastle, said: “It’s been a lot of hard work walking for 12 hours a day and sleeping on people’s floors but I can honestly say it’s been the best thing I’ve ever done.

"I feel like I’m making a difference and even though it might not change the world, hopefully it will inspire other young people. I’m unemployed and worried about my future.”

*Source: Coventry Telegraph

Coventry NHS Public Meeting

PUBLIC MEETING

THURSDAY November 3rd

7.30pm

Methodist Central Hall, COVENTRY

SPEAKERS:

DR. RON SINGER, PRESIDENT of the MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS UNION,

a sector of UNITE the UNION.

Coventry Local Medical Committee (BMA) Secretary  - Invited

This is your opportunity to hear and understand the case against the Coalition Government’s proposals to destroy the NHS as we have known it. This will affect and worsen the health care of everyone in the country, except of course those who are rich enough to afford private health care.

The proposed bill will bring us a system of healthcare based on the USA model where the private healthcare multinationals’ priority is not the equal care of the sick but `making big bucks`. The USA health system costs more than twice the NHS and leaves a permanent 40 million without any cover and at any given time many more millions who are between jobs or unemployed.

You are invited to this meeting and urged to bring anyone along as this affects you and all your neighbours, friends and family.

BE THERE!!