Your Labour candidate for Broughton Division

SANDRA PARKINSON

I am proud to have been a resident in Broughton Astley for over 16 years.  During this period I have witnessed positive improvements to our area of South Leicestershire. However, I am dismayed that traffic calming measures have still not been addressed.  As your Labour County Councillor I will seek to address the following issues:
Condition of highways throughout the area	·   Poor maintenance resulting in potholes ·   Road markings worn out ·   Speeding problems
Broughton Astley village centre congestion	Pushchair users and the disabled can’t use the pavement in safety. Shopkeepers and shoppers tell me that a simple one way system is needed, but the present council continues to do nothing!
Red Admiral pedestrian crossing, Broughton Astley	Despite initial support from the County Council, the offer of a zebra crossing was withdrawn. A zebra crossing would provide a safe place to cross and deter speeding traffic.
Bulls Head crossroads, Broughton Astley	This black-spot is particularly busy at school bus times. A simple mini roundabout would make traffic and pedestrians much safer and slow down speeding drivers at a busy and dangerous junction.
BROUGHTON DIVISION INCLUDES THE VILLAGES OF Ashby Magna, Ashby Parva, Broughton Astley, Dunton Bassett, Frolesworth and Leire.
Real Change for a Better Leicestershire

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Your Labour candidate for Bruntingthorpe Division

Bruntingthorpe Division

Arnesby, Catthorpe, Cotesbach, Fleckney, Gilmorton, Husbands Bosworth, Kimcote & Walton, Knaptoft, Misterton with Walcote, Mowsley, North Kilworth, Peatling Magna, Peatling Parva, Shawell, Shearsby, South Kilworth, Swinford, Westrill & Starmore, Willoughby Waterleys

LIZ MARSH

I am proud to have been selected as your Labour candidate for the Bruntingthorpe Division. For 35 years I have watched the area develop and change, having lived in Fleckney between 1982 and 1985 and Walcote since 2004. Some changes have been positive. Others have left me disheartened and dismayed.


Public Transport
The County Council has not protected our buses. Too many villagers are left isolated. Gilmorton residents cannot get to work by bus and no one, even in a village the size of Fleckney, has an an evening or a Sunday service. How can this be right?

Housing Growth

Our villages are bigger, but where are the facilities to support this growth? Post offices, shops, pubs and schools are the lifeblood of our village communities but without the support of our County Council most are more likely to close than expand. And how many villages can offer the homes needed for young people or elderly residents?


Roads
Congestion, speeding, potholes... it began as a joke but, really, it is true. The only time our roads get any attention is in election year. Residents complain about traffic pollution. They campaign for safe crossings and other traffic calming measures. And the County Council does what it always does. Nothing.

If I am elected, I will make sure the rural voice is heard in County Hall. How can you be satisfied with the current service? There is no service! 

Your LABOUR Manifesto for Leicestershire

LABour – offering real change for a better Leicestershire

Savage Tory cuts have left councils struggling to maintain essential services. Labour’s REAL CHANGE plan is made up of four key promises designed to deliver smart, modern, local services, creating a better Leicestershire for everyone and giving you more say and control in your community.

PROMISE ONE

A SINGLE COUNCIL FOR EACH AREA

Replacing district and county councils. Removing 200+ councillors and giving local communities greater say in setting local service priorities.

Creating long-term Community Action Plans to secure desperately needed investment.

Improving health and social care provision across the County by joining up local NHS, Public Health and Social Services.

PROMISE TWO

A STRONG COMMUNITY SUPPORT NETWORK

Establishing directly funded Community Support Hubs.

Introducing a bank share of skills and local websites to highlight gaps and opportunities in local provision.

Ensuring our schools play their part in providing community facilities for our young people.

Supporting our community libraries

Promise three

Healthier, safer communities

An Ethical Care Charter to guarantee safe, dignified care for everyone who needs it.

A Mental Health Champion in every community to ensure the quality of local support.

School Parking Community Champions and Road Safety Budgets for every councillor to resolve local traffic problems.

Promise four

Investing in making your life better --- today

An Affordable Homes Partnership building the homes we need at a price we can afford.

A single Leicestershire Growth Plan.

1000 new apprenticeships. A Small Business support scheme. A Careers Hub in every community.

Sure Start Centres for all children and new parents.

One thing we know as an absolute fact. Nothing is going to change so long as the current two-tier system remains in place. Nothing has changed since the Millennium – except that services have withered away, frontline staff have been sacked,  the general quality of life across the county has got gradually worse. And yet Council Tax has continued to rise. To pay for what, exactly?

The time has come for a little less conversation and a lot more action – vote labour THURSDAY MAY 4!

Labour commits to free school meals for all primary school children

Today, Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, and Angela Rayner, Shadow Secretary of State for Education, committed the next Labour Government to providing free school meals for all primary school children.

Labour will fund the policy by introducing VAT on private school fees. Labour’s policy will benefit the educational attainment and health of all children while ending a subsidy to the privileged few.
Research confirmed by the National Centre for Social Research and the Institute for Fiscal Studies has shown offering universal access to free school meals improves educational attainment through improvements in pupils’ productivity, enabling primary school pupils to advance by around two months on average.


The provision of free school meals also has been proven to improve the health of pupils through better nutrition - with over 90 percent of pupils eating a school lunch consuming food or drink containing vegetables or fruit (including fruit juice) compared with only 58 percent of pupils who eat packed lunches.

At the launch event in Lancashire, Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, said:
“No child in the UK should go hungry at school. By charging VAT on private schools fees, Labour will make sure all primary school children, no matter what their background, get a healthy meal at school.


“The next Labour Government will provide all primary school children with a free school meal, invest in our schools, and make sure no child is held back because of their background.”

Angela Rayner, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, said:
“The Government’s cuts to the school budget are making school meals worse and limiting the number of children that can be fed. This decision affects the educational attainment and health of pupils.

“While the Conservatives offer tax giveaways to their billionaire friends, they are cutting the schools budget and threatening the health and futures of all our children by denying children the basic right of a healthy lunch at school. By investing in our education system and providing free school meals for every primary school child, we will remove the stigma attached to free school meals, and improve health and attainment for all children.“

Peter Knight

Peter Knight, who died peacefully this week at the grand age of 88, was the face of the Labour Party in Lutterworth and South Leicestershire for fifty years. He served on the Town Council for nearly 40 years, the District Council, and was twice County Councillor. I was his agent for the County Election in 1989 when we lost by 6 or 8 votes. I still have nightmares about the count. Four years later we triumphed - an amazing, astounding victory. I have different dreams about that night.


Peter was chair of Lutterworth Branch on and off over the years. I tended to alternate with him for a decade or so. I could do the business well enough, and I had electoral successes of my own, but Pete was the one person everybody around here knew as LABOUR. And it wasn't just in Lutterworth. Pete was born in Leire and always maintained strong links with the rural community. He was big in Gilmorton. No offence to North Kilworth but PETE WAS BIG IN NORTH KILWORTH! You turned up with Pete in some of the villages and you didn't have to knock on doors. People came out to talk to you.


We fell out, quite badly, in the late nineties, but we made up eventually and I am proud that we did. It would be wrong to say that Pete taught me all I know about politics. In politics, as in most other things, I tend to be an autodidact. But Pete taught me everything I didn't know, and that was exactly what I needed.


The other thing we had in common was the magistracy. I don't know how long Pete served on the Bench but it must have been thirty years. I am now in my third decade as a magistrate. I probably wouldn't have put myself forward had it not been for long chats in hazy pubs with Pete Knight. Sitting in court is probably the only public service thing I do nowadays and I wouldn't miss it for the world. So that's something else I have to thank Pete for. Well... that and the housing research trip to Denmark, but let's not go into that...


I wish I had a photo to go with this post. I will find one.


Pete will be hugely missed, by his family of course, but by all those who knew and worked with him. And that's a hell of a lot of people.


Roger Wood

South Leicestershire CLP Annual Dinner

David F's photos of the Annual Dinner, held in Lutterworth this year.

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