July Advice Surgery

My advice surgery for residents this month will be held on Saturday 16th July at the usual time of 10.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. in the Community Room, Horsehay Village Hall.

Please come along with any questions or problems and I will do my best to help.

No appointment required.

May Advice Surgery

The surgery session for May is coming up this Saturday, 21st May, 10.30 to 11.30 in the morning.

Our venue as always is the Community Room, Horsehay Village Hall.

All ward residents very welcome to attend with any problems or questions relating to life in Horsehay and Lightmoor (incorporating southern Lawley).

I look forward to meeting you on the day.

April Advice Surgery

This month's advice surgery will held on Saturday 16th from 10.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. in the community room, Horsehay Village Hall.

All ward residents are welcome to attend with questions, queries or issues relating to life in Horse, Lightmoor or the southern end of Lawley.

You don't need to book, just turn up.

Horsehay Pool works

Upgrades to the Pool edge adjacent to the "Codfather" are now complete, with benches generously funded by the owner of the same.

All looks much improved a very pleasant space to sit at the pool-side, fish & chips in hand!

March Advice Surgery

This month's advice surgery will be next Saturday 19th March, 10.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. in the Community Room, Horsehay Village Hall.

A  residents are welcome as ever.

I have been in consultation with Telford & Wrekin Highways to seek improvements to the various traffic problems on Woodhouse Lane. Any thoughts or input from residents on this matter would be appreciated.

February advice surgery

This coming Saturday 20th is the date for my monthly advice surgery, open as ever to all ward residents for concerns or questions relating to life in Horsehay & Lightmoor.

The session will as always be held in the Community Room, Horsehay Village Hall from 10.30 to 11.30 a.m.

No appointment is necessary, just turn up.

Horsehay Pool

Cllr. Jayne Greenaway and I have been working with T&W Officers on a scheme to put our allocated community funds towards improvements in the Bridge Road end of this popular spot, notably the bank area adjacent to the "Codfather" chip shop.

This will see the crumbling bank reinstated with a more durable surface and hopefully some seating, so that residents & visitors will be able to enjoy a quiet moment with the many water fowl on the pool, or just enjoying the view.

January Advice Surgery

This month's advice surgery will be this coming Saturday morning (16th January) from 10.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. in the community room, Horsehay Village Hall.

All residents are welcome to attend with any questions or problems relating to life in Horsehay & Lightmoor ward (which includes southern Lawley from Glendale).

As you may know the Labour-run Council is now consulting on its budget proposals for the coming year, which include numerous service cuts. I would welcome your views in this area as we prepare for the coming debate.

December Advice Surgery

Advice surgery for this month is next Saturday 19th from 10.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. at the usual venue, Horsehay Village Hall.

Surgeries aim to tackle issues for Horsehay and Lightmoor ward residents, all of whom are welcome to attend. You don't need to pre-book, just turn up.

I hope to see some of you on Saturday morning, but in any event I wish you a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

November Advice Surgery

This month's Advice Surgery will on Saturday 21st November from 10.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. in the Community Room, Horsehay Village Hall.

Surgery sessions are open to all ward residents and you are invited to attend with any questions or problems related to life in Horsehay & Lightmoor. No appointment necessary.

October advice surgery

This month's Advice Surgery will be on Saturday 17th, from 10.30am to 11.30am in the Community Room, Horsehay Village Hall.

All ward residents are welcome to join me and bring along any questions or issues relating to life in Horsehay & Lightmoor (including much of Lawley Village).

You don't need an appointment; just turn up.

August Advice Surgery

This month's Advice Surgery will be held on Saturday 15th, from 10.30 to 11.30 a.m. in the Community Room, Horsehay Village Hall.

Bring any questions or concerns on life in Horsehay & Lightmoor ward and I will do my best to help.

July Advice Surgery

Advice Surgeries are back in Horsehay & Lightmoor. With elections behind us for a while regular Advice Surgeries are back on the agenda. The next event will be this coming Saturday 18th July, 10.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m in the Community Room, Horsehay Village Hall.

As ever you don't need an appointment, just turn up and I will do my best to help out with questions or issues for ward residents.

Superfast Broadband Update

Today (16th July 2015) Telford & Wrekin Council launched its fibre broadband programme for the Borough.

As I predicted before this scheme involves an agreement with OpenReach (BT wholesale) to provide fibre broadband access to those areas of the Borough where there is no other solution; in effect a package for some 9,300 properties.

Funded by central government through the BDUK function of the Department of Culture Media & Sport, the adminstration is claiming this will lead to 98% coverage of the whole Borough by 2017. A laudable aim, we will have to wait to discover what and when is in effect delivered.

You can get more details at www.superfast-telford.co.uk, or email me with specific queries clive.mollett@telford.gov.uk

Election results 2015

A big thank you who placed their confidence in me and my new colleague, and first-class Councillor, Jayne Greenaway.

Borough Council Election, 7th May 2015 - Our pledges, your choice

On 7th May this year you have the chance to vote for two councillors to represent you in the ward of Horsehay & Lightmoor on Telford & Wrekin Borough Council. Return us to administration and the local Conservative group makes the following pledges to you:

When in control of the council (2007-2011), we had the lowest council tax in the Midlands. We initiated the Southwater development, regenerated Borough towns, our parks, play areas, libraries and sports facilities in addition to securing the funding to rebuild our schools. With your support, our plan for action is below:


Housing & Schools

Despite giving permission to build 5,000 houses and proposing 15,000 more, the Labour controlled council have cut 400 secondary school places and reduced the number of secondary schools! We will address this looming crisis and have budgeted to start this process. We are not opposed to new housing, but do believe in the need to match new build with essential local amenities.

Within the first 100 days of a Conservative Administration we will take action to protect our communities by scrapping Labour's plans to build over our green fields and open spaces.


Local Highways

We will invest in all of our highways throughout the borough with a huge 5-year programme. This unprecedented and planned investment will achieve a highways system in Telford & Wrekin fit for the 21st century. We will make potholes a    thing of the past.


Adult Social Care

The Labour council proposed to cut £3.3m from the adult social care budget in 2015 following on from a huge cut of over £10m the previous year. Our budget proposals close this gap to ensure proper funding for the most vulnerable in our community.


No merger with Shropshire

We will not support any merger with Shropshire council, and are concerned at the persistent rumours that the Labour administration wishes to merge with Wolverhampton. However, we do want to work with other councils to save us all money.


Local NHS

You will no doubt recall that we took on the might of the Local Health Authority with our SOS PRH campaign, resulting in the retention of full 24 hr A&E provision. We will continue to stand up for local services for local people.
   

March Advice Surgery

Advice Surgery for March is coming up this Saturday 21st at the usual time of 10.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. in the Community Room, Horsehay Village Hall.

All ward residents are invited to attend with any questions or problems you may have about any aspect of life in Horsehay & Lightmoor. You don't need an appointment, just turn up.

As you will know the country goes to the polls on 7th May to chose the next government. On the same day you will also get the chance to elect a new Telford & Wrekin Council administration. As per the rules there is not much time left for me to comment officially as your Borough Councillor, so if you do have any questions on the administration of the local council then Saturday will be a good opportunity. I hope to see you then.

February Advice Surgery

The next Advice Surgery for Horsehay & Lightmoor ward is coming up this Saturday 21st, from 10.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. in the Community Room, Horsehay Village Hall.

All ward residents are invited to attend where I will do my best to answer questions about life in the ward, or help out with any problems you might be experiencing.

January Advice Surgery

This month's Advice Surgery will take place on Saturday 17th, starting at 10.30 a.m. through to 11.30 a.m. in the Community Room, Horsehay Village Hall.

All ward residents are welcome to come along with any questions or comments relating to any aspect of living in the area. I can't promise to have all the answers, but will always do my best to help.

Super-Fast Broadband: Latest News

As previously reported the current Labour administration in Telford & Wrekin Council declined to participate in the initial bid for super-fast broadband provision, claiming that it was “a waste of money”. Cajoled by the Conservative opposition and particularly led by my colleague Cllr. Eric Carter they have now changed tack and after fairly lengthy process have gained access to a total pot of £4 million in government funds, which they claim will be sufficient to provide 96% super-fast broadband coverage within the Borough by 2017.

As of last Friday, 14th November invitations to tender for the necessary work were closed. Tenders will have between three and four months to be received.

The process by which public funds are deployed is like many others these days, controlled by EU rules. These require that any investment results in a “step-change in broadband capability” such at least a doubling of line speed and also that there is no publicly funded competition with private provision.

This latter requirement is particular significant as it results in a three-way categorisation of the Borough as follows:

• Grey area: there is one existing provider, therefore not eligible for public funding.
• Black area: there are (or shortly will be) two private providers, therefore not eligible for public funding.
• White area: no existing provision and none likely within the next three years, therefore eligible for public funding.

Of 4,621 postcodes in Telford & Wrekin 1,101 are categorised “white” (23.83%).

Once tenders have been received and evaluated a winning bidder will be appointed to carry out the required infrastructure upgrade. There are two elements to this:

1. Exchange enablement

2. Cabinet upgrade

Of these the second stage remains problematic as it will be demand-led, meaning that the decision to upgrade a local cabinet (the junction box which your home or business is connected to) remains with the network wholesaler (BT Openreach in most cases). If the wholesaler does not believe there is a commercial basis to upgrade it won’t happen. In practice this means that the need to continue monitoring provision in your area remains and it may be a necessity to mobilise friends and neighbours to achieve the demand threshold.