Video update: David Cameron on The Bedroom Tax

This video is of Questions to the Prime Minister  on 6th February, abridged to focus on the issue of the controversial Bedroom Tax.

Nottingham City Council urges Government re-think on Bedroom Tax

Today Nottingham City Council has launched a petition to urge the Government to re-think its introduction of the so-called 'Bedroom Tax.'

Portfolio Holder for Housing, Adults and Community Sector, Councillor Dave Liversidge, presented a motion to the Full Council which was agreed on Monday February 11^th, to seek an amendment to the Welfare Reform Act 2012 to repeal the 'Bedroom Tax' changes to housing benefits and to lobby the Government to rethink its plans to cut housing benefit for thousands of citizens. People can support the petition by filling out the form below.

Click here to sign the Bedroom Tax Petition

St Ann’s Councillor David Liversidge  says: This change is not only going to reduce 6,000 people’s income in this City, income that naturally is spent in this City, it is going to cause heartbreak and uncertainty to all those families and even their neighbours, not knowing what is going to happen from one month to the next.

“If this second reason is genuine, the government could look at where the real problem lies. There are many older people who are not affected by this benefit cut who have lived in their homes for longer, and who are finding it more and more difficult to keep their home going. The government could find help and incentives for older, through their own choice, to move to a new home that meets their needs. This would free up these larger family homes. But I don’t believe this spurious second strand that the Government are trying to push. It is financial and it is aimed at cutting down the poor to help the rich. It is an attack on the welfare state.

“I am bringing an emergency motion to allow us to lobby the government to change this ill thought out bedroom tax and I will be asking the citizens of Nottingham to help in petitioning for a removal of this tax.”

The move by the Government, contained in the Welfare Reform Act 2012, is due to take effect from April 1^st this year and will reduce the amount of housing benefit people receive who live in social housing which is deemed to be 'under-occupied.'

This means that If someone receives full or partial Housing Benefit and has spare rooms in their home a reduction could be made to their Housing Benefit based on a percentage of eligible rent. The Government has set this as 14% less housing benefit a week for one extra bedroom and 25% less for two or more extra bedrooms.This equates to tenants paying on average an extra £14 a week for their housing.

In Nottingham, it is estimated that around 6,000 low income households, many of which include working or disabled occupants, will be affected and face extra financial burdens they may have difficulty meeting. It is feared it could lead to rent arrears and debt and will take spending power out of the local economy.

The Government suggests social housing tenants in this situation could move to another property, ask relatives to contribute to the rent or take in a lodger. The City Council is concerned these options may not be available to all tenants - in particular that appropriate alternative housing may not be available.

The Government has provided the City Council with some money to alleviate the impact of this scheme - £274,000 this year and £696,000 next year - but this is not enough to help all 6,000 affected households and may not continue beyond next year.

Some consequences of the Government's 'Bedroom Tax' rules include a family of four with two teenage girls under the age of 16 being considered to be under-occupying a three bedroom house and children under ten of any gender being expected to share a bedroom. There are concerns that the move may lead to an increase in homelessness, undermine community cohesion with families having to move children away from their school, and disproportionately impact on women and disabled people.

St Ann’s Unity in the Community Gala 2013

This is a letter I have sent today to the Area 6 Committee of Nottingham City Council, and copied to The Renewal Trust, in an attempt to focus their attention on the need for the 2013 Gala to be more suitable for the whole of the St Ann’s community, and not a minority as happened in 2012.

Dear Dorothy Holmes
Locality Manager
Area 6 Committee
St Ann's ward

I am not apposed to the Area 6 committee funding community groups in St Ann’s wanting to hold a gala in the ward, to bring people together to have fun & enjoy themselves during these difficult times of government cuts. I think that needs to be encouraged; it’s so good of local councillors to be able to find the money to do this as times are hard.

However, in my opinion the Area 6 committee have forgotten that St Ann’s is a multicultural society. According to the 2001 census, out of a population of 14,420 citizens over 11,330 are British, White or other White. In spite of this only 1,556 are all Black or Black British, and even if you include the 876 locals of mixed race, this ethnic group only represents 17% of the total population of St Ann’s.

In 2012 the Area 6 committee decided to fund the ‘St Ann’s Unity in the Community’ gala event on the Robin Hood Chase. The word “Unity” was entirely misleading because it was exclusively for Caribbean mix race locals. The music was Black Caribbean; the BBQ food/ drink were Caribbean in nature, and the event was attended exclusively by Black British & mixed race locals.

The majority of the St Ann’s population stayed away because they felt left out, and for fear of trouble due to racial tensions. The event split the St Ann’s community along ethnic lines, and was divisive.

Four days after this gala took place there were record crowds of British white & some Asians attending Stonebridge City Farm Summer fair.

I am concerned that the Area 6 committee did not observe the conditions in the 2010 Equality Act when your officials decided to award the Unity in the Community’ group funding to stage the St Ann’s event in 2012. As a St Ann’s citizen I believe the funds provided by your committee should have been for the use of the whole St Ann’s community of all ethnic peoples to hold a gala on the Robin Hood Chase, and not handed to one minority ethnic group.

In the event that the ‘Unity in the Community’ group make another application for funding to hold another Gala on the Robin Hood Chase this year, can you please make sure that the food & drink being made available is more traditional; tea, coffee, pop sandwiches & refreshments, along side the Caribbean BBQ. That the musical entertainment appeals to everyone’s taste as in disco, and that young white families with children are catered for.

In other words, that the event is staged for the whole St Ann’s community to enjoy the open air experience.

When I attended this St Ann’s gala in 2012 I noticed there was nothing for children; face painting, crafts, toy tambala, throwing wet sponges etc. In addition no local schools were involved in the street parade that was staged before the gala began. There was also no food for children made available; as the event appears to have been staged for adults.

If the Area 6 Committee can be more sensitive to the needs of the people of St Ann’s, which is a multicultural society with an ethnicity of over 75% white British, white Asian population, I believe this would be much more appreciated by the local community.

Yours truly,

Richard Pearson

Council Tax levels 2013/14

The next full meeting of Nottingham City Council takes place on 4th March at the council house. This is the first meeting in which various aspects of the City’s budget is discussed by councillors.

The level of Council Tax for each property band in the City has been now been set at these amounts for the financial year 2013/14.

Nottingham’s new tram line – mammoth bridge slides into place

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Updated  Top Left: Feb 11th Work  began on Monday evening to slide the first section of the iconic bridge that will carry trams over Nottingham railway Station. Top Right: On Tuesday night  Feb 12th Nottingham Station tram bridge slid another 5.3 metres over Queens Road. Left: Yes! The bridge has made it to the other side of Queens Road, after moving 10.4m on Wednesday night Feb 13th. Bottom Right: A drive under the new bridge on 23rd Feb 2013.

The movement of the first section of the impressive steel bridge, which will be known as Karlsruhe Friendship Bridge, marks a significant milestone in the Nottingham Express Transit (NET) project to extend the city’s tram lines to the south and south west of the city to Beeston & Clifton.

Measuring 104 metres long, 14.5 metres wide and weighing 1100 tonnes, the steel bridge is being built in two sections due to its sheer size. The first half has been built on top of four temporary towers at a height that will allow it to be launched over Queens Road into its final position over Nottingham Station.

A team of up to 30 people will ensure this first section of the bridge is pushed from the Crocus Street compound 50 metres over Queens Road towards the railway station. This precision engineering activity involves slowly sliding the bridge in 2.6 metre cycles, between 20:00 and 06:00 on five consecutive nights, using hydraulic jacks. During the launch, the bridge will be monitored from the end of the existing tram line using targets fixed to a specially designed nose that ensures it is launched correctly. The bridge is expected to move up to 13 metres per night.

Once the first half of the bridge is positioned over Queens Road, there will be room in the Crocus Street compound to construct the second half of the bridge. When this work is complete, the bridge section will be joined together and pushed over the station later this year.

Work will also take place to lay a concrete base on the bridge and install the tram tracks and tram stop to Nottingham Station. This is expected to be carried out early 2014.

When complete, the station bridge will connect with two further bridges to be positioned over Station Street and Queens Road. The three new bridges replicate the bridges which once stood in the same locations – Queens Road, Station Street and over the station – and formed part of the Great Central Railway.

Martin Carroll, NET Phase Two Project Director for Taylor Woodrow Alstom, said: “The team has worked hard to bring the bridge to its current stage which has involved innovative and complex temporary works. The support of our supply chain partners, Cleveland Bridge and Mammoet, has been key to delivery. There remains much work to do, but the entire project team is motivated by this significant milestone. When complete, the combined bridges will form a landmark structure and become symbolic of the transport system within Nottingham of which the extended tram network is part.”

Councillor Jane Urquhart, Portfolio Holder for Planning and Transport at Nottingham City Council, said: “It’s wonderful to see such a feat of engineering take place. When complete, the three connecting bridges at Nottingham Station will become an iconic landmark for the city, and transform how people interchange between tram, train and other public and private forms of transport.

“Local people and businesses are already benefiting from employment opportunities on both tram and station projects, with almost 600 people working locally to construct the tram extension and to transform the Railway Station.”

New Funding bid for Rocket Park play area

On Tuesday 19th February the new Chase children’s play area was officially opened after a multi thousand pound refit as part of the City Council investment in children’s open air play areas across the city. The city council used the occasion to announce that while £11,000 was currently available to provide children’s play equipment on Rocket Park on the Stonebridge Park estate, a new funding bid was presently underway.

The St Ann’s & the Dales (Area 6) committee held its meeting on 13th February during which Mrs Dorothy Holmes, South Area Manager, introduced a report which outlined the priorities for St Ann’s.

* Comments from the Committee, community representatives, colleagues and citizens included:

* The recent citizen survey showed high levels of satisfaction with Council services;

* An excellent job was done by City Services, particularly with cleaning the streets, but without education, information and prevention it was a constant cycle of cleaning, and the streets were messy as soon as they had been cleaned;

*  There was a lack of a dentist or opticians in St Ann’s, and these had both been listed as priorities;

* It was felt that ward Councillors were not always available, although regular surgeries were held in the area;

* It was felt that a lot of issues could be dealt with using normal Council services or through co-operation with Community Protection Officers, many did not feel the need to involve Councillors or the Area Committee with local problems such as bins on streets or high litter levels.

Overcrowding in family housing and houses in multiple occupations may lead to increased litter, bulky waste and fly-tipping.

All of these comments were noted by the councillors.

Rocket Park consultation plans

This is the 2011 Rocket Park ‘Master plan’

*  Bottom right Rocket Park as it is today, after it was landscaped in the summer of 2011. The yellow areas are the proposed ‘wild flower meadows.’

*  Top right shows the central circular grassed area with the proposed swings & play platform.

*  The distinct yellow spiral is a proposed ‘Daffodil maze.’

*  Top left shows the area immediately above the circular green, adjacent Limmen Gardens, which would be the site of the new slide, climbing ropes & climbing boulders.

*  Finally the bottom left plan shows the proposed ‘dry river bed.’ This is on the south western corner of Rocket Park among the clump of trees leading in from Jersey Gardens.

A TV Company are filming a new documentary in St Ann’s & need your help

Twenty Twenty are making a new series in St Ann’s & across Nottingham and need your help

Twenty Twenty is making a ground breaking living history documentary series about welfare.
We're inviting people who are receiving benefits to experience how life would have been for them when the welfare state was first created.

The team will be in the area for the next 2-3 months and would like to meet interesting people with a story to tell about their experiences of the welfare-state.

Interested? Want to find out more?
For a confidential chat with one of our team please call:

Tel 020 3301 8498 Text 07926 007 746
Email us on: welfare@twentytwenty.tv
We will keep your data secure and we will not pass your information on to any third parties who are not involved in the production without your consent

St Ann’s Academy in dispute over Work Parking Levy

Local Councillors Jon Collins, Dave Liversidge & Sue Johnson began a review into improving the safety of thee roads in St Ann’s in January in order to reduce the problem of double parked cars in Church Road & Stonebridge Road, and prevent some motorists using Beacon Hill Rise Road as ‘a race track’ during the hours of darkness.

In Church Road which links Abbotsford Drive with St Ann With Emmanuel Church in the heart of the estate, the City Council want to introduce restrictions to prevent double parking, after locals complained that they had difficulty getting in and out of their drives, and parking outside their own homes.

However, on Wednesday Paul Worley, Principal of the nearby Sycamore Academy wrote a letter to all 12 of the residents along Church Road asking them to oppose the new restrictions because teaching staff at the school use the lane for parking to circumvent the City Council’s Parking Place Levy which was introduced a year ago.

Employers inside the Nottingham City Council administrative boundary that provide 11 or more workplace parking places (excluding registered Disabled Blue Badge Holders) have been required to pay a Working Place Parking Levy (WPL) charge since 1st April 2012, and this year the cost of the WPL, from 1st April 2013 - 31st March 2014, will be increased to £334.

The depute centres on new Academies insisting upon their teaching staff paying the WPL and not the school itself because it would have to come out of school funds.

In St Ann’s the former Sycamore school, which caters for 260 pupils aged 5 to 11 has benefited from a £1.9 million investment through the former government's Primary Capital Programme. It became an academy on 19 July 2012 when the Sheriff of Nottingham, Councillor Merlita Bryan, officially opened the remodelled Sycamore Academy.

However, the NASUWT union is continuing to tell its members to refuse to pay the Work Parking Levy. In 2012 the teaching union wrote to all of its members to advise them about their stance.

When the levy was introduced Bernie Pardon, a national executive member of the union, said "We believe teachers should not have to pay the charge and we are advising members not to pay it.

"Schools with more than ten parking places are going to have to pay the levy. We are asking any that if the City Council does decide to charge staff that they consult them first.

"If this does not happen, we will pursue a course of action on our members' behalf."

Nonetheless, this week the city council has again warned that fines of over £334 per space will be handed out for non-compliance by schools not under its control as they will be breaking the law.

St Ann’s Valley Centre – users say ‘standards are in decline’

St Ann’s Councillors Sue Johnson & Dave Liversidge said today they “were concerned at the number of complaints about the facilities being provided in the new St Ann’s Valley Centre. In particular the GP practices were a cause for concern.” The councillors now hope to arrange a meeting with the Centre Manager to discuss these issues in a bid to raise standards.

In 2011 Friends of the St Ann’s Valley Centre held meeting every quarter to oversee the new plans, and watch over the new facilities to be provided in the building, however, since the opening ceremony eight months ago no further meetings have taken place.

As the building’s first anniversary approaches, the St Ann’s Valley Centre facilities are said to be ‘not up to standard’

On the ground floor at the front reception desk there was originally Library staff, a Nottingham City homes (NCH) help desk, and NHS counter. Today Nottingham City Homes provides no facilities for local tenants & residents to air their problems. librarians manning the help desk are unable to answer the numerous enquiries. Instead librarians simply point to a free public phone opposite and ask tenants to make use of it. Using the phone locals can contact Nottingham City Council departments.

The St Ann’s Housing Office closed down last April and today tenants of Nottingham City Homes have nowhere to go to raise concerns about their tenancies, or speak to their area patch managers.

In addition, on the upper floor there are a number of separate GP practices, and patients have bitterly complained that it is impossible to get suitable regular appointments to see their GP. The situation has now deteriorated to the point where GP’s have had to leave their consulting rooms to instruct their practice secretary to book their patients’ next appointment promptly.

When the St Ann’s Valley Centre opened managers pioneered the use of volunteers to assist visitors with finding their way around, and getting the information they were in need off. Today there appears to be no volunteers in place.

Another problem is that local community organisations are banned from displaying any poster or provide flyers to advertise local community events & activities.

Local community groups are also being denied the use of the community room to hold events & exhibitions.

The centre offers the following services:

• Three local GP practices;
• Clinical services e.g. speech and language therapy and physiotherapy;
• Community services e.g. District Nurses and Health Visitors;
• Library;
• Targeted Youth services;
• Children's Centre outreach;

The funding for the £15 million project was secured through a £11 million investment from NHS Nottingham City plus £4 million from the Government's Co-location Fund (secured by Nottingham City Council).

Robin Hood Chase - Chaos after ‘dramatic’ water mains burst‏

 Updated At 11pm Sunday night a water mains burst on the Robin Hood Chase pedestrian footpath, close to the bridge at Abbotsford Drive. By 11:30pm water was gushing up the height of nearby houses. It was not until about 1:30pm that a Seven Trent emergency team arrived to assess the situation, and quickly brought in repair crews.

A river of water, sand and silt washed down the chase covering the pedestrian area fronting the former Chase Coop/library and upper shops. However a low wall prevented much of the water going into shop premises. Below the neighbourhood Centre the two remaining shops were not so lucky. Water and mud poured into the Coop-chemist and Grocery shop next door.

Mr Lagar the manager who runs the grocery store on the Chase has spent much of the day cleaning up the water damage, and was only able to re open later this afternoon. Gisella Sobarasua, Chairlady of SATRA Central, said today that she seen all of the mess this morning & helped Mr Lagar, and also phoned the council for assistance.

At 4pm Senior officers from the city Council, Seven Trent & insurers were assessing the damage, and workers were beginning the task of using high pressure hoses to clear up the mud sand and silt. I was told this work could take until the end of the week.

Richard Pearson

Julia Jones: “The Bedroom Tax is just cruel...I am ashamed to be British”

Dear Mr Cameron

I heard you in Prime Minister’s Questions say you would look at individual cases on the bedroom tax.

Left: Julia Jones speaks out

I am 59 years old, David (my husband) and I have both worked since we were 15, paid taxes, did our bit.

We have never been well off but we both did worthwhile jobs.

Five years ago David got melanoma.

He had excruciating treatment and, although still not well, returned to work as he thought it was his duty.

Four years ago he got bowel cancer; he had an irreversible colostomy.

Six months later he returned to work. Two years ago he got brain cancer. Seven weeks later he died.

Throughout all this I was advised I could get care allowance, but I rejected this: he was my husband, it was my duty to care for him.

We lived off the little savings we had until we could return to work.

When he had the colostomy we were allocated this home as David could not climb stairs any more and I struggled.

His ashes are buried in the garden under the rose bushes that friends gave me instead of wreaths.

Mr Cameron, my husband and I were the hard workers you claim to support, we never asked for anything.

I would give everything if this had not happened to us.

Because we were on benefit and sick, you and your government said hateful words against us.

Words that made acquaintances look at us with contempt.

The most powerful men in the country imply we are scum so we must be scum.

You and your government call us scroungers, next door go to work while our bedroom curtains are still drawn.

My curtains were still drawn at 11am as the light made David scream with pain.

Do you not consider that I would give everything for my husband to be alive, me to not have incapacitating pain and we could both be the hard workers we once were?

I live in small 1 1/2 bed bungalow that was built for older people.

It is supported elderly living so I feel safe. It could not house a family as under 55s are not allowed.

You now want to take my home from me. The home that literally made my fingers bleed cleaning as it had been neglected for 20 years when we moved here.

You want me to leave my husband’s ashes, my neighbours who take me shopping and give me some form of social life? I have no family, we could not have children.

I am living without heating at present so how can I pay what I do not have to stay in my home?

Have you any idea how that affects my fibromyalgia?

I eat one meal a day and am in constant pain which is exacerbated by the cold.

I may get Discretionary Housing Benefit. But we both know that is only for 13 weeks at a time and when the pot is empty, it is empty.

I have considered moving but the only property available is far from shops and bus stops and costs £98 per month more than where I am at present. I would be living in isolation.

You say you are building more social housing, but it is too little too late for many of us.

You may blame the Labour policies, but it was your government who introduced this law so I have to hold you responsible.

Mr Cameron, I do not believe you or your MPs are evil men at heart, I believe this is an ill-thought-out plan and you did not understand the consequence of your action.

I ask you to take a step back and look at this again.

THE ABOVE IS JUST PLAIN CRUEL...I AM ASHAMED TO BE BRITISH.

Yours, Julia Jones

The controversial ‘Bedroom Tax’ --- how will it affect you

The Prime Minister on the spot

To date we have received a fair amount of emails asking about the so called ‘Bedroom Tax.’ This is from my friend Anna Wyman who contacted me recently to say:

“I emailed Dave Liversidge 2 weeks ago with my concerns about the controversial bedroom tax and to ask him if he knew of any protests taking place in Nott’s in the near future but as yet I have not received a reply. As you write for the Nottingham Post, would you be able to do an article on this awful tax which is frightening so many people?”

Thank you Anna.

Welfare reforms will cut the amount of benefit that people can get if they are deemed to have a spare bedroom in their council or housing association home. This measure will apply from April 2013 to tenants of working age.

The power to do this is contained in the Welfare Reform Act 2012 and is commonly referred to as the “Bedroom Tax”, size criteria or under-occupation penalty.

What do the changes mean?

The size criteria in the social rented sector will restrict housing benefit to allow for one bedroom for each person or couple living as part of the household, with the following exceptions:

•Children under 16 of same gender expected to share

•Children under 10 expected to share regardless of gender

•Disabled tenant or partner who needs non resident overnight carer will be allowed an extra bedroom

Who will be affected?

All claimants who are deemed to have at least one spare bedroom will be affected. This includes:

•Separated parents who share the care of their children and who may have been allocated an extra bedroom to reflect this. Benefit rules mean that there must be a designated ‘main carer’ for children (who receives the extra benefit)

•Couples who use their ‘spare’ bedroom when recovering from an illness or operation

•Foster carers because foster children are not counted as part of the household for benefit purposes

•Parents whose children visit but are not part of the household

•Families with disabled children

•Disabled people including people living in adapted or specially designed properties.

How much will people lose?

The cut will be a fixed percentage of the Housing Benefit eligible rent. The Government has said that this will be set at 14% for one extra bedroom and 25% for two or more extra bedrooms.

The Government’s impact assessment shows that those affected will lose an average of £14 a week. Housing association tenants are expected to lose £16 a week on average.

How many people will see their benefit cut?

The proposal will affect an estimated 660,000 working-age social tenants – 31% of existing working-age housing benefit claimants in the social sector. The majority of these people have only one extra bedroom.

Do the regulations define a bedroom?

No. The Government’s view is that it is for landlords to specify the size of the property and this ought to match what is on any tenancy agreement and reflect the level of rent charged. The bedroom tax will not take account of whether a room is a single or a double bedroom. A room either is a bedroom or is not a bedroom.

What about lodgers?

From April 2013 lodgers will count as occupying a room under the size criteria rules. Any income from a lodger will be taken into account and deducted pound for pound from benefit apart from the first £20. This reverses under Universal Credit – lodgers will not be counted as occupying a room and the size criteria reduction will apply, but any income from lodgers will be fully disregarded and will not impact on the amount of a claimant’s Universal Credit award.

DWP have produced a fact sheet on things to consider when renting out a room. Taking in a lodger will also have an impact on many home contents insurance policies, potentially invalidating a policy or raising the premiums.

What about students studying away from home?

Households where there is a room kept for a student studying away from home will not be deemed to be under-occupying if the student is away for less than 52 weeks (under housing benefit) or 6 months (under Universal Credit).

Under housing benefit rules students are exempt from non-dependant deductions, however full-time students will not be exempt from the Housing Cost Contribution (HCC) which replaces non-dependent deductions under Universal Credit. All young people under 21 are exempt from the HCC, but students over 21 will face a contribution in the region of £15 per week.

Are pre-1989 tenancies exempt from the bedroom tax?
No.

Spring clean for Cardinal Close

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Iron railings along the front of the small surface car park on the Robin Hood Chase, opposite the St Ann’s Valley Centre (upper Right) were repaired this afternoon after being in the state for six months. In addition, Councillor Dave Liversidge advised me today that the discoloured wall fronting Cardinal Close is to be painted together with the upper railings. Approval for the work was agreed earlier this week.

Update: Police crime figures for December 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The December 2012 Crime Hotspot was Salford Gardens Near Lamartine Street.

Antisocial Behaviour 6; Drugs 1; Violent crime 1 & Other crime 1

On or close to the Stonebridge Park Estate the crime figures were:

Melville Gardens: Drugs 1
Jersey Gardens Rd: Antisocial Behaviour 1
Flewitt Gardens: Violent crime 1
Lytton Close: Criminal damage & arson 1
Kelverdon Gardens: Antisocial Behaviour 3

These official Police crime figures & map were published today on the Police.UK website. If you have any issues or concerns regarding crime where you live please contact the local Police Beat Team who will be pleased to help you.