Ilford South Labour Party

Mike Gapes, MP for Ilford South, talks about local health services, housing, transport and the elections for the London Mayor and the Greater London Authority.

Redbridge’s Conservative Council is planning to ‘reprovision’ the day care facility for older people used by 69 people each day at the Mildmay Centre in Albert Road. Labour Councillors managed to get a motion carried at Committee for the proposal to be reconsidered.

The proposal has spread alarm among the elderly who use the Centre as it is a life line for people who often would not otherwise get out and meet anyone. Friendships have been formed and many look forward to enjoying company on their weekday trips. Helpers at the centre feel that without the service many would succumb to depression.

The Conservative Cabinet Member for Adult Services, Cllr. John Fairley-Churchill is quoted in the Ilford Recorder as saying:-

‘ I have been told that we have unused capacity in our existing day centres. They may have developed friendships but I don’t accept that all 69 are bosom buddies’

‘I have done it to rationalise provision for the elderly…’

Labour’s Cllr. Filly Maravala says:-

‘At the Area Committee six meeting at Central Library, last week, members unearthed a cash saving plan to fund the Conservative Cabinet’s capital programme and recoup £40 million which the Council wants to strip from community schemes, claiming the move is unavoidable. The cuts would treble over the next three years and I found it hard to hide my anger when questioning a proposed 3.9 per cent council tax hike. Once again the Conservatives are targeting the most deprived and poor area of the Borough. It has decimated our Area 6 budget. As Labour Councillors we are calling on the cabinet to use this opportunity to redistribute resources in the more needy areas.

The plan to cut the Mildmay Day Centre service is part of this programme of cuts. I am leading a fight to stop the plans and so far I have been inundated with support and it clearly means a lot to people who use the centre. These people are in their twilight years and deserve better’

Labour locally says that it seems to this Conservative Council that‘rationalising’ services for the vulnerable without consideration for the users is acceptable.

WE SAY SHAME ON THEM

A Social Services Liaison Meeting with the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) was held on Monday 28 January to discuss the 2008/9 budget proposals. It was supposed to form part of the Council’s budget consultation process. The proposal considered was that the overall budget for Voluntary Sector grants should be cut by 5%, amounting to £32,000.

The meeting was well attended by representatives of the VCS who expressed their concerns. Tory Cllr John Fairley-Churchill, the cabinet member responsible, left at the end of the meeting at 6.30pm having given assurances that he would give careful consideration to the points raised by those present. At 7pm he attended the Adult Social Services & Housing Scrutiny Committee where he defended the proposals and where a motion by Labour Cllr Filly Maravala to scrap the cuts to the grants was rejected out of hand by the Tories.

The cuts have been proposed despite Redbridge receiving the second highest settlement in London from central government. The amount involved is miniscule to the Council, but desperately needed by voluntary organisations in the Borough.

It will have an impact on grants to the voluntary sector and the ability of voluntary and community organisations to deliver services to the local community. It comes at a time when the voluntary sector are campaigning against the cuts to services in adult care for some of the most vulnerable people in Redbridge, amounting to well over £1 million. Government is expecting the voluntary sector to take on a greater role in providing support and services to local communities, but Redbridge are taking away the investment from the organisations that most need it.

Make sure Councillors know your views before they set the new budget. Write to:

Your MP
Mike Gapes MP for Ilford South
(click here for details of MPs representing other areas of Redbridge)
Your Ward Councillors (Enter your postcode in the “My Councillors” box on the London Borough of Redbridge web site.)  If you know which ward you live in & are represented by Labour Councillors, click here for their details
Cllr John Fairley-Churchill
The local press