Sure Start

I am very late in catching up with the 'Blog'. This picture was taken weeks ago. Matt and I presented a cheque, for £500 out of ward funds, to Sure Start for their booklets aimed at encouraging new mums to breast feed. Also there was money to help towards some high chairs. We also presented cheques to Kingfisher School for improvement to the school library.(£736) There was also yet another for £500 towards the school allotments. I had enough sense not to have any more photos taken. One with me in is enough. All these projects are so worth while as they help children from o-11. It is so important to give children the best start in life. That is both in health and education. posted by Pat

Path Resurfacing

We have been very lucky in Princes Park to have many of our roads resurfaced. But we must not forget those who use our paths. Some of them were getting in a bad way. We had calls from both young mums who had problems pushing buggies to people on mobility scooters.

Medway Council have not managed to solve all our problems yet but it is coming. The people who live in the areas already done are very, very pleased. I think the users of Princes Ave will be as well once the work there is finished. I am particularly pleased with that as a few mobility scooter users said that, that section of Princes Ave made it very difficult to get down to the village.

I do realise that there has been some disruptions with the roads. I am sure everyone appreciates it will be worth it. I would like to thank all the road users for their co-operation during this time.

posted by Pat

Council Budget

At Full Council last Thursday myself and Pat Gulvin voted with our colleagues for the budget for the next financial year.

Due to a multi-million pound reduction in the Medway Council budget the books were balanced (due to re-structuring with minimal job losses & a better for less campaign) and some fantastic schemes will be introduced which will help the residents of Princes Park and Medway.

Free swimming will be introduced for the under 11s and over 60s.

£250,000 for pot hole repairs

£500,000 for highway repairs

£75,000 for adult play schemes

£50,000 for alloment improvements

Sure Start has been declared safe including the one at Kingfisher School

£92,000 for extra library books

£100,000 for apprenticeship schemes

£250,000 allocated for the introduction of a freedom pass

Ridgemeadow site re-instated for use by Bradfields School and a special autism unit

Front Line services are protected

Parking charges frozen

.

And of course...not to forget this is all being done with the Council Tax being frozen for another year!

With other Councils cutting Front Line services this budget should be a positve one for everyone in Princes Park.

posted by matt bright

The Motorbike Fight Continues

These may look like boring barriers to some people but for the residents of Ryde Close & Solent Gardens it will enable them to use their gardens safely with their children being able to play on the grass opposite.

These barriers came at the request of residents who we met whilst on one of our 'Meet & Greet' sessions with local people from Princes Park.

Residents expressed a concern on the footpath being used by mini-motorbikes (our big enemy - check older posts) so we felt something had to be done.

Due to our hard-line stance on any anti-social behavour in the area we managed to secure the funding through our ward funds and they were installed last week.

Hopefully this will make it safer from everyone.

Do you live in Princes Park and know of a problem area for mini-motorbikes? If so please contact us.

posted by matt bright.

Sure Start

I have had a few queries from residents about SureStarts future, so I thought I best put my reply in writing on the Blog.

I think SureStart is a fantastic thing. It is there for the Community in the Community . I have seen first hand some of the inspiration and enthusiasm of those who work there. The real value to the children may not be seen for a while, but as the children grow up the good ground work that was done will pay off.

I believe many parents have also had their lives altered by SureStart. They can see they are not alone, there are people who are always willing to help.

As you can see I am a real advocate of SureStart as is Matt. So I pleased that at the last Council meeting it was agreed the funding will continue for the forth coming year. This was stated in the press but some people must have missed it.

I hope this puts people in Princes Park minds at rest.

SURESTART is safe .

posted by Pat

Ball Park

These two happy chaps helped to make the opening of the Ball Park so successful. They are David Hughes and Brian Mooney of the Safety Community Team. They worked tirelessly to clean up the mud that the foul weather had dumped on the pathways.
Brian had spent hours the day before cleaning up the litter that had been dumped.
Also Pauline Harman came along with her hose to help clean up as much as she could.
I want to publicly say a big big thank you to them for the work they did yesterday.Also for all the work they have done behind the scenes to improve the quality of life for the residents of Princes park.
posted by Pat

Ball Park in Princes Park

Today we celebrated the long awaited opening of the ball park. It has been a long time coming. Matt and I were beginning to think it would never happen.

The Mayor Cllr David Brake came along and did the honours for us, we also had along our local MP Tracey Crouch.

The most important guests were the children from Kingfisher School. As you can see from the pictures they were really happy to be there. It was really cold but it did not stop them asking if they could have a game of football.

I hope they will have many happy days playing safely there. Much better than playing in the streets and getting moaned at all the time for damaging peoples cars.

posted by Pat

Benefit from some good advice

A campaign to ensure that residents in Medway receive the financial support they are entitled to starts in January.

The campaign will run from 17 January until 11 February with advice desks at various places throughout Medway, including the Pentagon Shopping Centre in Chatham, where staff from Medway Revenues and Benefits Service and The Welfare Benefits Unit assisted by the Pension Service, The Kent Benefits Partnership and Voluntary Organisations will be able to tell people whether they qualify for housing, council tax, work, pension or care benefits.

Earlier this year, a similar campaign helped people collect more than £261,000 in unclaimed benefits.

Take advantage of the help and advice available to ensure that you are not missing out on money.

If you've never claimed benefits or have been turned down in the past, or maybe you are thinking of returning to work but are wondering if you will cope- this message is that you have nothing to lose but potentially money to gain.



For more details:

Come and talk to us at one of the events listed below or find out more at www.medway.gov.uk/benefits

OR

email: welfare.benefits@medway.gov.uk

OR

phone: 332222



Don't delay - Benefit from some good advice!



posted by Pat