End of term reflections

Making my acceptance speech at about 4am on 4th May 2018

Four years ago today, on Thursday 3rd May 2018, people in Plymouth (and many other parts of the UK) took to the polls to elect their local Councillors. This year the local elections fall on the 5th May and for me, will mark my retirement from Plymouth City Council, at the end of my four-year term. As you may imagine, I have lots of thoughts and feelings about both being a Councillor and no longer being a Councillor. Enough to fill more than one blog post for sure.

I want to celebrate what I have achieved in my four years and, in so doing, highlight what local Councillors can do, even in a single term. People are often not sure of what local government does, and tend to blame councils for everything they don’t like, whilst crediting national government with everything they do! In fact, national government sets statutory, financial and legal responsibilities and frameworks which inhibit local government in many ways from responding to local demographic needs, and yet within those constraints, councils are at the coal face of delivering public services that have huge impact on the quality of people’s lives.

Here is a snapshot of what councils do have influence over, and what can be achieved within a single term as a back bencher.

In my time as a Councillor I have distributed over £15,000 to an array of local and city-wide causes:

·       Community groups and events (Christmas events, summer fairs, equipment, newsletters, apple festivals); CCTV; community art to tackle unwanted graffiti and tagging; allotments; playpark refurbishment; benches; installation of a lifebuoy

·       Male cancer awareness raising; support for adult male survivors of sexual abuse; support for motor neurone disease patients and carers; bereavement counselling; pregnancy crisis counselling; support for families with disabled children; awards for care-experienced young people; support for bereaved children including after the Keyham shooting

·       Female disability football; junior football; boxing sessions for vulnerable young people; Roller Derby British Championships; Mayflower 400 Special Olympics

·       Volunteer responders reducing pressure on paramedic services; ‘Fit and Fed’ meals and activities in schools holidays; support for foodbanks; meal deliveries for elderly and vulnerable people; social isolation conference

·       Youth group activities and trips; school theatre trips, reading events, arts and crafts sessions, mental health workshops, games and plants, educational equipment, training; toys and activities at after school club; children’s online learning during COVID lockdown; school uniform support; workshops on climate change

·       Environmental improvement and education; a pond-dipping platform; litter-picking equipment and groups; tree-planting; the Moths to a Flame campaign for COP26; sustainable cycling projects

·       Plymouth Respect Festival; Plymouth Pride; the Jack Leslie Statue Campaign

Helping out at the foodbank run by Honicknowle Commnet, where I continue as a Trustee

I have delivered for my ward residents on pavement resurfacing, dropped kerbs, disabled parking, measures to reduce speeding, new playparks, and double yellow lines to reduce dangerous parking and improve road safety. I won’t see it installed, but there will be a new pedestrian crossing at one particularly dangerous bend. I got a ring-and-ride bus service in place for elderly and vulnerable residents when they were left without a service during extensive construction works with road closures. I helped a resident stay in his home and have supported countless residents with council tax and housing difficulties. I got the Council to classify public greenspace by social tower blocks as amenity land to give it park-level maintenance, after such residents were unable to access any greenspace during the first lockdown because their neighbouring grassed areas were unmaintained and inaccessible. And I have handled more casework than I could possibly begin to count, helping people with memorial benches, CAMHS assessments, adult social care needs, bus failures, pot holes and pavements, grasscutting and brambles, planning problems, community initiatives, inter alia.

With Pete Smith, one of my ward colleagues, showing plans for a new play park

I campaigned for two and half years on the shambolic lack of access to primary care at one of the Primary Care Networks in the city, with a surgery in my ward, by speaking to the media, pushing at the Health and Wellbeing Board, negotiating with Devon CCG and working with their comms and other officers to help them do better. I participated in the review of applications to take on the new contract, then when that was dropped I worked directly with the CCG on next steps, rebuilding the patient participation group, and contributing to the consultation on a new primary care strategy. I worked tirelessly to put patients at the centre of primary care at every available opportunity with every stakeholder who would listen. My only regret about this work is that it is far from complete as I stand down.

Amongst other issues, I brought child exploitation to scrutiny committee, put impacts of covid on maternity care in the Health and Wellbeing Board agenda, and used scrutiny to push our cultural initiatives to demonstrate reach across the city into every community. I proposed a motion to Council asking for better government support for SEND children. I spoke out about the A-level fiasco in 2020. I supported the ban of single use plastics, seconded Plymouth’s Climate Emergency Declaration, and wrote and proposed our Ocean Recovery Declaration – the first time a local government passed this motion.

I led the way for a public facing working group on suicide prevention at the Tamar Bridge and pushed the committee into much improved public communication, including the appointment of a comms officer. I proposed the Climate Emergency declaration at the Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service Authority, led on opening up a public consultation on restructure which led to a much better outcome for residents, and spearheaded a fight against reducing scrutiny in the Authority. I proposed and established a Governance Working Group at the Devon & Severn IFCA to drive improvements across policy and practice.

Speaking about the DSFRSA Safer Together programme on BBC Spotlight in 2019.

An achievement which aligned my Councillor work and marine interests, was my work embedding marine citizenship as a key objective of the Plymouth Sound National Marine Park, and persuading everyone whose ear I could access to put the Ernesettle community and Tamerton Lake into the PSNMP framework. Alongside this, I supported the residents to begin work on a manifesto for the Lake, and worked to join together marine statutory authorities, disparate council departments, and a range of other organisations to address the issue of safe access to the water. I got the lake into the Pier Master’s work, and secured installation of a lifebuoy. Both access to the Lake and restoration of the integrity of the historical water mill dam which protects mudflats behind have now been written into council plans which means I can be assured that they will be delivered after I am gone. The power of the ocean to improve community wellbeing, the importance of nature connectedness for environmental citizenship, and the potential for economic improvement in deprived areas can all come together through a successful NMP programme. With the Heritage Horizons funding over the next few years it will take time for this work to be developed and implemented, but I’ll be watching with keen interest and no doubt will continue to pester my friends and colleagues working on the project to ensure it delivers for this community.

A new lifebuoy installed at the Tamerton Lake tidal creek to improve water safety

What I’ve learnt about how local government works, how Plymouth works, and how to bring together people and groups with divergent interests and goals, has been invaluable. It’s what drove me to take the leap and develop a motion for the ocean (link to website page). These big, policy changing actions will have lasting impact for whole communities, but as a councillor I also got to help on a micro scale, being at the end of the phone when someone’s life suddenly was overwhelmed and they had to call in help. Politicians always say what a privilege it is to represent people, which sounds insincere to voters who think we are all about backroom deals, expenses and duck ponds, but it is a privilege. To be the person someone chooses when they need some help is a privilege which shouldn’t be abused or approached cynically. Having the power to propose or vote on a policy change literally means you have a power to change lives, whether in a small or a big way. Which is why it should be more accessible for a wider range of people. But that’s a blog for another day…

My thanks to the Honicknowle residents who voted for me in 2018. I gave it 100% and always tried my hardest for you.