Gillingham South Focus

Gillingham South go for Strength and Commitment

Commitment

With so many Medway Councillors having been elected whilst representing one party and then part way through their term of office, switching to another party, we want to impress upon the residents of Gillingham South, your Liberal Democrat candidates for the 2015 Local Elections this coming May are 100% committed to serving your interests under the Lib Dem banner and no other! We are not in it for us…..we are in it for YOU!

Strength

Cllr. Geoff Juby, the Leader of the LibDem Group on Medway Council, with many years experience and the bruises to show for it, is standing again. A renowned unrelenting fighter for the interests of Gillingham South residents, he will continue to be so if re-elected.

Tony Jeacock, current Chairman of the Medway Lib Dems, is an old soldier (ex-Royal Engineers). He was a Financial Adviser for over 35 years, arranging mortgages for residents of Gillingham South as well as advising on tax and estate-planning. Tony is greatly concerned about local housing issues.

And with Chris Sams, Vice Chairman and active local resident with interests in securing more amenities for young kids in Gillingham South and the revamping of the High Street, you have a unified team of strength and total commitment working towards creating a strong local economy in a fairer local society to enable everyone to get on in life.

A formidable team at your service.

Gillingham & Rainham Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate

Paul Chaplin, has been formally adopted as our candidate for the parliamentary constituency of Gillingham and Rainham for the 2015 General Election.

Paul was born and brought up in Gillingham & Rainham and went to the Howard School and Chatham Grammar. An auditor to the medical profession for the past 20 years, in his spare time he volunteers as an emergency medic. He also serves the local community by sitting on the Clinical Commissioning group's Urgent Care Programme as well as the Medicines Management Review Panel.

Paul feels proud of the LibDems successful achievements within the coalition government since 2010, including the 'Triple Lock' for pensioners and the £800 annual income tax savings for ordinary workers and the millions who have been taken out of income tax altogether. These are things that the Tories said could not be done, but the LibDems have done it!

If elected as your MP, Paul will commit to serving you rather than pursuing his own self interests.

More LibDem Successes …. And Some!

• Livingstone Road: After much campaigning by Geoff, this road was at last recently re-surfaced, and what a difference it has made!
• Imperial Road, parts of Gillingham Road and Canterbury Street: After Geoff had done much pushing, these have been addressed, but there is yet more to do. We will keep on until it is done.
• Windmill Road: Tony pressed Tory Cllr. Phil Filmer, ( responsible for roads) regarding the appalling state of the road surface on the roundabout to the entrance of the hospital. We are pleased to see this has also now been resurfaced.
• Vicarage Road: Geoff would very much like to thank the residents for their help in getting Vicarage Road resurfaced.
• Parking & Traffic Congestion: Tony recently pushed the portfolio-holder at full council over parking and traffic congestion issues around the hospital approaches. Since then, parking has now been made available to hospital staff at the Compass Centre to try to ease the situation. We will take time out to monitor the situation, but please remember, you are our eyes and ears! So, please don't hesitate to keep us informed.
• Green Street Baptist Church: Geoff was pleased to be of some assistance in getting part of the funding to have work done on the front of the Baptist Church building.
• Napier Road: Both Geoff and Cllr. Sheila Kearney managed to get a site visit in place for a submitted planning application.
• Successes in 2015 already: Potholes repaired in Milton Road and the whole road put on a resurfacing list; we are hoping for the work to be completed within the next 18 months. Sooner would be better!
• Livingstone Circus: Was due for resurfacing 21st February but now delayed due to emergency gas repairs. Reprogramming will follow

Illegal Removal of Household Waste

Talking with local Gillingham South residents, Geoff and Tony were told of a growing problem regarding persons taking items of domestic waste from other people's gardens for the illegal purpose of recycling for financial gain and dumping the residue in alleyways. We are now in the process of following this up. Again, we ask you to be our eyes and ears to help us to put an end to this.

Our phone number is 01634 540640.

Free School Meals

Your Gillingham South Lib Dem Team, (L-R) Chris, Geoff and Tony are delighted that £566,681 to fund Free School Meals was received by Medway Council, thanks to the LibDems and that 25 Medway schools have been assisted from this money, including Barnsole, Byron and Napier Primary schools in Gillingham South. This helps to improve behaviour and helps to boost learning. It is also quite a useful saving on parent's shopping bills.

IS YOUR CHILD ATTENDING AN ACADEMY SCHOOL?

Do you know that if your child attends an Academy School then the local council is no longer able to assist you with any problems or complaints?

With some of our Primary Schools and all Medway's Secondary schools (except for St. John Fisher) being academies, your ward Councillors. are finding that some parents do not know how to deal with concerns and complaints.

The first step is to look the school up on the Web; then you can download the complaints procedures for that particular academy. If this is subsequently ignored, the only recourse remaining is to go direct to the Department of Education.

If you have access to a computer, you can go to the DofE for their complaints form, or alternatively, write to:

Ministerial & Public Communications Division,

Department for Education

Piccadilly Gate, Store Street,

Manchester M1 2WD

Hopefully you'll never need this information, but keep it just in case!