Celebrating St George’s Day

St Michaels branch Conservatives celebrated Englands Patron Saint George with a supper at the Avenida restaurant in Welling on Thursday evening (23rd APril). Ward Councillor Matthew Scott, dressed as St George, and gave details of the Saint’s life, Branch Chairman Mark Brooks read from Shakespeares Henry V, and Cllr Ray Sams gave amusing annecdotes on being English.

The guest of honour was Shadow Justice Minister Henry Bellingham MP who spoke about England, his Justice brief and the current political scene. Among the other guests were David Evennett MP and his wife Marilyn, James Cleverly AM, Bexley Deputy Mayoress Diane Sams and Eltham Conservative Candidate David Gold.

Cllr Joe Pollard gave the vote of thanks.

St George’s Day in Bexley

Flying the Flag for St George’s Day

The London Borough of Bexley will proudly display the Cross of St George at Civic Offices, Bexleyheath throughout next week to commemorate St George’s Day (23 April).

To celebrate the day in style a special citizenship ceremony will take place at Hall Place, Bexley on 23 April. The ceremony will see 30 residents take the oath to become new British citizens. The ceremony is designed to welcome new British citizens into the local community. The Mayor of Bexley, Cllr Nick O’Hare will attend the ceremony along with family and friends of those taking part.

“St George’s Day is a fantastic opportunity for us all to celebrate the best of everything English;” says Leader of the Council, Cllr Teresa O’Neill. “I am proud to be flying the flag to mark this day. It is great to see St George’s Day becoming established alongside the other annual celebrations of our national identity. It is also the ideal day to hold a citizenship ceremony – what a fantastic memory for everyone taking part!”

Across the borough the Children’s Mobile Library will be displaying books about Britain and England throughout the week and the St George’s flag will be flown on the van. Story time will of course be the tale of George and the Dragon.

At Welling Library the Chatterbooks group will be running a St George’s Day themed event on Wednesday 22 April from 4pm-5pm. There will be stories about St George’s Day and children will get the chance to make their own dragon.

At Slade Green Library the ‘Story@4′ session will have St George and as the theme.

For England and St George!

We’ve got the flags out early at the Centre. We’re hosting a special evening concert for St George’s Day on Saturday 25 April for the SMRA.

Call Hall Manager Terry Grant on 07801 265 713 for tickets, which are £10.

Labour’s £700k cut to Bexley education budgets

The Learning and Skills Council has reduced the amount that Bexley’s secondary schools and sixth form colleges will get next year by £718,000.

Letters were sent to Bexley schools outlining their budgetary allocations on 1 March, however, they sent revised letters at the end of last month that reduced the number of sixth form pupils by 3.7% across the board, even though some of these pupils are still on roll.

This is the latest failure of the Government agency, which has completely mismanaged the further education capital programme.

One school stands to lose £143,000 – or 5.8% of its budget. Commenting, Cllr Simon Windle, Bexley’s Cabinet Member for Schools, Adult Education and Youth Services and Deputy Leader, said “It is now apparent that the Government want pupils to stay on at school because it benefits them politically but doesn’t want to provide the necessary funds”.

Bexley is losing out again as a result of this Labour Government’s incompetence.

Free Easter Parking in Bexley

The Mayor of London has given his backing to the plans for free parking over Easter weekend announced by Bexley’s Conservative Council.

The charges have been scrapped for the entire weekend to encourage Bexley’s residents to support Bexley’s economy and businesses.

Boris Johnson said:

“I strongly support this initiative and congratulate Bexley Conservatives for doing their bit to help their local economy at this difficult time. I urge everyone in Bexley to take advantage of this opportunity and shop locally and support local businesses and to make the most of the long Easter weekend.”

Cllr Teresa O’Neill, Leader of Bexley Conservatives, added:

“We had such a good response from the free parking we offered before Christmas, we’ve decided to do it again and I hope people will use this opportunity to give our local shops a boost over the long weekend.”

Car parking charges have been scrapped for Saturday 11th April, and because Bexley does not charge to park on bank holidays or Sundays, it means the entire weekend will be free.

ENDS

The following car parks will be free on Saturday 11 April:

Mill Road, Northumberland Heath,

Nuxley Road, Belvedere Village

Nags Head Lane, Welling

Grassington Road, Sidcup

Main Road, Sidcup

Bexley High Street, Bexley

Thanet Road, Bexley

Albion Road, Bexleyheath

Cinema, Bexleyheath

Civic Office, Bexleyheath

Oaklands, Bexleyheath

Bowling Centre, Bexleyheath

Lowest council tax rise for 15 years

Bexley’s Conservative Council set their budget last night, with their share of the council tax to rise by just 2.5%. As Boris Johnson has frozen his share, this means a rise overall of just 2%.

Services for vulnerable people are protected, despite a massive shortfall in Government funding for adult social care.

Parkwood Leisure, running leisure centres in Bexley, worked with the Council to plug the shortfall in Government funding so that under 16s and over 60s can enjoy free swimming in the Borough.

There is an extra £1m for road and pavement improvements, £300k for youth centres, as well as free parking over the entire Easter weekend to help local businesses.

There was more good news announced last night. Bexley has won a competition run by Boris Johnson to renovate Blackfen’s Parish Wood park. Our services have again been given four star quality by the Audit Commission – the highest rating. Bexley has also won a new Beacon Status award, this time for cutting bureaucracy.

Overall, this is a good budget, representing value for money for Bexley council tax payers. We are keeping our promises to keep rises down whilst providing good services to local people.

£1m more for Bexley’s roads

Bexley’s Conservative Council will be putting an additional ONE MILLION POUNDS into repairing and improving local roads and pavements, under plans contained in the Council’s new budget for 2009/10.

This additional money is on top of what is already planned, and is to be spent over the next two years to deliver improvements for an extra 20 or so roads and pavements.

Announcing the decision, Cllr Peter Craske, Conservative Cabinet Member for Transport, said:

“I am pleased we are able to put this extra one million pounds towards improving our local highways.

This is on top of what we have already planned and represents a massive investment in Bexley’s infrastructure by this Conservative administration.

Our new budget will put Bexley residents first, and this plan shows we mean it.”

Improving facilities for young people

Bexley’s Conservative Council is ensuring services for young people are a key part of its new budget.

Over £300,000 is to be invested in new playground facilities across the Borough, and substantial upgrading of the Danson Youth Centre, Welling Youth Centre and Southlake Centre is planned.

The Council is also putting together a bid to the Government to create 22 new quality public play spaces for 8 – 13 year olds, and ideas are currently being gathered from local community and voluntary groups. It is hoped to secure one million pounds for this scheme.

These plans build on the recent development of an Integrated Youth Support Service and a brand new information Hub in the Broadway.