This is a friendly reminder to all those members wishing to attend our next meeting. The date is no longer the 31/05/11 but is the 07/06/11. The time of 19:30 remains the same as does the location (please see the latest issue of E-FOCUS for further information!)
We know some residents have expressed concern about the closure of the Westerhope Day Centre for people with learning difficulties - 10 of the 80 users live in Westerhope ward. Over the last year, numbers attending the centre had fallen by around 40% following the last Labour governments introduction of "Direct Payments" to pay for individual care needs, helping people to find care packages that best meet their needs, rather than being limited to activities inside the day centre . This has included private care, community provision, arts and sports opportunities, and work experience and training projects. Several users have gone on to find full time or part time work.
Last year a lot of local controversy was caused over the use of green open spaces in the Westerhope area. These are, quite understandably, valued by people who live locally, but many people also recognise that the issue was "stirred up" by people for reasons of their own.
In hindsight, Liberal Democrats must admit that we should have made it clear that our promise to scrap tuition fees could only be guaranteed in circumstances where the Liberal Democrats had an overall parliamentary majority, because both the Conservatives and Labour were committed to tuition fees.
We understand many people, particularly in the North East where many people work in the public sector, have no great love for the Conservatives, and are critical of the Lib Dem decision to work with them in government. Most Lib Dems don't have a lot of love for the Conservatives (or Labour) either - but we think people prefer seeing politicians work together when it's necessary in the wider national interest.
Lib Dems recognise many people are very unhappy about the government spending cuts - but we hope people recognise that they are not being made as a vote-winning exercise, they are being made because the country simply can't afford to go on borrowing billions upon billions of pounds every day to pay the bills.