Petition Tag - suffolk

At its meeting on 23 September 2010, members of Suffolk County Council were asked:

1. to agree the recommendation from Cabinet that the future role of the Council will be an enabling one (focussing on becoming a strategic body with much less service delivery), based on the Council’s New Strategic Direction of transforming public services through collaboration and strengthening communities while reducing costs by 30%.

2. to approve the further development of a model to reshape the Council to ‘divest’ services; reduce its size, cost and bureaucracy and build community capacity to enable Suffolk citizens to take greater control of their lives.

The motion was passed with 52 members voting in favour and 11 voting against.

It has become clear that the ‘divestment’ of services involves handing almost all of them over to contractors or volunteers. This will lead to a loss of control over the quality of life for all Suffolk citizens. As an editorial in the Guardian observed,
‘Whether procuring a monstrous computer system or simply specifying that a hospital ward should be kept clean, public servants have found it singularly difficult to spell out enforceable rules that see to it that jobs get properly done. For every privately built road or prison that might have saved money, there is an overpriced hospital with a bill that stretches into a distant future in which it may not be needed.’

Services commissioned and run by volunteers and community groups lack accountability and such groups may be unable to sustain their commitment. The proposed timescale to consult Suffolk citizens and to implement the New Strategic Direction is too short and is an enormous risk when such an exercise has not been undertaken on this scale by any other council.

The New Strategic Direction is nothing more than a potentially disastrous experiment that will result in the loss of service quality and experienced professionals (who will have to be financially compensated), without any evidence that it will save money.

Note: Please do not sign the petition if you don’t have a Suffolk address.

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The Norwich to Ninety campaign aims to persuade the Department for Transport to include a range of improvements to the Norwich to London line as part of the new Greater Anglia franchise specification.

Whatever is included in the new franchise will be the service that is delivered for rail passengers on the Great Eastern Main Line for the next decade.

We want:

• A ninety-minute journey time between Norwich and London.

• More reliable services, improving upon recent performance.

• New Inter-City style trains including features such as wi-fi.

• More train capacity - but without down-grading the Norwich to London service to commuter-style carriages.

• Station improvements, including better car parking and facilities for waiting passengers.

We will also be campaigning for other improvements including:
• Cleanliness and comfort
• On-board facilities such as wi-fi and catering
• Measures introduced to reduce engineering disruption
• Improvements to rural lines

The Norwich to London line is a crucial economic artery, linking Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex to London. Investment is essential to bring it into the 21st century and to allow these counties to remain competitive.

For example the 115 mile journey from London to Norwich takes around 1hr 50mins, yet Birmingham (118 miles) can be reached in only 1hr 23 mins and York (180 miles) in 1 hr 59mins.

A shorter journey time in high quality trains would encourage more people to switch from cars to the railway, reducing road congestion and carbon emissions, as well as improving the economic competitiveness of the city and county.

Please sign the petition and encourage others to do so and ensure the Department for Transport listens to commuters and train users in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex and train users in general to ensure the new franchise includes the much needed improvements.

Follow us on twitter and have your say on the trains
http://twitter.com/Norwichin90

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The creation of a Suffolk County Drag Strip would greatly reduce the dangers of street racing on public roads.

A supervised and controlled environment would be beneficial in keeping kids and young adults off the streets.

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