8/7/2019 Bellingham Focus February 2011

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Bellingham campaigner Jenni Steele has

found out the hard way how difficult it

can be to make a difference locally. As a

mum of three teenagers, shes worried

about safety of children, but found all

sorts of barriers when trying to get

something done. Getting people to

listen was easy; getting them to do

something was the hard part. says Jenni,

so I decided to do it myself.

Bringing local people together to work

for safer streets was the first step, but

standing for election to the council as a

Lib Dem candidate last May helped raise

her profile and rally support: People

really responded to this issue on thedoorstep, and it helped focus my work.

After the elections, Jenni became the

chair of the polices Safer

Neighbourhoods Panel for Bellingham

ward, where she has started to push

along real changes. Its one street at a

time stuff, but its happening!

Although safety is a big priority for Jenni,

shes involved in other local projects -

from working with young children and

tackling anti-social behaviour, through to

developing the skills of mothers going

back work - and has raised thousands of

pounds to support these schemes.

Theres always more to do though, and

shes glad that her chosen party, the Lib

Dems, are still committed to improving

what the council does for Bellingham

after 40 years of Labour failure. But

hasnt it been a bad year for her party?

You dont start supporting another

football team just because its had a few

bad matches or an unpopular manager -you stick with them thick or thin because

its your team, comments Jenni.

Politics is the same - its your team

because you share the same goals - and

you keep working together to get there,

even if the games get more challenging!

Im sticking with them because theyve

got the right ideas and the right people

to help fix some of our problems locally,

and theyre doing their best as part of the

government in a difficult period. Andtheres good stuff: finding extra money

for schools even while the government

has to make savings.

Its easy to forget that its going to take

time to sort out the what Labour left

behind: huge debts and poor public

services. The Lib Dems were right last

May to challenge Labour about these

things and theyre still right now.

LIB DEMS

CONS

LAB

Bellingham ward

February 2011

Cons & Green

LibDems

Labour

How you voted in Bellinghamward in May last year...

... the Lib Dems arenow best placed to

take on Labourhere...

... and in theTown Hall, itsthe Lib Dems whoare challengingLabour to deliverbetter servicesfor you.

Jenni: changingthe world onestreet at a time

Extra funding forschools in Bellingham

Seeoverleafformore

Bellingham campaigner

Jenni Steele

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Could you help us?The Liberal Democrats are the real alternative in Bellingham

ward and on Lewisham Council. Were not funded by big

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other_______

120m interestpayments: Labourslegacy for the UKEven before the General Election,

Lewisham Labour were planning cuts

of 60m. They knew that years of

wasting millions locally, and

borrowing billions nationally, would

end in this crisis.

Remember, because of Labour, were

all paying 120 million every dayin

interest on our national debt.

The Nationwide Building Society hascontacted local customers to say that it

plans to shut all three branches in

Lewisham Borough (Catford, Lewisham

and Blackheath) and a number of other

branches in South East London.

Lewisham Lib Dem councillor JuliaFletcher wrote to the Chairman and

Chief Executive of the Nationwide to

complain about this decision, pointing

out that Lewisham has a population of

around 250,000 people. She has

received a reply to say that the

Chairman is investigating this issue.

Councillor Fletcher commented: "Ireally hope the Nationwide will change

their mind on this. Although a lot can

be done online nowadays it really

makes no sense to leave customers

with no local branches at all to visit."

The Liberal Democrats scored a big

jump in support in Bellingham ward at

the elections last may, leap-frogging

the Conservatives to become the main

challengers in the traditional Labour

stronghold.

We had a huge swing to us and our

wonderful local candidates Danny,

Richard and Jenni, comments Lib

Dem parliamentary candidate AlexFeakes. People really picked up on

our messages and liked what we

trying to do, so Im glad that even

though we didnt win, weve been

able to do some of those things now

were part of government. Its great to

be able to deliver on Lib Dem policies

like the Pupil Premium at last.

Lewisham Mayoral candidate Chris

Maines adds: We met hundreds of

local people when we were out

campaigning in Bellingham last year -

there was a real appetite for change.

So it was disappointing that Labour

managed to get in again by scare-

mongering the voters.Were not giving up though, and we

look forward to seeing people out on

the doorstep soon. Thank you to

everyone we met last year for the

warm reception, and to all those who

voted for us and supported our work.

Building Society no longer quite so Nationwide

Additional cashavailable to schoolsfrom SeptemberThe Liberal Democrats have announced

that the Pupil Premium scheme will be

put in place from this September.

The extra funding, which was a key LibDem commitment at the General

Election, targets extra cash at schools

which take children from the

disadvantaged backgrounds. The first

years funding is an extra 430 per

student eligible for Free School Meals,

will mean over 3.5m more for

education in Lewisham borough,

despite the budget savings, and

thousands of pounds extra for

Bellinghams schools. Thegovernments intention is for the

Premium to rise annually over each of

the next few years.

Thank youFrom the Lib Dem Bellingham ward team

The Lib Dem team for theelections last May in

Bellingham ward ( ):

council candidates DannyDignan, Richard Adams,

Jenni Steele; parliamentary

candidate Alex Feakes; andLewisham Mayoral

candidate Chris Maines.