Friday, February 16, 2007

Gilberdyke's Broad Lane to get Double Yellow Lines

The East Riding of Yorkshire Council have now confirmed that Broad Lane, Gilberdyke is to get double Yellow lines along both sides of the road, from the top of the railway bridge to a point after the Warburton’s Site, with a parking bay outside of Wades Cottages.

“The road had effectively become a single line track for a distance of over a quarter of a mile meaning that vehicles frequently met in this section, with vehicles having to reverse to allow the oncoming vehicles to pass. This is great news for the residents of Broad Lane, as well for those road users from Blacktoft, Yokefleet, and Faxfleet who have been inconvenienced for too long”

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Funding for new Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs)

With Shadow Home Secretary and local MP David Davis
outside Howden Local Policing Team Station

Funding for new PCSOs

Today (Tuesday), Humberside Police Authority decided to fund the 33% short fall in funding by Central Government to enable the planned increase in Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) to go ahead in the East Riding of Yorkshire, as part of the neighbourhood-policing programme.

“As Chairman of Gilberdyke Parish Council and member of the Howden Neighbourhood Policing Panel - I recognise that one of the issues we face is crime, with many people unhappy with the service provided by the police, and fearful of crime. It is quite clear the police need to be seen, and to regain people’s trust. The role of the PCSO is very much community based and probably the nearest thing we’re going to get to a ‘Local Bobby’ on our streets”.

“This funding is very good news, and may well go a long way in allowing people to feel comfortable calling and dealing with the police. I look forward to seeing this type of high visibility, Police presence in Gilberdyke, and our neighbouring villages as a minimum requirement, to reduce the fear of crime as well as crime itself”.

Friday, February 09, 2007

SHOCKING UNDER-FUNDING OF LOCAL SCHOOLS REVEALED

With fellow candidate Charlie Bayram
visiting Gilberdyke School

As a parent of a child at Gilberdyke School as well as the Chair of the School Governors Paul Robinson says “The Labour Government provided East Riding schools with the fourth and fifth worst education funding in the country during past two years. An average East Riding pupil in the school year 2007/08 will receive £464 less than an average pupil in Hull thanks to this Central Government under-funding our local schools.

Despite the fifth worst funding in the country our schools are among the top 10% best performing in the country. It is no thanks to the Government (with its majority of urban MPs) that our rural schools are doing so well, it is down to the dedication of our local teachers, support staff and pupils who, despite Labour’s appalling under-funding, perform brilliantly year on year.
The East Riding Council is in a difficult position. Either it makes cuts to local services or it raises council tax. In the past ALL parties have agreed to protect local services rather than introduce massive cuts to those vital services".

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Howdenshire Forward Learning Lab Project

To work with young people and local sport was selected as a lead priority by Howdenshire Forward. Paul Robinson, Chairman of Howdenshire Forward’s Leisure, Recreation and Culture programme says, “This area was prioritised by the organisation, as it is in tune with what people are telling us, and issues concerning young people have been highlighted in many surveys and Parish Plans conducted in Gilberdyke, Newport, and other Howdenshire villages”.
Paul Continues, “We must consult the young people of our communities and the schools are best placed to facilitate this. We must determine what the young people want, what motivates them, what doesn't etc. Any survey questions or research needs to be well thought through to get under the skin of what they are really thinking and presented to them in a format that is fun. The learning Lab project Soundscape project fitted neatly into what Howdenshire Forward is trying to achieve”.

The Learning Lab Soundscape project carried out at Howden School aimed to provide ten students from Year 10 with the technical and creative skills with which to build a soundscape of their town.

Howden, and more particularly the students’ perception of Howden, formed the starting point for the soundscape itself. It should be emphasised that the 5 – 10 minute soundscape is a creative work of sound art. The focus of the piece is the sounds themselves; it was dependant on choice of clips made by the students and how they were fragmented, repeated or layered. The exercise was concerned with dynamics, ambience, rhythm, tension and release, rather than conveying a particular meaning or specific statement about the town. The project included introducing the students to mini disc field recording, along with exposure to ideas about public and private spaces, and a listening walk, which encouraged a heightened awareness of everyday sounds that our brain usually relegates to the background. Field recording provided the bulk of recorded material for the soundscape, in addition to this, two student groups made use of the mini disk recorders after school, in order to capture more of the sounds that they experience in Howden during evening hours, as well as in their home environment.

Finally the students selected and combined the sounds recorded; by the end of the project the students had created a visual plan of their soundscape.

With regard to how the project will contribute to Howdenshire Forward initiatives, it is hoped to use recorded material, which is left in a less edited format to present alongside the more abstract soundscape. This material includes interviews of the students giving their impressions of Howden and some of their suggestions about how the town environment and facilities might be improved.

“I was struck by the students’ engagement with the soundscape project, as well as by their overwhelmingly positive view of their town and community. The students have contributed intelligent and well articulated views, and with a wide range of interests within the group - from drama and music to sport and outdoor activities – these students would make an essential contribution to any debate about the future of Howden. Hopefully, the soundscape project will be the start of a longer process of consultation with the young people of the town”.

The Learning Lab is a programme of Integreat Yorkshire, part funded by the Academy for Sustainable Communities, to work alongside Howden as part of Yorkshire Forwards Renaissance Programme.