FISHER WANTS SERCO OUT - OFFICIAL!

Mark Fisher MP for Stoke Central is urging the governments schools minister Jim Knight to reject SERCO's proposal to reorganise Secondary Education in this city. He also lashed out at those councilors on the Elected Mayors payroll who voted against the vote of no confidence in the company that run the Cities Education Department. The vote of "no confidence" in SERCO was brought by Terry Follows the Independent Councilor for Trentham and Hanford. The other two ward councilors Roger Ibbs & Ross Irving voted against the wishes of the constituents of Trentham & Hanford and backed the under fire company. In fact Mr Ibbs Claimed during the debate in the council chamber that the improvement made by Trentham High School was because of SERCO's involvement in education and not in spite of it! This has caused outrage among the members of the Save Trentham High Campaign.
Mr Fisher was not happy with the validity of the vote and had this to say "There is a huge question mark over the validity of the vote. It is quite clear such a huge change hasn't got the confidence of parents. It has not got the confidence of the council and you cannot make this enormous change on the basis of an uncertain situation.

"Look at the names of the councillors who voted for Serco's plans. Check them against the people with special allowances. It is effectively a pay roll vote."

This is the first time i can think of that a Labour politician either MP or councilor has spoken out against members of the party.
Mr Fisher has also come out in favour of the "democracy4stoke" campaign led by Councilor Mike Barnes who wants an end to the Elected Mayor system.
The whole city has been waiting for our three Labour MP's to come out in the open and state their preference of governance for the city they represent. When will Joan Walley and Rob Flello speak out?
Serco are not the most popular people in our city and indeed their is still a huge outcry that Trentham, Longton, Berryhill & Mitchell High Schools are to close.
Do you think Jim Knight will take any notice of Mr Fisher? Do you think that the schools earmarked for closure still have a chance of a reprieve? What do you want our MP's to do now? Over to you.........

To read the Sentinel article click the link:

http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/news/MP-attacks-Serco-plans-Stoke-Trent/article-383438-detail/article.html

Web Response of the Week Award!

We here at pitsnpots love to recognise examples of high quality web posting. The first recipient of the "Web Response of the Week Award" goes to Trentham Action Groups very own Nicky Davis!

In response to a letter sent by Tory Shaun Bennett to the Sentinel this week taking issue with Councillor Zulfiqar Ali's letter supporting the Elected Mayor system Nicky left this response:

"I agree with you Shaun in favouring the leader model.A leader is less able to become dictatorial. Also can be more easily removed. I'm sorry but in SOT we clearly have to be able to do this. If they start to wreak havoc we don't want them carrying that on for 4 years.I completely agree with you when you say "he goes on to argue that under a Leader and Cabinet model there would be constant backroom dealing between the various groups to negotiate positions of power in a coalition. But just what on earth does he think goes on now under the existing mayor and advisory cabinet system?"I commented as such on the web when Councillor Zulfiqar Ali's letter was published.You go on to say;"Do we not have a coalition of the three main parties at present? Was this coalition not negotiated behind closed doors without any input not only from the electorate but from their own party members?" Very well said, bold of you.It would be good if you go that bit further though, you have not mentioned that one of the worst possible outcomes for mayor (also for leader) would be Roger Ibbs! But of course you couldn't possibly say that could you?Ibbs is currently off on his own tack, pursuing some sort of land deal so he can build, on a green wedge, an academy school that Trentham doesn't want and Blurton doesn't want. Is this some crazed tory policy disaster or just something from planet Ibbs? Are you not concerned that if Ibbs has his way, children from your community in Blurton will have to travel to Trentham to go to school, in the absence of a safe walking route? What Blurton needs is a new school, in Blurton, as promised years ago. If families there are keen for it to be an academy then fine, but they should be given the choice. What Trentham needs is to keep the fantastic school it has. Trentham families want a federation, not an academy, so they should be allowed that.I've just seen Balls on BBC parliament spouting a lot of, well, as the name suggests, labour lies, on how much they want parents to be involved in their children's schools. Well that's not being allowed for us is it. So what does mayor Meredith think he's doing in the labour name? Labour promote academies, but they are also suposed to support federations and other arrangements, so let us have what we choose for our community.But then I've also got these tory lies, sent to me in an email, 22nd September, from the Consevative Party Chairman's office, CCHQ:"David Cameron has stated that we have to look at expanding the provision of education. But that any reforms have to be done with the support of the community and the parents which they serve."That's very far removed from what Ibbs is doing in the tory name! Don't let your mighty leader tell you he is doing the best thing for Trentham and Blurton, he's barely speaking to any of us, he doesn't speak to me at all.Labour and tory alike are doing nothing for communities, just dictating to us! Neither of them are any good. Neither of them are communicating with us. And I know why, neither of them have any intelligent arguments to make. I recently emailed all 60 councillors about the schools issue. None of the 11 responses I received came from the conservatives, or labour, or libdems. All 11 were supportive.Disclaimer: Save Trentham High is a non-political organisation with the sole aim of saving Trentham High. Individuals within it may express their political views but do not necessarily speak for STH."
Nicky Davis, Trentham

It's a testing time for all concerned with the Trentham Action Group but there is one thing for certain these guys will NEVER give up. They have fought their fight hard and there is still a big desire to see it through. Nicky encapsulates the spirit within the Group and with strong leadership from Dan Jordan and Donna Dewar the council, mayor and Serco will know they are still in a battle.

Well done Nicky you are our first winner keep up the posting on the Sentinel and of course here on pitsnpots!