Over the years I’ve had the pleasure of walking all over Earlham, delivering our regular Focus newsletter and canvassing local people on the issues. While Earlham is a lovely place to live, it seems the area appears to get less maintenance than it used to. Grass is cut at irregular intervals, paths or roads allowed to enter disrepair. Verges being chewed by inconsiderate parking has long been an issue, especially at hotspots near George Borrow Rd and West Earlham Junior.

In some cases there is a council authority to blame, and where possible I have tried to take up casework to get the truth on who should be doing what, when. But in the meantime, I think there is something to be said for people power: coming together to put right what has been neglected and give Earlham the TLC it deserves. That’s why I’ve started the clean-up crew. Our group of volunteers started on North Park Ave in September, weeding a poorly maintained path.

See our social media video detailing what we got up to:

Transcript

0:01
Hello James, what are we up to today?

0:03
Oh hello, we're here on North Park Avenue with our volunteer clean up crew.

0:08
Just doing a little bit of wedding.

0:10
Couple of reasons for that:

0:11
Firstly, the path could do with a little bit of TLC. It does look a little bit worse for wear, and I think people ought to have reason to be proud of where they live.

0:21
So what better thing to do on a nice sunny Saturday morning than come along, and put in some elbow grease for the community?

0:29
But the second reason; as winter approaches, as things get colder; wetter; icier; weeds like these can prove a slipping hazard for people who are harder of balance, or older, or just more vulnerable in general.

0:49
And indeed, that is exactly what happened two years ago when we got a report of someone who had a nasty fall on this path when it had similarly been left without maintenance for a long period of time.

1:02
So we came along with a group of volunteers, cleaned it up, and for a while the council was maintaining it a little bit better.

1:09
That seems to have fallen out a little bit again. So we're coming along. Hopefully second time is the charm.

1:14
And if you know of somewhere that could do with a little bit of maintenance, whether from the councils or from us, let us know.

1:24
And if you've got some spare time to help us out and join our group of volunteers, we'd love to hear from you as well.

Disabled bus passes in England will soon be eligible for use at all times of day after extensive campaigning from Lib Dem MP Tom Gordon. Previously, there were time restrictions in man areas, which often prevented disabled people from getting to work or university.

When this matter was originally put before Parliament last year, Labour MPs — including Clive Lewis, the MP for Norwich South — voted against it. However, the government have since decided that this change will take place after all. The prime minister says that it has been ‘good to work with you [Tom Gordon] on this’. Lib Dems are holding the government accountable.

Marlowe North, diversity officer for Norwich Lib Dems, says:

See Marlowe talk about what this change means for disabled people on our social media:

Transcript

0:00
A big win in the news recently.

0:03
It's been announced that disabled bus passes in England will soon be eligible for use at all times of day, where previously there were time restrictions.

0:11
This change was put forward last year by Lib Dem MP Tom Gordon, but at the time was voted down by government MPs: including Clive Lewis, who represents Norwich South. 

0:20
Public transport supports disabled people to work, to study, and to engage in social life, and making bus passes 24 hour is a common-sense policy that we're very proud to support.

0:29
It's really wonderful to hear that these harmful, ridiculous time restrictions will be scrapped after all.

The £2,000 per councillor per annum was cleared by the Green Party Cabinet on 29th July to come into effect almost immediately. The scheme will run for an initial year and then be reviewed with a view to continuing thereafter.

The idea was part of a budget amendment put forward earlier in the year by both the Green Party and the Liberal Democrats and voted through by Labour. Liberal Democrat leader on the City Council James Wright said:

See what James had to say about this on social media:

The budget which county councillors receive to spend in their areas on small highways items, environmental projects, and community initiatives has been scrapped by the new Reform administration. 

This is supposedly a cut to save on the overall spending for Norfolk County Council this year, but with the fund in question totalling less than £1m in an overall highways budget of £57m, its loss will merely be a drop in the ocean in terms of the deficit. But the loss to local communities in Norfolk could be very large indeed. Local councillors and community groups are often the best people situated to make judgements on the sort of improvements an area needs most, rather than civil servants at County Hall. Your Focus team have on several occasions in the past been able to use this budget to make positive changes in south Norwich, and we worry that a more centralised system will crowd out community voice. 

For example, the fund has allowed Eaton’s county councillor, Brian Watkins, to spend money on purchasing a SAM sign which has been used to monitor speed levels at various locations in Eaton Village during the past three years.  

Hear what Cllr Watkins had to say about the abolition on social media. 

Hear James' thoughts on the developments at City Hall:

Transcript:

0:04
Here's a quick update on the potential for a tourist information centre here in Norwich.
0:09
I brought a question to the City Council about this and according to the Green Party, who now run City Hall, there isn't a financial case for establishing an actual in-person centre for tourist information in the city centre.
0:22
I think this is really disappointing.
0:24
There are a lot of things that you can only do in person, and sticking to a mostly online model just isn't the same.
0:29
There is something to be said for footfall after all.
0:32
But this is what I'm interested in:
0:34
Are they going to come to the next meeting with a real positive alternative that still supports the tourism industry?
0:40
Or are they just going to let this idea fall to the wayside?
0:43
That's what I'm going to keep an eye on.

A few years ago, our long-time candidate in Earlham, James Hawketts, heard that a pedestrian path on North Park Ave was completely overgrown, with the council not tidying it up. So we went around and tidied it ourselves with some help from local volunteers.

We’re looking to revive this cleaning-up task force, looking after the areas the council don’t. If you know of any, please do tell us by getting in contact using the details at the top of the page. 

We are also looking for people who may be able to volunteer either time to assist in the cleaning itself, or anyone who could lend us the use of their brown bins to dispose of any garden-type waste generated. Our recent editions of Focus made this same request and while we have had a few responses, it would be good to know of some more places in need of TLC.