Tag: cuts

Notts Cuts Watch #11 [plus videos of recent Anti Cuts, Corporate Tax & Student Fees demos]

Notts Cuts Watch #11, from Notts Indymedia, covers cuts and anti-cuts news in the period from Monday 20th until Sunday 26th December 2010.

Even as Christmas approached, the cutting of public services in Nottinghamshire continued. The festivities have taken the sails out of the resistance to these attacks, but I’m sure it will be back with a vengeance in the new year. (On which note, make sure you put the Combating the Cuts event on January 15th in your diary.) Until then, why not spend some of the post-Christmas lull reading up on exactly what’s being cut? Knowledge is power and all that.

Continues here: http://nottingham.indymedia.org.uk/articles/831

Also on Notts Indymedia, a video of our recent Anti Cuts, Corporate Tax & Student Fees demo involving a walk-through of Boots:
http://nottingham.indymedia.org.uk/videos/832

More Nottingham video here from demos on the 18th Dec 2010: http://ukuncut.org.uk/actions/149

Sign the petition to defend ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages)

NATECLA (National Association of Teachers of English and Community Language to Adults) have launched a petition to defend ESOL provision. In Nottingham, loss of ESOL funding will impact on users and jobs in Further Education colleges.

The Coalition Government plans to radically reduce spending on ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) provision, whilst imposing new restrictions on fee remission. Asylum seekers will be excluded entirely from publicly funded language classes, whilst others will be expected to pay more. It is widely accepted that language education is crucial for migrant integration. Cutting language education will further marginalise migrants, making it harder for them to find decent jobs or to participate in the local community.

Please sign petition today and circulate the message widely!
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/defend-esol/signatures.html

Notts Cuts Watch #10 – cuts and anti-cuts news from Nottingham and Notts – last one for 2010

A Yuletide missive from the compiler of Notts Cuts Watch, hopefully to be resumed in 2011:

Even with Christmas only just over the horizon, the cuts have continued over the last week, with the announcement of the funding settlement for local councils hitting Nottingham particularly hard. Even Cuts Watch has been cutback, this week’s edition arriving late and in a slimmed down version. “Normal” service may or may not resume after the holiday period.

Read Cuts Watch #10 (covering December 13th-19th 2010): http://nottingham.indymedia.org.uk/articles/821

Plus – somethings to amuse…

Introducing a new economic comparator: Pudsey. Ministers say charities can step into the gap caused by cuts to services. So how many Children in Need appeals would it take to fill the gap? False Economy blog. 20/12/2010.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koY6kXhQDQo]

Criticism of Nottingham City Council over brand exercise for leisure centres while access is being cut

The local NCC Lols blog has revealed that while Nottingham City Council is making cuts to the sports and leisure concessions scheme that will make it harder for people to afford to go, they have decided to spend over £150k over 3 years on ‘branding’ for the leisure centres which is presumably to make them more attractive to users. NCC lols say:

NCC has been trading off this ‘we’re on your side’ nonsense for a while yet they are making sports and leisure facilities
less accessible to those on low incomes (including removing concessions from those on Income Support) while throwing a load of
money on a vanity project.

This is exactly the kind of thing anti-cuts campaigners need to be aware of – there clearly ARE alternatives to cuts and branding seems especially superfluous if the cuts are going to mean we can’t afford to go anyway.

Lively protest rally at Notts County Council while cabinet agreed plan to close Gedling school – 15th Dec 2010

On Wednesday 15th December, supporters of the Gedling School held a demonstration outside County Hall to protest plans to close the school. Despite this protest and others, councillors in cabinet decided to go ahead with a “consultation” on the closure of the school. This is an unfortunate development, but it isn’t the end of the story.

Indymedia article with video: Save Gedling School rally at County Hall

Video link: Kids Chanting Outside County Hall

Evening Post article: Council goes ahead with Gedling School closure consultation

About 100 people, including pupils, teachers and residents, demonstrated against the Nottinghamshire County Council plans to start a consultation with the public on closing the school.

Year 11 pupil Sophie Foster, 15, was among 70 students holding banners and chanting ‘save our school.’

She said: “It’s disgusting that the county council are even planning to put Gedling School up for closure.

“The school definitely should not shut – I’ve been there nearly five years and it has been fantastic.”

Terry Chambers, Year 9 progress leader at Gedling school, said: “I’ve been there nearly 31 years and it would be a massive blow to the community not just in academic terms but for the whole of Gedling.”

CAMPAIGN LINKS:
Save Gedling School: http://savegedlingschool.wordpress.com/
Save Gedling School (campaign supporters network): http://savegedlingschool.ning.com/
Save Gedling School Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-Our-School-The-Gedling-School/146243182088229

Notts SOS on ITV as massive cuts in local authority budgets are announced

Nottingham City Cuts consultations – “They asked. We said no cuts”

Nottingham says no to the cuts posterCity consultations

Following the city council ‘consultations’ on the cuts, where we were asked to rate council services for importance, meetings have been going ahead with the title “We asked. You said, What next?” . This consultation is designed to draw residents into discussion about what should be cut. But there is a clear message of no cuts coming out from the exercise.

Here is one view from a resident of Forest Fields about an Nottingham City Council consultation on Wednesday:
NCC have no answers to the cuts

Something that the Councillor didn’t point out but that I thought was quite interesting was that all of the categories were given average scores of greater than 2.5, and all but one category was given an average over 3. These results look suspiciously like people want to keep all of their services.

There are now two more “We asked. You said, What next?” meeting dates left in the current round, both on 14th December.

And in the county …
From our own correspondent (Parish of Nottingham blog): http://parishofnottinghamshire.blogspot.com(Thursday, 9 December 2010)

Kay Cutts looked like she was going to explode today in full council:

A Beeston member asked her about the transfer of some land for the tram to the City Council. Evidently her second hand car salesman transport portfolio holder won’t sell it so the City Council are getting a compulsory purchase order – a long, expensive drawn out business. I’ll now quote a witness:

“The member asked her a straightforward question about the transfer of the land to which she replied rather curtly that a compulsory land transfer arrangement, not purchase was under way and her colour slowly changed from Vogon green to a lighter shade of red. The member then asked how she squared this with her promise not to obstruct the tram and that it may cost her friends in the City Council over £200,000 to get the compulsory order, how could she justify that waste of public money during these difficult times? Her complexion then went through the various stages of red to glowing traffic light, we all thought she was about to burst. She finally just stuttered out something about them not selling voluntarily before sitting down, looking rather embarrassed. We then realised why – sitting directlybehind her was a glowering Leader of the City Council; Jon Collins.”

Notts Cuts Watch #8 (29th Nov-5th Dec 2010) plus events for week beginning Monday 6th December 2010

Notts Cuts Watch #8 (29th Nov-5th Dec 2010) – this is the latest installment of the excellent Notts Cuts Watch which is a round up of the previous week’s cuts and anti-cuts news courtesy of Nottingham Indymedia. See http://nottingham.indymedia.org.uk/articles/775. It also includes a list of forthcoming events for this week. These events are also listed below, plus details of some of these events and more dates specific to education activity are mentioned on the Nottingham Students Against Fees and Cuts website.

The news this week has been dominated by snow which has rendered the north of the Nottinghamshire and much of the country almost inaccessible. But a little frozen water isn’t going to stop the important business of cutting private services and there’s no shortage of material for this week’s Notts Cuts Watch. All of it brought to you in a new, shorter format which is hopefully easier to use and more interesting .

You are also invited to submit additional news stories by emailing a special Notts SOS email address: nottssos+watch [at] gmail.com

Upcoming

The following is a run-down of the anti-cuts events happening over the next week (thanks to Notts Cuts Watch compiler).

  • Monday 6th December, 2.30pm. Rally outside the Great Hall in conjunction the Vice Chancellor meeting that the occupation successfully negotiated.
  • Monday 6th December, 3.30pm all students are invited to join an open forum discussion with the Vice Chancellor over the raise in tuition fees and cuts to the university, which is taking place in the Great Hall. All students are allowed to come, even if you weren’t in the occupation; even if you’re unsure about your position.
  • Monday 6th December, 6.15pm, Bakersfield Community Centre, Sneinton. At this Nottingham City Council “We Asked, You Said” event, the council will tell us the results of a recent survey sent out in the arrow about which services should be cut, Sneinton Against the Cuts are urging people to come along and “make your voice heard!”
  • Tuesday 7th December, 7.30pm,The 3rd meeting of the Nottingham ‘Anarchists Against the Cuts‘ non-group will take place at the Sparrows Nest.
  • Wednesday 8th December, protest against Nick Clegg in Sheffield. University of Nottingham Students’ Union are putting on coaches, leaving the university at 10am. It isn’t clear if this is open to non-students.
  • Wednesday 8th December, Defend ESOL: a meeting about a cut to funding for ESOL (English for speakers of other language), called by UCU (Universities and Colleges Union) and NNRF (Nottingham and Notts Refugee Forum). This cut to ESOL will affect both service users and teachers.
  • Thursday 9th December, MP’s will vote in the commons to raise tuition fees. NSACF have organised coaches to take students, staff and supporters down to London for the National Day of Action. The suggested donation for the coach is £5, but whatever you can afford. If you are interested, email: nsafac [at] gmail.com with your name. Coach leaves 9am from Portland Building steps, University of Nottingham.

Continue reading: http://nottingham.indymedia.org.uk/articles/775.

Keep up the pressure on Saturday 4th December, 1pm-5pm

BREAKING NEWS: The University of Nottingham occupation is voluntarily suspended. The University management has agreed to a meeting with students and staff on Monday, for a discussion about the demands of the occupation from Nottingham Students Against Fees and Cuts.

The hundreds of students involved are now free to join the events in town on Saturday!

1pm: Protest tax avoiding corporations! Starts 1pm at Vodafone on Clumber Street in Nottingham City Centre. Other shops may be visited of corporations that are avoiding tax using off-shore headquarters and other dubious methods.

then stay for

2pm-5pm: Third day of action on student fees and education cuts in Nottingham on Saturday 4th December 2010, Market Square, in Nottingham City Centre.

Let’s keep up the pressure in the run up to the vote on student fees on Thursday 9th, and beyond. Elsewhere, the 4th has also been called as a general day of action against austerity, and against welfare and housing cuts. The students’ occupations and demonstrations have sparked enthusiasm and strong will such that anti-cuts activity cannot be ignored. Much more will be needed but last month has surely provided the beginning we needed.

Read the latest Notts SOS Newsletter – Issue no.2, December 2010.

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