So yesterday, it was all go at the Kings Heath Residents Association funday. With excellent weather and the ubiquitous bouncy castles, the event had good chances of success. The ever so eager Tory, Ivan Sljivic the chef let residents down by not providing a promised barbeque. Several phone calls later produced no result and a number of volunteers had to be press ganged into service. Generally, Kings Heath folk seemed to be well disposed to the keen Conservative up till now (well disposed but weren’t going to vote for him). His broken promise might make a difference to peoples perception of both him and the Conservatives in the area.
Liberal democrat councillors (Borough and County) did not even grace the event with customary swanning in and swanning out. I guess they must have been too busy avoiding meetings that they are paid to attend. With Cllr de Cruz on the heady total of attending seven meeting since being elected and having let down the Brookside residents association by promising to face paint and then cancelling the week before, the Lib Dem record of letting people down just keeps getting longer. Cllr de Cruz is currently averaging £1000 per meeting that she attends. Nice money if you can get it.
The Labour Party was at the Kings Heath Fun Day proving free face painting for children and campaigning against the increases in parking charges in the town. In the community, working with the community, one of the first stalls to set up and one of the last stalls to leave, we had lot of good conversations with people, particularly about the proposals for a new secondary school in the area. People are concerned that the new school should be for the existing communities and not just for new communities on the Dallington Grange development. With Labour being the only party campaigning for the school (both Lib Dems and Tories oppose building on the Dallington Grange site), local people look to us to ensure that their views are taken on board.