Well, I woke this morning to the news of Lord John Prescot passing away. It’s made me sit and just remember.
Today will be a very sad day for me and Mary, as it will be for his wife Pauline, and family, and the hundreds, and hundreds of Labour Party members, who will also be mourning his passing today.
John was a ‘titan’ of the Labour Party, he was an energetic political campaigner. He was a fantastic bloke, and never ever forgot his roots.
Today, I have a head full of memories, jangling about.
John was the longest serving Deputy Prime Minister, this Country has ever had.
John was a good friend, he was a longstanding friend, that I have known for decades. A guy that I respected, had fun with, and very much enjoyed his company. I campaigned with him and campaigned for him.
He invited me to join with him in 1992, in London and for a memorable few weeks I worked with him and Peter Snape in Westminster.
John visited Wednesfield North, to speak, to ‘gee up’ the local Labour Party in the early 80’s, He spoke in the Corpus Christi Club, on Ashmore Park. He went down a treat!
Both Mary and I have had memorable nights out together, with his good friend, Peter Snape former MP for West Bromwich East.
John Prescot will be missed in our Labour Party, and his legacy will long be remembered by historians. I will remember the intensity JP had for politics, the Labour Party. The friendly times we had together. The long talks about public transport, the enthusiasm he had for Regional Government, and the importance he placed on Local Authorities.
John Prescot we will miss you, but both Mary and I will never forget you.
Rest in Peace, you have made more than a contribution to improving our great Country.

Scrutiny Flooding Prevention – Task and Finish Group: Community Session

The Scrutiny Board is to hold a community session to hear first hand about the problems residents face when flooding occurs across the City of Wolverhampton.

The purpose of the meeting is to Invite those residents to a community session to hear firsthand from them about their experiences with flooding in Wolverhampton, so that these ‘lived experiences’ can form part of the final report being prepared for Scrutiny Board.

The session will take place on Thursday 24 October, beginning at 11am and concluding by 1pm -Venue in Committee Room 4, 3rd Floor, Civic Centre.

Places at the meeting are on a first come, first service basis in line with H&S requirements. One residents per occupancy will have 7 minutes to ask questions relating to their property.
If you would like further information contact your own Ward Councillors. Or contact via email at this address – Scrutiny@wolverhampton.gov.uk

What glorious news yesterday, as the Wednesfield in Bloom volunteers won two more Awards for their hard work here in our Village of Wednesfield & Ashmore Park.

They won (One Gold again- the sixth Gold award on the trot!) and another discretionary award) yesterday from the Heart of England in Bloom organisation for their contribution in making Wednesfield Blooming great again!

All of this gardening work is undertaken by volunteers, and all of them to a person, gives up much of their time to enable our Wednesfield to look colourful and Vibrant!

The Wednesfield North Councillors Mary Bateman Rita Potter and Phil Bateman once again pays tribute to them, for the extraordinary work they undertake for our community!

I am delighted to be informed that on the Wednesfield Canal Festivals 10^th Anniversary, held this August 2024, at the  Bentley Bridge Leisure Park, on our wonderful 230 year old Wyrley & Essington Canal was yet another success this Summer.

Wednesfield Canal Festival 2024 enjoyed a Saturday attendance of 5,018 and a Sunday Attendance of 5,740 giving an overall total 10,758 people attending. Which measured against the statistics for 2023 was an increase just short of 1%. Mark Welsby from  Bentley Bridge reminded me that it was “Not a huge increase, but also not a decline in visitors, considering the rain first thing on the Saturday”.

Councillor Phil Bateman said today – “What a great success the event has become. It’s the largest volunteer led event I suspect in the City of Wolverhampton. I offer my personal gratitude to Hands on Wednesfield who have shaped the Wednesfield Canal Festival event now for a number of years.

Hands on Wednesfield, have been instrumental in its great success, and created a dynamic partnership this year with Bentley Bridge Leisure Park, a working partnership together with independent energy supplier Tomato Energy, and the Greene King Public House – The Nickelodeon.

You know – We also added another important ingredient. You couldn’t have a Canal Festival without a canal! The close working partnership with the Canal & River Trust, over these last ten years has been a feature, and we have shone a light on over 230 years of canal history and heritage, as well as creating a Local Nature Reserve on the Wyrley & Essington canal serving Wolverhampton and Wednesfield and running through to our city boundaries. Wednesfield Residents love our canal amenity!

My congratulations to everyone that worked so hard for a full year to ensure the continued success of this great fun venture for Wednesfield.Her’s to your success next year Hands on Wednesfield, and the team that works so hard to make this such a classy venture.”

The Black Country is know for its heritage and culture, and its great Public Houses. Last night at the Orange Tree, in Ettingshall Village, we discovered yet another great PH .

We soon fell in love with the Asian Menu, and the sheer quality of the food. A few beers and the odd cocktail added more enjoyment to the event.

Our band of friends had a great night and the Orange Tree will have yet another visit from us, in the not to distant future. Well done the Orange Tree for being a great place to meet and eat, and the staff were so helpful and friendly!

It was good to catch up with new West Midlands Labour Metro Mayor Richard’s Parker. What a baptism he is having!
Nice to chat and he thanked us here in Wednesfield for the support in his own election campaign. Nice man, and he is keen to represent us well. Vote Labour #GE2024

On this site and others on my other social media sites I have been trying hard to inform of our activities to deliver the necessary repairs to a number of highway defects in Wednesfield North, along with my fellow Councillors Mary and Rita. Highway defects are an on-going issue on all the highways that the City Council looks after within our City boundaries. Its often a contentious issue and its been well documented that the UK as a whole requires much more resource to keep our highways to the standards that the UK needs.

As a City Council we are set to invest nearly £10 million in works to improve, maintain and repair Wolverhampton’s highways over the coming year. Included in this budgeted cash boost is a dedicated fund of £500,000 which has been set aside to tackle potholes affecting the city’s roads. This additional funding will support the city’s existing pothole budget.

Among other proposed improvements for 2024/25 are major maintenance and resurfacing schemes across the city.

I have reported previously in Wednesfield North about Peacock Ave. This winter Peacock Ave has taken a bit of a battering. There has been some defects that have been treated. But, there is In addition to these completed jobs, Some defects that require further treatment with large scale repairs which are needed at several junctions, including the one on Peacock Ave where it meets the Lichfield Road.

To undertake these works safely, and to comply with legality, it is necessary to apply for a series of road closures on both Lichfield Rd and Peacock Avenue. The City Council are currently exploring options to arrange this. Your City Councillors are pushing to complete these works as soon as possible.

There will of course need to be some diversion routes and City engineers and the legal department officials are currently working on these. Any diversion routes will need to be coordinated with other works ongoing in the wider area. So there is a great deal of work still to be undertaken behind the scenes to enable all of this to be pulled together.

I am assured by the Highway engineers that once we have identified a suitable slot, they will undertake the work required. The appropriate notifications, will then be publicised, this will be work has a likelihood of being commenced in about 6 weeks time. As the scheme gets worked through, I will keep you update via my social media sites.

South Staffordshire Local Plan Consultation Response. Regulation 19, 2024
The SSDC has set out its new plans for consultation on their green belt land that they had in the previous consultation plan, and which had been earmarked for housing and described as “in the land North of Linthouse Lane.”
This Local Plan does not include the extensions to the Wolverhampton Areas on Green Belt Land at Linthouse Lane. This land is now excluded from the consultation on their new SSDC Local Plan now going forward.
I intend to respond to the consultation on the new SSDC Local Plan.
I will be supporting the decision on behalf of the three City of Wolverhampton Councillors representing Wednesfield North, following their withdrawal to those original proposals.
I will be emphasising the support of the retention of agriculture, on the land identified and support the amenity value of the public walkways that Criss cross the Green Belt at this location. Comment on the Natural habitat and the richness of the site North of Linthouse Lane in Wild flowers and Wildlife.
I would be very pleased to hear from the residents of Wednesfield North on their views on this type of response. Is it written in a way that you can support?
Please let me have your views as I am keen to enter my response into the Public record, as soon as is possible.

Councillor Phil Bateman on behalf of Councillor Rita Potter and Councillor Mary Bateman.

Great Result Mary!
This is the third election you have fought for Labour in three years here in Wednesfield North. It was a great result winning the seat again for Labour. Winning 65.49% of the vote. Great performance.

Wednesfield North – Declared
Candidate Votes
BATEMAN Mary
Labour Party

1431

WILLIAMS Nathaniel Robert
Local Conservatives

754

Majority 677 votes.

Elected = BATEMAN Mary – Labour Party

Turnout = 26.35%

Labour election pledges are being delivered to homes across Wednesfield North and the City. Today we highlight the Healthier Lives for Local People part of the manifesto Labour is fighting on in this City.

City of Wolverhampton Labour Party commits itself to delivering Healthier Lives for Local People. We have already delivered NHS Health Checks for residents aged 40 -74 with a £500,000 investment.

We had 28,000 of our residents moving more & eating better with the “Better Health Rewards” pilot we delivered last year. Recipients were provided free fitness trackers & incentives. It proved to be a real success. We also doubled the WV Active membership and invested £1m to provide ‘State of the Art’ gyms at our Leisure centres.
Labour has also provided Free Access to WV Active Centres for young people with a £2m investment as part of our successful Yo! Wolves programme.

Now looking forward to 2024/2025 we are working in partnership with the NHS, and it is Labour’s intention to bring in New innovative digital health checks at your local doctors. We also have a plan to support residents to lose weight, quit smoking, and exercise more.

Through our Public Health team and partnership with the NHS we are planning to give all residents access to potentially lifesaving breast, cervical, and bowel cancer screening. Plus our plans moving forward is to deliver and invest £2.3m into a programme to get people off drugs & alcohol, and supporting them into education training and jobs. Drugs and alcoholism are huge issues for the region and the UK. We hope that this program will go along way to help families caught in the despair of these activities.

Its a fulsome ‘Healthier Lives’ programme for the next year, but we are confident that if we are elected back into control, we can actively work, and deliver our plan for ‘Healthier lives for local people’ which is an exciting programme, and very much part of the overall plan to create a “Thriving City”.