Support Local Charities

Please do support our local charities.

By shopping in the Walnut Tree Community Shop at 4 Fyfield Barrow, Walnut Tree, MK7 7AN you are supporting two MK charities:
The MK Reader Service — for people with visual impairment and
Rethink — a charity for those with mental illness.

There is also a Community Shop in Kingston, opposite Tesco’s entrance which supports:
Cross Roads Care – caring for elderly and vulnerable and supporting carers
MK Toy Library – toys on loan and advice on play

Your local Lib Dem Focus team think it is very good for our local community to have these shops in our area, please do support them.

Save Our Grit Bins!

Liberal Democrat councillors were shocked to be told that the Conservative run MK Council is proposing to scrap grit bins altogether because they are not used! New and replacement grit bins are now being refused.
Instead, the Tories propose to dump open bags of grit on the street – AFTER the snow has fallen!

The Liberal Democrats have started a campaign to save our grit bins.  Please sign up here.

www.ipetitions.com/petition/grit-bins

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Cleaning Up the Litter

The Focus team are still encountering littered areas in our ward.  Residents are NOT getting value for money from this service!Now at last the Council has agreed to provide details of the litter cleaning schedule, so that discussions can start on how the budget can best be used.  Cllr Jenni Ferrans comments “Residents have been suffering filthy paths and play areas and we have been asking for this information for months.  At last the Council is talking – but why has it taken so long?”

Vanessa McPake getting the litter collected in the Abbeydore play area in Monkston.

Vanessa McPake getting the litter collected in the Abbeydore play area in Monkston.

Street Light Fiasco

Lamppost-smallThe Liberal Democrats have found out that due to poor management by the Conservative run MK Council, the street light contractors have not been fixing the lights properly.  This has led to countless street lights being out.  Have you seen the stretch of the V10 with 5 out of 6 streets lights out?  Or the entrance to Walton Grange with lights out on both sides of the road?Your local Focus team are campaigning to get  to get street lights repaired, and properly, as soon as possible.
If you have a street light out on your local estate then let the Focus team know.
Just tell us the road name and the number/letter on the street light pole.

Cuts to Community Transport

smallbusYour local Lib Dem Focus team has just learnt that the Conservative run MK Council will be cutting the Community Transport scheme next year.   It looks as if 2/3rds of the current users will NOT be able to use the service.

The Liberal Democrats believe in standing up for our older and vulnerable people and will be fighting hard to stop this scandal.   We want to keep the service and ensure that our older people can still get out and around to their lunch clubs, doctors and the shops.

Tories Stop Grit Bins

The Conservative run MK Council has decided that they are not going to pay for any more grit bins in MK!

Worse, they won’t even let the local councillors or parish councils pay either. Many residents are left worrying that they will fall over in the first icy weather. The Lib Dems say this is a cut too far!

Vanessa McPake had asked for new grit bins in Bartholomew Close, Walton Park and Cloudberry, Walnut Tree but these will now be refused. Disgraceful!  Subhan Shafiq is wondering if the grit bin in Tewksbury Lane, Monkston will ever get repaired, put back in the right place and filled with grit!

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Vanessa McPake checking the existing grit bins in Walnut Tree and Subhan Shafiq finding the bits of the bin in Tewkesbury Lane, Monkston Park.

 

Crime in Our Area

There have been a number of burglaries and thefts from cars over the past few months in our area. The police are doing their best to catch the gang responsible and have been giving out advice to residents including:

  • Keep doors/windows locked, even if you are only in the garden
  • Keep valuables out of sight
  • Keep house/car keys out of reach and sight of doors and windows
  • Lock away ladders, garden tools etc that burglars could use to gain access to your home
  • Mark your valuables using a UV marker pen
  • And don’t leave your SatNavs in your car!

Don’t forget you can ring your neighbourhood police team on 101 for advice on how to keep safe. And you can get local crime alerts by signing up to www.thamesvalleyalert.co.uk

 

No GP for Walton Grange

Residents of Walton Grange have been telling the Lib Dem Focus team about the problem of not being able to register with the local Walnut Tree GPs.  They are being referred to GPs two buses and a long walk away!

Jenni Ferrans and Vanessa McPake have met with NHS England and with the Health Centre.  They reminded NHS England that money was available from building Walton Grange to expand health services.  They are all going away to have meetings and think about it!

The Lib Dems think this is a poor show, they should have sorted out how the local GPs could take on local Walton Grange residents before the houses were even built!  They have had years to sort this out!  The Focus team will keep you posted.

Cllr Jenni Ferrans and Vanessa McPake outside Walnut Tree surgery

Cllr Jenni Ferrans and Vanessa McPake outside Walnut Tree surgery

Bad Buses

Vanessa McPake checks the reliability of the no 12 bus.

Vanessa McPake checks the reliability of the buses after lots of complaints

Ever since the Conservative run MK Council cut the bus subsidy by nearly £1/2 million, your local Lib Dem team has been concerned about the quality of the service.

Bus user, Vanessa McPake, has been keeping an eye on the bus changes in our area since the new timetable came into force.  She has been contacted by residents about the nos. 8 & 9 services not running on time.

Do tell Vanessa by providing: the date location of bus stop time the bus was supposed to arrive time it did arrive.

She will then take up the problems with Arriva who run these services