Labour has lost its lead over the Tories for the first time in seven months as Ed Miliband struggles to make an impact with the public, according to ComRes's poll for The Independent. It shows the parties running neck and neck following a turbulent political month in which Labour was trounced in elections to the Scottish Parliament and recorded a mixed performance in contests for English councils.
An opinion poll asking if readers thought the coalition was a good idea or not and if it would survive was open on this site during May.
Today, Friday , a follow up meeting took place to try to improve ambulance response times across rural south West Shropshire and much of Montgomeryshire. The reconfiguration of the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and the Princess Royal has brought the often poor response times of ambulances into sharp focus. Today Shropshire campaigners expressed delight at the progress made since their March meeting. Those attending included the West Midlands Ambulance service, Shropshire PCT, the Hospital Trust and GP representative, Cllr Heather Kidd, Cllr Nigel Hartin and new Regional Welsh Assembly Member, William Powell.
This is a friendly reminder to all those members wishing to attend our next meeting. The date is no longer the 31/05/11 but is the 07/06/11. The time of 19:30 remains the same as does the location (please see the latest issue of E-FOCUS for further information!)
We know some residents have expressed concern about the closure of the Westerhope Day Centre for people with learning difficulties - 10 of the 80 users live in Westerhope ward. Over the last year, numbers attending the centre had fallen by around 40% following the last Labour governments introduction of "Direct Payments" to pay for individual care needs, helping people to find care packages that best meet their needs, rather than being limited to activities inside the day centre . This has included private care, community provision, arts and sports opportunities, and work experience and training projects. Several users have gone on to find full time or part time work.
Last year a lot of local controversy was caused over the use of green open spaces in the Westerhope area. These are, quite understandably, valued by people who live locally, but many people also recognise that the issue was "stirred up" by people for reasons of their own.