04/09/2009

Robin Walker today spoke of his admiration for Worcester parents and campaigners who have worked hard to raise awareness of local issues and refused to take no for an answer from those in authority.

Last week he arranged for local mother Jean Wilson, who had campaigned publicly for her daughter Emily's special holiday care needs to be met by the council to meet with the Cabinet member for Childrens services, County Councillor Marcus Hart.

The County Council had already sorted out Mrs Wilson's problem and agreed that it had a duty to meet Emily's statement of needs, but she took the opportunity to make sure they understood the problems of communication that had led to an unacceptable situation where support had been withdrawn. Mrs Wilson and Robin urged the council to make sure the same thing should not happen again and County Councillor Hart assured them that lessons had been learned.

Previously he had written to support local father David Lamb, who launched "McAyla's campaign" for a crossing on the London Road. Today he welcomed the success of that campaign and called for other concerned parents to come forward, raising their issues publicly.

Robin said

"Parents like Mrs Wilson and Mr Lamb are real local heroes. It takes great courage to speak truth to power and it takes real persistence to succeed with public campaigns of the sort that they have. As someone who is aspiring to be a local MP, speaking up for local people in Worcester, I am inspired by their acts, have been happy to support their campaigns and am driven to help other people who speak out in this way."

"It is good news that our councillors listen to these grass roots campaigns and get things done. Government, whether local or national, is never perfect and it needs people to speak our in order to hold it to account. I am always happy to hear from constituents who have a local campaign whatever cause it relates to. People should not be afraid to come forward and they should look to these examples of success to know that you can bring about change."

Jean Wilson said

"It was great to have the opportunity to meet with the person responsible for children at the county council. I found it a useful meeting and I think it is really important that people like this are prepared to meet parents and hear from us directly. I am grateful to Robin for getting involved and arranging the meeting."