I WELCOME the publication of a major new report on the shortage of employment land by the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce.
I am also particularly concerned about the lack of commercial office space in the city centre due to the oversupply of student accommodation.
The report also highlights the significant loss of employment land and premises to higher-value uses such as housing.
What’s more, the council has previously been accused of driving commercial businesses out of the city centre by local estate agents.
Furthermore, the council has continually failed to implement a community infrastructure levy costing the city millions and failing to manage the oversupply of student accommodation.
The report also highlights the need to support more small and medium-sized businesses alongside other independent reports.
The council can address this by making recommendations for city centre south plans to include more flexible office space.
This can help drive wider economic growth by rebalancing the city centre economy.
Large commercial businesses will only come to Coventry if there is a balanced local economy including a mix of small and medium-sized businesses to complement retail.
However, local councillors have previously ignored these warnings and continued to turn the city centre upside-down with their personal legacy projects.
I hope the council will do more to address these important local issues following the report.
Ian Rogers
CHANGES to local ward boundaries are being looked at by the council following a review by the Boundary Commission.
We support making the number of voters in each ward fairer however we do not support the council’s recommendation to keep the number of councillors the same.
It is hardly surprising the council has made this recommendation.
This is because there is not a single Labour or Conservative councillor who would voluntarily give up their seat. We are the only party in Coventry prepared to reduce the size and cost of local government.
We strongly believe the number of councillors in Coventry should be cut from 54 to 36.
This is because having three councillors in each ward is simply designed to preserve the status quo.
By comparison, MPs represent far more residents than local councillors do but there is only one MP in each constituency instead of three.
This can be confusing to residents because they are expected to pick one of three local councillors for assistance.
However, local residents know many councillors do not respond because they’re either not interested or too busy with their personal lives.
We also believe that any councillor who thinks they do not have enough time to fullfil the role should stop taking the money and resign immediately.
It is simply outrageous for any councillor to say this. What’s more, the council should not be enabling this type of behaviour.
We would prefer two councillors in each ward, with one to represent the local area and the other to represent a political group on the council.
In addition, we would like elections to be held once every four years instead of the current system of every year for three years out of four, changing a third of councillors each time.
We believe this can help increase democratic participation by making elections a bit simpler and more exciting.
Cameron Baxter
Coventry Citizens Party
I WAS shocked to learn, via new research from the End Child Poverty Coalition, that in Coventry North West, 8,354 children are living in poverty, which equals 33 per cent of all children. Across the UK this figure is 29 per cent.
It is concerning to me that UK children are growing up in homes where they go without meals, appropriate clothing or heating.
This research not only details where children are growing up in poverty, but which families are most likely to be experiencing this.
I understand that in order to address the increasing numbers of children in poverty, the End Child Poverty Coalition are calling for an end to the two-child limit to benefit payments, as part of their All Kids Count campaign.
If the government was to scrap this policy which prevents larger families from claiming child-related benefits for their third or subsequent child, 250,000 children would immediately be lifted out of poverty.
Alan Markey
THIS SUMMER at Cats Protection we’re inviting cat lovers to hold a Pawsome Tea anytime, anywhere.
Whether a casual coffee morning or a bake sale at work, any funds raise will then be put towards our vital cat welfare work.
By taking part you’ll be truly ‘baking a difference’ for cats in need and you can choose whether to donate to your local branch or centre or to the charity as a whole.
With every pot of tea poured, biscuit dunked and cake cut you will help give our feline friends a chance at finding their furever home.
A £10 donation could feed a cat in care for 50 days, while £50 would cover neutering a cat or kitten.
At Cats Protection we help an average of 157,000 cats and kittens a year through our national network which includes around 210 volunteer-run branches and 34 centres.
Our vision is to help people see the world through cats’ eyes and your cat-themed tea will help us achieve that goal.
Visit catsprotection-pawsometea.blackbaud-sites.com for more and to sign up. there are also plenty of resources to make planning your event a piece of cake – from DIY bunting and invitations to recipe ideas and advertising posters.
Hannah Ashwell
Digital Community Fund-raising Manager
EDITORS COMMENT: WELL done to everyone who has donated so far to the appeal to raise £1million for life-saving treatment for 20-month-old Hallie.
It is great to see so many people pulling together for this cause and to have raised over a third of the target amount in the first five days of the crowd-funder is an unbelievable effort.
We need to keep up the momentum of the campaign so please give what you can so brave, smiling Hallie can get the treatment she needs.
WE WELCOME YOUR LETTERS: Send in your views to [email protected] to be featured in next weeks paper.
