Ahead of local elections on May 5th, and our Vote Jesmond 2016 elections hustings event on May 3rd, JesmondLocal is profiling each of the 10 candidates for councillor in North and South Jesmond. Continuing our five days of profiles, the Labour Party.

Stella Postlethwaite grew up in Leicester but moved to Jesmond with her family a number of years ago. She studied chemistry at the University of Durham and for the past few years worked in Austria as a researcher at an Electrochemistry research centre whilst also studying for a Ph.D. in that field. Entering politics was not something she had ever considered prior to 2015, though she has always had an interest in politics and its ability to improve the lives of people. It was after she moved back to Jesmond that she discovered how much she enjoyed local campaigning and in particular the contact with people that is very different from working in a laboratory. Finding out people’s local concerns and being in a position to try and help improve their lives seems, to her, to be an enormous privilege. If elected, Postlethwaite intend to put the skills learnt from working on a Ph.D. in Electrochemistry to good use: understanding complex problems and analysing data.

Why the Labour party?

The Labour Party exists to bring power, wealth and opportunity into the hands of the many not the few. I have seen the fantastic work that Labour councillors have been able to do in Jesmond by empowering local people and listening to the concerns of all residents.

What’s the biggest issue facing North Jesmond?

The biggest issue for residents living in North Jesmond depends on the area of the ward that they are living in and their own situation. If you are a family surrounded by private rented properties, anti-social behaviour can be a problem. Other residents have issues with parking in their area.

Generally, there are concerns from many residents across the ward about litter and broken glass in gardens, on pavements and in back lanes. Broken glass is a real worry to parents who walk their kids to school and to residents with pets. Sometimes bins aren’t used correctly and waste and household objects are dumped illegally in back lanes, running down otherwise very pleasant areas of Jesmond.

How would you get more people in Jesmond active?

South Jesmond Labour councillors have proved that communication makes a difference. They have managed to engage many residents by keeping them informed with regular newsletters. They get more than 30 people at meetings where North Jesmond only manages around 10. I would continue that use of communication to let residents know what is happening. I would also create special meetings that focus on issues for groups, like elderly or young residents, sports clubs or small businesses that encourage people to engage in topics that interest them.

How would you support local independent businesses?

Businesses provide jobs and services that we need in Jesmond. It is important that the council supports them in being successful. If elected, I would work to bring together North Jesmond businesses to explore ways that they could work together. For example, a business forum facilitated by the council, I believe could help them find areas of common benefit that together they could work on improving. It would be nice to see a regular market set up around North Jesmond’s allotments to attract more shoppers and help the allotments.

How do you maintain a purpose in the community in light of council cuts?

With the cuts to the council from central government – another £32m cut this year alone – councillors must work hard and think creatively to find new opportunities to support the community here in Jesmond. If elected, I would support Jesmond’s fantastic community groups by helping them develop their ideas and find alternative sources of funding.

How important are students to the local community, and how do you engage them with other residents?

I think that residents, even ones who are occasionally frustrated by students, realise that Jesmond would not be what it is today without the student population. We have an abundance of restaurants and three good supermarkets that we probably would not have were it not for the student population. There is huge potential to get students more involved in community life and the best way to do this is through their student unions and university societies. Newcastle University Student Union (NUSU) has excellent student community reps living in Jesmond and Councillor Dan Perry and I attend regular NUSU executive meetings to discuss community issues ranging from safety and noise to litter and bins. One of the student reps recently led a community litter pick around the Manor House Road area, with support from Keep Jesmond Clean, that mobilised 25 Newcastle University students to help tidy up a very littered area of Jesmond.

How can we make Jesmond a more environmentally friendly place to live?

We’ve got to strive to make Jesmond more environmentally friendly. Part of the work Dan Perry and I do with Keep Jesmond Clean is to promote more recycling. We’re also trying to get more greenery into the ward and there are initiatives run by residents to get West Jesmond Primary School children interested in nature by planting trees in Jesmond Community Orchard. Community litter picks bring local residents together whilst improving the local environment. There is so much more we could do though, from promoting electric vehicles and initiatives like vertical veg growing to encouraging more walking and cycling, they all add up to a better environment for everyone in Jesmond and help to reduce our community’s carbon footprint.

How would you improve transport in Jesmond?

Transport is a big issue in Jesmond. People need to be able to get around the ward safely be it on foot, by bicycle, scooter or in a car. The Jesmond Labour team is keen to promote the use of bikes and walking over travelling by car for short journeys to reduce pollution and our contribution to global warming. Increased uptake in cycling and walking would bring health benefits, make our roads less congested and make parking easier. Thorough consultations are so important when it comes to road changes and making use of residents’ local knowledge is essential for real improvements to be made.

What other plans do you have for Jesmond?

I want to see kids out on the streets playing, safely. With some simple arrangement to temporarily block them off to through traffic, some back lanes could be made safe and clean for them to play in.

The money available to make spending choices in Newcastle has been eroded by this government to the point where the wards have almost no money to invest in community activities. I want to work with the other Jesmond councillors to find some way to generate revenue for Jesmond, which we could use to continue to help fund the Jesmond Community Festival and to reinstate additional policing to deal with night noise.

(introduction and interview by Helen Daly)

“I’ve more or less always been a member of the Labour Party,” explains Felicity Mendelson. Her father was a Labour councillor in the 1970s, and learned about it about it from him. Though she wasn’t that active in politics, most of my time was spent as a shop steward and Mendelson was very active with the Unison when she worked for Newcastle City Council. Mendelson has been a member of the Labour party for years, regularly attending meetings and helping out but it wasn’t until she retired in 2011 that she became more active with the local branch, becoming a councillor in 2012.

Why the Labour party?

It’s in your blood, you know? It is partly in my blood because of my father and my mother was a very active supporter but I think it is about your values such as equal opportunities for all, health care and welfare benefits and just good services for all. I think for me, I am a member of the Labour party  because it’s about working with people with shared core values and beliefs. It just couldn’t be anything else, there is no other party that stands for the same things.

What’s the biggest issue facing South Jesmond?

There are issues about traffic and parking because there are a lot of people living here with cars, including HMOs and a lot of people don’t have places to store their cars, so parking is a huge issue. We try to resolve it with the use of permits and things but there is still some way to go. Traffic is a big issue, getting about for cyclists and pedestrians because it is very busy. Also there are issues about housing, the state of some of the housing developments, some of the bigger houses that landlords own aren’t in great repair so I think those are the big issues but one isn’t more important than the others.

How would you get more people in Jesmond active?

I am a member of the organising committee for the wellbeing events at the library, I am not one of the shining lights or anything, but I always come to help out. They are particularly aimed at older people but anyone is welcome, we bus people from sheltered accommodation in Sandyford and Jesmond so that they can take part. Also we are starting short walks for older people to encourage health and well being that way.

How would you support local independent businesses?

Businesses in the Cradlewell are worried about the closure of Jesmond Dene Road, so I am keeping an eye on that, monitoring how business does in light of this. We have tried, in the past, to organise a Jesmond businesses forum, but what you find it that there isn’t a lot of common ground. I would try and investigate again this idea of a business forum type of thing. Something which I support is Jesmond Food Market which had it’s birthday yesterday. We had a little group of us organising that, Anna Hedworth does all the commissioning of the stalls but one of our aims was to help small independent business as part of it. Some of them come from all across the area, but just last week a couple of men, perhaps students, came to us with a bottle of their tomato sauce without sugar called Pure Sauce and this was their first stall ever, and that is one example of encouraging small businesses. In the future we would like to explore that more, to give businesses starting off a chance at the market.

How do you maintain a purpose in light of council cuts?

As a council you want to make sure, with the amount of money you’ve got, to do the best you can and you have to campaign nationally for better funding for local government. I see what is happening to social care and it is appalling so you could either say i’m not having anything to do with local government, there is no point being a councillor because it is all disgusting or you could say, it is such an important role for councillors, we’ve got to keep fighting.

How important are students to the local community, and how do you engage them with other residents?

We wouldn’t be the community we are without the students.  I remember it before the students, seedy old bedsits and no life – the shops and the businesses and the mixture is so important. There are some downsides with greedy landlords not maintaining their properties, and some students who do disrespect where they are perhaps because they are told this is a student place and there are about 6 or 7 people in a house, they are bound to make more noise. We have had a student placement here at the library and it has been fantastic being involved with the social media side of the library, more volunteers in jesmond would be good. There are always student representatives but they don’t seem to take it to the street level. Stella Postlethwaite has done a lot of work talking with the students, so if she does get elected we can have a greater link with students because they are interested in what is going on and perhaps we need specific meetings for students so that they can know what is going on.

How can we make Jesmond a more environmentally friendly place to live?

I think we are a very affluent area so many people have cars and big cars, people need to think about how they use their cars to improve the issues surrounding air pollution. Making Jesmond easier for cyclists as an alternative for people to get about. Better busses would promote a more environmentally friendly Jesmond.

How would you improve transport in Jesmond?

I am a regular bus user and the service has become much more reliable, but improving the frequency of the buses would be a start. Also, there is a real issue about people coming from Jesmond Vale/Cradlewell area to Acorn road, there is no cross Jesmond busses, so people have asked for that and that is something people would like to see. As for the Metro, it has become a bit unreliable recently but the council is trying to work on it and also trying to think of ways to make it cheaper as many people have said that it is a bit expensive

What other plans do you have for Jesmond?

For me, it’s about keeping my eye open for things and looking out for possibilities, for example the Punch Bowl Pub is up for lease and we talked about turning it into a real ale, nice food type of place and looking into the sale of the old synagogue on Eksdale Terrace. I would like to keep people involved with things, especially with the ward committee meetings ending. South Jesmond has a more disparate ward than North Jesmond so I want to keep working with everyone in the ward to keep people connected.  I would also really like to see  a joint Facebook page for the Jesmond wards and perhaps a website which acts as a virtual noticeboard in which all the events happening in Jesmond can be listed easily for locals and visitors to see more easily.

(introduction and interview by Imogen Scott-Chambers)