Reform UK Rugby

Dear all, if you were in the area last night and witnessed anything, please contact the police, quoting the incident number on the post.

Anything that might help in bringing this monster to justice will be appreciated by the young girl and her family.

Women and girls should be safe on our streets, and no one should be subject to an assault while walking home.

Thank you
Cllr Kyle Stewart
Ward Member for Newbold and Brownsover

We’re investigating a sexual assault that took place in Brownsover last night.

Detective Inspector Nicola Norris said: “We received a report that a teenage girl had been walking along a path from Boughton Road around 10.15pm.

“A man unknown to her and described as having short, brown hair wearing black trousers, with a dark-coloured T-shirt is understood to have approached and sexually assaulted her.

“You can expect to see our officers out in the community over the coming days as they try to identify the person responsible. Please come and chat to them if you have any concerns.”

If you were in the area or can provide any information, please do so via the link in the comments below quoting incident number 511 of 8 July.

It was my first taste of the planning committee last night at town hall, and while it was a good learning experience, it was also incredibly frustrating.

A developer has acquired some land in Caswton as part of the South West Rugby sustainable urban extension. This land originally had a requirement for 210 new homes, with 63 (30%) dwellings for affordable housing. However, a variation to the application has been submitted dropping this requirement to only 9 (4.3%).

I had initially tabled a motion to dismiss the variation, however, following legal advice, I was forced to withdraw and Councillors across the chamber were effectively compelled to vote in favour of the motion due to provisions set out in National Legislation.

Rugby Borough Council has a huge shortfall in affordable housing, and this case has set a terrible precedent, and will undoubtedly lead to the risk of other developers seeking to utilise similar tactics to under-deliver housing stock for those most in need.

To be clear, the houses will still be built, but an unacceptable proportion will be set aside for affordable housing ventures.

I will be seeking to work with colleagues on suitable lobbying to try and force regulatory change or I fear that our targets will simply never be met.

Cllr Kyle Stewart
Group Leader Reform UK Rugby

Congratulations to the 7 newly elected Reform councillors in the recent by-elections.

Team work makes the dream work! Our new Reform UK Rugby Chair , John Partridge , in Alcester today , helping Reform UK Stratford Branch get their postal vote literature out for the upcoming Stratford By Election.
We are always looking for volunteers to join our Reform Rugby Branch , whatever your skills come and join us and be part of real positive change for the U.K.
email [email protected]

Following reports from a resident, after they had a bad fall outside the Brownsover shops on Hollowell Way, I contacted Openreach to get the site made safe ahead of a full repair on the defective telecom chamber taking place. Fortunately no serious injuries on this occasion!

Fair play to Openreach, they had someone out to barrier off this issue within a couple of hours of my report, preventing any more accidents while the repair takes place.

Sorting local issues, for local people.

Cllr Kyle Stewart
Ward Member for Newbold and Brownsover.

"THE PARKING, THE CONSERVATIVES AND THE CAMERA”.

In today's news from Cllr Dr Andrew Glowacki……….

This week oscilated around Full Council meeting, where we discussed several issues, including the future of Rugby's CCTV system.

For years, Rugby businesses paid significant sums to Rugby First to operate the service. Following its demise, responsibility is now returning to the Council.

That is not necessarily a bad thing.

It will cost a substantial amount of money, but if it helps keep residents safe, most people would agree that money is being spent for a worthwhile purpose.

The question is what comes next.

Will future upgrades include AI-assisted facial recognition technology?

Let's travel back to 7 October 2024.

In the document called Public Agenda Cabinet 7 October 2024, Agenda Item 7, Section 1.2.1, Rugby Borough Council defines AI-assisted technology as:

"Any system which is able to make decisions based on data without the explicit involvement of a human user and/or receives input from, is modified by or utilises data which has been generated by a Large Language Model (LLM), Generative Adversarial Network (GAN), Neural Network (NN) or other similar structures..."

Notice something interesting.

The document does not specifically mention CCTV.

Instead, it defines what the Council considers AI to be.

When I asked during the meeting whether we were potentially opening the door to AI-assisted facial recognition systems in the future, a Labour councillor very helpfully managed to answer a completely different question.

I was informed that we must remain aware of facial recognition technology and that governance arrangements already exist.

That much is true.

I found the policy. It's the one above.

The real question is how that policy will be interpreted five or ten years from now.

Because today's "absolutely not" has a curious habit of becoming tomorrow's "well, technically..."

"The CONSERVATIVES AND THE CAR PARKS”.

Earlier in the meeting, the Conservatives proposed something rather radical.

No, not free parking.

Not even a trial of free parking.

Not a commitment to free parking.

Simply permission to explore whether free parking in the town centre might be feasible.

That's it.

Just permission given to officers to investigate the possibility.

Town centre businesses have been asking for this discussion for years.

Naturally, we at Reform UK supported the proposal.

If local businesses repeatedly raise the same concern, the least we can do is examine it properly.

To be fair, Labour and the Liberal Democrats did raise some legitimate points.

We were told that free parking had been tried at Christmas and did not produce the desired results.

We were also informed that two hours of free parking could disadvantage disabled residents because they might require longer than two hours. This argument was slightly weakened by the fact that many disabled residents already benefit from Blue Badge parking concessions, but nevertheless it was raised.

We also heard that perhaps three hours would be better than two hours.

Which, oddly enough, sounds like an argument for conducting a feasibility study rather than voting against one.

In the end, Labour's amendment passed.
The vote was 23 to 15 against, sending the proposal off on what I suspect will be a long holiday in the basement of local bureaucracy, where ideas are carefully stored until everyone forgets who asked for them and how long ago.

The vote was recorded by name, so once the minutes are published, I would encourage residents to have a look for themselves and see who voted which way.

After all, transparency is a wonderful thing.

Particularly when politicians are convinced nobody is paying attention.

I'm sure businesses in Rugby are now thrilled to hear that particular news...

It was an interesting session of full council this evening, so thought I'd give you some thoughts while it's still fresh.

We welcomed the constitutional amendment to establish the Rugby Future Governance Committee. We also welcomed all parties being afforded two seats on the committee as part of the proposal. The future of the town is of great importance to all members, irrespective of political persuasions, and I look forward to working with members across the chamber to ensure that we get the best possible outcomes during the upcoming Local Government Reorganisation.

There was some contention around the Tories' motion for a feasibility review into the prospect of introducing free parking in the town centre. We supported the motion as our feeling was that immediate action was preferable to the Coalitions amendment which will likely delay any decision for a number of months. I don't think members from across the political spectrum were a million miles away on this one, and I'll be seeking for some specific conversations at the town centre regeneration working group in the coming weeks, to see what can be done. There's huge support from business on this, and sometimes listening to key stakeholder feedback would serve a better purpose.

On the topic of the town centre, we supported plans for an upgrade of the aging CCTV equipment in the centre. Public safety should be paramount to any council, and in what appears to be an increasingly dangerous world, this will give reassurance to businesses and shoppers alike.

Best of luck to England tonight in their world cup opener and to England and Scotland for the rest of the tournament 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇬🇧

Cllr Kyle Stewart
Group Leader Reform UK Rugby

A successful clean up of some illegal fly tipping in my ward, Newbold and Brownsover. My thanks to RBC officers for their efforts in getting this waste removed and I'll be working with them on the options at our disposal to ensure it doesn't happen again. Keeping our community clean and safe is a huge priority for me, and I am working hard to resolve local issues, raised by local people, just as I promised in the lead up to election.

More to do, more to come.

Cllr Kyle Stewart
Ward Member for Newbold and Brownsover