Getting things done for you: new community contacts card launched

Stephen Morgan, standing for Labour in the council elections in May in Charles Dickens ward, has launched a new local information and contacts card to support local people.
The card contains local information to help any resident with day-to-day life in the ward. Details include numbers for debt and generalist advice, who to call if there is a power cut, the city helpdesk, and emergency service contacts.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cSzsGYKwCU&w=560&h=315] Part of Stephen’s ‘Portsmouth deserves better’ campaign, in launching the free card he said:
“With internet access in the area lower than in other parts of the city, and residents telling me they find the council’s website hard to navigate, I wanted to act. On the doorstep residents, have been telling me they don’t always know who to contact, so I wanted to help. I hope the information card is of use to other local people”.
4,000 information cards have been produced thanks to the generous donations of local community members. It will be delivered by volunteers across Charles Dickens ward over the next week.
The ‘Portsmouth deserves better’ campaign is a series of community initiatives led by Stephen to help make life better for residents across Charles Dickens ward. Stephen has a long history of community work in the city, including as a school governor at Arundel Court school in the ward and as a charity trustee for an older people’s charity on Kingston Road.
Recent initiatives have included:

• leading a campaign to help save the Guildhall Walk-In. With over 1,000 signatures, health decision-makers have agreed to keep some ‘walk in’ services and will be enhancing pharmacy services.
• fighting for your concerns raised on the doorstep such as liaising with housing providers to get repairs done on time and better care taken with redevelopment schemes.
• improving the local area by reporting flytipping, abandoned trollies and eyesores. Thanks to lobbying, a ‘community protection order’ has been forced on landowners to improve the green spaces in the ward.
• campaigning to protect police services in the city. You may have caught the news about Stephen’s work on this, and that the police and crime commissioner has decided against building a new police HQ out in Havant.

For more information about Stephen’s community work visit www.stephenjmorgan.org