Ian's Local Campaigns

• Habitable Housing

  Ian has been approached by some residents of the constituency asking for help with their rented housing, which is currently infested with black mould.  Although there is a legal requirement to maintain properties in a decent state, the current system does not favour tenants where the landlord has chosen to turn a blind eye to the impacts of things like black mould.  In light of the fact that a similar mould infestation was found to be a contributing factor to a child's death, this is an area where more needs to be done to protect tenants from unscrupulous landlords, and those tenants deserve to be protected from the threat of retaliatory evictions if they push to have the property brought up to scratch.

• Food Banks

  Ian is currently putting pressure on some restaurants which throw away food at the end of each day to instead donate that food to local food banks.  In a cost of living crisis, it seems absurd to throw away perfectly edible food, and at a time when we have the shame of needing food banks even for those in employment, it seems the least we can do as a society is to recycle the food we would otherwise throw away.

• NHS Staff Costs

  As part of a wider discussion on food costs, Ian was genuinely shocked to hear how much NHS workers are charged for basic foodstuffs in a hospital canteen.  On top of that, the same staff might be charged a small fortune for parking.  At a time when we have seen striked from both nurses and junior doctors over low pay and very demanding conditions, it seems that the least we can do for them is to give them free parking and feed them at a reasonable cost.