We were encouraged by local Abbey ward Councillors Colin Marriott, Annette Byrne and Harshad Bhavsar and the lead Councillors for the Environment and Leisure, Sarah Russell and Andy Connelly. Afterwards there was lots of healthy fruit and salad to revive us – plus some warming tea and the odd treat! – provided by Leicester City PCT.

There’s 3.500 more trees to go before the Council meets its promise to plant 10,000 new trees across the City. I think they’ll make a big difference to local communities and residents, especially as we move into Spring – and the weather hopefully starts to improve!

We’ve now got Sure Start Children’s Centres in Beaumont Leys and Stocking Farm, Braunstone, Braunstone Frith, New Parks, Rowley Fields and the West End. These are brilliant services that help improve children’s life chances and which local parents really value.

Labour has also put much needed investment into our local schools. Leicester was one of the first places to get money from the Government’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) fund. £235m is being spent on rebuilding and transforming every secondary school in the city. The first two schools to benefit from BSF in Leicester West are Fullhurst College and the award winning school at Beaumont Leys. We’re starting to see a real difference in school results too: last year Leicester’s GCSE results improved faster than the national average.

But there’s still a long way to go. Leicester is 129th out of 151 local authorities in terms of GCSE results, and this isn’t good enough. That’s why I’m pressing for faster improvements in our schools. I’ll work with parents, teachers, councillors and the Government to make sure all parents in Leicester West have the choice to send their children to a good, local school.