Any Questions was excellent. This weekend the latest episode in the great by-election adventures of 2008 takes me to Glasgow East. Here’s hoping the next by-election isn’t in Kent, Cornwall, south-west Wales or the north of Scotland! I’ll be back on Monday.
Archive for July, 2008 Page 2 of 3
Live text updating seems to be all the rage now, especially for those trying to keep up with sporting events online or on mobile internet. The influence is spreading though, and the UNISON website includes a rolling strike update at which I am – quite frankly – appalled.
Now I don’t support the strike action and as a Councillor I can only apologise to local residents who have seen services – many of them essential - disrupted today and tomorrow. However it is one thing to go on strike, but to gloat and take great delight in the misery that the strike is causing is a different ball game altogether.
That unfortunately is exactly what the UNISON website is doing however. A grisly roll-call of schools, nurseries and services for the elderly which have been closed down due to the strike action. It’s an ugly spectacle.
I don’t believe that this strike is the right way forward but I know that the vast majority of those local government staff on strike today do not take that decision lightly. Most staff on the picket lines today – never mind the local residents hit hard by the strike – will be appalled by the language used by the UNISON hierarchy. Most staff are acutely aware of the knock-on problems of striking and use industrial action with regret. The UNISON leadership are striking with relish and they are letting their own members down at the same time.
Hat tip: ConservativeHomeYesterday at Council we debated the Council’s Corporate Plan and the Cabinet Workplan.
The latter is the Council’s priorities for the forthcoming year and as the official opposition we will be consistently scrutinising the performance of the Council against the priorities they have set down in the Workplan. The Corporate plan however is more of a box-ticking exercise and seems to essentially be a version of the Council’s Local Area Agreement targets (agreed with Government) with added flowery language. It also contains the most jargon-filled page I’ve ever seen in four years as a Councillor – and that takes some doing!
The consultation period for the three proposed Post Office closures in Salford ends a week tomorrow. Here’s a quick reminder of how you can have your say:
The official closure proposals can be found on the Post Office website.
The consultation period runs until the 21st July. Here’s how you can have your say:
By post: National Consultation Team, Post Office Ltd, FREEPOST CONSULTATION TEAM (no stamp required)
Online: Click here for the Online Consultation Form
By phone: 08457 22 33 44 (0845 number – careful you don’t get stung by your phone bill!)
Remember you can also sign the Salford Conservatives “Save Our Post Offices” Petition by visiting www.salfordconservatives.com/postoffices
David Jones MP has an interesting story of the perils of blogging by civil servants. I found this paragraph particularly interesting.
It is clear that a significant number of civil servants are active political bloggers. Many, if not most, of them operate under noms de plume. Civil servants are supposed to be politically impartial. Their online anonymity, however, enables them to express political points of view incompatible with their roles as public servants.
It seems however that in Greater Manchester, normal rules don’t apply and senior Local Government officers are able to express strong views about a political hot potato as frequently as they wish.
Over the last week or two I’ve spent a couple of evenings and an afternoon with my Conservative colleagues in Wigan – following the sad death of a Labour Councillor a by-election was held yesterday in the Wigan West ward. Labour held on to the seat with a significantly reduced majority, and the Conservative candidate Jonathan Cartwright finished in a strong and clear second place.
So, a promising result for the Conservatives in a Labour stronghold – but that doesn’t tell the whole story. This by-election shows just how far the Conservative Party has progressed over the last few years in what used to be Labour’s heartland areas.
The Wigan West ward centres around an area called Beech Hill, and until 2004 the predecessor ward to Wigan West was called Beech Hill Ward. In a 1997 by-election for the old Beech Hill ward, the Conservative candidate polled a pitiful 39 votes – just 2.3% of the total votes cast. Yesterday over 500 people in the same area voted for Jonathan Cartwright and the Conservatives.
Labour actually narrowly lost that Beech Hill by-election to the Liberal Democrats. Yesterday their candidate – the same one who won that by-election all those years ago – came a poor third. So much for Nick Clegg’s arrant nonsense that only the Liberal Democrats are fighting Labour in the north.
Incidentally, David Ottewell thinks that the result was a good one for Labour. One unlikely by-election loss aside, this is some of the safest Labour territory in Greater Manchester. It shows how far they have fallen that polling 38% of the vote in one of their safest wards is considered a “good result”!
As part of a national dispute, some Council staff will be on strike next Wednesday and Thursday, the 16th and 17th July. The exact nature of any disruption is not yet known, but the Council have set up a special section on their website to notify local residents what effect the strike will have on services. You can visit the website at http://www.salford.gov.uk/industrialaction
The Full Council meeting scheduled for next Wednesday (16th July) has been moved forward to next Tuesday instead, presumably to spare the more left-wing members of the Labour Group the embarassment of having to cross a picket line.
On Saturday 9th August, Walkden Library will close for the final time on the current site. The new Library will open at the “Gateway” Centre on Bolton Road on 1st September – obviously time is needed to transfer the books and equipment over and get the staff up to speed with the new building. I’ve asked that other local libraries (Little Hulton, Worsley Village and Boothstown) should have their opening hours increased during the time that Walkden Library is shut to ensure that services can still be provided, but I’ve had no response to that request as yet.
Of more concern is the future of the current library site. I’ve asked repeatedly over the last few years about any proposals for the site and at no point have I received any answer. The Council have now decided – unilaterally – that the plot should be sold. I’m appalled that this decision can be taken without any consultation with local residents and ward Councillors. I’m even more appalled that after years of asking about the future of the site on behalf of local residents I’m now told the decision was taken years ago – why was I not told this? Why were local residents not told?
There are very few community facilities in Walkden South and I would prefer that the current site be maintained for community use – I know that the Youth Service has expressed an interest in the plot in the past. Even if it turns out that selling the land is the best option, local residents should have been kept informed about and involved with the deicision.
As it stands, we will end up with a repeat of the Pembroke Halls and Market Hall situation, where the local community lose their local facilities and the money then disappears into a typical Salford Labour black hole never to be seen again – and certainly not used for the benefit of residents in Walkden.
I’ve been extremely slow to update this blog over the past week or so. I’ve administered a slap on the wrist to myself and I promise it won’t happen again. 
Any Questions In Salford
Tonight the BBC Radio 4 panel debate show “Any Questions?”, hosted by Jonathan Dimbleby, is being broadcast live from the Salford City Academy in Brookhouse. The panel is:
Any Questions is broadcast live on BBC Radio 4 at 8pm.