Archive for September, 2008

Iain’s Conference Diary – Day 2

Published by Iain on September 30, 2008 in Greater Manchester and National Comment. 5 Comments

I didn’t make it into the hall for George Osborne’s speech yesterday – too full! – but I did manage to find a screen to watch it on. I thought it was an excellent measured speech that struck the right tone, and the announcement on Council Tax will be welcomed by hard-working local residents in Salford who have seen Labour increase their bills through the roof in the last decade or so. Obviously events yesterday evening and today have made it even more imperative that we come up with the right economic proposals for Britain and David Cameron has rightly made an additional statement this morning on the current crisis.

After that I headed straight for the GMPTA fringe and met up with my colleague and Worsley Councillor Ian MacDonald. The panel included the new (Conservative) Chairman on GMPTA Matt Colledge, Shadow Transport Minister Stephen Hammond MP, Heidi Mottram from Northern Rail and a representative from FirstGroup (whose name I’m afraid escapes me). There was a discussion about the excellent new commitment for high-speed rail to Greater Manchester (which I commented on yesterday) and I made some comments about the lack of improvements for local residents in Salford and surrounding boroughs in the TIF bid.

In the evening I went to receptions organised by Manchester Airports Group and the Conservative Councillors’ Association – which were both useful and informative – before heading on to a party to celebrate ten years of Conservative Future.

Conservatives Commit To Manchester Rail Link

Published by Iain on September 29, 2008 in Greater Manchester and National Comment. 13 Comments

I couldn’t blog today without briefly mentioning the new Conservative commitment to a high-speed rail link to Manchester and other northern cities:

Theresa Villiers has laid out plans to introduce the next phase of high speed rail to the UK, in what she described as a “momentous step forward for Britain’s transport infrastructure”.

A Conservative Government would build a new high speed rail line between Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and London, which would cut journey times between Birmingham and London to 40 minutes and between Leeds and London to less than an hour and a half.

Theresa, the Shadow Transport Secretary, said that high speed rail would have many benefits for the UK:

  • Helping businesses and generating huge economic benefits, potentially to the value of £60 billion

  • Healing long-standing divisions in our economy by shrinking the distance between north and south

  • Relieving over-crowding on existing lines

  • Helping to protect future generations from climate change

She announced that a Conservative Government would say no to a third runway at Heathrow, and concentrate instead on the advantages of our high speed rail plan:

“It will leave a lasting legacy for the future – and it will lay the foundations for a high speed network that I believe will one day stretch across the country.”

We will target construction of the new high speed line to begin in 2015, with full completion by 2027.

This is a fantastic development and shows a long-term commitment to our transport infrastructure in the North-West which has been sadly lacking from the Labour Government.

I’m coming to the end of my alloted time on the webcafe so I’ll make a further comment later, but in the meantime David Ottewell has some comment.

Iain’s Conference Diary – Day 1

Published by Iain on September 29, 2008 in National Comment. 0 Comments

After a long queue I’ve finally managed to get hold of a computer at the Conference “Internet Cafe” (actually five terminals on a stand – not really enough to meet demand!) so I thought I’d make a quick update to this blog before George Osborne comes on to speak. Mark Bowen is sat three computers down doing the same thing, by the looks of it!

The highlights of yesterday were strong speeches by David Cameron and William Hague, who both set the scene for the Conference ahead. Following that, George Osborne introduced a number of ordinary members of the public onto the stage to discuss issues with shadow cabinet members. The “chat show” format could easily have flopped but it actually worked really well. I was particularly interested in the sub-postmaster from Bristol who talked about the Post Office Card Account – our shadow trade secretary Alan Duncan MP outlined Conservative plans to allow the POCA accounts to be used to pay utility bills. This will increase business for Post Offices and allow thousands of families to save money on their bills at a time when prices are rising considerably.

Fringe watch – last night I popped in to the Gibraltar reception briefly before heading on to the North West gathering. It was great to see so many familiar faces and in such good spirits. I’m off to the GMPTE fringe this lunchtime.

Off To Conference

Published by Iain on September 27, 2008 in National Comment and Site News. 0 Comments

Right, I’m all set for the train to Birmingham later today. I’ll try to post updates from Conference but that all depends on how easy it is to find internet access – there’s a web cafe in the ICC but I suspect it will also come with a large queue…

Housing Stock Transfer Postponed

Published by Iain on September 26, 2008 in Salford. 1 Comment

You won’t (unsurprisingly) read it on the Council website, but the transfer of the Council’s housing stock in the west of Salford to new social landlord City West on Monday has been postponed.

The Council has already suffered one postponement earlier this year, and the original planned date was 2007, but this new delay is particularly embarassing because everything was all set to go – tenants have already received a newsletter telling them that transfer would go ahead on Monday, and most New Prospect Housing staff will have been ready to transfer to their new positions on Tuesday morning, but they will now stay put in their old positions for the time being.

I hope that the Council are able to iron out the remaining problems as quickly as possible. Proposed improvements for residents are already likely to be delayed, and any considerable delay to transfer will be ruinously expensive for the Council – money that we simply don’t have thanks to Labour’s financial irresponsibility.

In the meantime, tenants who have any concerns about the transfer should ring 0800 328 4599. For repairs or rent enquires tenants should continue to ring New Prospect until further notice.

The New Conservative Party Website

Published by Iain on September 26, 2008 in National Comment. 0 Comments

The Party website has had a revamp and has been launched today prior to Conference. I’ve only had chance to have a quick flick through this morning but it looks extremely impressive – clean, informative and easy to navigate. Amongst the new features is The Blue Blog which is a hugely welcome development. I look forward to seeing how it develops.

TIF Roadshow In Walkden

Published by Iain on September 25, 2008 in Walkden. 0 Comments

Earlier this evening I wandered up to Walkden town centre to have a look around the TIF roadshow and see how busy it had been – up to that point nearly 150 people had been through the doors. However as with the roadshow at Eccles, the roadshow truck had parked up in the far corner of the supermarket car park. I think this would again have had a real impact on the number of local residents visiting the roadshow to ask questions, which is a shame.

Why Wallasey and Worsley Matter

Published by Iain on September 24, 2008 in National Comment and Worsley & Eccles South. 0 Comments

I’ve not had time to blog in any depth today but for those Conservatives who regularly browse the blogosphere I would commend this article by Cllr Leah Fraser on ConservativeHome. Spot on.

Leah is a fellow blogger (a very good one I should add) and the Prospective Conservative MP for Wallasey.

Athens Drive Walkabout – This Friday

Published by Iain on September 23, 2008 in Walkden. 0 Comments

There will be a “multi-agency walkabout” on Athens Drive and the surrounding streets this coming Friday morning (26th September), starting on the corner of Athens Drive and Bridgewater Road at 9.30am.

This is a chance for local residents to pass on problems to New Prospect Housing officers and representatives from the Council and Police. Keep an eye out for us if you live in the Athens Drive area and would like to point out any problems or concerns.

TIF Roadshow In Walkden This Thursday

Published by Iain on September 22, 2008 in Greater Manchester and Walkden. 1 Comment

Just a quick reminder that the Transport Innovation Fund and Congestion Charging Roadshow comes to Walkden this coming Thursday (25th September). It’ll be outside Tesco from 11am until 7pm.

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