Local residents in Walkden have been represented in Parliament by a Labour MP since 1935, with the exception of the two years from 1981-83 when the sitting Labour MP defected to the SDP. It may well be that this long run is set to come to an end – throughout most of the last year, the national opinion polls have shown that on a uniform swing the new Parliamentary constituency of Worsley & Eccles South is set to be a competitive marginal.
Of course, anyone with the slightest interest in electoral politics knows that swings in individual seats are often anything but uniform, so from a Conservative perspective it is encouraging to read today’s in-depth report from PoliticsHome on the situation in marginal constituencies. PoliticsHome have polled and analysed over 35000 voters across the country in marginal seats, looking at local and regional issues in depth, and are predicting a Conservative victory in Worsley & Eccles South as well as many others in the North-West.
This of course ties in with results from the last set of local elections – in the wards making up the new constituency, Conservative candidates had a lead of over 12% from their Labour counterparts. Locally and nationally Labour have let down local residents across the area -in Walkden, Little Hulton, Worsley, Boothstown, Ellenbrook, Winton, Eccles, Barton, Patricroft, Peel Green, Irlam and Cadishead – and only the Conservatives are listening and responding to local concerns. It’s time for a change!
One would expect that there would be plenty of things to occupy delegates at the Labour Party Conference (speeches, fringe debates, receptions, parties, plotting the downfall of the Prime Minister…) but from reading my site statistics it seems that one or two visitors are taking some of their time at Manchester Central out to read this blog. Greetings, comrades!
I wrote last week about the appalling mess that Labour has cooked up for the Council finances. We had a long debate about this in the Council Chamber on Wednesday and the lead member responsible (Cllr Bill Hinds) did little to reassure. In fact, he was entirely unrepentant about the levels of unsupported borrowing and was a mere whisker away from expressing pride and delight in the fact that Labour have subjected the Council taxpayer to these massive liabilities.
I think there are two points to raise here.
Firstly, this is I’m afraid “another fine mess that the Labour Party have gotten this Council into” – if they’d listened to the warnings from the Conservative opposition over the excessive waste and profligacy then the Council would not be in such dire straits.
Secondly, I was appalled by the justification used by Cllr Hinds to support this new addition borrowing (nearly £17m additional borrowing in August alone). He said that the borrowing was justified because the repayments were low! Well, in which case, I might as well go out and blow £500 on a new laptop on my credit card, because it’ll only cost me £10 per month. Of course, that’s just to service the debt, I’ll still have to pay it back eventually - just as the Council taxpayers in Salford will have to pay for Labour’s financial failure.
I noticed this sign (pictured left) when I got off the bus at the top of Worsley Road in Swinton this morning.
There really isn’t much excuse for having out of date or misleading signs up on the road, and doubtless the same sign raises the blood pressure of the Swinton Councillors who are frequent visitors to this blog!
(Apologies for the poor quality image, I was in a rush and the sun was shining in all the wrong places to take a decent photo…)
I’ve been doing a little browsing of Salford political websites this evening. Now I try to make daily updates to this blog and for the most part I succeed, but I’m responsible for updating the Salford Conservative website. Whilst I try to make regular updates, it could (like all sites) of course always do with an extra article or news item.
However, I’ve just checked out the opposition and I’m feeling a little better about my handiwork. Both the Salford Labour and Salford Liberal Democrats sites are neat and tidy, but the Labour site hasn’t been updated for three months and the Liberal Democrat list of Councillors is now five months out of date. Saying that, the Labour site doesn’t even have a list of Councillors…
This afternoon I attended a very useful meeting with representatives from United Utilities about the proposed impact of the East-West Link Water Pipeline. This is a new aqueduct from Knowsley to Bury and will run through the local area if planning permission is granted later this year.
Local residents in the vicinity of the proposed route will already have received letters from United Utilities informing them of the proposals. As featured in the local press, Ellesmere Golf Club will be affected and I understand that UU is working with the club to build temporary holes during the process so that 18-hole-golf can continue. The proposed route is well away from any dwellings or buildings so they should not be affected. My main concern relates to traffic and the potential for disruption during construction work. This involves three areas in Walkden:
- A580 East Lancashire Road. The pipeline crosses the A580 around the junction with Walkden Road, but I understand that this will be done by tunnel and will not require a road closure. However, there may be a lane closure eastbound somewhere between Walkden Road and the M60 at some point for construction work.
- Old Clough Lane. The pipeline crosses Old Clough Lane at the southern end adjacent to the junction with the A580. Old Clough Lane may need to be closed to allow this work to be completed – UU suggest a maximum of two weeks for this work. This will cause significant disruption for residents and would involve the re-routing of the 31 bus away from the Birch Road estate during the duration of the work.
- A6 Manchester Road. The pipeline crosses the A6 at Linnyshaw and this has the potential to cause heavy disruption. The current likely plan is to cross the A6 using an open trench with one lane available at a time and temporary traffic lights would control the traffic flow. The A6 is a major route through Walkden and Swinton and the lane closure could cause absolute chaos. It also affects two high-frequency bus routes in the 36 and 37. I’ve asked UU to contact First Bus and GMPTE.
If any local residents have any queries they’d like me to take to United Utilities please let me know!
I must say finally that I am very impressed with the proactive approach that UU are taking to public consultation – something that Salford’s Labour Council would do well to match.
Lots to do this afternoon…
- At 2.30pm myself and my ward colleagues are meeting with representatives from United Utilities to discuss the effect of the proposed new water pipeline on residents in Walkden.
- At 4pm we have a meeting with the new Police Neighbourhood Inspector, Jonathan Kelly, to discuss local issues. Insp Kelly has been in post for a couple of weeks now and seems to have hit the ground running, so I am looking forward to working with him for the benefit of local residents.
- At 5.15pm there is a meeting of the local Political Executive, which is a grouping of all the Councillors in Walkden and Little Hulton. Issues on the agenda include highways and community safety.
Labour Conference vs Eurovision
The Manchester Evening News website has a special section devoted to the current Labour Conference. Readers are invited to check out Peter Devine’s blog “for Conference related news”. The blog is question, though, is entitled “All Things Eurovision” - so alongside news of Caroline Flint’s call for housing purchases is the latest on next month’s Eurovision Fan Convention in Birmingham. Bizarre.
Anyway, it got me thinking, what do the Labour Conference and the Eurovision Song Contest have in common? Suggestions from the floor are very welcome in the comments, but my initial thought was that Britain pays through the nose for both events and doesn’t do very well out of them!
Anyway over to you dear reader for your suggestions… I might compile an Iain Dale-style top ten if I get enough responses!