Archive for October, 2008 Page 2 of 4

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Could Be Worse, Should Have Been Much Better

Published by Iain on October 20, 2008 in Greater Manchester. 4 Comments

So today “the question” has been released. David Ottewell reports that the poll question local residents will be asked about the TIF bid and congestion charge will be:

Please read the leaflet enclosed with this ballot paper which provides details of the Greater Manchester Transport Innovation Fund proposals. These involve both major investment in public transport improvements in Greater Manchester and a weekday, peak time only, congestion charging scheme. Congestion charging would only be introduced after 80% of the public transport improvements are in place and not before the summer of 2013.

Do you agree with the Transport Innovation Fund proposals?
YES, I VOTE FOR THE PROPOSALS
NO, I VOTE AGAINST THE PROPOSALS

Well, my first thought was “well, it could have been worse”. Doubtless if the Labour Council leaders had their way we would have been asked “do you support the proposed massive investment in public transport?” or something similar. On further reflection, though, it could – and should – have been so much better.

My first concern is with the use of the word “major”. This is a subjective term in a supposedly objective preamble and it should be removed. Certainly there is no way that local residents in Walkden are set for major public transport improvements. As I’ve written previously some will even see service reductions.

Secondly, the absence from the question of any reference to congestion charging is both worrying and wrong. A cross-party statement has been released by MPs Graham Brady (Conservative, Altrincham & Sale West) Graham Stringer (Labour, Manchester Central) and Andrew Stunnell (Liberal Democrat, Hazel Grove) and I agree with it entirely:

We are concerned the referendum question itself will not make the direct link between transport proposals and congestion charging clear. This is the principal concern of our constituents and the most democratic approach. The main question must be simple and straightforward, whether it includes an introduction or not. It must include the words “congestion charge” as well as well as a reference to the Transport Innovation Fund.

Finally, we must ask why we have a question before AGMA leaders have met to agree the final proposals which we will actually be voting on.

Sunday Round-Up

Published by Iain on October 19, 2008 in Miscellaneous. 0 Comments

A quick round-up of a few blogs which have caught my eye this week:

  1. The Friends of Walkden Station report on a successful Northern Rail User Group Conference.
  2. David Cameron writes for the Observer and Guardian Comment Is Free about help for small businesses.
  3. Iain Dale notes the Government’s u-turn on immigration policy.
  4. At PoliticalBetting, Mike Smithson comments on the lack of a bail-out bounce for Gordon Brown.
  5. Antony Little thinks the media got the Brown narrative wrong.
  6. Chris Whiteside makes some perceptive comments about the Government’s latest attempts to infringe on our civil liberties.
  7. Carlisle Councillor James Bainbridge is the latest North-West Conservative to start blogging. Welcome to the blogosphere James!
  8. Finally, it’s now four months since Salford Labour updated their website.

Perhaps I should make this round-up a regular Sunday feature. What do you think?

Council To Look At Green Belt Development

Published by Iain on October 17, 2008 in Salford and Walkden. 0 Comments

On Wednesday evening I attended a briefing on the Council’s “core strategy”. This is important forthcoming guidance on planning use for land in the City, with particular regard to future housing development.

Essentially, Government proposals require the Council to plan for an increase of 38000 homes across the City over the next few decades. Personally I am extremely doubtful that this is a sustainable level of development  – and that’s before we get to discuss the effect of the current economic climate.

The Council have come up with four options. They are essentially on a spectrum, with the first option comprising a higher percentage of apartments and concentration on the “regional centre”, and the fourth option looking at more development of family homes in the west of the City including provision to build on greenfield sites and on parts of the Green Belt. In Walkden this would include house building on the greenfield land to the west of Newearth Road and south of Hilton Lane.

The Core Strategy is a huge undertaking and one to which I will return to on this blog on a number of occasions. The consultation period starts today and runs through to the 12th December. You can find more information about the Core Strategy options and how to respond to the consultation on the Council website.

As a local Councillor I’m also keen to hear the views of local residents on the proposed sites. Personally I am extremely sceptical of further development of greenfield and green belt sites but I would welcome the input of the local community into this debate.

Save St George’s Facebook Group

Published by Iain on October 16, 2008 in Walkden. 0 Comments

A quick reminder that the Save St George’s Facebook Group is still up and running. The group now has over 500 members including pupils, ex-pupils, parents, members of the local community and a handful of interested parties from elsewhere.

Click here to join the group and get involved!

Labour Still Want To Close St George’s

Published by Iain on October 16, 2008 in Salford and Walkden. 5 Comments

So after the lies and half-truths from Labour about a “merger” and a “new Catholic High School” – which by complete coincidence coincided with the local election period (don’t worry Cllr Merry, I still have your leaflets) – the truth about the future of St George’s High School has emerged this week. It’s no surprise to learn that our Labour Council wants to close the school down completely after all.

Staff, parents and pupils at St George’s, and local residents in the wider community are right to feel that they have been singled out and picked on. Since the Building Schools for the Future programme was first dreamt up two years ago, almost everything on the agenda has been altered in some way or other, but the zeal of Cllrs Warmisham and Merry to close a very successful school serving local children across Walkden and Little Hulton is undimmed.

The attitude from the ruling Labour Group towards parents, staff and pupils at St George’s has been nothing short of appalling from day one, and I am disgusted that supposedly experienced Councillors have continued to demand the closure of a very good school rather than risk the humiliation of thinking again – even though it would be in the best interests of children and parents in this City.

As a ward Councillor for Walkden South, St George’s continues to have my full support. The Council continue to deny local residents their chance to have a full say on the proposals, and have refused to call a public meeting as part of the new consultation process. I believe that parents should be able to have their say, and it is typical of our Labour Council that they refuse to hold a meeting just because they know that the feedback is likely to be unfavourable.

GMPTE Response To Bus Analysis

Published by Iain on October 15, 2008 in Greater Manchester and Walkden. 0 Comments

I’d noticed in my site statistics that (unsurprisingly) GMPTE officials have been repeatedly visiting this website yesterday – and again this morning – trying to formulate a response to my posting yesterday. They have now posted a statement on the previous topic, which I have responded to with my own comments. I thought rather than let my answers sit in the replies section, I would create a new post for local residents to read.

GMPTE COMMENT > In Walkden, the 68 and 31 take long routes to Manchester city centre and are not considered realistic options for passengers traveling between Walkden and Manchester city centre.

As far as the 31 goes, this is nonsense. Although the 31 takes in the Duchy estate and Pendleton precinct in Salford, it travels non-stop down the East Lancashire Road which means that in practice it is actually as quick as any of the supposedly more direct routes.

The 68 is a slower service to Manchester, granted, but it is often nonetheless quicker than waiting for the next bus.

GMPTE COMMENT > The 36 & 37 would be coordinated to provide a service every five minutes and would be the principle services for city centre journeys.

These services are already in existance and already provide a service every five minutes into Manchester, without the need for a huge Government loan and £1200 per annum congestion charge. NO IMPROVEMENT.

GMPTE COMMENT > The 68 would be diverted to serve the Trafford Centre, offering new travel opportunities from Walkden and Little Hulton.

I noted the new link to the Trafford Centre in my post and I welcome it.

GMPTE COMMENT > The frequency of the 68 would be reduced to half hourly, however, the frequency of the 33 (Worsley – Manchester) would be increased to every 10 minutes to compensate for the 68 not running through to Manchester.

Changing to the 33 would require a large amount of extra time and hassle, and of course the 33 does not directly serve Salford Royal Hospital as it travels down Eccles New Road rather than Eccles Old Road. NO IMPROVEMENT & SERVICE REDUCTION

GMPTE COMMENT > The hourly 31, which provides a series of local links, would be replaced by a half hourly service 73 linking Walden to both Farnworth and Swinton/Pendleton. In terms of the three buses per hour to Worsley Village, Eccles and Salford Royal (Hope) Hospital, the reduced frequency is due to the revised 68 service, as outlined above.

I’m glad that GMPTE are acknowledging that under TIF the service to Salford Royal Hospital will be significantly reduced. NO IMPROVEMENT & SERVICE REDUCTION.

GMPTE COMMENT > To Farnworth, the 37 remains unchanged at every 10 minutes and is the main Walkden – Farnworth service. Also, the hourly uncoordinated 31 & 550 would be replaced by a half hourly 73.

Again, if the main services remain unchanged then why are we taking out a socking great loan and forcing local families to pay through the nose with a congestion charge? As for this new 73 bus, all you are doing is replacing two hourly services with one half-hourly service – so NO IMPROVEMENT.

GMPTE COMMENT > And in relation to evening services to Manchester, the evening 36 & 37 are unchanged, but the Sunday frequency would actually be improved to provide a combined 10-minute service. The 12 would be unchanged, the 68 & 31 would be varied in accordance with daytime services but the 68 would still operate hourly in the evenings and increased to half hourly on Sundays – to the Trafford Centre, rather than Manchester. The 73 (which would replace the 31 & 550) would operate hourly, which is greater than the 90 minute-frequency offered by the 31.

Again I noted the proposed increased evening and weekend services in my post, but these increases are negligible and certainly not anything approaching a reasonable share of £3 billion investment.

Nothing in the GMPTE statement has contradicted what I set out in my previous post – that despite a £1200 per annum congestion charge and a huge Government loan, local residents in Walkden will see SERVICE CUTS in some areas, others will stay just the same and a few services will see negligible improvements. What a sham.

EXCLUSIVE: TIF Bid Will Mean FEWER Buses In Walkden

Published by Iain on October 14, 2008 in Greater Manchester and Walkden. 16 Comments

Last week I received a copy of a Transport Innovation Fund (TIF) bus schematic for Walkden. It’s basically a spider diagram showing the destinations that will be served by buses under the TIF proposal, and the frequencies at which those buses will travel. You can download the diagram here (pdf file).

The amount of taxpayers’ money spent on persuading the public to back these proposals is staggering, so I was very eager to read about the fabled bus improvements on offer to local residents here in Walkden. Boy was I in for a shock.

The diagram says that in the morning peak and daytime, there will be 14 buses per hour from Walkden to Manchester. Not bad – until you count the number of buses currently traversing that route. There’s a 36 every ten minutes along the A6 and a 37 on the same frequency and a similar route. That’s twelve buses per hour. There’s a 12 every half hour and a 68 every twenty minutes, which is another five buses per hour. Finally, there’s the subsidised 31 service which takes in the Birch Road estate and heads straight down the East Lancs to the Height.

So that’s a current total of 18 buses per hour to Manchester – or 4 more than is proposed under the TIF bid! If the TIF bid is accepted, local residents will have nearly a quarter FEWER buses to Manchester at peak time and during the day.

I’ll try not to turn this post into a long list of bus numbers, but the cuts do indeed go on. At the moment there are three buses per hour to Worsley Village, Eccles and Salford Royal (Hope) Hospital. Under the TIF proposals that will be slashed by a third. There are fewer buses to Farnworth and evening services to Manchester are also cut. Despite the massive investment, services to Bolton, Boothstown and Leigh are likely to remain as they are.

There are one or two bright spots. The restoration of a half-hourly service to the Trafford Centre would be very welcome, and some evening and Sunday services will have an increased frequency although the majority of evening and weekend services will remain broadly similar to current levels.

On the whole, though, this is an appalling deal. Local residents will suffer both the congestion charge tax of up to £1200 per annum and the effect of a £3bn debt mountain, both created in order to service public transport “investment” that will provide little or no benefit to Walkden and the surrounding areas. We will be paying through the nose and getting nothing in return.

Residents will be horrified to learn that after all the grand promises they will end up with even fewer buses than at present. They have been deliberately misled and I am disgusted that £3 million of taxpayers’ money has been spent on material that contains such deception. The TIF claims on bus improvements do not stand up even to basic scrutiny and I am sure that the situation here in Walkden will be replicated in towns across Greater Manchester.

Maple Grove Passageway

Published by Iain on October 13, 2008 in Walkden. 0 Comments

Following complaints from local residents, I asked Environmental Services to clear the overgrown weeds (and the associated litter which had built up) from the passageway between Maple Grove and Edge Fold Road. This was done over the weekend and it now looks much better.

I’m aware that there are many such passageways throughout Walkden. If you spot an alley in need of attention, please don’t hesitate to get in touch and I’ll try to get it sorted as quickly as possible.

Follow Me On Twitter

Published by Iain on October 13, 2008 in Site News. 1 Comment

A quick reminder about my new Twitter feed. You can read the last few Twitter posts in the right-hand sidebar on this side, or if you’d like to keep track of what I’m up to you can subscribe to my Twitter feed which you can find here.

Trip To Pendle / Bowls On The Park

Published by Iain on October 12, 2008 in Miscellaneous and Walkden. 0 Comments

Yesterday I made my way up to Pendle in East Lancashire to help campaign for my friend and excellent prospective MP for Pendle Andy Stephenson. It was an excellent day, although not before suffering a forty-minutes delay at Bromley Cross station because the train “couldn’t get enough traction”. I think this means that the rails are too slippy for the train to run, which is not a particularly helpful thing to happen to a railway. Still, I got there eventually.

This afternoon there’s an event on Parr Fold Park. It’s the third of a series of “intergenerational” bowls events involving juniors and the regular bowlers. The previous two have been hugely successful and the neighbourhood team deserve huge credit for organising them. The sun has decided to come out today so fingers crossed for another great event!

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