Archive for November 6th, 2008

Salford Pink Rink Numbers Don’t Add Up

Published by Iain on November 6, 2008 in Salford. 36 Comments

Some local residents may already have seen the coverage in today’s Advertiser and Manchester Evening News about last year’s Pink Ice Rink fiasco. The operators North West Funfairs haven’t paid a £65000 bill to the Council and yet have been hired again for Bonfire Night at Buile Hill Park and given five years to repay the money.

Even more scandalous is the proposed cost of bringing the Pink Rink back for 2008. This was approved by Council Leader John Merry at his briefing on Monday, and the cost to the local taxpayer is obscene.

The total cost of bringing the Pink Rink back to Salford Civic Centre is a staggering £185087. The report suggests that this can be partly offset by sponsorship (£28000) and ticket sales (£37000) which leaves a shortfall of £119587 which will need to be picked up by the Council taxpayer.

In addition, the £28000 sponsorship money includes a pledge of £10000 from Urban Vision which is partly owned by the Council; the Council is effectively sponsoring itself which seems absolutely ludicrous. It’s even more unbelievable when Urban Vision reported a huge deficit in their budget to the Budget Scrutiny Committee only yesterday.

Councillor Merry also in the process of seeking sponsorship from Salix Homes which is 100% owned by Salford City Council. The other agreed sponsors are the Primary Care Trust and Greater Manchester Police Authority so the entirely of the £28000 sponsorship will be picked up by the taxpayer one way or another.

So between the budget shortfall and the “sponsorship” the total cost to the Salford taxpayer of the ice rink will be £147587 which is an obscene amount of money. I’ve no objection in principle to the ice rink but the costs would seem to far outweigh the benefits.

Hazel Blears On Blogging 2

Published by Iain on November 6, 2008 in National Comment and Salford. 0 Comments

I’ve just been struck by the irony of Hazel Blears criticising blogging when her own District Labour Party have, um, a WordPress blog. Seems the list of Blears hypocrisy in my previous post was far from complete!

Of course, as I’ve pointed out before the Salford Labour website hasn’t actually been updated since June 23rd (136 days and counting) so that’s another fine example of Hazel’s community engagement! What a prize hypocrite she is – poor show.

Hazel Blears On Blogging

Published by Iain on November 6, 2008 in National Comment and Salford. 1 Comment

I started writing this post with the intention of responding to the daft comments Salford MP Hazel Blears has made about blogging, but truth be told I’m still dumbstruck by the sheer gall of it that I’m not entirely sure what to say.

This is the same Hazel Blears who supported the closure of Hope Hospital Maternity Unit in Parliament while claiming to oppose it on the streets of Salford. This is the same Hazel Blears who voted in favour of closing Post Offices in Parliament but protested against their closure to local residents in her constituency. This is the same Hazel Blears who lectures on the lack of ethnic minority representation in local government despite her own CLP having an absymal track record. This is the same Hazel Blears who tries to take the moral high ground but sends her minions out to play childish stunts on other politicians. This is the same Hazel Blears who lectures us on political cynicism and yet patronising tries to bribe her own voters with doughnuts.

Hazel, you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. For someone with your track record to be getting on a high horse about encouraging cynicism is breathtaking hypocrisy of the very highest order.

This website isn’t perfect – far from it – but I hope that it manages to inform and engage local residents in Walkden and across Salford in the political process. I hope it gives the local community some of the information which will allow local people to actually make a difference in their area. Sure, I make comments on national issues and I don’t shy away from making critical posts – like this one – when I feel they are justified, but on the whole blogs like this one are here to engage the public with the political process, not to detach them from it.

UPDATE: Cllr Steve Cooke has made an excellent post on the same subject.