I was sad to hear yesterday of the death of former Mayor Cllr Jimmy Hulmes. My thoughts are with his family, friends and colleagues.
Archive for February, 2009
I’m delighted by the positive response that our by-election candidate Jillian Collinson has received from local residents in Clifton and Pendlebury. Jillian will make an excellent Councillor for Pendlebury ward and I hope that local residents choose her to represent them on March 19th.
I’ve been concentrating on the Conservative campaign so I’m not too bothered about what the other parties are up to – but a couple of things have come to my attention.
First of these is the interesting choice of header for the Labour newsletter. We all remember Labour’s shameful decision to massively increase spending on Council propaganda – now they’ve decided to make the most of their waste of taxpayers’ money by giving their newspaper the same heading as the Council propaganda magazine. Final confirmation if any were needed that Labour had only their own interests at heart when it comes to throwing taxpayers’ money at the Council’s marketing department.
Meanwhile the Liberal Democrat candidate is campaigning for a mysterious place called “Pendelbury”. Where is Pendelbury? I think we should be told!
I was shocked and saddened to learn this morning of the death of Ivan Cameron. My heartfelt sympathy and condolences go out to David and Samantha Cameron and their family and friends. I can’t even begin to imagine how it must feel to lose a child and my thoughts are with them today.
I stumbled this week across Tweetminster, an excellent site which collates all MPs and Parliamentary candidates who Twitter.
You can view my Twitter feed on the right hand side of this website or alternatively by clicking here.
I’m absolutely delighted with the fantastic response that local residents in Clifton and Pendlebury have given our by-election candidate Jillian Collinson and her team.
It’s shaping up to be a really close race between Jillian and the Labour candidate – a clear choice between a Labour Party who have taken local residents in Clifton and Pendlebury for granted for too long and a hard-working Conservative Councillor who would be a real voice for the local community.
At the last local election, there were just 149 votes between Labour and the Conservatives. The Liberal Democrats were a very poor third; a vote for them or any other party just helps Labour get back in – and Clifton and Pendlebury residents deserve better than that!
I’m delighted with the new Conservative proposals on local government announced last week. They represent a real commitment to take powers away from Westminster and from unelected regional bureaucrats and give them back to local residents and local communities.
A few highlights…
- Abolishing all regional planning and housing powers and returning those discretions back to local communities. This is absolutely vital for Salford and means that the diabolical Government suggestion that we should build 40000 new homes in Salford will be scrapped and Salford people can decide how many new homes are needed – so no need to either build thousands of unwanted apartments or develop our precious green belt land.
- Giving a real incentive for councils to promote local economic growth, by allowing them to keep the uplift in business rate revenues from businesses growing in size. A similar scheme was abolished without warning by the current Government, leaving Salford City Council to pay for the BBC Philharmonic out of the revenue budget (ie, Council Tax!)
- Making greater use of direct democracy, including allowing Salford’s residents to veto high council tax rises, or instigate a council-wide referendum on local issues if 5% of local residents give their backing. A real check and balance on the current disastrous Labour Council. A chance for residents to have a real say on our high Council Tax and appalling decisions like the proposed closure of St George’s RC High School.
- Requiring Salford City council to publish detailed information online about its spending – including the pay and perks of senior staff; and issuing new guidance to stop ‘rewards for failure’ to sacked town hall staff (highlighted by the recent Baby P scandal).
- Scrapping Labour’s new Infrastructure Planning Commission, which it intends to use to force through the environmentally damaging Heathrow expansion and other controversial projects. This would be used to override the concerns of local residents to push through large projects, like approving the Port Salford development without making arrangements to alleviate the traffic flow problems on the A57.
There have been a number of items in the local press recently about the safety of pedestrians crossing the A580 East Lancashire Road, after the tragic death of yet another teenager.
I know that my Council colleagues in the Worsley and Boothstown & Ellenbrook wards, in conjunction with the Worsley and Boothstown Community Committee, have set aside a large amount of money from their devolved highways budget for safety improvements on the A580.
I hope that the Council sees fit to implement these changes – which I believe include an “all red” sequence at the lights at the Newearth Road/Ellenbrook Road junction with the A580 – as soon as possible. These proposals have been in place for a long time and Urban Vision and Salford City Council need to work faster to get these measures into place.
Well, the new recycling bins have finally arrived in Walkden and Little Hulton – almost an entire year after the date that the Council promised they would arrive.
This delay was very disappointing and whilst I recognise that there were outside factors involved in terms of the bin suppliers, I do wonder how much goodwill towards the new arrangements has been lost. If the supplier has breached the contract then I hope that the Environment Directorate will be robust in seeking compensation.
It’s really important that our recycling rates continue to rise, both for environmental and financial reasons (the Council risks a huge fine if it does not hit the recycling targets!). If you have any queries about the new system – perhaps you want to share bins or have a smaller bin – you can call the Council on 909 6500 or email environment@salford.gov.uk.
I’m delighted that Jillian Collinson has been selected by local Conservatives in Clifton and Pendlebury as their candidate for the forthcoming by-election.
Jillian knows the local area well and has dedicated huge amount of her time to helping local residents across Salford, as her experience as a school governor at Springwood Special School and as Chair of the PCT Committee looking at the extremely difficult issue of palliative care for children shows.
Jillian will make a first-rate Councillor for local residents in Clifton and Pendlebury and I hope that she is elected to serve them on March 19th.
The by-election is already shaping up to be a close race between Jillian and the Labour candidate. The Liberal Democrats were a very poor third at the last local election, and a vote for them will only help let Labour back in – and the people of Clifton and Pendlebury deserve better than that.
Local residents in Clifton and Pendlebury have been badly let down and taken for granted by their Labour Council, and they deserve a hard-working Conservative Councillor who will listen to them and stand up for their interests at the town hall. Time for a change!
Sir Fred Goodwin’s Pension
Like many, I think that Sir Fred Goodwin’s pension sum is obscene given the outcome of his tenure at the Royal Bank of Scotland. What to do about it though? All we are getting from the Prime Minister and the Chancellor is hot air.
The simple truth is that the Labour Government had the opportunity to act on the issue when the initial bank bail-out was proposed, and they failed to do so. Now there is probably very little that can be done short of asking Sir Fred to voluntarily give back the money.
This sorry episode will leave a very bitter taste in the mouth for taxpayers across the country, and the Labour Government only have themselves to blame for failing to act with due diligence when handing over huge sums of taxpayers’ cash to the banks.