Cllr Iain Lindley – Prospective Conservative MP for Worsley & Eccles South
I have just received the following message:
Following a number of breakdowns earlier today, crews will be working late in the following areas to complete:-
CADISHEAD/IRLAM/WALKDEN AND LITTLE HULTON.
Any outstanding work will be completed in the morning.
This is about the fourth week in a row that bins have not been emptied on the correct day. It is simply not good enough.
There’s a must-read post over at David Ottewell’s blog. The proposed 180 extra rail carriages for Greater Manchester – essentially to keep the region moving – have been slashed by the Government to a maximum of 106.
I know that my colleague Cllr Ian MacDonald, Worsley ward Councillor and Vice-Chairman of the Transport Authority, will be protesting along with his colleagues in the strongest term. This is a real let-down for the people of Greater Manchester, and means that commuters from Walkden, Eccles, Irlam, Patricroft and Swinton stations will continue to suffer overcrowding and inadequate services.
I’m delighted that my Conservative colleague Cllr James Pearson was elected this morning as the new Chairman of the Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Authority. Outgoing Liberal Democrat Chairman Paul Shannon becomes the new Vice-Chairman.
I have been appointed as the Authority spokesman to Salford City Council and I have also taken up a place on the North-West Regional Management Board.
A depressing report today from Experian, which suggests that Walkden town centre is one of the places worst-hit by the current recession.
Walkden town centre has suffered considerable decline over the last few years, and the number of empty shops has steadily increased. Obviously the current recession has exacerbated this, but traders have also complained about the inflexibility of the ownership of the Ellesmere Centre – not helped by the Council’s decision to flog the Market Hall and Pembroke Halls to them back when Labour last found themselves in financial crisis.
Incidentally, as I’ve pointed out before, Labour promised to reinvest that money in Walkden town centre and it has never materialised – we’re still waiting for the money.
The new Tesco development is now well underway. Many people are rightly wary of Tesco, but sadly there wasn’t a huge queue of firms waiting to invest in Walkden. I hope that the new Tesco – and particularly the extra parking spaces – will provide a boost to those smaller and independent traders who have stuck out the difficult times, and encourage new firms to invest and set up in Walkden.
Locally, the Council needs to do much better. The millions received from the Pembroke Halls sale went into a typical Labour black hole and show no sign of returning. There is a “Salford West” development strategy but Walkden town centre does not even feature on the radar (although they are doing some useful work elsewhere).
Nationally, we need to be doing much more to support businesses and independent traders. Conservative proposals include:
Like many local residents, I have my fingers crossed that the new Tesco has the desired effect. Regardless, I know that a Conservative Government and Conservative-led Council would be much more proactive in supporting town centres like Walkden (and Eccles and Swinton) and the businesses that inhabit them.
The results of the Government’s “place survey” – a huge survey detailed how local people feel about how well their Council is doing – has been published. David Ottewell has helpfully published the results in full.
What they show is that only 33.7% of Salford residents are “satisfied or fairly satisfied” (hardly a high barrier!) with Salford’s Labour Council. This is an appalling figure and in the table places Salford City Council at the giddy heights of nineteenth from bottom, out of every single Council in the country.
Funnily enough, I don’t see any mention of this survey on the Council website. I wonder if there will be a big article in Life in Salford magazine? I’m not holding my breath…
This is a damning indictment of decades of Labour misrule. It’s time for a change!
United Utilities are holding an exhibition with information about the West-East Link Pipeline – many local residents will already have noticed the excavations nearly the East Lancs Road!
The exhibition is being held at Worsley Courthouse on Tuesday 30th June and will be open from 2pm until 7pm.
There’s an interesting comment piece on SalfordOnline entitled “the demise of Salford democracy has begun”. Whilst I understand the sentiment - and I certainly agree that Hazel and her Labour colleagues have let the people of Salford down badly – I think reports of the demise of democracy are premature.
Hazel should not be apologising to her Labour colleagues. She should be apologising to the people of Salford as a whole – she has let them down badly. Ultimately Hazel Blears is accountable to her electorate, and her fate will be decided not behind the closed doors of a Labour Party meeting, but in the ballot boxes of the Salford & Eccles constituency at the next General Election.
The public need to have the opportunity to pass judgement on Hazel and her Labour colleagues. What we need is a General Election to give local people the chance to pass that judgement – that’s the real test of our local democracy.
Yesterday I received a large package in the post. It’s the detailed plans for the proposed Walkden High School build. I’m going to go through it with a fine toothcomb, but what strikes you immediately is the name on all the documents – not Walkden High School but “Walkden Global College”.
I don’t know whether this is kite-flying or a solid proposal to change the name permanently, but as a first impression I’m not convinced by it as a name.
My apologies for the unavailability of this site over the last day or two. There has been a problem with my hosting company’s server hardware – a “catastrophic failure of the embeded network cards” (whatever that means). Everything should be back to normal now – please contact me if you encounter any further problems.
Conservative Party News
Stop Hiding Behind “Security”
It isn’t hard to find out where politicians live if you really want to do so.
The overwhelming majority of Councillors (including me) have their home addresses published online and in Council publications. Almost all are on the electoral register – data that is easily obtainable. Home addresses are printed on election ballot papers and at polling stations, and rightly so – local people have the right to know whether their candidates live locally. Then there’s the media – it’s hard not to know where Hazel Blears has her constituency home, as there’s been a constant scrum of media figures parked outside it for the past month or so.
So let’s not have any crying wolf about “security” or “privacy” over the blacked-out expenses. That’s just not good enough. By all means blank out the details of office staff – but for the MPs themselves there are no excuses. Publish or be damned.