David Ottewell has blogged about the Tameside MBC stand at Labour Party Conference. I note from my own Conference guide that they have a stall at Conservative Conference next week as well, as indeed they did last year.
Now, Conference stalls don’t come cheap. David estimates the cost at £10000 per week and this is probably in the right ballpark (and that’s before staff expenses for spending a week in Brighton, although presumably they can commute to the MICC next week).
Can someone please tell me what benefit the good people of Tameside get from their Council shelling out tens of thousands of pounds to attend the Party Conferences? What a colossal waste of money.
Yes, I’m aware the odd Conservative Council does this too, though fortunately neither of the Conservative administrations in Greater Manchester have done so. They should know better.
The Walkden and Little Hulton Community Committee is being held tonight (Monday 28th September) at the Walkden Gateway. The meeting starts at 6pm and all local residents in Walkden and Little Hulton are welcome to attend. Hope to see some of you there!
Many of you will have read the article in today’s Manchester Evening News about the mobile phone bills run up by local Councils. Salford City Council has a staggering 2615 mobile phone handsets and racked up a bill of £292500 last year.
Now, I don’t doubt that for some Council staff a mobile phone is an essential requirement of their job. However I really struggle to see the justification for quite so many handsets and I would hope that the figure can be revised downwards significantly in the coming years.
I know that some of my Conservative colleagues have been holding the Council to account over mobile phone usage for some years now (and will continue to do so!) and I have no doubt that but for their efforts the Council taxpayer would be footing an even bigger bill than the one printed in the MEN today.
I’m delighted that Tony Kelly has agreed to join our Conservative Action Team for Cadishead and Irlam, joining our two excellent local Councillors Liz Hill and Lyn Bramer-Kelly. Tony brings a huge amount of local experience to the team and I know that he will be an excellent advocate for local residents in both Cadishead and Irlam.
I’d also like to welcome Antony Yates as the Conservative Action Team leader for Barton ward. Antony lives locally in Eccles and I look forward to working with him over the coming weeks and months.
Outside of the constituency I’d like to welcome David Wolfson, Abdul Mannan jnr and Christine Allcock as Conservative local campaigners in Kersal, Eccles and Claremont wards respectively. We are building an excellent Conservative team across the City and I look forward to working with all of them.
This evening Jillian Collinson was selected as the Conservative candidate for Boothstown & Ellenbrook ward for the 2010 local elections.
Cllr Christine Gray, who has been a fantastic representative both for her ward and for the City as a whole, has decided not to seek re-election, and I’m delighted that we have been able to select such an excellent candidate (from a high-quality shortlist) to stand in her place.
I know that if the electorate place their trust in Jillian that she will continue the hard work and dedication that Christine has shown since her election in 2004.
Just got back from a useful “Meet The Manager” session at Walkden station.
Chris Ingham, the Northern Rail station manager for Manchester North, and Peter Gerring, the Northern Rail performance manager, were both on hand – along with a good turnout from Friends of Walkden Station members – to answer questions from commuters and passengers.
It’s really encouraging that senior management at Northern Rail are willing to come down to our local stations and engage with passengers and I hope that the local people who spoke to Chris and Peter felt it was useful.
Good news for the Save General Election Night campaign – in Salford at least.
A short discussion with officers today at the Salford Garden Party gave me the welcome news that the Parliamentary constituencies of Salford & Eccles and Worsley & Eccles South will both be counted on the Thursday evening come the day of the General Election. In the event of a joint poll with the local elections on the same day, the local election count is likely to be held over until Friday daytime.
I doubt that the timing of the election count is the story on everyone’s lips (nor should it be) but I do think that this is a welcome step and good for democracy. We have an excellent set of elections staff here in Salford who do a great job for the City and I have no doubt that they will oversee a fair, well-run and efficient election whenever the time comes.
Daft Childminding Law – Update
Following on from my comments yesterday about the daft OFSTED decision to prevent two serving police officers and friends from looking after each other’s children, I’m pleased that Shadow Children’s Minister Tim Loughton MP has issued a strong statement:
Tim has also written to Children’s Secretary Ed Balls asking that any other parents with similar arrangements (doubtless there are some in this area) are able to continue with their arrangements pending the outcome of the review.