Published on October 5, 2008
in Salford.
I wrote on this blog a couple of years ago about how impressed I was with the regeneration work done in Birmingham city centre, and particularly the area around the Gas Street Basin and the Mailbox. Last week at Conference I had chance for another good look, and I saw nothing to alter my opinion.
There has been some grumbling about the size of the main Conference hall at the ICC, and whilst we could certainly have done with a larger auditorium, that is as much a product of a successful Conference with a united, enthused and popular party as it is the size of the venue. Perhaps when Conference returns to Birmingham in 2010 we can make more use of the Symphony Hall - even if it does have red seats! Considering the whole package though, I thought that the ICC together with the Hyatt provided an excellent Conference venue - big enough to accomodate all the events that accompany such a big Conference but compact enough to get from one fringe to another in good time (although it was a bit of a maze in parts). I won’t be in a hurry to pay the prices in the Hyatt bar again either, but I suppose that is just an occupational hazard of Party Conferences and I doub that the Midland next year will be any cheaper!
Equally impressive is the wide range of bars, restaurants and amenities within an easy walking distance of the ICC. I think that the developments along the canalside at Brindley Place, the Gas Street Basin and the Mailbox are absolutely fabulous. The Mailbox of course includes the regional BBC operations for Birmingham and the West Midlands - I hope that those involved with the intimate details of MediaCity:UK at Salford Quays have looked at the Gas Street waterfront, because it looks fantastic. MediaCity:UK of course will be much bigger and better, and I’m hugely excited by the potential that we have to take the excellent work they’ve done at the Mailbox and Gas Street Basin and make it ten times bigger and ten times better.
Another common grumble was the price of accomodation in a big city like Birmingham compared to a seaside town like Blackpool. I know some friends who did pay through the roof, but our accomodation at the Arc Apartments was both excellent value (£25pppn) and high quality - highly recommended for 2010. Talking to the manager on duty there, he said that they were hoping to have a considerable number of extra apartments available in two years time, which is excellent news for the Conference punter.
Fortunately for me, accomodation for Conference 2009 in Manchester will be less of a problem!
I’ve received a number of calls and letters from local residents in Stanley Road and St George’s Crescent about planning application 08/56900/FUL, which is for a four-storey block of speculative office accomadation on land to the west of Stanley Road and north of the railway line.
Residents are rightly concerned about the sheer size of the proposed development which is likely to result in a severe loss of amenity for those residents in St George’s Crescent next to the application site. There are also reservations over parking and traffic, which already cause considerable problems for the community in central Walkden. I’m also uncomfortable about the presence of disused mineshafts in the vicinity of the site and have asked the planning officers to look into this further.
If you are reading this and are interested in viewing the planning documents, you can do so via Public Access - search for the planning application reference which is 08/56900/FUL. You can submit comments on Public Access, via the form on the Council website or by e-mailing planning.contact@salford.gov.uk.
Rather like Ken Livingstone following his defeat in the London Mayoral election, former GMPTA Chairman Roger Jones has kept up his appearances in the local and regional media as if he’d never lost his election in the first place. This has (rightly) annoyed the local residents who voted him out, and he’s taken a fair bit of flak in the letters page of the Advertiser for it. This week he’s written a letter in response, which ends:
“I was born in Irlam and local people supported me through eight successful elections over 26 years. I will forever be grateful to them for that and I am fully entitled to express my opinions now as a local resident”
I don’t disagree with that. He is as entitled to his opinion as anyone else - but how many other “local residents” are given a full-page interview in the local paper and called up to comment on stories? If Roger is happy to accept media invitations to do interviews as if he was still the elected Chairman of GMPTA then he can hardly complain when his comments in those interviews are criticised. Local residents are entitled to wonder why an ex-Councillor defeated so decisively is continually given such a high platform.
Both Roger Jones and Sir Howard Bernstein have now been given large spreads in the Advertiser. It would be nice to see similar treatment given to a contributor who is sceptical of the TIF bid and congestion charging before the poll takes place in December.
While we’re on the subject, I’d like to congratulate Roger on his new job with the Campaign for North West Rail Investment. I hope he will be on hand to welcome the Conservative announcement of support for a new high-speed rail link to Greater Manchester.
Published on September 26, 2008
in Salford.
You won’t (unsurprisingly) read it on the Council website, but the transfer of the Council’s housing stock in the west of Salford to new social landlord City West on Monday has been postponed.
The Council has already suffered one postponement earlier this year, and the original planned date was 2007, but this new delay is particularly embarassing because everything was all set to go - tenants have already received a newsletter telling them that transfer would go ahead on Monday, and most New Prospect Housing staff will have been ready to transfer to their new positions on Tuesday morning, but they will now stay put in their old positions for the time being.
I hope that the Council are able to iron out the remaining problems as quickly as possible. Proposed improvements for residents are already likely to be delayed, and any considerable delay to transfer will be ruinously expensive for the Council - money that we simply don’t have thanks to Labour’s financial irresponsibility.
In the meantime, tenants who have any concerns about the transfer should ring 0800 328 4599. For repairs or rent enquires tenants should continue to ring New Prospect until further notice.
Published on September 20, 2008
in Salford.
I wrote last week about the appalling mess that Labour has cooked up for the Council finances. We had a long debate about this in the Council Chamber on Wednesday and the lead member responsible (Cllr Bill Hinds) did little to reassure. In fact, he was entirely unrepentant about the levels of unsupported borrowing and was a mere whisker away from expressing pride and delight in the fact that Labour have subjected the Council taxpayer to these massive liabilities.
I think there are two points to raise here.
Firstly, this is I’m afraid “another fine mess that the Labour Party have gotten this Council into” - if they’d listened to the warnings from the Conservative opposition over the excessive waste and profligacy then the Council would not be in such dire straits.
Secondly, I was appalled by the justification used by Cllr Hinds to support this new addition borrowing (nearly £17m additional borrowing in August alone). He said that the borrowing was justified because the repayments were low! Well, in which case, I might as well go out and blow £500 on a new laptop on my credit card, because it’ll only cost me £10 per month. Of course, that’s just to service the debt, I’ll still have to pay it back eventually - just as the Council taxpayers in Salford will have to pay for Labour’s financial failure.
Published on September 18, 2008
in Salford.
I noticed this sign (pictured left) when I got off the bus at the top of Worsley Road in Swinton this morning.
There really isn’t much excuse for having out of date or misleading signs up on the road, and doubtless the same sign raises the blood pressure of the Swinton Councillors who are frequent visitors to this blog!
(Apologies for the poor quality image, I was in a rush and the sun was shining in all the wrong places to take a decent photo…)
Published on September 17, 2008
in Salford.
I’ve been doing a little browsing of Salford political websites this evening. Now I try to make daily updates to this blog and for the most part I succeed, but I’m responsible for updating the Salford Conservative website. Whilst I try to make regular updates, it could (like all sites) of course always do with an extra article or news item.
However, I’ve just checked out the opposition and I’m feeling a little better about my handiwork. Both the Salford Labour and Salford Liberal Democrats sites are neat and tidy, but the Labour site hasn’t been updated for three months and the Liberal Democrat list of Councillors is now five months out of date. Saying that, the Labour site doesn’t even have a list of Councillors…
Published on September 15, 2008
in Salford.
I walked past the Members’ Room in the Civic Centre earlier to find the television blaring away to itself - a fairly regular occurance. I switched it off and pondered who the culprit was…
Update: In the end I had to switch the television off twice in one evening because it had been left on in an empty room. It’s not a huge amount of energy but it all builds up and it’s a terrible example for Councillors to set.
Council Tax Freeze
One announcement made at Conference which I haven’t referred to in detail on this blog yet is George Osborne’s welcome announcement that the next Conservative Government would provide money to allow local Councils to freeze their Council Tax for a minimum of two years:
This is very welcome news for local residents across the country, including here in Salford, who have seen their Council Tax bills rocket under Labour.
I am however a little perplexed at the reaction of some Labour and Liberal Democrat run authorities. In London, they have pledged not to play ball. I don’t yet know what Salford’s Labour leadership think. Doubtless local residents in those Council areas will be delighted with what is effectively a promise to hike Council Tax even further!
Any Council leaders squealing that they can’t afford the efficiencies required is playing politics. Councils already have to sign up to centrally-administered efficiency drive - they’re referred to as Gershon savings after the review written by Sir Peter Gershon. Sadly the Gershon efficiency drive merely encourages paper savings which have no impact on the bottom line for the Council taxpayer - a favourite wheeze is to abolish job roles which were going unfilled anyway.
Osborne’s new announcement will make sure that our wasteful Labour Councils make real inroads into waste and inefficiency rather than being allowed to project a false image of doing so. That can only be a good thing for local residents and Council Taxpayers.