Cllr Iain Lindley – Prospective Conservative MP for Worsley & Eccles South
Tomorrow lunchtime (Sunday 31st January) I’ll be a guest on Andy Crane’s Sunday lunchtime show on BBC Radio Manchester, along with Liverpudlian comedian Steve Gribbin.
The show is broadcast live from the Lowry centre from 12 noon until 1pm. Local residents in Greater Manchester can tune in on 95.1fm and you can also listen live online on the BBC Manchester website.
Do tune in!
I’ve been a Councillor on Salford City Council since 2004, and every year on budget day, the Conservative group have tried to give something back to hard-pressed local residents by proposing real-terms cuts in Council Tax.
From the reaction of the Council’s Labour leadership, you would think that the four horsemen of the apocalypse were on call in the event that – god forbid – we might seek to give local people some value for money by way of a Council Tax freeze. One by one they rose to their feet to give dire predictions about the effect of a tax freeze on local services.
So I’m glad that – belatedly – the Labour Council have accepted that we were right all along, and that the Council could make sufficient savings to allow a Council Tax freeze. It is a shame that they are five years late – how much lower would our Council Tax be – and how much more efficient would our Council be - if they had accepted Conservative proposals over the past few years?
It is a shame also that, rather than a concerted effort to return money to hard-working local residents, this is nothing more than a one-off shameless bribe in advance of the most difficult set of elections for Labour in a generation. For local residents, Labour are offering nothing more than “buy now, pay later” – and Salford taxpayers will pay a heavy price if Labour are returned again in May.
Tonight (27th January), the BBC programme Crimewatch will feature a reconstruction of the fire at Little Holme Walk, Bolton which killed Alana Mian, aged 4, and her grandmother Hameeda Begum and left Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) Firefighter Steve Morris with extensive injuries including 50% burns.
The programme will include a filmed reconstruction of the events of the night of the incident, which Steve’s colleagues from Bolton and Farnworth Fire stations volunteered to take part in.
It will also include interviews with Mumtaz Chisty, Alana’s grandfather and Hameeda’s husband, Detective Chief Inspector Jeff McMahon from the Major Incident Team at Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and FF Steve Morris.
County Fire Officer Steve McGuirk said, “The terrible events at Little Holme Walk, which took the lives of Alana and Hameeda, and so drastically affected our colleague Steve Morris have left a lasting impression on each and every member of Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service.
We support wholeheartedly Greater Manchester Police’s appeal for anyone with any information to come forward, and help to find who caused this terrible fire and give justice to all the people it has affected”.
Anyone with information is urged to contact GMP’s Major Incident Team on 0161 856 2197 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
(GMFRS press release reprinted in full – if you have any information, please pass it on to the police or via Crimestoppers)
The Tweetminster website, which monitors UK political activity on social networking site Twitter, has produced an interesting report which details how politicians and aspiring politicians of each party are connecting with the audience on Twitter.
It is a bit of a crude tool, as there’s no way of knowing whether the references to each politician are positive or negative; Bristol East Labour MP Kerry McCarthy tops the charts by some considerable distance, but she very much has the “marmite factor” with multiple references to her by both strident supporters and opponents.
Nonetheless, as a broad measure it works, so it is pleasing to see that I’ve made the top 20 lists of Prospective MPs – ranked the fifth most “retweeted” candidate and the eleventh most mentioned candidate in the UK. Thanks to everyone who follows my Twitter posts – @cllrilindley.
Now I’m not going to make a song and dance about social networking, but I’ve always believed that politicians should be as accessible as possible. As a Councillor and now Prospective MP I have always tried to use as many methods as possible to keep local residents informed of my views and of the work I’m doing on their behalf – be that through sites like Twitter, through this website, or through the time-honoured methods of leafleting and knocking on doors!
Between 1999 and 2009, “violence against the person” offences here in Salford rose by 44%. Labour have launched endless initiatives and top-down schemes which have made little difference. Their broken promises have undermined people’s trust. We can’t go on with the police filling in forms instead of fighting crime.
People also remain frustrated with our criminal justice system, and too many local residents feel that the justice system is not on their side.
I’m really pleased, therefore, to see the draft Conservative crime manifesto produce some concrete pledges that will really tackle these problems. A Conservative Government would:
You can download the draft Crime Manifesto in full by clicking here.
As I’ve outlined on this website, I’ve spent a lot of time over the last few months working with residents who are very concerned about the impact of proposals in the Labour Council’s “Core Strategy” – from residents in Walkden and Little Hulton concerned about plans to build on Burgess Farm and at Cutacre, communities in Roe Green, Worsley and Winton worried about motorway expansion, to local people in Irlam, Cadishead and Peel Green who are rightly appalled by Labour’s plans to bulldoze Barton Moss.
One of the main reasons that these proposals have seen the light of day is because the Government has imposed central planning targets on our local communities. Under Labour’s current plans, this will leave us with tens of thousands of empty tiny flats, and acres of green belt and green field sites destroyed.
A Conservative Government would abolish these unfeasible targets and return the power to decide how much development we need to local residents. Under a future Conservative Government, it would be up to our local communities to make these decisions – not Labour’s faceless bureaucrats in Whitehall.
I was really pleased to see such a huge turnout of local residents for today’s protest against Labour’s plans to bulldoze the Green Belt at Barton Moss.
It’s really encouraging to see that so many people care about their local community and environment and are prepared to stand up and be counted.
The campaign committee fighting the proposals in Irlam, Cadishead and Peel Green have done a marvellous job and I’m delighted that a strong team of local Conservative Councillors and local campaigners were able to go along to the protest and show their support for the residents.
The proposal would remove almost all of the green space between Peel Green and Irlam, and the local infrastructure simply cannot cope – the A57 is already full beyond capacity and there are already approved plans for Port Salford and the Reds Stadium. The loss of Grade 1 agricultural land and the City’s “green lung” would be simply unacceptable, and the proposals would create a huge headache for residents in Irlam, Cadishead, Peel Green and Brookhouse.
Of course, one of the main reasons that these proposals have seen the light of day is because the Government has imposed central planning targets on our local communities. Under Labour’s current plans, this will leave us with tens of thousands of empty tiny flats, and acres of green belt and green field sites destroyed.
A Conservative Government would abolish these unfeasible targets and return the power to decide how much development we need to local residents. Under a future Conservative Government, it would be up to our local communities to make these decisions – not Labour’s faceless bureaucrats in Whitehall.
With the economy still sluggish, many people across the country still really struggling with the ongoing recession and the nation burdened with huge debt, you would expect our Members of Parliament to be fully focused on their work.
Sadly, that isn’t the case for our Labour MPs, who instead of working hard through February have voted themselves ten days off. Conservative MPs opposed the decision.
Local residents and small businesses in Salford are working tirelessly to protect their jobs and their livelihoods, many working long hours for low pay. It must be particularly galling for them to see that our well-renumerated Labour MPs – including local MPs Hazel Blears and Barbara Keeley – voting themselves time off for the best part of two weeks. That’s a luxury that most residents can’t afford.
It’s great to see that Friends of Walkden Station, along with officers from the Council’s neighbourhood team, are looking at how to ensure that local residents know about the new Sunday rail service, which starts in May. The funding is only initially guaranteed for one year, so it’s really important that local people use the new service, otherwise it will vanish as quickly as it appeared.
I’m doing my bit to liaise between FOWS and the Council officers, and I’m keen to hear from local people if they have any ideas about how to promote the service. Do let me know!
Conservative Party News
Meeting With David Cameron
David has always shown a great interest in Salford and has visited on a number of occasions since he became Leader of the Opposition.
I know that David’s commitment to local health services will be particularly welcomed by the people of Salford, and Conservative proposals for a “health premium” will see increased resources spent on the NHS here in Salford under a future Conservative Government.
It was great to have the opportunity to get across how valued the maternity unit at Salford Royal Hospital is to local residents across the City, and I hope that under Conservative plans to hand decision-making powers over the NHS back to local communities that we will be able to save the unit from Labour’s axe.