From the Canal to Sevenways

Author: Mike Cordingley

  • Council Meeting 11th October 2019

    Council Meeting 11th October 2019

    A Packed Agenda

    Questions from members.

    This section of our council has got bogged down with overly long questions and answers. In an effort to sharpen it up, the executive have began using written answers to a greater extent. It felt a little awkward at first but will result in more time for members.

    • Dunham Park’s accessibility to non car users. (By coincidence I’d cycled to Dunham that day) I can certainly confirm that Peel’s towpath on the Bridgewater deteriorates to a mudbath on the last mile to the park.
    • Recycling Rates
    • Flooding in Timperley arising from the burst banks of Timperley and Fairywell Brooks.
    • Delayed Transfers of Care (From Hospital) Trafford’s performance under the Tories was one of the worst in the country. It’s an area that has picked up a little and there’s a huge focus on it in Trafford. Councillor Harding, the lead member for Adult Social Care has published a written response .
    Response

    Back to the main agenda

    • Council Tax Support Scheme for next year.
    • Various Constitutional Protocols
    • Treasury Management
    • Standards Report on Members Allowances – The Conservatives want to sacrifice some of our allowances. I receive £6754 per annum before tax, national insurance and a deduction to the Labour Group. (In Manchester the basic allowance is £17,322).
      Many of the councillors in Trafford are worse off because of their council work.
      And then I look at the charges of corruption against Conservative councillors in Lancashire and Cheshire. But it’s true, give them the keys to the council and it’s not the allowances that you need worry about!

    Motions

    Labour Group

    • Motion condemning a No Deal Brexit. (passed)
    • Bus Franchising – I wrote this motion (passed unanimously) See below
    • Condemning No fault evictions (Passed unanimously)

    Conservatives

    • Attacked Labour policy democratising exclusive private education (defeated)

    Greens

    • Calling for disinvestment from fossil fuels as investments for the pensions of our workforce (amended)

      I spoke against the motion. I am not going to shy away from declaring a disdain for middle class posturing. The motion did nothing to reduce the profits from fossil fuel extraction or to reduce demand for fossil fuels. It was just about making the Greens feel smug whilst at the same time making the workers poorer.

      We have to make real practical differences if we’re going reverse global warming. Our deserts receive as much energy from the sun in six hours as the world consumes in a year. The resources are available to us. We have to ensure our energy comes from truly renewable sources (not wood pellets).

      It really doesn’t matter who owns the oil companies unless we make the shift away in our consumption, however I’d personally rather not allow it to be in the exclusive hands of spivs and tax avoiders. I really didn’t like this motion. I described it as the equivalent of a municipal tote bag and the fact they employed pickets and props to support such a vacuous proposal suggests they’re running out of ideas. Labour’s Green New Deal is the way we should be going

    Anyway back to that Bus motion. Since I drafted it, I think I can be allowed to post it here……..

    Bus Franchising

    Transport Poverty is an issue currently affecting economic growth within the city region, limiting residents access to employment opportunities and training whilst at the same time denying employers access to a fully flexible labour market.

    The remorseless deterioration in bus services in Trafford since deregulation 30 years ago is not sustainable when set against the need to reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality.

    That for Greater Manchester to compete as a world class City-Region requires an integrated public transport network organised and commissioned to serve across our towns and not just on the most profitable routes such as the Oxford Road corridor.

    Council therefore welcomes the decision of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority on the 28 June 2019 to proceed towards bus franchising and to publicly consult on this and encourages residents and businesses to engage positively with consultation with a view to creating a bus network fit for the 21st Century.

    I asked Adele New if she’d propose the motion. Adele lives in and represents Partington probably the town most ill-served by the current bus network. It was one of my better choices; Adele was superb!

  • The difference we make

    The difference we make

    Social value and local spending

    When we began our journey into control there was wide interest in using the council’s procurement and commissioning practices to strengthen the local economy.

    I’m pleased to report significant progress.

    In just one year, the share we procured locally almost trebled from 17% in 2017/18 to 49% in 2018/19. That’s an extra £22m of public money being used to support businesses and stimulate economic growth in Trafford.

    Andrew Western
    Labour Leader of Trafford Council

    So Proud of our Progress

    We prioritised local spend during my stint last year as cabinet member for finance and Chair of Star-Procurement, the service we share with Stockport, Tameside and Rochdale. I’m incredibly proud of the progress we made and particularly pay tribute to Lorraine Cox and all her staff at Star. They really turned it around very quickly. These are stunning figures.

    And More to Come

    Looking further ahead, I’d really like us to embrace the Fair Tax Mark proposed by the Co-operative Party (I’m a member). And yes that is Gorse Hill’s Mary Patel who is leading this.

    You’re going to hear a lot more of this
  • Council Update

    Council Update

    Lots of casework at the moment:

    • Unsuitable housing accommodation. Not an easy issue, we don’t have an adequate supply of social housing. It’s what we should have been doing following the crash instead of bailing out bankers.
    • Social Care issues – heartbreaking stuff
    • Manchester United – bad behaviour by some of the peripheral activities (match day parking in particular and in all its forms)
    • Bins – contaminated left to fester
    • Policing – we want to improve liaison. There’s been knife incidents, thankfully not necessarily ones of serious wounding, but the victims don’t always co-operate with the police.
    • Speeding – particularly going into Trafford Park. We want a camera on Park Road.
    • Bus Services – Hardly a month goes by without some reduction in services. Trouble is that some services are hardly used. We need integrated tickets. The loss of the 276 is being keenly felt in Lostock at the moment. Going to look into making the 85 a hail and ride service on Winchester Road.
    • Homes of multiple occupation – trying to improve our regulating operation
    • Planning’s been relatively quiet here this month. The only application of note is an application to build two semi-detached properties on Skelton Avenue in a garden.
      Having said that, there’s a really big application on its way for a massive health spa at the Trafford Centre.
    • Planning Permission was granted for the addition of a nursery within the planned Orchards school on Barton Clough fields.
    • Nandos at White City commenced business today. Likely to be very popular.
    • Really impressed with the Stretford Precinct Market. The first time it opened, it gave the mall its best footfall figures in a long time.
    • Thomas Street Bridge – needs proper maintenance of the brambles. I think Councillor Walsh took his shears to them. I know he was planning to; and I’ve seen evidence that there’s been a trim of the worst of it. Well done, whoever it was, but it needs to be on a proper maintenance schedule.

    There’s been a few issues that have been around for so long I’m almost embarrassed to include them here. I think I’ll have to do a feature on them. As a taster, I really do not understand why it’s so difficult to get a litter bin at the bus stop at Taylors Road. No wonder we can’t negotiate a withdrawal deal if we can’t deliver a litter bin.

  • Climate Emergency Committee

    Climate Emergency Committee

    Meeting Monday 24th June

    Timely that we just met on the same day (Monday) that Andy Burnham was announcing radical improvements to Manchester’s public transport.

    It’s obvious we all have a stake in the our environment and no one wants to see our green and pleasant land turned to dust. It’s so good that we have cross-party involvement. I think it’s going to be a worthwhile committee.

    Clearly there are global aspects to reducing greenhouse gas emissions but putting our own house in order is never a bad place to start and it has to begin at the local.

    We agreed last night that we’re going to want to benchmark our energy consumption as a council. I’m quite keen we go a lot further. The Royal Family seems able to measure its carbon footprint, as can Tesco. I think Trafford can too! We’ll see how that conversation resolves itself.

    One of the interesting conundrums we’ll face is whether to measure only that which comes under Trafford’s control. I believe that climate change is a matter for all of us, not just a data collector hidden away somewhere. We should even be capturing data on emissions from commuting. It’s been done elsewhere and it helps everyone appreciate the full extent of the impact we make in our working lives. It’d be quite fascinating to see the carbon footprint of councillors – I think we can make significant percentage reductions in greenhouse gas emissions here.

    We also need to consider the extent to which we can guide via the planning process reducing the carbon footprint on new development. I don’t think we’ve progressed as much as we predicted in the 1980s. There was a television series on Granada back then called House for the Future and we genuinely expected homes to be self-sufficient in energy use and far more sustainable that has transpired.

    Whilst the House for the Future template might have derailed, there has been progress in design standards abroad and Councillor Jerome has been quite keen to promote Passivhaus design to the committee. The carbon footprint of these is so much lower than a standard build. We need to be recommending quite a shift in our planning expectations. The extent to which this can be implemented locally will be something we want to test.

    We’ve also had time to look at some smaller scale projects:

    Both of these groups are relatively small but are collectively generating green energy locally using communal assets.

    We also talked about District Heating schemes and some suggestion that Trafford Park could offer heat sources. Not so sure myself. Tend to find that the big heat producers recycle that heat to the nth degree themselves. There was a proposal for the incinerator at Barton to be supplying heat for the housing development being built alongside it. Councillor Carey is going to talk to the power station at Carrington, so we’ll give it a chance.

  • End of May 2019 – an update on 14 days

    End of May 2019 – an update on 14 days

    An update of the past fortnight

    Lovely afternoon with Laurence Walsh and his family and then onto the Euro count…!

    The Euro results don’t look any better two weeks later. Within weeks of taking control in Trafford and Jeremy Corbyn anointing us as the the campaign backdrop his Leader’s response , we slip to third. More importantly we’ve given easy passage to an overnight Lib Dem recovery.

    Meetings attended

    • Street Audit (cycling) bit disappointing – more of a cheat sheet than a street audit, but the Chorlton town centre work looks fabulous. I do hope Manchester goes ahead with it.
    • Gorse Hill Ward meet with Chief Executive, Sara Todd. The big focus from the three councillors was Manchester United – largely because United haven’t exactly engaged at a local level but they’re beginning to talk at a strategic level.
      Early days, but United’s new chief operating officer is Collette Roche has a strong reputation forged at Manchester Airport. That background suggests someone well used to having to carve good community relations.

      Collette Roche – United’s new chief

      I speak as a City fan but I think it’s fair to say that the Manchester United off-pitch operation looks terribly dated. Our complaints as ward councillors are the urination, littering and parking issues (including the illegal organised stuff) that we all know about.
      These issues may be local but they can’t be good for United’s global image. It’s got to be in the club’s business interest to bring the off-pitch match day experience up to global standards.
      Let’s see how that goes.

    Other meetings

    • Road Safety meeting regarding Winchester Road – St Hugh of Lincoln – options discussed
    • Match Day management meeting – raised the issue of rats, litter bins at bus stops, and the illegal removal/defacing of parking restriction signs.
    • Labour Group meeting
    • Task and Finish Group on Climate Emergency and carbon reduction – This was my first meeting of this group although it’s been going for 6 months.
      Really keen to get up to speed on this. It may be that the subject matter is too big for scrutiny. We will need to do interim reports as we’re not going to solve the conundrum but we can be recommending implementing small things as we go.
    • School Pupil Disciplinary Panel
    • Walkabout in Trafford Park with the Environmental Team and Amey (who didn’t show)
      These are regular walkabouts so I rewalked areas I’d walked 18 months ago. No improvement, in fact things are much worse. I don’t see any impact whatsoever.

      Nila's Burmese Cafe Trafford Park Village
      Trafford Park Hotel

      Trafford Park Village Shops look actually to be thriving and it’s great to see a lovely looking Burmese Cafe but the grounds maintenance is simply not happening. The Trafford Park Hotel is being criminally neglected in my view and it is such a shame. So a few action points arising.

    Casework

    • Sevenways is never out of my inbox these days but it has slowed the traffic down there unlike…
    • Park Road – Davyhulme Road speeding – continuing to pursue remedy
    • Houses of Multiple Occupation – ongoing
    • Gorse Hill Medical Practice – the inadequate rating has been confirmed and we’re waiting a comprehensive communication process to assist patients.
    • Trafford Park Village – parking issues and clearance
    • Pursuing bins on Chester Road at Taylors Road bus stops and replacement bin at Lidl – rats are getting through holes at bottom.
    • Cenotaph – Amey have been to strim the weeds back. They’re going to replant flower beds in next couple of weeks. Paving weeds are going to be an increasing problem as glyphosate is withdrawn and we need a dialogue over expectations.
  • Local Shops – some TLC required

    Local Shops – some TLC required

    This is something I’ve wanted to tackle since I first became councillor.

    As a council we take our local shops for granted.

    Trafford gives strategic attention to four specific town centres of Altrincham, Sale, Stretford and Urmston. These four centres are designated within the official Local Plan and are monitored and supported through the council budget. Less attention is afforded to village centres such as Sale Moor, Partington, Hale Barns, Ashton upon Mersey and Timperley; but at least they are on the map.

    As a council we give almost zero recognition to corner shops and smaller shopping parades. Yet there’s an argument that these hyper-local neighbourhood parades contribute more in social capital and community well-being than the town centres ever could do.

    The local shops are part of family life

    When mum or dad says ‘can you nip down to the shop for butter?’ the child knows where they’re being sent. It might be that these days the child is much older before they’re considered sufficiently road savvy to be allowed shopping errands, but it’s still a right of passage to nip down to the shop.

    Local shops matter. When local shops fall into decay, it becomes a blight on the community. They can either add value to property prices or detract. They are very much part of the identity of a place.

    The good news is that we have a lot of local shopping parades in and around Gorse Hill Ward and largely with one or two exceptions, they’re doing ok.

    Lostock Circle
    Lostock (Winchester Road)
    Lostock (Barton Road)
    Derbyshire Lane West (near Sevenways)
    Moss Road
    Fiveways
    Moss Road/
    Davyhulme Road East
    Gorse Hill

    Apart from on the Gorse Hill parade, there are almost no vacant units across our local shops. So that’s good. But are there things that should be improved?

    I believe there’s a whole host of things that could and should be done by council and other agencies; and especially by the store owners themselves. I’ve tried to come up with a list primarily based on the complaints and gripes I’ve encountered in this area. It’s not exhaustive but generally I’m hoping to have captured the doable stuff.

    • Litter management issues, sufficient bins – right locations?
    • Access to the shops – safe crossing?
    • Traffic Management – too many cars on forecourt? Deliveries?
    • Graffiti?
    • General cleanliness?
    • Good mix of provision? Too many takeaways? Duplication?
    • Cycle parking
    • Trip hazards, uneven pavements?
    • Lighting?
    • Feeling safe? People smoking outside pubs and betting shops
    • Vacant units?
    • Management of waste – commercial waste
    • Cleanliness of alleys and ginnels associated with the shops

    Is this a reasonable basis for measuring the health of our local shops and things to do to improve ? Is there anything I’ve missed?

    It’s something I’m really keen to do. I’m hoping to put together a living set of actions for the council and other agencies to support the vitality of our shops. So I really want you to engage with this.