Author: Mike Cordingley

Monday

Lostock Residents and Tenants Association Meeting.

I was sad to learn that Roy Jolly is standing down from his role as chair of the Tenants Association. It’s going to be a loss to Lostock; he’s made the residents and tenants meeting into a vital forum for anything that’s going on in and around Lostock.

The main topic this meeting was the cuts in Lostock library’s opening times.  This is a big cut and it’s hard not to see the library as being in difficulty as a consequence. The users who are losing most are school kids as the library is no longer open after 3pm on any day. It’s a real kick in the teeth for Lostock.

Labour Group Meeting

Presentation by trade unions. Both the Labour Group and the trade unions are suffering from a lack of consultation from this Tory Council. We’re not being consulted and we’re not being alerted to staff reductions or indeed recruitments of consultants. Morale has never been so low amongst staff; they’re seeing the threat of redundancy, yet we still see people taken on with huge daily consultancy fees performing mainstream roles. It’s pretty clear that even most of the Conservative Councillors are kept in the dark. Too often we first learn of these things via rumours that upon investigation turn out to be true. The numbers of directors within the council is ever increasing, and to get round pay restraints, we see redesigns of roles with ‘added responsibilities’. It’s odd that the more responsibilities we give to individual directors of service, the more directors we somehow need. Yet when we look at the frontline, the park supervisors for instance, they have their pay cut.

Presentation by Citizens Advice

Citizen’s Advice are alarmed at the loss of legal aid in respect of debt cases. Added to this was the effect of the scrapping of the ‘Financial Inclusion Fund’ (we learned later in the week that Vince Cable had U-turned and given a partial reprieve to fund debt advice)

Trafford Labour’s Representative on Transport for Greater Manchester Committee

I was pleased to win the nomination to sit on this committee which replaces Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority (GMITA). Chuffed to bits actually.

Gorse Hill Action Group – I had to give apologies to the Group as it clashed with the Labour Group meeting

Tuesday

Laurence Walsh and I met for an on-site meeting with Terry Burke of the Gorse Hill Juniors, Helen McFarlane – director of Community Safety, Culture and Sport and Matthew Colledge, Leader of Trafford Council.  The key point of discussion was to ensure that the needs of Gorse Hill Juniors were taken into account when developing proposals for shared community use (with Stretford High School) on Gorse Hill Park football pitches. There’s been talk of all-weather pitches but these are inappropriate to the needs of young footballers playing in local leagues supervised by the Football Association. We achieved the main objective in making sure that the Gorse Hill Juniors are recognised as a stakeholder. Plans have not yet been published for what intended for the pitches but there’ll be uproar if it’s perceived by residents as a land-grab by the school.

Lostock College Governors

My first meeting with Lostock College Governors. There’s loads of ideas on how to take the school forward. Some difficult choices too. I wasn’t the only new Governor there, I was pleased that Susan Williams had also joined. She’ll be an asset to the school; it’s never a bad thing to have governors with loads of connections and experience too, regardless of party politics.

Wednesday

Caught up on emails again and post. We’re really suffering some horrendous road surface decay and I’ve had to report a few:

• Raglan Road – It’s getting Potholes in the Potholes and is a complete patchwork. Still no joy from the Council
• Chatsworth Road – Poor surface on a well used road – having said that whilst leafleting, I spotted a bus doing at least 40mph. I can’t imagine what it was like for any passengers.
• Selby Road (outside Lostock College) – The potholes here are ridiculous – very deep

I received a reply on Raglan Road/Chatsworth Road;

I have inspected both roads today. We have rectified all the actionable defects on Raglan Road last week. I have raised repair jobs for the potholes on Chatsworth Road today and they should be completed within the next seven days.

Both these roads are subject to complaints quite regularly but are not on this years program for resurfacing. Structurally, the roads are sound but do suffer from potholes from time to time on the wearing course of the carriageway. Minor maintenance patching and pothole repair should solve the issues for now. I do not expect highways strategy to be undertaking a full resurfacing scheme on these roads in the near future but this is something you could discuss with Peter Townsend, who is the engineering manager in charge of such schemes.

Please feel free to contact me any time on the number below about any issues concerning minor maintenance.

Selby is showing as work completed on 10th February

I also reported:

• Litter/Leaf residue on Matlock Avenue. The work on this is still outstanding.
• Fly tipping on the Parkway embankment nr to sliproad from Barton Dock Road

The major outstanding work I have yet to complete is connected to the subway at Humphrey Park Station. I will be looking to Area Services to co-ordinate the parties involved i.e. Network Rail/Northern Rail, Trafford Housing Trust and Trafford Council. This is one of those long running sources of complaint (it was raised again at Monday’s Lostock Tenants and Residents meeting). The subway is in a terrible state but it falls between all these organisations.

We have a similar issue on Trafford Quays with the lighting. Trafford Council and Peel have been in dispute as to who’s responsibility it is to maintain the promenade. I’m told that legal officers are near to conclusion on this subject.

Thursday

I attended planning meeting as an observer. I wanted to see the ITV studios application as the papers were reporting that Premier Foods (Hovis) had made late objection to the application. In the event, Premier Foods had reached agreement with ITV and their objection was withdrawn.

However I also got to see the application for a supermarket at the old Cascade motors site (Urmston Retail Park) near to the sewage works. It was unanimous that this be turned down after hearing representations from councillors and public. Dave gave a good representation against the application. I was less impressed by the behaviour of Conservative Councillor Kelson who once again withdrew himself from the committee so that he could attach his name with the objectors.  Eddie has made it public that he’s doing the same with Barton Bio Mass. I’m certainly not going to applaud him for doing this. Planning is an important committee and we don’t want individual councillors seeing the chance to attach their name to a popular cause as more attractive than participating in the decision making.

Still I got the impression that the Conservative Chair of Planning, Viv Ward was of a similar mind to me. Mrs Ward certainly made the point that ‘she’ had found it hard not being able to engage in this particular matter; but that that restraint was part of being a planning committee member.

In the end the remaining councillors took the right decision in my view. But it was galling to hear all these Conservative Councillors saying how much we needed to protect our town centres. I thought my colleague, Laurence Walsh was quite right to point out that didn’t make the same points when it was Tescos threatening Stretford.

Friday

Return to Clyne Court for their bacon butty and coffee morning. I should have realised that they’re early risers and early eaters. 9:45am and they’d already finished. Apologies to the residents. I’ll be there earlier next time.

Leafleting.

Monday

Attended Stretford Neighbourhood Forum. Long presentation justifying the budget choices as representative of the citizens’ choices in the consultation. It still is a rather contrived argument, given the choices that were presented to the public. The public do not not like the council giving away £21m to the cricket ground and see through the protestation that the money is not the council’s. Given it’s a local authority owned field and it is being handed to Tesco, the money equivalent to the field’s value is most definitely the council’s. We may argue whether without the cricket club, Tesco could build such a large store, but the Conservative led planning committee ruled exactly that; that the Tesco was acceptable on its own merit. The Tories need to decide on one argument and stick to it as currently they’re all over the place on Tesco.

Residents were not happy with the money being spent on the new Town Hall extension – £29m. Again the Tories are all over the place; they’ve commissioned accommodation to meet the needs of 2009 and at the same time, embarking on changes that are radically altering the provision of public services. Ridiculous and in danger of becoming a ‘white elephant’.

My impression talking to residents after the consultation was that they were just bemused.  They want the end of the ‘Your Trafford’ but are forced to choose between clean streets and care for the vulnerable.

Tuesday

Attended curiculum meeting at Barton Clough. It feels as though the transition to a new head has happened seamlessly.

I also visited the area around the Bishop’s Blaize as the crowd built up ahead of Man U v Villa. The clamping down on drinking in the street by the police seems to have created a much improved ambience in the area. I know this is difficult for the off-licences but I witnessed Villa fans mingling with Man U fans in a way that was unthinkable before the clamp down. I do make a point of visiting the area ahead of quite a few home games and this was the best I’d seen for behaviour. All the police I spoke to fully supported the clamp down. It may have created a bit of tension at first but now it’s established, things are much better.

Wednesday

Spent pretty much the whole day getting on top of emails. As a councillor I get about 300 emails a week, and although I’d responded to all those needing a response there were loads from the past fortnight still sitting in the in-trays. Now sorted!

Thursday

Trafford Housing Trust have been running a review in conjunction with the council a review of sheltered housing in the borough. There have been a number of drivers for this review. Firstly, there’s a reduction in Supporting People funds from Government and the removal of any ringfence. Trafford Housing Trust have therefore consulted on the level of service that people require from their Sheltered Scheme and how they can maximise occupation of homes within a scheme. I attended the original consultation in the autumn at Clyne Court (nr Man U on Chester Rd). The residents there had been emphatic that they wanted the retention of the onsite scheme manager; they valued the scheme manager as a support and a vital cog in socialising. So there was a degree of worry that the review would recommend removing scheme managers to be replaced with a greater reliance on telecare. I therefore attended Clyne Court on Thursday to hear the initial conclusions of the review.

I’m pleased to say Trafford Housing Trust have taken account of the residents and they’re committed to keeping scheme managers. They acknowledge that funding is going to have to be addressed and this may ultimately mean higher charges within the schemes, and the review will consider this area. The residents were really pleased about the retention of the scheme manager and there was a clear sense of relief.

I have a particular attachment to Clyne Court. I did my A level politics at Clyne House on the same site when at North Trafford College. The lecturer was Paul Findlow , who for many years was Conservative leader of Cheshire Council. I’m proud to have resisted any attempt to make me a Conservative; actually that’s unfair, I think he was overwhelmingly outnumbered by left wing students. Clyne House was also used for the location for the 1951 film ‘Mandy‘. I digress…

As well as Clyne Court’s sheltered housing review, I attended the tail-end of Lostock Court’s similar meeting

In the evening it was ‘Budget Scrutiny’ in respect of Transformation and Resources, Economic Growth, and Environment. I’m not convinced by the scrutiny process. My overwhelming impression that a lot of the savings are really a matter of faith; renegotiation of contracts, less management. Trafford has been name checked a few times lately by the Conservative minister Grant Shapps. I hope he is not being premature because this is a budget based more on hope than expectation. And we are going to see huge reductions at community level.

Friday

Dave Acton, Barry Brotherton and myself met with Ian Duncan, Director of Finance at Trafford Town Hall.

Labour Constituency Meeting in Partington – really good meeting – we’re going to have to find some bigger rooms. We had a report from Partington Councillor John Smith on their horse problem. It’s increasingly a source of distress that horses are being left on playing fields and in one particular shocking case of neglect, simply left where they stand.  Apparently, that horse was in a terrible state of health and it was simply left where it was rather than incur vet fees. It is one of those issues that at first seems eccentric but when you learn more, it clearly is a serious issue.

Saturday

Surgery – no one came

Sunday

I spent Sunday lobbying/canvassing support for my candidacy as Trafford Labour’s representative on the Greater Manchester Transport Authority.

Budget scrutiny