Canal27ways

Author: Mike Cordingley

  • Swings and Roundabouts – May 2019

    Weekly update

    • Vandalism at Nansen Park. Quickly repaired and restored by One Trafford. Email complementing work sent to the team.
    • BT Telephone Box at Lostock Circle reported as vandalised. Cleaned and repaired now. Good work by BT
    • Publicised closure of Lostock Circle post office. Will chase if not resolved quickly
    • Continued to try to pull together a co-ordinated response on lack of adequate CAMHS (childrens mental health) service for schools. The Old Trafford primary school at which I’m a governor is really worried that vulnerable children might be missing access to the mental health support they need. Schools buy in CAMHS support independently from the community health provider Pennine Care but it seems that there are currently resource failings.
    • Wrote to the South Manchester Coroner to request that I be included in the distribution of the report she’s writing on lessons learned regarding the death of Sophie Louise Smith at the Trafford Park car cruise ‘event’. Speeding and racing within Trafford Park and its bordering residential areas continues to be a problem.
    • Emailed GMP Traffic Police to explore replicating Manchester’s Community Speed Monitoring initiative that Cllr Angeliki Stogia has led. Obviously permanent speed cameras are more effective but there are places where speeding is widespread but the numbers don’t support a permanent solution.
    • Complained that an alleyway had been left in a mess following bin collection. Resolved.
    • Reported gulleys for drain-cleaning on Kendal Road.
    • Wrote to constituent advising of the path to pursue when suffering from vibrations arising from road. Complemented the Access Trafford operative who advised me.
    • Wrote to planning to try to ensure that existing national cycling routes are respected in dealing with Manchester United’s planning application for enhanced security on Sir Matt Busby Way.
    • Liaised with Lostock Partnership over the planning application for a 12 place SEN nursery to be included within the new Orchards School.

      Big congratulations to Maureen Reilly attending the Royal Garden Party
    • Chased information on Manchester United/Trafford Council emerging masterplan. We’re seeing Chief Exec on Thursday but would be good to learn more before we meet.
    • Pursued tidy up and TLC for Stretford Cenotaph

    Meetings

    Cycle Forum Meeting on Mersey Valley – Looked at current and aspirational changes. I love the newly improved Ashton upon Mersey link. It’s advertised as Urmston to Ashton but given it uses the existing Trans Pennine Way bridge over the Mersey it’s good for anyone walking or cycling from Stretford over to Ashton Village centre. It used to be a quagmire – now highly recommended. The actual meeting was only 4 or 5 cyclists plus officers but still got bogged down on the proposed Jackson’s Boat bridge. I’m staying out of that one – it’s Manchester’s and it’s not my priority given they’re forced to keep the current bridge as well. I’d prefer bridges in new places rather than duplicating existing.

    Annual Council – A lovely meeting with more tears than a Theresa May resignation. Great to see my colleague Laurence Walsh and Rachel installed as Deputy Mayor and Mayoress.

    Rachel and Laurence Walsh

    Euro Elections

    Never felt less engaged with a Labour campaign. What is Labour’s policy? I can tell you what it is but I know that as soon as you examine it closely, it crumbles in the hand to dust.

    Labour’s policy respects the result of the referendum but we will not support a Tory deal. Labour wants a General Election and presumably Labour, if it won that General Election, it follows that we would negotiate our exit from the EU. We don’t know whether this exit would be subject to a confirmatory vote but it’s hard to see how it would be resisted. You’d have to assume it would want to win any confirmatory vote.

    I would vote remain in any second referendum. And the majority of Labour members AND LABOUR VOTERS in every poll or survey that’s been conducted consistently support remain. Would remain be an option in a confirmatory vote that a Labour Government offered? I think that would depend on the make-up of the parliamentary party. Those close to the leader don’t seem to want a second referendum (ie. Remain not being an option in any plebiscite). That view might be sustainable given a Labour government with a mandate.

    So, as far as this week’s Euro Elections were concerned, Labour was a Brexit Party. I couldn’t argue a Brexit line on the doorstep, and I certainly couldn’t suspend my integrity to essentially lie that we were Remain. Effectively as far as campaigning was concerned, I sat these Euros out. It’s the first election in nearly 40 years I haven’t felt part of and to say the least, I’m somewhat cheesed off about it.

    And that flippin’ Roundabout…

    Sevenways roundabout! This is not what was expected and it’s not gone down well. The original spec that we took to residents included a raised (25mm) and hatched central island to increase deflection but allow for necessary over-run by HGVs and other large vehicles. Somehow the raised central island has become a painted circle with a continuous line.

    Original design

    I think we have to continue to lobby for something closer to the original plan with better cycling and walking provision too. Paint is obviously a cheap option and in many cases the right option, but here we’ve got some drivers treating the roundabout as a normal two lane roundabout and others sticking rigidly to the outside lane even on a right turn. With the roundabout being so close to the motorway there’s always going to be a high throughput of drivers who are unfamiliar with the area, so I don’t think we can rely on people getting used to it and it settling down.

    I think this is an economy too far and this part of Stretford deserves better.

    And Lastly…..

    Pleased to have at last managed to complete a park run without walking. Not managed to move since but I did it at Wythenshawe Park on Saturday. I am quite pleased with that.

  • First week back

    First week back

    The election is over. Many thanks if you voted for me. I’m overwhelmed to have got 65% of the vote in Gorse Hill Ward which is humbling given the state of politics at the moment.

    The priority has to be to get the services that Trafford provides back up to scratch. There can be no excuses, Labour now has majority control. The Conservatives are in disarray.

    Headline in Manchester Evening News days after the election

    There could not have been a more stark demonstration of the responsibilities that fall upon the shoulders of the local leadership than the headlines that greeted us following the the publication of Ofsted’s inspection into Trafford’s children’s services. We received an ‘inadequate’ rating.

    It will be the most pressing priority to get this put right. It’s on our watch and we must deliver.

    The New Executive

    I relayed my decision back in January to the Leader that I wouldn’t serve on the Executive this coming year. It’s been a real privilege to have been there for a year in the finance role. I know that it’s been no secret that I disagreed with the scrapping of the green bin charge. We have such a low council tax in comparison with others, I felt the green bin charge needed to be retained, but I lost. And it’s right therefore, that I withdraw from the Executive at this time.

    So this year I focus on Gorse Hill Ward.

    Gorgeous Gorse Hill Spring Fair

    One of the bonuses of being councillor here is that you get invited to all the best gigs. And so it was on Saturday that I came to be manning the plant stall at the spring fair. If you’re not aware of Gorgeous Gorse Hill then you need to be. We have brought so many of those pocket parks along Chester Road back into life as well as artwork on walls, bollards and shutters. It’s going to be great to see the Pankhurst Mural reveal itself on Trafford House. It’ll be the largest public artwork. Venessa Scott is an artist so closely part of the Gorgeous Gorse Hill story we can’t wait to see the big reveal on Trafford House.

  • What to do about Stretford

    What to do about Stretford

    Stretford town centre has hit the press again. In a league table of a thousand towns it’s been placed at number 999.

    It’s infuriating. Stretford Arndale is fifty years old this year. It feels to have been a slow decline for decades. For a brief period when it first opened Stretford would have been top of the league. The idea of a covered town centre with everything you needed under one roof was novel and exciting. I used to get on the bus to Stretford with my brother and mum, and it was the epitome of modern living to shop without fear of a soaking, or worries about being pushed into road traffic.

    However Stretford soon got overtaken by bigger supermarkets and better planned centres. We can blame the Trafford Centre and Tesco-Extra as much as we want, but it still became easier to get the weekly shopping from Sale or even Irlam if you had a car than it was Stretford. It is not even competing with nearby town centres like Chorlton, Urmston and Sale.

    So what’s to be done?

    It’s fairly clear that planners’ main thrust in addressing Stretford’s decline is to repopulate the immediate vicinity. There’s scope for increasing the population across the road at Lacy Street and on the land released with the demolition of the southern wing of the mall.

    Of course there are other elements such as bringing the Essoldo back into use but the strategy remains one of giving the Mall a bigger local catchment in order to revive it. It’s a jump-start via repopulation.

    I am sceptical. The Mall has inherent design challenges. By definition a high street should be a natural route for people to be taking. Even an indoor parade normally links one place to another. Stretford’s Mall is a detour from most natural pathways.

    If it can’t attract the accidental shopper, the question then becomes one of whether it can be a destination shopping area. Can the Mall attract a quality retail offer into its units to entice these new residents? It’s a key question.

    At the same time it feels to me as though the space with the best potential is close to the canal. The canal is Stretford’s prime asset but then we get into the dilemma that to develop a retail/leisure/evening economy mix on that canalside we’re pulling them away from the mall.

    We have to lift Stretford’s town centre. I don’t think there’s a risk free solution out there but we are going to have to take some decisions. We really can’t guarantee either approach. Whilst a Stretford version of Venice is enticing, are we really capable of delivering such a destination here on the towpath of the Bridgewater canal?


  • Councils do it better (but don’t short change us)

    Councils do it better (but don’t short change us)

    Councils in England say there has been a marked improvement in public health since they took over responsibility for delivering services nearly six years ago, despite budget cuts.
    The Local Government Association points to a fall in the number of smokers, fewer teenage pregnancies and a decrease in the suicide rate.
    But it warns progress could stop if there are further funding cuts.

    Public Health Improving under Councils – BBC online

    It’s obvious really. Only at a local level can things be joined up and be flexible enough to make the best of the circumstances of place. But we could do a lot more, particularly in education and training. It’s time for Government to deliver its social care reform too so that we can be allowed to provide the promised cradle to grave joined up health and care we so badly need.

  • Weekly Update 12th – 18th January

    Weekly Update 12th – 18th January

    I got to cut the ribbon on the Lidl opening. I wish them all the best. More signs of Gorse Hill’s renaissance. Pleased for the jobs, pleased for the retail offer we’re getting here.

    Politics is all about Brexit. It’s a mess, isn’t it? Personal view – we’re nowhere near ready to leave. For example, the Government’s taking all its Northern Ireland soundings from the DUP – when Northern Ireland actually voted to remain in the EU. We’ve now had a car bomb in Londonderry. The Good Friday peace process matters, it’s not a little detail to be ignored. We have to pause article 50 to attend to so many issues that the government has been ignoring.

    Again personally, I’m not won over by the People’s Vote argument. I voted to remain, I lost, and I think we should honour the vote. I’d be happy with a similar arrangement to Norway. I suspect whatever arrangement we start with will change over years. I might be wrong but I don’t believe you need something similar to Article 50 in order to leave or change Norway plus. It seems obvious we should be pursuing a relationship with the EU that’s close but respects the referendum result. But we need far more time to get businesses and people ready. But the main concern has to be Northern Ireland. I don’t want a return to the troubles. I can’t think of anything more likely to undermine confidence in Good Friday than only dealing with the DUP.


  • Weekly update 5th – 11th Jan

    Weekend

    Canvassing in Ashton on Mersey. Good response – local issues predominated. For and against a parking scheme being consulted upon around Mersey Road.

    Monday

    Busy Labour Group meeting. One of the items discussed was the awarding of community grants. For the last few years the council has used a process called participatory budgeting. In Stretford and Old Trafford they’ve worked ok; the community gets to vote on those schemes they give most support to. There was criticism that groups would bring along people to vote but that was the point. If a group had little or no support, why would the council back it?

    It’s not worked well everywhere – Altrincham was hardly oversubscribed with bids. Taking everything into account we’ve taken the decision that participatory budgeting should not be used and we’re freshening the process up:

    Thursday

    Early start for Transport for Greater Manchester meeting. Clean air policy and the 2040 delivery plan.

    I have reservations over the clean air policy and need to be convinced that we sort traffic emissions by charging certain groups. Modern cities should be aspiring to making their space a place for people rather than vehicles. There are no ‘good’ or ‘clean’ private vehicles on city centre roads.

    The 2040 delivery plan is much more interesting, particularly given that once again a station at White City is floated. The railway already travels through the roundabout there and with it being convenient for both Pomona and Media City, a station just makes so much sense.

    Followed by library volunteering and Governors Meeting at Lostock.