From the Canal to Sevenways

Category: Blog

  • Councillor’s Diary – Week Commencing 12th December

    Monday

    Last of the exam support sessions I'd volunteered for. Thoroughly rewarding.

    Meeting in the afternoon on an Over 50s Worklessness Pilot we're scoping for Gorse Hill. It's a Greater Manchester initiative and we've been chosen for Trafford. I'd be hugely interested in hearing resident's experiences of jobseeking, returning to employment or access to training from within this generation.

    Tuesday

    Personal Development plan meeting at town hall. We identified time management and speed reading as areas to work upon. I also want to some job shadowing within areas of work.

    Meeting regarding public service reform and the proof of concept pilot work going on in our patch. I'm going to a larger meeting next week and it's a subject that's going to resurface.

    Labour meeting in the evening at the Robin Hood.

    Wednesday

    Cycle over to the Ecology Park. It's looking superb. A lot of improvement work has taken place. Mike Ormerod, the CE of Greater Manchester Groundwork, raised a couple of issues. The brown road signs to the Ecology Park are looking tired. Totally support better signage to it, and really quite a lot more of it. The Trafford Park Metrolink will put more people in the area. The park is an absolute haven.

    An issue not as pleasant is the overnight parking and driver behaviour near to the park. It's not appropriate that our streets are used as an open sewer. We need to put a stop to this. I'm sure the appropriate places like Truckstop do charge an amount some of the drivers would prefer to avoid.Trafford needs to get on top of it.

    Quick stop off at the Ravenswood gardens for the lantern parade. Couldn't stay for the kids singing, a real shame. Wednesday was a lovely day though.

    Also had meetings at the town hall re scrutiny.

    Thursday

    But more work on the website. Think it'll largely do for now.

    Library volunteering in the afternoon.

    Friday

    Kate Green coffee morning. Great community spirit is abroad in Stretford and it coalesced in the public hall. Afternoon, catching up on casework plus visit to library. Things have come to a head over leaf clearing on some of our streets. Took a trip out on bike to check out. The idea that you can keep cutting and not see a detrimental impact. Frankly, austerity isn't working. It was fantasy economics abetted and applauded by the Lib Dems. At some point there'll be recognition that the way to revive the economy is not too suck every last prop of social scaffolding from the village in which we live. I'm going to nag officers to get those streets swept but it's just a sticking plaster. It'll be somewhere else next week.

    Saturday

    Set off at half-ten to deliver newsletters in Flixton about the party's position on the Flixton Fields that are under threat of development. Ended up staying in Flixton all day.

    These fields mean a lot to me. I've never lived in Flixton but so many of my school friends came from that way, it's a place I know well. Flixton doesn't really have formal parks but the fields do the job pretty well. Given I've never lived there and my teenage years are forty years gone, it's incredible that the informal cut-throughs are still so familiar and unchanged, linking one side of Flixton with the other. That's why I'm so determined that the fields should be preserved just as Urmston Council intended when it purchased them before the war.

    I'm no NIMBY, we desperately need houses. In fact generally, I'm perhaps more relaxed than most about building on the greenbelt. My passion is keeping the parks and fields that exist within the urban environment. We've lost too many. Here in this bit of Stretford we lost Kendal Road, we lost Urmston Grammar just up the road, we lost the fields to the Trafford Centre.

    I see why we protect greenbelt but it's easy to get the balance wrong if we're so obsessive in protecting it, we make the urban environment totally devoid of space to breathe. We've got to a point where scrubland classed as greenbelt by its location but offering none of the benefits, is given more protection than valued fields within an urban setting.

    I think it's vital we protect Flixton's fields. I'm delighted that Trafford's Labour Group agree with me. In fact Andrew Western, our leader has really made this battle a priority. So it was an easy decision to stay all day in Flixton to support Andrew. He's called an extraordinary meeting of council for Wednesday. It would be great if we can get unanimity across the parties on this. I think it's one we can win. I certainly hope so.

  • Councillor’s Diary – Week Commencing 5th December

    Councillor’s Diary – Week Commencing 5th December

    Monday

    Start day at Lostock College being a ‘reader’ for a pupil on a maths paper. Surprisingly intense, you’re so keen that you don’t confuse or get in the way. Emotionally rewarding though, very much rooting for the pupil.

    Tea-time meeting with Trafford officers looking at the shaping of Trafford in the next few years. Came away not really the wiser. There was a feeling that the Mersey Valley was less valued than it should be which  is something I actually agree with, but there was also an evangelical fervour that the Mersey Valley could be used to create a unifying Trafford identity.

    I’ve got to be honest, I’ve lived within the current boundaries of Trafford for pretty much all my life, but I don’t self define as a Traffordian. I’m a Manc and the part of Manchester I come from is Stretford. Trafford has no real meaning to me except as the name of those current administrative boundaries.

    I don’t know what the motivation is for officers seeing the lack  of a Trafford identity as a bad thing. I look across at Salford, a place with which I have numerous connections. Salford has a self identity that is almost too obsessive; and its tendency to frame everything in terms of its relationship with Manchester in my view holds it back.

    I want to see greater use of the Mersey Valley just because it’s a beautiful space and far more accessible than a lot of people realise. If I shop in Altrincham, it won’t be out of a fabricated construct that my ‘Trafford identity’ locks me in to choosing there rather than choosing Manchester.

    Labour group next meeting in the evening. The big political issue is the Flixton Village green area scheduled by Greater Manchester for building upon. We’re fully behind residents who want to protect this as their village green. And it’s interesting to compare our support for a genuine connection and relationship between Flixton and the fields at the centre of their town, to the marketing candy floss I encountered from officers at the earlier meeting.

    Tuesday

    Regular Meeting with Corporate Team for Economic Growth

    Budget scrutiny – risk assessments superficial and impact vague. Some of these measures seem to be suck it and see. For example, the garden waste charge – no idea of take up or impact on fly tipping.

    Wednesday

    Scribing at Lostock College for another maths exam.

    Locality partnership enabling groups review. A big proportion of my time is spent on the locality partnership. I’m not sure I know whether it’s productive as it could be.

    Budget scrutiny day2

    Looking at reablement. There’s insufficient funding. It’s a national problem. These are genuinely scary times.

    Thursday

    Volunteering Lostock Library

    Spatial framework Q&A at Urmston Grammar. This is the big meeting about Flixton Village Green. Packed meeting-I don’t know whether the meeting really captured the extent to which these fields are valued and loved by the townsfolk of Flixton. I know those fields from my own schooldays and those fields truly are part of the Flixton identity. It would be tragic for the fields to be lost to housing. Questions and answers tend towards a more adversarial contest. I would have preferred simply making the case that the fields are walked and loved and de-stress the folk of Flixton just as they have done for a hundred years or so.

    Friday

    Transport for Greater Manchester Committee

    Sunday

    Trip with Laurence around the United game. I’m always struck by the paucity of the collective offer we make to United fans. They’re expected to eat over-priced takeaway junk, with nowhere to sit or perch their food. I’ve been to Second Division grounds where the town makes more of an effort. It’s squalid, there’s no imagination employed and we expect United fans to treat our neighbourhoods with respect. The only improvement I saw was that United had put out some pionic tables. It’s a start, but there’s so much more United could do, so much more the council could do and so much more the businesses could do.

  • Councillor’s Diary – Week Commencing 13th November

    Councillor’s Diary – Week Commencing 13th November

    Monday 13th November

    Update Meeting on Stretford Public Realm

    What can I say? I don’t want to lose the subways, I use them. I do want the speed limit reduced in Stretford, so that’s something, but I’m more than underwhelmed. It still feels like an 8-2 win for the car driver. Perhaps it’s the best that can be achieved. I better not say any more. I’ve signed the petition though…..

    Tuesday 14th November

    Budget ExecutiveSchool Crossing Patrol’s scrapped, Garden Waste collections scrapped unless you’re willing to pay and we’re still £2m quid short, even after we’ve hiked up council tax.

    We’ve been saying this has been coming, we’ve known about the Graph of Doom for 6 years or so. Next year will be even worse than this year.

    I suppose you could argue that people are not going to march on the gates of the palace over the issue of garden waste collections, but it seems to me that we’re heading to a point where councils have withdrawn from many ordinary people’s lives.

    In Bury they’ve gone to three weekly collections. On the current trajectory we’ll have to do the same before too many years. Bury now have private companies touting for the trade. So those that can pay, get a better service than those that can’t in a basic service like waste collection. Before long those that pay will be wondering why they have to pay council tax, why can’t they just pay for the services they use? The fact that I can even imagine the question being asked shows how far we’ve descended.

    busybins

    Wednesday 15th November

    Scrutiny Meeting

    First item Budget, Second item Trafford Leisure…We took a long time over the budget. The main theme was the importance of growth in housing and business to the council’s income. On the whole, I am largely in agreement with the need to build. I am wholly opposed to building on greenspace central and core to a neighbourhood, such as Station Road Green (referred to last week in the diary) and the large Flixton Village Greens area, but given that the need for housing is the major source of my weekly casework, I have to make the case for housing in places that are not so core, such as Pomona and Trafford Waters. People will disagree, but they need to show me where they will build.

    Trafford Leisure, big issue – we could lose George Carnall Sports Centre. We’re suffering as a nation from inactivity and obesity … talk of being cleverer … targetting… getting people active … social prescribing … yet we’re making the journeys to school less safe and prioritising the car whenever we’re given the option.

    I’m being a bit bleak tonight aren’t I?

    Thursday 17th November

    Library volunteering and more housing casework

    Friday 18th November

    Signing off for a few days as daughter and son in law due to visit from America

  • Councillor’s Diary – Week Commencing 7th November

    Councillor’s Diary – Week Commencing 7th November

    Monday 7th November

    Labour Group Meeting – Anti Social Behaviour Report
    Then quite a long meeting preparing for the budget.

    Tuesday 8th November

    Listened to Kwame Anthony Appiah’s lecture on Radio 4, or to be really honest, the radio was on in the background, while I did some work; that’s how it started anyway. Every now again, magic happens on Radio 4 and it casts a spell on you. (Listen Again – Very Recommended)
    Popped over for a visit to a number of Gorgeous Gorse Hill sites with officers and Ruth from the group. The progress this group’ has made in opening up neglected patches is nothing short of phenomenal. Today’s meeting was primarily to make sure litter bins were installed and upkeep regimes were sensitive to work the community were doing – no more inappropriate use of herbicides.

    Then over to the town hall for three meetings:
    the first with Helen Jones Corporate Director for Economic Growth Environment and Infrastructure and her deputy Richard Roe. These are two genuine stars of Trafford’s corporate team, but too often and it’s the same across the board, these shadow meetings are more a test of our questioning than a directorate briefing. The primary question I want answering each month is the directorate challenges keeping them awake at night?

    A handful of Tory councillors defecting and it would be a totally different game, but instead we have to chip away at the issues we know about. In my judgement it’s always more important to be informed about the issues we don’t know about. It’s clearly not the best preparation for any incoming governing party, but it seems to be the way we do things in councils, all councils. We’re not unique, I know that.

    Second meeting was with Iain Minto from the Mall. Amongst the issues discussed was the forthcoming business rates reduction. It’s infuriating that the Government is giving so much transitional protection to the South East and making the rest of the country pay, They are ignoring the disparity that has already caused overheating in the capital whilst suffocating the North. The current Mall owners have been a breath of fresh air compared to previous owners but it would be good to see Government working on the side of those making investment and taking risks.

    Yes, there’ll still be a reduction in May in the business rates for the Mall, but it won’t be as big a reduction as even the Government admits it should be.

    When there’s actually a moral case for a punitive rate increase in the City of London in order to provide reparations for the damage it’s done to the rest of us, instead we see the opposite. We were promised a rebalancing, yet businesses in the Mall will still be subsidising the business rates of Harrods. If that’s rebalancing, it’s Tory rebalancing and it stinks.

    Third Meeting was a scrutiny session on the One Trafford – Amey contract.
    Really good scrutiny is rare in Local Government. In my experience the best scrutiny is in topic areas where either there’s an acknowledged issue to resolve, or just an area where there’s little political capital to protect. The One Trafford – Amey contract is not such an area.

    There is too much of a divide on the One Trafford Contract for it to be effectively scrutinised by a cross party committee.

    I’ve spoken to Conservative Councillors who admit they wanted to outscource from the moment they took control of the council in 2004. They simply believe that in everything the pursuit of profit is a more efficient model of working than an ethic of public service. I disagree, but it doesn’t matter how much tangible proof you present counter to their belief. They are zealots, it’s an article of faith. We may as well be speaking in tongues.

    Leaving the political dogma aside, it remains transparently clear that the Cabinet Member with responsibility for environmental operations is either not willing or not capable of holding the service to account. It’s a default position of denial and impatience with any suggestion that things need to improve, that we want them to improve, that we want to help them improve. A reputation for closed eyes and ears was not improved by this session.

    The bottom line is that every £ we spend on cleaning up litter and fly-tipping or paying unneccesary landfill costs on recyclable waste is money that we can’t spend on surestart, youth clubs or parks. Regardless of whether it’s outsourced or an in-house service, it’s clear that unless we engage better with the public and give the impression we want to work with them and listen to their concerns, we’re not going to improve things. That listening has to start at the top.

    Home – to watch the Presidential election.
    I’d begun to trust the polls were right. Usually a bad idea.
    It was always clear that there was very little enthusiasm for elite insider politics that Hilary Clinton was offering.
    However, it seems in the immeditate aftermath everyone is able to extract something from the entrails of this election that provides an inarguable case for their preferred path to power, whether it be Corbyn, Boris, Farage etc. The only thing certain is that they won’t all get what they want.

    Wednesday 9th November

    Another scrutiny meeting – this time it’s a task group on the Educational Health & Care Plans (EHCP). These had been in disarray during the summer – in a really bad state; and they’re vital for a child with special needs’ transition to a new school. We’ll pursue this task further but, whilst it’s not an issue I’ve been leading on, I came away from the meeting feeling that the new officer they’d recruited after the debacle, was someone that would make a real difference.

    Thursday 10th November

    Library volunteering.
    No meetings so I stop smoking – seems a nice symmetry to it. Only started again in the aftermath of brexit, so if I stop because of Trump….it seems right. I don’t know what this all means, but if I can convince myself it was the right time to stop, it helps.

    Friday 11th November

    Transport for Greater Manchester Committee in the morning. The big issue was choice of new routes for when the Deansgate route begins. I suppose the plum route for areas is whether their tram goes to Piccadilly Station or not. It was easier when Bury and Altrincham were the only two ends of the lines. But Metrolink is a network, it’s not designed so that the tram you begin your journey on is the tram that you stay on for the whole journey. So the meeting was more fractious than usual. Our Metrolink will continue to link with Bury and Piccadilly Stn, so we’re considered to be winners in this.

    In the afternoon I draft a council motion on lobbying government not to outllaw new publicly owned bus companies. I hope it’s a motion that gets submitted by the Labour Group. It’s competing with other worthy motions so we’ll see. Then drafted another leaflet/letter and had it printed. This one on the Station Road planning application. Really believe the loss of this green strip in a densely built environment would be probably more damaging than many places that receive full protection of countryside acts etc.

    Station Road Green
    Proposed site for 10 apartments
    opp Trafford Park Station

    Saturday 12th November

    I spend lunchtime delivering the leaflets and talking to residents, then finally get some time on the allotment

    Sunday 13th November

    Remembrance Sunday. Still thinking about the poor lad who fainted. I was prone to similar episodes in my teens. Luckily I tended to crumple, but that lad went down with such a thud.

    poppy

  • Councillor’s Diary – Week Commencing 31st October

    Councillor’s Diary – Week Commencing 31st October

    Monday 31st October 

    • Escalated Casework on the Dane Road lift. It's not helped that Metrolink is down again. I've moved the enquiry up a level. Hopefully I'll get somewhere with this.
    • Checked the planning application for Station Road. The consultation period closes 14/11/2016. I think what I need to do is read the planning inspector's judgement on the last appeal.
    • Escalated Thursday evening's casework of my constituent effectively trapped in hospital whilst a care package is procured. Cllr Harding and I agree to talk to Corporate Director this evening.

    Momentum

    Momentum

    • Slightly confused by the weekend's problems within Momentum. It seems from afar that the hard left don't like the idea of allowing one member one vote and prefer their MPs to determine future direction of the Momentum movement.
      Oh wait…..
      Ok, it's not MPs, it's ' delegates', but the parallels and contradictions implicit in this compared to Momentum's critical stance on the Parliamentary Labour Party is impossible to dismiss. Animal Farm is the book to turn to, if we want to see how this plays out.
    • Prepared for Executive by reading 900 pages on the rewriting of the conservation areas planning guidance.
    • The actual Executive meeting was in the evening. Despite the aforementioned 900 pages the meeting was not a particularly long one. Not at all convinced that the Tory presenting the report had read it despite his claims to the contrary.
      The issues I raised included protection of our existing conservation areas. I suppose the area most local to us is the Empress estate on Chester Road/City Road. The Essence Factory is in a poor state and developments are unfinished. It says something that the site of the former Northumberland Pub has been removed from the conservation area – since the pub has been raised to the ground and is just flattened rubble.
    Duckworths
    Duckworth's Essence Factory –
    Empress Conservation Area

    Tuesday 1st November – Thursday 3rd November

    Largely taken up with preparation for Friday's Constituency Labour Party AGM. Difficult few days as competition for places heated up. Receiving applications for positions, organising the meeting itself, trying to be fair, distributing the applications to our 1400 members.

    Friday 4th November

    Similar on the Friday but also attended by monthly advice surgery

    And finally the AGM….

    150 people in the room, the chair, Joanne Harding and I on stage

    I was dying for a drink of water by the end of it, but have to say it went well. Not everyone I voted for got elected, but I was reasonably pleased with the outcome. I was particularly pleased that Steve Adshead was continuing as Treasurer. The treasurer is one of those behind the scenes roles that people don't notice and don't always appreciate. Having been Kate Green's agent in the last two elections, I know how vital it is that the Treasurer keeps his focus and diligantly gets the cheques paid, and keeps the agent informed. I'm delighted that the party backed him. He does a fantastic job.

    I can say this because I'm now an ex CLP Secretary, but I genuinely think we've improved the management team, it's got a good mix with plenty of new faces.

    Saturday 5th November – Sunday 6th November

    Just because I'm finally free as Secretary, I still have get the minutes drafted and arrange the handover. Talking with other Secretaries, it seems fairly typical that it's been taking 15 to 20 hours each week or at least during the past year with leadership elections etc. It's probably been 50 hours this past week but it's done now.

    Oh and I get to watch City v Barcelona. 3-1 wonderful game.

  • Councillor’s Diary – Week commencing 24th October 2016

    Councillor’s Diary – Week commencing 24th October 2016

    Monday 24th October

    • Progressed a couple of pieces of Casework
      on the lift at Dane Road, it's still not working and I've reported it
      and the cycleway at the bottom of Moss Road – schedule for a visit by the sweeper this week
    • A colleague relayed the circumstances of one of their constituents. It's absolutely appalling, how can we force on vulnerable people such a burden to find a solution or make up the shortfall?

       

      She receives 42 hours of care using personal assistants under the direct payment scheme
      The hourly payments take in to account the hours and days when care is provided:
      Week day- £7.20
      Week evening-£8.97
      Weekend day £10.25
      Weekend evening £13.24

      From the 8th of December a flat rate of £8 is being enforced by the council. She has been advised to get legal advice and that she has to give notice to her carers a period of eight weeks.

      At the same time a Tory councillor tweets that he wants the taxpayer to fund a new Royal Yacht for Her Majesty!

    • I pay a visit to Architectural Students temporarily stationed for the day in Stretford Arndale consulting for a project as part of their studies. Absolutely delightful and provocative. After the disappointing bias towards private cars contained in Trafford's own masterplan, it'll be great to see what these young students come up with.
    • Gorse Hill Labour branch meeting in the evening. Great to get together, not an ideal main topic – nominations for Constituency Labour Party positions.
      The Labour party has been through a difficult period and it's now time to build a competitive party that can take on the Tories. Key to this is getting a party that works to our strengths and it's in Labour's DNA that we're a party that begins with our presence in communities. We've over a 170 members in Gorse Hill and we're ambitious for more. We can only do that if members and supporters feel their being listened to; and are being included, and are part of the decision making.
      The feedback to the meeting over the next few days was really positive. There's a huge amount of energy and ambition.

    Tuesday 25th October

    • No meetings planned, so after the positive response to the previous week's diary, I think it's time to sort out the blog. It's become messy and it doesn't render well on a mobile phone. It also goes wrong every time wordpress or bootstrap upgrade their frameworks. If none of this is comprehensible, essentially it's like a car held together with sellotape and pins. Redoing the page takes me all day and into the early morning. It doesn't actually look that different on the screen but sticking with the car analogy, it's got a whole new chassis and gearbox underneath. I go to bed fighting the lines of code still in my head. I think I'm entering the Matrix.
    • I do progress with the problems at the Moss Road Spar crossing (posted earlier this year). There's agreement to remove the parking space markings. But that isn't going totally solve the problem. I've called on Traffic Management to urgently commission a secondary set of railings similar to those installed at Chester Road.

      Chester Road Railings
      The Chester Road Crossing with railings behind the pavement
      spar crossing
      The Spar crossing that allows vehicles to reverse onto the highway via the dropped kerb of the crossing

    Wednesday 26th October

    • Went to the Lostock Park planting day. Really impressive from them – less so from me, they'd already finished planting before I got there. Managed to help a little with packing the gazebos. Had chance to discuss with Maureen a few issues.
      Particularly the subway at Humphrey Park Station.
    • Meeting with Jill Colbert and others over the Orchards school. Not much I can report. At least I feel we've been brought up to date with how the plans have or haven't been progressing.
    • Visited the alleyway behind the takeaways on Chester Road. There's an issue with the commercial waste bins there. I want to work with the takeaways to improve this. I'll be visiting again over the weekend.
    • It's derby day……..

    • Match is a damp squib. Didn't feel like either side really wanted to win.

    Thursday 27th October

    • Disappointed that a replacement bin promised the previous week for a constituent still hasn't been delivered. I chase up.
    • 1200 emails sent out with the agenda for next weeks AGM. Always prompts a lot of replies and this one is no exception.
    • Very quiet couple of hours in my voluntary session at Lostock Library. It's half term and we look shut with the carpark gate locked, so there's only a couple of customers.
    • Annoyingly I learn that Station Road is subject to yet another planning application. This will be the third time the owner has tried to get the small piece of scrub land right up against the railway embankment built upon. Will have to look into this one and probably lodge an objection.

    Friday 28th October

    • Receive an alarming email from a constituent hospitalised outside the borough. She and her consultants want her discharged home; Trafford are struggling to procure a care package for her. So she's forced to bedblock and she's desperate to get home. It's appalling and it just shows the extent to which these ideologically driven cuts from the Tories are affecting peoples' lives. I get assurances from council that her care package will be prioritised and brief our lead councillor to pursue next week.
    • Drive to Bolton. I get lost. I always do in Bolton. Motorway is gridlocked on the way back (last day of half term + Trafford Centre)
    • Friday night shots of whiskey (only two, not driving, I'm allowed)

    Saturday 29th October

    • A bit of a day off, watch the West Brom v City match in a pub. Last time I went to the Hawthorns it was city beaten 4-0. Still can't believe we sold Peter Barnes and Gary Owen.

      It was still nice to see City win today though

    Sunday 30th October

    • Hate the hour going back. The day seems darker right from getting up. Long been a supporter of 'Lighter Later' the campaign run by 10:10 and supported by Rospa and Brake campaign groups for safety. There's a Green argument too. We're wasting millions on lighting up homes instead of using all the hours of daylight, the day provides. It's a total nonsense that we put the hours back in winter for farmers.
    • Emails go mad in the afternoon. Planning for the AGM is a busy time. I've had over 80 emails to answer since 2 o'clock.
    • So bit of a stressed day all round with one thing or another. I was hoping to go over to the fireworks at Barton Airport where Pinked Floyd were playing as background but all these emails.