From the Canal to Sevenways

Category: Blog

  • First week of a new year

    First week of a new year

    Circle Court caps a busy week but shows in adversity the very best of Lostock.

    Saturday 4th Jan

    Marshalling the first corner at Wythenshawe Pk Run. First time I’ve marshalled, but I’ve now done 12 runs and that’s not a bad ratio. One morning volunteering for a dozen runs.

    In the afternoon I cycled round Gorse Hill identifying the full set of streets that had missed bin collections as the council had arranged additional Sunday shifts of collections.

    Sunday 5th Jan

    Spent the morning trying to establish whether the promised bin teams had gone out and whether they doing Gorse Hill. Took until lunchtime to get confirmation. Frankly, being told that they’d be reporting the next day just infuriates. Don’t often lose my temper but came close over that. Anyway the word was the teams were out and were doing the streets I’d submitted. Not totally as it turned out, but most.

    Receive an update on the Education portfolio. Can’t hide the fact that there’s some local schools giving concern. School finances, it seems to me, are more responsive to school numbers than they ever have been. This is a good thing if your school is attracting good numbers, but if, for whatever reason, you’re not getting the demand, it can quickly spiral. Going to need different approaches, but the bottom line is we can’t just stand by.

    Monday 6th Jan

    Fury on the emails about the bins. Flixton particularly angry. Make some progress on casework. Christmas has been particularly busy.

    I’m also putting together the spending return for the election. These have to be submitted next week and it’s not the sort of thing you want to do during the festivities so I now need to get going with it.

    Tuesday 7th Jan

    Labour Group meeting. Started late and slowly ground to a halt. I think Christmas has frazzled us. I’d be tempted to avoid the first full week of the year for a Labour group meeting next year. Anyway City won the first leg at United, even if I missed the first half, and apparently we played quite well.

    Wednesday 8th Jan

    More work on the spending return. In the evening it’s to Stretford Mall for an officer meeting with architects, planners and Bruntwood over the next consultation event.

    It’s not long since the last one and whilst that means actual tangible progress might still be a little way off, I think this was a useful meeting. I think the public drop in will also be useful too.

    At November’s drop in there was a discreet minority who felt the best option was to knock the mall down. To be honest, that has been my view too. I think it’s fair to say that isn’t a view shared by the planners and architects. I quite like the fact that they saw positive strengths in parts of the Mall and really saw their role as trying to design and enhance those strengths. So whilst I seem to have lost one argument, I’m far more energised by their way of thinking. Don’t be expecting fleshed out designs, but I think their approach both to the mall and to the wider Stretford town centre neighbourhoods is measured and exciting.

    Consultation Drop-in at the Mall – Saturday 25th January 8am until 6pm

    You really need to attend this. It’s your Stretford. And the planners need to hear from you.

    Completed the ‘Doing Buses Differently’ consultation on bus franchising. This is something I’ve actively supported for a long time. The free market simply doesn’t work for bus travel. It’s my contention that the bus companies should really embrace this. It’s the only way they will ensure a long term future for their business. It’s an incredibly positive proposal that will support the bus companies and build the bus transport sector.

    Stagecoach Manchester at Piccadilly Gardens bus station, Manchester with the 14:46 to Flixton 15 service. Friday 25th July 2008

    Thursday 9th Jan

    Library Volunteering and in the evening yet more planning previews

    I’m a member of the planning committee so I have to be circumspect over live planning applications, but we were previewing the new stand and hotel extension planned for Lancs Cricket Ground, as well as a tall hotel at the corner of Chester Road and Warwick Road.

    Friday 10th Jan

    Casework and a Labour Party Meeting reflecting on the Election Defeat
    (oh, and I went for a five mile run!)

    The Labour Party meeting was interesting, particularly the thoughts of ordinary members rather than MPs or Councillors.

    I think the scale of the defeat is taking some adjusting to. There’s a rawness to the wounds that have been rendered. I don’t think anyone has the complete answer. I’m not going to spend a lot of time dissecting our manifesto or the likeability of Jeremy Corbyn. He is already in the past. There were a lot of textbook failings in our campaign that will have to be put right whether Labour chooses to tack to the left or right: the lack of a story that related to people’s lives, the diminution of shared values. We failed to connect

    We were for the many, not the few, but came across as a party too often set apart from and contemptuous of the very people we wanted to vote for us. That is a charge that can be made against both wings of the party; and one particularly apposite with regard to Brexit.

    Stretford and Urmston Labour Party

    Saturday/Sunday – Serious Incident at Circle Court

    Start the day away with the Labour Group but quickly learn of the Circle Court fire and flooding. Tell Dave Acton and we get over there. It was an everchanging set of circumstance throughout the weekend. The fire and initial water leakage were dealt with quickly but from then on there was loss of power, further floods and the affected area would enlarge, shrink and enlarge again. It would vary from almost no tenants needing rehousing to substantial decanting. The residents were superb and so were Trafford Housing Trust staff. When you go through something like this with people, you realise how stoical people are, how they deal with setbacks. I don’t think I’ve ever been so proud to represent this place.

    I know things are not yet back to normal for quite a few residents and we’re continuing to monitor. I was really pleased to invite Kate Green over on the Sunday to see the recovery operation and to meet with staff and residents. I know she was impressed.

  • Stretford Possibilities

    Stretford Possibilities

    November’s drop-in at the mall hinted that we’d be working at this together. The 25th of January looks set to be the date of the next update. Take a trip to the mall that day 8am to 6pm.

  • Anti-Semitism

    This taints us all in Labour. I’m ashamed. I’m disgusted. It is getting worse.

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    It is not easy. I stay and fight.

    Seventy serving and ex-Labour officials have given sworn statements to an official investigation into the party’s handling of anti-Semitism allegations

  • Stressing the agent

    Stressing the agent

    Another occasional post on being agent for Kate Green

    This Monday was in effect the start. Trafford issued their notice of election. If feels as though we’ve been in election mode for a while but Monday was the start.

    Do we downplay the civic aspects of an election these days? I have vague memories of the notice going up in the windows of post offices when I was young, but I might be wrong. Nevertheless, the wording of the notice is almost worthy of the an announcement on the steps of the town hall. Instead it’s slipped out onto the council’s website.

    The notice is an invitation for candidates to be nominated, and voters to be registered assuming they’re not already on the register. It gives the dates for when these have to take place.

    No one wants to leave the nomination until the last day, so for most candidates it really gives two days to have the papers submitted.

    There’s two vital forms, the nominations and the consent to nomination. Providing these are in order and submitted on time the candidate is on the ballot paper. There’s authorities from the political party and appointment of agent that we also submit but technically they’re of secondary importance. We elect the candidate, not the party and you don’t actually have to have an agent.

    If you have an agent, it’s the agent who goes to jail if the rules are breached rather than the candidate. So most candidates appoint an agent.

    The nomination paper is interesting. We used to put in a great deal of effort in inviting community leaders and respected figures across the constituency to sign the nomination papers. It was quite a thing. The names of the persons nominating the candidate definitely were published in those post office windows, so it mattered. These days you’ve got to go looking on the council website to even find the papers. It’s lost its impact. It’s a shame really.

    Having said that, the decline in public curiosity as to the persons nominating Kate made it easier for me. I had sufficient nominations signed and verified in one sitting of the Labour Group instead of cycling round the constituency to get the signatures.

    Even if it was less of a task I’m still mightily relieved they’re checked and submitted.

    So, Kate Green is now Labour Party candidate for Stretford and Urmston!

  • Being Agent

    Being Agent

    I’m delighted Kate Green has asked me to be her agent for the forthcoming election. It’ll be my fourth time. At least I’ll know what I’m letting myself in for. It’s a generally thankless role. You’re really there to make sure everything’s legal and accounted for and to step back into the shadows.

    My first time as agent was 2010. Kate was stepping in to fill the shoes of Bev Hughes. Labour were facing a difficult election nationally and the Tories were targeting the seat as winnable. Kate was (and still is) an absolute force of nature. We had a great team with Antony McCaul directing the campaign. Together we smashed that election.

    It was a fantastic team effort. I took the role incredibly seriously. I still do. You’re always a missed signature away from a disaster that lets down so many people. At the same time you’re trying to be a grounding force, keeping the campaign focused and together. There’s so many external provocations not to mention those from within the campaign.

    The two subsequent elections in 2015 and 2017 were somewhat different. We didn’t see any serious campaign from the Conservatives really, or anyone else for that matter. They rather abandoned their candidates to get on with it on their own. It meant we had to generate our own energy. Given we took Kate’s percentage of vote to 66%, the other parties probably took the correct decision.

    So we’re back again. We have the same team, we’ve had for the last two with Tom Ross in the Anthony McCaul role. It’s a winter election. I genuinely don’t have a problem with that. We do what we do and it’s the same for all parties. The political dynamics are different, but they always are. From the agent’s point of view it’s a logistical challenge as much as anything. I aim to come through it in one piece and so far, I have always managed to end the election with more friends than when I started including from the teams of other parties.

  • 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!