Monday

Transport for Greater Manchester budget consultation at Manchester Town Hall. A fairly well attended meeting although considerably down on last years. Support for ring and ride and real time passenger info. Less support for interchanges.

Labour Group meeting in the evening. Campaign for 2012 is progressing really well. Great to see so much enthusiasm and desire to work together across all factions, without a hint of posturing or personal agenda.

Tuesday

Met with James Hampson, new development worker for Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) in Lostock. I was very impressed at the project. I think there’s every potential for the development of sustainable community activity here and look forward to working alongside James.

Met with Trafford’s other TfGMC councillors, June Reilly (Cons) and Brian Rigby (Cons) together with officers ahead of Friday’s TfGMC meeting on Friday to discuss the agenda and any implications for Trafford. We’re awaiting finalisation of the budget from the Combined Authority (essentially the leaders of the 10 Greater Manchester boroughs). This won’t be determined until their meeting of the 27th January. There is cross-party support the Local Sustainability Transport Fund bid; the Bridgewater Way cycling improvements along the canal have proved the potential and we want to build upon that.

Met with community groups in Old Trafford to discuss the Council’s plan to replace paid staff with volunteers. The manner in which the council has gone about is bungling in the extreme; it has the potential to undermine volunteering for years to come. The groups are absolutely outraged and I don’t blame them.

Wednesday

Budget Scrutiny of Transformation and Resources, the directorate responsible for the libraries. Clearly the issue of volunteers taking over Old Trafford and Hale libraries dominated. We’re told there’s no Plan B for the possibility of volunteers not coming forward in sufficient numbers. There’s no plan to shut the libraries and there’s no budget for supporting the volunteers via commissioning or other route, although they might be able to find some money to help the group start. There will be training and funding for CRB checks.

Thursday

Cycled over to Hale Library to get a better understanding of the dynamics there.

Friday

Transport for Greater Manchester Committee. (see Tuesday) I suffered a puncture to bike almost upon arrival in Albert Square and returned using the train to Trafford Park Station. I was one of five passengers to alight from a sparsely crowded train – leaving it fairly empty. If I’m to believe the figures no one uses this station, but my experiences seem to suggest otherwise; it doesn’t help that no member of staff at Deansgate seems to want to check ticket or take the fare. Still think Trafford Park Station has huge potential – I was lucky, the next train would have meant a 2 hr wait.

Met with the Scrutiny Team to discuss the report to the executive.

Saturday

Campaigned in Davyhulme. Great response on the doorstep.

Image by Károly Váltó from Pixabay

Unwanted echo of the 80s as riots return to our cities

It’s been an awful week of violence and wanton destruction on our streets. I won’t have been the only one glued to 24 hr news late towards dawn on those four nights of chaos. I won’t have been the only one who welcomed rain back to Manchester on Wednesday like a returning protector. It’s been an awful week and thoughts are particularly with those who have suffered loss of life or injury, loss of their home, business or job.

It’s not been a good week for the London Police, the Justice System or Public Authorities; but it’s been wretched for this deplorable Conservative Government and Comotose Clegg. We need them to do a lot better.

What we know.

On Thursday in Tottenham a man suspected with criminal connections is shot dead in his car by police and has in his possession a gun. (Read Guardian for local MP, David Lammy’s account of how rumours developed and the response from police that should have been so much better)

On Saturday – Family and members of the community demand answers from the local police station and there is dissatisfaction with the response or lack of it. From there we know that anger escalated into a riot with subsequent looting and burning of properties. This spreads to nearby areas of Wood Green.

On Sunday the disturbances spread further in London and escalate in Brixton, Hackney, Walthamstowe and Enfield. At this stage the focus is on confrontation with the police and the level of frightening violence is escalating. Opportunistic looting becomes endemic. It emerges that pretty much the whole of Government is away on holiday in an unprecedented deriliction of duty. Cameron, Clegg, Boris Johnson, Theresa May, George Osborne all away creating a vacuum of political leadership.

By Monday night it was clear things were out of control in London and copycat incidents were spreading beyond London. The overwhelming impression provided by 24 hr news was either the police were static or late providing a response for instance in Ealing. These images and reports were being broadcast all over the world, particularly burning businesses in Enfield (Sony) and Croydon (Reeves).

On Tuesday, we start to see Government ministers return from their holidays and we predictably hear the words “unacceptable” and “we will not tolerate” a lot. Manchester forced to loan a hundred police to London and in the evening, Manchester gets hit. By now it is no longer about confronting the police, it’s organised mob burglary.

Wednesday The surge in the rogue’s gallery of faces caught on CCTV becomes a flood. And the rain threatens a flood of a more conventional nature. The riots seem to have run their course and parliament meets to take the credit. Was it worth the expense of flying all those MPs back; too soon to make a measured response and for ministers, too late to call for the police to get serious? In the event we were subjected to six hours of ‘awfulising’ (=1001 different ways of condemning the criminal behaviour).

What have we learned?

The riots were not caused by the cuts. Labour’s policies in Government failed to address an unequal society and it’s not clear to me that Gordon Brown in particular had an instinct or analysis for places like Harringey.

But the cuts are going to make it more difficult to tackle.

The riots were not caused by Health and Safety Regulation or by the Human Rights Act. Cameron is on another planet if he thinks they were.

Policing of Tottenham in those first days was bad. Whether this was as a consequence of sensitivity or a lack of leadership / morale in the met, I don’t know, but ultimately it gave a signal to the rest of London and the wider country that there was a good chance rioting could be profitable.

Neither the Parliament nor the media nor London’s Metropolitan Police are capable of the moral leadership that they should be offering whilst so many have been tainted by their own disregard for any sense of propiety. How can MPs who ‘looted’ their own plasma TVs or even garden sheds from the expense office make any contribution that people will listen to? Some believe corruption at the top of our society has had an impact on the readiness to loot displayed by so many. Whether this was true, who can say? But it obviously does compromise our ability to repair our damaged communities. It would be good to see the remaining dregs from that shameful time do the right thing and make it clear they’re not standing again. And yes I am still angry over the expenses scandal!

However, there has been much that is positive to take forward from the aftermath. At last young people in deprived areas are being given a voice. Too often in the past it’s been professionals with a vested interest but at last we’re getting to hear the authentic voice. We may not like what we hear but at least we’re hearing it. If we can address the roots of these issues and work with communities rather than making gestures to feel good about ourselves. we could be onto something at last.

I’ve been quite impressed with Ed Miliband this week. He’s avoided the knee-jerk in favour of a considered response. Cameron is pursuing gimmicks, but even here there’s positive, he now knows that the risk of ignoring forgotten areas is that they come back to haunt him. But finally I want to pay tribute to the police in Greater Manchester. Everything I’ve seen suggests that they got the policing of Manchester and Salford exactly right with the resources available to them. I worry that the courts and housing associations are getting caught up in a febrile atmosphere. I want to see the arsonists and ringleaders given appropriately heavy sentences but we need to keep a sense of proportion when it comes to the stupid kids on the periphery. But it’s clear the police have done a fantastic job in identifying and preparing the cases in the aftermath.

“After the Riot – View from near Scotland Green” by Alan Stanton, Public Domain Dedication (CC0)

Monday

Friends of Lostock Park Greenzone Meeting
Awards night – Lostock College

Tuesday

Member Development Steering Group

Thursday

Metrolink Depot Visit

Saturday

Boundary Briefing

Image by Károly Váltó from Pixabay

Truly Deserved Tribute

Highlight of the week had to be the presentation of the Freedom of Trafford to the 207 Field Hospital (volunteer) which took place at Sale Waterside on Thursday 23rd June. The Field Hospital is based at the Barracks on Kings Road, Old Trafford so it’s a very appropriate award. Trafford doesn’t grant the freedom of the borough lightly. This is the first time in living memory that we’ve done it. I’m proud that we don’t give away such honours to talent show hopefuls or even footballers. We’re right to reserve these awards for the very best and most deserving.

That this is a special award to a special unit can not be argued. The field hospital is primarily a volunteer unit and manned by health professionals from all over Greater Manchester. It has recently been deployed to Camp Bastion in Afghanistan. The hospital that the 207 ran there was the busiest trauma unit in the world. The contribution that the hospital made to saving so many lives of servicemen and civilians is just awe inspiring.

Colonel Kerry Trow received the freedom from the Mayor, Jane Baugh and gave a presentation about the unit’s work. It was a privilege to be there to witness the event.

Monday

Over to Salford to interview aspiring candidates hoping to be selected to stand. Salford had a fantastic crop of new people. We passed every single one of them to be allowed to go forward

Tuesday

Council Employee Disciplinary Hearing.  One of those tasks that the public doesn’t see.

Council meeting – to confer the award of the freedom of Trafford (see above)

Lostock College Governors Meeting – A good meeting, the school continues to make good progress. Good Luck to all those taking exams. A lot of good feedback.

Thursday

Put together leaflet on Stretford High / Gorse Hill Park for printing and delivery over the weekend

Freedom of Trafford appreciation- see above

Trafford Labour Local Government Committee – We got a little bit bogged down at this meeting and perhaps less progress was made than we might have hoped. It happens and thankfully is not typical. A pint in the pub afterwards was the highlight of the evening.

Friday

all day meeting of Transport for Greater Manchester Committee which included the AGM. I’ve been appointed to Capital and Projects committee, Metrolink and Rail committee and Trafford Ring and Ride steering group. The big issue is going to be High Speed 2, I’m very much in support of getting a high speed rail connection between Manchester and London. We need to shout much louder in support of this.

Finally

I’m going to be denied access to the computer over the next fortnight so updates might be more scarce in that time.