Category: Weekly Updates

Budget Process Begins

Trafford’s Draft Budget – On the Agends for Exec

It’s been well aired that Local Government is taking the biggest hit in the Conservative Govt’s attack on public services. Trafford. However, the Tory Govt has targeted the most deprived areas, so in comparative terms we have not been hit as hard as Manchester and Salford.

Trafford’s ‘spending power’ is reduced by 3.8% compared to Salford’s 8.5%. Whilst we’re not facing the massive redundancies of Manchester and Salford, we are going to lose services. Personally, I found Tory crowing at the expense of Manchester extremely unedifying.

It is disappointing enough that Westminster MPs should indulge in Manc-bashing. It is a tragedy that we should hear the same from local politicians on our patch. Carefully built-up cross-party alliances in Greater Manchester alliances forged for the benefit of the entire city-region are crashing down around our ears.

David Ottewell Manchester Evening News Political Correspondent

Trafford Tories should remember how many local residents have family connections with Manchester and its Council. People are losing their jobs, putting their homes at risk – in Trafford as well as Manchester. Our Tories are behaving according to their DNA “If it ain’t hurting, it ain’t working”. Shameful.

Apart from scrutinising the budget which dominated the week, I also attended

• a Health Inequalities Workshop in Manchester
• Labour Party Quiz
• Urmston Labour Street Stall
• Overview and Scrutiny

Lastly, I went to see the mobile libary as it made its way through the areas not served by local fixed libraries. What a great service it is. The users I saw really appreciated the chance to get outside and choose a book with friends.

Trafford is scrapping the mobile library to save £8000. By the time they’ve paid for reduncdancies and paid up on the lease of the van it’ll probably cost them to remove the service, but they’ll still do it anyway.

Trafford Town Hall by Peter McDermott, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons 

Catching up

Barton Power Plant March

Urmston had its first demonstration/march in forty years or so with the Clean-air march against the incinerator. It was great to see so many good-folk taking a stand. I’ve been on many marches, whether it be supporting Lostock College against closure, anti-Iraq war in London or in support of sacked GCHQ workers at Cheltenham. Whilst marches don’t always succeed in getting the powerful to change their minds, they do make a statement that people are not going to quietly accept being ignored. It’s heartening that so many people have been engaged in defending their environment. I was proud to have marched against Tony Blair’s war and I’m proud to have marched with the Breathe Clean Air Group.

I have submitted my objection to Development Control

Link to objection (Google Docs)

Trafford Heath Trust

A scrutiny meeting was held focused on Trafford Health Trust’s decision to seek a takeover from a larger trust.

This has huge implications coming as it does as we prepare for GP consortia. The Trust currently has three hospitals, Trafford General, Altrincham General and Stretford Memorial. The trust has a historic debt of £8.3m and any trust that takes it over will need to take on that debt. The trust has commitments to the redevelopment of Altrincham General but is not yet in a position to go-ahead and this proposed surrender of autonomy does not help to allay fears.

The uncertainty has led to the postponement of the move to an Integrated Care System that would involve hospital staff working much more closely with GPs and community health services to improve care for patients.

The Strategic Health Authority had released £7m of additional capital spending for the current year which will enable the Trust to bring forward projects that could be completed early. The intention is to clear capital commitments in later years to reassign to Altrincham General. I wanted to be reassured that any incoming trust would not be able use this capital surplus to pay-off the debts and in doing so abandon the Altrincham General project. I was given some assurance on this but I’m not totally satisfied.

The Healthcare Trust is holding its next Board Meeting at 2pm on Wednesday 25th January and I’m hoping to get along to that.

Greater Manchester Transport

Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority (GMITA) Budget Seminar

The authority is controlled by Conservatives and Lib Dems. The budget for transport in Greater Manchester is going to be extremely tight although you wouldn’t have known it from the way that the chair was inviting suggestions for further spending. The truth is that there will be cuts to supported services and the concessionary flat rate fare of 80p for elderly Train and Tram users in Greater Manchester is also under threat. AGMA are meeting on the 28th January to consider options which include replacing it with a half-price fare.

image: author’s own

Picking up after the Christmas and New Year lull

It wasn’t completely without council business over Christmas. I received the usual bits of casework and of course the Barton Biomass Plant consultation period was running throughout. I’ve been pursuing a Health Impact Assessment on the plant through the Director of Public Health. We know that the current air quality is costing lives and the tolerance within that state for further particulate emissions has to be measured.

Bins

On a more positive note I have nothing but praise for the refuse collections carried out over Christmas and New Year. I didn’t receive any complaints in Gorse Hill and I thought that to maintain collections through the snow and Bank Holidays was brilliant. I was forced to defend the service on the www.urmston.net forum. Understandably, there were residents who would have preferred a blue bin collection during Christmas week. I made enquiries with the Contract Manager at Trafford and the reasons were not just for bureaucratic convenience. The companies who receive the waste paper and cardboard need to do so in a regular pattern – they couldn’t cope with four weeks of collections in one week. The fact that there wasn’t a great deal of green waste meant that crews could be transferred to the grey bin collection.

Planning Applications

There’s lately been quite a few major applications that have come through. We’ve got the Town Hall application, the Victoria Warehouse Hotel/nightclub conference facilities application, Coronation Street studio application.

Connected to the Town Hall application, we’ve also had the welcome news that whilst the building work is progressing the Council will be using Quay West, opposite the Lowry Centre, keeping the staff in Gorse Hill ward. (image at top)

Just outside Gorse Hill ward we’ve had the license application for Bowlers in Trafford Park to hold weekend dance events with a capacity of 4000. That’s a lot of people. There’s poor transport connections and they’d rely on coaches and cars so there’s potential for trouble if people are unable to get away. I’ve been to see the applicant and made representations to licensing at Trafford.

Meetings

During the period I’ve attended a number of meetings at Barton Clough in preparation for a possible regular Ofsted inspection. I’ve also met with Trafford’s corporate director for Transformation, Theresa Grant along with Sharon Richardson, head of Access Trafford. We discussed the changes in library opening hours (see below), preparations for the local elections / AV referendum and Trafford’s reliance on recruitment consultancies for senior posts.

Libraries

Really disappointed to see the contraction in opening hours particularly at Lostock Library which now has no late afternoon closures (the library is closed after 3pm throughout the week). We are not tolerating this and looking to develop a campaign to adjust the times. We’re deeply angered that there was no prior consultation to this move and it was implemented within days of the announcement. Typical Tories.

Quay West by David Dixon, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons 

The week of the revised diary

Two weeks previously the diary for this week had looked completely packed and I’d had to submit apologies for a number of meetings. The Government’s delays in releasing the Local Government settlement for Trafford meant all the meetings connected with Trafford’s Budget for next year were cancelled. And we lost Tuesday’s Councillor workshop on health inequalities due to lack of take-up

Monday

Labour Group meeting on preparing for the budget – cancelled

Tuesday

The workshop cancellation meant that after all I was able to attend the Lostock Community Partnership meeting on a bitterly cold night. Not many residents braved the cold and it was finished in less than 30 mins.

Wednesday

Trafford Housing Trust Board meeting. Agenda items included ‘the local offer’ which is the statutory requirement of the regulator of Housing Associations – The Tenants Services Authority. The TSA sets national standards of service every tenant in England should receive from their landlord. However, it is recognised by the TSA that different communities have different challenges, and therefore may require additional standards which complement the national standards. Therefore they require landlords to agree with their tenants what they will deliver over and above these standards, or how best to implement these standards according to local priorities such as:

• Allocations
• Anti social behaviour and security
• Neighbourhood and estate management
• Quality of accommodation (decent homes)
• Repairs and maintenance
• Tenant choice and customer service
• Tenant empowerment

There’s nothing wrong with these aspirations. My concern is the amount of consultation that’s required to deliver on each of these and many more service levels. In effect we’ve created a cottage industry of consultation whilst at the same time knowing that we have cases of overcrowding and properties that don’t always meet modern standards particularly in relation to communal areas. And this cottage industry of consultation costs money that comes directly from the rents and service charges paid by those in the overcrowded properties etc. My personal view is that the emphasis has to be shifted from management/consultancy to delivery.

Thursday

Met with MUFC and Trafford Officers at Old Trafford to pitch for streetscene enhancements to engender pride in the neighbouhood close to the stadium. Maybe I’m a little naïve in suggesting that we could build through subtle branding of streetsigns etc,a sense that the streets are intrinsically linked to United and that for supporters to bespoil the area is in effect bespoiling United.

Certainly, United felt I was naïve. They pointed out that any United branding on street signs would make the sign a collectable; or would be defaced by opposing supporters. They felt any improvement in the behaviour of United supporters engendered by the streetscene enhancements would be offset by deteriorating behaviour of opposing fans. They also claimed that the reason behaviour of fans markedly improved as they crossed the bridge on Matt Busby Way to the stadium area was the increased surveillance and stewarding. And lastly, there were corporate licensing issues of use of the logo.

I didn’t get the sense that there’s any great enthusiasm, but they felt that as the sporting boulevard was developed along Warwick Road / Sir Matt Busby Way linking the two stadia and Metrolink stadium, they would support some neutral enhancements.

They are certainly wrong in some respects. Walking down Sir Matt Busby Way with the supporters, there’s a tangible change of mood when you cross the bridge and it’s nothing to do with the CCTV or stewards. The fans stop dropping litter and they certainly wouldn’t urinate against a wall of the stadium even if they could find a concealed area. It becomes hallowed ground for the fans and they treat the area with respect. Perhaps surprisingly, most away fans actually behave similarly. Yes there’s ritualised chanting and abuse, but the stadium itself is respected to a degree. The whole point is to widen the area where the change in behaviour takes place.

I don’t buy the idea that we can’t do this sufficiently subtly to prevent signage becoming a collectable. I will keep persevering.

Additionally,

Attended Two Committee Meetings at Barton Clough Governors immediately after.

Friday

Learned that Coronation Street studio is being moved to Gorse Hill and got quote to paper

Saturday

Snow: oh by the way I’m still giving up smoking.

Have a great christmas!

image: Photo by lil artsy from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-holding-orange-pen-1925536/

Monday

Attended Humphrey Park Playbuilder scheme meeting. Sadly, the decision was taken to recommend to Trafford not to proceed with the play area. The basis was purely on the strength of feeling of local residents against any improvement to the park that would encourage young people to use it.

Tuesday

Went on patrol with local police to look at policing of football matches. United were playing Valencia. Supporters being conned to fork out for car-parking where they could get clamped is the most troubling for the police. However a very cold night thankfully biggest problem we saw was a coach of away supporters taking a wrong turn and having to reverse against the flow of supporters.

Wednesday

Casework and mail

Thursday

I watched the debate in parliament on Student Fees. The Lib Dem defence is all over the place. They couldn’t have been more emphatic in the election campaign that they would vote against any increase in student fees. They targeted University seats with this message. In power they’ve abandoned it without hesitation. I do not know what the Lib Dems stand for any more.

I used to have a degree of respect for the Lib Dems, particularly in their opposition to the war which was an issue I shared with them. Now they’ve jettisoned all their key platforms. Even their opposition to Iraq looks like opportune positioning.

Attended the Peel consultation on Brep. Had an interesting conversation with a volunteer from planning aid. The Government is cutting their funding from April. Planning Aid help communities influence the planning decisions affecting them. They’re not simply there to oppose planning. I would have thought they were ideally placed to play a role in the Big Society. I’ve asked Kate Green if she’ll write to the minister as it will be tragic if Planning Aid folds.

Monday

Attended member development meeting. This is an all-party steering group supporting the role of councillor in working positively for their communities. The main issue on the agenda was preparations for a councillor workshop on ‘The Big Society’ and working with the voluntary sector.

Attended Stretford Neighbourhood Forum at Town Hall – Poorly attended meeting – residents easily outnumbered by officers and councillors. Really don’t like the Town Hall as a neighbourhood venue. Topics covered included preparing for the Census and the Local Transport Plan.

Following the forum, the Labour Group met to discuss Wednesday’s forthcoming Council Meeting. I noticed that the Conservatives were meeting at the same time and we exited to the car-park at exactly the same time. Get the impression Wednesday is going to be a pantomime. It was certainly frostier in the car park.

Tuesday

In the morning I met Sharon Richardson who is head of Access Trafford encompassing the library service and contact centres. I’m extremely supportive of the work that’s going on with this directorate. We know that libraries are cited as one of the first targets for cuts in local authorities across the UK. By integrating the provision of library services with the contact points for the public to report problems, we give the libraries a better chance of survival in the battle to justify their existence against other priority services.

I still suspect that when Trafford’s spending review is released, we’ll need to be ready to fight for library services.

A series of blatantly party-politically motivated Trafford Council Press Releases each aimed at a specific Labour motion tabled for the following night’s Council meeting – It’s easy to get too precious over this but the neutrality of our public servants is a treasured tradition. Our elections change the politicians; whilst our public servants provide continuity and impartial expertise. I wasn’t impressed that the ‘Trafford Council’ Press Office were being asked to do the Conservative Party’s job in putting out pre-emptive dissimulation on Labour’s motions.

I’m not going to pretend that this was as bad as Thatcher’s politicisation of the police in the 1980s, and had these been Tory Party releases, I’ve no problem. But if the Tory executive is expecting council employees to operate on behalf of the Conservative Party’s interests as opposed to the interests of Trafford’s residents, it’s a really disappointing deterioration. Regrettably it seems to be part of a trend.

So Tuesday afternoon was dominated by getting our message out to the local press.

Wednesday

Delivered a leaflet round and worryingly became unwell whilst out. Forced to miss evening’s council meeting.

Thursday

Met with Joanne Hyde, the head of HR at Trafford Town Hall. There’s more that can be done to reduce duplication across the different directorates and some good progress is taking place.

Later, I was really impressed to get a GP’s appointment on the same day. I’m proud of improvements that Labour made in the NHS during our time in Government. Delamere Medical Centre is such a contrast to the old cramped conditions we used to have.

Friday

Stretford BioMass Plans apparently submitted although the application is not yet processed so we’re still waiting for the documents to be published and a reference number to be allocated. However I successfully made representations on the length of the consultation period. Given the festive season I argued for 35 days rather than the normal 21/28 days. This has been granted.

We received the news that Trafford Healthcare Trust was seeking a larger trust to take it over. My instinctive and immediate reaction is to support this, although we have to look at the detail. Trafford General (Park Hospital) does have problems caused by its smaller comparative size.

Christmas CLP meeting in the evening.

Saturday

Monthly Surgery – One Client

Attended Trafford’s Display on the Town Hall development. I’m still disappointed that the Council accommodation seems to turn away from the public. I’d like to see the council chamber become almost a public arena. The emphasis of the development is to allow hotdesking and similar and there’s much talk of breakout rooms. I’m not convinced we need to knock down existing offices to create this.

Heartened by the protests by UK Uncut. At last someone people are getting angry over the way the elite rip us off. This has the potential to grow into the most important movement since Aldermaston.