The Long Wet March for better healthcare

Ok. Not so long but quite definitely wet. A few hundred residents of the Borough joined together to brave the elements and campaign to end the cuts in the NHS and St Helier in particular. A new first for me is the video blog so have a look and see what you think of my Scorsese amateur production.

An Extraordinary waste of our money

Last night, I spoke at an Extraordinary Council Meeting that was called by our Conservative Group. We discussed one issue; the handling of the management contract for the Borough's leisure centres.

Essentially, the existing contractor, Sutton Community Leisure (SCL), a non-profit making trust gave the required 3 month notice to quit, citing the fact that they either needed to put prices up or needed a further £129,000 to keep going for the next year. Because Sutton Council had agreed to a contract with such a short break clause, they felt bounced into ignoring standard procedure of competitive procedure and appointed Greenwich Leisure to take on the remainder of the contract which expires in February 2009.

Now you might say that "where needs must", we ought to do this but there was an alternative. This appointment will cost Sutton Council £372,000 over the 26 months. If we had paid SCL £129,000 and given them 12 months notice, we could have examined all of the options according to procedure, appointed a new contractor in 2008 and spent £243,000 less than has now been agreed. To cap it all, SCL are to be taken over by Greenwich Leisure anyway, meaning that the leisure centres are going to be managed by the same people who have now received £372k rather than the £129k that they originally asked for.

If your head isn't hurting at this point, indulge me for one moment more. Lord Tope, lead councillor for Leisure refused to explain this bungled bargaining, preferring to accuse us of wasting money in calling an additional meeting. The room was booked to be used by the LibDems anyway with lighting, microphones etc. and I don't think even they can run up a bill for £243k to host a council meeting so this argument is just a touch thin.

The Conservatives were not against the appointment of Greenwich Leisure, only the lack of forethought and the disdain for procedure. Even though the cost of the meeting pales into insignificance next to this waste of out money, the need to have a meeting at all must rest with the ruling group. We take our role of Opposition seriously, holding the LibDem group to account for their decisions through proper scrutiny. Changes made by the LibDems and further changes planned show that the ruling group are not as keen at being scrutinised.

(Photo: Phoenix Centre, Roundshaw)

One Rule for them...Part 2

Today saw two announcements from City Hall. Mayor Livingstone explained that he would be increasing the Congestion Charge for 4x4s to a rip-roaring £25 per day. He is using the same banding that Gordon Brown devised for vehicle excise. If he applies the same lack of forethought as LibDem Richmond, then 1.6l cars will find that they are finally taxed off the roads of London.

Unfortunately, these taxes are a double-edged sword. I have written elsewhere that green taxes are worth further investigation but I suspect that such a scheme will mean lighter traffic for the rich that will be only too happy to pay an extorionate amount to remove others from the roads.

The Mayor, in the meantime thought nothing of spending £36,000 of our money and sending about 8 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere for a five day jolly to Cuba and a trip to Venezuela that was cancelled at the last minute because President Chavez was too busy to see him. The only official business was a 30 minute press conference at an Olympic conference in Havana.

Having said this, the Mayor is mindful of value for money when he tells us "The costs of my visit to Cuba are modest and in line with the costs incurred on other Mayoral trips." So remember that when you look at the Thomas Cook brochure. But what has he learnt from the trip? Apparently London has much to learn from Cuba about producing Olympic boxers. You couldn't make it up.

One rule for councillors...

I sit on the Development Control Committee deciding on planning applications. Rules introduced by this Government dictate that I would have to declare a personal or prejudicial interest if I knew the applicant and might have to leave the room unable even to contribute to the debate let alone vote.

Though commonsense needs to prevail in acheiving a balance to show transparency and fairness in decision making, current rules are far too dictatorial leading to instances where councillors that have been elected on the back of a particular issue have been unable to participate in the debate even though they represent the majority view and may have some specialist knowledge. I have seen one councillor leave the room whilst an application was heard about siting a mobile phone mast because he owned a phone from that network and so might benefit from improved coverage.

Imagine my surprise on Saturday when I opened the papers to see the Attorney General claiming that it was fine for him to have the final say as to whether Tony Blair should face prosecution over the "cash for peerages" scandal. As a friend of Tony Blair and a beneficiary of his patronage, this is the cherry on top of the Labour sleaze cake. For a man whose 'independant legal opinion' on the legitimacy of the invasion of Iraq changed depending on which day of the week it was, to claim that he is above such matters is staggering. Sir Ian Blair and the head of the CPS have already stepped aside of the investigation citing personal links. Lord Goldsmith must do the same and soon.

There are simple answers to both points. Change the rules so that councillors can do the job that they were elected for and find a new Attorney General.

Solving Wallace Crescent's Congestion

Eric and I met many of the residents of Wallace Crescent at their residents' association meeting last Tuesday. The three perennial issues came up and I hope that we can make some real progress on them in the coming weeks.

Building has started on a a Mother and Baby unit in the corner of the Crescent. Residents are naturally anxious about the effect that this will have. They have resolved to get to know the
management and build up a relationship to head off any problems. Eric and I will intervene if necessary.

Four years ago, I pledged to lobby TfL to get the Crescent closed off at the Pound Street end. Now I am elected, I will finally have a chance to fulfill this. Circumstances have changed that ought to make it easier for TfL to agree with the closure of the two shops that were reliant on that stretch of road for their deliveries. I am a self-confessed rat runner myself as I live in Salisbury Road so my acid test for any solution is one that stops me from using the road as a cut through.

The final problem is the garages in the corner and the number of cars left in the Crescent taking up space, sometimes with broken wings etc. leaving sharp edges. I have the details of the landlord and will be approaching him directly. I'll report back on all of these later.

Sutton Guardian's Guide to Political Blogging

Despite the photographers' best efforts, I wasn't able to exude for the lens and looked half asleep. Richard Lyon's sharp eye noticed a photo of my garden with the ladder that I had forgotten to put away. But hey, I'm being picky. I came home to an excellent article in today's Sutton Guardian about the rise of the political blogs in Sutton, which I have covered in an earlier post. Since it hasn't gone up on their webpage yet, I have copied the text here. To spare the public and avoid incurring the wrath of the Guardian lawyers, I have put one of my own photos alongside.

Blog standard
Richard Lyons

Posted on the internet is a photograph of Conservative councillor Paul Scully’s back garden.

It is a rich, green affair with a well kept lawn and borders of shrubs. On closer inspection you can clearly make out a yellow whirlygig clothes dryer and, at the bottom, a big black trampoline. Next to the photo, which also shows a white parasol and a discarded ladder, reads the words: “The picture shows the view from my bedroom window”.

As if to remind us the site is not some kind of councillors-homes-through-the-keyhole, the text goes on to discuss the issue of back garden development. OK, so we may still be in the realm of local politics, but it is not politics as we know it. Welcome to the brave new world of political blogs.

Taking the lead from national political blogs and the webcam diary of David Cameron, a growing number of local politicians are starting their own online diaries. Mayor of Sutton Richard Bailey gave out the web address of his blog at a meeting of the full council this month and councillor Cohn Ball and former councillor, Charlie Mansell are also established bloggers.

Claiming to be the first however, is Coun Scully who is aware of the medium’s ability to let the public know what councillors are doing almost as soon as they’ve done it. And what is more he adds, blogs can break down barriers between politicians and their constituents, allowing them to get to know the person in a way never quite achieved before. “I think blogs give an immediacy and an intimacy,” he says. “When people vote for you they generally vote for the party and few people know the individual. I think it’s important they get to know the individual because you may have particular political issues and problems and if they know you have a similar outlook as them they may be able to trust you more.” Coun Scully’s first posting was on May 29, 2006— just three weeks after being elected and bore the title ‘Does cyberspace need another blog?’ Since then he has written a total of 37 entries covering everything from the future of Westcroft Leisure Centre to whether classroom assistants should wear veils.

Much less prolific, by his own admission, is deputy leader of the council Cohn Hall, who left a month between his last posting and the previous one dated September 27. But despite this under-use of his cyberspace presence, he remains extremely enthusiastic about what blogs can achieve - particularly in terms of connecting with the community. “I have had more response from doing more things on a blog than I’ve had from all the leaflets I’ve done in all the years I’ve been councillor” he says. “If I put something up on the blog I might get half a dozen emails about it which is great. The more I can engage with the residents, the better.”

There is also a suggestion the more successful blogs could start to challenge newspapers by breaking stories before journalists. Fortunately for the Sutton Guardian, there is little chance of that happening in this borough. What the blogs of our councillors do seem to demonstrate though is that the internet can bring people closer together — even the public and politicians. “I think it has the potential to change politics and make politicians more human because we do seem a very strange breed,” Coun Hall says. “The potential is there but we need to take it up a level. More councillors should start blogs.”

Taxes to turn Mini owners green

Richmond council are seeking to introduce new payment scales for their controlled parking zones. The headline is that it will cost £300pa to park a 4x4. With the current trend for green taxes, many people will find this attractive.

As usual, the devil is in the detail. There are 7 categories A-G. 4x4s, Porsches, Ferraris etc. will come under category G. Half of the Minis sold in the UK will come under the second most expensive category, F. There are very few cars that are actually on the market in the UK that will come into category A.

With a basic 1.6 litre saloon being so penalised, it is hard to see this being more than a money-making exercise rather than a green initiative. Four years ago, I was at the forefront of the campaign to reject a proposed CPZ in Wallington that would have affected 20,000 people. Although an intial low charge was proposed, I worried about the future as the council became more dependent on this revenue. History has shown the 3000 people who objected to be right.

Protection from Garden Grabs

My second speech at last night's council meeting was a successful attempt to strengthen our policies on development on back garden land. The picture shows the view from my bedroom window. My house is not extraordinary being located in the middle of Carshalton but it is tranquil.

I sit on the Development Committee that decides on planning applications and I always take each application on its merits. However from a policy point of view we need to take advantage of the fact that we are considering our latest overarching policy document for planning in the borough, the Local Development Framework. My amendment that was agreed at the meeting called upon the council to strengthen our policies for gardens in this paper.

Conservatives have taken a lead on this issue nationally over the last year. Newly elected MP, Greg Clark put forward a bill in Parliament to remove back gardens from the definition of brownfield sites. Yesterday David Cameron called for "fewer houses designed for young, single people and more designed for life." It is ridiculous that whole streets of houses are being demolished in the north whilst infrastructure is squeezed in the south. The Southeast of England has less rainfall per head of population than the Sudan. The day I see a rush to buy holiday homes in Khartoum is the day that I will accept such high housing targets without policies seeking to encourage people to relocate to other parts of the country.

What future for Westcroft?

I spoke twice at last night's Council meeting. The first was to raise the issue of the management of Sutton's Leisure Centres. The non-profit making organisation, SCL that manages the four sites have given notice that they intend to walk away from their contract as they cannot raise the funds necessary either through charging or Council funding. Though they are an organisation specifically created to manage, Westcroft, Cheam, Phoenix Centre and Sutton Arena they have also won the contract to manage a leisure facility in Reading. Negotiations are continuing.

We were given clear assurances that all four centres would remain open. Less assured was the response when asked if entrance fees would be increased or which budget would be raided to provide the money to fund the centres.

We must commit to sport. Many people cannot belong to private clubs. There is £35k budgeted to bring the tennis courts up to scratch in Carshalton Park. This has not been spent and so the summer has been missed. We are told that we are the most obese nation in Europe. When we tell our children that it is healthy to do something that makes them out of breath a few times a week, we mean more that smoking a pack of 20 fags.

Eric and Cllr John Kennedy will be monitoring the negotiations to ensure that we keep and maintain leisure facilities that we can be proud of.

NH-Yes

Eric and I joined other councillors and our parliamentary candidate, Ken Andrew to collect signatures for a petition to be presented to Gordon Brown. It calls for him to stop his mismanagement of the NHS which has resulted in more than 18,000 jobs going and deficits approaching £1,277,000,000.

We see the net result in Sutton. The Primary Care Trust is in financial difficulties. Sutton Council are having to bear the financial burden of care for an ever increasing number of autistic children diagnosed by the PCT. There is doubt as to whether the new critical care hospital will be built at all rather than just the preferred location. In the ward (Council, not hospital), no-one is sure of the PCT's intentions for the War Memorial Hospital.

The petition attracted a lot of interest and support. You can sign the e-petition here. After such matters of State, I went to a fundraising coffee morning and then back home to remind myself what my family looked like.

Canon sent back to the drawing board

Conservatives on the Development Control Committee were instrumental in rejecting the application to convert Canon House into 174 flats. One Liberal Democrat councillor voted with the four Conservative members of the committee to turn the proposal down. By no coincidence, that councillor lives within a few yards of the development and commutes from Wallington Railway Station so would have to live with the consequences of any decision.

Several residents have opposed the scale of the application which proposed adding extra floors to an already dominant building. I am extremely concerned about the proliferation of back-garden development so this building presents an opportunity to meet the increasing housing needs of the area but it must surely be kept in a sensible proportion. Amenity space for the proposal was only around 25% of that required by the Council and the number of affordable housing units fell short. Both of these were to be partly offset with money paid to the council. I'm glad that the committee took their decision based on the development itself rather than allowing their minds being diverted to the short term benefits of this extra Section 106 money.

The Eyes Have It

Today, a teaching assistant in Dewsbury lost her tribunal case having claimed religious discrimination. She was sacked for refusing to remove her veil during lessons. However she won £1100 for a separate 'victimisation' claim.

Several politicians have followed Jack Straw by wading into the debate on veils. Now my opinion is hardly as newsworthy as theirs but I do believe that there are obvious fundamental problems in trying to communicate with children whilst wearing a Niqab, the full-face veil. Of course there should be the freedom to wear what you want in your own time but such fundamental barriers need to be recognised and dealt with without the easy charge of religious discrimination being pushed, taking advantage of the current twin fears of Islamaphobia and compensation lawyers.

Dewsbury MP Shahid Malik has supported the suspension of the teacher as have other leading Muslims explaining that there is no requirement for a woman to cover up in front of pre-adolescent children.

Light at the end of the Tunnel?

Sorry it's a purple logo again. Maybe the Robins should consider a change of kit to fit in with my technological difficulties of putting the photo on the site.

Last night saw a long Development Committee meeting mainly due to the proposed Canon House development in Wallington. I spoke as Ward Councillor on the application to allow CAFC's floodlights to be kept on for an extended time after Cup matches.

There has been strained relations between the residents and the club for a number of years. Though I hope and believe that the club are trying to improve relations and reposition themself as a family club, some residents are still concerned with levels of noise etc.

The club have had permission for the extension of floodlighting requiring annual renewal. They sought the permanent right. I suggested a compromise of two year permission allowing the new ward councillors time to work with both parties. This was agreed by the committee. Eric has organised a meeting between representatives from the club and residents tomorrow night. Though the first meeting will be a fun one to chair, I hope that this is the start of a beautiful relationship with the beautiful game.

It's raining cats and blogs

I started my blog, three weeks after I was elected in May as another way to communicate with residents and let them send me comments. We need to keep looking at fresh ways to have such a dialogue. As the comedian Armando Ianucci put it we are still doing gramaphone politics in an ipod age.

Since then, ex-Labour Councillor Charlie Mansell has started two blogs both of which are in my links list. Sutton Council Observer records Charlie's thoughts on a wide range of local issues, concentrating mainly on Council committees and local healthcare, an issue that I know he feels passionately about having represented the ward of St Helier for a number of years. His other blog, Policy4Sutton is Charlie's good attempt at a one man think tank. Though he is not from the same party, both blogs are welcome approaching the task as a concerned resident wanting the best for the Borough. We'll see how party political we all get when we get closer to an election.

More recently LibDem Deputy Leader, Colin Hall has made a stuttering start in the world of blog, not least because of the extra "blogspot" in the title - colinhalls.blogspot.blogspot.com. I did promise to leave him a comment but unfortunately there is no capability for doing so. I could make a cheap joke about lack of consultation etc. but I'll..OK, I just did.

Still any attempt to widen the political debate is welcome and I wish them well.

Red Rose not Redcoat

Update: Labour MP Siôn Simon has opted to concentrate on his Parliamentary career rather than taking his comedy satire to Channel 4 and/or the Edinburgh Fringe.

The Comedy Store's loss is...er... Tony Blair's loss.

Compare and contrast

Siôn Simon, Labour MP for Birmingham Erdington made a bit of a prat of himself in this video on You Tube and then later on Sky News. Whereas I thought David Cameron's WebCameron blog is a good attempt at bringing a fresh approach to communicating with electors (as are Labour MP Tom Watson's videos, also on You Tube ), Siôn Simon does not seem to have left student politics behind. Some Conservatives have got hot under the collar. David Cameron's website has reported a massive increase in traffic since the news story was reported.

Personally, I enjoy satire about any party including my own. I just prefer it to be funny.

Inside Prime Minister's Questions

This is an interesting insight into the weekly tribal ritual of PMQs. David Cameron reflects on events after Tony Blair refused to support Gordon Brown again and even threatened to deport Margaret Beckett in a slip of the tongue talking about deporting Foreign Secretaries instead of foreign prisoners. I can't imagine a Home Office caravan removing dangerous government ministers from the UK.

Politics for the New Age

10th October will see the launch of Britain’s first political Internet TV Channel.

18DoughtyStreet Talk TV will broadcast for four hours a night, Mondays to Thursdays, from studios in London’s Bloomsbury with a mix of live and pre-recorded programmes. It aims to break the mould of current affairs television with a mix of opinionated and controversial programming.

The channel’s founders, Iain Dale (Ian Dale's Diary) and Tim Montgomery (Conservative Home) believe that conventional political TV has let down its audience by dumbing down political debate to the lowest common denominator. It believes that no political party truly understands the electorate’s disappointment with the current state of politics. It aims to be an anti-establishment channel – championing rebel opinions in all of the mainstream parties and constantly questioning authority.

Home Office Ministers - 'Not Fit for Purpose'

The Home Office manage to dig a deeper and deeper hole. As revealed in the Yorkshire Post, in a parliamentary written answer given to Conservative MP Shailesh Vara, the Home Office have confirmed that they have arrested nearly 1000 people over the last 5 years under anti-terrorism legislation, released over half of them without charge and actually charged only 154 with terrorism-related offences.

They explained that they did not keep records of how long these people were detained. In the light of their attempt to introduce 90-day detention, this really is damning. Throughout the debate, the government insisted that current legislation was not effective despite already having the longest detention period in the western world. How on earth can you know what is or is not effective when you do not know what is happening at the moment?

Some may consider me too liberal, but let me ask you this. Would you trust John Reid or indeed any government minister with your personal freedom if you were wrongly imprisoned? When I see the mistakes that are made in the Home Office, I would trust Homer Simpson over them.

There's No Smoke Without Fire.

Most people have got used to a smoking ban at work. Many are getting ready for a ban in the pub. Sutton Council are now aiming at people's cars and homes.

A proposal came to a Council-Employee meeting last Monday (2nd Oct) banning smoking in and around council buildings, but going further to ban employees smoking when travelling to and from work in their uniforms. The piéce de resistance was the requirement that 'Employees making home visits must be provided with a smoke free environment.’

Essentially this means that if you are at home and have, say meal-on-wheels, the council employee is not allowed to help you whilst you are smoking in your own home. Conversely when the bailiffs come round, puffing cigar smoke through the letterbox seems a good defence.