Budget Meeting at Leeds City Council

Wednesday saw the debate to set a budget for Leeds City Council. The debate, that spanned over 3 hours, is often an opportunity for different parties to put alternative budgets to that proposed by the present Administration. Certainly the Labour Party always proposes an alternative as do the Greens. My own view is that it is purely a piece of political theatre and spent my allotted time discussing the main budget proposal and its impact on Morley. Both the Labour and Green budgets agree with the Administrations main proposals and they offer alleged alternatives amounting to less that 0.1% of the total budget so there is a great deal of consensus on budget priorities.

The main headlines for the budget are a 2.5% increase in Council tax levels - the lowest since the council tax was introduced with extra money going into Children's Services (additional social workers to keep children safe and prevent an Edlington event) and more into Adult Services (which means Morley Elderly Action are to get a substantial financial increase in this years budget.) The Morley Borough Independents backed this budget which brought extra money into Morley including the cash for the Morley Bottoms Regeneration Scheme, the Corporation Street affordable housing and the cash for the new Sports Centre and to improve our parks and playgrounds. Strangely enough our no show Nazi Cllr Chris Beverley voted against the budget and presumably doesn't support this spending across the Morley area. The bizarre things is that he gloats about his decision not withstanding it would mean reducing policing levels across Morley and the withdrawal of Morley CCTV schemes if the budget was not agreed!

Of course Cllr Beverley has little interest in Morley matters and sees his role as promoting the BNP national line and took the opportunity to do so in a later debate. The debate was suppose to be about protecting greenfield sites and what we could do to bring more affordable homes to local residents on brownfield previously developed sites. Cllr Beverley used the opportunity - not to defend the seven Morley greenfield sites under threat of development - but to promote BNP national policy on immigration. Its clear where his priorities lie while the MBIs backed a resolutions which will keep these greenfield sites green.

But perhaps the funniest thing at full Council was Cllr Beverley's refusal to admit to twittering during the Full council meeting. Twittering is a process where people connect to the Internet and leave short comments for others to read. Cllr Beverley was caught twittering during the full debate - clearly ignoring what other people were saying - smugly boasting about promoting BNP national policy. At the end of the meeting he was given an opportunity to admit to this activity and - like the spineless individuals the BNP are - refused to tell the truth! Unfortunately a Labour Councillor - who had also been undertaking the same activity - admitted his guilt - what an interesting contrast!

The budget is an interesting one and will mean we have a difficult financial settlement to cope with. It will not be the last and future settlements may prove even more challenging!

Bullying and Bullies

The revelations - or more accurately the allegations made about bullying at 10 Downing Street have opened up an interesting debate about the issue. While it is clear that bullying in any environment is entirely unacceptable, allegations need to be based on sound evidence and those who make false allegations need to be held accountable for making bogus complaints which are often made for personal gain.

I was recently involved in a bogus bullying allegation made by the previous Town Clerk for Morley Town Council. The allegation made was closely examined by an Employment Tribunal Judge and found to have no substance what so ever and her claim on this aspect was dismissed. Indeed the Judge commented that the previous Town Clerk was prone to hyperbole (which means obvious and intentional exaggeration) and took a combative approach to dealing with Councillors. This allegation made by the former Town Clerk was a pile of purulent pap and was backed by a previous Tory Town Councillor whose signed affidavit was rejected and whose evidence (and I use the word loosely) was dismissed as inaccurate.

The final outcome of this bizarre claim was that the Town Clerk received a payoff which - after clearing her legal bills - left her with a very small fraction of her original claim of £325,000.

And what about our own No show Nazis - the Beverley Councillors on this issue? Well Chris backed her claim by attending the Employment Tribunal and sitting in her interview room during the hearing. His wife refused to support putting a legal defence - presumably because she wanted to bankrupt the Town Council and pay out the £325,000 claimed on a bogus allegation! Of course this doesn't stop our BNP buddies making similar allegations at every opportunity, pretending that the claim cost a lot more than it really did. Perhaps the Town Clerk is not the only person who suffers from hyperbole - that is obvious and intentional exaggeration.

I generally have little sympathy for Gordon Brown whose judgement on many issues - Iraq, Afghanistan, the Banking Crisis should legitimately be questioned but many of these allegations seem to lack substance or evidence and are are being used as a political weapon for those politicians who have a clear political axe to grind. Ill watch with interest to see how this develops. Perhaps Ill pass on the details of the solicitor who was used to successfully dump the bogus allegations made against certain Town Councillor and suggest Gordy gives him a ring!

By-Election Bonanza for Labour?

The result of last nights By election in the Hyde Park and Woodhouse Ward brought a bit of a shock to the present Administration and a bonus for the Labour Party who gained 2 extra seats over the last week - one with this result and the other following a defection from a previous Lib Dem.

The figures make for interesting reading for Morley Folk as the present Administration has a total of 46 seats and the magic number to win the vote on issues is 50. This leaves the 5 MBI Councillors in a position of influence and helps us make reasonable request to the Administration to benefit Morley residents. This has brought a new Leisure Centre, additional funding for Morley Parks along with three affordable housing projects underway in Morley which will bring new homes to local people.

There is little doubt that the present Administration has worked hard to bring a fairer distribution of resources to the outer areas which suffered substantial under investment over the years of the previous Administration. Our job is to see that further funds come to support our Improvement Programme for the Morley area.

The local elections this May will ask questions of all the local party's operating in Morley. I will be very interested to see their answer!

Churwell Park CCTV scheme operational

I was delighted to visit Churwell Park to see the operation of the new CCTV scheme. This has been a successful MBI initiative that resulted from concerns raised by the local community and Churwell Action Group.

The new cameras, which cover the park 24 hours a day, are placed to prevent vandalism to the children's playgrounds, the bowling green and pavilion as well as the central boulevard which will see the introduction of a new local sculpture feature. The new cameras will reduce levels of anti-social behaviour as well as reduce levels of under age drinking.

We care passionately about our parks and we have seen a renaissance across Morley as we have identified additional cash to bring them up to higher standards.

This CCTV programme has given me an insight into the complications and obstructions the law introduces to those who want to make areas safe for the overwhelming majority of law abiding citizens. Legislation including the Human Rights Act, The Data Protection Act and the Regulatory and Investigatory Powers Act (known as RIPA) challenge communities and seem to be designed to protect the nefarious wrong doer rather than those who have nothing to hide.

Conversations with local people leave you with a clear view that they want more CCTV - not less and do not understand the views of trendy libertarian types who want to see such systems removed. Of course the BNP have previously stood on a platform of removing CCTV as well as abolishing the automatic number plate recognition system - the same system that has monitored the whereabouts of criminals and led to the successful prosecution of the murderers in the Sharon Beshenivsky case presumably because they don't want their membership (which has included convicted terrorists David Copeland and Terence Gavan) closely scrutinised.

This CCTV programme is warmly welcomed by the local community who believe it is a strong and positive development which makes their park a safer place to visit. We will continue to push for more CCTV coverage where ever it is appropriate.

Bruntcliife and the West Leeds SILC

The issue of Bruntcliffe High school and the proposal to place the West Leeds SILC (Specialist Inclusive Learning Centre) on the same site has been hotly debated recently with the Headteacher, Governing Body, Parents and MBI Councillors all raising concerns about this relocation.

My worries relate to the impact such a proposal would have on the good work Bruntcliffe are undertaking which has seen standards soar. Not too many years ago Bruntcliffe was part of the schools national challenge process were Central Government kept a close eye on progress in the school as it needed to increase the number of pupils gaining Maths and English GCSE at grade C or above. Bruntcliffe results last year easily passed this threshold and they hit the best GCSE and A levels results ever. My view is the school needs to continue to undertake this work and not be distracted with all the issues that would result from another school being physically plonked on its doorstep. The area of land proposed for this new sighting has already been earmarked to expand the vocational curriculum Bruntcliffe runs which is already nationally recognised and is offering local children a more expansive and relevant programme.

Bussing West Leeds kids from their communities into an area they have no relationship with cannot be good for them. If we are sincere in adopting an inclusive educational approach then these children need to be integrated into their own community - which is the best option for all.

Education Leeds have gone out to consultation and appear to have listened as I understand the proposal has now been withdrawn while a more appropriate location - in West Leeds - is found.

This is good news for Bruntcliffe and good news for West Leeds kids attending the SILC. For once common sense seems to have prevailed!

Coffee Mornings and Morley compassion

I attended a coffee morning on Saturday which was organised by the Mayor of Morley Cllr Shirley Varley to raise funds to support the victims of the Haitian earthquake. I was delighted to see so many local folk turning up to support this cause and over £300 was raised in a little over 2 hours.

I regularly reflect on the generosity of Morley Folk and their compassion and practical support to other communities who have suffered from natural disasters. We are all aware of the great fund raising efforts that took place in Morley following the tsunami in 2004 where over £250,000 was raised to support the rebuilding of the devastated community in Thirokoville in Sri Lanka. The compassion of Morley Folk is overwhelming and their commitment to doing what they can to aid and assist other communities across the world - regardless of race - is something the Town can be very proud of.

Cllr Varley deserves credit for again galvanising this charitable approach from Morley Folk.

Indeed while Shirley Varley is raising funds for charitable purposes - Cllr Beverley uses the same time to rant about being excluded from some debate at Durham University! The contrast between spreading hope - as Shirley does with her actions or hate as - Chris Beverley does with his could not be clearer.

If we accept that we are all know part of a Global Village and we see the desperate need of other world residents we have an obligation to help them. As ever Morley folk - far from shirking their responsibilities - embrace that obligation.

Corporation Street affodable homes - apprentices wanted

Some of the initial work on the Corporation Site homes has commenced with clearing up and site preparation.

This is a site for 2 bedroomed properties to rent for the over 55s and I am particularly proud of the fact the MBIs have brought the over £4 million finance for this project to Morley.

Part of the deal of regenerating this old Council site is to offer employment and apprenticeship opportunities to local people and we have just been given confirmation of a recruitment process by the Housing Association. People who are interested can ring the Housing Association directly on 07747 787904.

The MBIs do believe that regeneration schemes should involve local people - not only as the final users of these properties but also in the physical regeneration of this site.

The allocation policy on this site will focus on local people and again offering those in large Council homes who are over accommodated newer accommodation more suitable for their needs. This will hopefully lead to more larger council family homes coming back to be allocated to those Morley families on the housing waiting list.

Skatepark Updated

I attended the skatepark meeting on Tuesday which was chaired by Cllr Shirley Varley - the Mayor of Morley - to avoid any allegations of partiality. The meeting was initially quite a turbulent one with many different views being articulated - most supporting plan A but some supporting plan B. Officers from Parks and Countryside Section were in attendance to give a clear view about what could and could not be done.

The budget for the refurbishing of the Skate Park is about £50,000. This is funds outside the Section 106 pot (which is the contribution developers have to give to support improving parks and greenspaces) and has come after some serious lobbying from myself and my colleagues. Both plan A and B can probably be delivered within this budget and P and C staff have been sent away to fully price up plan A.

Perhaps the most constructive element of the meeting was at the end when a large number of young people came forward to look at plan A and came up with suggestions about its improvement. Much debate has gone on about the inclusion or exclusion of a bowl where there seemed to be different views about its usefulness.

We have pledged to have another meeting shortly after the plans have come back fully priced up. This process will look at all issues - including lighting - and decisions will have to be made on priorities if the costs are over budget. The date of this future meeting will publicised to make sure we get the same support we had on this occasion.

The plan needs to be agreed as quickly as possible as the money has to be spent by October so the sooner we can get on with the work the better!

As a final note of interest - the BNP Councillor Chris Beverley didn't attend - again. Allegedly he was busy with national BNP politics posing in front of a BNP sign on the back of a lorry in Morley!

Lets hope work on the new skatepark will commence before the Easter break!

Calls to regulate Fido

I have received a large number of enquiries about dog fouling as, following the thawing of recent heavy snow, Fido and his friends appear to have launched an early spring offence on local parks and pavements.

Dog Fouling is a difficult issue to solve. LCC has 4 dog wardens to cover the whole City Council area and although they will take action and prosecute those inconsiderate dog owners who allow their dogs to foul and not clean up - they are a limited resource and more work needs to be done to increase the enforcement and education elements around dog fouling.

How do we get more cash into combating dog fouling? The City Councils budget is already stressed and the big spending Departments are Education and Social Services. It would be a brave politician who proposes cutting those budgets to launch an effective attack on dog crap!

An alternative to this is to make the polluter pay. A reintroduced annual dog license for every dog in Britain, perhaps set at a fiver a year, would bring in substantially more resources to increase and upgrade enforcement campaigns. This would be renewed annually and dogs who are not licensed will be removed from the streets and rehoused (following payment of a new license) with more responsible owners. We could have a dog warden in every locality continuously cruising and keeping the dog crappers under very close supervision and surveillance.

As a dog owner myself I accept that I should contribute some cash on a regular basis to resolve the dog fouling business. The other costs for keeping a dog are far in excess of a basic dog license and will be a small additional price you pay to literally clear up the mess.

We will be putting this idea for debate at the next full council meeting in April and hope to get cross party support to crack down on dog crap (if that's not a bizarre image)!

Fidos dog fouling days could soon be over!