Next years budget cuts to central government departments

I've crunched the numbers and extracted the % change in central gov departmental budgets, as sourced from the Treasury (page 83).

So, there will be cuts for 15 of the 25 central government departments next financial year. This represents an average of -5.75% across all departments. Factor in inflation and that figure looks even worse.

Everyone knows that whoever is in government next year will have to make cuts - but Brown insists that under Labour there will be no cuts. The Treasury doesn't agree.

[Hat tip to Guido Fawkes]

A dangerous step into darkness

Depressing news I'm afraid.

The UK had four less MEPs to send to the European Parliament (because other countries had joined the EU and existing member states had to reduce their MEPs), and one of those seats were lost in the North West - as such each party needed even more votes if they were win one of the 8, rather than 9 MEPs available to the North West.



In 2004 Lib-Dems won two seats, this year we won one. Our vote was down 1.6%.

The Conservatives gained 1.5% of the vote share, and retained their three MEPs.

UKIP was up 3.7% and retained their MEP.

Labour vote took a battering, losing 6.9%, and one of their three MEPs as a result.



The most depressing news, which I'm sure you've all heard by now, is that BNP leader, Nick Griffin, took the last spot with a 1.6% increase in their vote.

It was weird - despite there being an awful expectation that the BNP would win a seat in the North West, when it actually came to watching the leader of the British National Party get elected to the European Parliament at about 2am in a packed Manchester town hall room (see below), I couldn't really shake off the feeling that it was a horribly historic moment. I felt disgusted - our region had just elected the leader of the British fascists to the European Parliament.

My maternal grandfather was part of the "2nd wave" of troops to clear through Europe during the final days of World War II. He was part of a unit that was first on the scene that liberated the Belsen concentration camp. He told my mother that most of the SS guards had fled, but a few remained.

He said that they didn't know why they left those guards there, because when they discovered the unimaginable horror inside the British troops simply battered the remaining guards to death with their rifle butts, not to save bullets, but simply as an instinctive reaction to the gut wrenching evil that they encountered. Belsen 1945 - British bulldozer buries bodies in mass grave

A British comedian called Michael Bentine, who served in the second world war, wrote this on his encounter with Belsen:

We were headed for an airstrip outside Celle, a small town, just of Hanover. We had barely cranked to a halt and started to set up the ‘ops’ tent, when the Typhoons thundered into the circuit and broke formation for their approach. As they landed on the hastily repaired strip – a ‘Jock’ [i.e. Scottish] doctor raced up to us in his jeep.

‘Got any medical orderlies?’ he shouted above the roar of the aircraft engines. ‘Any K rations or vitaminised chocolate?’

‘What’s up?’ I asked for I could see his face was grey with shock.

‘Concentration camp up the road,’ he said shakily, lighting a cigarette. ‘It’s dreadful – just dreadful.’ He threw the cigarette away untouched. ‘I’ve never seen anything so awful in my life. You just won’t believe it 'til you see it – for God’s sake come and help them!’

‘What’s it called?’ I asked, reaching for the operations map to mark the concentration camp safely out of the danger area near the bomb line.

‘Belsen,’ he said, simply.

Millions of words have been written about these horror camps, many of them by inmates of those unbelievable places. I’ve tried, without success, to describe it from my own point of view, but the words won’t come. To me Belsen was the ultimate blasphemy.

After VE. Day I flew up to Denmark with Kelly, a West Indian pilot who was a close friend. As we climbed over Belsen, we saw the flame-throwing Bren carriers trundling through the camp – burning it to the ground. Our light Bf 108 rocked in the superheated air, as we sped above the curling smoke, and Kelly had the last words on it.

‘Thank Christ for that,’ he said, fervently.

And his words sounded like a benediction.

Many people aren't interested in politics, indeed most people didn't bother to vote in this set of elections - but as we proved last night, if enough people disengage from mainstream politics we can so easily sleepwalk into political darkness.

If the economy recovers, as we expect it will, then I imagine the two BNP MEPs will lose their seats in five years time, but there is no escaping the fact that last night parts of our country elected those who our ancestors laid down their lives to protect us from.

It's sickening.

A Parish Council for Northenden Village

Northenden is being consulted over a proposal to create an urban Parish Council. Here are some more details over how a Parish Council would work, why we believe we need one, and some examples of how it could improve Northenden.

How a Parish Council would work

A Parish Council would consist of elected representatives of all the neighbourhoods of Northenden. If we had 12 councillors spread evenly across the four areas, we would have 3 representatives in each neighbourhood.

Any local resident may stand for election – you don't have to belong to a political party. If the community didn't like what their Parish Councillors were doing, they could vote them off the council, and replace them with others.

These Parish Councillors would only represent a few hundred people – rather than more than over 10,000 represented at a City Council level. They would know many of the residents they represent, and the street by street issues that they face.

Parish Councils set a levy, or precept, to fund overheads such as insurance and a Clerk. However, much of the funding comes through external grants, from organisations such as Sport England, the Lottery, Chairtable Trusts and Government agencies.

The levy is normally very small, and we would not support an initial levy over £1 a month on top of your council tax. This levy provides the launching pad for hundreds of thousands of pounds of inward investment –Northenden needs this investment, now more than ever

Why we believe Northenden needs a Parish Council

For years commentators and Estate Agents have said that Northenden has bags of potential, and is about to take off – but the opposite has happened.

Many residents, especially those who have lived here for over 20 years, have told us Northenden has declined from a busy and bustling community to one which seems deserted and worn out.

1. Derelict land and properties such as where ‘Car Options’ used to be, the Tatton Arms and the Church Inn lay empty.

2. The shops on Palatine Road offer very little variety, and where Northenden used to be a place where people would travel to shop, now it's the other way round.

3. The Library is a fantastic public utility, but deserves a bigger and better building.

4. There aren’t enough facilities for our young people.

5. There is hardly any public parking.

Examples of what a Northenden Parish Council could do

Here are some examples of what a Parish Council could do to improve Northenden.

• Organise an annual Northenden Village Festival.
  

• Invest in our young people by creating youth facilities and events.
  

• Build more car parks in Northenden to attract shoppers from elsewhere.
  

• Replace grass verges that have become disfigured with parking bays or install bollards.
  

• Develop our planted areas, and encourage homes and shops to install hanging baskets.
  

We believe these are some of the solutions a Parish Council could pursue to turn Northenden round and make it great again.

Want to know more? Come to the Public meeting

Northenden Civic Society is hosting a public meeting to hear more about the Parish Council from experts, and give people an opportunity to ask questions and have their say. Please join us at:

7:30pm, Wednesday 6th May

Northenden Methodist Church Hall

Victoria Road

Northenden

Need help filling out the form?

The jargon filled questionnaire can seem confusing, so we have translated the questionnaire for you. If you want a Parish Council in Northenden Village, the questions need to be answered as follows:

Question 1 – If you want a Parish Council answer NO.

Question 2 – If you want a Parish Council answer YES.

Question 3 – If you want a Parish Council for Northenden Village answer YES.

Question 4 – “How many Councillors...” Up to you, but we recommend at least 12, so power doesn't rest in too few hands.

“Parish Council be divided into wards.. ” We recommend YES. This will ensure Parish Councillors are elected for every neighbourhood.

“Boundaries of Parish wards...” We recommend that “the boundaries follow the polling district boundaries as set out in the map

Question 5 – Leave blank.

Question 6 – Asks if further local governance beyond the Parish Council is needed. Up to you, but we think the Parish Council would fulfil the gap in community governance and additional arrangements beyond a Parish Council are unnecessary.

Hope not Hate

Signing the Hope not Hate petition in the Council Chamber today

The Bishop of Manchester spoke at Full Council for the first time in living memory today to boldly warn us of the dangers of the BNP.

It was a stark, clear, bold warning, and a very impressive speech. All three party leaders spoke in favour of a motion about the Manchester 'Hope not Hate' campaign.

I was very proud to be both a Christian and a Manchester City Councillor today. Here's a response I posted on the MEN website when discussing whether it was right for the Bishop to criticise a political party:

As a Christian Manchester City Councillor, today was a very proud day for me. My party, my Council and my Church all had the courage, conviction and boldness to stand up to the homophobic racist fascist thugs who peddle hate, fear and division in our society.

In an open democracy it would be entirely wrong for us to ban extremist parties from standing for election - but equally - it would be entirely wrong to exclude important elements of a free society (such as the Church) from boldly speaking out against such parties.

To exclude any religious or non-religious group from engaging in the political system would be as perverse to our democratic system as banning extremist groups themselves - and this is our mark of tolerance and fair play.

I'm proud that the Britain I live in is so tolerant and even handed, and that we have our ideological battles in an open, largely peaceful democratic system - it demonstrates an agreeable degree of civility.

This would all be put at risk if we open the door to intolerant extremists, and I would strongly urge those tempted to vote for them to look at the whole picture and to listen to both sides of the argument.

Petition now in

Many thanks to all those on the Rose Cottage campaign that came out for the photo call last night. It was for the handing in of the Rose Cottage Petition at the town hall, and we got a fairly good turn out for the time of day (about 20 at 6pm).

I'm in the process of uploading pictures, and a few of them are on-line here.

Here's one of my favourites, its of the tenants who are (from left to right) Peter Johnson, Breeze Hill, Hasty Lane and Oliver, Jamie and Anthony Lowe, Rose Cottage, Hasty Lane.

The petition has over 1020 names now on it and we actually hand it to the planning department tomorrow.

Due to the demonstrated public opposition to these plans we hope the Planning Department will now recommend refusal. 

It can easily do so on a number of planning policies, but the clearest one is PPG15, the economic justification for demolishing a listed building.

PPG15 states that the economic argument for demolishing the listed building is of such magnitude, that it substantially outweighs the considerbale heritage protection it currents enjoys.

As air freight has almost halved in recent months, the economic arguments for expanding air freight capacity no longer stack up.

Marie Louise Gardens tragedy - applications approved!

Marie Louise Gardens - this lodge will now be extended

and a new development built inside the gardens

I was at the Planning and Highways committee at the town hall yesterday - two main items that interested me most: An application in Northenden to turn an estate agents into a fast food outlet (I was opposing - it got deferred), and the monster application that has been ping-ponging around South Manchester politics for a good couple of years now was the proposed development at Marie Louise Gardens.

To summarise, a Mr Bennett bought the old gardeners lodge (see above) from someone who had bought it off the gardener when he bought it in a right-to-buy effort. The Lodge sits inside the park (that is locked in the evenings), and it's associated grounds to the north.

Marie Louise Gardens was bequeathed to the citizens of Manchester in 1903 by Josephine Silkenstadt, in memory of her daughter, Marie Louise, who died young, with a covenant that the gardens should retain intact and not be developed on. The developer applied to extend the lodge and build a new building inside the gardens.

His justification (and the planning department who supported his application), is that the lodge and the associated land (which he owns) is not really part of the gardens - that it was designated as a dwelling, and so was the associated land to the north that was used as a depot.

Mr Bennett originally put in an application to extend the lodge and build a new property partly on land owned by the park, back in December 2006. Labour used their majority to pass this application, but it was held up until December 2007 because a strong local campaign was mounted to prevent the sale of the park land. Over 6000 people signed the petition, which drew universal support from the surrounding area, including Northenden.

Eventually the exec member of Parks, my predecessor Mike Kane, turned down the sale of the land, and the application couldn't go ahead. New plans were therefore drawn up that didn't include the purchase of land, and these plans were being discussed yesterday.

The application was heard. Those objecting who spoke were:

Jinny Shaw - who represented Didsbury and Northenden Civic Society, West Didsbury residents Association and Friends of Marie Louise Gardens.

John Leech MP - MP covering Didsbury West

Cllr Lianne Williams - Didsbury West, where MLG were

Myself - MLG is just outside my ward and many residents use it

Jinny was excellent, and powerfully put the case against. John and Lianne were also excellent, pin pointing the areas of planning protocol that weren't addressed. I represented the views of Northenden residents.

Bennett had his solicitor speak on his behalf.

The committee then discussed the matter. It came to light that the Highways department had only just received a late report that day, and hadn't even had a chance to read it. Nevertheless the planning department was still recommending approval.

Cllr Sandiford (Lib-Dem) highlighted this and moved that the application is deferred so that Highways can comment on this report - he was outnumbered by Labour members who voted in favour of an immediate straight yes or no vote on the application.

Cllr Sandiford then delivered a masterful case against the development. Cllr Lyons (Labour) said simply he was in favour of this and moved to approve. A vote was taken and 5 Labour Councillors voted for approval, 1 abstained, all 3 Lib-Dem councillors and 1 Labour councillor voted against approval. The application was therefore approved.

Those who voted for approval were (all Labour):

Cllr Lyons (Higher Blackley)

Cllr Fender (Old Moat)

Cllr Morrison (Fallowfield)

Cllr Ali (Moss Side)

Cllr Chohan (Longsight)

Those against (3 Lib Dem, 1 Labour):

Cllr Sandiford (Didsbury East)

Cllr Grant (Whalley Range)

Cllr Ramsbottom (City Centre)

Cllr Watson (Labour - Whalley Range)

Abstained

Cllr Keller (Sharston)

What made this vote especially galling is that during the Didsbury West bye-election, Labour leaflets were full of assertions that Labour was fully in favour of retaining the gardens, and against any future developments. Indeed ex-Cllr Mike Kane once addressed the Friends of MLG AGM stating how the Council is committed to preserving the gardens.

Local residents feel massively betrayed.

Rose Cottage Update

1000 people have now signed the petition!!

Joy of joys!

Finally, the Rose Cottage petition has just reached it's target of 1000 signatures.
We are now ready to submit the petition to the Airport and, if need be, the Council.

May I thank everyone who has signed, and asked others to sign. Special thanks to those who collected using the paper version, and sent these in.

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Leader of Green Party lends us her support

More great news is that Dr Caroline Lucas MEP, leader of the Green Party has also given us her support. In a press release she is quoted as saying:

"Rose Cottage is an important piece of local heritage, but this is definitely not just a local issue. If Manchester airport increases its air freight capacity, Rose Cottage won't be the only casualty. There will be bad consequences in terms of climate change, as well local traffic generation, local air and noise pollution and resulting ill-health effects.

The airport will talk about jobs, but the truth is that we can create huge numbers of jobs by greening the economy. Manchester and North West England could become major centres, and even leaders, of the green industrial revolution that Britain urgently needs.

We could fund much of Britain's economic recovery if we stopped giving aviation its billions of pounds of tax breaks every year, and if we made airports and airlines pay the full costs of their pollution. And Manchester airport could start by developing a proper sustainable development strategy. That would mean scrapping plans for new air freight facilities - and Rose Cottage would be saved."

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10th consequtive slump in Air Freight at airport - 90 job cuts announced

February figures released last week show a continued decline in Air Freight at Manchester Airport:

These figures were released on the same week that the Airport sadly announced they were cutting 90 jobs.

Our thoughts are with those whose jobs are threatened.