Here’s a quick summary of news, events and casework for July 2007, a very wet month
27th – East Midlands Regional Assembly;
26th – with co-Councillor & Lord Mayor, Mo Munir, visit 4 homes in Wollaton flooded after heavy rain;
24th – meet Stagecoach & Network Rail at the House of Commons to discuss plans to speed up train services between Nottingham and London;
23rd – meet NCT Chief Exec to discuss local bus issues; hear that patronage on the Lilac 21 serving Thorneywood has increased by 4% since the introduction of the new longer Omnicity buses;
22nd – serious flooding hits Gloucestershire and other parts of central England;
20th – last day of term; thank staff and pupils for progress at Elliott Durham;
20th – good by-election victories for Labour in Ealing Southall & Sedgefield;
19th – major water mains failure leaves city centre short of water; observe emergency control centre in operation for the first time;
19th – Nottingham Development Enterprise - discuss green housing and science city;
18th – surgery at St.Ann’s Library;
17th – Innovation Forum on Climate Change; speaker - Jonathan Porritt;
17th – Executive Board; agree immediate proposals in response to Audit Commission’s corporate assessment of the City Council;
17th – Gov’t proposes abolition of Regional Assemblies in a sub-national review which envisages a stronger role for strategic local authorities (like the city and county councils) on regional housing, transport and economic development;
16th – Full Council; agree a cabinet and new portfolios; I pick up HR but lose climate change;
16th – public consultation on Workplace Parking Levy begins;
14th – National Team Labour campaigning day;
13th – speak at “Making it Home” Conference aimed to help the children of asylum seekers; (held at Duncan Macmillan House, Mapperley Hospital);
12th – Overview & Scrutiny - report on Debt Collection;
11th – Elliott Durham full governors continued - key stage 3 results in Maths and Science are up again;
11th – Gordon Brown’s announces consultation on the next Queen’s speech early; updated priorities are - 1. meeting Britain's housing needs; 2. world class education and skills; 3. looking after all of our children; 4. a healthy nation; 5. protecting the security and safety of the British people; 6. modernising the constitution; 7. tackling climate change and securing our energy supply; 8. delivering welfare reform; 9. improving local transport; 10. supporting business.
9th – the Nottingham Primary Parliament; teams of 2 gave presentations and speeches on risk;
7th – Live Earth gigs;
5th – Sustainable Development UK Conference - Climate Change, Global Solutions, Local Action;
3rd – 4th – LGA annual conference;
3rd – corporate assessment of Nottingham City Council published;
1st – extension of smoking bans to public places including bars;
Test cricket at Trent Bridge
Tue 31st Jul 2007
Today was the fifth day of the second test against India at Trent Bridge. With India needing so few runs to win, many people who were to take the whole day off didn’t and so the cricket club allowed free entrance.
I took a Chinese friend & her mother and tried to explain cricket to them. It was harder to do than I imagined, cos square on, it’s quite hard to follow the ball as it’s bowled. (I didn’t even try to explain the purpose of jelly beans.)
England lost, but not without taking 3 wickets in a short spell and getting the best Indian batsman out for 1.
We watched from a stand that is to replaced in an effort to keep Trent Bridge up to modern standards so that it can host tests in the future. The City Council and County Council are part of a loan deal than can make it happen. Agreed this month, it was announced on Friday before the match started. The deal includes a renewed commitment from Notts County Cricket Club to activities for the community.
Less easy to put a value on is the fame Trent Bridge brings to Nottingham. In the USA & Australia, Nottingham is known for our connections with the story of Robin Hood. In India & Pakistan, Robin Hood has a low recognition level - it’s Trent Bridge that Nottingham is known for.
Inflatable bulldozers
Fri 27th Jul 2007
Today was the first meeting of the East Midlands Regional Assembly since the announcement of a Sub-National Review by Government which recommends the abolition of regional assemblies. The BBC turned up to witness the consequent debate.
The assembly generally aims to establish consensus cos no one party could dictate, but the Tories presented an emergency statement without consultation and it was voted through (Labour voted against).
Gov't rationale was once that Regional Gov't would mirror the European model and bring planning together at a strategic level for economic development, housing and transport.
But a number of things changed -
- business prevailed upon Gov't to have a more direct say on economic development, so this was given to Regional Development Agencies; this has made it harder to deliver integrated strategies;
- the first referendum to offer a directly elected assembly in the North East of England resulted in a NO vote, cos the impact of the Assemblies were not seen as significant enough to warrant a further tier of dedicated political representatives;
- the Gov't has moved its focus for economic development in England (outside of London) to the core cities (the 8 conurbations of 750,000 or more), which don't necessarily tie in with the regions; for instance, parts of the East Midlands look to Birmingham, Manchester & Sheffield;
- many of the representatives from local Gov't are from Shire Boroughs and Districts who don't have to appeal for votes on strategic matters;
Aspects of the announcements are a bit unfortunate for the East Midlands Assembly since the East Midlandsmay have been making progress that other regions haven't. The East Midlands does have an integrated regional strategy, it's joined the local government campaign to get every council in the East Midlands to sign Nottingham Declaration and it takes Europe seriously, having established a special relationship with councils in Rumania.
The Tory line is they're against Regional Assemblies and will abolish them. David Cameron said so to huge applause from Tory Councillors at the LGA conference 3 weeks ago.
Except, today they voted to express serious concerns about phasing them out. Their commitment to abolition has to be read, they say, in conjunction with a belief in abolishing the Regional Development Agencies and devolving all these powers to the local councils.
Devolving powers to local councils? Well, maybe. Except, over the years, Tory national government has centralised power - for instance, the powers over the Police (twice) and the abolition of the GLC & the mets.
One thing nobody will miss is the reports from the remaining East Midlands UKIP MEP to the Assembly. Elected as a number 2 to Robert Kilroy-Silk (to be found topping up his tan by living in Spain), the UKIP member battles on with regular & monotonous statements on how terrible the EU is. But UKIP are ineffectual.
The latest news is that UKIP organised a demonstration against the EU at a recent big meeting. But it transpires they had not got anything more than an alleged verbal approval for the demo from the Belgian Police, who then required UKIP and an Irish MEP to disband and deflate their inflatable "bulldozer".
A perfect metaphor of UKIP's vision for getting Britain out of the EU - Britain would be reduced to ineffective protests from the outside, with tools to deliver change being no more effective than an inflatable toy.
Some properties flooded in Nottingham
Thu 26th Jul 2007
Today, the first properties in Nottingham for some time were flooded, in Wollaton. Not because of rivers or brooks overflowing, but because a culvert was not able to take water and sewage away from an estate (and under a railway line) fast enough.
The Lord Mayor, Mo Munir, & I visited the homes affected (in the afternoon) and alongside the sadness & disappointment, there was a sense of surprise. It had not been obvious that their homes might be at risk.
- -
It's been suggested that the major floods south of the Midlands and in the Midlands are 1 in a hundred year events. (A story in the Mirror says it's the wettest summer for 218 years.)
Floods are heartbreaking for the residents whose homes have been damaged. Not only the damage, but the dirt & the smell.
The loss of basic utilities are a serious problem for the many more people who are without mains water supply. Nottingham city centre was without mains water for 12 hours or so last week and a number of businesses, especially those who have to take care with hygiene, had to stop.
Some have complained about the lack of clarity about who is in charge in such situations. Different emergencies require different responses, but for significant events, silver and gold commands are set up, generally led by the Police. This is quite well described in a Wikipedia page - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Silver_Bronze_command_structure
There’s a debate as to whether the latest floods are due to climate change and foreseeable. The gulf stream carrying the rain is further south this year and passing over Britain. Some have attributed this to the current status of El Nino. I understand it is not possible to predict where the gulf stream will flow in the summer. And it’s not possible to say any particular event is down to climate change. It’s just that we do know we will face a larger number of such events because of climate change.
On Tuesday’s Newsnight, the head of the Environment Agency had discussed three types of flood threats - coastal, from rivers and from drains. And that questions may now have to be asked about the capacity of our drains, in part cos of more violent storms and in part cos more properties have hard-standings so rain reaches the drains faster.
Nottingham’s risks obviously include the Trent, for which a large amount of works have been done and more works are planned with the “Nottingham Left Bank flood scheme” costing £51 million. The scheme is going through a final (planning application) step in Broxtowe Borough and which is described on an Environment Agency web page - http://environment.gov.uk/news/1804315?lang=_e®ion=&projectstatus=&theme=&subject=%C3%82%C2%AEion&searchfor=&topic=&area=&month= This scheme will provide 1 in 100 years protection (measured by the old standard) and offers extra protection for the Meadows.
Regarding the River Leen, the Environment Agency have done a strategic risk assessment, and as a result are not planning extra defences. The findings are being used to change the design of new developments such as Chettle’s Yard which will have spaces for flood water to accumulate.
The threat from Tottle Brook in the west of Nottingham is best managed by ensuring that culverts are kept clear.
The Environment Agency took over its maintenance 18 months ago. Both the river and the brook are “flashy” cos of the large amount of hard-standing in their catchments. (It’s believed that neither broke their banks today.)
Blocked gully pots (feeding the drains) can be an issue. In Nottingham, all gully pots are scheduled to be cleared twice a year, but routine cleaning can be frustrated by parked vehicles.
Flooding from blocked gully pots can affect parts of my ward, most particularly the lower parts of MapperleyPark and some extra gully pots have been introduced in recent years to help.
Other properties are at risk from the water table that sometimes reaches the foundations.
Nottingham City Council has been active on these flooding & resilience planning issues. A City Council Scrutiny panel has been looking into flooding since 2003 and reviewed progress last March. More resilience planning officers have been employed. And there has been a significant investment in the emergency control centre which was used for the second time today - twice now in 8 days.
Nottingham to London in less than 90 minutes
Tue 24th Jul 2007
Today, the local authorities to be served by the new East Midlands railway franchise, to be held by Stagecoach, met Stagecoach & Network Rail in the House of Commons.
And we agreed at the outset that we were to have a renewed ambition and a renewed passion for the Midland Main Line.
The investment in the line has been minimal in the last decade whilst all the other main lines have had hundreds of millions spent on them.
Our first priority is to speed the line up. A shared passion for speed across the partners which Nottinghamhopes to take forward to a service that reached London in less than 90 minutes.
The franchise will achieve a part by a new, more demanding timetable.
And Network Rail shall achieve a part by spending money to reduce pinch points that slow trains down.
Beyond that, Nottingham has an ambition for a new track layout for the station that avoids trains having to queue to the west of the station to get in (by allowing trains to overtake each other within the station, enabled by the replacement of the current signalling). Network Rail's diagrams for that will soon be available to councils.
Further the franchise, Network Rail and Nottingham City Council have a plan to renew Nottingham Midland station whilst having regard for its grade II status.
A positive day, to be reinforced by regular meetings between the partners.
It so happens that Ruth Kelly was launching the new White Paper - a sustainable railway - as we met. Billions of extra investment in the railways to increase its capacity. We will be working to make sure that the East Midlands and South Yorkshire get its most needed share.
Good by-election victories for Labour in Ealing Southall & Sedgefield
Fri 20th Jul 2007
Labour Party members will know how good the by-election victories in Ealing Southall & Sedgefield are. Especially as the BBC coverage in the run-up to the Ealing Southall declaration was that the Lib Dems had done particularly well.
Subsequent declarations of satisfaction by Menzies Campbell over the increase in their share of the vote just doesn’t cut it. Time and again they turn the by-elections away from policy and into explanations of two-horse races with highly dubious polls. We’ve seen Labour lose seats in by-elections to such tactics, such as Leicester South, only to see Lib Dem MPs elected who hardly spoke during their time in the Commons.
Well done to everyone involved in Labour’s victories.
And now we’re to be told the case on “cash for honours” was not strong enough. The damage that did to Tony Blair and to the confidence of party members. The media will say how did it go on for so long. We know why. The media were so convinced were they that the people involved were guilty, that any investigation had to be seen to explore every angle. Think of all the episodes of programmes like “Bremner, Bird & Fortune” and “Have I got news for you” that presented the allegations as a given.
5,000 litres
Thu 19th Jul 2007
Today started optimistically as a partnership designed to allow the council, business reps and the universities to plan projects to improve Nottingham's future, met to consider ideas for introducing green houses into the city, find a new role for the National Water Sports Centre (now it won't be used for the Olympics) and building on the progress Nottingham is making as a science city.
On leaving the conference facility, I was slightly bemused to find that the toilet didn't work but didn't grasp the significance until I heard that water supply had been lost to the whole of Nottingham city centre and more, and that the Council was set to close its affected offices because it couldn't sustain services to staff and customers.
I'm portfolio holder for resilience planning and so visited our officers to hear progress. Business plans had been started to ensure that key services were to be sustained for those most vulnerable or in need and water delivered. The resilience officer and I set off at midday at lunchtime for a short meeting to pick up news from the Police and the Fire & Rescue services. The short meeting was to end up lasting 7 hours.
5,000 litres a second had been gushing out of the city's water supply - later reduced to 5,000 litres a minute - but no-one could find where it was going. There were no tell-tale burst in the streets. Nottingham city centre is built on porous sandstones and caves, and the water was just disappearing underground. Later we were to hear that some of it was going into the sewers - effluent reaching the city's sewage plant was running clear.
Across the city centre, bars and cafes were having to close down, a particular shame cos on this very warm day, a large number of Nottingham Trent University's students were attending a graduation ceremony.
18 DMAs (distribution mains areas) had been lost and Severn Trent staff were switching valves on and off and determining which DMA had the leak. They got down to 7 DMAs and then 2 and then 1 towards the end of the afternoon. Now in the Council's new emergency control centre - in use for the first time - plans were varied as the number of people who might need extra support and water supplies fell.
In the end bowsers (to supply water for a tower block) and bottled water (for streets that we short cos of the low pressure) were provided. But having whittled the leak down to 3 short sections of the mains, I left engineers at 21:30 as they tried to turn valves that wouldn't budge to determine which piece actually had the fault.
This year, the city acknowledges the birth of Thomas Hawksley 200 years (and 1 week) ago, who became the city’s pioneering water engineer in his twenties delivering systems that relieved the city of cholera, before moving on to London to do even bigger schemes. And the burst mains was in the part of the city that had first benefited from his pioneering work.
For the council, some solace that its business continuity plans had worked.
But overall a shame for a number of people and businesses who had been inconvenienced.
Nottingham it seems had been without water in a month when much of the country had suffered from floods. Now we brace ourselves for 6 - 9 hours spells of torrential rain during Friday and Saturday.
St.Swithin's day blues
Sun 15th Jul 2007
The Sunday Telegraph's poll shows Labour on 40%, 7 points ahead of the Tories and over double the ratings of the Lib Dems. This reflects, but is stronger than, the Guardian end of month poll.
The boost to Labour's standing upon the change of Leader was predicable but couldn't be relied upon and indeed, yesterday, Nottingham party members went to a neighbouring constituency (once regarded as a key marginal) to seek support.
Meeting the public suggested the polls sound right. A boost in our support but still some work to be done to win back those who have voted for us in the headier times of New Labour.
And there was a good level of recognition for local MP, Nick Palmer, and local Councillor (and fellow blogger) Richard Robinson.
Still there is a pessimism around - a non-political one - the continuing rain.
Those canvassing in yesterday's deep heat must now be worrying on this St.Swithin's day, this wet and cloudy St.Swithin's day, that our one hot and balmy sunny summer afternoon has been lost to canvassing. (Even yesterday's end of session visit to the pub had to be inside to avoid the smokers who'd taken over the pub garden.)
Curate's omelette
Thu 12th Jul 2007
After years of the expression "curate's egg", a Lib Dem announced that the expression always was a "curate's omelette" - cos one bad egg ruined an omelette.
I have no idea yet if their new national tax proposals survive a "curate's omelette" test, but it is odd that after years of bewailing a growth in indirect taxes and insisting that the way forward was to increase income tax, they're now saying it's the other way around.
I've googled the internet and checked Wikipedia - the expression is "curate's egg" -
The phrase derives from a cartoon in the humorous British magazine Punch on 9 November 1895. Drawn by George du Maurier and entitled "True Humility", it pictured a timid-looking curate (a low-ranking church minister) taking breakfast in his bishop's house.
The bishop says "I'm afraid you've got a bad egg, Mr Jones". Apparently trying to avoid offence or curry favour, the curate replies, "Oh, no, my Lord, I assure you that parts of it are excellent!"
Nottingham's Lib Dems have a talent for weird expressions. Four years ago, one of their new councillors talked about pixies from the bottom of the garden, and lo, the Nottingham pixie democrats were born.
The "curate's omelette" came from a discussion on how effectively the council is collecting taxes and money owed. The Lib Dem ironies included -
- wanting local tax to be collected more effectively, but generally advocating local income tax instead of council tax, which is one of the cheapest taxes to collect;
- expecting more tax to be collected, through the setting of ambitious targets, when their last General Election campaign complained of the target-setting culture in public services;
- demanding a quantum leap in the performance of debt collection when they acknowledged that a study they had chaired had found no "bullet".
On improving the Nottingham City Council's debt collection -
- progress is being made through faster and tougher action on those that aren't paying;
- we're introducing a contact centre whereby 80% of enquiries will be dealt with during the first call;
- we've signed a concordat with advice agencies so that we can acknowledge more quickly when people are having problems paying and the agencies are more positive about helping people pay;
- we've started to use customer data from systems like Mosaic to give us an understanding of the council's performance in the context of socio-economic factors; and are to publish maps which can highlight neighbourhoods that are paying less than might be expected and might therefore need more targeted help in terms of claiming benefits; (for instance only 40% of working tax credit is actually claimed);
- we have included an additional £83,120 in this year's budget and in 2008/09 project to spend further £288,120 to support the extended welfare rights service introduced through Neighbourhood Renewal Funding
Success for Nottingham North Labour Party
Tue 10th Jul 2007
In an era of financial inevitably and managerialism, it's interesting to see the success of Nottingham North Labour Party and its MP in saving a tertiary college facility in their constituency.
New College had a report saying concentrate their activity in the city centre. In the light of the protests they then commissioned a second report with an alternative opinion and a new proposal to bring life to the existing facility.
£40M PLANS FOR SAVED BASFORD HALL
Date : 06.07.07
An Inner city education centre that once faced closure is now in line for a total redevelopment to the tune of £40m or more.
Until Wednesday the future of Basford Hall was in doubt after New College Nottingham had announced they would close it down.
But after a long campaign by residents and the area's politicians, the New College governing board reversed the decision.
Graham Allen, MP for Nottingham North, spearheaded the fight to save Basford Hall.
"It's brilliant that it's going to be kept for the community rather than flogged off for housing," he said. "It's vital we maintain an education presence in the UK's most deprived constituency."
The Evening Post reported last week that things were looking up for Basford Hall after New College bought a derelict pub next to the site. The purchase meant the college could be accessed from the main Nuthall Road rather than from a long drive off Stockhill Lane.
The college now plans to build a "community skills centre" where the pub is as a gateway to the college site, providing information on jobs and courses with meeting rooms and classrooms.
Geoff Hall, New College principal, said a University of Nottingham study suggesting the site should not be sold was key to Basford Hall's survival.
"The report was very influential in giving us a case that the site should stay open," he said.
The development - currently being drawn up by architects - would bring in more courses including GCSEs in hair and beauty, IT and business.
Another new building, the biggest on the site, would house a "world-class" construction centre.
Mr Hall also said there would be higher education and teacher training opportunities at Basford Hall.
Local resident and campaigner Bill Ottewell, 59, said: "We need the Hall so much around here and it's brilliant that they are going to develop it - it should be a fantastic place."
For the last two years New College has been examining how to improve its estate as it claims many of its buildings need replacing over the next four years.
Its overall strategy will be submitted to the Learning and Skills Council for approval this month.
Detailed proposals will be submitted in the autumn.
Climate Change conference
Fri 6th Jul 2007
Sustainable Development UK put on a conference on climate change on Thursday and the star turn was David King, the Govt's Chief Science Officer.
I can't remember the names of any previous Chief Science Officers so either he's very effective or the science has got very big.
He reported that we've all managed to get the earth to be the warmest it's been for 3 million years.
But picked us up by drawing upon a report recently published in the USA, that manages to show that many of the measures to reduce carbon emissions can actually save us money.
So a new optimism for change there.
The event was somewhat flattened by other speakers' tendency to read from Powerpoint presentations of bullet-pointed text and to talk about processes & how difficult things will be.
I spoke emphasising that we needed to use all the tools available to us in reform to deliver change - http://www.michaeledwards.labour.co.uk/ViewPage.cfm?Page=21835 - something that those in both politics and local government have shown they could do in the last 10 years.
Time to speak up for the Lyons Report
Fri 6th Jul 2007
Michael Lyons presented an update of progress since the publication of his report on local government to the Local Government Association.
The most significant argument is his call for the public agencies to seem like a single system of government, rather than per se to devolve, although he does advocate some devolution.
Time for all of us to pick up on his recommendations. Their publication during the local government elections meant that we weren't particularly looking.
Values, then leadership
Fri 6th Jul 2007
The LGA has started a commission on climate change and the commission presented an initial report to Tuesday afternoon's session of the conference.
Initial signs are that they are full of enthusiasm but seem to think change is largely delivered by local leaders to drive local initiatives.
Nottingham's radical approach to transport and energy from waste over the years have driven by values and policy. It made sense to bring activity together where buses could best service it; and to burn waste to heat homes and offices for decades before effective systems for collecting some of the waste for recycling kicked in. Both initiatives have been drawn from helping the many rather than the few.
Progress on climate change has to happened across the work of public agencies and others, and leadership is only a small part of that.
Momentum on climate change in local government is growing - all of the councils in the East Midlands and in the North-East have now all individually signed up.
And the Audit Commission announced on Wednesday that they are now to review our progress as part of their inspections.
East Midlands, CA
Fri 6th Jul 2007
The annual conference of the Local Government Association is the politest forum attended by activists from the different parties that I know and it's a very strange feeling.
(Although this cross-party working didn't stop the Tories from taking the chairs and vice-chairs of the East Midlands LGA recently.)
East Midlands Local Government had a dinner on the Tuesday night and the guest speaker was from Society Guardian, who managed to make it plain how he understood local government through living in London and that these days, the Guardian was more conscious of its web-readers from the liberal cites on the west and east coasts of the USA than of those from the East Midlands. Joy.
Coughs & sneezes spread diseases
Mon 2nd Jul 2007
Today, there were presentations on Local Resilience.
Planned as part of a week of activities, some of the speakers couldn't attend cos they were on duty with the floods in Notts and South Yorkshire, or helping out with the latest terrorists attacks on London and now Glasgow.
Nottinghamshire it seems, in not having many large chemical plants, or any nuclear power stations or any coastline misses a number of the significant risks that have to be managed.
But we'll all be at risk from the next flu pandemic. 3 or so pandemics occur every hundred years.
Photos were shown of the spray from a sneeze. "Coughs & sneezes spread diseases" remains true as it ever was and we heard a presentation that since the SARS break out in Hong Kong, there's a much stronger social etiquette concerning carrying tissues and using them when coughing or sneezing. This etiquette has had a measurable impact on sickness rates within the city. It would bring value to Britain too, but it's hard to see how any campaign could be kicked off without some whinge about the "nanny state".
The figures concerning a flu pandemic are always daunting, especially when the person sat next to you sneezes. I couldn't wait to get out to wash my hands.
Meanwhile, stats show that Notts has just suffered its wettest June on record.
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