Here’s a quick summary of news, events and casework for December 2007
27th – Benazir Bhutto assassinated in Pakistan; co-Councillor Mo Munir interviewed by the BBC;
21st – City Councillors discuss future of Nottingham’s railways with East Midlands Trains & Network Rail;
20th – Nottingham City Council staff disco raises thousands for Lord Mayor’s charity;
20th – Elliott Durham’s end of term event; congratulate newly elected members of school Council and see staff panto;
18th – Executive Board; agree Workplace Parking Levy proposals in the light of the public examination; agree new £12m primary school for Southwark;
13th – address European conference on Nottingham’s European history;
12th – LGA Annual Assembly in London; hear Hazel Blears speak on local government;
6th – financial settlement for local government announced;
6th – meet Thorneywood Action for Control of Traffic to discuss measures to promote bus usage;
4th – freedom march - the Mercian Regiment march through Nottingham;
3rd – full Council; special focus on helping adults who need help most;
There is a separate blog available. Here are the entries for December 2007.
The assassination of Benazir Bhutto
Mon 31st Dec 2007
The assassination of Benazir Bhutto has thrown a lot of issues into sharp relief.
Frustrating then that just a few days on, there's a dispute of how she died. Conspiracy theories soon surround such events so it's a shame that a proper post-mortem wasn't carried out.
A shame too, if unavoidable, that the Gov't have had to advise against Britons visiting Pakistan. On my trip there 2 years ago with my co-Councillor and our families, what was so noticeable was how few Europeans and Americans were there - and it was not a healthy sign. We need more contact, not less.
BBC pulls a film
Tue 18th Dec 2007
Today's the day Nottingham City Council's Executive Board agreed a response to the public inquiry on the Workplace Parking Levy. Now we seek the support from the Secretary of State for Transport, which we hope will allow us to become the second major British city to implement a congestion charging scheme.
BBC East Midlands news ran a story at 6:30 this morning saying that a family business would pull out of Nottingham after 3 generations if we implement the levy. I understand the press can't always go our way. But I know the firm (cos twice I've bought hi-fi systems there) and it's a small firm. Unlikely to have more 10 workplace parking spaces so unlikely to pay the levy. And its customers park on the street. So it shouldn't be affected.
I looked up the BBC phone number and rang in to query the item. And they didn't show it anymore. And they rang me later to graciously explain that they were on reflection confused by the story.
If only we could do that with the newspapers. Today, the Council committed to build a new & exemplar primary school in the city (for Southwark) to replace its old buildings split over two sites (£12m with the latest green features). And the local newspaper managed to turn it into a negative story.
LGA Commission reports on climate change
Wed 12th Dec 2007
Speaking at the LGA General Assembly, Hazel Blears made a point of celebrating Nottingham’s leadership on the issue of climate change.
Later, we met to discuss the LGA report, “A Climate of Change”, written by a special commission, chaired by Sir John Chesshire. This too celebrates Nottingham’s work - calling for an extension to the Nottingham Declaration, and citing Nottingham’s drive on workplace parking levy (which was approved by a public inquiry earlier this week).
The report makes a powerful call for a focus on improving home energy efficiency and procurement (mentioning street lighting as an example).
Only this Monday, we heard that Nottingham’s street lighting PFI project to replace all its street lighting may be able to take advantage of energy efficient white bulbs, which can be dimmed, and dimmed through digital signals being transmitted through the mains supply.
Hazel beams, delivers a strong message and signs a concordat
Wed 12th Dec 2007
Today’s General Assembly of the Local Government Association saw the signing of a concordat between local and central government - a step towards what Michael Lyons called “a single system of government”. In the Concordat, government :
- recognises the electoral mandate of every councillor in the country;
- commits itself to being transparent in its funding of local services and agrees to work towards giving councils greater flexibility in the way councils are funded;
- commits itself to subsidiarity.
Hazel Blears beamed throughout the session - how does she do it? - and yet in her presentation she gave a compelling speech - read but you’d hardly notice it - in the face of what was at times a tough audience - with baying Tory Councillors who jeered the parts pertaining to the financial settlement.
And yet the Tory leader of local government had to acknowledge the progress for local government since Hazel had become Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, although the fulsome praise didn’t make it to the LGA web-site.
The Tory used his speech to call for local councils to be able to properly hold Police forces and health services to account.
This was quite an irony cos when I first became a County Councillor in 1993, the Tories were taking what was left of council control away. And the first moves to take away operational control was started by Tories in Nottingham - who launched a campaign in the early sixties in conjunction with a rather reactionary Chief Constable called Popkiss and held mass rallies in the Old Market Square to emphasise their points.
Gedling Tories spend GBP421,000 to recycle less
Tue 11th Dec 2007
Gedling Borough Council, Nottingham’s eastern neighbour, and Tory controlled since May announced a public survey finding residents in favour of weekly collections of refuse in the summer months. A step back for the environment since the recycling rate is set to fall from 32% to 28%. And a set back for the taxpayer who will have to find over £420,000 each year to pay for it.
The challenging settlement for local government and the increase in landfill tax is actually driving Nottinghamto consider how we can cut the waste going to landfill even further.
Meanwhile, Nottingham has been able to announce the outcome of the public inquiry into the Workplace Parking Levy; and the inspector accepts that the levy can work and is the way to pay for the extension of the tram to the timescale the city council is working to.
The public inquiry into the extension of the tram is continuing. The first line of the tram started 17 years after it was first seriously proposed. At our current rate, phase 2 will be delivered in 13 years!
Councillors had their dedicated session for considering the Nottingham of 2030 on Monday. Myself and one other Labour colleague were five minutes late and had to sit with the Lib Dems. The exchange of badinage was pretty much non-stop. “I can’t believe we’ve sat at this table for an hour and the issue of dog mess hasn’t been raised” etc. Such light-hearted exchanges are a reflection of the festive season.
Saturday was the official opening of the Peter Pan pantomime at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham. Publicly owned and producing the panto itself so as to commission bigger stars - this year Debra Stephenson & John Challis. A computer-generated laser-light Tinkerbelle was a starling innovation. As for the rubbish song, well this was “What I Want Is A Proper Cup Of Coffee”. The kids, including co-Councillor Mo Munir’s 18 month old grand-daughter, loved it.
Nottingham public express their gratitude to their regiment
Tue 4th Dec 2007
Thousands turned out to greet the Mercian soldiers ("2 Mercian") as they marched through the streets of Nottingham today.
The public couldn't applaud enough. Some of the media coverage has given us a genuine sense of gratitude for the service they give.
The army regiment from Notts & Derbys used to be known as the Sherwood Foresters, and over the last century they became part of first the Worcesters & Sherwood Foresters (the "Woofers"), and this year, "2 Mercian" (or "2nd Battalion Mercian Regiment").
Long time holders of the freemen of the city, they marched again today to renew that honour.
Returning from a tour in Afghanistan, some of the soldiers who'd served received campaign medals in the Council House.
Proud moments. And some very moving moments too as "absent friends" were toasted, and relatives of the 9 soldiers killed this year shed a gentle tear.
A wide range of people attended, including Dennis Pettitt, former Leader of Notts County Council, who saw action on the beaches of Normandy as a 17 year old on D-Day with the Warwicks (now part of the Fusiliers).
For powered two-wheelers & cyclists; against BLOCK CAPITAL LETTERS
Tue 4th Dec 2007
I witnessed a traffic accident on Sunday.
A motorcyclist was thrown into a somersault and landed on the road. Instinct said this was going to be a serious matter. Surprise said, crikey the biker is up and running my way to ask me to act as his witness. Astonishment said, despite the crunch I heard, the only damage to the car was that a wheel cover came off.
They were so lucky - my sister’s arm was broken in a similar accident some years back.
Waiting to join a main road, I saw the biker brake hard but still run into a car turning into the side road I was waiting to leave. Since I’d had a long and stationary view of the whole thing, I was able to explain faults on both sides and with no harm done, they exchanged addresses & shook hands (after the initial 30 seconds of recriminations).
Salutary to witness others’ mistakes. Key lesson for me - I know I must look harder for motorcyclists (rule 170).
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And I’ve been talking through the safety of the particular junction with council officers (2 slight injury accidents in the last 4 and a half years) and checking the Highway code since.
Rule 211 of the Highway Code talks about looking out for cyclists and motorcyclists, although surprisingly doesn’t repeat the key message (that TV adverts have often chosen) of such users being one-third of the width of other vehicles such as cars.
During my time as Chair of the Transport Cttee., I was aware that “powered two-wheelers” (PTW) were the road users that had the lowest profile. Nottingham City Council is working with PTW groups on road safety; currently they are producing a dvd with “Shiny-side Up” (a PTW partnership) to highlight incidents and the need to wear protective clothing. Hopefully it will also seek to deter speeding - there have been 2 deaths in my ward in recent years cos of motorcyclists speeding.
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The calm resolution reached after the accident compared and contrasted somewhat to a recent exchange regarding cyclists on pavements.
A recent electronic exchange (triggered by one of my blog entries on neighbourhood wardens) saw correspondents resorting TO THE USE OF BLOCK CAPITAL LETTERS - always a bad sign!
Reviews of traffic accident statistics show collisions between cyclists and pedestrians to be a relatively rare occurrence. Indeed, even a review (some years back) of collisions between cyclists and pedestrians in Nottingham city centre found that in the 3 accidents to be reviewed, all had been in the middle of the road and all had been the fault of the pedestrians!
But the insecurity cyclists cause pedestrians generates a lot of heat.
Not only is the highway code clear on the matter of not cycling on pavements (rule 64), but the official position is backed up by further legislation. The reputation of cyclists suffers terribly on this.
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Which is a shame, cos cyclists are vulnerable users and we are trying to do more to help cyclists & the cause of cycling.
Nottingham City Council has continued to invest in cycling infrastructure and an extensive cycle route network has been developed serving many key destinations across the city.
Nottingham is connected to the national cycling network via Route 6 which passes through the City. More recently, a popular ten mile off-road route known as the ‘Big Track’ has been put in place allowing people to cycle free from traffic along the Nottingham Canal towpath and back alongside the River Trent (which also links into longer distance routes within the Trent Valley).
The cycle path network does not always join up, the quality of parts of it is not what it should be and maintenance standards could be improved. And parts of the city (the hilly parts in particular) do not have a great network of dedicated paths.
Many cyclists are fearful of riding on busy roads. And vehicles often don’t give cyclists enough space (see rule 163).
Nottingham City Council has an excellent reputation for its Local Transport Plan, but cycling was the one area where the Council really struggled.
Current plans for cycling include (subject to further consultation):
• Improvements along designated commuter corridors (Improvements to include joining-up on-road facilities and completing missing links in the network),
• Development of more legible cross City Centre cycle routes,
• A new programme of small scale works to upgrade local cycling facilities (to be developed in conjunction with Local Area Committees),
• Focusing on a comprehensive cycle training scheme within schools to equip children with the skills to cycle more safely as well as facilitate a culture of cycling as a viable means of transport in future years,
• Coordinating promotion material available for new cyclists via the ‘Big Wheel’ to promote the benefits of cycling to a wider audience, development of a user guide for cyclists on how to access cycle information, events and support as well as create more bespoke cycle maps,
• Embedding cycle improvements within major transport and development schemes to ensure cycling facilities are provided from the outset rather than as an afterthought.
• Development of a large scale secure cycle parking facility at Nottingham Station (also serving NET, our tram) as well as provision of more cycle lockers in City Centre car parks.
• With partners we are looking into the viability of more innovative schemes such as cycle hire at transport interchange points and the potential of a cycle recycling scheme.
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