A little over three weeks ago, I wrote to Urban Vision (copy here) and requested a walkabout so that I could personally show them the dreadful state our road had deteriorated to. Less than a week later, I was pleased to be joined by Steven Lee (Director of Engineering at Urban Vision) on Seedley Park Road where we met and discussed the current condition of the road and poor previous attempts to fix it.

Steven promised an immediate fix for the pothole and longer term, a partial re-surfacing of Seedley Park Road in the Summer.

I am pleased to report that today Urban Vision workers arrived on-site for the first of two days work to cut out the damaged sections of Seedley Park Road and fill in the holes. I will be checking by tomorrow to see the completed works, but I would just like to pass on my personal thanks to Urban Vision for re-acting quickly.

My enthusiasm for Urban Vision is, of course, tempered – because it took a resident’s complaint (i.e. mine) to get Urban Vision to agree to action. If it hadn’t have been so close to election time, who knows how long it would have taken to get the road sorted?

I am sick of hearing that a pothole “doesn’t meet intervention criteria” and I am looking forward to meeting Steven again to discuss how we can make changes to the decision to fill/not fill a pothole. Further, there are many a road that need complete or partial resurfacing – yet the policy seems to be just to fill in the holes, no matter how many they are and how close together they are.

This policy is wrong and needs to be changed.

During March and April, the Seedley and Langworthy Trust in partnership with Take Part Salford are hosting four ‘Salford Question Time’ events featuring the key political leaders in local politics. The Liberal Democrats, Labour and the Conservatives have all agreed to sit on the panel, alongside others with specialist knowledge.

Elected members will be addressing potential voters and confronting Salford issues in public. The format will be very similar to the BBC’s own Question Time TV programme and the events will also provide a training experience for members of Salford Community Media Partnership who would be involved in set design; sound; film and lighting.

Tickets are free, but there is limited availability – so book early.

The themes and dates are as follows:
* Housing & the Environment – Thurs 4th March, 7–8.30pm
* Economy & Employment – Thurs 11th March, 7–8.30pm
* Education, Children & Young People – Thurs 18th March, 7–8.30pm
* National Issues (MPs) – Thurs 8th April, 7–8.30pm

To apply for tickets and submit questions for the event, please telephone Seedley and Langworthy Trust on 0161 737 9918 or email: admin@sali.org.uk

RE: Deterioration of Highways in Langworthy ward

Dear Sir,

I am writing to express my grave concern for the deterioration in our ward’s roads following the recent freeze and thaw.
While the roads in Langworthy were already in a pretty terrible state to begin with, the situation has gone beyond a joke.

For example, recent repair activity on Seedley Park Road has to be seen to be believed. The repairs that were actioned last week are of the worst quality “repair” I have yet to see on any road in Salford (or indeed the UK). Actionable potholes were ignored, possibly due to the fact that white markings had faded/disappeared in between the reporting date and the repair date. This is unacceptable incompetence on the part of Urban Vision.

Further, the quality of the actual repairs to holes that were filled in is of extremely poor quality, with inferior material being used coupled with poor workmanship.

As a consequence, I request a ward walkabout/inspection(as was recently granted to Claremont and Weaste & Seedley wards) so that residents, ward councillors and Urban Vision staff can all collectively agree on what are and are not actionable repairs and acceptable repair quality.

Monday 15th February would be an idea day for me and I can pretty much accomodate any time on that day.

I hope each of you will take the time to consider this request, purely in the interests of the residents of Langworthy.

Best Regards,

Steve Middleton

I’m absolutely astounded by this story, which was originally brought to my attention by David Ottewell, who blogged about it today.

For those that can’t be bothered to follow those links, the crux of the story is that the 10 local authorities of Greater Manchester all pay Marketing Manchester to, well, market Manchester. I don’t want to get into the value (or otherwise) of councils like Salford paying out taxpayers cash to market another city, but a deal was struck some years ago to split the cost, with 35% to be paid by Manchester and the remaining 65% to be split across the rest of the Greater Manchester councils.

It has since emerged that for the last 6 years, Manchester City Council has been paying 65% and the other Greater Manchester councils have only been paying their share of 35%.

The deputy leader of Manchester City Council has confirmed that from today onwards, the mistake has been rectified – but what about the £420,000 that Manchester has overpaid? Well, Manchester Labour councillor and Deputy Leader Jim Battle is quoted as saying “There was a misunderstanding and it has now been corrected, end of story. It would be bureaucratic nonsense to chase a few thousands pounds.”

I wish £420,000 was only a “few thousands pounds” !!!

Manchester’s loss is Salford’s gain – if Manchester City Council had decided to recoup their overpayment (as would be their right), then that 0% council tax rise that Salford Labour Leader John Merry had proposed for our own city could have been in doubt.

In fact, Salford may still have to repay our underpayment – as opposition councillors in Manchester have reported this shocking accounting error by the Manchester Labour council to the District Auditor.

It just goes to show how little regard Labour have for taxpayers money – they cannot be trusted with our hard earned cash.

A Liberal Democrat council would have immediately recouped a £420,000 overpayment (although I doubt any Lib Dem council would allow such a situation to arise). To claim £420,000 is just “a few thousands pounds” demonstrates a lack of sanity and a complete loss of respect for hardworking taxpayers.

Labour cannot be trusted with your money. Not at a local level and certainly not at a national level.

It was my pleasure today to be invited to attend the public demonstration that was planned by the Save Barton Moss protest group on Liverpool Road in Eccles.

I know the area reasonably well, since in my last two jobs as a sales rep, I frequented the area (including the nearby Makro) and I have never been able to comprehend the council’s plain daft idea to build an industrial estate on nearby green belt.

Green belt land exists for a number of reasons, which I won’t go into here – but given the Secretary of State’s recent decision to refuse planning for the Worsley Racecourse on the grounds that building on Green Belt couldn’t be justified, it seems bonkers for the Labour-controlled Salford Council to continue with the industrial estate building plan.

I joined Salford Lib Dem Leader and Prospective MP for Salford & Eccles Norman Owen in the protest and it was good to chat with demonstration organiser Jackie Anderson about how well the protest group has grown. Norman has supported the Save Barton Moss campaign and helped them ensure they have had their voices heard by the council. The group’s arguments are sensible, well thought out and conveyed to the council with attention to detail. Other protest groups would do well to emulate the Save Barton Moss campaign’s strategy and ethos.

It was pleasing to see cross-party support for the protest, but I was a little irritated to see the local Conservative party staging their own, separate, protest – seemingly organised by Councillor Iain Lindley, who no doubt assumed this would look good on his next leaflet.

A note to the Conservatives, either join in fully with the existing Save Barton Moss campaign or start your own and hold your own party’s support on a different day.

The Salford Liberal Democrats are backing the Save Barton Moss campaign.

I’m still trying to wrap my head around this story, as reported by the Salford Advertiser.

The background is that the man in charge of Salford’s childrens homes was suspended back in April 2009, after being accused of failing to alert Jill Baker (then Head of Children’s Services) about poor Ofsted reports of the city’s childrens homes.

Mr Kelly has now been cleared, and following a return-to-work programme, will either resume his original post or take up another one.

My question – if Mr Kelly is innocent of this charge (he is!), then who is the guilty party?

Will the Council be looking for another scapegoat? Jill Baker herself perhaps (she has already been sacked, so it would be very easy to pass the blame onto her)?

What is the Lead Member for Children’s Services, Langworthy Councillor John Warmisham’s role in this matter?

If Mr Kelly DID pass on the bad Ofsted reports, then it could be that either the Lead Member for Childrens Services and/or Jill Baker ignored them – or that they were, ahem, “lost”.

Either way, it’s incompetence on a grand scale. Jill Baker has already been sacked for gross misconduct – John Warmisham should be sacked for the same reason.

I’m happy to report that as from tomorrow (Tuesday 12th January), Salford Council is able to resume it’s bin collection services.

Therefore all Langworthy residents should put their grey bins out as normal. If your bin is full (mine is – no collection for weeks!), you can put extra refuse in a SEALED black bin bag, I am assured these will be collected as well.

Please do not put out your recycles – this service is still suspended at the moment,

Over the weekend Salford Labour Councillor Derek Antrobus fell and broke his ankle. I understand he has had an operation, but should be home by now.

I and my fellow Lib Dems wish Councillor Antrobus a speedy recovery. We may be political opposites, but those of us involved in local (or national) politics are all doing it for the right reason – to help our communities and to make things better for the people who live here.

Get well soon, Councillor Antrobus.

All this week Salford Council has being doing an admirable job of keeping critical services running, with reduced staff and resources. The council’s website at http://www.salford.gov.uk has (and continues to be) an invaluable source of the latest information.

Here are the updates for Friday 8th January 2010:

All refuse/recycling collection services are suspended. We are assured that when collections recommence, any black bags (properly sealed) WILL be collected as well.

All Salford schools are closed again. A decision will be taken later today regarding Monday. Check http://www.salford.gov.uk/schoolclosures.htm

Pendleton Gateway is open, but they are closing at 4.30pm

Salix Homes are operating, but only carrying out emergency repairs (burst pipes, gas repairs etc). Salix can be contacted on 0800 218 2000

There is a wealth of information on all other council services at http://www.salford.gov.uk/servicedisruption.htm