Filed Under ( Langworthy) by Steve Middleton on 26th March 2010
It was great to spend some time touring Langworthy today with local Lib Dem ward councillor Lynn Drake. Councillor Norman Owen, Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Salford & Eccles tagged along as we talked to local residents about problems and issues in the area.
 Along the way, we picked up quite a bit of casework, including graffiti removal, flytipping clear-ups, emergency repairs to vandalised property on Liverpool Street and, what a surprise, more potholes in need of repair.
Residents on Southgarth Road in Langworthy agreed that locally we need more councillors like Lynn Drake who live in the area and are familiar with the territory (and the day-to-day problems). It was noted that those ward councillors who don’t live in our area, can’t properly understand the issues we have to deal with on a day to day basis, and therefore are not ideal for the task at hand.
  That’s why we promised them that after May 6th, with their help, we’ll be adding another LOCAL Lib Dem councillor (me!) and removing failed Labour from Langworthy.
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Filed Under ( Salford) by Steve Middleton on 26th March 2010
Last year Salford Council put a short note on their website announcing that household rubbish & recycling services would not be affected by the Easter bank holidays (next week). It seems this year, they either forgot or simply couldn’t be bothered to let residents know.
I’ve just contacted Environmental Services (second time today) and they have confirmed that collections of rubbish and recycling will be made as normal on Good Friday.
Residents due a collection on Good Friday are reminded to leave their normal bins and recycling bins out for collection by 7 am and to ensure they are clear of obstacles such as parked cars, and are not blocking pavements.
It’s worth noting that while bin collections will take place as normal on Good Friday, the call centre will be closed all over the Easter weekend until Tuesday 6th April.
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Filed Under ( Langworthy) by Steve Middleton on 25th March 2010
Tonight we are holding the Seedley & Langworthy Community Forum at the Salford Arts Theatre on Kempsing Walk (off Liverpool Street) at 7pm. Please come along, our Forum meetings are always well attended.
At the last Forum meeting it was decided to roll our PACT (Police & Communities Together) meeting into the Forum – this means your local beat officers and PCSOs will be attendance to answer any questions you may have about policing or crime across our area.
Items on the agenda include: Priorities for regeneration, Friends of Chimney Pot Park, community health projects, crime & community safety, how to get involved spending the community £100k devolved budget on highway repairs, an update on the SALT trust and an opportunity for questions (and hopefully answers) at the end.
It’s my intention to float the idea of memorial benches to be located in Langworthy to commemorate the lives of Albert Scanlon (former Busby Babe) who lived in Langworthy for many years and sadly passed away in December, and Neil Bullivant, former co-owner of Neil’s Friary aka Langworthy Road chippie. I believe both deserve to be recognised for their contribution to our area.
I hope that you can come along.
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Filed Under ( Politics) by Steve Middleton on 24th March 2010
Today, Britain needed a Budget that gave us honesty in spending and fairness in tax. Alistair Darling has given us neither.
Labour is in denial, while the Conservatives are talking tough to cover up the fact that they only offer more of the same.
You can watch Vince Cable’s video response to the Budget below:
Today’s budget wasn’t honest.
The Chancellor is incapable of coming clean about where spending cuts will have to fall. Rather than being honest with people about what the Government can and cannot afford, the Chancellor would rather let others indiscriminately shave departmental budgets.
And the Budget did nothing to make Britain a fairer society.
The Liberal Democrats are campaigning for fair taxes, lifting millions of people out of income tax altogether. But today’s Budget, by confirming the freeze in personal allowances, means everyone will see a real increase in their income tax bill.
Rather than forcing the nationalised banks to lend to good British businesses, Labour have chosen to create a feeble quango to arbitrate between bullying banks and their small business clients.
Today’s Budget shows even more clearly that Britain needs real change.
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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.
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Filed Under ( Politics) by Steve Middleton on 24th February 2010
After watching this you’d have to be certified. Although this Channel 4 interview with Jim Devine, Labour MP for Livingston is a little over 10 minutes – it’s well worth it.
The car-wreck begins almost immediately and I don’t think Krish could quite believe some of the answers he was hearing…
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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
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Filed Under ( Politics) by Steve Middleton on 19th February 2010
No, it’s not Iain Lindley the Tory candidate over in Worsley & Eccles South – but our own Ian Lindley, the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for North Durham.
Cut ‘n’ pasted from libdems.org.uk…
Ian Lindley – PPC for North Durham
PPC for North Durham
Liberal Democrat candidate for North Durham
About Me
| Occupation: |
Centre Risk Assessor (Edexcel), County Councillor (Northumberland) |
| Marital Status: |
Married, two children |
| Education: |
BA (1976), PGCE (1985), Dip PG Policy Studies (2004) |
Biography
Ian was born into a hard-working Yorkshire family. His family moved to South Africa when he was young, where the experiences he encountered had a marked effect on him, seeing the injustice, poverty and exclusion of most alongside the privilege of the ruling elite. Ian returned to work and education in the UK which was to include a wide variety of jobs and voluntary work including; Project Engineer, Lecturer, Firefighter, Station Officer and tour guide for people with a disability.
He married and with a growing family comprising his wife and two children, moved to the Stobhill area of Morpeth where he has lived for many years, attending St. Robert’s RC Church. Bringing together his upbringing, experiences abroad and work in a wide variety of jobs, gave Ian the sense of a need for social justice, freedom, fairness and civil liberties in our society, all core Liberal Democrat beliefs.
Becoming involved in local groups in Morpeth, Ian helped ordinary people campaign on a wide variety of local issues and achieved some remarkable successes. Ian was persuaded to stand as a Borough councillor. Few thought he could win but again with hard work and involving local people he not only won but moved on to help win and help lead the new Unitary Council for Northumberland; overturning a long-standing Labour majority to do so, proving that no seat cannot be won.
Ian now brings that spirit to North Durham. Standing as the Liberal Democrat Candidate at the next election, Ian is campaigning to change the political face of North Durham by working with the people to solve the very real issues facing the area in an honest and accountable way, and prove, once again, that together we can win.
In his free time Ian enjoys walking, climbing, mountain biking, and trying to play golf.
Follow Ian on Twitter
Contact Me
 Email: Iplindley@googlemail.com
 Website: www.ianlindley.co.uk
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Filed Under ( Langworthy) by Steve Middleton on 13th February 2010
| Langworthy Labour Councillor and Lead Member for Childrens Services John Warmisham has hit the frontpage headlines this weekend (for all the wrong reasons!), courtesy of the Manchester Evening News. The story below is spread across pages 2 & 3 of today’s edition. |
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| UPDATE: The full article is now available on-line at the Manchester Evening News website here. |
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Filed Under ( Langworthy) by Steve Middleton on 9th February 2010
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
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