Time for a quick game of Balderdash.
Is "Jointness"...
1. A state a plumber reaches when he or she is in pipe connecting utopia.
2. A young girl called Vanessa who has a reputation for rolling cigarettes of questionable provenance.
or...
3. A word, not in the Oxford dictionary, which has crept into the title for agenda item 13 on the next Cheshire East cabinet agenda.
?
Hmmm....
Friday, 10 July 2009
The pain starts today...
It was only last week that I was suggesting that the roadworks in Macclesfield weren't as bad as Barlow was making out.
Today the gas renewals programme will be moving to Chester Road in Broken Cross and will be operating traffic control for the next couple of months. This is going to cause serious issues with traffic as we know from experience that blocking up Chester Road can have the effect of gridlocking all of Macclesfield.
Highways have sensibly insisted that the contractor employs manual control during peak periods to ensure the traffic flow is as managed as possible, but however good this is there will still be serious delays.
I will no doubt get angry letters about this, but what are the other options? This work must be done unless we would like national legislation that prevents the utility companies from running pipes under the road.
This work needs to be done and you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs. It's just a shame that the finished omelette is going to look exactly the same as the one we had before.
Today the gas renewals programme will be moving to Chester Road in Broken Cross and will be operating traffic control for the next couple of months. This is going to cause serious issues with traffic as we know from experience that blocking up Chester Road can have the effect of gridlocking all of Macclesfield.
Highways have sensibly insisted that the contractor employs manual control during peak periods to ensure the traffic flow is as managed as possible, but however good this is there will still be serious delays.
I will no doubt get angry letters about this, but what are the other options? This work must be done unless we would like national legislation that prevents the utility companies from running pipes under the road.
This work needs to be done and you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs. It's just a shame that the finished omelette is going to look exactly the same as the one we had before.
Thursday, 9 July 2009
Good, bad and Barnaby.
It's been a good day for me, as I've got my inbox down to 5 emails. The full task list is still a bit mammoth, but I'm hoping to crack that tomorrow.
Not so good for England who really could've done with 3 or 4 more wickets, but there's always tomorrow. Fear that rain will force a draw.
I'm off to West Park for a BBQ tonight, hopefully rain won't ruin that too.
Blogging has been light this week which is very disappointing - I'm desperate to wax lyrically about Arts in Macclesfield, what is a festival and what isn't, and Barnaby.
Not so good for England who really could've done with 3 or 4 more wickets, but there's always tomorrow. Fear that rain will force a draw.
I'm off to West Park for a BBQ tonight, hopefully rain won't ruin that too.
Blogging has been light this week which is very disappointing - I'm desperate to wax lyrically about Arts in Macclesfield, what is a festival and what isn't, and Barnaby.
Tuesday, 7 July 2009
Curry Night - Support your local Councillors!
I’m holding a fundraising social event on the 27th July and I’d be delighted if you could come along and support your friendly local Councillor.
No expenses, gossip or sleaze here I’m afraid – just the boring matter of having to raise enough money to pay for my next round of leaflets. Communicating with the electorate is an expensive business and we have to find the money to do this ourselves.
It’s being held at the Balti Kitchen, Park Lane. The food there is excellent and we are booked to have a set meal of Poppadums and chutneys followed by Curry, Rice and Naan. Tickets are priced at £15 – a bargain considering the food on offer.
It will be a fun social event with no political boringness, there’s even rumours that there will be a raffle where you may be able to win {insert your own joke about duck islands, toilet brushes and bath plugs here}.
Tickets must be bought in advance, so drop me an email to darryl@darrylbeckford.co.uk or call me on 01625 421903 to secure yours now.
Thanks in advance for your support,
Darryl
No expenses, gossip or sleaze here I’m afraid – just the boring matter of having to raise enough money to pay for my next round of leaflets. Communicating with the electorate is an expensive business and we have to find the money to do this ourselves.
It’s being held at the Balti Kitchen, Park Lane. The food there is excellent and we are booked to have a set meal of Poppadums and chutneys followed by Curry, Rice and Naan. Tickets are priced at £15 – a bargain considering the food on offer.
It will be a fun social event with no political boringness, there’s even rumours that there will be a raffle where you may be able to win {insert your own joke about duck islands, toilet brushes and bath plugs here}.
Tickets must be bought in advance, so drop me an email to darryl@darrylbeckford.co.uk or call me on 01625 421903 to secure yours now.
Thanks in advance for your support,
Darryl
Barlow - The voice of (un)reason?
I know a couple of the readers of this blog are big Vic Barlow fans, and some even consider him to be the "voice of reason". (!)
But sometimes I wonder if he just jots down a few sentences before the print deadline without giving any thought or consideration to the content. My supposition is that some of his views are not very reasoned at all.
This is a great example from last weeks Macclesfield Express.
He doesn't get off to a good start with this:
This, as regular readers will know, is like a red rag to a bull for me.
As meetings are minuted and open to the public, then he could find out if he wanted to. In fact, I've not seen a single professional journalist from the Maccelsfield Express (I assume he does receive a pay cheque? He may do it for the free doggie advertising...) at any of our meetings, so it's no surprise that they're in the dark when it comes to what was discussed.
Perhaps it's for this reason Vic isn't aware that Cheshire East is investing £330,000 to boost the local economy. Hardly what I'd call dragging my feet, but I suppose writing about that wouldn't be quite so pithy.
He complains about the roadworks - and whilst his literary illustrations are entertaining they're not quite true. We do have a lot of roadworks going on at the moment, but they're hardly choking the town centre. I also believe he knows full well that to prevent these roadworks would need a change in national policy that Cheshire East can't implement.
But in truth, it's the final comment which got me.
His essentially suggestion is that none of us are voicing our concerns over the town centre - especially the transport / parking issue.
This is so untrue and uninformed that it's offensive. I appreciate that he may not know what every councillor is doing, but most people are aware of what I am working on because of this blog, twitter, and regular coverage I get in the paper he writes in.
Chamber of trade, local loyalty schemes, parking, art in shop windows, markets and litter. It's all been in there - and that's before we get onto the Town Centre redevelopment which has serious implications in the FOI act also. It's not just been "sparks" either - I've manged to create fire on several issues, although I accept that in the public sector it's rather slow burning.
So come on Vic, keep up with the times will you? Why don't you get yourself on Twitter and then you can keep yourself more up to date.
But sometimes I wonder if he just jots down a few sentences before the print deadline without giving any thought or consideration to the content. My supposition is that some of his views are not very reasoned at all.
This is a great example from last weeks Macclesfield Express.
He doesn't get off to a good start with this:
"God knows what they talk about at council meetings?"
This, as regular readers will know, is like a red rag to a bull for me.
As meetings are minuted and open to the public, then he could find out if he wanted to. In fact, I've not seen a single professional journalist from the Maccelsfield Express (I assume he does receive a pay cheque? He may do it for the free doggie advertising...) at any of our meetings, so it's no surprise that they're in the dark when it comes to what was discussed.
Perhaps it's for this reason Vic isn't aware that Cheshire East is investing £330,000 to boost the local economy. Hardly what I'd call dragging my feet, but I suppose writing about that wouldn't be quite so pithy.
He complains about the roadworks - and whilst his literary illustrations are entertaining they're not quite true. We do have a lot of roadworks going on at the moment, but they're hardly choking the town centre. I also believe he knows full well that to prevent these roadworks would need a change in national policy that Cheshire East can't implement.
But in truth, it's the final comment which got me.
I’d expect to see sparks flying over the current state of our town centres.
His essentially suggestion is that none of us are voicing our concerns over the town centre - especially the transport / parking issue.
This is so untrue and uninformed that it's offensive. I appreciate that he may not know what every councillor is doing, but most people are aware of what I am working on because of this blog, twitter, and regular coverage I get in the paper he writes in.
Chamber of trade, local loyalty schemes, parking, art in shop windows, markets and litter. It's all been in there - and that's before we get onto the Town Centre redevelopment which has serious implications in the FOI act also. It's not just been "sparks" either - I've manged to create fire on several issues, although I accept that in the public sector it's rather slow burning.
So come on Vic, keep up with the times will you? Why don't you get yourself on Twitter and then you can keep yourself more up to date.
Monday, 6 July 2009
Childrens and Families
I'm a member of the Children's and Families scrutiny committee, and today was our latest meeting.
A lot of our time recently has been taking up with issues about "looked after children" - which means Children in Care. Essentially councils up and down the country are desperate to ensure that another Baby P doesn't happen, and this has been driven by a report by Lord Laming.
One intriguing thing I found out today was that the number of Children in care in Cheshire East increased from 308 in March 2008 to 348 in March 2009, an increase of 15%. This is quite an unexpected rise, possibly driven by social workers not wanting to take any risks.
Evidentially we'd prefer that there were no children in care at all, but then I'd rather they were in care than in danger and so it's difficult to feel concern about the increase in figures. I suppose the concern is that the Children were being looked after inappropriately in the first place and makes one wonder if we could have done anything to assist the parents before it got to this stage.
However the real problem is educational outcomes for these individuals. Of all the Children in care 15 took GCSE's last year, and only 2 passed 5 or more with A-C's. That's a serious concern to me.
A lot of our time recently has been taking up with issues about "looked after children" - which means Children in Care. Essentially councils up and down the country are desperate to ensure that another Baby P doesn't happen, and this has been driven by a report by Lord Laming.
One intriguing thing I found out today was that the number of Children in care in Cheshire East increased from 308 in March 2008 to 348 in March 2009, an increase of 15%. This is quite an unexpected rise, possibly driven by social workers not wanting to take any risks.
Evidentially we'd prefer that there were no children in care at all, but then I'd rather they were in care than in danger and so it's difficult to feel concern about the increase in figures. I suppose the concern is that the Children were being looked after inappropriately in the first place and makes one wonder if we could have done anything to assist the parents before it got to this stage.
However the real problem is educational outcomes for these individuals. Of all the Children in care 15 took GCSE's last year, and only 2 passed 5 or more with A-C's. That's a serious concern to me.
Parking Review / Residents Parking
There is now a wealth of information about the Macclesfield Parking Review online here:
http://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/transport_and_travel/car_parks_and_parking/macclesfield_area/parking_review.aspx
The questionnaire will also be available on this page from the 13th July.
http://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/transport_and_travel/car_parks_and_parking/macclesfield_area/parking_review.aspx
The questionnaire will also be available on this page from the 13th July.
Sunday, 5 July 2009
A bit late now...
...but I was intended on posting these a few weeks ago as a teaser before the toddlers play area opened. Unfortunately I forgot to download them from my phone.
So try and conjure up some level of anticipation as you remember what the play area looked like half way through construction:
So try and conjure up some level of anticipation as you remember what the play area looked like half way through construction:
Thursday, 2 July 2009
'shopped!
A very odd one this - as one of our officers not only has very poor photoshop skills, but they also haven't learnt the lessons of James Purnell.
I received a press release this week from our Council. It had this photo:
With the attached caption:
Taking a look closer (click if you want to see it larger):
It's clear that the board that they are holding has been painted blue in photoshop (badly, they've missed bits and didn't blend around the fingers) and then they've typed some dead straight text onto a not so straight board.
The interesting questions is what did the board say before?
I received a press release this week from our Council. It had this photo:
With the attached caption:
Photo Caption: Celebrating the launch of The Mayor’s Scholarship Fund are (left to right) Dennis Dunn, Dean of MMU Cheshire, Councillor Brian Silvester and Rob Allen, Director of Partnerships at Wulvern Housing.Fine so far...or is it? The thing is, the photo doesn't really stand up to scrutiny.
Taking a look closer (click if you want to see it larger):
It's clear that the board that they are holding has been painted blue in photoshop (badly, they've missed bits and didn't blend around the fingers) and then they've typed some dead straight text onto a not so straight board.
The interesting questions is what did the board say before?
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
New Roads
Building roads is difficult. It's expensive, many will disagree with the environmental implications, and it takes a long time. However it has the power to transform places, especially where the economy is throttled by transport issues.
Personally, I love the idea of building a motorway through Congleton so that I could get to the M6 and therefore business meetings across the country quicker. Obviously that's never going to happen, but it's nice to dream.
A more sensible scheme is the SEMMS relief road (Poynton bypass). This concept has made some progress, but there's rumours that the Poynton section may not get built and with a cost in excess of £300m it's always going to be a slow process. If it does get built it will provide some excellent links for us when travelling north.
More recently a number of people have been talking about a more modest scheme in Macclesfield. This would be a road to link Congleton Road with London Road (essentially across Danes Moss-ish area). The idea of this is that it would relieve pressure on the Flowerpot Junction, Park Lane, etc and would form a direct and quicker route into and through town.
Sounds good in practice, but this could only be feasible if work was done on Mill Lane and I don't think it would be generally popular with residents down that end of town who would see an increase in traffic.
Other problems include the Moss being a SSSI (so I'm told, you wouldn't believe it looking at the state of some of it). The road could be routed over the landfill site once it is closed, and my friendly geo-technical engineer tells me that whilst this brings complications of it's own, it's not impossible.
The final barrier to cross would be the railway line. So for such a small road the costs are going to be high. Would it bring sufficient benefits?
Personally, I love the idea of building a motorway through Congleton so that I could get to the M6 and therefore business meetings across the country quicker. Obviously that's never going to happen, but it's nice to dream.
A more sensible scheme is the SEMMS relief road (Poynton bypass). This concept has made some progress, but there's rumours that the Poynton section may not get built and with a cost in excess of £300m it's always going to be a slow process. If it does get built it will provide some excellent links for us when travelling north.
More recently a number of people have been talking about a more modest scheme in Macclesfield. This would be a road to link Congleton Road with London Road (essentially across Danes Moss-ish area). The idea of this is that it would relieve pressure on the Flowerpot Junction, Park Lane, etc and would form a direct and quicker route into and through town.
Sounds good in practice, but this could only be feasible if work was done on Mill Lane and I don't think it would be generally popular with residents down that end of town who would see an increase in traffic.
Other problems include the Moss being a SSSI (so I'm told, you wouldn't believe it looking at the state of some of it). The road could be routed over the landfill site once it is closed, and my friendly geo-technical engineer tells me that whilst this brings complications of it's own, it's not impossible.
The final barrier to cross would be the railway line. So for such a small road the costs are going to be high. Would it bring sufficient benefits?
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