The end of an era....

The Macclesfield Express is on the newsagents shelves this morning as it is every Wednesday morning.

However, this weeks copy will be the last* to have been published by a group of journalists working in Macclesfield. At the end of this week, they all move to Deansgate in Manchester.

It is unclear how much of an impact this is going to have on the paper, and how much of an impact it's going to have on the town. But if we're all honest, it's not going to improve things.

(*Technically, next weeks will be 50% Macc, but lets not let that get in the way of our sentimentality)

Clarification....

I've had a few people contact me about yesterday's blog and I just wanted to clarify something.

I wasn't suggesting that Politicians should get paid more, or that the imbalance between Civil Servants and Politicians is wrong. (although it might be....I'm not trying to cover that here).

The only point that I was trying to make was that it's not right to compare salaries of the two as if they were the same.*

Apologies to anyone who was mislead.

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* And more specifically, be negative about the individuals because of it. In my view democracy in this country doesn't function as well as it could. This could be because of the way the Parties operate, it could be because of the way first past the post operates. But one reason I am sure of is that it seems to be fine for people to be rude and abusive about Politicians and Council officers.

This constant knocking has the awful effect of removing a positive feedback loop for these people. They have no way of judging if their viewpoints or actions are being well received because any constructive criticism is drowned out by the noise. Invariably, the kind of people we would like to see as our elective representatives can't work in these conditions and we end up with a high proportion of people who would rather keep their heads down than fully engage with the electorate.

And is that what we set out to do?

Ivy Bank Primary School

As part of the Ward Walk last week, I took Erika Wenzel to meet with the headmaster of Ivy Bank Primary school to discuss plans to improve the school.

The Head would like to improve the amount that the school can be used for community use, which I think is an excellent idea. For those of us who live in what used to be "Ivy" ward - the nearest buildings which can be used for community spaces are the centre on Earlsway, and the Fermain youth centre. Neither of these are particularly close or easy to get to, especially if you live the other side of Valley Road.

Part of the suggested plans would allow a few rooms (including the hall) to be used by the Community. If need be, this could be during the school day as physcial segregation would ensure that child walfare was properly looked after.

It's a bit of a tricky one this because it's not going to add any pupil capacity to the school. This means that it might be a bit difficult for the governors to get funding for it. But the fact remains that although there is enough classroom space, the hall is much smaller than would be ideal, and the school lacks other facilities it could do with such as a Library.

That doesn't seem to put the Parents off - Ivy Bank is currently over subscribed.

Barlow: deliberately misleading?

If there's one thing that gets my goat it's when people deliberately twist facts and figures. Not because they don't understand them, but because they want to use them to prove a point that the figures don't actually prove.

In this weeks 'Express Vic Barlow asks if we can trust anyone anymore. In a typically amusing piece, he notes the bankers fall from grace. Good start so far.

But he later moves onto the salaries of those running the council and compares them to ministers. He knows that it's a ludicrous comparison, but he's safe in the knowledge that none of the cabinet or the execs will dare criticize it for fear of more talk of gravy trains.

I know Barlow knows the difference, but lets spell it out. At all levels of government was have Politicians and Civil Servants. One gets elected and gets paid not a huge amount for the skills they should have and the work that they should do*. The other is a paid employee with no political affiliation, is there to carry out the policies of those elected and is intended to get paid a fair market wage.

So if you'd like to compare our Chief Executive, Erika to someone - don't make it the Prime Minister. The correct comparison for the PM would be Wesley, the leader of the Council. (He's the politician, you see).

You should compare Erika to Gus O'Donnell. He's the Cabinet Secretary and essentially the head of the Civil Service for the National Government.

Vic will then immediately note that Gus gets paid roughly double what Erika does. Or another way, Erika gets paid half.

Does he work twice the amount of hours? Is he twice as clever? Does he produce twice the amount of work?

The Chief Executive of our Council has a tremendous responsibility to ensure that the services which we take for granted in our lives - such as education, rubbish collection and social services - all function correctly. If she's not doing that correctly then lets make a song and dance over it.

Still, it's nice to know we agree on Parking Charges:
http://darrylbeckford.blogspot.com/2009/02/parkingagain.html

* You may feel that's a controversial point - but we really do want the best of the best, don't we?

Dogs

There's a new sign popped up outside the college which says "No Dogs". There is a terrific temptation for me to make some inappropriate jokes about entry conditions, and the knowledge that my wife keeps an eye on this site is what's keeping me on the correct side of decency.

But there's more news about Doggies - and I wouldn't be surprised if we see Barlow moaning about this one next week.

Cheshire East has today announced a new policy for stray dogs.

£80 if your dog gets picked up, and you have to collect him from a Kennel. If he's chipped or has a tag and then you'll only pay £40 first time around and I think the warden will drop him back home to you.

I don't disagree with this. It costs money to have dog wardens, and there needs to be an incentive to not lose your dog. The first offence thing is a nice idea - especially as I know from personal experience that dogs have a habit of escaping from friends gardens when they're staying with them. (Remember that, Chris?)

Anyway...the killer here is that your dog will get taken to a Kennel.......(wait for it)......in Stoke.

As in on Trent. Stoke on Trent. In Staffordshire. Not Cheshire.

It's a two hour round trip for people in Macc, Poynton, Knutsford, Wilmslow. What on earth were we thinking?

Speeding on Ivy Lane

Yesterday, I attempted to organise a community speedwatch event on Ivy Lane as a background activity whilst we* chatted to some of the residents about complaints of speeding on the road.

I'm not a fan of the whole speedwatch idea. I remember talking to someone from head office at the Party conference last year and telling them how rubbish it was. I don't know, therefore, quite how I found myself organising one. I suppose the reason is that it seemed an appropriate activity that would be enough of a pull to get everyone together in one place to have a chat.

Unfortunately the speedwatch didn't work out - someone had nabbed the coppers gun from the police station (an inside job?!), and the residents said in no uncertain terms that they wouldn't have done it anyway. After all, it's the job of the police they said.

The funny thing is that everytime someone from the ward gets nabbed speeding themselves, they ring me up to say that the police should be out catching murderers and thieves.

So we just can't win**.

Anyway - I was chuffed that so many of the residents turned out. I notified 30 houses and had 10 residents. It gave us an opportunity to discuss some wider issues and I hope the residents found it worthwhile speaking to us. I've picked up some action points and I hope we'll be able to fully investigate the Ivy Lane situation.

* we being: Erika Wenzel, Wesley Fitzgerald, John Nicholson, Cllr Sandy Bentley and myself.

** At this point I was on the cusp of dropping into "Why do I bother?" mode, which after two bouts of abuse on the Weston I think I'm still teetering on the edge of....

Erika and Budget

I've been out with our Chief Exec, Erika Wenzel, all afternoon and so I've not had a chance to work out what's in the budget.

So I'll let our George from Rainow do it for me:

Today

I'll be walking around parts of the ward this afternoon with Erika Wenzel - the new Chief Executive of our Council. If you see us, be sure to stop us and say hello!

I've been planning and looking forward to this visit for a while, and I was convinced that the weather was going to be fine. It was when I got up, but a strange Dickensian fog has just blow across Macclesfield. I hope it's not a sign of some sort?!

Neighbourhood Plan

If you're a resident of the Weston, then I need your help.

I've just come back from the second Weston Neighborhood plan meeting. We're trying to put a plan together which outlines what changes the residents would like to see on the estate: what projects they'd like working on, what are the hot topics? etc....

We can't do this without the help of the residents themselves. So if you've got an opinion on what's not quite right about the community then please get in touch and I'll ensure you get details of the upcoming meetings.

Thanks in advance.

Full of surprises

Perhaps this isn't news for those who have lived in Macc all their lives, but it's certainly news to me.

I was surprised when I found out that the portrait of Cllr Thelma Jackson in the town hall had been painted by Cllr Beard. I knew Chris, but I never new he was a fine artist. Still...I suppose it's not the kind of thing that usually comes up in conversation.

But it turns out that there's even more to Chris than meets the eye...he was one of the leading members of a band called "The Purple Gang" in the 60's that nearly made it big. They probably would have done if they hadn't been banned by the BBC.

More details at Wikipedia here.

One of their performances here: