Brilliant phone canvassing session tonight with
As you can see lots of tea, coffee and quality biscuits. Tempt you to join in?
We meet at my house every Tuesday at 7pm until 8.30pm.
Please get in touch if you would like to help out.
Labour’s candidates for the May County Council elections in Glossopdale have accused Conservative-controlled Derbyshire County Council of incompetence in it’s handling of plans for a new library on the site of the Old St. Luke’s School site.
Damien Greenhalgh said that the County Council’s plan to demolish the former school and build a new library in its place is in “chaos”.
His comments come as the Council announced that its own planning committee would now meet to decide the planning application on March 25, not March 13 as originally intended. Derbyshire County Council cited ‘delays in finalising the anticipated reports’ for the change of date.
Damien called on Derbyshire County Council Leader, Andrew Lewer, to use the extra time to fulfil his specific personal pledge to hold information days and consult local people as stated in his open letter of 8th November 2012.
Failure to hold the meetings was just another failure on the part of the County Council to pay regard to the strong feelings of the people of Glossopdale.
Branding the process as chaotic Damien highlighted mistakes such as the over stated usage numbers. When the new library was first proposed it was estimated that there would be 310,000 visits, this figure has since been revised downward to 150,000.
He said: “It is unbelievable that the figure should change so much over night. The Council has since admitted it got the numbers wrong which begs the question about what other mistakes could have been made in the haste to get the plans through before the May elections”.
“The biggest mistake of all is the county council’s insistence on pushing through these plans without proper public consultation and without any public support.”
Email postponing the Planning Control Committee – Click here
It was a double dose of doorknocking today; kicking off with myself and the Glossopdale Labour team – joined by comrades from Tameside Labour – out around High Street East and Royal Avenue.
Then it was straight off to Buxton for a constituency campaign meeting followed by doorknocking in the Barms area of the Buxton North East division for Caitlin Bisknell.
Slow start to inaugural weekly phone canvassing session at my house tonight. We were was cooking on gas by the end of it though with about 20 solid promises in all.
Labour’s candidate for the May County Council elections in Glossopdale has accused the leader of Derbyshire County Council of reneging on his promise that information days at the Victoria Hall Library would be held when the County Council submitted plans for it’s new Library on the site of the Old St. Lukes School site.
Damien Greenhalgh said that the failure to put into action a specific pledge represented another letdown on the part of the County Council to pay regard to the feelings of local people.
In his open letter published on 8th November 2012, County Council Leader Councillor Andrew Lewer said “We are keen to work alongside local people.”
He then went on to write that he “would urge local people to get involved by commenting on the plans when the Council seeks planning permission over the next few weeks, or by attending one of our information days at the library…”
With consultation due to end on 14th February, Mr Greenhalgh said there appeared to be no intention to hold a realistic and reasonable discussion with the Glossopdale community.
“When a senior Borough Councillor phoned the Library on Monday afternoon (4th. Feb), staff confirmed that no consultation had so far been held, but that a senior manager would return his call. A very senior officer rang back to confirm that there was no intention to hold any information days at the library until after the planning application had been granted.”
“If they do end up holding a meeting, it will be as a result of this intervention rather than because they intended to listen to the people of Glossopdale.”
Damien Greenhalgh said that an additional Derbyshire planning committee had been called for 13th March. He suspected that this was to allow the application to go forward would not consider whether people wanted investment in Victoria Hall or in the demolition of the old St Lukes building.
Derbyshire County Council Labour Leader Anne Western has already promised a new consultation will be undertaken in conjunction with High Peak Council if Labour take over at the May elections.
This evening saw the selection of my friend and colleague Ellie Wilcox to be my fellow Labour candidate for the double Glossop and Charlesworth seat. This follows the unfortunate withdrawal of Maggie Mooney for personal reasons.
CLP Chair, Fiona Sloman (L) and Anne Western, Leader of Derbyshire Labour Group (R) and myself with Ellie shortly after her selection as candidate.
Ellie Wilcox is currently Borough Councillor for Padfield and has helped them to solve issues involving housing and homelessness, food poverty, and anti-social behaviour. She has been active in developing the Bare Necessities Food Bank and has supported local groups with money from her councillors’ initiative fund.
Derbyshire County Council Labour Group Leader Anne Western has made a pledge to the people of Glossopdale that if elected, Derbyshire Labour will consult on the best ways to sustain library provision in the Victoria Hall and make best use of the “campus of buildings” that cluster around the library.
She has also given an assurance that the £2,000,000 which Labour set aside more than five years ago, will still be available for a fully-costed value for money project that will enhance both library and adult education provision.
“The absence of consultation by the present Conservative County Council leadership on this project so far has been outrageous. There appears to be no local support for their latest proposal, no serious attempts to identify a new venue for social services staff and no serious intention to listen to SOUL and other organisations about their vision for future use.”
Councillor Western revealed that she had been kept appraised of local feelings by the two Labour County Council candidates for Glossopdale, Maggie Mooney and Damien Greenhalgh.
“They tell me that in conversation, and whilst knocking on doors from Simmondley to Old Glossop, they have heard no positive comments from anyone about the proposal to abandon the Victoria Hall as the community’s library.”
She acknow
ledged that Local Councillors have to make difficult choices, particularly in today’s financial climate.
“But to completely ignore the SOUL’s petition of a thousand plus signatures and not even consult on the new proposal is totally unacceptable.”
Councillor Western said that a public consultation would be conducted in conjunction with High Peak Borough Council, who will also be expected to contribute to the strategy and funding of improvements.
“In these hard times, and until we have examined County Council finances in detail, there are very few commitments that we can make. But Glossop library is an exception as the money has been sitting around for the last four years. It may buy less than it would have done four years ago, but in my view it remains ear-marked.”
Maggie Mooney confirmed that she was pleased with the assurances she had been given.
Damien Greenhalgh said that he had still to hear any voices supporting the abandonment of the Victoria Hall, the demolition of the old St. Luke’s building and the construction of a library that appeared out of keeping with the surrounding properties.
Friday saw Derbyshire Labour’s Alan Charles elected as the first Police And Crime Commissioner for Derbyshire.
I would like to reiterate my sincere congratulations to him and his team on their victory, and equally the victory for the people of Derbyshire:- with their police service now safeguarded from the threat of privatisation.
I also know that in Alan we have a vociferous champion for public services in this county, who will fight the proposed reckless government cuts of 20%.
Alan gained 44.3% of electors first preference votes and 61.1% once second preferences has been share between himself and the Tory candidate Simon Spencer. See full results below:
Derbyshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Election 2012 Results
Although Alan received this majority, this was on an official turnout of just 14.75% which is extremely disappointing – especially in a mature democracy such as ours.
So where does blame lie for this? Squarely at the desks of Theresa May and David Cameron!
In the run-up to this PCC election – which cost £1 million here in Derbyshire alone – the government was rightly criticised for not doing enough to publicise these election and for virtually guaranteeing a low turnout by holding ballots in the cold and dark month of November. This, despite stating they wanted independent candidates to have a fighting chance. And worst of all has been its proven incompetence, at best, and maladministration, at worst, epitomised by the £350,000 spent printing Welsh ballot papers in English rather than both English and Welsh.
This costly and extremely flawed flagship policy is a further example of Cameron’s maxim for all government policy:
Insufficiently funded, incompetently executed and unpopular with voters.
So here’s wishing Alan and all his fellow Commissioners the best of luck in protecting our communities from crime, and from the long cutting tentacles of the Coalition Government.
Tomorrow sees polls open for people to vote for Derbyshire first Police and Crime Commissioner.
Whether you agree with the creation of these posts or not, this flawed election is very important. All who have the opportunity to vote should do so.
The Labour Party must rightly contest these elections; the alternative would be to let the Tories push forward with their plan for massive private contracts for important public policing including neighbourhood patrols – that’s despite the G4S debacle this summer.
In Alan Charles we have a fantastic candidate. He has pledged to :
Polling station are open across Glossopdale from 7am to 10pm.
So please take take 5 minutes out of your day to vote ALAN CHARLES for Derbyshire PCC!
As previously mentioned the new Glossop and Charlesworth Division is a two-member ward. This mean that the Labour Party will be fielding two candidates; and I am delighted to be able to tell you that our other candidate will be Maggie Mooney.
Damien and Maggie at this years Party Conference
Maggie was born in Stockport, the daughter of a railwayman. She became a social worker, moved into adult education and held senior posts in Bournemouth and Halton Councils before becoming Chief Executive of Carlisle City Council in 2005. Maggie retired last year and moved back to Glossopdale with her husband Brian. She has been enjoying not being in a politically restricted position and has been very active in local groups and the Party.
I’m thoroughly looking forward to the next few months on the campaign with her.
Damientg 