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Archive => Archived Boards => Local Issues => Topic started by: moorendman on February 08, 2011, 10:35:17 PM
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Lots of news this week about cuts in budgets & services in local government , Manchester, Liverpool, Blackburn, Trafford - any news from Stockport MBC yet?
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I noticed in the local paper, Council Leader Dave Goddard is planning to cut his waistline and lose 3 stone for charity. He doesn't seem to be cutting anywhere else having just spent £15M of our money on Grand Central, in his words putting his money where his mouth is. Sadly, he's failed to realise its not his money and more worryingly, its just increased the council's overdraft yet further. it would be cheaper to fill our potholes with rolls of fivers the way he seems to like spending money.
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There are a number of redundancies and also I have heard there will be no bulb planting.. or hanging baskets.. that sort of thing.
Stockport in bloom! not this year it would seem
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Woodbank Nursery is being closed (or it is being discussed with unions depending on what you read / hear) and there are moves afoot to grass over ornamental flowerbeds in our parks. Friends of Bramhall Park were featured on the front of the Stockport Times complaining about this last week.
They actually started to do it in Memorial Park last week and I managed to get the work suspended until the Friends of Memorial Park have discussed the situation with SMBC representatives. The work was started without FOMMP being notified (let alone consulted) which I find very disconcerting.
I imagine I will be posting more about this after the meeting with them on Friday but will probably start a new topic.
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Disconcerting indeed - well done for stopping it! (What price the Big Society... :-(
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We have elected Tories in Marple - yellow ones!!
Turfing the flowerbeds is going to be the thin end of the wedge.
Even today liberal democrat leaders up and down the country have written to the government to ask them to abate the pace of the cuts because the council leaders say they will hit the most vulnerable most, and Andrew Stunnell has dismissed their plight as 'pointless debate'
How he has changed his tune - do we have a green candidate?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/feb/10/grassroots-lib-dems-anger-government-cuts
No passaran Comrades!
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The devil will be in the detail which won't become apparent until after the May elections and you have placed your x in the box. Knowing the full extent of the cuts now would be like turkey's voting for Christmas and kissing good by to 4 more years at the trough of power.
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It is certainly irresponsible to ignore the hard work of the FOMMP group whilst altering all that's been done by them.
It just goes to show the public that the council/government think they know better than to consult others opinions.
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I support the cuts, local authority spending has gone therough the roof over the last 13 years. The scottish PM' s mismanagement has given us a 10% tax as council tax. At last we have a govt curtailing the local authority's incompetence
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I think Stockpot MBC offer a great service to the community especially Social Services where cuts have not had an impact on community services.
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cuts have not had an impact on community services.
....yet! The spending cuts don't take effect untill next next week!
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cuts have not had an impact on community services.
....yet! The spending cuts don't take effect untill next next week!
You know me Dave I have inside information ;)
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As we saw last weekend, the vast majority of the population support the cuts, some will impact us but they are in minor areas.
Thank googness we don't have a council like Manchester's
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As we saw last weekend....
Did we? where?
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As we saw last weekend....
Did we? where?
Well we saw a nationally organised demo against cuts and about 1/2 a million turned up (mostly having a monetary interest in the cuts not going ahead), that leaves 62 1/2 m who support the cuts.
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Oh I see. So if you don't go out and demonstrate against something, you must be in favour of it? So as there were about 50,000 people demonstrating against university fees in London last November, that means that 62,950,000 of us are in favour of our kids paying £9,000 a year to go to uni? Or as about 750,000 people demonstrated in London against the Iraq invasion in 2003, that means 62,250,000 of us were in favour of invading Iraq? Come on, Duke, get a grip! ::)
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Oh I see. So if you don't go out and demonstrate against something, you must be in favour of it? So as there were about 50,000 people demonstrating against university fees in London last November, that means that 62,950,000 of us are in favour of our kids paying £9,000 a year to go to uni? Or as about 750,000 people demonstrated in London against the Iraq invasion in 2003, that means 62,250,000 of us were in favour of invading Iraq? Come on, Duke, get a grip! ::)
Well, if your kids are paying £9k they are going to oxbridge and therefore, they'll be earning very will indeed in no time. Overall, i think most people who can do sums can work out that higher educatuion needs funding in such a way.
As for Iraq, well as a major factor at the time, the govt of the time got re-elected OK on the back of it (admittedly, that govt hadn't released thier ticking time bomb at the time)
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But its not just Oxbridge that are proposing to charge the maximum of £9000.
Manchester and Liverpool John Moores have said they will charge £9000, and Leeds Met have proposed £8500. Expect many others to follow their example.
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Sorry, I seem to have set hares running! I wasn't seeking to make a point about university fees, or about Iraq. I was simply using the demos related to those issues, to show that the number of people attending a demo doesn't tell you anything very much about the views of the rest of the population, which is what you seemed to be suggesting.
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But its not just Oxbridge that are proposing to charge the maximum of £9000.
Manchester and Liverpool John Moores have said they will charge £9000, and Leeds Met have proposed £8500. Expect many others to follow their example.
I noticed John Moores charging £9k, I think it will be a pretty empty place at that price.
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Disconcerting indeed - well done for stopping it! (What price the Big Society... :-(
It's exactly what the big society is for. The friends of the parrk group are a big society solution, if they can organise the upkeep of the park with minimal interference from the council, that is very good.
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Indeed. FOMMP would seem to be a good example of the Big Society in action. But if local authorities ignore such organisations, as SMBC appeared to in this case, then it ain't going to work. :(
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Indeed. FOMMP would seem to be a good example of the Big Society in action. But if local authorities ignore such organisations, as SMBC appeared to in this case, then it ain't going to work. :(
The council should be doing the basics like the mowing of grass etc and the friends of park should be allowed to supplement the work with their voluntary services with which the council should be sharing their equipment
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I don't think the sharing of council equipment could happen. It would be an 'elf and safety minefield.
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I agree, Duke. However, my point is that this can only work if councils acknowledge the presence of community organisations, rather than ignoring them as SMBC did on this occasion.
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I agree, Duke. However, my point is that this can only work if councils acknowledge the presence of community organisations, rather than ignoring them as SMBC did on this occasion.
This will be the real problem with big society working. In this case the council will not really want a community doing what council sees as it's job for them. Council want to be bigger with big budgets, they've had a taste of spending lots of our money and now they see power being lost to society and they will not want that.