Gritting update: Council staff were out again last night clearing all primary, secondary and most so called third tier roads plus car parks.

Monday 6th February 2012 08:05 via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@medway_council

Medway Council

Before the snow arrived on Saturday night, the council’s gritters were out in full force ensuring primary and secondary roads were covered and would be safe to drive on in spite of the predicted onslaught of wintry weather.

However, there is some dispute as to their final assertion, regarding gritting the council’s car parks:

Would like to thank @medway_council for gritting Riverside Car Park. [/sarcasm]

Saturday 4th February 2012 22:28 via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@AlanWCollins

Alan W Collins

As is visible from the photograph above, Riverside car park in Chatham was covered in a blanket of near-undisturbed snow.

This was despite the fact that both the Royal Air Forces Association Club and the Command House were both open and the car park was clearly in use by customers who would clearly wish to return home at the end of the night.

When there were incidents in snow- and ice-covered car parks during the last bout, there were promises aplenty from Medway Council that more would be done next time to ensure that they remained as safe as possible.

Yet, despite plenty of advanced warning of the incoming conditions, these promises were left broken once again.

Riverside car park is one of the most dangerous in Medway because of the steep slip road on which motorists must enter and exit in single file and which emerges on Dock Road blind to traffic coming from the right.

It is hazardous in normal conditions, but in snow and ice it is little short of lethal. It is only by stroke of luck that there were no accidents.

Perhaps next time it snows, Medway Council can ensure that, owing to the dangers, Riverside car park is added to the priority list to ensure the safety of residents and visitors charged until 10pm for the pleasure of using it.

The elected role was created by the coalition government after being a key Conservative election pledge to introduce accountability to policing and elections are due to take place on 15 November.

Until now, only the Iraq war veteran Colonel Tim Collins had announced that he wishes to seek the Conservative candidacy for the position – stating his intention to stand at last year’s Conservative Party Conference.

However, Cllr O’Brien will be a formiddable opponent. He has lived in Kent all his life and took on the council community safety portfolio after Cllr Rehman Chishti was elected to parliament in May 2010.

He is also chairman of the Medway Community Safety Partnership.

Cllr O’Brien told the Messenger “I am considering my application. The opportunity’s there and I think it’s an exciting one.

“I feel my experience stands me in good stead.”

Col Collins expressed concern about the role going to a “sunset councillor” – a charge Cllr O’Brien dismissed.

It is not yet clear how many other potential candidates will put their names forward.

The New Homes Bonus is a multi-billion pound programme that rewards communities when they accept more housebuilding in their area. The Bonus includes an extra reward for building new affordable homes, and for getting long-term empty homes back into use.

It was announced on 1 February by Housing Minister Grant Shapps, who also highlighted how the Government’s action to get Britain building again will play a vital and central role in getting the country’s economy on the road to recovery.

Among the range of measures to get the homes the country needs built, the Minister announced that he has already identified enough Government land to build 80,000 homes, and is now working with organisations including the BBC and Royal Mail to find even more unused sites for housebuilding – meaning Ministers are on course to release enough land for 100,000 homes by 2015.

Mr Shapps also announced details of the NewBuy Guarantee scheme to help those aspiring to buy newly-built properties to do so with just a fraction of the deposit that’s normally required and that he is devolving power from Whitehall to Town Halls, ending a long-standing ‘tax on tenants’ in a £19 billion deal enabling councils to keep the rents they collect and invest the money in their homes.

Following the publication of Medway’s grant allocation Mr Reckless said “building on the flagship Housing Strategy, the Government has this week unveiled a range of measures to help first time buyers onto the housing ladder, provide support for millions who have been left languishing on social housing waiting lists and get construction on the move.

“The announcement that, through the New Homes Bonus, Medway Council has been granted £2,317,239 this year to build much-needed housing in the local area is welcome. The New Homes Bonus, which will start being paid in March, is a multi-billion pound programme which rewards communities when they accept more housebuilding in their area and includes extra rewards for building new affordable homes, and for getting long-term empty homes back into use.

“Medway Council, under the leadership of our excellent group of Conservative Councillors, will have ultimate oversight of any proposed building development, not central government. It will be the job of locally elected, and therefore accountable, representatives to decide on the benefits of building new affordable homes versus the human, environmental and economic impact of continuing with Labour’s failed housing policies.

“Labour led Britain into a housing crisis – the number of affordable homes fell, waiting lists almost doubled and first-time buyer numbers collapsed to their lowest level for a generation.

“As I said on Wednesday in reply to Simon Hughes in the House of Commons debate on Welfare Reform, it is not fair that many of my constituents are forced to get up at 6 in the morning to catch a coach to London because they cannot afford to pay the fare for the train, let alone find the rent for a flat in Bermondsey. It is not fair that the taxes of so many hard-working residents in my constituency of Rochester and Strood are supporting people on benefits who live permanently without a job in some of the most expensive accommodation in the country.

“The government is right to tackle the lack of decent homes as a priority while also addressing the huge imbalance in the welfare system which traps people on benefits. I am delighted to welcome the Government’s £2.3m funding for new homes in Medway, which is far more than generous than the grant allocated to our more leafy neighbours such as Sevenoaks and Tunbridge Wells (£645,997 and £597,603 respectively).

“The Government’s action will help local people onto the housing ladder, provide more affordable housing and create local jobs.”

“Dissent in any debate is a healthy thing but the Liberal Democrats’ eleventh hour intervention over Medway’s bid for city status is a shame.

“What are they trying to achieve by attempting to scupper a bid that previously had all-party support? – (they now deny this). The time to be openly opposing our application was long, long ago, not now the race is pretty much run. Everyone would have respected their point of view, even if they disagreed with it.

“All the points they put in their letter to Nick Clegg could have been made right from the start, yet they seek to damage the bid with the timing of their intervention. That is cynical and treacherous. Point-scoring and political gestures were never part of their modus operandi, but it would appear now they are.

“The Lib Dems have seen their influence wane, which is sad for they have a big part to play in providing a counterweight to the two-party political establishment. Their problem is no one really knows what they stand for any more. And we suspect, neither do they.”

Notes

1. Editorial, ‘Messenger Comment’ Medway Messenger (Strood, 27 January 2012) 22

The national paper last night revealed that Mr Cameron is expected to launch a consultation on a new airport within weeks, with the expectation that the Conservative Party leader will support a new airport in the South East.

The decision to back a new hub airport in th Thames Estuary will provide a major boost to the Mayor of London’s re-election bid this year. Boris Johnson, who will see a challenge from Labour’s Ken Livingstone in the contest, has been calling for an airport to be built on an artificial island in the estuary – dubbed “Boris Island”.

The announcement had been due to be made on 3rd January, but was blocked by the Liberal Democrat Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. Conservatives claimed it was purely a cynical political move, to avoid a boost to Mr Johnson, who the Liberal Democrats will also be challenging in May.

However, a Liberal Democrat source told The Daily Telegraph that “aviation policy is very sensitive and we didn’t support rushing out an announcement over the New Year.

“The consultation will almost certainly be launched in March and Nick Clegg does not have a fixed view on the outcome.”

The UK is in need of aviation capacity expansion in order to remain a major economic competitor on the world stage, and failure to act now could have dire consequences over the next 50 years.

However, there are also serious enviornmental and safety concerns to building an airport in the Thames Estuary and The View from Medway will be abondoning policy independence and Founding Editor Alan W Collins will be abandoning party loyalty to fiercly and publicly oppose these proposals.

We will be looking at the issues in more detail over the coming days, weeks and months (and, if necessary, years!) and will be fighting alongside every other opponent to the airport (irrespective of party or ideology), focusing energy where it matters: at the heart of government and government influence.

Ladies and gentlemen of Medway: this is no longer an issue we can silently shake our heads in disagreement to when we read it in the paper. The government has stepped up the challenge – and we, too, must step up our opposition.

If you care about Medway, if you care about our countryside, if you care about our landscape, then join the fight. We need to send a clear, consistent and resounding message to the government:

THE PEOPLE OF MEDWAY SAY NO! TO A THAMES ESTUARY AIRPORT!

Members of all groups rallied around a report (which will be available here shortly) submitted to council which examined the proposals and the damaging short- and long-term effects they would have on Medway.

The Conservative Leader of the Council, Cllr Rodney Chambers, even confirmed that they would be willing to take the government to court if a proposal was made by the government – just as they had said when the Labour government proposed an airport at Cliffe in 2002.

The discussion was not all one-sided, however. The Labour Group, via Cllr Glyn Griffiths, introduced an amendment calling for a local referendum to prove local opinion was heavily against an airport in the Thames Estuary.

Any hopes that the Conservative administration would support it were dashed, however, when Cllr Tristan Osborne, seconding the amendment, launched in to a vitriolic attack against the Conservatives’ handling of the proposals thus far.

That led to much of the debate featuring condemnation of Cllr Osborne’s remarks.

Cllr Diane Chambers said that the administration had continually opposed the proposals and that all members should be working together to fight them, before having a dig at Cllr Osborne’s expense. “He was probably still a baby when the Labour government proposed an airport at Cliffe,” she said.

Deputy Council Leader Cllr Alan Jarrett said that Cllr Osborne had tried to turn the issue into an attack on the administration, adding “this issue should transcend party politics.” Cllr Mike O’Brien said he was appalled at Cllr Osborne. “We have had enough of being treated with contempt in London. Members opposite should not be sitting smugly, playing football with a serious issue and treating Medway residents with contempt.”

The Leader of the Labour Group, Cllr Paul Godwin, said that they were merely tring to assist the council by offering a referendum to provide solid statistics on local opposition but his Deputy Leader, Cllr Vince Maple, said that he was concerned that the council’s campaign to date had not been strong enough.

Independent Cllr Andy Stamp said that he supported the principles of holding a referendum, but believed that it needed to be looked at carefully before proceeding.

Ultimately, following a recorded vote, Labour’s amendment was lost with the Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Independent councillors all voting against.

Following a discussion on the original report, in which Conservative Cllr Adrian Gulvin said that economic development could not be sustained primarily in London and the South East, a recorded vote was held to demonstrate that the council unanimously opposed all three proposals.

Forty walkers completed the 60 mile journey from Canterbury Cathedral which finished three days later at Southwark Cathedral to mark 40 years of Crisis at Christmas.

The Walk to End Homelessness, which was originally called The Crisis Pilgrimage and last took place in the 1990s, marked the 40th anniversary of Crisis at Christmas and Crisis’ No One Turned Away campaign, calling on the Government to strengthen the law so that no one is forced to sleep rough.

The government recently announced a further £20 million to provide single people facing homelessness the help they need to get back on their feet and ensure that they don’t have to spend time on the streets.

Mr Reckless said “homelessness can be devastating and I am pleased to see the government, local council and charities like Crisis working to tackling it.

“I would like to pay tribute to the fantastic work undertaken by Crisis to help people keep out of the cold, and the remarkable volunteers who took part in this walk and everyone who supported them.

“I strongly support the work being done to help keep people off the streets and I welcome the government’s determination to back charities, councils and volunteers for homeless people.”

The decision came following a motion submitted to last night’s meeting of the full council by Labour Group Deputy Leader Cllr Vince Maple on what has been dubbed “legal loan sharking”.

According to Cllr Maple, the pay day loan industry has ballooned in value from about £100m in 2004 to about £1.7bn.

Providers, such as Wonga or QuickQuid, offer short-term loans which are designed to provide emergency money until pay day.

However, due to the ease and high cost of available credit, some people can end up using the services long-term and find themselves in ever-increasing debt, with many companies charging four-digit APR levels. Wonga has an APR of 4214%.

In proposing his motion, Cllr Maple expressed his concern that, at a recent Planning Committee meeting, all members wanted to refuse an application that was before them to change the use of a high street shop for a pay day loan company. “The officer’s advice was that it could not be realistically opposed,” he said.

The full motion read:

“This Council:

• “Welcomes the UK-wide cross party campaign to end ‘legal loan sharking’.
• “Believes that the lack of access to affordable credit is socially and economically damaging. Unaffordable credit is “causing a myriad of unwanted effects such as poorer diets, colder homes, rent, council tax and utility arrears, depression (which impacts on job seeking behaviour) and poor health.
• “Further notes that unaffordable credit is extracting wealth from the most deprived communities.
• “Believes it is the responsibility of all levels of government to try to ensure affordable credit for all, and therefore pledges to use best practice to promote financial literacy and affordable lending. This will help to ensure that wealth stays in the local economy.

“This Council therefore:

• “Calls on the government to introduce caps on the total lending rates that can be charged for providing credit.
• “Calls on the government to give local authorities the power to veto licences for high street credit agencies where they could have negative economic or social impacts on communities.
• “Pledges to promote credit unions in Medway, as community based organisations offering access to affordable credit and promoting saving.”

Labour Cllr Tristan Osborne, seconding the motion, said that the impact of pay day loans was being felt across Medway. “They may be legal,” he said, “but they are a leech on society.”

The principles of the motion were met with broad consensus from all members of the council. However, Conservative Cllr Tom Mason did not like the idea of creating council policy “on the hoof” and introduced an amendment which resolved to create a cross-party task group to examine the issue in depth, possibly inviting other interested parties, such as the Medway Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) Chief Executive Dan McDonald, on to the task group.

Conservative Cllr Howard Doe said that the council was already working with the Medway CAB and used the mobile library to try to educate residents on pay day loans and personal debt. However, he supported the task group to formulate a coherent policy and said that the companies are “an ill in society that needs to be eradicated and closely regulated.”

Cllr Teresa Murray said that she was “disappointed” that her party’s motion was being sidelined as “this is a problem which is happening now.” She said “we are all only a couple of months’ pay away from a bad situation.” However, Cllr Diane Chambers (Con) replied saying that the motion was mostly about writing letters and “that is not action now.” She said that she believed that the council needed to examine the issue in more depth.

And Cllr Mike O’Brien, who had spent some time earlier that day with Medway CAB, said that action did need to be taken about “a generation of people the previous Labour government encouraged to borrow.”

Independent Cllr Andy Stamp, who declared an interest at the start of the meeting as the Medway CAB Chief Executive’s partner, said he, too, was disappointed that the substantive motion was being lost and a principle could not be established there and then, but he urged cross-party support for the amendment to set up a task group.

Wrapping up, Cllr Mason promised that his intentions were honourable, and that, owing to the seriousness of the issue, he wanted to give more time to examine it in depth. However, before the amendment was put to the vote, Cllr Maple requested that the third bullet point of his original motion – relating to credit unions – be included in the amendment.

Initially, Cllr Mason refused, saying that that should be one of the things examined by the task group. However, after barracking from his backbenchers and prompting from the Leader of the Council, Cllr Rodney Chambers, he agreed.

The proposal to create a task group was then unanimously supported by the council.

Medway Messenger reporter Alan McGuinness had the chance to briefly ask Mr McDonald if he would sit on the task group if invited. Commenting on Twitter, Mr McGuinness said “he would take up an invitation to sit on the cross party group. It’s a start in tackling the issue, he adds.”

Just spoken to @CABMedway. Says he would take up an invitation to sit on the cross party group. It's a start in tackling the issue, he adds.

Thursday 12th January 2012 23:38 via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@Alan_McGuinness

Alan McGuinness

And writing on the Medway CAB Twitter account afterwards, Mr McDonald called it “a great night for Medway and its fight to protect residents at risk from Legal and Illegal Loan Sharks! Medway will lead the way!”

What a great night for Medway and its fight to protect residents at risk from Legal and Illegal Loan Sharks ! Medway will lead the way !

Friday 13th January 2012 02:01 via Twitter for BlackBerry®ReplyRetweetFavorite

@CABMedway

CAB MEDWAY

It is not known how quickly the task group will be set up, or who will ultimately sit on it. However, Medway Council has shown a united front in seeking to protect its residents from the risks of using pay day loan companies.

UPDATE @ 22:04

Courtesy of Cllr Mike O’Brien, the full motion passed by Medway Council last night read:

“This Council:

• “Welcomes the UK-wide cross party campaign to end ‘legal loan sharking’.
• “Believes that the lack of access to affordable credit is socially and economically damaging. Unaffordable credit is causing a myriad of unwanted effects such as poorer diets, colder homes, rent, council tax and utility arrears, depression (which impacts on job seeking behaviour) and poor health.
• “Further notes that unaffordable credit is extracting wealth from most communities.
• “Believes it is the responsibility of central government through legislation to ensure access to affordable credit.
• “Agrees that the issue of debt and affordable credit is an important and complex issue and is causing stress and anxiety to many families in Medway.

“This Council therefore:

• “Resolves for this issue to be referred to a cross-party task group of Overview and Scrutiny as a priority. This will enable the Council to consider all the implications, form a better understanding of the role the Council can play in supporting our residents and develop a clear policy.
• “In particular it recommends that the task group considers how the Council can lobby the government to strengthen the rules governing the issue of lending licences and address the lack of affordable credit and how the Council can promote financial literacy and affordable lending.
• “Pledges to promote credit unions in Medway, as community based organisations offering access to affordable credit and promoting saving.”

Whilst giving short updates about what was being said in the council chamber, he added a unique hashtag (#MC120112) to allow a test of Twitter and WordPress’ capabilities.

In future, every council meeting Alan attends will feature live tweeting with a unique hashtag – with all the most recent updates being displayed on a post on The View from Medway.

Other attendees will also be encouraged to use the hashtag when tweeting to allow an open discussion about proceedings as they happen.

For now, though, tonight’s tweets are available below:

“MOB – People are naturally concerned when they see headline APR’s in the 1000%, how do you view the case for pay day loans?

“DM – The pay day loans industry has some astonishing APRs – from 39% to over 4000%. This compares to the APR for mainstream banks, which are usually between 6 and 10%. Whilst the payday loan might be useful for rare occasions/in an emergency, the reality is that people are using this form of credit regularly, and on a long term basis. This can lead to levels of debt much higher than the amount originally borrowed, and can be crippling. Just recently Residents are even paying for their mortgages Residents are even paying for their mortgages and Rent on Credit Cards and using Pay Day Loans.

“MOB – What is your vision for helping to combat this problem?

“DM – These organisations make money because they are not short of Residents using their services. We need to train Residents to handle their money more sensibly and to take their money more sensibly and to take responsibility for the debt they may be in. We have successive generations of families coming through our doors: Grandparents, Parents and their children. We need to get into local schools to train the young people in financial literacy, to enable them to take charge of their finances early in life. We also need to make people aware that being in debt is not the norm! to enable them to take charge of their finances early in life. We also need to make people aware that being in debt is not the norm!”