Tesco - Buxton Application

Most proably reciving a welcome sigh of relief from the many local's in Buxton opposed to the proposal, the news today that Tesco's have withdrawn their planning application for the former Buxton Mineral Water site, may well just be a temporary division.

I say that because although the application has been withdrawn from consideration by the council's development control committee, it may well just be a temporary reprive while they alter their proposals to better meet the planning grounds for that site, and as such remove any of the issues that may lead to an officer recommendation to the development control committee to refuse the application.

But to a certain extent that's an issue for another day, when or if they put the application back in.

Leadership Academy 2020 Vision

An interesting first day of the second session of the leadership academy, looking at a whole host of issues around improving who councillors carry out their leadership role.

As posted on Monday one of the sessions was around looking at the future of local government in 2020, with the approach on the course been to split us into two groups and hold a short competition to produce a five minutes presentation on our visions.

My group floated the idea of 'super authorities' essentially covering all services in a particular area with enhanced powers for local councillors and a short fun PowerPoint / role play presentation to put that across, winning the day.

2020 Vision

Next weekend, I'm off being educated on the second part of a three part course.

In preparation for the second session, one of the preparatory tasks attendees are asked to consider is our vision of what the future holds for local government by the time we reach 2020.

As part of my consideration of theme I'd be interested in hearing any views you may have, because to certain extent, there's great scope in the topic, because there a whole host of ways you can look at it, from concentrating on what the main structures there will be ie. will it be two tier like it is now in our part of the world (ie county and borough) or is the future less rosy for either borough's or county councils ?

Perhaps you ignore the structure to consider the content in a sense, ie will more council's go down the approach that High Peak and Staffordshire Moorlands have, in arranging a shared chief executive and joint management / services or is it chief executive's who's day are numbered with the idea of elected mayors and now commissioners being actively pursued by the current government.

Or is the topic around the services and functions of local government with the potential for the current transition in public health coming back to council to change again, or the effect of cuts and what services council's will be left running and what services council be trying to encourage the public to take over under the current guise of the 'big society' and whether those services then come back to council when the economy recovers ?

Maybe it's less solid than either staffing, structures and it's all around what policies local government should be pursuing, with perhaps the future been around local government having a greater impact on the works of all other organisations in a particular area with local government developing and setting the framework and policies around issues such as health, local development, economic strategy, and directing the work of both public and private sector bodies to reach the aims of the policies and frameworks ?

Whatever it is, it will be interesting to consider the future, and as before if you have any views on it, please let me know.

Olympic Torch Passes Here (almost)

A brief visit to Buxton this morning to celebrate the news that the Olympic Torch will pass through the High Peak on it's route to the Olympics next year.

Alas it won't quite reach Gamesley or Glossop, but it will pass through Buxton on Friday 29th June 2012 during it's 70 day tour across the UK, and to mark the ocassion a selection of future local sporting stars joined myself, Cllr Caitlin Bisknell, and the Mayor of the High Peak on the steps of the Crescent.

All in all, it's expected to travel through more than 1000 town's, villages and cities, with nearby Ashton Under Lyne been one of the other venues for the torch. You can view them all at : www.london2012.com/olympictorchrelaymap

Alas, we didn't have a copy of the torch itself for the photo and when it passes through Buxton and the various other places on the torch relay, it will be carried by a variety of local folk, who've gone above and beyond the call of duty in serving their local communities.

Fortunately (at least for me and Caitlin), we've already had the chance to carry the torch at the Olympics reception during Labour Party Reception earlier this year !

How old should you be for a school reunion and do reunions matter now there's Facebook ?

At the recent bonfire I was talking to one of the folk I was at school with, and after exchanging the usual greetings etc, the talk moved on to discussion around the idea of a school reunion.

In my mind I'd not really considered the idea of a reunion, partly because I'd not wanted to give much thought to how long it is since leaving school, (which after consideration is two years short of twenty years) but also because reunions seem the sought of thing you shouldn't really be considering until you are in you're 40's (apologies to any folk already in their 40's - or older).

Finally I considered that to a certain extent with the advent of Facebook do you really need reunions anyway ? Because to a certain extent the folk you'd want to see at a reunion are probably already the folk that you're either still friends with in real life or the folk you're friends with on Facebook - so do you still need reunions ?

Now It's 6 and welcome

Completely forgotten from last month, was the sixth birthday of the blog which was first started in 2005.

Whilst not all the topics covered may be interesting, I do hope that readers of the blog will find the contents useful and if you have suggestion for topics or issues that should be covered please let me know.

Completely unrelated, (but somehow connected in a way) this week has seen the launch of the Cllr Caitlin Bisknell's leaders blog on the borough council website. You can read it by going to : http://www.highpeak.gov.uk/council/leadersblog/

Lastly just in case it's not always 100% clear, all views expressed on the blog, are only the views of myself and should not unless expressly stated be considered the views of any of the bodies I am involved with.

Words of wisdom ? - to new councillor's

One of my occasional opposition blog read's, and listed on the blog list as a blog from the dark side (policy wise at least) is Richard Kemp, the leader of the Lib Dems at the Local Government Association and a councillor in Liverpool.


Eagle eyed locals may recognise the name of Richard Kemp from back in the early days of some of the single regeneration work that happened on Gamesley a few years ago, which is partly one of the reasons why he makes the read list.

Anyway enough of the back ground and on to the post itself, its a post titled "some advice to new councillors", and on the whole I would agree with the majority of the advice it offers, and whilst I can't quite go along with the final point of advice to "treat MP's with the disrespect they deserve", I certainly agree with the sentiment that they are from a talking organisation, where as councillors are from a doing organisation.

New High Speed Line Train Revealed

Well not quite - at least I hope not, but with all the speculation around what route and where a new high speed line between the north and south should go, it was nice to see a reminder of the past power for high speed rail, whilst travelling through Milton Keynes on Saturday.

Stupid decision of the day : Post Office loses government contract for pension and benefit payments

Given the talk before the last general election of saving the ‘Post Office’, I hope the that the details reported in the Guardian of the Post Office losing the contract from the department of works and pensions to cash ‘giros’ in the Post Office will be reviewed and reconsidered.

This contract which the Unite union say’s is worth £20 million to the Post Office network, and will potentially effect 350,000 people across the country will have a far wider effect than just the loss of this contract and will as outlined in the Unite press release undoubtedly be a further death knell to the sustainability of the Post Office network, which as well as losing the contract will also lose from the reduced ‘footfall’ from ‘benefit recipients’ going elsewhere.

Now whilst I have no particular objections about the company that has being awarded the contact, I do agree with the comments from the General Secretary of the National Federation of SubPostmasters George Thomson who said :

“This is a bitterly disappointing decision from the government. Benefits cheque customers rely on their local post office to provide this important service, with subpostmasters and trained Post Office staff providing assistance to hundreds of thousands of vulnerable customers each week. Many of these customers will be unwilling or unable to travel to a Paypoint outlet such as an off-licence or garage forecourt to claim their weekly pension or benefit allowance.”

Sunday's Power Cut

Image via Wikipedia

At just after 5.00pm yesterday (14th November) around 600 homes in the Gamesley area experienced a power cut.

I'm currently awaiting details from Electricity North West who are the company that owns, operates and maintains the electricity network in our area, as to what the problem was that caused the power cut.

I've also flagged up with them following a number of calls last night, problems around getting through to the information on the problem whilst using their emergency number, and I'll let you know what there reply is.

Glossop Remembrance Sunday Service - Problems noted

Photo from the Glossop Advertiser - www.glossopadvertiser.co.uk

It was great on Sunday morning, to see an even bigger crowd of locals than last year paying their respect's at the Remembrance Sunday Service.

It was particularly good to see an ever crowing number of younger folk in the Army Cadets and the various other uniformed organisations taking part.

Whilst the greater numbers is good to see, a number of locals both following the service and since then have contacted me to raise a number of concerns.

These concerns mainly centre around problems with the sound / pa system (which meant many people could not hear the service), a lack of service sheets, and problems around the amount of traffic that continued going past during the service.

I've raised these concerns with the Chief Executive of the Council (who was in attendance at Glossop on Sunday), and our local Police Inspector to see what steps we can take to assist the organisers for next years service, and ensure that all attending can hear and take part in the service.

Total Politics Blog Award’s 2010

As an update to the earlier post on the total politics blog awards 2010 (mainly for vanity reasons – and to explain the additions in the sidebar on the blog) the blog was also placed in the following categories :







29th in the Top 100 Labour Blogs

73rd in the Top 100 Leftwing Blogs

194th in the Top 200 British Political Blog

and as previously flagged up 12th in the top 30 Councillor's blog

If you click on the 'badges' on the right (not in this post) you can see the complete list's.

Once again many thanks for all those who voted for the blog this year.

Total Politics Blog Poll 2010

Well the votes are now in for this year's total politics annual blog poll, and a big thank you to those of you who have voted for the blog, as I'm up 14 places from last years 26 to just outside the top ten at number 12 this year.


As with last year's poll there's still a few blogging councillors from the north that make the list, with the Cllr Tim blog, from Cllr Tim Cheetham over the hill in Barnsley gaining a few places to finish at number 8 in this years list,  Salford Conservative Councillor Iain Lindley’s blog retains the number 14 spot he held last year, and Liverpool Labour / Co-operative Councillor Louise Baldock is a new entry at number 15, along with Stockport Lib Dem Councillor Iain Robert who joins the list at number 29.


The whole of the list is available by clicking here.


Once again many thanks for those who have voted for the blog, particularly as the majority of the stories are very locally based, and as always if you think there is an issue I should be covering let me know either by leaving a comment on the post or by clicking the get in touch link above.

Vote for me - Total Politics Blog Poll

It’s that time of year again, it’s time for the annual total politics blog poll, and whilst I don’t expect to come anywhere near the top, it’s nice to appear on the list, so if you enjoy reading this blog please vote for it !

To vote, you need to send an email to toptenblogs@totalpolitics.com following the rules below.

1. You must vote for your ten favourite blogs and ranks them from 1 (your favourite) to 10 (your tenth favourite).
2. Your votes must be ranked from 1 to 10. Any votes which do not have rankings will not be counted.
3. You MUST include at least FIVE blogs in your list, but please list ten if you can. If you include fewer than five, your vote will not count.
4. Email your vote to toptenblogs@totalpolitics.com
5. Only vote once.
6. Only blogs based in the UK, run by UK residents or based on UK politics are eligible. No blog will be excluded from voting.
7. Anonymous votes left in the comments will not count. You must give a name
8. All votes must be received by midnight on 31 July 2010. Any votes received after that date will not count.
For further details on the poll, go to : http://www.totalpolitics.com/magazine_detail.php?id=963

Now as per the rules I’m not including who I’ll be voting for, but for some suggestions try the Labour or from the dark side blog list’s on the right hand side, and please vote for me !

And it’s good bye from him !

James Purnell of fake photo fame, and MP of neighbouring CLP Stalybridge and Hyde, has surprised and shocked many with his decision to stand down at the forthcoming general election.

From my own point of view I have mixed views on his announcement, whilst I didn’t like some of the things he did during his time as a minister, some of his recent comments including his speech last Monday and the associated launch of the essay collection ‘We mean power’, led you to think there was a glimmer of good things to come in the future.

Reaction elsewhere has been more mixed from the glad to see him go such as blogging councillor Bob Piper, to shock from nearby blogging Labour locals Adam White and Vicky Heywood  to annoyance from Tom Harris MP and finally almost melancholy from Tom Watson MP

Most thoughts now turn to who comes next, which unfortunately due to the timing of Purnells’s announcement (if the process goes as per some of the guidelines I’m aware of) in terms of democracy within the local party, will see them having a limited say in the process of selecting there next candidate.

I expect there will be pressure from above for an all women shortlist given that the other two seats in the Tameside area have male candidates, which if they do could bring a surprise opportunity for daughter to follow father with Lord Pendry’s daughter still been a local in the area.

If instead it’s an open process I’m sure there will be much local interest with I imagine a number of the current Tameside Councillor’s looking to take over, including near neighbour (ward wise) and former vice chair of Labour Students Jonny Reynolds.

Inbred Culture of secrecy or out of date IT policy ?

You may have recently seen an item flagged up on the Glossop website and elsewhere an article from another local councillor decrying the council for its “inbred culture of secrecy” in relation to the council’s it policy which prevents the use of council IT equipment from using social networking sites.

But is this as described elsewhere a corporate ‘gagging’ order on councillors and council staff and secrecy gone mad or just an out of date IT policy, that that when introduced was framed around ensuring that council equipment is used for doing council work, and not for just surfing the web or personal use.

In my view it’s the later and just simply a case of the IT policy not keeping up to date with modern usage, and a more useful approach would have been to flag the issue with offices for looking at what can be done to update the policy or arrange an exemption for councillors and staff that need to access such sites until a new policy can be put in place.

This isn’t an issue that’s unique to the High Peak it’s cropped in whole host of other places across the country including Portsmouth, Kent, Birmingham and Newcastle and will no doubt come up again elsewhere but it should be an easy one to fix especially as at tonight’s Audit and Regulatory meeting, one of the agenda items is to approve the council’s code of corporate governance which includes within it an overarching principle of ‘openness’.

Glossop's take on the angel of the north !

Many local residents will have seen in the Glossop Chronicle details of a certain 'statue' for want of a better word, built from snow on Norfolk Square in Glossop.

Well for those interested in 'novel' street art Glossop's own take on the angel of the north has following a facebook campaign being resurrected on Norfolk Square and as of 3pm today was still proudly on display in Norfolk Square and attracting a lot of attention from passer's by.

Now whilst this form of 'artwork' may not be everyones cup of tea, well done to the builder's for a snow statue appropriate to the nearby home Royston Vasey and of the League of Gentlemen.

Best News Story So Far This Year – Are mobility scooters a menace?

An article on the BBC news website yesterday has flagged up concerns following a number of high profile accidents involving mobility scooters.

The accidents which have caused at least one death and several injuries have raised concerns with police as the scooters are exempt from the Road Traffic Act and the police have been powerless to act against the driver’s.

The level of concerns is such that in February a committee of MP’s will begin an inquiry looking into to the concerns around the scotters and whether the legal setup needs changing.

Locally there have been one or two issues with riders of scotters that I am aware, but these have been around speeding concerns and were dealt with quickly by a quiet word in the right ear.

Perhaps there is a need to follow the example in the article that Norfolk Police have been doing by putting in place a training scheme for mobility scooter riders.

What do you think are they a cause for concerns or are the incidents highlighted in the news freak occurrences with no actions needed to stop them ?

School's / Buses / Trains

From details on the radio etc so far today, all of the local Primary schools (St Margaret's, Gamesley, Dinting, Charlesworth) are open as normal. However St Philip Howard and Glossopdale are both closed.


In terms of buses Speedwell have advised that they are currently not running around the estate due to road conditions - I'm awaiting confirmation as to if they are running up / down Glossop Road, and finally if you are wanting to use the train and get to a local station on the Glossop Manchester line - at current they are experiencing delays expected to last until 11.00am due to the weather

Do something amazing – give blood

Or at least that was the plan, to get part of Christmas (in a sense) off to the ‘best’ of starts by doing something nice.

The plan anyhow was to overcome my general fear of needles and give blood, so in the run up to Christmas I planned to attend the blood donor’s session that was running at the Glossop site of Glossopdale Community College on Wednesday 23rd December.

Now as most folk will remember that day was still quite snowy but the road’s were passable and after checking the blood donor’s website and seeing no mention of cancelation I set off to an earlier appointment elsewhere (which took an age to get to with the snowy delayed public transport) and then trekked to the top of Glossop to get to the venue.

Now elsewhere I’ve flagged up my occasional annoyance with the use of the Glossopdale College for these types of ‘public events’ not because there is anything wrong with the site, but because both the Glossop and Hadfield sites are in general a bit out of the way from there respective town centres and public transport (ok I know the 237 goes past the Hadfield one) and there is at least in Glossop a number of more centrally located venues.

Anyway back to the subject and after arriving at the site it looked discouragingly closed, and after heading to another entrance it still looked closed and seeing several other people scouting round for an entrance it appeared the site was closed and the session must be cancelled, but there were no notices to say that, the only thing anywhere about been a big banner advertising that the blood donor service where there today were two sessions one in the afternoon (that I was trying to attend) and the other in the evening.

So given there was a number of folk trying to attend the session I rung the number and queried whether it was still on, and after a long time on the phone they advised the session had been cancelled due to the weather, which was quite annoying particularly as there was no notice anywhere on site advising this.

Even more annoying was when I finally got back home and had another look on the internet just to check I wasn’t mistaken from this morning and as you can see from the picture above there website still shown the session at Glossop as been on, which for anyone planning to attend the evening one would have been quite annoying.

Anyhow despite the general annoyance over this failure in helping people to do something wonderful, my rant on the topic is now finished and if you can you should give blood. Further details on how to do this are available at www.blood.co.uk with the next session in Glossop ‘supposedly’ taking place on Sunday 7th February, and who knows I may even go myself !