Tiny tremors at NMeM

Problems are brewing at the National Media Museum. So far, only a few tiny tremors are perceptible, but if Bradford is to retain the jewel in its cinematic crown, vigilance is called for.

Bradford's cuts budget goes through on the nod

As was only to be expected, the cuts to public services in Bradford went through on the nod. While there were pious declarations of the "this hurts me more than it hurts you" variety and much crocodile tears, as well as finger-pointing across the house on the question of who was to blame, Labour's last government or the Con-Dem elective dictatorship (answer: both), in the end the only speaker to consider (and reject) the alternative of refusing to set a budget was Dave Green, who said that this would allow the dreaded Pickles to take over and push through even more swingeing cuts.
Of course, they could have set a "no cuts" budget, which would have set them in direct confrontation the Tories and their Lib-Dem lapdogs.
The public gallery was packed, and very vocal they were too, chanting "No Ifs, No Buts, No Public Service Cuts". At one stage the Lord Mayor threatened to suspend the session, if they didn't shut up. So - apart from the occasional heckle - everyone behaved themselves after that.
But if they hadn't, and the session had been suspended, would Bradford have dared to reconvene with the public gallery closed to the hecklers? And if they did, wouldn't that have escalated the issue in the public eyes?
Footnote-1: The Tory amendment would have kept the five local libraries open, but said nothing about Manningham Pool, no doubt because the libraries are in the Tory rural hinterland, and the pool is in a working class area with a large Asian electorate.
Footnote-2: The T&A had a photographer there, but the Lord Mayor didn't notice him until he'd been snapping away for quite a while. Apparently no one from Newsquest had thought to ask for permission. Several councillors appealed to His Honour to let the snapper carry on, but he was adamant. No pictures, please, our proceedings are not for too many of the public eyes to see.
The public galleries hold a hundred seats, while the T&A has 28,839 readers. Wouldn't do to let so many to see what our leaders get up to, now, would it?
It'll be interesting to see if any of his pix get published.

Related articles

• Eric Pickles: Public enemy number one? (guardian.co.uk)
• Fighting talk from NUJ as Newsquest revolt spreads (newstatesman.com)

Victorian Society urges: Keep Manningham Pool open

From: Katie Gunning (The Victorian Society) [mailto:katie@victoriansociety.org.uk] 
Sent: 23 February 2011 17:18
To: Katie Gunning (The Victorian Society)
Subject: National heritage group urges council not to close historic Bradford pool

For immediate release                                                                                23rd February 2011

National heritage group urges council not to close historic Bradford pool

Councillors in Bradford must vote to keep the city’s listed Edwardian swimming pool in use, according to the Victorian Society, the national charity campaigning for the Victorian and Edwardian historic environment. 

Plans to close the Grade II-listed Manningham Baths on Carlisle Road will be discussed at a Bradford City Council meeting tomorrow afternoon.  Council spending cuts mean that its future looks bleak. It is thought that closing the baths would save in the region of £120,000.

There are more than 50 listed Victorian and Edwardian pools in the country but only 14 remain in use and open to the public for swimming. One of those rare survivors is Bradford’s Manningham Baths.

They were designed by Bradford City architect, Frederick Edwards and opened in 1904.  The pool building remains remarkably intact and has its original changing cubicles, and the pool itself still has ceramic spittoons at regular intervals and a so-called scum channel down each side.

‘It would be a huge loss if Bradford couldn’t find a way to keep this important part of our heritage open and in use’, said Dr Ian Dungavell, Director of the Victorian Society. ‘I've been swimming in historic pools all around the country, but virtually none are left in this intact state.  It is truly extraordinary to swim in Manningham Baths. Historic pools like this are an endangered species, and we need to look after them.’

In July 2008 Dr Dungavell swam 105 lengths of Manningham Pool to commemorate its 105 years as a public swimming pool.

The full meeting of the City Council will take place at 4pm on Thursday 24th February.

-ends-

For further information please call:

Katie Gunning

Campaigns Officer

Direct line: 0208 747 5897

Notes to Editors:

1. In August 2008 the Director of the Victorian Society, Dr Ian Dungavell visited all 14 listed Victorian and Edwardian public swimming pools in England and swam a length for every year each pool has been open.

2. The Victorian Society is the national charity campaigning for the Victorian and Edwardian historic environment. It fights to preserve important Victorian and Edwardian buildings and landscapes so that they can be enjoyed by this and future generations. It provides expert advice to churches and local planning authorities on how Victorian and Edwardian buildings and landscapes can be adapted to the way we live now, while keeping what is special about them. It also advises members of the public about how they can help shape the future of their local Victorian and Edwardian buildings and landscapes. It provides information to owners of Victorian and Edwardian houses about how they can better look after their precious buildings. It helps people understand, appreciate and enjoy the architectural heritage of the Victorian and Edwardian period through its publications and educational programmes.

3. The Victorian Society, 1 Priory Gardens, LONDON W4 1TT
Telephone 020 8994 1019
Facsimile 020 8747 5899

www.victoriansociety.org.uk

What is the point of the Executive?

Ian Greenwood’s performance at Tuesday’s Executive meeting in attempting to shout me down and denying me the opportunity to raise a point of order about the proposed closure of Manningham baths forces one to ask: what, exactly, is the point of the Executive? If, as he says, the decision on the baths – and, presumably, on all the other cuts recommended in the proposed budget – has already been taken, then it appears to be just a rubber stamp.

But the absence of People’s Coalition members from the public benches raises another question: what is the point of the Coalition, if it cannot muster attendance as the cuts bureaucracy rumbles on to automatic endorsement at tomorrow night’s full Council meeting?

Possibly they feel, with some reason, that the answer to my first question is that attendance at this rubber-stamp body serves no useful purpose. Of course, this is what the Labour cabal would like to happen. But, logically, we could go further: since there’s unlikely to be any meaningful opposition to the proposed cuts, is there any point in our turning up at the full Council, either?

I do not take this view. Of course, in the last analysis, we need to take opposition on to the streets, making it clear to Labour councillors that their very presence in the Council chamber itself will be at risk next May if they do not show some political muscle. Already opposition to library closures is growing, and this grassroots movement needs to be bolstered by the active support of People’s Coalition members. There is a dangerous tendency in the localities for opposition to focus on the possibility of local volunteers taking over the role of the local authority in running the libraries threatened with closure. This option should not be rejected. At the last People’s Coalition conference, I urged a two-pronged reaction to the attacks on social services: opposing cuts but also putting in place autonomous alternatives when the cuts are being bulldozed through.

But, basically, the danger of majoring at this early stage on the possible role of volunteers' filling the gap when the Council abdicates its responsibilities is to endorse the big lie of David Cameron’s Big Society scam.

What was notable at yesterday’s Executive was the absence of trade union representation on the floor of the chamber, since issues raised, like the need for an Equal Opportunities Assessment, were dealt with in the huge amounts of documentation distributed to all those present. There were also summaries of trade union representations (though, for some reason, these were marked “private and confidential”; I do not feel bound by this embargo, and I have hard copy versions available to any trade union reps who wish to consult them, if only to see if their views have been summarised accurately).

We must not allow our opposition to be worn down by the bureaucratic red tape, whose only function, it seems to me, is to render the proceedings opaque and unaccountable to the electorate while, at the same time, piously proclaiming their adherence to democratic principles. We should not surrender the pass to them so readily.

We are working for the fullest possible local representation on the big TUC demo in London on March 26, and this is correct. But the defeat of the cuts strategy will not be achieved by walking through Westminster under the benign eyes of the authorities. A much more important point of struggle will be two days earlier, at the full Council.


(Note: Please see author's correction in the comment, below.)

For the benefit of those who do not know what I’ve been on about in all the foregoing, I shall summarise the issues I attempted to raise on the Executive, and how I dealt with the chair’s diktat.

1.     As I have already reported, the budget recommendations include a proposal to close Manningham pool, at an estimated saving of £119,000. These recommendations were distributed after the last meeting of the Executive, on Friday, February 18, had been adjourned until Tuesday, February 22, and were therefore never discussed, in general or in detail.

2.                 On Monday, I emailed Ian Greenwood, and the three Manningham councillors, as follows:

As a Manningham resident and regular user of Manningham Pool, I seek an opportunity to address the executive on the question of its closure.

I am concerned at the fact that a number of elderly swimmers (myself among them) use the pool every Tuesday morning and there is clearly an important health issue at stake if this facility is withdrawn.

I am concerned that there has been no consultation with local people about this proposal and I plan to raise this at the Parochial Church Council of St Paul's Church, Manningham, of which I am an elected member, suggesting that we should approach other churches in the area through the Manningham and Girlington council of churches, to make a joint approach to the council on this matter.

I should emphasise that, at this stage, I speak for no one but myself as an individual. I am a supporter of Bradford People's Coalition Against the Cuts, but I hold no office in that organisation and do not speak for them on  this or any other matter.

Nevertheless, I feel that as a concerned local elector I should have an opportunity to question the thinking behind the proposed closure.

3.                 Ian Greenwood replied as follows:

The decision to recommend closure was taken last week so it is not before the committee today.  It is not appropriate therefore for anyone to address the committee.  We recognise that consultation has been limited because of the provisions of the Section 188 notices.  There will be a consultation exercise after full Council takes a view on Thursday.

4.                 In view of his statement that the decision had already been taken, I rose at the beginning of yesterday’s Executive to raise the following point of order:

"Before you continue your meeting, chair, I wish to raise a procedural point of order.

"Yesterday I advised you that I wished to address this meeting in opposition to the proposal to close Manningham Baths because of the impact of closure upon the health of elderly clients who regularly use the baths for the senior session every Tuesday morning.

"Today you have advised me that there would be no point in my addressing this meeting because the matter has already been decided.

"What therefore is the point of this Executive? Is it merely a rubber stamp for decisions taken by some cabal outside the democratic process? And how can such a decision be taken without consultation with the people concerned?"

Unfortunately, instead of hearing me out politely and ruling on the matter, he attempted to shout me down and called upon security staff to remove me from the chamber. They came and turned off the microphone and laid hands on me to remove me physically, but I continued my brief point of order then sat down. I was asked by one guard if I would now “behave”, but I did not reply to this.

5.                 Immediately after the meeting, I emailed Ian Greenwood as follows:

“I'm sorry, I could not hear your ruling today because you were shouting me down when I was attempting to raise a procedural point of order.

"You say that 'There will be a consultation exercise after full Council takes a view on Thursday.'

"How will this function? Would I be allowed to speak on Thursday?"

At the time of writing I have received no reply to this request. Meanwhile, I am preparing a local petition on the issue, and will be raising the matter at every opportunity, including a lobby of local councillors’ surgeries.

When is a T&A story "exclusive"?

When it was published on Bradleaks the previous day.

The closure of five of Bradford's libraries was also featured in the Yorkshire Post yesterday (http://bit.ly/YP-libraries).

If the police are happy with the way you're protesting . . .

. . . then you're doing it wrong!

Link to Bradford Council budget

http://bit.ly/bfd-budget.
The recommendations of the schools forum are still not online. Is that why David Berry was not present at last Friday's Executive?

Keep up the Uncuts pressure this Saturday!

Don't let tax evader criminal Philip Green off the hook.

Cabrank idiocy

What idiot placed the Church Bank cabrank on the right-hand side of a one-way street, so passengers have to get out into the road, with their backs to the traffic?

Bradford Executive adjourns till Tuesday

Friday Feb 18:
Today's meeting of Bradford Council Executive was adjourned until next Tuesday, February 22, 10.30am to consider a motion:

That the Executive makes recommendations to the meeting of Council on 24 February 2011 on the consequent revenue budget requirement and council tax level for 2011-12, an indicative budget for 2012/13, borrowing limits and prudential indicators.

Although three Party leaders addressed the issues in general terms, the actual budget document was not distributed until the end of the meeting. A cursory reading reveals the following recommendations which will prompt concern and, hopefully, concerted opposition.

• ADULT SERVICES:Remove subsidy from hot meals provision SAVING £500,000
  Close Whetley Hill
  Close all care homes by 2014 SAVING £600,00 in current year
  Review services for clients with mental health and learning disabilities SAVING £500
  Externalise (ie privatise) learning disabilities day care SAVING £300,000
  Reduce voluntary sector grants by 8.8% SAVING £652,000
• CHILDREN'S SERVICES:
  Reduce extended schools service SAVING £100,000
  Reduce healthy schools service SAVING £100,000
  Relocate family centre service provision from Albion to Parklands as part of "rationalisation" SAVING £700,000
  Cease learning enrichment project SAVING £250,000
  Looked After Children - reduce spend on external placements SAVING £1 MILLION
  Review support to outdoor centres SAVING £10,000
• TRANSPORTATION & HIGHWAYS
  Increase long-stay parking charges from £3.50 to £4 per day REVENUE £50,000 EXTRA
  Introduce on-street parking charges in Shipley, Ilkley, Keighley and Bingley REVENUE £113,000 EXTRA
• LIBRARIES:
  Close Addingham, Denholme, Heaton, Wilsden and Wrose libraries SAVING £70,000
  Removal of 2nd branch delivery van SAVING £20,000
  Close one public floor at Central Library and merge Information, Learning Zone and City Centre departments SAVING £50,000
  Introduce premium rate service charge of £25 per annum and introduce a £1 charge for requests for stock items REVENUE £25,000 EXTRA
• PUBLIC HALLS:
  Close or transfer Holden Hall, Oakworth SAVING £8,000
• LEISURE SERVICES:
  Review swimming pool provision at Greenhead and Rhodesway SAVING £144,000Close Manningham pool SAVING £119,000Reduce opening hours at Manningham Sports Centre SAVING £40,000Increase playing pitch charges REVENUE £5,000 EXTRA"Rationalise" (?) nursery operations SAVING £10,000"Rationalise" subsidy/lease arrangements at Horsfall Stadium, Park Avenue cricket ground, Little Horton Green cricket ground, and Apperley Bridge SAVING £10,00
  TOTAL ENVIRONMENT & SPORT SAVINGS £3.635 MILLION.

I was informed at the meeting that the full budget would be available online, but at the time of writing it is not yet available. Judging by past experience, these cuts will probably be rubber-stamped next Tuesday. The big fight will be at the full council on Feb 24.

BE THERE!

Police warn of crack-down on Uncut protestors

Saturday's Uncut action outside Outfit on Forster Square Retail Park went off peacefully, with great interest in the leaflets about Philip Green's tax avoidance schemes. There was good singing, too.
However, I had a conversation with the police sergeant on the scene, who warned that strong action would be taken if any attempt was made to invade the premises and anyone attempted to do so would be arrested on a charge of criminal trespass.
According to the website,
http://www.desktoplawyer.co.uk/dtl/index.cfm?event=base:article&node=A76076BD34460,

"Trespassing is usually a civil wrong and dealt with accordingly. However, in England and Wales certain forms of trespassing, generally those which involve squatters, raves and hunt saboteurs are covered by criminal law. There are offences under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 Sections 61 and 62 of trespassing on land and trespassing with vehicles."

The action of the police in using CS gas on demonstrators and the threat by Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, that police could adopt more extreme tactics means that we need to be prepared to deal with such repressive measures.
There is a lot of expertise we can draw on, for instance, among those who went to Faslane 365 a couple of years ago, and anyone who has confronted Israeli troops in Palestine.
We need to get MPs to sign the early day motion:

"That this House expresses its deep concern at the use by the Metropolitan Police of CS gas spray on UK uncut campaigners protesting at tax avoidance by Boots store; considers that this is a disproportionate use of force on peaceful campaigners; and calls on the Home Secretary to establish an independent public inquiry into this incident with a view to reviewing the guidelines for the use of CS spray by the police."

But resolutions are not enough. Since the next nationwide UncutUK action on Feb 19 (see http://www.ukuncut.org.uk/blog/what-is-a-bail-in) coincides with the People's Coalition rally in Market Street, both actions are likely to encounter repressive police measures.
We need to consider how to respond to this.

Related articles

• Call for inquiry over video showing officer spraying protesters with CS gas (guardian.co.uk)
• A new age of protest: UK Uncut (news.bbc.co.uk)

People's Coalition petition referred to next Executive, Feb 18

Bradford Council Executive considered he petition from Bradford People's Coalition and after pious assurances that they would do everything to protect the most needy, it was referred to next Friday's Executive, February 18, 10.30pm.
Clearly, the powers that be expected a larger turnout than the dozen or so supporters who were there, since the meeting had been moved from a committee room to the Council chamber.
The real crunch will come at the next full Council, however: Feb 24, 4pm. 

Executive Committee documents, Feb 11, 10.30am

The documents to be considered at the Bradford Council EC can be viewed by clicking on this link, and then the links on the page.
Links to the individual assessments are:

• http://bit.ly/bfd-assessment
• http://bit.ly/bfd-workstrategy
• http://bit.ly/bfd-housingstrategy

I am attempting an analysis, but there's a lot of material to evaluate. And I'm not even sure any of this is relevant to our petition, but possibly some of our less economically-challenged colleagues will do better than me.
See you on Friday!

Related articles

• Bradford Council facing £2m bill to repair potholes (thetelegraphandargus.co.uk)