bradleaks: budget

Showing posts with label budget. Show all posts

Thursday, 24 February 2011

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.

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

Wednesday, 9 February 2011

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:

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!

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