Estuary Airport Consultation

Well the gloves are off and the proper campaign begins across Medway, Gravesham, Sheppey, Thurrock and Essex to oppose the London Conservative plan for a mega-airport in North Kent.

An idea, which three years ago started as joke island off the Isle of Sheppey, has morphed, slowly but predictably, to onsite options at Grain and Cliffe on the Peninsula area of North Kent. A mega-airport which will impact hundreds of thousands of residents and change the community fabric of towns and cities across the Estuary.

The community in Medway has seen this fight before, but this time the plans are more detailed and being led by the Cameron Conservatives. Plans which if not opposed would uproot communities, destroy sites of significant ecological interest and land North Kent with ten years of transport chaos as the most beautiful part of North Kent and the Peninsula becomes a concrete slab. Surrounding areas would be blighted with noise and pollution.

So says the NIMBYist who would be opposed?

And you would be right, but this is not because I dont support public consultation on aviation; it is because the consultation itself has ruled out too many options before it even starts. No cross-party aviation group, a rule out of Heathrow (November 2011), Gatwick expansion (May 2010) and Stansted (May 2010) and you end up with very few options left.Birmingham has support but would require a link with HS2, which is itself under review and opposition. Kent has access to Europe, HS1 already built and nearby, two major motorways (M2 and M20), employment prospects and a working proposal for a further crossing East of Dartford. No surprises to anyone where this government is angling which makes it important that a proper campaign is run now.

Residents here have spent three years of being played as pawns by the Tories as proposal after proposal is released and trailed in the press, and this consultation I believe will be just the same if it is led by the Tories alone.

It is a test of local resolve across the Estuary to send a very clear message to the government.

And this clear message should not just come from a band of unknown grey-beards in the Council chamber, irrespective of composition, but by the collective voices of residents.

In Medway, we have been here before - less then a decade ago many Tories worked with Labour MPs on the anti-Cliffe airport campaign. The idea of Cliffe was even less developed then, but the Council resources were used to send posters, fix lamp-post placards and support local groups. This was right because it worked; the airport was dropped. The subsequent election saw Labour defeated locally and a Conservative administration formed.

The point is that this time, despite the plans being even more developed, the ruling Tories have not endorsed any formal strategy. They have waited too long and have been exposed by their own admittance to a woeful ‘pie-in-the-sky’ campaign, which was simply a low-cost way of not campaigning.The simple truth is that residents in North Kent owe no loyalty to a ruling Tory elite, and especially not now when there are questions about why more is not being done.

It is important for strong Labour groups to organise at the County, Unitary, District and Parish level. This means it is ever important to have a strong, capable and nimble opposition ensuring that pressure is applied to ensure that the Tories represent residents and that MPs are held to account in representing resident interest. An opposition which can work with partners in government and the region and which can effectively articulate itself to residents.

This does mean being robust and being engaged. Being in close contact on any campaign requires tenacity and perseverance.

Last week, before today’s news, Labour proposed a referendum on an airport in the Thames Estuary, at a full Council meeting, because we believed (correctly) it would be in the government proposals. We believed that a Unitary Authority wide referendum would allow residents across Medway to finally give a say to the idea once and for all, which on all polling currently would be a resounding No. An outcome to a consultation based on votes rather than the opinions of a distant elite who thus far have seemed incapable of doing anything against their own. A referendum which would send a message to Westminster that you cant just impose a solution because of three years of attrition, and/or because you want to play a game of chess between East and West London for votes. A referendum which would send a message that if you want to proposed mega-solutions you need to work in government with the opposition and groups on solutions and engage in a proper consultation of all the options.

The referendum was opposed by the Conservatives in the Council chamber and dropped, but the message was sent to residents and that is unlike ten years ago the Tories are closing off solutions and not suggesting any. A mistake that showed they do not trust the electorate to give a say on something that will fundamentally alter our civic environment.

Labour meanwhile are seen as leading on ideas, and that is where we need to be if we are to regain the trust of people for the future.

We will continue to campaign locally as part of a cross-party group but the public expect results and they expect action.We can not have the next six months be the same dithering and delay of the last, because withour a clear resolve and local leadership a poor campaign will send a green light for the bulldozers and that is not in our interest or yours.

Not one of ours

Interesting to see the Council looking after it.

Salt Bins

One of the most contentious issues in the winter of 2009/10 and 10/11 was the number of salt bins in the ward and whether they were stock filled.

Luckily this year we have not had the same level of snow and ice as in previous years but as ward Councillor's we are expected to be responsible for ensuring all our bins are replenished and where requested new bins be placed.

In late October, the ward team surveyed every bin, after we were sent maps, to ensure that stocks were high and most importantly where identified new bins were placed.

Some examples below from Wayfield.

Alamein / Cherbourg Corner

BEFORE

AFTER

Ironside / Roosevelt Road corner

BEFORE

AFTER

We have also moved a salt bin after request in Lawn Close in Luton and have replaced grit in several other roads including Mill Lane.

Vox-Pop on Care Homes

Thames Estuary Airport Referendum

Another day, and another article, in the editorial leader in the Times making clear the government is looking very favourably at an Estuary Airport proposal in the Thames Estuary.

It seems the ceaseless drip drip of national press coverage coming from leaks in government and the London Conservative spin machine is nothing short of managed. Pravda would be proud at the manner in which the public expectation is being managed by the Tory government; slowly but surely changing the goal posts and the psyche of the public.

This blog has been clear; it has never, and shall never, support an airport on the Thames Estuary.

The idea would destroy and uproot communities, undermine years of planned regeneration, cause ten to fifteen years of transport and roadwork chaos (as if we dont have enough), and lead to the re-definition of Medway as a place. Our civic fabric would be for ever be altered.

Whilst this above point is agreed across all political groups, the manner in which we have ended at this point has not.

The simple fact is that the Medway Conservatives are exposed as never before. Exposed by government policy changing and the goal posts moving. Exposed by the mutterings that Kent County Council can be bought off and that Cllr Chambers was none too pleased about being foisted onto a regional LEP forum. Exposed by our MPs running for the hills after the u-turn in November. It is clear that whilst they dithered others moved on... the moving slide from island to on-site.

This blog has been vitriolic in its opinion that Conservatives are being two-faced on this issue.

This is reality not fiction; the London Conservative Party and many in government, including Stephen Hilton and George Osborne, are continuing and actively pursuing this policy; meanwhile local Tories are running lack-lustre campaigns, in their own words 'verbal grenades' to try and 'contain' the threat.

The local Tories have finally accepted that verbal 'grenades' from Chambers and Jarrett have, not unsurprisingly given no one knows who they are beyond our Authority borders (believe me), had any impact in Whitehall. It is, and always was, simply naive to think that non-entities from a Local Authority in Kent can compete with the weight of the elected offices in London, and thus in November it reached a crunch point - on the movement of Philip Hammond MP.

Now a cynic would not suggest that putting an anti-Heathrow expansion campaigner as Transport Secretary was planned; the Kremlinology of this could twist the logic in most people. However, what we all know is George Osborne, after sustained lobbying from the London anti-heathrow campaign, the public near Heathrow airport (who were mobilised) and Justine herself the idea of expansion was ruled out of the aviation paper.

The point of note; the Thames Estuary was categorically not ruled out, despite that being the line-in-the-sand for local MPs set by the opposition and public

And yes, our MPs cant absolve themselves; they were happy to take the credit for challenging Cameron, and spinning letters to the press, but when the proverbial 'brown' hit the fan in November they ran for the hills. They have consistently failed to grasp the nettle and have accepted on face-value bland utterances from the Tory leadership; I believe they are also ignored in Whitehall as being either extreme or naive. I am angry at their failure... too right given the warnings and the known history of government undermining local MPs on this issue...

I was attacked last night by Tory Councillors not because I was wrong but because I challenged them with fact and set out their failures which are documented on this blog over time; and the simple fact is they have misjudged the politics. I was accused of being a 'silly child' and of being young (coincidentally both Tracey and Rehman are of the same generation), accused of grinning at the plight of residents and callously playing a partisan hand. I was staggered and bemused by the utter level of contempt from politicians who have braved local politics for decades; who are happy to have elections on Police Commissioners and on the EU during the Eurozone crisis, but not on something which poses an existential threat to our towns.

Simple truth; it sometimes takes someone who has not been blinkered by years of Council bureaucracy and compromise to see the wood from the trees. A fresh set of eyes not inwardly facing but outwardly looking; I am not an 'insider' run tired by years of officer-driven compromise, and I am proud of that. It seems a few too many of those exist; apologizing for a lack of ambition not pushing for the possible.

So it came to our amendment for a referendum last night which was rejected by the Conservatives.

Labour proposed the referendum with the full knowledge that on the latest Council poll that the majority nationally oppose the idea. Given the fact the local population will be most impacted and against, we felt a public vote would give a massive mandate and democratic punch to the no campaign and challenge the government and the Mayor of London head on. Not taking into account the potential impacts on the Peninsula in the future and the current ongoing impacts of dithering (house prices, business investment) we thought it necessary to give people a voice and stop this once and for all.

The referendum was to happen, but the question itself, and this is important, was to be referred to a cross-party forum for consideration. That is important because Tories still objected to giving the people a forum to oppose, despite the fact they could help write the question. Interventions from my colleagues making rational cases for its inclusion with their input were rejected as mischief.

Ruling out a future referendum was a mistake. The Conservatives rejected allowing the people a say; rejected the idea of Parish referendums and whilst accepting that 'pie-in-the-sky' had not worked refused to acknowledge the public any stake in deciding on the future for our towns.

Despite the amendment being rejected I did vote to support the establishment of the anti-airport cabinet group; my parting message was that this can not just be a forum for endless dithering and delay; and that a full blown lamp post poster campaign be set up as soon as possible to galvanize opposition.

In reality the public wont grasp, or care, who is sitting on what sub-cabinet group, but it will be important to see whether the Tories water-down proposals for campaign activity on this body. Watch this space.

I hope that in the future that the Parishes can take our idea and run with it; I will be suggesting to them they pursue localised versions of it. Despite the groans from two in the audience there is a worrying lack of understanding about the proposal; let me clear, this is to give a democratic mandate and add weight, and recognition to the anti-airport campaign. A vote would confer weight in London and the corridors of Westminster.

My closing statements were clear; the Tories rejected the idea of giving the public a say, they have mismanaged and underplayed the threat and have been caught exposed, our MPs have been woeful in Westminster and it is clear that ongoing dithering, will only lead to the public perception that one lot of Tories are saying one thing and other lot in Medway another. This is the history; the future is for them to finally grasp this issue and fight for our residents tooth and nail; I suspect and fear the weak leadership they have already shown will continue.

I hope this cross-party cabinet works but the proof is not a pie-in-the-sky but on a lamp post near you.

Will they step up; I really hope so for all those living in Medway

Back Birmingham Hub Airport

We should back this immediately as stated on Monday.

Link to the full article

They want an aiport; we dont.

Rail Fares at PMQs

Splitting Image warning of Tory privitisation...has to be watched...

Ed Miliband was on the right track today when he stood up and attacked Cameron over the increases in rail fares.

Rail fares are a contentious issue and this blog has been at the vanguard of exposing the absolute and eye-watering, vomit-inducing, hair-wrenching Tory hypocrisy over fares and most importantly why the Conservatives have fibbed and duped the commuter by cutting the rail grant and increasing direct cost, making the choice (and it was a choice) to scrap flex-caps.

I fully admit that Labour did not get it totally right and there is an argument for saying that fares for many were too high in 2008 and 2009.

But the argument at the time was clear; the investment to introduce HS1 and speed up rail times (which Tory Ministers now conceed is necessary in terms of HS2) and to improve rolling-stock, stations and security after years of chronic under-investment under the Conservative-awarded franchise Connex.

And dont let the Tories fool you on rail fares; because they are the culprits.

Rewind back to 2006 (only 6 years ago) and we saw the Tories finally apologise over the monstrous act of privitisation unleashed upon the public by the Major government.

Remember within seven years of the Conservative privitisation the railway was costing the taxpayer three times what it had cost before de-nationalisation (up from £1.3bn to £3.7bn). In the 1980s, fares covered 76% of rail costs, in 2006 42%.

The reason why fares in the UK are so eye-watering when compared with Europe is directly because of the Tory privitisation in the 1990s mentioned above. Other countries have state-owned rail and were able to manage cost; the Tory design of a myriad of complex Whitehall sub-contracts and punitive get-out clauses made it too expensive to re-nationalise (deliberately designed by the way). The establishment of a separate track company destroyed management discipline, unleashed a nightmare in infrastructure costs and proliferate litigation and regulation and your fares have gone up ever since.

The privatisation was the biggest Conservative failure on a national infrastructure programme ever.

Add into this mix the conveniently forgotton Tory-driven Connex franchise; many of the Tory Councillors in Medway moan about service now, but forget (mainly as many arent actually from Medway) that it was truly god-awful under the previous franchise.

The full scale of the Tory-franchised incompetence can be read here in a special Parliamentary report no less. This report is utterly utterly damning on the franchise, made all the more real by the fact it has been the only franchise in history to require re-nationalisation. These people were fiscally inept and duped the public; and they were quite literally playing with commuters lives.

Essientially the Tory franchise deliberately and maliciously hid the state of its finance which led to the SRA compulsory termination of the contract. It was operating at a loss with massive irregularities caused by an unsustainable model over 10 years. If you read reports at the time was putting passengers lives at risk; one only need to take a look at the Health & Safety record,

The Tories are so very happy to ignore history; to conveniently forget that SouthEastern inherited a network woefully starved of investment which had been fragmented and weakened because of there own botched incompetence.

Fares did go up; but the utterly shameless Tories then had the nerve only one year later to jump on the fact that Connex was allowed a concession for RPI+3% to invest in the same railways the franchise they awarded had just destroyed.

It is so utterly shamlesss that you have to admire the audacity

Fast forward to this week and you can see a genuine attempt by Labour to re-evaluate fares; we called for SouthEastern to return to 1% RPI and it happened after lobbying. The pledge to re-introduce fare-capping on all services in addition to the Labour transport five point plan on ticket pricing is a genuine and plausible alternative in the current climate. I suspect the Conservatives will steal all our policies but the fact remains that it is Labour that are raising this up the agenda with the support of commuters and the Trade Unions.

The fact that Ed raised the issue today on fares is symbolic. To Labour the improvement and best management on the railways has always mattered. We opposed the privitisation in the 1990s and we inherited a mess which had to be fixed. The reason why fares are and remain high is because of the Connex franchise and the mess left.

Lastly, the spin that Labour had planned to lift fare capping is utterly trite. The Conservatives had a choice in the Comprehensive Spending Review on rail to suggest another agenda (remember at the time the rumours of RPI+5% or RPI+7%).

The Tories chose to remove the cap and that was a government decision; just as the Conservative government has been pushed by opposition to reduce fares to RPI+1%.

No matter what the Tories spin on rail the independent facts stand for themselves.

Only a fool would not learn from history. This mess is the legacy left by them from the 1990s and for that they can be never forgiven