Beware the Media Mogul

Hats off to Polly Toynbee in todays Guardian for showing how low we have really sunk as a nation. The entire political leadership of both Labour and the Tories are in thrall to one media mogul, a man powerful enough that potential Prime Ministers are forced to travel half way round the world to receive his endorsement, King Rupert Murdoch. Well actually no, not king, more like Warwick the king maker. The man who controls half the British press and makes Prime Ministers, apparently.

His paper has been found guilty of reading the voicemail of well-known politicians and celebrities to produce a series of stunning scoops for the News of the World. Typically although the odd journalist has been sent to prison, none of the bosses have ever faced charges because, they insist, they never knew about such murky goings on. Only one editor resigned, Andy Coulson, and he resigned not because he knew anything (oh no) but because these things happened while he was in charge.

Yes this is the same Andy Coulson who was then offered the job of Communications Director of the Conservative Party, hand-picked indeed by David Cameron when he took office. Well having seen Alastair Campbell play Machiavelli in Tony Blair’s government, you can see where the Tories  got the idea.

Anyway, Dave Cameron made a speech a week ago laying in to the vast number of quangos that have proliferated in and around Whitehall. In particular he laid into Ofcom, making it clear that he would neuter that body if and when he leads a Tory government. Why just Ofcom, you ask? Well they just happened to have upset Rupert, the king maker, Murdoch by forcing Sky (the jewel in the Murdoch Empire which just happens to own a virtual monopoly) to sell on rights to movies and premiership football to other broadcasters and much lower prices. A move which threatens to knock around £1Bn off the value of Murdoch’s media empire. Unsurprisingly the Murdoch press laid into Ofcom but then this was followed up by doughty Dave Cameron attacking Ofcom as well.

Blair and Brown were poodles in the hands of Rupert Murdoch, and now we have proof that democratic Dave is also kept on Rupert’s leash. What price democracy under a Cameron government!

Reducing the Number of Councillors in Reading

This topic has been raised by Battle Ward Independent Cllr Tony Jones as one way of reducing the running expenses of Reading BC. Well its true that reducing the number of councillors by 15 will drastically reduce the sum paid out in allowances (around £9,000 a year per backbench councillor) and election expenses. What that means for the the remaining 31 councillors is not spelled out. It means more work per councillor, it means a much smaller pool of talent to fill executive and committee posts, it will reduce the effectiveness of the council. Additionally,  it may well put off more members of the public from standing for the council at all.

It may be a populist idea, Tony, and grab a few headlines, but it is not a way to enhance democracy in Reading nor a way to increase participation.

Road Safety in Reading – Again

Another month, another councillors’ surgery. Last Saturday I was regaled again with residents angry at what they see as the council’s non response to road safety issues. For many years the council has stuck by its policy of only putting in traffic calming measures after major accidents have occurred that caused death or serious injuries. They seem incapable of understanding that residents do not feel safe on their own streets any more.

Despite the many petitions and angry residents that have come to TMAP (the Council’s  Traffic Management Advisory Panel), we never seem to get very far. The only advance I have seen in my two and a half years on the council is the decision to buy speed guns for the use of local neighbourhood police teams, something that I pushed through into this year’s budget with the help of my fellow Lib Dem councillors.

For the rest, the Administration and the council officers seem to represent a brick wall, they are certainly not listening to the public they are supposed to work for. The latest Speed Awareness campaign targets a road every few weeks, puts up a few palstic signs and, if you are lucky, one Smiley Sid flashing warning light. At the end of two weeks they are moved on to another road with very little lingering effect. It is a fine example of the council trying hard to be seen to be doing something but not really making a difference.

There is no effort to put up more Smiley Sid signs, no discussion of 20mph speed limits, no use of speed guns until the Lib Dems came up with  the idea – just a refusal to think about humps or chicanes or anything until there are serious accidents and blood on the road.

We simply have to address road safety as a council, we can no longer turn away and ignore residents calls to make their streets safe for young and old, able and disabled alike. For many years anti-social behaviour was also ignored by local and central government and only after many years campaigning has this been turned round. Nowadyas we finally have neighbourhood police teams taking responsibility for local law and order and also taking their priorities from local people.

Speeding must be the next issue to tackle.

Toads of Newbury Hall

The Transport Innovation Fund (TIF) mechanism will pump hundreds of millions of £s into tarnsport schemes in and around Reading to relieve congestion. Following the collapse of the one-way IDR scheme, RBC has tried to work with neighbouring authorities to develop a TIF bid to secure a large chunk of funds and asked their neighbours what schemes they would like included so that they can all be put together in a package that will have a major effect on Reading area transport over the coming 10 years or so. The TIF bid being put together recognises that if all the proposed measures do not seriously lower the levels of congestion in Reading town centre in the coming years then some form of charging will be needed. This might take the form of a Low Emissions Zone where heavier polluting vehicles are charged for entering the town centre.        Toad

Conservative West Berks councillors, in their wisdom, have decided not to participate in anything that might eventually lead to any form of charging. The Toads of Newbury Hall apparently could not care less about the poor peasants in Reading who are desparately trying to reduce congestion in their town. They still think thay have some inalienable right to drive their cars anywhere they damn well please and that congestion is obviously a Reading problem so why should West Berks be at all interested.

As it stands, the Toads will have their way, there will be no park and ride schemes to the west of Reading, no bus improvements and the A4 will remain as clogged as ever. In fact the A4 will get much worse when the developments approved by West Berks on Pincents Hill and around Theale are built and hundreds of new residents try to drive into Reading.

What a shoddy display of Tory ‘I’m all right Jack’ attitudes from the Conservative West Berks councillors !

Out with the Sleaze Bags – Vote Lib Dem !

Unbelieveable ! No not the millionaires from Chelsea winning the FA Cup, not the latest TV talent show winners – but a British newspaper actually urging voters to get out and vote Lib Dem.

All credit to the Observer for crediting the Lib Dems as the only party ready to put Britain’s case forcibly in Europe (see http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/may/31/european-elections-liberal-democrats)

and also for being the only party with a history of commitment to electoral reform, see ( http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/may/31/voting-reform-liberal-democrats ), the latest bandwagon used by the other two main parties in a desperate attempt to move the political conversation away from their MPs sleaze.

Lib Dems are also challenging the Tories on the funding they receive from their deputy Chairman, Lord Ashcroft. This is the man given a peerage by the Tories for making huge donations to their party (over £5m in the last few years) whilst never actually fulfilling his promise (made in order to become a peer) of  living in the UK rather than his very comfortable tax havens abroad. Yes this man from Belize is currently funding the Tories attack on scores of target seats for next year’s General Election. This includes my own Reading West constituency and , in particular Tilehurst Ward, where he his currently funding a glossy leaflet that hit doorsteps yesterday.

I challenge the Tories to say where the money for their campaign in Reading West has come from !

Electoral Reform

Having watched the last two weeks of revalations about MPs expenses, I am at a loss as to why the non-Tory press (and there is not much left of that these days) and now Labour politicians have suddenly decided that now is the time not to just review the way expenses are claimed and settled but that there is a pressing need for wholesale electoral reform.

Well, as a Liberal Democrat, I have been campaigning for electoral reform for many years. The current first past the post system elects governments with big majorities on less than 40% of the popular vote, it discriminates against anyone who is not a Tory or a Labour voter and it has been so discredited that all the new government systems that have been set up in recent years, (Scottish Parliament, Welsh and Northern Irish Assemblies) were all set up with proportional voting systems. The only reason that we do not have proportional representation in this country at local and national level is the fact that both of the big parties would lose out, and heavily.

The only way we will introduce a proportional voting system in this country is when the current first past the post system elects a parliament where Lib Dems hold the balance of power. Proportional representation will change the face of British politics totally, and about time too.

Which leads me to question why are Labour now beginning to talk about proportional voting systems. Those of us with long memories will remember that Tony Blair flirted with the idea in 1997 when he thought he might need Lib Dem support. The resulting Jenkins Report proposing electoral reform was dismissed into the long grass as soon as it was completed.

No, what Labour are doing, is using electoral reform as a smokescreen to hide away from the public’s abhorrence of the MPs expenses scandal, hoping to distract the debate away from how to clean up the House of Commons and on to different voting systems. Labour are hurting from the scandal which has revolted the voters and caused a more anti-Labour mood swing than anti-Tory even though it is the Tory toffs who have been some of the worst offenders.

Do not be fooled by the current Labour ploy. If you want electoral reform, vote Liberal Democrat !

And if you want a clean House of Commons then we need a transparent system of expenses for MPs and someone to watch over the system to prevent abuse with powers to punish offenders.

Station Hill Planning Mess

Over the last week I have been at two functions that show the limitations of the planning system in this country.

Firstly, I attended a meeting of Reading BC’s Strategic Transport Board where we looked at plans for the new station and for the developemnt of the southern concourse which is designed to be an attractive glass ‘gateway’ to the town.

Later in the week I popped in to see the new plans on display by Sackville (controlled by John Madjeski) for the redevlopment of Station Hill. Station Hill 2 is the second attempt by Sackville to produce acceptable plans for this area. They have redesigned their original scheme to include more open space and put more thought into the amenities that could be provided for the public. This is very much designed as a showpiece that would change the face of Reading significantly.

The problem is that the two design teams working separately on Station Hill 2 and the new station itself do not seem to have had any contact with each other and however good or bad their plans are, they do not fit together. If built as currently proposed the vast new glass station entrance would be shaded by one of Sackville’s office block skyscrapers and nobody would ever see the magnificent new station entrance from the town and visitors coming in to Reading would be greeted by a concrete block obscuring the sun and light from half the new glass atrium.

And then there is the matter of Reading’s new transport interchange which the council’s team are now designing not as one complex but a series of three transport interchanges that will make changing buses at the central hub of Reading’s bus network a nightmare of long walks up and down stairs before finding that the new terminus is just the old bus stop in Friar Street (or wherever).  The bright new transport terminus is turning in to a different one way bus loop using bus stops spread out over miles of existing town centre roads with their narrow pavements and lack of facilities.

Would it not be possible for both sides, Sackville and Reading BC, to rethink their proposals for the vast area that is ready for redevelopment on the south side of the station and come up with an attractive, unified plan that incorporates the new gateway to Reading, a modern transport interchange (for buses, taxis, MRTs and even Private Hire Vehicles), a welcoming public open space as well as the new office blocks, shops and appartments.

Surely the value of  both developments would be enhanced by  working in unison, rather than each partner pulling in different directions.

No to New Mast – Tilehurst 1 Vodafone 0

There is huge relief in Tilehurst today now that council officers have decided to reject the application from Vodafone for a 14 metre high mast on the corner of Lower Elmstone Drive and Elmstone Drive. Local residents, 229 of whom signed our petition against the mast application, are delighted with the news. This is a good decision for Tilehurst where we have clearly demonstrated the depth of feeling about plans to erect this monstrosity in our residential neighbourhood.I would like to thank all the residents who signed our petition and I would also like to say a special thank you to Nerys and Andrew Wilkinson who helped with the petition and also provided a lot of excellent publicity for our cause.

The council’s rejection is based solely on planning grounds in that the mast and its base cabinets would be obtrusive structures that do not fit with the surrounding environment.  However, Vodafone can appeal against this decision and they have three months in which to do so. Given the amount of time and money they have already spent on this case, an appeal is very likely. Any appeal will be heard by a Planning Inspector and both sides will be able to put their case.  

Despite this threat that will hang over Tilehurst for a few months yet, this is a splendid win for Tilehurst in Round 1. We look forward to facing Vodafone again should they appeal.

 

Note:   Planning Application 09/00289/TELE can be viewed on the council’s website.

Parking Spaces

Any urban council these days has a real problem with car parking. Many older streets were never built for cars and barely have one place on the road per house. Modern conversions of houses to multiple flats exacerbates this problem no end. Every resident assumes an automatic right to park his/her car outside their house. We can use residents parking schemes to avoid issues with outsiders taking up parking places but if there is not enough road space for all the required cars, somebody will get upset when they cannot find a space for their car.

On new developments we can make better rules but if this is done without thought we still end up in a mess as we have done on the Kennet Island development. Everyone selling the houses there knew that there were limited spaces available for parking cars. Everyone buying a house there should have been informed. That has not stopped new residents getting angry and upset when told that there is no room for the second car even if both partners sharing a house need them to get to work.

There is no easy answer, to build new housing with 2, 3 or 4 car parking spaces will require vast more new tracts of land to be made available (and consequently less green and pleasant land to live in) or for developers to build less houses per hectare. We already have a chronic shortage of affordable housing in Reading and across South East England. 

There is no answer without a modal shift to alternative forms of transport. We need to wean residents away from 100% dependence on cars to buses, trains, bikes and even (shock, horror) walking. We could add car clubs which provide cars on demand for their members for occasional trips.

We all know what needs to be done to get away from car dependence but often lack the will to do it. Public policy should aim to make alternative modes of tarnsport as appealing as possible. We do have a great bus service in Reading, we are making a start on implementing safe routes for bikes, we want more children to walk to school and not have mums clog up the roads with very short school run trips.

The reality is that we are going to have to suffer a great deal of collective pain on this subject over the next decade or two until we finally convince ourselves that there are alternatives to the car and that we have no automatic right to a parking place in the road outside our front door.

Speed Guns & Road Safety

Much of our curent Road Safety work in Reading is all about getting drivers to realise that they are speeding. It is far too easy these days to get in a car and zoom off at 35 or 40mph down ordinary suburban streets. There is nothing to stop you. The few cameras that are in place rarely work and police speed traps are not very common.

Unlike other councils, Reading seems to have taken a stand against flashing speed signs that light up when you approach at speeds over the limit. Such signs are now common in neighbouring authorities. RBC officers tell me that they worry about vandals wrecking the signs or nicking the solar panels that often power them. Interestingly they must have had a change of heart recently as I see they are now proposing the use of solar powered bollards in some parts of the Borough.

During the recent budget debate in council I managed to insert a small sum of money to buy speed guns for use by local NAGs (Neighbourhood Action Groups  – go to http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/yournh/yournh-nag.htm if you have not come across NAGs before) when they had identified speeding as an issue. Local police teams are ready and willing to get their hands on the cameras and to start enforcement actions on local roads. Only by providing some deterrent can we really begin to hammer home the message that speeding on our roads is not acceptable. Drivers understand well enough that the faster they go the more danger they create but with no visible enforcement, they do not seem to worry about doing 40mph on a 30mph road.

We have a long way to go to change drivers behaviour but that was said 20 years ago about drinking and driving and we have succeeded over the years not in totally eradicating it but in making it unacceptable where before it was commonly accepted as a normal thing to do.  Partly this required eductaion and publicity but it also relied on the police taking stronger action against drink drivers and increasing enforcement.

Well now in Reading we can provide the tools for local police to take action against speeding drivers and I hope we can start very soon.