June is Busting Out …

OK, so what can we look forward in June?

On Saturday June 5th Madam Deputy Mayor will be opening the Guide Dogs for the Blind event up at their training centre in Woodford Bridge. Whether she will accept the “blindfold challenge” remains to be seen, but we expect it to be an interesting an enjoyable event, complete with puppies, aaahhh!

The following Saturday, June 12th is Fun in the Park [click for details] at the Barkingside Recreation Ground. This is a repeat of last year’s successful event put on by the local Churches. Usual stuff, for the children, live music etc etc. Watch out at about 1pm for the fly past. Nothing to do with us, but it’s also the Queen’s birthday celebrations up in Horse Guards Parade and we are on the flight path. I doubt that Fight the Flights will complain about that.

Later that same day is England’s first game in the 2010 World Cup, this feast of wall to wall football on television having kicked off the previous day, so blogging might be light until England get knocked out on penalties. The final is not until July 11th.

The Capital Clean Up campaign [nothing to do with expenses or rewarding failure] started on May 12th and runs until 23rd June. As part of this the local McDonalds team in Barkingside are planning a litter pick on Wednesday 16th June. They haven’t quite decided where yet but the High Street and the alleyways should keep them occupied.

Unfortunately the pristine state of the High Street will be lost on those who attend the Area Committee 3 meeting later that same day, as it’s not in the Fullwell Cross library – it’s up at the Hainault Community Centre in Manford Way starting 7:15pm. It’s the first meeting of the municipal year, and since the local elections, so the first item is to elect a Chairman and Vice Chairman. I fancy a return for the very first Chairman of this committee which would be nice given the forecast event in September. We also have three new councillors to initiate although at least one of them is already well versed in the Area 3 political playpen.

Moving on, the following week on Thursday 24th June we have our own coffee morning from 10am-noon in the Hainault room Fullwell Cross library. I expect the High Street to have returned to its normal state by then. We have as our guest speaker, Ian Dowling who is the chief librarian at the Local Studies archive at central library in Ilford – that which was under threat not that long ago. He will be telling us all about the treasures that lay beyond the doors, and giving us a glimpse of the history of our local area.

After a short break, via the Fairlop Oak, we will be heading off to William Torbitt Primary School in the evening for the Area Committee 4 meeting. Here we also have three new councillors but two of them are Labour – shock. We will be watching the dynamics carefully, especially if a certain ex-councillor turns up to sit with us, the public. Options for Chairman and Vice chairman here are limited. We can rule out the two cabinet members, the two Labour members, the Deputy Mayor and the rookie, which leaves......two Coles and a Kissin.

There’s plenty of other stuff too, see here.

Boulder Canyon

As it is one of those nice summer days when it’s not too hot, I have just been over to Fairlop Waters to look see how things are getting on, and before the car park charges come into force on 1st June. Wow! I mean Wow! We’ve got our very own Boulder Canyon on our doorstep. These are not ornamental; they are for climbing on and up. They are there to be used and enjoyed, but don’t forget to take the kids. The photograph below has been reduced but if you want to see more and bigger pictures go here. Elsewhere the new car park at the eastern entrance is almost complete, the new pathways are much better, there is lots of new planting, but I didn’t see the Natural Play area for children. There was a large group of youngsters out on the lake on some sort of raft thing. I encountered a pair of white haired birdwatchers and there were a few dogs keeping their owners on a lead. It’s got quite a seaside feel to it, there’s something about the water’s edge that appeals to us Humans.

UPDATE: Reader Steve Crowe reports that there is even a climbing guide book available, click the link. Plus a much more detailed Fairlop Waters Mini Guide in PDF.

Continuity and Change

As has so eloquently been spelt out in the comments in the previous post, while I was writing that the announcement of the make up of the Redbridge Cabinet has finally been uploaded on Redbridge-i. Down from 10 to 9 but a Chippendale or MFI depending upon your point of view.

Staying put are John Fairley-Churchill at Adult Services [not the Net Nanny kind] although he obviously loses the Deputy leader position. Robin Turbefield stays with Housing. Nick Hayes [pictured] remains with Planning and Regeneration where his renowned favour for cricket [and thus fair play] may come in useful. Michelle Dunn retains Highways but loses Environment which is now lumped in with Community Safety. I find it quite worrying at the way Environment gets shoved around year to year like this.

So to change, of which there were bound to be some. Ian Bond takes over from Sue Nolan on Resources as well as deputy leader from John F-C. The big surprise is Shoaib Patel taking on Community Safety and Environment. Don’t know much about this fella; he is a recent by election winner who retained his seat so the jury is out. But he’s got a big pair of boots and high heels to fill in the absence of Michelle and the notable Vanessa Cole. Let’s hope he’s up to it.

Leisure has been a pass the parcel portfolio in recent years and has ended up in the hands of Sue Nolan. Somehow I feel quite comfortable with this although my expectations are not high. I rather hope she can stay the distance, unlike her predecessors, and make some headway in this rather problematic area.

Which leaves the vacancy on Children’s services where Gary Monro was just getting to grips with the problem only to fall foul of the electoral system. That’s life. So, instead we’ve got the perennial cabbie and Jag driver Alan Weinberg. I’m really not sure about this appointment. Don’t get me wrong here. Alan has got his plus points and I quote “I’m a highway’s man, always have been, always will be”. Square peg, round hole?

To round off the role of the ex-Ronnie Barden on Finance and Budget is now in the lap of the leader, Keith Prince, which is probably where it should be in the first place.

Can’t Add Up

One of the running jokes amongst political geeks like me concerns the seriously dodgy statistics and bar charts used by the Liberal Democrats in their leaflets up and down the UK. Don’t take my word for it, just do a Google search, there’s loads of it. Now, I’m not at all sure if our local variety are using the same orange handbook simply because I don’t get anything shoved through my letterbox from them, so I’m not in a position to judge. However, we do have one of their number taking issue with a newly elected Labour councillor accusing them of “dirty tricks” and returning the compliment.

I am then reading in the Ilford Recorder that the new Labour leader, Bob Littlewood [pictured], is disappointed that he has been given the elbow by the LibDems, who favour the company of the Tories. Apparently “Labour generated 4,000 more votes in this month's local elections than the Tories.” True that statement does not specify whether it means ALL the local elections, those in London, or just here in Redbridge, but it is fair to assume that he is referring to the local situation, wouldn’t you say? So, I checked. I download all the election results into a spreadsheet; I told you I’m a geek, so it’s pretty easy. Guess what? It’s nowhere near 4,000.

Labour – 129,086 votes, Conservative – 127,595 votes. Difference – 1,491.

A margin that is less than the votes cast [1,949] for the ineligible Labour candidate who has, it is reported, finally accepted the inevitable and resigned. But just to be fair I also checked Cllr Bond’s claim that the present joint administration represents 60% of the votes cast. It actually works out to 59.25%, but what’s three-quarters of a percent, or a rounding error among friends eh?

I’m also quite surprised that there has been no mention, to my knowledge, and no acceptance from the Labour group, that the total LibDem vote was 78,450. This is almost 61% of the Labour vote, but the LibDems only got a relatively meagre 27% of seats as compared to Labour.

So, while we are sitting here on tenterhooks awaiting the announcement of the make-up of the cabinet, we are wondering whether residents feel comfortable with Mr Bond having control of the purse strings [as is rumoured] as opposed to a schoolteacher [not employed in Redbridge] whose subject is obviously not mathematics.

As Dirty Harry said “Do ya feel lucky, punk? Well, do’ya?”

A Dog’s Life

Any regular visitor to Barkingside High Street will be familiar with blindfolded people being led by a dog up and down our shopping centre. These are Guide Dogs in training and come from the Guide Dog training centre just up the road in Woodford Bridge. Last year, at our May coffee morning, we had Mrs Ellen Barton and her guide dog Inca [pictured] come to tell us all about guide dogs. Fascinating it was. The dog is held on both a lead and a harness and if the person drops the harness it is a sign that they need some help. I didn’t know that, did you know that? Guide Dogs is also one those charities who do not get any state funding at all.

Anyway our local Branch at Findlay House in Manor Road, Woodford Bridge IG8 8ER are having an Open Day on Saturday 5th June 11am to 4pm. It’ll cost you £1 per person, [more if you’re feeling generous] but it will be worth it if you like patting friendly dogs

Dozens of guide dog puppies will add to the extravaganza. Kennel staff and dog trainers will explain about the life-changing independence that guide dogs provide to blind and partially sighted people.

Those accepting the ‘blindfold challenge’ will experience what it’s like to put complete trust in a guide dog, when you can’t see anything around you.

The open day is designed to be a fun and interesting day for the whole family, with entertainment including bouncy castle, treasure hunt ‘Braille trail’, fancy dress competition and Tombola.

The Sticky Paw Café’ will provide a gooey way to feel what you’re eating; remembering that if you’re blind, you can’t see what is on your plate!
More…..

Note: I picked this up from the Council Licence applications – there will be alcohol on sale.

Redbridge Rubbish

I’ve been delving into Household Waste. Not literally you understand, that would be unhygienic, I’ve been looking at the figures. Something was nagging away at the back of my mind. The headline figure, as a result of government targets, is the percentage Recycled, and I am worried that this is taking our eye off the other aspect which is Reducing the amount of waste we produce in the first place. This has quite an impact on the Council budget and therefore Council Tax, through the Landfill Tax.

So the first thing is to find out what is included in the Household Waste figures and what is in Municipal Waste. Well, obviously anything collected by the Council from households, from bins, black bags, recycling boxes and Green Bags is all Household Waste. But that’s it. Astonishingly, I am told, any recycling from what are known as the “Bring Sites”, public recycling points like in Craven Gardens car park and Chigwell Recycling and Reclamation Centre are not included in the Household Waste figures. So, we are actually recycling more than the headline figure suggests. At Chigwell RRC things like White Goods, Electrical equipment, Cardboard, Heavy plastics, metals, tyres, wood, batteries, fluorescent tubes etc. are all recycled or reclaimed. For those in the south of the borough there is Jenkins Lane who operate much the same way. It’s in Newham but Redbridge residents are entitled to use it. We are both part of the East London Waste Authority.

So to the figures:

__Year__	No. Households	HH Residual Waste Tonnes	Recycled Composted Tonnes	Total HH Waste Tonnes	Tonnes of HH waste per HH per year
2002/03	94472	99957	12684	112641	1.19
2003/04	94174	109087	13076	122164	1.30
2004/05	95849	103419	16646	120065	1.25
2005/06	96883	99352	17791	117143	1.21
2006/07	97877	86153	19379	105533	1.08
2007/08	98431	79867	23006	102873	1.05
2008/09	99385	72937	25958	98895	1.00
2009/10	100494	69662	31620	101083	1.01

The first thing to note is that the big drop between 2005/6 and 2006/7 is due to a waste reclassification exercise when things like rubble/inert material were all re-classified as non-household. Generally we can see that there is a gradual reduction in waste per household, but hold on, the last figure for 2009/10 was an outturn estimate. The latest figure I have been given is 0.908, or 908 Kgs per household with 31% of that being recycled. That’s quite a drop [and it includes a big increase in Green waste] and I’d like to see these figures given equal publicity in publications like Redbridge Life to encourage further reductions.

But it’s still way too high. That’s 626Kg per household per year going to landfill. That’s the equivalent in weight of 626 bags of sugar or 12 bags of sugar a week. And that’s an average. I estimate that I put out less than 1 tenth of that in black bags and about a half of the average for recycling. Mind you, I do take all my cardboard and DIY waste over to Chigwell RRC.

So, it looks like the council has still got a way to go in educating some of its residents.

Next question. How much Municipal Waste is recycled and is the total being reduced?

Citizen James

It’s that time of year again, where we get ourselves a new Redbridge Mayor chosen this time by secret ballot from amongst our councillors by our councillors. This is a Civic not a political position. In some ways it’s a bit like the House of Commons speaker role in that the Mayor presides over Full Council meetings. But that’s not all. The role is to represent and promote the borough at many events throughout the year and cut ribbons at opening ceremonies – like perhaps a new swimming pool or library or school. That sort of thing. They also get to dress up in robes, wear huge necklaces and ride in a Jaguar limousine. This is not cuddly Ken or bouncy Boris territory.

This year we have the pleasure of Cllr Jim O’Shea with Deputy Mayor being Cllr Mrs Ruth Clark. That’s her on the right saying “It’s not life as we know it, Jim!” before being beamed down to A13 LBR.

The Mayor also has a charitable fund raising role. This year has a very familiar ring to it. The Alzheimer's Society (Redbridge Branch) was one of Cllr Chan’s chosen duo of charities last year and the Dream Factory was one of Cllr Mrs Sladden’s pair the year before that.

We look forward to reading about the Mayor’s activities on his blog for the whole year and not just the first few months. There’s a link over in the side bar. Maybe the Deputy Mayor would like to contribute occasionally, especially if it involves a bit of Redbridge heritage?

Now the Tough Part

Here is the Redbridge Partnership Agreement as signed off by the leaders of the local Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties – Keith Prince and Ian Bond. This is what councillors will be voting on tonight [Thursday 20th] at Full Council when they elect a Council Leader and next week [Thursday 27th] when they set in motion the programme for the coming year and define who does what. Of course there may yet be a twist in the tail, but I doubt there will be sufficient, if any, rebels to bring the house of cards down.

I think it is worth repeating here the objectives [below], for it is by these that they shall be judged. It is very easy to write down a set of objectives/aims/aspirations but it is much more difficult to implement them. Cllr Bond wants me to be more positive and enthusiastic. He is correct that this is a new style of politics but past experience has taught me to be cautious and to manage my expectations. Nevertheless, we really do hope that he and his council colleagues can summon up the drive and determination to deliver. There will be things that don’t go to plan, there will be external events, there will be disappointment, there will be those who criticise for the sake of it. But here we aim to be fair, balanced and objective. We also commit to participate and be a positive driver for Barkingside and the borough.

19. We will aim to:

• manage the Council’s finances effectively, maximising the efficiency of our support functions and reducing non-essential spending whilst, protecting our front-line services as far as possible;
• return Redbridge to the better half of the London Boroughs’ Council Tax league table and deliver a low Council Tax;
• continue to support and enhance the role of our Area Committees;
• review pupil projections and the options for addressing the shortfall in school places;
• develop and expand our recycling facilities and the range of material collected door-to-door, and encourage people to recycle more;
• support Borough-wide activities for young people;
• continue to reduce the environmental impact of the Council’s services and operations;
• progress the ‘Blueprint for Ilford’ to identify how best to promote and develop Ilford Town Centre, working with our Ilford Business Improvement District (BID) partners, and support and develop our District Centres;
• protect and improve the streetscene, and the effectiveness of street cleansing;
• develop more personalised social services that deliver what individual people need;
• continue to invest in our parks;
• promote housing for settled communities and hold our local housing providers to account for the quality of their services;
• campaign to protect and improve our local health service;
• work co-operatively with our partners in the voluntary sector;
• continue to improve the profile of Redbridge and our relations with national and regional government.

20. We will also:

• continue to seek the opinions of the public through ‘Meet the Leader’, and improve opportunities for people to participate in decision-making so that the Council better involves and responds to the needs of our residents;
• urgently review the leisure development and major regeneration projects, to identify savings in the existing regeneration budget and ensure that spending on such projects is kept to a minimum until there is a reasonable prospect of taking schemes through to successful completion;
• explore the scope for extending parking schemes across the Borough, whilst avoiding significant increases in residents’ permit fees particularly for the first car in each household;
• ask scrutiny to review and identify options for starting to resolve the problem of the long ‘waiting list’ of unimplemented road safety and other traffic schemes;
• identify funding to resume the programme of street-light replacement;
• develop a programme of ongoing ‘Big Cleans’ to identify and resolve streetscene, cleansing and enforcement issues in targeted areas across the Borough;
• improve transparency at the Town Hall by continuing to develop the functionality and interactivity of our Redbridge-i website and by publishing Council expenditure online.
  

Ryan’s Air

The boroughwide “Forum” on the council website opened up for business again on Monday [17th May] after being shut down for six weeks in the run-up to the elections, not that anybody noticed. It now looks like they may be shut down again pronto if and when the By Election is called. The powers that be remain wedded to the failure that is “Neighbourhood Matters”, “Ask Your Neighbour” and “Pledgebank”. These neighbourhood forums are restricted to a 1Km radius of each registered user - but you can change your postcode and look what I found. Of course, in the old days Mrs Ryan could have put this up on the main forum for everyone to see but that facility is no longer available even for Councillors. Anyway I thought I’d give her message a wider airing.

New facilities in Fairlop Parks

Claybury Park: There is to be an official opening of the park in September and I hope that many of you will be able to come and enjoy the day. A natural play area and green gym are to be installed in the park in the next couple of months. I trust that these will be welcomed and well used facilities.

Penrith Park Hainault: ( Do you use this park? ) The Green Gym is due to be in place in Penrith Park by the end of March, weather etc permitting. Do you welcome these facilities and will you use them?

Posted by: Cllr Joyce Ryan (08/03/2010)

ConDem Council

REDBRIDGE COUNCIL

The Ilford Recorder report that Redbridge Council is to mirror the national situation with the Liberal Democrats forming a coalition with the Conservatives.

This is not entirely unexpected. The last year has seen a minority Conservative administration with a Memorandum of Understanding with the Liberal Democrats and it has, to be honest, worked well. They have been much more open than previously and prepared to engage with residents and listen. Of course what they can actually do is limited but there has been a sense of partnership about it.

Keith Prince is to remain leader with Ian Bond as Deputy leader and the number of cabinet posts is reduced from 10 to 9. There will be seven Tories and 2 LibDems. My money is on Richard Hoskins as the second LibDem.

Scrutiny committees are reduced from 8 to 5, including a new overview committee that will be responsible for examining policy and decisions across all of the council's services. I’m not sure about this. Scrutiny committees do a lot of good work behind the scenes. But I suppose we do have a Labour Opposition who will be up for it, I guess, given their rather good performance at the local elections with some interesting new youngsters in their starting line up. (less one, possibly, maybe, not sure what’s going on).

This will all be ratified at the Full Council meeting next week, 27th May 2010, but the Agenda and Papers should be published on this link tomorrow 20th to comply with the 5 working day rule on notice.

Primary Use

Back in January we reported the appearance of a strange green metal box on the footway of Barkingside High Street. That post and the subsequent comments were initially speculating on what on earth it could be, but we soon discovered that it was to be, and has since morphed into, a new style “public telephone” provided by British Telecom. Except that this one isn’t working yet – the telephone apparatus has not been installed. This is because the council have taken enforcement action for its removal along with another one down by the Eva Hart in Chadwell. That was 17th February as reported by Cllr Nick Hayes.

It’s still there, photographs taken today, 18th May 2010.


















Recently Morris spotted another one, complete and presumably fully functional, in Cranbrook Road close to the junction with Beal Road. So on my next bus journey into Ilford Town Centre I sat upstairs at the front on look out. I counted nine in Cranbrook Road alone and more in the Town Centre itself. Some of them are located sensibly on wide pavements, like outside Faeces nightclub, outside Ilford Sainsburys and on the pedestrianised High Road. But others take up a considerable percentage of the footway, like the double back-to-back pair outside Broadway Chambers on what is a very busy footway and of course our own model here in Barkingside just along from a busy bus stop.

Now the thing is that British Telecom are, I believe, required as part of their operating licence to provide a certain number of public telephone points. The trouble is that hardly anybody uses them anymore, for the telephone part that is – mostly people have mobiles or one of those gooseberry thingies. So the cost of provision set against revenue is not very promising. Solution - let’s go into the advertising business.

It is clear that these structures are designed for advertising and that is their primary function. Were it not so, the structure would be positioned parallel to the kerb thereby minimising any obstruction to the freedom of movement of pedestrians and other footway users.

British Telecom has been given certain dispensations to do things in order to comply with their licence obligations but these are related to the provision of telephone access and not advertising. BT is now using those dispensations to operate a new business for which they were not intended. They are using public space and amenity for an unauthorised purpose and our Council should send them an invoice for that privilege.

A By Election Already

Just when you thought it was all over. It has emerged that one of the elected Redbridge councillors was ineligible to stand because he works for the council as a school teacher. We expect a by election to be called tomorrow, Tuesday, for one seat in Chadwell ward.

No general election turnout, no prospect of changing the balance of power in the council chamber, equals low turnout and an unpredictable result, except that Labour won’t win this time.

Cue bunfight at the OK Coral down at Sevenways Parade over who gets the Tory nomination, and similarly in the LibDem bunker. And another chance for the most photographed finger in Redbridge.

Meanwhile Labour have emulated the Liberal Democrats and changed their leader, Elaine Norman stepping down with Bob Littlewood being elevated to the heights of command. The Tories changed their leader last year so not much prospect of any change there.

We also note that there has been a change in the rules forced upon the council by the recently departed government which means that this week’s ceremonial Full Council has to elect a Council Leader. In years past this was left to the following meeting one week later where tradition has it that some councillors forget to turn up. Redbridge Eye has spotted preparations to relay events as they unfold to the overspill crowd outside the Town Hall. It is also reported that Cllr Bond, the new LibDem leader, is in “talks” with Tory leader Keith Prince over a possible coalition. So we should know on Thursday evening which way our council will be hanging and whether Cllr Cleaver will have the opportunity to live up to his name.

Redbridge Wildlife Photography Competition 2010

Last year’s winning photo: Robin in Snow by Wendy Gill

Are you interested in wildlife? A budding photographer? Why not get snapping and send us your photos of wildlife in Redbridge? An exhibition displaying the photos received will be held at the James Leal Centre, Ray Park from the 14 August until the 6 September.

There are 3 categories to enter: wildlife in parks and open spaces, garden wildlife and wildlife in conflict with man. A public vote will decide on the winning photo for each category. Prizes will be available for the winning photographers.

Please send your photos along with your contact details to the address below. You can enter up to 3 photos per category. Entries can be submitted either in hard copy, on a CD or by email (please ensure emails are less than 1 megabyte). Please include details of when and where the photo was taken. Entries must be submitted by 10 August. Good luck!

Contact details:

The Nature Conservation Ranger Team
James Leal Centre
Snakes Lane East
Woodford Green
Essex
IG8 7JQ
Email or Tel: 020 8559 2316

Electoral Reform

courtesy of Alex from the Electoral Reform Society

via Make Votes Count, 2005.

Judging by some of the comments I have read on the Internet there are an awful lot of toys being thrown out of prams up and down the country. Some people voted for the LibDems to keep the Tories out, so they are none too happy with the coalition. Others voted for the LibDems expecting them to insist on Proportional Representation for Westminster elections, but the Tories were never going to agree to that. There are others who advocate consensual politics (as opposed to confrontational politics) who are complaining and preparing to confront the new government simply because it’s not the brand of consensual politics they want. [Double Tut!] That’s democracy for you. Personally, I prefer to wait and see how it develops. If it is successful (putting aside one’s own political views) as a government and lasts a full term it will be much harder to argue against coalition governments and therefore Proportional Representation in the future.

But electoral reform is not just about changing the voting system. It includes things like a written constitution, fixed term parliaments, voting age, party funding and corporate donations and the role of lobby groups. There is also, so the psephologists tell us, an inbuilt advantage in the present system enjoyed by the Labour Party which is clearly unfair and needs to be addressed.

So, apart from the headline that we will be getting a referendum on the Alternative Vote system for general elections, which is not a proportional system, what else is on the agenda? Well, there is quite a lot to be pleased about!

They will be having a good look at the Lothian question with more devolution to the regions. This is really important given the disparity of support for the main 3 parties between the south and the north and west.

Fixed term parliaments, recall of MPs and a statutory register of lobbyists are all there along with a cut in the number of MPs and equalising the size of constituencies, and “non-doms” are being shown the exit door. Plus a fully PR-elected House of Lords – no more patronage. All good stuff, and you have to start somewhere if you want to improve on the status quo.

Everyone is going to look at the agreed program and find things they disagree with, but equally they should also look for things to approve of.

Life Goes On

It has now been four days since the result of the general election and we still don’t know who is going to be sitting in the big chair. The fact is, given the problems we face and the unpleasant medicine prescribed by all three of them, I suspect that none of them actually want it without a clear majority and a full 5 year term. See the graph here, there’s not a fag paper between all 3 of them.

But life goes on. The country has not collapsed because of a lack of strong clear leadership. The buses and trains are still running, Hospitals are dealing with the sick and injured, there is food in the shops and beer in the pubs. It’s making we wonder whether we actually need any of them?

There’s an interesting comment over on the Third Estate written by Jacob. He argues that the main political parties have ceased to offer a clear ideological standpoint on which they try to convince the electorate or sell to the public. Instead they mould their policies to fit public opinion. Focus groups and the marketing department have taken over from belief in the product. All in the pursuit of power without principle. There are clear differences on the back benches of all three, but from my viewing point they are three of a kind. So much for the new religion of choice.

You might argue that this is a good thing – political parties responding to the electorate, where we the people tell them the politicians what we want them to do. But it just doesn’t work like that. All political parties are themselves coalitions. The image that the leadership of these parties promote is undermined by clear knowledge of the splinter groups within their own ranks. What we are witnessing now is just out in the open instead of behind closed doors.

It’s all very confusing for the electorate so it’s probably not surprising we have a hung parliament and there is no guarantee that the First Past The Post system can survive and produce clear majorities in the future while such a scenario persists. We may as well get used to it and bite the bullet of electoral reform, or at least address the biases within the present system.

Meanwhile, locally we also have a hung council. The Liberal Democrats have changed their leader, Hugh Cleaver stepping down in favour of Ian Bond. Councils though are fixed 4 year terms so there is an element of in-built stability, if you can call it that – barring by elections of course, we had five during the last term. Looking back we had a minority Labour administration from 1994 – 2002. There was a temporary Lab/Lib coalition in 2004 when the Tories got their knickers in a twist but they knew it would be short lived. The question is will Ian Bond allow the largest party to govern on a confidence and supply basis or will he opt for a piece of the pie and a Cabinet position, and with whom?

Interesting times.

Scott Biggles

Remembering VE Day event 8 May 2010

For the first time since 20 September 1943 a Spitfire was on display at Fairlop Waters Country Park, the site of former RAF Station Fairlop. Despite the cold wet weather there was a steady stream of visitors to the event organised by Fairlop Heritage Group, supported by Vision and staff at Fairlop Waters. We estimate there were 500 visitors and they had the opportunity to meet veterans from the original VE day held in 1945.

Simultaneous a golf competition was held with the appropriate name of the Spitfire Trophy, won by the green staff.

The event was opened by the Deputy Mayor Cllr Brian Lambert.

Our patron Lee Scott MP surprised us all by announcing that he would be mounting a campaign for a Spitfire Fund to get a full size Spitfire at Fairlop.

He wants a section of runway exposed for future generations and a heritage centre when the complex is redeveloped.

David Hodson of Gateguards UK battled with the elements to bring the replica Spitfire up the motorway from Cornwall. A privileged few were allowed to climb aboard and enjoy sitting in the cockpit.

Altogether a most worthy event, a tribute to those who took part in the original celebration.

Folded Spitfire on trailer (Photo David Martin)

First Spitfire at Fairlop since 1943! (Photo David Martin)

Lee Scott MP (Patron) and David Martin (Chairman) Fairlop Heritage Group (Photo Still Solutions)

Lee [Biggles] Scott MP aboard (Photo Still Solutions)

Behind the Headlines

Redbridge Council Elections

Firstly congratulations to all those councillors elected and commiserations to those who weren’t.

A special mention for Loraine Sladden and Gary Monro. Loraine was a fearsome campaigner on the Health Service proposals and a keen supporter of nature issues on Fairlop Plain. Outspoken with a sense of fun and humour rare in politicians, we will miss her. Gary did not have a high profile but was prepared to engage and discuss issues. He may appear to be quite laid back but he took the job seriously and put considerable thought into it. A rising star no more, at least for now. Time now for both to relax and recover.

As said earlier the turnout for the locals was huge. There were variations of course, but the Labour vote doubled in most wards, more in some. The LibDems were also well up but a little more varied. Spectacular increases in Loxford, Clementswood and Valentines, but more modest where they had a big lead from 2006 – except in Chadwell, more later. The conservatives did well too; their vote generally increasing by about 50% with a few fluctuations. Again carrying a big lead over from 2006 meant they could hang on to most of their established seats.

Prior to the elections my wards to watch were Hainault and Chadwell. In Hainault we had one BNP councillor with the prospect of another two. However, once the Ilford North result was declared I was pretty confident that we would lose our BNP councillor. A total BNP vote for the whole constituency of 1545 and the local turnout, announced at the parliamentary count, pushing the winning post up to about 2,000 made their position look decidedly dodgy. And so it turned out to be, but it was close between the Tories and Labour. A portly Labour veteran was very worried that he might win which is probably why he didn’t ask for a recount.

Down in Chadwell the LibDems were without their star striker, Gary Staight. He effectively stood down by standing in Seven Kings where he was not expected to win. Nevertheless I expected the LibDems to hold on and the Greens to put in a reasonable show. So did Labour. Our portly Labour veteran was asking around for somebody to tell his paper candidates that they had won. I guess they will learn to live with their allowances as others have done. The Greens presence and their campaign against the incumbent LibDems could well have been the difference here and it was not lost on many that the lead Green stood for Labour in 2006. Conspiracy? I don’t know!

Valentines was interesting. The LibDems had pinched a seat here from Labour in a by election. Councillor Islam who was elected in 2006 in Roding ward had also moved here presumably expecting to win. The councillor who won the by election topped the poll and Mr Islam lost by 36 votes. He did ask for a recount. He wanted a recount of the split papers but all he got was a check of the bundled papers. It was fascinating watching the body language during the exchange between him and the Returning Officer which went on for ages. Even after the re-check was done the LibDem big guns all surrounded the Returning Officer like football players surround referees on penalty decisions. The result stands.

Elsewhere Mayfield returned to Labour. It had had two Conservatives for 8 years but the last two defected to Independent a year ago, so no surprises there.

I’ve already mentioned the two Tory losses in Aldborough and Cranbrook but to be honest those two wards were vulnerable in the circumstances - but Clayhall? The Labour candidate who won actually topped the poll. There’s something going on there that I don’t know about! I don’t see any way back for Ronnie Barden now, so good luck and bon voyage.

So, we have lots of new faces on the Council – 23 to be precise. Most of them are completely unknown quantities, but they all have to prove themselves in office and they will be getting the full B21 scrutiny treatment especially those up here in the north. Of those we know Andy Walker has been a leading campaigner on the Hospital situation and Barbara White is of course known for her role in the Bramley Crescent Residents Association and on Gants Hill regeneration. David Poole has been a regular at Area Committee 3 meetings and we know his views on speed humps, don’t we just! Ali Hai is of course a prominent member of TASK [Take Action for Seven Kings] and there is one Paul Canal who I am going to have to educate on Climate Change.

Bring it on.

Out for the Count

I suppose you’ve seen the news already. If not it’s all on the BBC website. The “Hang ‘Em High” campaign seems to have worked, the Labour Vote has held up remarkably well and the Liberal Democrats have been disappointing.

Locally no real change. Lee Scott [Ilford North], Mike Gapes [Ilford South] and Iain Duncan Smith [Chingford and Woodford Green] all held on to their seats while John Cryer [Leyton and Wanstead] took over from Harry Cohen.
The big thing was that here in Redbridge, and some other London boroughs, the National and Local Ballot papers were all put into the same ballot boxes, which meant it took 5 hours to sort and verify them before actual counting got underway. The Ilford North result was declared at 5:30am, yawn!

Another thing that has caught my eye is that we now have our very first Green Party MP on 31.3% of the local vote and 1% of the national vote while the BNP and UKIP are on 1.9% and 3.1% respectively with no MPs. I wonder if they will be so keen on Proportional Representation now?

So to the locals. The turnout here is massive for locals. Averaging just over 60% per ward. This could produce some strange results so having got a few hours beauty sleep I’m out for the count this afternoon. This could be interesting.

23:44 Back now, but with a slight detour to deal with the food and drink department. We remain a hung council, but the difference now is that there is a combination of “opposition” parties who could form a majority if they can come to some agreement. However, the past 12 months have been quite good, so the Kingmaker, Hugh Cleaver, has some thinking to do especially considering the way the national situation looks like going. The next two Full Council meetings could be quite interesting

Conservatives – 30
Labour – 26
Liberal Democrats – 7

Amazingly Labour have picked up seats from both the Tories and LibDems. It’s all a bit complicated due to all the defections over the past year and councillors moving to new wards but there are some notable casualties.

Loraine Sladden [Con Aldborough] to Labour
Gary Munro [Con Cranbrook] to Labour
Ronnie Barden [Con Clayhall] to Labour
Julian Leppert [BNP Hainault] to Conservative
Ralph Scott [LibDem Chadwell] to Labour
John Tyne [LibDem Chadwell] to Labour

I’m really tired, having been up all last night, so further comment will have to wait until tomorrow. See next post above.

Women in Suits

Just found an interesting piece of analysis from CFWD, Centre For Women and Democracy. The total number of candidates in this General Election stands at a high for recent times and probably longer. At 4134, that is over 6 per constituency. This is no doubt due partly to the more established smaller parties, (BNP, UKIP and Greens) fielding record numbers of candidates and contesting territory new to them.

Given the much reported disillusionment with the 3 major parties this could have a considerable impact on the results, depending upon where they are standing. The smaller parties may pick up one or two seats each but the real question is what impact they will have on the votes of the major parties in marginal or closely contested seats. That’s anybody’s guess.

This General Election is also unique in modern times, and probably longer, in that it coincides with the London and Metropolitan District Local Elections. What impact that will have, again, is unpredictable.

Anyway, to the point of the title of this post – Women Candidates.

There is also a record number of women candidates – but at 877 it is still only 21% of the total. In the last parliament women MPs accounted for 19.5% and CFWD are predicting little change. According to another source the UK has less women in parliament than Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates. Well, I never…..

How do the Parties fare?

Top of the pops are the Greens with 33%. Then Labour on 30%. Followed by Conservatives on 24%. The Liberal Democrats are on 21%. The BNP on 16% just beating UKIP on 15%.

Of the regional parties the SNP are the bee's knees with 29%, with Plaid Cymru on 18% and the English Democrats bringing up the rear on 8%.

In Northern Ireland it’s Alliance 33%, SDLP 28%, Sinn Fein and UUP both on 18% with the DUP on a round 0%. The numbers here are quite low compared to the mainland so the odd one or two can make quite a difference to the percentage.

Looking at the trend there has been a big increase in the percentage of women candidates between 1974 and 1992 but not much of an increase since. However, the number elected doubled in 1997. They were “Blair’s Babes” and the result of positive discrimination, but they haven’t done too well have they? They had their chances and for the most part have been sidelined.

Is it the case that positive discrimination reduces quality or did they just hit the glass ceiling? What other factors are in play here? Is there a cultural dimension to politics, or specific parties, that puts women off or one that undervalues their skills and inhibits advancement? Do those organisations that take a more relaxed approach to equality, [building it into the fabric] rather than force it, fair better? Do we want “Women in Suits” or do we want the value of an alternative perspective? I’d kinda like to know.

Note: Yesterday was the Women’s FA Cup Final. It finished Arsenal 2-3 Everton. And the Ladies World Snooker Champion is Reane Evans. I wonder how many of those women [or indeed male] candidates know that?

UPDATE:There were 142 women elected as MPs. That’s 22%. More from CFWD