The merit of pounding the streets

It's been a tough week or so, emotionally with death issues around. One of my strategies about dealing was trying to stay focused on what's important and trying to stay busy. I've been doing a bit of delivery of late in Spencer, Dallington and King Heath. I was eased into it through a request from the Neighbourhood Manager to deliver the neighbourhood newsletter. Given the amount of casework I still get from that part of the town I thought it maybe was time to start acting like a councillor in the better sense of the word. I did get quite a bit of feel good walking around as people came up to chat about the forthcoming elections. Going to ponce a cup of tea after delivering is always a good idea. I dropped into a local residence in Kings Heath to be told that the Tories had been paying for their election leaflets to be delivered in St. James. The poor kid who had been saddled with the task has been telling folks the leaflet “Was just wrong!”. Having never read a political leaflet before, the beleaguered Tory leafleter commented that it just seemed wrong to scrap National Insurance so that the health care could be purchased privately. Who says young people don’t have the right political instincts!

Careful who's bandwagon you jump on

I have a lot of respect for Tim Hadland, having served as a borough councillor with him. I remember when he expressed his condolences at the death of my parents, he wasn't aware that they were Conservative voters. He said that they didn't seem to be on their voter identification list. I did let him know that I seemed to be on the Tory voter ID list given that I seemed to get all the promotional literature from them.

However the letter six of the letters page of the Chron today really does concern me.

With the local Northants Patriot website (local BNP website) hoping that muslims stay away from the march through the town this week, I believe it is a case of being careful what bandwagon that you are climbing on.

Talking to key Army recruitment personnel in the region they talk about the activities of the British army from this region returning from Afganistan. They talk in terms of those from the forces responsible in reconnecting electric and water supplies for the area that they were working in. The officer I spoke to, spoke in very emotive terms of the muslim officer killed alongside him when trying to undertake the task. Almost exclusively, the muslim community would accept the actions of this regiment as support for Afgani communities and would celebrate the courage and commitment to duty that these individuals have shown. No need to think the worst of people.

When can a whole be part

The part privatisation of Royal Mail simply makes no sense in the current climate. The spade work of getting us out of the recession must be done through greater investment in public services not by selling bits of it off. There has been a massive groundswell of support for this matter locally. Even the teenagers living in my house recognise that the postal service is something owned by them.

It's really positive that there has been so much support for the Early Day motion opposing the plans.

It's interesting that after all the bluster over the campaign to save post offices like the one on London Road in Delapre, the only way that this proposal will go through will be through Conservative support. Mores the pity, if the proposals go through it will represent a breach of a cornerstone manifesto commitment by the Labour Party.

Contrary to popular belief, Private Finance Initiatives approaches are not the only game in town and it's supporters in the Labour Party represent the part of the party who still think people are fooled by spin.

Council Tax - do people really matter?

What's clear is, people are willing to pay for better public services but if they think they're being palmed off with dross, as an electorate they'll reap their revenge.

In Northampton do people think their getting better public services for their council tax? ...after speaking to people today ... I think not.

Despite Lib Dem protestations that services have improved, the
people really just can't see it. One of the key issues is the scrapping of award winning public toilets. Many up and down the country see this as a key indicator of public pride and active citizenship.

I guess for me the key question is what town do we want to be and who in the town need to be supported as the recession bites?

With a Council tax increase higher than the national average increase, the question has to be asked "Are we doing our best to help the right people through the credit crunch".

Credit carrot crunch

I've been talking to people about the market over the last couple of weeks. I've been genuinely surprised about the amount of deep, sincere feeling that the market elicits from local people. Although you come across the sections of the community that no longer go into town either because of mobility issues or just driven out of the Town centre by the prohibitive parking costs, even amongst this group of people there is a significant proportion that passionately care about the market and see it as a key feature of the towns heritage.

I went into the mobile consultation unit on the market square this morning to have a look at the proposals. Many have been commenting positively about the idea of placing a version of the historic fountain as a key feature on the entrance of the square. Aside from that there was a lot of focus on the potential of large and small events on the site rather that the core work of providing a shopping area for fruit, veg, meat, fish and clothing.

The council representative glibley commented that if the town wanted big events "We can close the market when we need to". With the potential loss of the Balloon festival impending the horizon looks like event on the market square and the the eventual ceasation of the market as traders find it hard and hard to survive with the credit crunch and a council unsympathetic to the difficulties of running a business as a local trader.

Development in Sixfields

Let's get this clear ... I have a complete aversion to any sport. 14 years of being a cricket widow and always being picked last for the team kinda did it for me. However as someone with a sport aversion ... I believe it's really important that the sixfields development goes ahead if the Northampton is to survive and have a hope of thriving.

The key problems are with the exclusive relationships that the Borough have with other key partners in regenerating the town who see anything as a threat but still won't put the required time and energy to give the town a boost.

Time to re-evaluate relationships at the very least.

Time to lay it on the line...but will it happen ... we'll have to wait and see.

Northampton- extreme snow, and the need for authorities to lighten up

There were high spirits and a atmosphere of a town where people really cared about each other and wanted to create out of the snow the essence of joy and playfulness. So was it right for the six foot snowball that appeared outside the Grosvenor Centre to be destroyed ?.

With town campaigns increasingly led by the people and not politicians it's concerning when there has been yet another incident when authorities seem to be out of touch with the wishes of local people.

The tenth anniversary of the MacPherson enquiry report being published is coming up in a few week. In the report, ten years ago there was out and out damning condemnation of the police but have things changed now?

Race for a long while has been something that's been too hard to raise as an issue in Northampton with the oh so many problems that are faced locally ... failing schools despite more government investment than anywhere else in the country, a dying town centre, an absence of ambition. Perhaps the key is harnessing the peoples sense of injustice. In that way perhaps race really does need to be on the agenda.